I’m in class. I’m aware that if you follow me here you follow me on fb or twitter or whatever and you’ve seen this. But i have nothing else to do.
2 shows this weekend. my voice is just starting to come back. hopefully my sound this weekend is good enough that i don’t lose my voice and can spend the hours i want recording next week.
i should write something interesting. about being sweaty and people with good hair cuts talking to me after shows and the banter. and the freshmen boys who have relationship issues and like yelling my choruses and the correlation. or how my jaw feels like it’s breaking from grinding my teeth cause i don’t chill the fuck out. but i only have time to read spark notes, so that’s all i am giving.
k. flay was fantastic both nights.
I’m not in school for a long enough time now and not around enough that life gets in a flow. i’m trying to get used to the consistent weird. smile at me or something.
hope you’re doing swell
look at the really nice thing my friend did for me
Have you seen Astronautalis live? Did you see P.O.S, or Sims ever? MC Frontalot because your roommate dragged you with the claim he’d buy you a beer? Well, meet their opener, Gage.
He also happens to be my friend.
Point is DOOMTREE (the one and only) are swinging through DC and it would be fuckin rad if Gage opened for them, right? Yes.
So check his stuff, tell someone about him, call Rock n Roll Hotel and tell them you think he’s sexy.
Bandcamp - Free music to put on that iPhone you got for Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus
Tumblr - Baby is new to tumblr, so follow him because he posts stuff when he remembers
Facebook - So you can harass him and remind him to post more chatty updates.
A.C. was ridiculous and i mean that in the original meaning of the word.
I saw a lot of orange people who did a lot of squealing. I didn’t know that Jersey Shore was choosing the best and brightest of the area. The local didn’t bring anyone out but the staff was cool and said were doing it again with a rapper friend of mine who has fans and is on the same wave length. Voss, Flipper and I went ‘clubbing’ with these girls. . . One girl told me my pants were so tight she thought she could fit in them then grabbed my pants seeing what size they were. shortly after I decided it was time to leave.
While a good amount of this is about having an adventure, going places i would never have gone to ect this is an aspect of a different culture i need to experience more personally.
at 4 am we got back to Philly and the mom’s house. we were stuck in philly an extra day because my car was shaking on the highway (baltimore’s mechanic put the wrong tires in the front). We watched football i made dinner we went bowling. moms made bake goods. perty fantastic.
now i’m in new york, in Brooklyn, at a house that puts Baltimore’s warehouses to shame. There’s a view of a body of water and skylines. I’m intimidated but everyone is being super nice and too talented. It’s complicated.
hopefully the swagger will return with the rapping.
people showed up to Dionysus. what a strange turn of events.
so it was the second show i booked and set up and while half as stressful as the first show (i almost threw myself out of the BellFoundry windows) it was still pretty fucking stressful. But the turn out was really fantastic all things considered. We booked it 3 days ahead of time. We didn’t have any flyers. ect.
what we had going for us was a thur when people weren’t doing much. and a fantastic line up with too many acts. the beatboxing guitar player was followed by an indie art school band followed by me rapping followed by a singer song writer followed by a trancy dance act followed by teenage souls (who i cant describe because they continually blow my mind).
My set was pretty okay. By the third song it started to get in a groove but i cut the set down so everyone else would have more time. It was probably the best show i’ve played in baltimore that wasn’t on a real stage, and while people were receptive i got more accolades for setting up a diverse show. I’ve been asked to start booking more, which is awesome because i have lots of friends i want to put on and i want to be playing a fuck ton more shows in baltimore but booking also tends to make me want to jump out of windows, so will see.
also, i probably just got lucky. I’m not humble. I just put bands on that i wanted to listen to and when i listen to my ipod i listen to a rap song followed by a dance song and figured i could do it for a show. that the show had a weird sense of continuity and large to soft sounds, was 10 percent skill and mostly luck. All that was really required was sending emails to people i like and being lucky that other people like them too.
on the other hand, i get free beer and i make money so…
another cool thing i think last night might have set up two side projects but i dont want to talk much about deals that were made when we were drinking free beer. I will say that both projects would be with people who i’ve wanted to work with and been intimidated by for over two years.
entirely not related except that it happened last night, a relationship seems to be going into suspension. she’s about to get a real job move to a different city and doesn’t want the weight of any commitments. while uncommitted in the standard way, my schedule (being out of town, dating other people, working ect) leaves it that we always have to make plans in advance. this is difficult for her. and it sucks but it’s entirely legitimate. I’m out of town for the next two weeks so any way we tried to work it out now probably wont be what we want or need in two weeks.
it’s been a really healthy 2 .5 month thing. it was meant to be just getting laid but we had more in common than we wanted. it hasn’t been exceptionally passionate but we communicated in a way the other person always got. I enjoyed the routine’s and the company but routines and growing used to company is a difficult thing to ask for when everyone’s in transition. I’m sure i’ll be more bummed about this in the future, like when my hangover kicks, but for now i’m taking it as a success with whatever comes around next.
some bad video of me opening for SIms and cecil of Doomtree buuut you should watch it anyways.
more hits more chances of better video in the near feature
thanks
third show in rva tonight.
second show of the tour.
D.C. was a punk house called the Rocket Ship. Really smart audience really respectful really intimate. If every basement had 15 to 20 people in it with pretty good sound and a sincere interest in listening, i could play them for the next 15 years.
tonight should be interesting. my first show in rva was one of the most frustrating show’s i’ve played. my second was with ceschi and i was pretty overwhelmed to be playing in front of one of my favorite rappers but it was over all a great day though a tepid performance.
tonight’s also the first time i did a show drive by myself which has a totally different feel even though it’s the same thing.
tomorrow is baltimore and the show came together way too last minute but the line up is baller and should be fun. show is at dionysus if any of you want to stop by. it’s free.
Most of this year I’ve listened to my friend’s music and local bands but the larger world has certainly produced some incredible shit.
1. EMA - Past life Martyed Saints
so this beat Astro. I feel like I’m cheating on my spouse but it won based off surprise. Both albums are pretty close to perfect and have been on repeat since the day i got them. But it had been a long while since someone punched their way into me getting obsessive. Gloomy and minimalist , personal and tonal. I still can’t wrap my head around it.
2. Astronautalis - This is Our Science
what Never Better was for P.O.S. Science was for Astro. a complete work that reeks of Andy’s full potential. When Mighty Oceans dropped i thought every song is great just some aren’t my favorites. Science is the same deal, except the song that isn’t my favorite changes by the day. When I talked to Andy about the album he said he was throwing continuity to the wind and having each song made separate by a different friend he had been working with. When I talked to Cecil Otter about it (ill name drop if i want) he said “you can hear that everyone loves Andy and wanted to harness his sound and potential” (a sound that is an amalgamation from Wayne to Waits). The result was a seamless album stupidly cohesive, yet each song could be a single.
3. Yeasayer- live
Not much to say. A band as genre bending as the first two artist played their best songs better. The best thing they released is free, be grateful.
4. Kendrick Lamar - Section .80
The most refreshing hip hop album since Jay’s “American Gangster”. his flow is easy like bong smoke. His content is hard like a bong hit. the instrumentals are a tip of the hat to the west cost sound while refreshing. If you don’t listen to rap that isn’t odne by people in punk bands, Kendrick is where to start. If you don’t listen to rap that doesn’t have something to do with Kayne Kendrick is your transition.
5. Wugazi - 13 Chambers
Fugazi and Wutang by Cecil Otter of Doomtree, for free, you are welcome.
Wings and teeth and Wutang forever.
6. Cults- Cults
i loved that shit. If you just listened to the single you’re missing out. I know it’s over played but take one listen to “you know what i mean” and tell me who is doing something more interesting.
7. Doomtree- No Kings
They wanted to make a group album that wasn’t just individual tracks. Everyone was at the top of their game. They succeeded. P.O.S. and Lazerbeak the two Doom members it’s been a minute since we have heard from seem dramatically better, which personally as a rapper i find offensive. the bar was high enough.
I can’t say I’m not grateful and haven’t been enjoying the album. I am looking forward to the tour as much as everyone else but i like each member so much individually that the group albums and tour seem like a tease. Give me another hour of just Dessa, Sims, Beak, Paper Tiger (can i please have more Paper Tiger. horrifically underrated) Cecil, Mictlan or P.O.
8.Jay-Z & Kayne - Watch the Throne
shit is cray
9. Tom Waits- Bad as Me
I am sure this album is perfect and should be my number 1 but like every other Wait’s album it takes me months to be kicked in the teeth by it’s brilliance and stop and really listen. I recognize it’s genius from my first few listens but it hasn’t hit me in the bones yet.
10. Los Campensino’s - Hello Sadness
not as good as the other two but I love their sound. Quotable fun and sad indie rock.
Why didn’t I learn to treat everything like it was the last time? My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future.
so excited for the movie