Author: Jennifer

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A Good Read A Good Listen and A Good Drink: Martin Macphail, Blitz//Berlin

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Blitz//Berlin, collectively of Toronto, Canada, who last appeared in these pages in late 2013, have just released a video for their new song Jesus Shoes from their upcoming record Distance.

It is Halloween-themed in the sense that there are people wearing masks and there is some super weird business going on.

It is beautifully shot and atmospherically lit – truly capturing the bruised look of the world in late fall in northern latitudes – but it’s not . . . it’s not festive, and I mean that in the best possible way.

I watched it and thought about monsters, and community, and that sometimes loving a monster means being the one to put that monster down. Which might be heavy freight for a tiny video, but – I think it can carry the weight.

Blitz//Berlin - Jesus Shoes

When not rocking out, they also make movie soundtracks; their most recent effort was for Extraterrestrial:

Extraterrestrial - Complete Sound Track

And on that note, I will turn the floor over to Martin Macphail, lead singer, who joins us today to tell us about a favorite book, record and drink.

Center: Martin Macphail of Blitz//Berlin

Center: Martin Macphail of Blitz//Berlin

A Good Read

Neuromancer. Good is a weak word for how super-duper-good this book is. I’m sure most have read it by this point, and for me it’s a touchstone, not just for science fiction, but for sheer imagination and world-building in any genre. Although the world of Neuromancer feels familiar, having inspired countless books and films (not to mention an entire genre), very few works can compose a vivid, lush, and imperfect atmosphere the way Gibson conjures Night City, The Sprawl, or The Villa Straylight.

From the very first (and very famous) sentence “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel” Gibson paints a terrifying future with such confidence and poetry, he makes the styrofoam sea, fluorescent sky, and drug addicted burn-out main character feel incredibly real and exciting.

Aside from his aesthetic brilliance, Gibson’s thoughtful exploration of artificial intelligence, and the ways he ultimately defines consciousness and cognition i think are pure genius. If you can’t tell, i really really love this book. In fact after writing this, I’m going to start re-reading it.

A Good Listen

Spaces by Nils Frahm. As a vocalist, I’ve recently discovered that I really dig instrumental music. This year I’ve mostly listened to film score and various instrumental albums, which i find so inspiring. Nils Frahm for me is one of those special artists whose music feels like like a warm massage for my brain.

I tried to tell him this once, before a show in Toronto – actually this is a funny story, time for a quick detour. Nils played at The Drake last year, and I bumped into him at the bar upstairs before his set. I don’t get starstruck often, but German pianists really do it for me? Anyways, I got up the nerve to approach him, which involved me uttering a long run-on sentence where I complimented him awkwardly, humble bragged about some film score work (CRINGE), and then tried to ask him a question – if he would ever consider composing for film. The whole time he stared at me like he was ready to slap me.

He then said something like “Absolutely not.” which sounds scary in a German accent. Then for some reason I brought up that the film I had just worked on was being mixed, and how I liked handing the mix off to a pro who I trusted, to get some fresh ears on it. To this he said “Agree to disagree. I would never allow someone else to mix my music.” Shortly after that he walked away, and then played an amazing set of music later that night. He’s also now scored a film, and other people have mixed his records . . . so I guess he was just in a mood? In retrospect, that’s exactly who I wanted Nils Frahm to be – a phenomenally talented maestro who has no time for Canadian fools like me.

Back to the album, I love listening to Spaces while reading or driving (never at the same time FYI). I’m sure Nils would hate the concept of me haphazardly pairing his music with other mediums, but you know what Nils, you’re not the boss of me. Or are you? I’m not sure.

The best moment during this Neuromancer / Nils pairing is in the track For – Peter – Toilet Brushes – More, where these long beautiful ebbs of analogue synth wash over you like sizzling incandescent waves. This movement goes so well with literally any part of Neuromancer, and in certain moments it especially elevates the reading experience.

Nils Frahm – Toilet Brushes – More (Live in London) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

A Good Drink

My beverage of choice for reading or writing or listening is always Wild Turkey bourbon. I know, I know. But I love it. Wine makes me too foggy, beer too sleepy, and other hard liquor I just get distracted. Wild Turkey (on the rocks) for some reason, just helps sink right into a vibe. Little factoid – the fourth track on our album is called 81, because it’s named after Wild Turkey . . . because it practically wrote the album.

In closing, I think I’ve actually combined these things enough times that that I’m facing a somewhat Costanza-esque scenario where each of these ingredients makes me crave the other one.

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Poetry: The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe, Christopher Walken

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This recording of Christopher Walken reading Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven is musical in the sense that there are occasional bursts of heavy metal guitar amid reverb, ravens cawwing and other sound effects, which some listeners seem to have found very annoying, but I rather liked. I’m wondering, now, what more of Poe’s work would sound like with suitably sp00ky audio illustrations.

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Video: Panic! at the Disco, Emperor’s New Clothes

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Normally at this time of year I post the video for Panic! at the Disco‘s Almost Halloween, because it is sweetly ridiculous and deep down I still love it.

But on the surface I can’t watch it any more. The band that made that video is gone, ne’er to return.

And I’m at a crossroads with my affection for the band, as it is currently incarnated. My fondness fades, but lingers, a little like a ghost. There’s a new record coming, and a tour, there have been singles, and I have watched from a bemused distance. All of my favorites are gone, but I can’t quite let go, not yet.

The video below is for The Emperor’s New Clothes, and it encompasses the things I have always liked about Panic!: Brendon’s voice and range; sumptuous theatricality; Brendon in a dramatic costume; and singing skulls. It also has neat bit at the beginning that functions as a “Previously, on Panic! At the Disco . . .” and ties yet another disparate era of style to the one that came before.

I can’t decide if my interest for their (his) constant reinvention has evaporated or merely gone into hibernation. But I am, for now, here for one more round.

Panic! At The Disco: Emperor's New Clothes [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

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El Xicano, La Grande Paura

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The last time we heard from El Xicano was approximately this time last year, when he joined us for an installment of A Good Read A Good Listen and A Good Drink. His long-awaited EP La Grande Paura (The Great Fear) has at long last been turned loose upon the world, and it is just as delightful as I remembered.

By delightful I mean: Perfect for a rainy day just on the edge of chilly, as it is here. You could probably also sort Halloween candy to this music. Or carve a pumpkin. Perhaps work on the final touches of your costume.

Check it out:

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A Good Read A Good Listen and A Good Drink: Pelicans and Their Allies

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

I was initially intrigued by Just Like July by Pelicans and Their Allies because a) that’s an awesome band name, and I wanted to see what they sounded like and b) the title references July Johnson from Lonesome Dove, and I’m a sucker for those kinds of cross-cultural references. When I pressed play, I was further reeled in by the power-pop tempo and the bright cello ribbon that gleams between the drums. But the thing that caused me to go and back and listen to it a few more times was the overarching message: This may not be the life (story) you had planned. It is the life (story) you can choose. Make it the best life (story) you can.

The rest of their self-titled EP will be out in late November. I can also recommend For All the Lonely Scientists and Nerds in Love.

Meanwhile, however, I am going to turn the floor over to Pelicans and Their Allies, aka Dayana Yochim and Robert Higgs, who have joined us today to discuss a favorite book, song and drink.

Pelicans and Their Allies (Dayana Yochim, left, Robert Higgs, right.) Photo credit: Emily Goodstein

Pelicans and Their Allies (Dayana Yochim, left, Robert Higgs, right.) Photo credit: Emily Goodstein

A Good Read

Robert: I first came across Dan Kennedy by listening to the podcasts Jordan, Jesse, Go! and The Moth. He’s a great self-deprecating and hilarious storyteller, a loveable and self-aware slacker. At the time I heard him on these podcasts he was telling stories from his memoir, Rock On: An Office Power Ballad, about how he worked as an executive at a major record label (Atlantic, maybe?)[ed note: yes, Atlantic!] thinking he would fuck shit up from the inside, like the true punk rocker he fancied himself to be at the time. But he just ended up doing things like writing the copy for a full page magazine ad congratulating Phil Collins on all his years of success, and pretending like he knew what he was doing. It’s a great book that made me laugh out loud a lot and reaffirmed my love-hate relationship with the mainstream record industry.

I’m currently reading his first novel, American Spirit. It’s just as funny, but with a lot more heart. It’s the story of an executive who loses his job and ends up living in his leased BMW (or as he calls it, “the Bavarian land yacht”) and popping pills and taking crafting and yoga classes. The best thing about it is Kennedy’s ability to maintain a tone that is pitiful and sad, but also hilarious and even uplifting throughout. Both books are great, so just pick whichever sounds best to you. If you like the one you get, you’ll just end up reading the other, too.

Dayana: The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, Corinne May Botz. A photographic account of the work of Frances Glessner Lee, a well-to-do grandmother (an heiress, no less) who built meticulously reconstructed dollhouse crime scenes based on real-life cases in order to train investigators in the 1940s and ‘50s about the art and science of forensic evidence. Accident? Murder? Suicide? What does the (adorable/macabre) evidence tell you?

The book, which features details from 18 fully functional dioramas (working window shades; eensy weensy pencils with real lead; blood spatter on true-to-scale wallpaper pattern from the crime scene), appeals to the crafter of creepy things in me. That Frances was able to break through the bulletproof glass ceiling of the era to become a Captain in the New Hampshire police department based on her forensic work, well, that deserves a robust, “You go, girl!”

A Good Listen

Robert: I’ve been listening to The Tallest Man On Earth ever since I heard John Richards play “I Won’t Be Found” on the KEXP Music That Matters podcast five or six years ago. As soon as I heard it I bought the record and have bought every Tallest Man On Earth album ever since. Every one of them is great all the way through, especially his newest, Dark Bird is Home, which is a little different than the rest. All the previous records were mostly intimate solo performances–just him with a guitar or a banjo. Every now and then a song might have a bass on it, or a second guitar, but everything was pretty stripped down. I didn’t know the newest one had a full band until I started listening to it.

It’s funny how changes can be so unsettling at first. I couldn’t help but think that the solo performance element was one of the things I loved most about him, so the idea of full band arrangements made me think, “OH NO. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” But, of course, what’s great are the songs that he writes, and the new arrangements elevate the songs and make them so lush and beautiful. Plus now when you see him live you get to hear some of the old songs played by a full band and it’s a gorgeous change. Here he is with his amazing band on Conan:

Dayana: The first time I heard Devin Davis’s Lonely People of the World Unite (thanks for the recc, Robert!) — from the opening crash of power-pop chords on Iron Woman all the way through to the warbly, plaintive oooos over acoustic strumming on Deserted Eyeland — I fell in love. Like, awkward adolescent fawning fangirl love. The record goes by at a blinding pace, with every song a tight, layered and complex composition with breathless energy and vivid, playful and earnest (no air quotes) lyrics. (Speaking of lyrics, Robert first “heard” Devin Davis at his wedding when his best man read a passage from Turtle and the Flightless Bird. I’ll pause here for an awwwwww.)

Lore has it that Devin took two years to craft this beast during off hours at the recording studio where he worked. He played most of the instruments himself and, I imagine, obsessively added bits and bobs to each song (including multiple years worth of live fourth of July fireworks recordings) until finally collapsing in an exhausted heap and crying out, “Uncle!” I made up that last part, but I hope there was at least a dramatic mic drop and door slam when he put this perfect album to bed.

My “Best Awesomest Perfect Pop Songs Ever” playlist starts with Devin’s Giant Spiders, segues into Shangri-La, by the Kinks, Back in the Saddle by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, the Velvet Crush’s One Thing Two Believe, endless repeat.

Devin Davis "Giant Spiders"

A Good Drink

Robert: It’s so hard to pick a favorite anything, because there’s so much good stuff out there. So with all my choices I’m just going with whatever is grabbing me lately. I moved to Atlanta about six months ago and my wife and I have really enjoyed being close to the Atlanta Beltline, which is one of those pedestrian-only this-is-where-some-railroad-tracks-used-to-be pathway/park thing that goes right through the middle of town. There are plenty of restaurants that are right on the Beltline and are great spots for a relaxing happy hour. Our favorite is a place called Ladybird.

It looks like it was designed as an adult’s memory of what summer camp was like. In other words, it’s like the restaurant version of the movie Moonrise Kingdom, which is right up our alley. So we go there and have this drink called the Days Gone By. (The menu says it’s made from Pimm’s No.1, Fords Gin and Second Self Thai Wheat Beer. ‘Gin’ and ‘beer’ are the only ingredients I recognize.) It’s the perfect fall (which in Atlanta is just late summer) drink to sip while doing some quality people/dog watching.

Dayana: Robert can have his fancy-pants frou-frou Pimm’s Wheat Self-Actualized Thai Gin Fa La La drink with fresh Unicorn Tear sprinkles. Me? Just slide any old domestic lite beer my way and I’m a happy camper. Nope… doesn’t matter what brand. Lukewarm? No problem. Twist top? Even better. If I need to class it up a bit I’ll order a cider (again, I’m no brand snob . . . unless the bartender mentions the word “pear,” in which case, “Hells yeah!”), or a Hefeweizen (because I can pronounce it and it doesn’t look weird if I toss in a slice of citrus to cut the beer flavor).

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The Ghosts of Johnson City, Am I Born to Die?

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johnsoncity2

Last week I brought you music from Australia. This week I’m jumping back across the ocean (to Portland, Maine, with echoes of Tennessee), and backwards in time (to the music of America’s early years) with Am I Born to Die, the debut effort from The Ghosts of Johnson City, turned loose upon the world today. While the songs are traditional favorites, the interpretations are fresh. I’m especially fond of the continuous slow burn of the harmonium in the background – it adds a layer of melancholy, haunted flavor, and to my ear, a hint of the sea.

I have a few quibbles, but they are minor, and more a matter of personal aesthetic, specifically that I happen to prefer the Felice Brother’s loose, ragged Jack of Diamonds to this particular iteration of Rye Whiskey – they are, in the way of many early folk songs, almost but not quite the same song – and having heard The Lemonheads rock n’ roll crash-and-burn version of Knoxville Girl, folkier versions seem toothless, no matter how they are rendered.

I’m sharing the whole thing because a) I can! and b) that is how I’ve been listening to it – putting it on and letting it run, sinking into it like the aural equivalent of a bubble bath.

One final note for the prospective listener: Jack Monroe is the song also known as The Jam at Gerry’s Rock, not the one about the crossdressing sailor, of the same name.

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Three Songs from: Sea Legs

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HEY Y’ALL.

I’m more or less settled in Mississippi now (translation: I’ve unpacked half my books) and I’m coming to you today with music from Australia because of the MAGIC of TECHNOLOGY. I love the internet sometimes, I really do.

Specifically, I am bringing you three songs from Sea Legs, who are from Bateau Bay, Australia (Central Coast, north of Sydney) which I like because they are either uncomplicated fun, making interesting use of shimmer and fuzz, or both.

Why Don’t We Go Out Tonight, from their upcoming EP Daddy’s Girl, is exactly what it says on the tin: an invitation to conjugate the verb “to party,” and is the kind of thing suited for driving up coast roads with the top down while wearing obnoxious sunglasses and/or dancing around your room while refining your Party Look. The guitars are satisfyingly propulsive and crunchy, as well, which I always enjoy. A++ would add to a roadtrip playlist.

Christopher Strong, is not as lightweight as Why Don’t We Go Out Tonight, but I’m still very fond of it. Based on a TRUE STORY, i.e. Sea Legs’ frontman Byron Knight’s chance encounter with Katherine Hepburn while traveling in America in 1998, the lyrics are bittersweet – Hepburn was clearly feeling the sting of her declining years – but the tune is very neatly constructed.

Take A Little For Yourself is more mellow than the other two, and is ALSO a true story, though one about a fatally jealous love affair, not a Hollywood star. Things I liked: interplay of tones, fuzz, and shimmery reverb and how it’s a little slower than the other two but still has good energy and pacing.

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A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink: Ilana J

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

England is the second song I listened to from Ilana J (Ilana Jeavons), and is by far my favorite from her new EP, Free Falling from the Ground Up. Her voice is a delight, the beat is infectious; what makes it interesting to me is she’s singing about the traditional English concept of self – green and pleasant land, land of hope and glory, and so on – in a decidedly non-traditional way.

Here’s an illustrative video:

https://youtu.be/91MD9R7GvwI

And with that, I turn the floor over to Ilana J, who has joined us today to share a favorite book, record and drink:

Ilanaj

A GOOD READ

This is a difficult one for me simply because I read alot so I have to pick the best I read this year which is The Farm by Tom Rob Smith . . . he is more well known as the author of Child 44, soon to be a movie.

Anyway The Farm is about this 20ish year old guy called Daniel in London who thinks his parents are enjoying retirement on an idyllic farm in Sweden after selling their business in North London.

Until he gets a phone call from his dad saying his mum hasn’t been herself and is now in a mental home. So Daniel, in a state of panic, gets ready to fly over to join his dad. But just as he is about to leave his mum calls and say something to the effect of . . . Don’t believe a word your father tells you . . . I am coming to London and I will meet you at Heathrow!

Well I just didn’t really stop reading after that . . . I just love books like that.

I perhaps found it more compelling because I thought about my parents in that situation (who thankfully have recently divorced.) Their book would have been Epic by proportion!!

A GOOD LISTEN

Thats an easy one . . . Hopes and Fears by Keane.

Clever lyrics, dreamy sounds, every song is brilliant and I must have listened to it a million times!

Quote from I Can’t Stop Now

I noticed tonight
that the world has been turning
while I’ve been stood here dithering around,
though I know I said that I’d wait around until you need me,
I have to go, I hate to let you down
Now I cant stop now, I’ve got troubles of my own,
coz I’m short on time,
I’m lonely and I’m too tired to talk

Hah I think he’s giving someone a dig!

Keane - Can´t Stop Now (Live At O2 Arena DVD) (High Quality video)(HQ)

A GOOD DRINK

Coming from inner city Birmingham and having spent 4 years at Uni my drink has to be alcoholic as the only other drinks I have are water or Tetley tea which are extremely dull. I love wine especially French . . . my favorite white is Montrachet and my favorite red is Pomerol.

A glass of wine a day makes life a little less dull!!!

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A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink: Angéline

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Here is what I like about Angéline’s latest EP, Back to Pike Place: the percussion is subtle, spare, and compelling, but not overwhelming. Furthermore, her tunes reflect her travels: the rhythms are drawn, in part, from time spent in Cuba; the streetnoises of Havana and London are both incorporated into the larger soundscape; and one song is in her native French. As soon as I heard it, I wanted to know more about her.

For example, consider the steady insistent pulse of Black Butterflies:

And with that I will turn the floor over to her, to share a favorite book, record and drink:

Angéline, dancing.

Angéline, dancing.

A Good Read

With no doubt I chose the book I am currently reading: Conversations with Picasso by Brassaï. A few years ago I discovered the world of Art, I became obsessed with painters. I go through phases when I read, watch every documentary there is about a chosen artist; I give myself missions to analyze and understand the artist and the context in which he made his masterpieces. Brassaï reports conversations he had with Picasso in Paris during the war, enabling the reader to understand his complex personality. Brassaï invites the reader to listen to Picasso and his fellow surrealists debating on Life and Art, and I, after every chapter, feel the need to write about it, too frustrated that I don’t get to express my opinion and be in the room with them all!

A Good Listen

The 1st album that came to my mind is Catching a Tiger by Lissie (2010). Again, I get very obsessive with albums I buy and I will play them on repeat until I know every single word of every song. I had only heard one song of this album before buying it but it straight away became one of my favourite. I love Lissie’s broken voice, she sings with her heart and her imperfections make her sound so beautiful, so true. At the time, the pictures of the booklet, the space in the music and the country-folk influences woke up the dream I had to travel the world. Later on, it’s Record Collector I listened to when I went to the Grand Canyon.

Lissie - Record Collector (Live on 89.3 The Current)

A Good Drink

Now that’s a tricky one. I was going to pick Rum, as it just reminds me of my trip to Cuba and those sleepless nights dancing under the Havana sky! But actually, i could never live without coffee!!! I cannot resist the delicious smell, reminding me of those Sunday mornings at home with my family. Since in London I’ve become a coffee addict, my favourite being a single-origin Ethiopian flat white from Department of Coffee and Social Affairs.