Archive of articles classified as' "Pure awesomeness"
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Thats right kids! brand new monthly every first Wednesday at vig bar in the LES….. finally landed a gig in the big city!! come show some shrugs ‘n’ love while I drop as much soul as humanly possible!!
see you guys there!
Hay hay! Some of the other Shruggers (K!O x Minitonka x Scallywag) are starting a new Tuesday monthly at Legion. Though we’re somewhat competing with some of our own familia (RAAAAAAAANDO w/ 8 A’s…DJ Fulltimefun x ARQ), it’s only once a month. Plus we’ll have live bands and whatnot, in addition to zee good ol’ dance music. And who says you can’t hit both parties???!! This “good” weather should be enough of a motivator, party people <3
Holy shit why am I awake…well, I guess it’s all very appropriate. In any case, I am now about to write about the last call/end of the night jammers, for all you DJs out there. Honestly, as much as I love banging shit out primetime, I really do enjoy and relish this part of the night as well. Hell, I love opening too. I guess I just love it all. Well, anyway, last call/the end of the night is always a very sweet time to plug in all those tunes that you don’t get to really play out so much. And being the sap that I am, I LOVE dropping lovey dovey disco/dreamy love songs!
Here are a few hand-picked golden gems, for all of us to hold hands and slow dance in the dark to <3
Exile – Kiss You All Over (Brennan Green 6:59 Edit)
(Brennan Green is the MAN! And this song is soooo lovely <3 PS for New Yorkers, he’s gonna be spinning this Saturday, April 17th at Rose Bar in WillyB)
Harpers Bizarre – Witchi Tai To
(One of my all time favorites!!! Lyrics are based on an old Native American chant. Peeped it from an old Lovefingers mix <3)
Delegation, “Oh Honey”
<3 <3 <3 and this is divine <3 <3 <3
A few weeks ago the crew organized a massive 20 head BYOB & Food Karaoke night in K-Town. Although we missed a few members of the crew: Four Loco, Beer, Champagne, and Asian Snacks helped fill the gap. We also sang stronger in their honor.
If we weren’t already attached to the hip, This brought us even closer (especially DJ Scallywag who sang his heart out to each and every soul in that room). The 1st of many Karaoke sessions was well documented by our home-girl Chrissy and I know with the weather getting warmer we’re sure to be running through town even more The Karaoke night ended with me singing “A whole new world” and I really think I touched some hearts.
Take a look.
Watch this in full for some AMAZING lyrics.
I’m a sucker for info-graphs, Especially design worthy ones. This info-graph on the Genealogy of Pop & Rock Music seems to fit appropriately for this blog. It’s rather difficult to see but its well worth the squint. Click on the file for the massively enlarged version.
Pink Skull – Ritualistic Bug Use (Endless Bummer – Rvng Intl.) from Georgia on Vimeo.
Okay, so I realized I barely write about any contemporary music on ye ol’ blog, but hey, I’m a throwback kinda gal I guess. Plus there’s a whoooole lotta garbage out there…but really I think I’m just losin’ my edge, or actually it’s probably just sheer laziness. Well, whatever, the point is, is that PINK SKULL has caught my eardrums, mind, heart, and animal spirit and goddammit, I’m seriously obzezzed! They RULE man, so much!!! Like whoa.
Julian Grefe and Justin Geller are the mastermind producers behind this electronic band/duo. And they’re actually based out of Philly (!? Shouts to Full Time Fun / Actionbastrrrd / Mini Tonka / MoSharp / whoever else I’m missing), and not some awesome obscure European city, and/or Australia. Americaaaa, fuck yeah!!!!!
They just came out with their second album/EP through Philly’s main man, Dave P’s label RVNG Int’l, entitled Endless Bummer, the title being both comical and just really cool. Which is also indicative of their sound and visuals as a whole. I’m googly-eyed for these bros, what can I say. Their sound is both familiar and not so much, walking this tightrope between being accessible and still pushing boundaries and leaving room for experimentation. It’s like this morpho-mutation betwixt post-punk, industrial, electronic, psych rock and dance/disco. Soooo…basically it’s fucking badass to the max.
Us New Yorkers just missed them at Le Poisson Rouge on January 23rd! Dah!!! I could kick myself for that. But I have a feeling they’ll be comin’ round the bend soon…plus Philly’s only a heartbeat away right?! We should all make a trip. 
Punk rock and post-punk are two genres that are held close to my heart. I’m by no means an expert, and definitely not super well-versed (especially in punk, perhaps more so in post-punk), but I can definitely appreciate and wild out to those types of jammers. Of course, as a teenager, it was more of the angsty, anger-type shit that I (and other moody ass teens) related with. But as time rolls on, the more I can just simply appreciate the rawness of expression and the pure energy that is conveyed through the music. Shit is RAW! This type of expression always reminds me of Herzog’s idea of “Ecstatic Truth,” which is a concept that is also locked away deep in my heart. Keepin’ it real ya’ll!
Anyway, so yeah, yadda yadda….the first time I was introduced to punk was through a mixtape (yes, an actual cassette tape) that my friend Rachon made me whilst in the throes of high school. It was super legit. She was wayyyy into it, all about it. We were both music junkies and did a swap. At that time, I was way into gangster rap…ha! But hot damn, the parallels that can be drawn betwixt the 2 genres! I immediately took a liking to punk. The bands that stood out the most on that tape to me, were The Descendents, Bouncing Souls and Suicidal Tendencies. I would go with my friends to punk rock shows and do the whole crowd surfing thing (which was supremely awesome!) and even got down in the mosh pit once, like an idiot. Got knocked in the face then too, maybe that’s why I’m remembering all this punk rock nonsense. 
The Descendents, Hope (live)
Okay kiddos, kiddies, ex-kids, big kids, and everything in between! Today we’re gonna talk about a little band called CAN.
But first I must preface this whole thing (as usual), starting with the fact that I really did try to come up with some sort of comprehensive list for the ending of the decade and what have you. But it quickly dawned on me that I haven’t even listened to enough records that were released in 2009 to even compile a top 10 list. In addition, I can’t even sort out or remember everything I’ve listened to this year. Story of my life!
So then I thought really hard again (as years go by, this becomes increasingly more difficult), and thought I came up with this grand theory of how music becomes so personal to people, becoming “the soundtrack” to their lives as they say, that certain genres and artist become personalized markers on everyone’s individual chronology/timeline of growing up. AND THEN, I was gonna just share stories of which artists my friends, family and loved ones have introduced me to, which have shaped my musical taste to date. But goddammit, then I realized, “Hey, that’s fucking BOOOOORRRRING, and oh yeah, there’s really no point to this whole thing.” And yeah, I also realize that maybe I’ve just lost my mind too. So alas, I stared straight into the center of the cyclone of chaos where nothing made sense, and just said to myself, “Just fucking pick ONE band, or ONE genre, or just anything singular!” And there you have it folks. I chose Can.
CAN (Communism, Anarchism, Nihilism—how awesome of a backronym is that!) was an incredibly brilliant German experimental band from the late 60’s—1968 was there starting year, to be exact. They were one of the very first krautrock bands; which basically meant they just said a big “FUCK YOU” to American musical influence, and stripped things down to a more minimal sound, and incorporated more world music into a psychedelic stew. (Psychedelic shit is a running theme in my posts if you haven’t noticed..Mom and Dad are proud, I know). Anyway, another thing that set Can apart from a lot of bands, was the fact that they used free improvisation and editing almost on the regular, to the point where they coined the term, “instant compositions.” Sponteneity as the impetus for genius. I like!
In addition, Can has laid the groundwork and influenced so many different artists spanning different genres, including: avant-garde, experimental, underground, ambient, new wave, electronic music, and post-punk. Dude…The Fall, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Joy Division, David Bowie, Talking Heads, The Stone Roses, Sonic Youth and Radiohead have ALL cited Can as an influence. If that’s not epic shit, I don’t know what is, man.
