powdered sugar

can't get enough of this shit

lol

lol get craig david off my yacht

the pains of being at sxsw

sxsw 2011:

true widow

cloud nothings

the pains of being pure at heart

whomadewho

nite jewel

gold panda

summer camp

wolf gang

royal bangs

darwin deez

memoryhouse

yuck

big k.r.i.t.

baths

puro instinct

weekend

owen pallet

the pains of being pure at heart

moby (dj set)

the strokes

glasser

calvin harris

diamond rings

pipes

miami horror (more like miami horrible, nahmsayin?)

boyz noise

pictureplane

small black

glasser

kurt vile

deerhunter

tuneyards

!!! (aka "slut slut slut")

beach fossils

duff mckagan's loaded

games

maps and atlases

tv on the radio

big boi

!!!

dead milkmen

silent diane

veronica falls

rainbow arabia

shit robot

trentemoller

highs:  cloud nothings (19 year olds killing it like veterans), pains of being pure at heart (belong is my current fucking JAM / made me wanna hold my heart and sway / "we tried each other / let's try another"), memoryhouse (sounded amazing in a church), weekend (favorite rock show of the week), calvin harris (my first srs adrenaline rush of the week courtesy of those murderous staccato synths), pictureplane (how ridiculous is that video?) (dude was wearing doc martens, tights, cut off shorts, a baggy shirt with an all-over print of rats fucking, a "parental advisory" hat circa 1991, fingerless gloves, and one dangly earring AND, not coincidentally, put on my favorite show of the week), beach fossils ("fuck this venue, especially the sound guy"), big boi (fucking big boi!), rainbow arabia (skinny smoky voiced brunette with a record out on kompakt writhing on the floor at my feet begging me to hold her?  in.); shit robot ("best DJ set i've ever seen" lol), trentemoller (henrik vibskov on drums!).  also riding my bike all over austin, more dark haired girls, free beers, smoot & co., fricano's (jonah best sandwich alive!), my dope house for 1, my chauffeur, britt rollin' hard, and on and on.

lows:  whomadewho (trite), nite jewel (boring), wolf gang (caricatures of obnoxious englishmen / wannabe rockstars), owen pallet (come on bro), pipes (stupidest shit i've ever seen) (can't even find him online to provide an example of how shitty), dead milkmen (dusty and retarded).  also my dope house for 1, standing in line for 4 (!) hours for big boi, fucking standing period, breaking nick's truck :(, those brooklyns and the jameson in my pad going untouched, no afterpartying, this wack famers tan that got scorched into my body.

all in all, another amazing year. 

i just realized how badass this video is.

29

"what kind of muscle relaxer is that?"

"did i say 'minimum?'  i did didn't i?  i meant 'maximum.'"

"damn this is beef jerky on my drink. . . pretty good."

"hey man . . . lemme help you get that ring off." 

"it comes off pretty easy."

closing scene pt. 2.

not to overdo it, but what a way to end a set. couldn't find the video from mexico city, but the point remains.

radio dept. @ lunario 2.19.11

this video, this song, this night, captures so much of what makes mexico city perfect. enthusiasm, heartache, buzz, optimism, defiance, beauty, youth. just  listen to them singing along!

it was radio dept.'s first time in mexico. "we've played some dates in the states, but it was nothing like this. amazing." everyone has the same experience. it just swells up inside of you, and there is nothing like it.  magical.

perfecto. gracias gracias gracias.

closing scene.

domestic scene.

wild nothing @ sons 2.5.11

anything love.

you guys are gonna like this one

sweet diversions

killed a double feature last night.  first was quiet city.  most boring shit i've ever seen in my life.  and that's coming from someone who generally enjoys mumblecore (christ i hate writing that word).  there was one (maybe two) good scenes.  the rest was a snoozefest, and i struggled to finish [all 78 minutes of] it.  that said, it did sort of capture the experience of day wandering around brooklyn ruminating about life and shit with your 20-something slacker friends.  the photography was great too.  i'd say it's a decent start, and it inspired me to put dance party USA and cold weather in my queue.  still pretty optional.  to quote smoot:  "is it even possible for a mumblecore movie to be anything but optional?" 

then on to bakery girl of monceau.  this is all i need to say:

"A law student with a roving eye and a large appetite stuffs himself full of sugar cookies and pastries daily in order to garner the attentions of the pretty brunette who works in a quaint Paris bakery. But is he truly interested, or is she just a sweet diversion?"  

you get one guess.  shown in its entirety below.

i'm not the girl you're taking home

fred falke murdering it again.  as good for lonely late night drive home as it is for a lonely late night out on the town.  primo. 

another savage night at the club

i've gotten some shit for sticking by destroyer since discovering them at sxsw in 2004.  even though he hadn't heard them, fig urged me to go see them with him because he thought a band called "destroyer" would definitely be good.  it was admittedly not what we were expecting, but still a good find.  that same strategy didn't work out so well for him when he shelled out $25 for a DFL  cd at bill's in 1998, but i guess he stuck to it.  (i can't actually remember what record it was, but i'm probably being charitable when i suggest that it was DFL.  anyone remember?)

UPDATE:  confirmed by the man himself that it was DFL ("dead fukkin' last...one 30 minute track on the album.").  one day he was playing it in his room and, almost in unison, the rest of us were like "dude, what the fuck is this?"  thereafter, "DFL" was shorthand for any shitty cd of a band you'd never heard.  "what is this shit?  DFL?  srsly."    

anyway, destroyer still owns.  this record is everything they do right.  doms. 

they should arrest you / or whoever dressed you (yuh!)

i've been sittin' on this track for a couple months, but just saw the vodka commercial/video. 

G or not G?

days of being wild (also known as "2010")

superbligged and i planned on a double feature last night:  the burning followed by house.  i've been dying to see both for a while.  it didn't happen, but it's still in the works.  home alone and in the mood for love, i cued up days of being wild.  i first saw it 7 or 8 years ago, and it immediately became my favorite wong kar-wai jam, which is saying a lot.  as with most of wkw's work, the details had faded from my memory but i had never forgotten the tone.  on a second viewing, it hit me even harder.

a pissed off, emotionally distant, and casually reckless 28 year old with mommy issues spends his time luring women in and then breaking their hearts.  in his wake, he leaves a trail of women (and men) that don't fully realize the true romances in their lives because they're caught up on an idea of something that never was.  crushing.

but enough about me...

easily in my top 3 or 5 of all time.  mandatory viewing for all lonelyhearts.  just a taste:  

half-assed guilt

can't you see?