21st century soap-boxing

Our chunk of rock has completed another orbit around the sun, the great chronometer has flipped back to zero, and I’ve racked up another year of accumulated life experiences. That’s right, it’s January. Portland is enveloped in its customary pall of moisture, its inhabitants retreating indoors for several months of hibernation and the ever-present verdure is looking a little wilted around the edges. Still, beneath this thin veneer of death lurk the seeds of Spring, gestating slowly and planning for the right moment to pop forth and remind us all that everything begins again.

To commemorate this month of reboots, I’ve put together a fun little mix of both newly released music that has been rattling around in my ear drums lately and all around good tunes that more people should be listening to. Be sure not to miss the new Yeasayer single, “Ambling Alp”, which is easily the catchiest song I’ve heard in a long time, or Neon Indian’s “Deadbeat Summer,” which reminds me of nothing as much as an 80s music video featuring Gumby walking down the street. Anyway, give it a spin, let me know what you think and, should you like any of them, support the artists and pick up their record or attend a show when these traveling minstrels park their wagons in your town.

January Playlist: Everything Begins Again
(click above link to download)

1. Tom Waits- Make It Rain
2. Brimstone Howl- Shangri La
3. Girls- Lust For Life
4. Jay Reatard- I’m Watching You
5. The King Khan & BBQ Show- Invisible Girl
6. Yeasayer- Ambling Alp
7. Neon Indian- Deadbeat Summer
8. Vampire Weekend- Cousins
9. Devendra Banhart- 16th & Valencia Roxy Music
10. Royal Bangs- Shit Xmas
11. YACHT- Ring The Bell
12. Bear In Heaven- Lovesick Teenagers
13. Spoon- Written In Reverse
14. Surfer Blood- Swim (To Reach The End)
15. Broken Bells- Trap Doors
16. Conor Oberst- Roosevelt Room
17. Smith Westerns- Be My Girl
18. Bear In Heaven- Wholehearted Me
19. Broken Bells- Mongrel Heart
20. Local Natives- Warning Sign
21. Charlotte Gainsbourg- Heaven Can Wait

Click Here To Download

In 1947, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale rode the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building, climbed the barricades and leapt out, past the safety nets and barriers, to land atop a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Fortunately, young photography student Robert Wiles was across the street when this tragic flight occurred and was able to take the below photo within four minutes of the doomed girl’s plunge. I don’t know that I’ve seen such a striking picture:

From the far end of 2009, last January seems like an idyllic day dream. The final page was turned on the Bush era, Obama was inaugurated in an atmosphere of idealism and good old American Unity, and the K@ and I bid adieu to the parched desert wasteland that we called home for the far more welcoming arms of the Pacific North-West. In short, it seemed as though the future were wide open and anything could happen.

Therein lay the problem. When you cast yourself into the winds you have just as much chance of falling flat on your face as you do soaring into the updrafts like Daedalus. While we didn’t meet as unpleasant of an end as his headstrong son, Icarus, it can definitely be said that this was a year of trials and struggle for everyone. The economy continued to prove to us that believing in currencies and markets was about as effective as believing in Tinkerbell, Portland’s ever-terminal unemployment rate increased like Fat Albert’s cholesterol level, family members and friends were plagued with illness and death, and the population of Hollywood was thinned like a herd of cattle. By September the enduring refrain had become “when will this year just finally end?”

Fortunately, there’s nothing quite like strife to inspire creativity (nor is there a better time to take comfort in music than in uncertain times). By these standards, 2009 was an epic success. Whether you were drawn to the synth-heavy pop of Metric, The Big Pink, or The Bird And The Bee, the 80s-tastic electropop of Neon Indian and Delorean, or the revivalist garage rock sounds of King Khan & BBQ Show, Brimstone Howl, the solo efforts of both members of The Black Keys (seriously, you need to hear both the Dan Auerbach and the Drummer records) or Jack White’s new exercise in excellence, The Dead Weather, there was something for every music fan to obsess over. I could have made this a three disc set and still would have been faced with some tough choices.

Still, despite overwhelmingly tough competition, the 21 songs found on “A Year of Green…” all deserve their selection. Every track herein has given me that punch in the gut that good music can’t help but supply when a song just fits a given situation or mindset. Hopefully it can inspire a similar reaction in you when fired up in the music player of your choice.

A Year of Green in the South-East Scene: Lolo’s Favorites of 2009
(click link above to download)

1. White Rabbits- Percussion Gun
2. Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks
3. The Bird And The Bee- Love Letter to Japan
4. Discovery- Osaka Loop Line
5. Dirty Projectors- Temecula Sunrise
6. Florence And The Machine- Hurricane Drunk
7. Michael Franti & Spearhead- Say Hey (I Love You)
8. Animal Collective- Summertime Clothes
9. Metric- Help I’m Alive
10. King Khan And The Shrines- Welfare Bread
11. The Mountain Goats- This Year
12. Portugal. The Man- People Say
13. Ida Maria- I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked
14. Discovery- I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Feat. Angel Deradoorian)
15. The Dead Weather- I Cut Like A Buffalo
16. The Black Keys- Modern Times
17. Metric- Gold Guns Girls
18. The Raveonettes- Suicide
19. Passion Pit- Sleepyhead
20. The xx- VCR
21. My Brightest Diamond- Feeling Good

Click here to download

I know that it may seem odd for me to be posting just another mix in the month of December. This is the time of year when most music blogs are hurriedly compiling their best of lists, weighing various entries for inclusion on a list that seems to be a definitive statement of one’s taste, a quick sampling of a person’s perspective. Rest assured that I have been involved in much the same effort over the past few days, which actually led to me rediscovering this playlist from earlier in the Fall and deciding to share it with the world at large.

This playlist didn’t start out with a theme but, after adding in the various tracks that were getting my feet a-tapping in September, I realized that I had inadvertently followed some loose guidelines. The early Fall found me enjoying tracks from a host of artist’s side projects: Kyp Malone, of TV On The Radio fame, recording as Rain Machine, Brent Knopf (Menomena) pays tribute to Portland as Ramona Falls, Interpol-frontman Paul Banks stretches his legs during his main band’s long hiatus under the pseudonymous Julian Plenti, King Khan (he of Shrines and BBQ Show) added another name to his ever-expanding band history by teaming with BBQ Show alum Mark Sultan and avant rock demigods Black Lips as The Almighty Defenders, and this is not to mention Dan Auerbach, of Black Keys fame (MUCH more on said band later), whose solo effort is one of my favorite records of the year. When you add in the guest spots from M.I.A. in the full-length from Africa-by-way-of-London musicians The Very Best, Amy Millan (Stars) covers Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” and random one-offs from such luminaries as Michael Stipe made naming this month’s mix a bit of a no-brainer. As such, it is my pleasure to offer up to the gods of the interwebs the following mix CD:

September Mix: Don’t Quit Your Day Job
(Click link above to download)

1. Portugal. The Man- Work All Day
2. The Lovely Feathers- Pope John Paul
3. Julian Plenti- Fly As You Might
4. Dan Auerbach- Heartbroken, In Disrepair
5. The Black Keys- I’ll Be Your Man
6. Rain Machine- Give Blood
7. The Very Best (Feat. M.I.A.)- Rain Dance
8. Think About Life- Havin’ My Baby
9. The Tough Alliance- Koka-Kola Veins
10. YACHT- Ring The Bell
11. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears- Sugarfoot
12. Flight of the Conchords- Carol Brown
13. Ramona Falls- Russia
14. Love As Laughter- Bonnie And Clyde
15. The Almighty Defenders- Jihad Blues
16. Dengue Fever- One Thousand Tears Of The Tarantula
17. BLK JKS- Taxidermy
18. Cymbals Eat Guitars- Cold Springs
19. Michael Stipe- Everything’s Coming Undone
20. Amy Millan- I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Click to download

I just wanted to post here to offer my thoughts, hopes and wishes to the dissidents in Iran who, this weekend, have been in the streets fighting for a fair democracy. I am one who normally discounts 3/4 of the news that I read in the mainstream press, but one of the many advantages of a 21st Century world is that we can hear directly from participants as the event unfolds (protests against the alleged theft of the presidential election by sitting ideologue Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from opposition candidate Moussavi, and I for one have been absolutely riveted by the news coming out of Tehran. Most forget that Iran is a historically progressive muslim society that has been held in the grip of fundamentalists since before I was born.

I am always a fan of dissent and the hope of a better tomorrow, so I feel that the eyes of all freedom lovers should be focused square and center on these tumultuous events and the hope for substantial change in the Mid-East power structure that it represents.

The Huffington Post has a rather fantastic timeline of reports from this weekend’s protests over the presidential elections here:
Huffington Post live web-feed of unfolding events

This video of Thursday’s protests are awe-inspiring, I can’t help but think of how interesting a movement like this would be within the United States:

Also, I am absolutely enthralled by these two pictures of the protests:

I know that I say this about every year, but 2009 is shaping up to be an amazing year for new music. It seems as though I can’t go anywhere, turn on the computer, or talk with any friends without being pointed toward some new song that makes me want to shake my moneymaker (note: my moneymaker has, to date, brought in three dollars and half of a can of Miller). Being the giver that I am, I felt compelled to put together a mix of what’s been moving my keister of late.

At first glance, the mix may appear to be a little Grizzly Bear heavy but believe me when I say that this is in no way a bad thing. In fact, you should just go and pre-order your copy of their second full-length, Veckatimest, now and eagerly await it’s arrival on May 26. If the piano line in “Two Weeks” doesn’t have you bopping around the room then you just may have no soul (your first clue should have been your ginger hair). Indie Pop lovers should not miss Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian) in his new incarnation, God Help The Girl, or the insanely infectious The Bird And The Bee. The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson slows down her already languid songs to Nyquil-pace as Fever Ray and Modeselektor and Apparat prove that some collaborations are a great idea with the Moderat track “A New Error.” Then, of course, St. Vincent ties it all together with her Kewpie Doll looks and Angel of Death voice on “Actor Out Of Work.” In short, there should be a little something for everyone. Unless your taste in music sucks, in which case you should download this anyway and expand your horizons a bit.

1. Pomegranates- Everybody, Come Outside!
2. The Bird And The Bee- Love Letter To Japan
3. God Help The Girl- I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie
4. Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks
5. Black Moth Super Rainbow- Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise
6. King Khan & The Shrines- Welfare Bread
7. Dananananaykroyd- Black Wax
8. St. Vincent- Actor Out Of Work
9. Fever Ray- Concrete Walls
10. Moderat- A New Error
11. Telepathe- So Fine
12. Grizzly Bear- While You Wait For The Others
13. Handsome Furs- Talking Hotel Arbat Blues
14. Matt & Kim- Lessons Learned
15. God Help The Girl- Musicians, Please Take Heed
16. The Bird And The Bee- My Love
17. Phoenix- Lisztomania
18. Jenny Lewis- Carpetbaggers
19. Nouvelle Vague- Guns Of Brixton
20. Grizzly Bear- Ready, Able

Download the mix from Sendspace by clicking here

It’s been a little over two months since the K@ and I rinsed the last bit of dust from our heels and settled down into a nice muddy existence in the City of Roses. While still adjusting to the cold weather extravaganza (just because it may rain is no reason to sit at home, we are not the Wicked Witch of the West and water is not our bane) it has definitely been a fantastic breath of fresh air for both our cultural and social lives. I love this city, I love that nearly everyone we have met is involved in some sort of creative pursuit, I love the food and, nearly most of all, I love just how green everything is here.

We are now tucked into the first gaspings of Spring. Tulips are beginning to bloom down the street, trees are beginning to shower their white and pink blossoms over every inch of street, the crocuses (shouldn’t it be crocii?) are looking very merry and festive, as though they are welcoming in this slight warming in temperature, heralding the birth of a new natural cycle. Every bloom and weed is crowing “It’s Spring!” from the highest available parapet, except one.

I speak, of course, of the Monkey Puzzle Tree. An ancient conifer very similar to some that we observed in Costa Rica (note: Wikipedia informs me that the Monkey Puzzle Tree is the official tree of Chile), this millenia-old remnant of the days when giant land sloths and mastodons roamed the North American continent much as the elephant and giraffe do today in Africa grows all throughout South-East Portland and invokes constant looks of befuddlement on friends that we’ve pointed it out to. A quick look at the branches and trunk of this oddity quickly reveal just how apt its name is:

A monkey that found itself chased up this pointed little beast would instantly regret their decision to take shelter there. What on earth could they hang onto or swing from? It’s Mother Nature’s original razor wire. Fortunately, Oregon isn’t exactly known for its large population of indigenous primates (other than the pesky and ever-present homo sapiens) so this tends to not be as large of a problem as it would be in, say, Panama. Instead, it offers just one reason among millions as to why I am constantly astounded every day I leave our house and discover some new haven of life in this petri dish of biodiversity. For sheer lushness on an unimagined scale, Portland (scratch that, the entire Pacific North-West) can not be topped save by the likes of the Amazonian rainforest.

Now, it’s no secret to anyone who has talked with me for longer than five minutes that I am a book whore (yes, five minutes is the average length of time it takes me to swing any conversation back to books. I hope to get this down to three minutes by year’s end). There are few things i like more than talking about what I’m currently reading (today it’s Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine and J.G. Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur) unless it’s the acquisition of more books. Do I find it necessary to have time for the plethora of books that make their way to my shelves? Do I even have room for more books? Of course not! That’s not the point. The point, if there has to be one, is that I want to have any book that I could conceivably want to read at my fingertips for whenever the urge to read it strikes me. I don’t want to rage futilely at myself for being good and not buying those three other books from the bargain table at Powells.

Yet, as the news persists in telling us, these are dark economic times. What is the rabid bibliomane to do when faced with rampant unemployment and an annoyingly literate monkey on his back? Look for deals. There is no better place to look for insane amounts of books for low prices than your local library’s annual sale. Every year libraries are donated thousands of books that are either duplicates to books that are already on their shelves or for whatever reason do not wish to enter into circulation. I don’t know why. Ask your librarian. Regardless, their loss is our gain (and I kick myself for even mentioning this to you, the internet, because you’ll show up early and grab all the good books to sell on ebay, you illiterate assholes- you know who you are!) because those books get offered to the public for as little a standard price of $1-$2 apiece, except for those godlike sales where they sell by the bag full.

“But Logan, you say to me in your disembodied internet voice, we’ve already exhausted our local library’s selection. What are we to do now?” Oh silly book lovers. What would you do without me? There is ALWAYS a solution on the internet (sure, sometimes that solution involves a trip to the Gulag, but those are the risks we run). In this case, there is booksalefinder.com, a handy little site that tracks library sales in every state of the nation, with a nice breakdown of what type and how many books they will have on hand, so you don’t drive to McMinnville only to find the complete works of Nora Roberts. Through this handy utility I have already discovered a Unitarian Church sale not 8 blocks from my house at the beginning of March, not to mention the awe-invoking Eugene sale which is large enough to take place at a Fairgrounds. Truly, I’ve dreamed of such a sight for years. Because my to-read stack is not high enough already (the three stacks atop the shelf are my to-reads, the shelf itself is my scifi bookshelf- note the most embarrassing books are double stacked in the back of the front row):

So I’ve said for many months now that “big things are in the offing” as a means of excusing the rapid decrease in posting that has plagued this blog in recent months. While I was loathe to reveal our plans prior to acting upon them, in case they fell through beforehand, for the past several months the K@ and I have been involved in our tri-annual ritual of uprooting ourselves. While the exact make-up of my ancestry remains a mystery, I like to blame my perpetual wanderlust on the gypsy blood roaring in my veins. I’m not sure what K@’s excuse is, besides the obvious insanity that led her to marry me (for which I am eternally grateful).

Regardless, like an egg timer that just won’t stop chiming, we found ourselves beginning to chafe at the confines of Tucson last summer as the sun beat down and began to slow roast the desert inhabitants’ minds. Sidenote: is it a coincidence that the major Abrahamic faiths arose from pilgrimages in the desert? Did the blasted and ruined landscape mixed with the most unrelenting elemental pressures create the perfect storm for hallucinatory religious experiences? When faced with the oblivion of the desert, does humanity’s mind reel with shock and lay the foundation for millennia of tyranny and bloodshed? If so, I think that rapidly increasing desertification is likely the greatest threat facing humanity today.

Just compare, if you will. Can you spot the differences? Tucson:

Portland’s lusciousness:

As we barricaded the doors and windows to stop the incessant onslaught of blowing dust and blinding light, we reached back in out memories to those heady days of living in Eugene. Grass rooted to keep the dirt in its place, trees to shade its inhabitants from the intermittent sun, blackberry bushes on every riverbank or alleyway to feed the hungry inhabitants. Oregon is a land bursting with moisture and greenery; moss springing from every puddle and ivy tracing its way up every wall. Like the proverbial greenhouse that it is, Oregon inspires much in the way of cultural activity as well. Nearly every person you meet is involved in some artistic endeavor, musical side project or politico-philosophical debate. Where the art and culture of the desert is as minimalist as the landscape that inspires it, within the Willamette Valley ideas run pleasantly amok and, while some of these concepts are evolutionary dead-ends and future victims of natural selection, the mere fact that they can exist and even temporarily thrive in this environment makes living here seem like a return to Paradise.

I guess this is my round-about way of informing you, loyal reader, that we are no longer denizens of the desert. We have traded in our sunglasses for parkas, our tequila for whiskey, and are settling in nicely to the beauteous city of Portland. We have amazing vegetarian restaurants within walking distance and, better still, the weather actually allows us- nay, encourages us- to venture out and take in all of these sights. Over the next months expect to see much more content as the K@ and I reveal the inner workings of this city that has sung its love songs directly into our cerebral cortex and take to the web to share our excitement and fascination with this new home of ours.

“Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.” Benjamin Franklin

“Hangovers are proof that god is a vindictive swine.” Logan Graf