The Palace of Enchantment 2

fishingwithmike @ 2008-12-14T17:04:00

2008-12-14T23:18:24Z

Favorite music of 2008:

fennesz - black sea
j dilla - welcome 2 detroit
max roach
neil young - "cortez the killer"
nurse with wound - soliloquy for lilith
philip corner - "gamelan"
ursula bogner - recordings 1969-1988
13th floor elevators - easter everywhere
ina grm archives box
burning star core - body blues 7"
harmonia
kevin drumm - imperial distortion
magik markers - danau blues
tetuzi akiyama
the velvet underground
katelyn mumbling miley cyrus
max's hip hop mix
portishead - third
sic alps - u.s. ez
deutsch-amerikanische freundschaft 7"s

other stuff

fishingwithmike @ 2008-03-21T18:50:00

2008-03-21T23:51:23Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XjaImfQK6U

I wish all rock concerts were as lively as this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vmr_QvBBE4&NR=1

His follow-up interview is pretty good too.

Top 25 '07

2007-12-07T14:05:52Z

Holla.

25. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
24. Daniel Higgs - Metempsychotic Melodies
23. Expo '70 - Animism
22. Flower-Corsano Duo - The Radiant Mirror
21. Pissed Jeans - Hope for Men
20. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
19. Tigersmilk - Android Love Cry
18. Pumice - Pebbles
17. Fiery Furnaces - Widow City
16. Mammal - Lonesome Drifter
15. Blues Control - s/t
14. Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter from the Ash
13. Avey Tare & Kria Brekken - Pullhair Rubeye
12. Smegma - 33 1/3
11. Radiohead - In Rainbows
10. Ignatz - II
9. Group Doueh - Guitar Music from the Western Sahara
8. BARR - Summary
7. Graham Lambkin - Salmon Run
6. Blues Control - Puff
5. Magik Markers - BOSS
4. Pink Reason - Cleaning the Mirror
3. Jana Hunter - There's No Home
2. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
1. Sic Alps - Description of the Harbor

Word.

On Bee Movie

2007-11-12T01:36:40Z

What a turd. Who cares about bees enough that they're going to be entertained by the thought of what bees would do in a human-like society? And this bee is supposed to be a newly-graduated high schooler and it's Horse Man Jerry Seinfeld trying to sound like one! Yuk.

And are these joke set-ups written by people making failed sitcoms in the '50s?

FUCK DREAMWORKS. Wake up, America.

Update: I've re-discovered the only thing that can re-set this horrible blow to the moral balance of the world: Prince's incredible If I Was Your Girlfriend.

Update 2: The balance is upset again: FUCK SEINFELD.

Oops

2007-10-30T18:24:50Z

Ah, crap. I just remembered my goal of reading Thomas Pynchon's oeuvre by the end of the year. I was going strong for a while, ready to start Vineland way back in April, but I didn't start it until, um... today. I can still do this.

Speaking of which, Against the Day came out in paperback today. I think I'll go and buy it just to punish myself.

Please go here and watch all the videos. Guitar wanksters cut DOWN!!!

fishingwithmike @ 2007-08-29T17:19:00

2007-08-29T22:34:28Z

Just because many of us are now adults who are moving around the world and will never be heard from again, here is a general update on my current situation.

I graduated in May and have signed a 1-year lease for a solo apartment in the area. Now I'm looking for a job around here so that I can stay in the same town as my girlfriend. I live a humdrum life but I'm mostly happy. Last night, for example, I responded to Tom Scharpling's radio topic, [Name of Profession]? I Could Do That.

Observe.

I realize now that my zip code does not begin with 6-0.

fishingwithmike @ 2007-07-03T15:50:00

2007-07-03T20:58:46Z

http://herearemythoughtsonmusic.blogspot.com

Not exactly what I hinted at last time, but it is a brand new blog. It's about music, and is arranged in eleven-point chunks. I hope you like it, I really do.

fishingwithmike @ 2007-06-22T19:45:00

2007-06-23T00:55:49Z

Boy journal, today was a real drag. I mean reading is fun and all, but eight straight hours of it as a job? SHEESH, now that's what I call a done deal!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean HECK, I enjoy the seminal works of Viktor Shklovsky as much as the next guy but GEEZ LAWEEZE sometimes it's too much, you just wanna have a sandwich or something AMIRIGHT?????????

Like so the other day I'm reading this book. I'm reading it cover to cover like ZAM because I mean this book is flippin nuts I mean it's what they call SUH-WEET, ya KNOWUDUHMEAN????????

And then in comes the boss and he's all like AY MICHAEL and I'm like MMNHMMMMM??? and he's like Y'GET THOSE SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR THE TWO SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES THAT SENT ME EMAILS THIS MORNING THAT I FORWARDED TO YOU and I'm like MMMNHMMMNOWWWHOA WHOA SLOW DOWN IM TRYIN' TA READ HERE KNOWUDUHMEAN??????? But I basically had to do them then n' there which makes my ice cream turn to sour cream Y'GET WHAT I'M D'SCRIBIN'?

bye journal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'm thinking about starting a whole new blog where I complain about things in the above voice. Comments/Concerns?)

fishingwithmike @ 2007-06-06T18:57:00

2007-06-07T00:05:19Z

Back by popular demand (Jack D. Kentala scoffed in our general direction), here is the latest single from Viggo & the Carpathians. Originally eight minutes, it has now been pared down to an essential three.

Puberty by Viggo & the Carpathians.

The best part about this song is that I have no idea who the drummer is. Props to the biggest Viggo line-up yet: Mike, Josh, Pat, Emily, [Unknown drummer], and myself.

fishingwithmike @ 2007-06-04T14:42:00

2007-06-04T19:44:42Z

A few recent and important things I find amusing:

Special names for celebrities, like Jacko.
The songs in Donkey Konga 2 and the profound stupidity of Donkey Konga 2.

In other news, name the singer of this song and I'll be impressed. (Hint: You know this.)

fishingwithmike @ 2007-04-11T23:17:00

2007-04-12T04:18:14Z

Kurt Vonnegut!

Fuck.

Here is a book excerpt for you:

2007-03-17T02:42:56Z

(Chapter 58 of Hervé Le Tellier's "The Sextine Chapel")

Dennis and Oriane. The Estufa Fria of Lisbon is echoing with the melodious singing of the arae araraunae perched on the highest branches of the monsterae deliciosae. At the far end of the fountain full of eichhorniae crassipes, hidden from curious gazes by the broad leafs of a forest of dicksoniae antarticae and pteridia aquilinia, Dennis has raised Oriane's flounced skirt. Dennis's phallus erectus penetrates a tergo her vagina lubrificata and the fragrance of their coitus more canino (before long interruptus by a group of schoolboys) mingles with the exotic odours of the Proustian cattleyae.

A few days later, Oriane notices that the chlamydiae Dennis gave her are not ornamental plants.

Sam Kinison

2007-03-03T06:21:23Z

fishingwithmike @ 2007-02-21T20:53:00

2007-02-22T03:00:26Z

Because lists are wonderful:

Constantly Updated List of Books I've Read, 2007:

January:
Pride & Prejudice (1813) Jane Austen (F)
The Children's Hospital (2006) Chris Adrian (F)
What is the What (2006) Dave Eggers (F)
Rivers and Mountains (1966) John Ashberry (P)
Arboretum (2006) David Byrne (NF)

February:
Mr. Dynamite (2004) Meredith Brosnan (F)
Fiction and the Figures of Life (1978) William H. Gass (NF)
City in Love: The New York Metamorphoses (1996) Alex Shakar (F)

March:
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) Thomas Pynchon (F)
The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952) Amos Tutuola (F)
McSweeney's 22 (2007) ed. Dave Eggers (F, P)
The Exquisite (2006) Laird Hunt (F)
Aberration of Starlight (1980) Gilbert Sorrentino (F)
Embryoyo (2007) Dean Young (P)
The Third Policeman (1967) Flann O'Brien (F)
Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things (1972) Gilbert Sorrentino (F)

April:
The Exquisite (2006) Laird Hunt (F) (again!)
Out of Focus (1985) Alf MacLochlainn (F)
Slow Learner (1984) Thomas Pynchon (F)
As You Were Saying: American Writers Respond to Their French Contemporaries (2007) eds. Fabrice Rozié, Esther Allen, and Guy Walter (F)
Gravity's Rainbow (1973) Thomas Pynchon (F)
Man in the Holocene (1979) Max Frisch (F)
Attempts at a Life (2007) Danielle Dutton (F)
Boswell: A Modern Comedy (1964) Stanley Elkin (F)

May:
Golden Handcuffs Review vol. 1, no. 8 (2007) ed. Lou Rowan (F/NF/P)
Teeth Under the Sun Ignácio de Loyola Brandão (F) (abandoned halfway!)
The Barnum Museum (1990) Steven Millhauser (F)
Vain Art of the Fugue (1991) Dumitru Tsepeneag (F)
Marks of Identity (1966) Juan Goytisolo (F)
The Lunatic at Large (1899) J. Storer Clouston (F)
The Finner Faction (1989) Bernard Share (F)
The Republic (360 BC) Plato (NF)
Criers & Kibitzers, Kibitzers & Criers (1966) Stanley Elkin (F)
Splendide-Hôtel (1973) Gilbert Sorrentino (F)
Ladies Almanack (1928) Djuna Barnes (F)
Timaeus (360 BC) Plato (NF)
Innovations: An Anthology of Modern & Contemporary Fiction (1998) ed. Robert L. McLaughlin (F)
Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife (1968) William H. Gass (F)

June:
I Am Otherwise: The Romance between Poetry and Theory after the Death of the Subject (2007) Alex E. Blazer (NF)
The First Book of Grabinoulor (1921) Pierre Albert-Birot (F)
Singular Pleasures (1988) Harry Mathews (F)
Scenes from a Receding Past (1977) Aidan Higgins (F)
A Bad Man (1967) Stanley Elkin (F)

(Exciting goal: Read everything else by Thomas Pynchon before 2008 [I have already read V.].)

fishingwithmike @ 2007-02-03T16:51:00

2007-02-03T22:54:38Z

Hey, man. Check it out: http://www.hobartpulp.com/website/index.html

Word.

The Glut

2007-01-24T00:51:46Z

"i'm sure some people who bought the old record have now moved on to extreme noise or something, but maybe there are enough new people to make up for it!" - James Murphy

Let's hope so, because you're down at least one so far. Your halfway-but-not-at-all self-effacing attitude toward your boner for fame and awards and certificates is no longer something to laugh about and it's certainly not something to listen to. Wanting to get to #1 so you can giggle about how North American Scum still won't be played on the radio are you fucking inverted-joke kidding me?

In other disgusting music news: Pitchfork's review of the new Deerhoof makes me almost rethink my enjoyment of the album. Essentially, Dahlen's saying it's good because they've put all that weirdo experimental stuff behind them and finally made a good Yes record. Now all they need to do is get rid of anything else that distinguishes them as a band - first and foremost, getting rid of the non-American non-sexy non-male vocalist.

But I'm going to keep enjoying it because I listened to it and enjoyed it and am not James Murphy or Chuck Klosterman or Mitch Albom or, what, CSS? Who knows. Glut upon glut upon shut shut shut-ted down, down.

Sorry dudes. I'm tired.

Musix Da Bomb

2006-12-20T20:32:20Z

Since TMT put up their Year-End Extravaganza today, I'll share my Top 25 with no commentary because I am tired and you do not care. Still I will put them in descending order because list-in-descending-order is in the Number Two Invention of All Time. (Number Two Worst Invention of All Time: Venn Diagram)

Please read every word of every article TMT has, because I've contributed a smattering of things and everyone else has written eye-opening, ear-reconfiguring things about weird stuff they love. Even the collective Top 25 is superbity squared.

25. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
24. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
23. Chris Corsano - Blood Pressure
22. The Roots - Game Theory
21. Pere Ubu - Why I Hate Women
20. Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice - Gipsy Freedom
19. Keiji Haino - Yaranaiga Dekinaikotoni Natteyuku
18. Josephine Foster - A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
17. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
16. Six Organs of Admittance - The Sun Awakens
15. Sun City Girls - Djinn Funnel
14. Psalm One - The Death Of Frequent Flyer
13. Mouthus - The Long Salt
12. Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
11. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
10. Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of The Beast
9. The Curtains - Calamity
8. V/A - Less Self Is More Self
7. Fat Worm Of Error - Pregnant Babies Pregnant With Pregnant Babies
6. Magik Markers - Road Pussy
5. Comets On Fire - Avatar
4. Joanna Newsom - Ys
3. J Dilla - Donuts
2. Magik Markers - A Panegyric To The Things I Do Not Understand
1. Ekkehard Ehlers - A Life Without Fear

I Hate Thurston Moore

2006-12-05T02:40:31Z

I also hate Butlin's Holiday Centre in Minehead, Somerset. Not only that, I hate All Tomorrow's Parties, and their stupid festivals. I hate the following musical artists who will be at Butlin's Holiday Centre from December 8th to December 10th, instead of somewhere near Chicago:

Iggy & the Stooges, Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, Six Organs of Admittance, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Charalambides, My Cat Is An Alien, The Skaters, Melvins, Magik Markers, Deerhoof, Wooden Wand, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Wolf Eyes, The Dead C., Monotract, Prurient, Awesome Color, MC5, Dinosaur Jr., Gang of Four, Nurse With Wound, Aaron Dilloway, Major Stars, Mouthus, Double Leopards, Lambsbread, No-Neck Blues Band, Hive Mind, Leslie Keffer, Dead Machines, Nels Cline, Flipper, MV/EE + the Bummer Road, Hair Police, 16 Bitch Pile Up, Bark Haze, Islaja, Comets on Fire, and Sun City Girls.

~~I also hate the Nintendo Wii.~~

Edit: I no longer hate the Nintendo Wii. Gimme your friend code if you have a Wii!

The Juice

2006-11-15T17:51:42Z

What, the, fuck?

fishingwithmike @ 2006-11-07T22:59:00

2006-11-08T03:59:41Z

In a frantic rush to get my London courses post-approved before signing up for my last semester of classes, I am forced to produce proof that I actually took the courses. While scrounging up stuff today, I found the final 10-page paper I turned in for English Medieval Architecture II: 1200-1350. This class was so ridiculously difficult (despite the fact that the course description noted: "No need for previous architectural knowledge") that I was essentially forced to learn a new language in a couple weeks before the first test. My paper is titled, "Salisbury Cathedral: Maverick," has 25 legitimate footnotes from seven different sources, and received a 71 which is an A in British land.

I can't even believe I did this, let alone enjoyed it. On the "Essay Comment Sheet," Professor Plant wrote in one section: "The piece is very well structured, but I'm not sure I believe your view that some of the idiosyncrasies result from masonic misunderstanding; the partial arcading, for example, is too deliberate. Also there is a strong body of opinion that the master, or the man in charge of the works was a clergyman, Elias of Dereham." I got an A!

This also makes me think of the conditions under which the paper was written. A girl named Erica (who had a brother named Eric) was in my class and stayed up until 5am with me online the night before it was due, cheering me on to get the paper done, and vice-versa. She was also writing on Salisbury Cathedral, though she believed it to be not a maverick, but a paradigm. We were talking online because the week before, our class had taken a trip to Ely Cathedral, which required a long train ride, and I ended up sitting across from Erica. We got along well and I got her phone number shortly after making a joke about my mother being raised by gazelles while growing up in Kenya.

So we finally finished our papers around the same time, and Erica mentioned that we had to celebrate after class by going to a pub. When the time came, we were both hungry and walked to a sushi restaurant but decided against going in since I saw my terrifying History of Political Theory professor dining near the window. We bought ramen noodles from the campus shop and went to her flat to eat them. While they cooked we shared a bottle of red wine and talked about Professor Plant's jagged teeth, getting tipsy in a matter of minutes. Erica began speaking in an amazing Cockney accent (she was from California) and flailing her arms around in a dance on her side of the table. I started laughing and clapping rhythmically and leaned forward quickly, breaking the chair in the process. Erica and I tried to piece it back together for a few minutes until we realized that people in the opposite flat were watching us through their windows and pointing. Erica said she needed a shower and I got a phone call from another friend about dinner plans, so we said goodbye and she stood in the doorway as I walked down the staircase, telling me to come back again sometime.

I met up with my other friend for dinner, and when she saw me, she gave me a hug that swung her purse into my testicles with overwhelming force.

I never saw Erica again, other than when I ran into her on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral. I was exiting, she was entering. We both smiled, waved at each other, and kept walking.

fishingwithmike @ 2006-10-26T20:44:00

2006-10-27T01:50:21Z

The first customer review for that LCD Soundsystem/Nike track on iTunes is amazing (props to tushkodad):

"the album pushed me to perform; momentum exceeded resistance and kept on beyond the cycling. the album cover is great as well!! About time to have one without faces!"

That's all. Hope you have a nice weekend.

Summer MP3 Extravaganza

2006-09-23T22:44:55Z

Got a real treat for y'all tonight. I just recently discovered how to convert certain files into other ones, so to celebrate, I would like to share some choice cuts of music, all recorded by various bands this past summer. Every single song is an EXCLUSIVE you won't find anywhere else, and that's a fact.

How do I know this? Because I am in all these bands. A shoutout to all the other players on these tracks: Mike, Josh, Amy, Pat, and Louis.

Untitled EP by Viggo & the Carpathians

1. [untitled]
2. [untitled]
3. [untitled]
4. [untitled]
5. Happy Birthday

Untitled EP by Worf & the Cardassians

1. Melody/Dissonance
2. Dissonance
3. Mousey Dung

Snikt by The Logans

1. Tomorrow
2. The Great Abyss
3. Take Me Instead

Pressed Apple Cider by OSM

1. Song D
2. Pressed Apple Cider
3. Song G
4. They're Here [remix] Please enjoy.

fishingwithmike @ 2006-09-20T21:04:00

2006-09-21T02:05:08Z

Cat Power's newfound sobriety makes me feel reaaal weird.

Frickin' sweet interview

2006-09-16T00:32:19Z

Radar: Hello, Stephen. How are you?
SB: I'm frickin' good!

Radar: I didn't know Christians could say frickin'.
SB: Sure they can. I represent the new breed of Christians, baby, that are gettin' ready to kick ass in the name of the Kingdom.

Radar: You're also looking to spread the word through a skateboard tour.
SB: I'm launching a ministry next year called the Breakthrough. We're doing an extreme sports tour called the Uprising Core Tour. It's gonna be me, Christian Hosoi, and a whole bunch of other guys. It's going to be like Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam meets a Pink Floyd concert meets Cirque du Soleil. It's gonna be a trip.

Radar: So can you name the seven deadly sins?
SB: Dude, I'm totally clueless.

Radar: Lust, greed, sloth, gluttony, wrath, envy, pride.
SB: Although wrath in the Bible isn't a sin.

Radar: Not in the hands of God, but it is in the hands of a mortal.
SB: Hey, you're pretty hip to this whole deal. Are you like some Jesus freak?

This whole interview is awesome. I'm starting to think that maybe the rapture is coming. Stephen Baldwin is the real deal.

Speaking of The Rapture...total shit.

P.S.: Can someone please stroke my withering ego already? I'm a newswriter at tmt, dudettes!

fishingwithmike @ 2006-08-31T17:46:00

2006-08-31T22:52:41Z

I've been pretty busy with shit lately, so apologies for the lack of updates and contact. Having said that, this isn't much of an update. It's merely a note to mention that if you don't already check the best music site on Earth daily, tomorrow you will have another good reason to start.