thieves

I find that Thievery Corporation fails very rarely.  I have never seen them live but I have a hunch that they know how to please a room.  And that's really what they do.  Which sense is your fancy? Thievery Corporation delivers it.  Take the obvious Lebanese Blonde.  There are so many reasons for why this song is as loved as it is by djs.  You feel the desert sand on your skin, and the most gorgeous desert sunset blinding you in an exhausting, hot haze.  Good electronic music is like that.  A live atmosphere sketch, if you may.  Like a drug, it evokes a particular feeling as the set goes on.  Thievery is good at evoking the desert heat.

They also have mastered the art of brief vocals in electronic tracks.  Done well, it has a minimal feeling, almost like a haiku.  Take again, the chorus from Lebanese Blonde.

Too low to find my way
Too high to wonder why
I've touched this place before
Somewhere in another time

Despite the female vocals, the track never feels trancey.  There's the beautiful, lingering sitar, then hand drums layered with a smooth horn section.  The track gets it right in so many ways.  It's so rich with harmonizing ideas, one could almost make an hour long set out of this single song.  When I'm spinning I will definitely make a Thievery remix set.  The atmosphere they write music for, more often downtempo than not (although note The Track That I Can't Find's drum 'n bass core from The Mirror Consipiracy album) is also fitting in many circumstances.  Last night's wine drowned dinner was accompanied by their album, as is today's late morning.  Irish breakfast tea with buttered Thievery toast, anyone?  Love these guys.  That is all.

ten kinds of soymilk that all taste the same

Friday, March 27th, 2009.  Approximately 4pm at TJ's Rockridge.

A young, very androgynous female stands in front of the meat section (sausages to be exact) looking utterly confused.

Me: Hey! Did you need any help?
Girl: ...
Me:  Just trying to decide?
Girl: ...I don't eat meat, like ever.  And now I need to buy meat for my friend's birthday and I have no idea what to get.  It just all looks so phallic to me.
Me: ...
Girl: You know?
Me: ...uh, yeah.  Well, you could also go with some marinated chicken.
Girl:  No.  I think pork.  Do you have any pork sausages?

I heart our customers sometimes.  Here's my workplace in a nutshell... or a youtube video.  How did they know I have a soft spot for Brazilian lounge music?




And here is the very beautiful original as sung by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto.  Who wants to take me to Brazil this summer?

Modest Mouse 2-22-09

Dear  Modest Mouse,

I have been listening to you guys since my sophomore year of college, right around the time when all the hipsters were getting over you due to newfound pop appeal of indie rock. Your albums make me feel things.  Building Nothing Out of Something makes me more melancholy and wistful than some of the best Radiohead.  The Moon and Antarctica makes me want to take an everlasting autumn roadtrip to the Northwest.  I defended you for years and put you up on the same impossible-to-sell-out pedestal as the Red Hot Chili Peppers who still rock after all these years of fame and fortune.  Despite all of this, you disappointed me last night.  Now, boys, before you reach for that whiskey, let me explain.  (Actually, fuck it. Grab the whiskey).

Opening with 3rd Planet was awesome.  You were on, you were energetic, you warmed up the crowd.  By the next song people were already moshing up front.  Then something happened and you slipped into comfortable, leveled, practiced rock.  The one song that excited me in the middle was Baby Blue Sedan, but even that didn't create that much of an atmosphere.  I will say that Alone Down There was a great way to leave on an intense note.

Perhaps I've been listening to too much Phish, but you sound over-rehearsed.  You knew almost every note that you were going to play and where your solos were going to go.  Almost every song you played was upbeat, and while I realize that it is a live show with a very young crowd, if I want to jump around all night long, I'll go see Franz Ferdinand.  Where did your downer songs go? Where are the bloodcurling screams?  There were some, but they felt so planned.

I bought your awesome $10 t-shirt and I will wear it proudly to promote your albums, but I don't think I'll pay any more than $15-20 to see you live again.  Thanks for a fun night anyway.

Love,

Rena Ragimova

Dear Fox Theatre,

You are a gorgeous venue and I'm glad that you are in my town, stumbling distance away from a couple of friends' houses as well as bars at which I can continue drinking after your shows.  Having said that, please do something about the garbled sound on the main floor in front of the stage!  You didn't do anything to make the run of the mill Modest Mouse show (to which I was psyched to get tickets) any better.  kthnxbye.

Sincerely,

Rena Ragimova

Post-neo-hippie me - Part 1

I know that music is good when it compels me to start playing guitar on a daily basis again.  This has been the case with Phish over the past couple of weeks.  I was skeptical at first, but after a few listens I seem to be completely hooked.  To the point that I've already made a hypothetical plan for saving hypothetical not-yet-earned money for hypothetical tickets for a hypothetical Phish tour that hasn't even been announced yet...  this could turn ugly.

But, back to the music. Their jams are so free and fluid, they warm up the mind to be carried to the same place that the jam is heading.  I need to correct myself here because saying that the jam is heading somewhere implies that there is a final goal.  Perhaps some of the songs are orchestrated beginning to end, but from what I've heard so far, the music is (r?)evolutionary.  Each note is borne of the previous.  Every new note is related to every one that came before it, and to the whole arch of the preceding melody.  It doesn't simply take it's place in any pattern, nor does it work towards anything.  Then when the time is right the jam comes back to the main theme, but so naturally it almost seems like the main melody is part of the jam and it just happens to match whatever they were playing at the beginning.  The catch to making this sort of flowing music is that you need to have near technical virtuosity and visualize the way that the notes draw on each other.  I can only dream of having such a holistic understanding of music.

While writing that, I realized that I'm mainly talking about Trey Anastasio's guitar which is, being a guitar player myself, what stands out to me most.  This brings me to the second aspect of Phish that blows me away every time.  Not only is the music evolutionary, the band itself is like a naturally developed organism.  The years of playing together seem to allow them to fuse the sounds of their instruments together perfectly.  Perhaps I've only been given their best stuff, but they don't get lazy and sloppy.  If the jam goes off in a confusing or uninteresting direction, it is quickly corrected.  If what I've heard and read is true (example from a fan website, "A bad Phish show is an oxymoron") then even if they play a mediocre show, you can never say that they didn't try.

All I can say is that I really want to see them try again.

jazz

Sometimes it so happens that you're going along your regular route and you turn a corner and see something completely unexpected.  Something you fall in love with.  It's not entirely coincidence because the thing that you fall in love with stirs something inside of you that has been brewing for sometime, you just failed to notice it before.

This happened to me in New York with a person.  This also happened to me a few weeks ago with jazz.  I was spending an evening with someone, and he put on Brad Mehldau whom I hadn't heard of before.  Although I was attracted to the music immediately, I felt like I couldn't trust myself with the feeling yet.  I had had a lot of wine and needless to say (since most of my readers know me too well) this person and I ended up in his bed.  There were many thoughts, feelings and sensations swirling around in my head, and I had a hard time singling out the music.  It was only later when I got a chance to download more, and when I began listening to KCSM (the local jazz station) that I settled into this feeling.  I realized that I turned a corner and bumped into this friend I had had since childhood, but didn't immediately recognize the face of.  The friend has not changed, but I had matured and I was able to not only recognize it, but appreciate it as I never could before.  The more I listened, the more the music was separated from that evening.  The events of it, though enjoyable, simply became a catalyst for this blooming obsession.

Jazz, good jazz to be exact, has always been in my life with the help of my dad.  It was always in the house, in the car and sometimes at concerts that he took me to.  I pretended to like and understand the music.  Yes, there was something in it that intrigued me, even as a child, but I can't honestly say that I liked it.  Even now after listening to more, I had this irksome feeling that my like for this music was a pretense.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to tell good jazz from bad and that in a way I was at yet another concert imagining (but simultaneously wishing) that I  understand it all.  This changed tonight when I was driving from work and Myra Melford (piano) and Marty Ehrlich (alto sax) came on the radio and I was completely blown away.  This is what I like.  This is quality.  I know it.

There is so much out there that I need to catch up on and even more to discover, I feel overwhelmed.  Nevertheless, I think this is the start of a lifelong relationship.

Sigur Ros

On Saturday I went to see Sigur Ros at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, and they literally brought the rain.  While the sky has been threatening with a couple of occasional droplets, just as they started the encore the first real rain of the season began pouring down on the already elated audience.  A roar of applause that could rival any thunder rose up and again reenergized the auditorium.
I'm glad to have seen Sigur Ros after the release of the last album.  Without it it might have been a bit too melancholy, a bit depressive.  Instead, the more upbeat songs (names of which I won't even dare to reproduce here... except maybe Gobbledigook) had 10 times the energy they already possessed on the album.  There was confetti, there were bright lights, there were wet, smiling faces and a general jois de vivre that is often missing from serious performances.

O'Bama

I managed to make it back to the Starry Plough last night for their Sunday night trad session and heard this amazing number.  I guess it has become fairly popular while I've been away and Joe Biden even has it on his website.  I remember those "O'Bama" shirts for St.Patrick's day a few months ago, but I never could have imagined that someone would write a whole Irish drinking song on the subject.

Tilly and the Wall

Last Saturday night at the Mezzanine belonged to die-hard indie pop fans and absurdly wasted Treasure Island Music Festival goers.  The former bouncing up and down and the latter attempting to mosh, they battled it out to the impeccable timing of Jamie Pressnall's tap dancing.

"You guys are wild!" exclaimed Neely Jenkins as she finished a song during which 3 or 4 grown men toppled over one another front and center of the stage.

Aside from being told by a friend to RSVP for the show and listening to a few songs while crossing the Bay Bridge, Tilly and the Wall was unknown to me.  I expected to bop my head.  I expected to jerk my knees around a bit.  I even expected myself to let out a few excited yelps.  I certainly didn't expect to get completely swept away into the sweetly simple magic that is Tilly's indie pop sound.

I first knew I was a goner when I saw Pressnall, Jenkins and Kianna Alarid do a few synchronized Supremes-style arm movements.  A team dancer for years, I can't resist the appeal of a rehearsed, extravagantly costumed performance.  Add to that a rhythm section that relies heavily on a tap dancer and I'm sold.

Although Pressnall's dancing stole the show for me,  the drum kit and tap shoes battle was over-planned and lacked a real chemistry.  In a similar way, the contrast between the casual shorts and t-shirt ensembles of Derek Pressnall and Nick White, and the sparkling fluorescent colors of the female half of Tilly appeared inept rather than ingenious.

After poking around blogs for a bit I've learned that Tilly and the Wall has generated a fair amount of buzz around indie music lovers.  Whether it was the late timing of the show or the clumsy drunkards in the crowd, Tilly still seemed like they are still literally getting used to the limelight, standing up on stage and the task of performing.  Elton John owned his outrageous get-ups, as did Freddie Mercury and Bowie.  There is a great deal of charm in amateur bands, but Tilly is past that.  They certainly don't sound like first-timers and they shouldn't behave like them either.

Of course I have had two days to examine the teeth of this gift horse (the show was indeed free).  While chanting, "One more song!" along with the rest of the crowd all I wanted was one last fix of that beat.  

I don't know how much I will listen to Tilly at home, but next time they're in town I'll seriously consider seeing them again.

El cine mas corto

Today I discovered a wealth of Spanish short films on YouTube and I've watched about 10 in the last 45 minutes. I think that short films (cortometraje) are a lot more popular and mainstream in Spain than they are in the U.S. With the exception of film buffs and industry insiders I haven't met anyone here who is interested in this style, much less knows anything about it. If you understand Spanish decently (there are no subtitles), search "cortometraje" on YouTube and you'll get a ton of results. Besides being amazing films, they're also a great way for me to hear Spanish every day without having to spend a lot of time on it. Another way that I've decided to practice my Spanish is to translate every entry I make here. I'll start at the beginning and translate my way through this blog and eventually translate every entry I've ever written. I'll also keep track and highlight the words that I had to look up in the dictionary. Please feel free (and encouraged) to correct my translations in the comments. Thanks!

Hoy descubrió un gran fuente del cine cortometraje español en YouTube ý he visto casi diez en los ultimos cuarento ý cinco minutos. Pienso que los cortometrajes son mas populares y normales en España que en los Estados Unidos. Aparte de los fanaticos del cine y la gente de la industria, no he encontrado nadie a quien se interesa este tipo del cine, tampoco alguien quien sabe algo de lo. Sí entendáis algo de español (no hay subtitulos), busquad "cortometraje" en YouTube y encontraras un montón de resultos. Además de ser peliculos fantasticos, tambien son una buena manera para mi a oír español cada dia sin tener que pasar mucho de mi tiempo. Un otra manera en que decidí a practicar mi español es traducir cada anotación he hecho aqui. Voy a traducir desde el principio hasta el fin del este blog y eventualmente traduciré cada anotación que he escrito al cualquier tiempo. También apuntaré y daré énfasis a los palabras que tengo a buscar en el diccionario. Por favor, sientase libre (ý alentando) a correctar mis traducciones en los comentarios. ¡Grácias!

say it isn't so

You know you're getting older when you realize that all of your concert t-shirts slowly, one by one have migrated from the every day wear t-shirt drawer, to the workout/sleep shirt drawer.

it-it hurts with every heartbeat

I have yet to decide whether I love or loathe facebook. There are some things that should just be left in the past. In the absence of internet networking, the natural progression of modern human relationships allows us to leave our puppy loves, our one night stands, our unpleasant ex-boyfriends, the annoying popular girl from high school in the past. Not so with facebook and MySpace. In our Web2.0 world I take those puppy loves and those one (or two, or more) night stands and I send them friend requests. God knows why.

Anyhow, this is what I've been to on repeat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB9vqCIviMk&feature=related
I wish all dance music was this good.

I was alone in the teacher's lounge today making copies and I heard this in my head from the one time that I heard it on the radio and I felt my heart swell from desire to dance or move or do... something! I must go dancing this weekend. It's strange that I almost get the sensation of being in love (or limerence?) when I think about it. I can't decide whether that lifts up dancing, or puts down love in my specter of feelings. I felt that at my Irish dance class on Tuesday too, that inability to contain your feelings. I get these tense inner tremors, my heart rate goes up and my mouth spreads into a manic smile. The more restrictions I have in my environment at that moment (such as being at work and not being able to move freely to release this pent up energy in some way) the harder it is for me to compose my face and mannerisms. This is why listening to music in the deceptive privacy of my car is probably one of my favorite places to be in the world.

more useless info about my life

I have been completely obsessed with Cecilia Bartoli as of late. I'm listening to her right now and it's making me want to cry. Her CD Opera Proibita is just magic. I'm not being very eloquent right now, but there really are no words, you just have to listen to it. It's an album of sacred music from the 1700s when opera was prohibited by the church, so all of these amazing composers concentrated on sacred music. The songs are amazing and her voice makes them go straight through your body. I'm a very secure atheist, but the things that religion brings out in people are so inspired that I would never want to take that away because it doesn't make scientific sense. When I listen to some of these songs I get the same feeling as I do when I walk into gothic cathedrals. I start to understand religion and this drive for something higher and unearthly, some sort of escape. I feel my soul, I guess. I don't believe in a soul, but in moments like this I get as close as I probably ever will.
I haven't really listened to mainstream music in probably a month. The exceptions to that are when I make myself turn on the radio in the car just for a change, or if someone else is in my car and I feel like they probably don't want to be listening to opera or some symphony orchestra. Cecilia was the turning point of it. My sister bought a DVD of a documentary they did on her when she was younger and was just starting to get famous. I listened to her sing and it did something that no other opera singer or classical piece has ever done. I honestly don't feel a desire to listen to other "normal" music. I don't mind it, it's fine, but since then, mainstream just doesn't do it for me. I'm sure I'll slowly get back to it, at least to some things, especially when my environment changes.
It's been a very calm couple of months and I truly hope that it will be a calm couple of years. I don't want a boyfriend, I don't want emotional turmoil. I'm too concentrated on other, truly personal parts of my life right now, and it feels nice. Whenever I have been with someone I've found that it's hard for me to decipher which feelings are coming from within me and which ones are caused, at least in part, by my significant other. I never liked that feeling of confusion and I think that it was caused by constant insecurity. Whether it was insecurity with the other person, or uncertainty in the quality or quantity of my own feelings, it felt completely disorienting. Now, when I'm feeling down, I own the feeling, totally and completely. I'm not even sure if I've written about this before, and I'm sorry if I have, but the idea has been on my mind a lot lately. I don't know when I'll be ready to really share my life with someone, but it will probably be sometime after I'm out of LA. I've given myself the deadline of January 2009 to quit my job and know what I'm doing next. Whether it's back to Spain, up to San Francisco or maybe the East Coast, I am, as Shakespeare would say, blowing this taco stand by 01/09.

I'm going to be changing the address of this blog to something else in a week or so, so all readers (all, like, 5 of you) beware. I will post the new address in a note on Facebook.

women

I just watched Moonlight and Valentino which is a "chick flick". It's a chick flick both in the sense that its target audience is women, and in that it is completely about women, and that's the kind I like. I'm not as big of a fan of the romantic comedy, but I really like movies about women's friendship. I think that if I were a budding psychologist, I'd research the causes and mental processes that go on in female friendship and also the reasons why men have such a hard time forming similar ones with other men. And also individuality and how it's lost in a relationship.