Mr. Mississippi

Chad Vader Season 2 Part 2

2010-08-18T00:54:00.002-05:00

Season 2 heats up with a much funnier second episode. Dalek references, a laser scanner issue and some misc. silly hoo-hah. Enjoy!

YoYo Battles!

2010-08-18T00:51:00.001-05:00

Here is a clip from the show that inspired Yo-Yo Girl Cop (mentioned last month). Pretty rad battle sequence!

muslimgauze

2010-08-15T16:48:00.003-05:00

I've recently gotten into the band muslimgauze again. Bryn Jones did some amazing material in his short 38 years. Here's a cut from Gun Aramaic with a rather shocking video to accompany it. The track itself is pretty creepy too, there's an "early industrial/sound collage mixed with Middle Eastern instruments" vibe that no one but Jones could totally do justice to.

Chad Vader Season 2 Part 1

2010-08-10T09:55:00.002-05:00

I was going to post a few of the Chad Vader shorts but I didn't really find them very funny so I decided to jump into season two straight away. A new corporate take-over, a new love interest, Chad on a bike and lots of snow. It's an OK start, we'll see where it goes.

Anime Doctor Who (part two)

2010-08-09T22:36:00.001-05:00

Here's the second part of the "making a proper Doctor Who anime". Please enjoy!

Boards Of Canada + LEGOs

2010-08-08T00:54:00.000-05:00

Robotech Episode Two: Countdown

2010-08-05T23:49:00.001-05:00

I just finished the Macross Saga this morning, hurray! Here's the second episode of Robotech for all rabid Robotech fans here at www.mrmississippi.blogspot.com

Beach Boys v. J Dilla

2010-08-04T11:32:00.001-05:00

Get it here

New Blog (pt. 2)

2010-08-03T21:41:00.002-05:00

Hi friends! I've started a new dedicated yoga blog today, it's at www.jaifive.blogspot.com I'm going to start that one out by simply re-posting the majority of my yoga related posts from here onto there. As I start to create new material I'll make sure to crosspost it here as well, I just wanted something that was a little more focused on the mechanics of yoga and playlists without the personal stuff and weirdness that I welcome here.

Jai!

Chad Vader Part Eight

2010-08-03T08:35:00.003-05:00

Here it is, the grand finale to the first season of Chad Vader! The epic showdown between Chad and Clint with the management fate of Empire Markets to be determined once and for all!

Next week: Some random Chad Vader silliness, then Season Two will begin shortly thereafter.

Ratatat "Drugs"

2010-08-02T23:54:00.004-05:00

Here's another Pitchfork find. Best Ratatat song I've heard in ages and a enjoyably odd video to boot:
Drugs

RATATAT | MySpace Music Videos

Anime Doctor Who (part one)

2010-08-02T20:56:00.002-05:00

Here's the first part of a "making of" feature for a short anime styled Doctor Who story that an inventive and talented fan has been working on. Freakin' awesome to my nerd eyes!

Popol Vuh "Hosianna-Mantra"

2010-08-01T22:03:00.004-05:00

Popol Vuh at their best are one of my favorite krautrock bands. Their track "Aguirre III" is my favorite song of all time, pure bliss! I have been listening to their Hosianna Mantra album since getting home from CorePower and am blown away by how beautiful it is! It is available for preview from this blog and you can listen to the title track on this Youtube video:

Please enjoy!

Tillsammans (Together)

2010-08-01T21:58:00.003-05:00

Just watched this last night, the trailer below is a little poopy but the movie but the movie itself is wonderful! It's a loving and understated drama that is genuinely "feel good" in the best sort of way. It's a Swedish movie about a woman who flees her alcoholic husband and moves in with her brother's hippy commune. It's streaming on Netflix (which is how I found it), watch it please!

BananaSLOTH I Love To Ride the Shikansen

2010-08-01T09:32:00.005-05:00

This is a new cEvin (Skinny Puppy) Key project. Like most of his recent material, the majority of the album doesn't interest but it contains one or two great tracks, here is the GREAT bananaSLOTH track:

I am currently using this as a core track on my second to most recent yoga playlist, every time I hear the track it makes me happy! The video, as you may have noticed, isn't that amazing but that's OK.

Yoga Playlists (Part Seven)

2010-07-31T13:57:00.004-05:00

I went through a period of using pretty up-tempo techno as the bulk of my playlists. I've never posted one of these before, so without further ado, here it is yo:

ka-ba vinyasa 26

1. Galaxy "La casa de Can Raco" from Science of Ecstasy

2. Markus Schulz "Traveling Light" from Without You Near

3. Alex Gaudino "Watch Out (Extended Mix)" from Watch Out

4. Art of Trance "Madagascar (Domi Nation Remix)" from Madagascar Remixes

5. Morgan Page "The Longest Road" from Elevate

6. Deep Theory "Do It (Miguel Migs Large Dub)" from Summer Night Sessions

7. Mimic "Re-Solve" from Afterhours Ibiza

8. OceanLab "On A Good Day" from Sirens of the Sea

9. Ratnabali "Spiritual Trance" from Shiva Lounge

10. Bonobo "Transmission 94 (Parts 1 & 2)" from Days to Come

11. Legion of Green Men "Constellation (Adam Shaikh Remix)" from Polymorphic Convolutions

12. Galaxy "Meet the Buddha" from Science of Ecstasy

Bonobo, OceanLab and Morgan Page are all great for yoga playlists and can easily work in playlists not so techno oriented. I went through a period where one of the three were on just about every playlist I made. Mimic is the "break after inversions" track and it's a great one for that. The intro track is a little beat heavy, I keep meaning to switch it out. "Meet the Buddha" is a pretty cool closer though. The Art of Trance track reminds me of 1999 and Oakenfold's classic Tranceport mix.

This is the sort of playlist I can only really use for specific, high energy sorts of classes - it's just too much otherwise. These days I'll use my techno playlists (I've got three of them) maybe on average once a month. If I use them on the right days the reaction from the class is great but on the wrong days they hit like a lead balloon.

Chad Vader Part Seven

2010-07-30T20:01:00.004-05:00

Going back to the dawn of www.mrmississippi.blogspot.com I realize that there was a great uncompleted task, the first season of Chad Vader. So as to deny my faithful readers no more of Chad's nefarious schemes, I present to you finally - Episode Seven:

Newer readers may click on the Chad Vader tag to see the previous six episodes! After this episode we'll return Chad to his regular Tuesday slot on this fine blog!

Robotech Episode One: Boobytrap

2010-07-29T22:20:00.004-05:00

So I've stuck with Robotech longer than I thought I would have done, I'm on the 20th episode right now and really enjoying it. I was browsing YouTube for other stuff and realized that they've got the whole series on there. So, for you viewing pleasure, here's the first episode of this classic Americanized Anime from my youth:

Yoga and Dancing and Living the Good Life

2010-07-29T21:59:00.002-05:00

Mark Farina was a great show made even better by the fact that everyone I went out dancing with actually stayed boogying on the dance almost all night long! Usually I dance more than others when I go with a group and having everyone boogie down made it a truly excellent dance experience.

Speaking of truly excellent experiences, I just got back from Hot Yoga with Sanj and it was the best Hot Yoga class I've taken. I have now truly found the deep resonant love for the Bikram/Hot practice which I enjoyed before but didn't truly "get". What made it so great, outside of great teaching, was that tonight I could really hear my mind start to throw crap at me, and I had the ability to get in deep with my breath and instead of just allowing the mind to distract me, I sent my breath in to the areas where I was resistant. In my shoulders, with claustrophobia, fear of pushing further, etc - I just kept sending the breath through and letting the emotions and thoughts fully rise up without resisting them. Having the full minute in poses means that the practice can be a lot more confrontational than a more flowing practice and that confrontation was just what I needed tonight.

Hurray for yoga and hurray for life!

Dream Machine on the Dance Floor

2010-07-27T23:06:00.001-05:00

Going to see Mark Farina tonight! Here's a great track of his:

Sonshi March

2010-07-26T13:05:00.000-05:00

I'll Be Managing Huntington Beach

2010-07-21T21:28:00.001-05:00

So the news I vaguely alluded to yesterday is now been officially released - I'll be managing the Huntington Beach CorePower Yoga! I'm quite excited for this, I love the studio and feel like I can do a great job here. I'm very happy that Kat will still be around at the studio, because not only can she help continue to do an awesome job with programming but she is also a great person and friend and I'm happy to still see her regularly!

Robotech!

2010-07-20T22:18:00.002-05:00

I just re-joined Netflix and have spent the past half hour eating a home made burrito and watching the first episode of childhood favorite ROBOTECH! I've never seen the whole series before (it's over 80 episodes and hard to see every episode on TV when a kid and prohibitively expensive on VHS) so I'm kind of excited to see if I can make it through start to finish. Knowing me I will probably get bored 15 episodes in! =)

To The Future and Beyond!

2010-07-20T14:45:00.003-05:00

I may have some exciting news coming soon in my life. If things happen this will come in the next week or two. I really never know what's around the next corner for my life and I quite like it that way! =)

I will say that California is agreeing with your old Mr. Mississippi, it's a good state for me at this time of my life.

Robyn on Letterman

2010-07-20T14:41:00.002-05:00

Saw this on Pitchfork this morning. Damn! What a performance!

Yoga Playlists (part six)

2010-07-17T12:29:00.002-05:00

OK, another week another yoga playlist. This one was made in '09 and I've come back to it quite a bit. Anyone used to my MN classes may remember this one too. Most should be up on iTunes and I'll look into podcasting this week!

ka-ba vinyasa 31

1. Phil Western "Fair Oaks" from 4am

2. The Fireman "Sing the Changes" from Electric Arguments

3. The Republic Tigers "Buildings & Mountains" from Buildings & Mountains

4. Feist "I Feel It All (Britt Daniel Remix)" from I Feel It All E.P.

5. Cut Copy "Unforgettable Season" from In Ghost Colours

6. The Asteroids Galaxy "Around the Bend (Radio Edit)" from Around the Bend E.P.

7. The Sea and Cake "On a Letter" from Car Alarm

8. The Go Find "Over the Edge" from Miami

9. Electric President "All the Bones" from Sleep Well

10. Steve Reich "Electric Counterpoint - 2 Slow" from Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint

11. OceanLab "Breaking Ties (Flow Mix)" from Sirens of the Sea

12. Goldfrapp "Road to Somewhere (acoustic mix)" from Happiness E.P.

13. Asobi Seksu "Breathe Into Glass" from Me & Mary/Breathe Into Glass

14. Husky Rescue "New Light of Tomorrow (Bonobo Remix)" from Other Worlds: Remixes & Rarities

15. Mazzy Star "Into Dust" from So Tonight That I Might See

16. M83 "Midnight Souls Still Remain" from Saturdays = Youth

The playlist clocks in at 1 hour 17 minutes. Phil Western makes really nice integration music, Steve Reich is a favorite for the midway rest and of course I posted the same M83 track last week. The Mazzy Star song can be a little heavy so it gets skipped unless I feel the class is ready for it. Not a ton of hard boppin' core music in this one. Asteroid Galaxy is the one, with Cut Copy as sort of a lead-in. Sometimes I double play the Asteroid Galaxy track, it's one of those tracks by a band I have nothing else by that I really dig, creates a fun mood.

What makes me keep coming back to this playlist is that it flows great, every track leads into the next, musically, tempo-wise and emotionally. In my opinion, it's one of the strongest playlists I've done.

Enjoy!

Zardoz!

2010-07-17T00:12:00.006-05:00

Wow.

Movie Night (Yo-Yo GIrl Cop)

2010-07-16T23:58:00.006-05:00

At home watching "Yo-Yo Girl Cop" tonight, a Japanese movie about a martial arts bad-ass undercover agent girl who fights a group of teen suicide bombers with a super-powered yo-yo. To make things even more strange for you guys, here's the trailer in German:

"Deported for who knows why from that wounded city, New York...

for some strange karma, now working for the cops...

I'd sworn I'd go it alone...

but for a friend I met by chance...

for a limited time only, Special Agent...

Asamiya Saki!"

Asamiya Saki, Yo-Yo Girl Cop, 2006

Dialog like that you just cannot make up on your own, no matter how creative you are. A great example why I genuinely love translated text, it brings a level of unintentional surrealism to the fore.

Robyn "Cry When You Get Older"

2010-07-15T13:52:00.001-05:00

I got a new cord for my hard drive (finally after several failed attempts) so I can finally listen to my music again! So of course I'm putting together a new yoga playlist and realized that I'd downloaded the new Robyn but never got to listen to it because my hard drive pooped before I heard it. This song jumped out at me, but I bet there's lots more good on here.

Sad Kermit "Hurt"

2010-07-13T21:44:00.002-05:00

A very sad story by our favorite green frog. You might shed a tear watching this one - you will see the pain and heartache that go along with stardom in a harsh cold light.

kosmiche at any age

2010-07-13T20:49:00.003-05:00

Harmonia is one of my favorite Kraut projects, it is a supergroup of sorts being a meeting between Cluster and Michael Rother of Neu! They got back together and played a bit a few years back from what I hear on this clip I hope a full live album is released sooner rather than later, great stuff!

And for those that haven't heard the old stuff, here's a blog that has the first album.

Afrikan Boy "Lidl"

2010-07-13T15:45:00.004-05:00

Since I've been bummed on the new MIA, I found myself going back to "Kala" to see if it's as good of an album as I remembered and yes, it is (especially the first five songs which are freakin' perfect). Listening to "Hussel" got me wondering whatever happened to Afrikan Boy, I really dug him and hoped he'd have an album out. No luck, though his myspace claims something is on the way but the other music doesn't bang like "Lidl" and "Hussel".

Here's the video of his one underground "hit":

Yoga Playlists (part five)

2010-07-10T11:41:00.004-05:00

OK, I've made a lot of yoga playlists in the 2 1/2 years since I posted part four of this series. Since I mentioned that I'm hungry to make more, I thought I could get a little of that energy out by posting one of my most recent ones here. This is a nice happy playlist, it's peppy without being over-powering. It includes a lot of 2010 music as well.

ka-ba vinyasa 39

1. Cocteau Twins "Lazy Calm" from Stars and Topsoil - a collection

2. Coldplay "Life in Technicolor" from Viva La Vida

3. Lali Puna "Remember" from Our Inventions

4. Dan Black "Symphonies" from UN

5. Delorean "Endless Sunset" from Subiza

6. Primal Scream "The Glory of Love" from Beautiful Future

7. the xx "Stars (Dave Wrangler Remix) unofficial remix from Under The Influence

8. Massive Attack "Pray For Rain (Tim Goldsworthy Remix)" from Heligoland (Deluxe Edition)

9. Frightened Rabbit "Swim Until You Can't See Land" from The Winter of Mixed Drinks

10. Broken Bells "The High Road" from Broken Bells

11. Four Tet "Plastic People" from There is Love In You

12. Donna De Lory "Govinda Jaya Jaya" from The Lover and the Beloved

13. Gorillaz "Cloud of Unknowing" from Plastic Beach

14. Uh Huh Her "Dreamer" from Common Reaction

15. Goldfrapp "Voicething" from Head First

16. Burial "In McDonalds" from Untrue

17. M83 "Midnight Souls Still Remain" from Saturdays = Youth

This playlist deviates slightly from my "four pillars" method of construction in that the Four Tet song (which is the post inversion cool down track) rocks a little harder and lasts a lot longer than a track in that slot usually would, but it is still chill enough to serve the cool down in child's pose vibe but also vibrant enough to get into the whole triangle/balancing series vibe too.

The playlist runs almost an hour and a half so lots of it gets skipped. Uh Huh Her is rarely heard and the three last tracks can all serve as savasana tracks depending on the mood I want to create (light & floaty, use Goldfrapp; short & mysterious use Burial; gone to the world use M83).

I've been using that Cocteau Twins track for both the beginning and end of classes, it works a charm. Of course Burial and M83 are standard closers for me. I feel the Dan Black song will become a staple of many upbeat vinyasa classes, it is perfect for a little flow. The Coldplay song is short and so works well to create that "first motion of Sun A" feeling. It's rather like Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset" for that purpose. The Donna De Lory track is an old yoga classic and brings back pleasant memories of taking Jaina's C2s back in MN.

One note, I won't be uploading these to iTunes anymore, it's simply too much of a pain and most the songs disappear after a few months anyways. I think the only thing not available on iTunes here is the xx remix which I linked to the track. As mentioned elsewhere today I do plan on podcasting some playlists sooner rather than later.

If you enjoy this playlists feature, comment and let me know. If there's any demand I'll bring it back as a weekly feature! =)

Jai!

Hard Drive Cord

2010-07-10T11:25:00.003-05:00

My hard drive cord first died and then got lost so I have no access to the majority of my music. Right now, my Nano is my best source for music. I have a new cord on order and once that arrives I can make some new yoga playlists which I've been heartily craving to do for a while now.

The other thing I want to get into is creating podcasts. Podcasts both of yoga playlists and also for a series of industrial music comps I've put together. Hopefully it's not too hard to put together a podcast. It sounds like fun and once I get my "Jai Five" website up and running, it will be cool to link the site to playlists.

Front 242 "Principles"

2010-07-10T10:47:00.003-05:00

This is on a mixed tape I made (or to be more specific a "Mixed iTunes Playlist I made") and it always makes me happy for some reason. Really early industrial, it's primitive in it's way but still sci-fi. This early industrial music really reminds me of vintage JG Ballard stories. This blog has the single and their first album for your listening pleasure.

M.I.A. just doesn't matter anymore.

2010-07-08T11:16:00.005-05:00

So I was listening to "Maya" MIA's new album streaming on her hideously ugly Myspace page the other day and was left rather irritated by the whole affair. This is a hard thing for me to admit because up until recently I'd loved pretty much everything that MIA had put out.

When Diplo posted about much of her sounding like Skinny Puppy I thought that might be cool, it's been a long time since any artist has had an industrial influence. Unfortunately, on listening to the album I hear that Diplo is right, especially on the track "Steppin Out" but it's not "Bites" Puppy or even "Too Dark Park" Puppy it's "Mythmaker" Puppy, which itself sounds like Puppy trying to reinvent themselves as an industrial version of Britney Spears circa "Blackout". So yes, MIA has an industrial edge but it's a sound and fury signifying nothing kind of industrial edge and it never quite gels with the beats. Give me MIA rapping over a "Land of Rape and Honey" Ministry loop and I'd be a happy lad, that is nowhere to be found.

What we do get is the noisy and gross track "Teqkilla" where 35 year-old MIA raps about pot and Tequila, man that's crazy! Well, at least it would be if she Ke$ha's age, instead there's a word we use for adults pretending they're still 17 and that word is pathetic.

The Diplo track "Tell Me Why" sounds like one of those whole world together songs that the "World Cup" would use in advertisements and is a far cry from the screamingly powerful lo-fi globalism of "Bird Flu" and other KALA hits.

"Born Free" (best known for the controversial ginger child killing video that got pulled to the adults only section of Youtube which in turn gave birth to MIA's "you can't silence me" youtube-y cover) is like a low rent "Bambo Banga" sampling Suicide instead of the Modern Lovers and switching the perspective from a person on the street harassing people in their Honda to a spoiled rich person harassing you at a party with stories about how powerful and free they are. Jesus, she's got the spoiled rich person complex as much as the worst conservatives.

Not to say I don't like any of it, "It Takes A Muscle" is a really good Major Lazer song that she sings on. "Space" isn't bad either. "XXXO" is a good lo-fi Lady Gaga-style pop track, though I was unimpressed by the Jay Z remix version. The Sleigh Bells riff on "Meds and Feds" is great, unfortunately the same riff is used to much better effect in the Sleigh Bells own music.

At the end of the day it's no big deal to not like an album. It disappoints me because I'd loved her other two albums so it's a little weird to not be buying this one. Oh well, thanks to her label for posting the album on Youtube so I can now avoid it.

My guess is that this is as big as MIA will ever be, after this she'll be a little toxic and her next album will be a "return to form" that carefully re-makes her in her own old image in an attempt to grasp onto the fans but she'll never again have this big of a mainstream attention grab.

Cities I've Lived In

2010-07-08T01:32:00.002-05:00

I don't know why, but I've been wanting to write down this list for a while and here seems as good a place as any.

Current of today, here are the cities I've lived in:

(insert drumroll)

1. Charlottesville, VA

2. Eau Claire, WI

3. Bellingham (Sudden Valley), WA

4. Maple Lake, MN

5. Buffalo, MN

6. St. Louis Park, MN

7. Minneapolis, MN

8. Huntington Beach, CA

9. Westminster, CA

Wow. 9 in 36 years. Not bad, not amazing. Great for you guys at home who collect thrilling David Miller trivia.

Slim

2010-07-07T19:54:00.004-05:00

Everybody loves Slim Goodbody!

Chemical Brothers "Dissolve"

2010-07-07T18:48:00.002-05:00

Article went well, got about 1000 words in on it, hurray! In celebration here's a great new video by the Chemical Brothers:

Article

2010-07-07T17:11:00.000-05:00

I've been asked to guest blog an article for another site and I've been going through more drafts and not quite getting the right tone. I'm going to spend the next one hour focused on this task and then go out to get groceries. Either I'll have a good article by then or I should at least have a solid state start. Wish me luck!

Paramechanical World

2010-07-05T11:04:00.003-05:00

Another day, another Kraut track. This one exudes a "stoned summer afternoon" vibe so strong that you can smell it from four decades away. Part of me still prefers the hippier Amon Duul to the more rockin' Amon Duul II. For those of you interested, this blog has the album.

it is hard to argue that it truly is a paramechanical world...

Amon Duul II "Sandoz in the Rain"

2010-07-04T09:41:00.006-05:00

Happy In(ter)dependence Day to my American friends (and to everyone else, though the greeting won't mean as much to others). What better way to celebrate than with a little Amon Duul II? A thick and heavy kraut group made up of largely very hairy commune-livin' german hippies. Hair was important back then and the more of it the better. Here's a great blog that has some albums for you and here's one of my favorite songs by them:

I feel kind of sorry for the guy in hat in the far right of the Youtube picture above, he's the only bearded dude in the picture and yet he's been largely obscured by the locks of the pretty boy in front of him. Photographic hair wars were dangerous games played by 70s rock stars everywhere. Whoever had the most hair and stood in front won. This poor man in a hat was obviously the loser...

Julian Cope "I Gotta Walk" on Top of the Pops

2010-07-03T23:25:00.004-05:00

One might suspect that the last Julian Cope video posted was a peak moment that could never be topped. Of course in the world of St. Julian most moments are peaks. Here he, Thighpaulsandra (armed with an enormous silver dialed and vacuum tube synth that looks like a Doctor Who set piece from the 70s) and the rest of the crew appear on the British Teeny-bopper show Top of the Pops playing their "I Gotta Walk" track off of Autogeddon (my favorite Cope album). To commemorate the moment Julian shaves both sides of his head, puts his remaining hair in a ponytail, wears a yellow mu-mu, makes faces and bellows like a horse while the teen audience bobs their heads in obviously gleeful bewilderment. Nothing like this could ever have come out from any other man...

Govinda Bolo Hari Gopal Bolo

2010-07-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

A little techno bhangra kirtan muzak, dig it kids! I like the fact that they actually do a little call and response in the song, which is awesome. I'm still looking for something that is more straight up repetitive with more call and response.

Julian Cope "Try Try Try"

2010-07-03T11:22:00.005-05:00

Here's the guy who got me into the whole Krautrock trip with his Krautrocksampler book (available at this blog here). This video is completely insane, with Julian wearing a hippy dippy gnome hat, crazy yellow pants and a Neu! wifebeater prancing and flying around a stage that has been decorated with Cosmic Jokers backdrops. Perhaps most absurd are the brief shots of Thighpaulsandra looking totally out of place in this cosmic hippy space, in fact looking more as if he's just walked off set of a Death In June video. However once ThighP joins in with the "Bump Bump Bump Buh Buh Bump Bo" chant you know all is safe in the universe.

Brainticket "The Space Between"

2010-07-03T01:04:00.003-05:00

I love this spaced out kraut track. It reminds me of a goofy arty take on the "Fantastic Planet" soundtrack.

For those who'd like to sample this far out album, here's a link

Current 93 Cover "May Rain"

2010-07-03T00:58:00.001-05:00

And here is the C93 cover:

Sand "May Rain"

2010-07-03T00:56:00.001-05:00

It's like listening to a 1970s version of Current 93. A little lo-fi but still quite cool!

Can "Spoon"

2010-07-01T16:34:00.002-05:00

I never get tired of this song. It's happy, catchy and really strange too. A brilliant cocktail...

Random Thoughts from 6 months in

2010-06-30T12:11:00.006-05:00

6 months now in CA. Does the name Mr. Mississippi still apply? Today I move from the room I was renting in Huntington Beach to a room in Westminster. I always get philosophical on move days, they represent a certain type of paradigm shift. I'm now into co-leading my second teacher training and I have been teaching a lot the last month or so. Lost my car in a crash so I bike everywhere now. Noel's in Eau Claire for the 4 months or so. She doesn't have a job right now so we are pretty broke. It's interesting living genuinely close to the ground. I've worked on some Eddie Entropy music with Nick, that's been fun. Listening to Japanese thick psychedelic rock from the 70s right now. It is strange seeing all your possessions in one small corner of a garage. God is everywhere and I'm really into it right now. The living of life as the supreme manifestation of life. This space is rather hidden all things given so it's like my private little freak-out zone, kind of cool really. I have a private livejournal too but I like the idea of this blog being hidden in plain site. Will I continue to write here? I have seen current mainstream movies in the past six months than in the last 6 years combined. A few positive surprises and a few complete turds. Been very into krautrock lately, this whole time out here has been rather like a travelogue through my different musical phases. Before I was listening to a lot of industrial from the 80s and 90s, I've been putting together a huge mixtape series of primarily industrial stuff, it's been fun. Now I've switched over to Herbie Hancock, reminds me of hanging with Kelli in Bellingham. Time is rather fluid and there's some hidden tensions going on in my life but mostly I feel pretty energized. I feel youthful vigor but don't feel young. That's a good combo. Teaching yoga has been a trip out here, people here seem to get my energy better than they did in MN, that's cool. I'm going further off the grid now, cancelled most all of my internet subscriptions though I'll probably re-subscribe to Netflix when I have a little more money. I've enjoyed the current series of Doctor Who more than any other since the show's come back on the air, it's gotten me even watching some of the old classics. Spent a lot of time hanging out with the Hare Krishnas. Spent a little time hanging with Lon Milo Duquette's Monday Night Magick Group. Used to go up to LA for yoga and Kirtan all the time. Saw Krishna Das, Bhagavan Das, Donna De Lory, Snautam Kaur, C.C. White, Dave Springer, Deeva Premal (who had the drummer form the Doors and the preacher from Agape join her on stage) and a bunch of other people too. Lots of great yoga with Shiva Rea and some kind of silly yoga with Steve Ross. It's weird out here so many people casually know a number of "famous" people, it's just sort how things roll. Xiren is coming over in 15 minutes to help me move so I should do my last round of gathering everything together. Jai! Jai! Jai! Jai! Jai! (jai five, I'll explain later).

What A Night!

2009-11-22T10:26:00.002-06:00

I had an amazing good time last night playing the two fifteen minute sets (one with Saint Anthony Falls and the other with Avenpitch)! It's been a little over four years since I played with Avenpitch but it seemed like just yesterday really once the old tunes started cranking. Plus it was made even better by being sober and having better body control due to yoga (I got into full splits at one point of the show - proudest stage antic of my life).

St. Anthony was great too, we had three songs and they went really well. We spruced "Coolio Julio" up with an extended Hey Jude style ending and "Goats Do Roam" finally got the live treatment. It was a lot of fun to really sing rather than shout or scream live, something I haven't done that much.

I hope once I move, I'll be able to do a show here and there when I come back to visit. It'd be great fun! If I get any photos from folks, I'll post them here.

Beck & Charlotte Gainsbourg Best Video!!

2009-11-20T09:22:00.002-06:00

Beck is so full of awesome that sometimes it almost hurts!

language of love

2009-11-17T21:45:00.002-06:00

I met with my dear friend Chris today and she recommended that I write down some of the ideas that we chatted about. It's strange, I really enjoy conversing about some of these ideas but when it comes time to put them down into the written word I am resistant. For that reason, I"m just going to write without self editing at all. Later, if I want to expand or detail any of the ideas I'll dig in. Thanks Chris for the inspiration.

The conversation in which most of modern culture is engaged is a language of fear and greed (and though I put those as two separate ideas, frankly I believe greed to be an offshoot of fear). Most of our news, advertisement, etc. draws upon the language of fear in order to communicate. This spills over into everyday communication so that our baseline reactions to many of life's challenges is one of fear.

In the rare times where love is used as a tool, it is usually used to sell something, i.e. a McDonalds billboard of a cheeseburger telling us "Go to your happy place". However, I believe that it is possible for us to change the language by which we communicate with society. I believe that it is possible to begin to speak inside the context of the language of love. Imagine what it would be like if our baseline reactions to something new, or challenging were based on love rather than distrust and fear? This isn't to say that fear will disappear from our vocabulary, it will simply not be the first response. This is not an utopian ideal where all life is always perfect. To be honest, our lives will get easier in many ways because a great deal of our anxieties are not the deep issues we deal with as much as they are the fear of the issues we deal with.

I'll roughly paraphrase one of my favorite Sufi stories as an example:

A merchant is traveling into the city of Pompeii. About a day's journey away from town he meets another man on the road. He greets the man and says "Hello sir, are you heading into Pompeii?"

"Indeed I am." the other man replies.

"So am I!" the merchant exclaims, he is happy to have found a traveling companion for the remainder of his journey. "I'm a merchant and I'm going into town to sell some silk from my cart. What's your business in town?"

"Ah, you see I am death and I am going into Pompeii to bring a plague that is going to kill 200 people."

The merchant is thoroughly shocked by this news. "A plague? My God, I've never heard such a story!" The merchant laughs off the man's words as the delusions of a fellow who had seen too much time on the road.

However, once the merchant does reach town a horrible plague does indeed descend on the city. Over the course of the week that the merchant spends in town over 1000 people die of this plague.

Lo and behold, as the merchant finishes his business and leaves Pompeii who should he see on the road other the Death. The merchant calls Death over to him.

"You sure fed me a line. Oh, it's true enough that you brought a plague with you into town, but you told me that it would kill 200 people. Over 1000 people died of this horrible disease. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Death smiled his cold smile. "Oh no, you're mistaken dear merchant. The plague I brought to Pompeii did indeed kill only 200 people. It was their fear of the plague that killed the other 800."

That's what happens now to people trapped in the language of fear. It multiplies their woes by a multiple of five and causes untold misery in their lives. Once we learn to set aside fear, our load will get lighter. I suspect that in the same way that fear multiplies are woes so too does love, to an equal degree, multiply our joys. What would life look like when lived inside of joy?

Sensation Junky (Ballard Breaks It Down)

2009-11-09T16:34:00.003-06:00

Modern society makes sensation junkies of us. In the 60s it was sex, in the 80s it was violence, where's the sensation obsession these days? In yoga we talk about people pushing themselves physically past neutrality, past the ability to find solid breath control in order to find sensation. There's one angle. There's also the angle of sensation through gluttony, through inter-personal drama, through voyeurism and conversely through exhibitionism.

That last point, exhibitionism, seems to be a valid source of fuel for the modern sensation junky. You get your fifteen minutes of fame via facebook where your personal drama gets elivated and even reviewed. Increasingly what cannot be talked about, what cannot be blogged about, what cannot be seen/heard and commented on lacks reality.

Communication itself has mutated and evolved, in an eastern sense we are living in an age where the throat chakra is in over-abundence drawning out even the heart. We've been weened on taglines to the point that we lack the ability to look past or even speak our own reality past the basic headline. How many characters does a tweet contain? 256 or somesuch.

200th Post! (a.k.a. 100 Post Check In Pt. 2)

2009-10-15T08:14:00.002-05:00

OK, so it took me about 3 1/2 months to do my first 100 posts to this blog and it's taken a year and seven months to do the next 100 posts so I think it's safe to say that momentum has slowed down a little bit! Once I got plugged into Facebook, I slowed down here and also once I got my managing at CorePower job I also slowed down. I've had a great time managing CPY, it's something that I genuinely believe in and it's the first time in my life where my primary passion is also my job. Before I'd always have a "This isn't my real thing, my real thing is (music, writing, yoga, fill in the blank)" attitude. As a result of marrying passion to work, my work takes up a lot of my time! As a result of that, when I come home I'm less likely to blog about yoga playlists! It's also very important for me to remain professional as a result of the roll I play and so I don't want the blog to give anyone an inappropriate peak behind the curtain.

So, the old blog went into stasis from Oct 08 to Aug 09. Since it's come back I've used it first as a place to post music videos I like and more recently as a place to make quiet asides and post pictures of my bunny rabbit and my wife! God only knows where I'll move with it next. Pretty sure I'll always be posting music videos here but I'm not sure how it will change. When I move to CA it may very well become more life update-y just for the sake of friends in MPLS, although Facebook will also serve that purpose. Perhaps, as when I move to CA I won't be managing right away, I'll get back into the whole Yoga Playlist thing.

I've got to say that when I started this blog almost two years ago I wouldn't have been able to predict where I would be in two years time. Not just in having a job that I genuinely love but also to the degree in which I am content with life. Not nearly as much pushing and wanting to be somewhere/something/someone else. It's a good little life! =)

Queen!

2009-10-13T17:54:00.002-05:00

For no real reason, here's the music video to Bohemian Rhapsody!

Even with all the 70s throwbacks we had a few years back, you really couldn't have gotten away with the tight white lyrca tops at any time other than the original decade.

My Old Time Radio and Pulp Magazine Reviews

2009-10-12T22:09:00.005-05:00

I thought I'd pop by and let all y'all know that I've started a sister blog to this one where I review Old Time Radio Drama, Modern Audio Fiction and Pulps. It's at www.goldenmasks.blogspot.com Check it out my friends and leave some comments for fun! For those of you who have never learned the joys of old time radio, it's just about my favorite form of entertainment, and tons and tons of it are available for free download as podcasts on iTunes. Now that it's Halloween time, download some classic horror thrills!

My plan is to get at least 10 reviews posted a month. They are not professional level reviews, they're done for the entertainment of myself and my readers. I do hope to get better and better at reviewing but at the end of the day I'd rather get more reviews out and have them be less than perfect rather than a very few perfect reviews.

PS: Click on the ads to side on the Golden Masks blog and help make me big bucks! I'm up to 6 cents so far, financial independence cannot be far behind! ;)

Noel and Tempie!

2009-10-09T23:06:00.002-05:00

Even better is Noel and Tempie!!

Tempie!

2009-10-09T23:01:00.001-05:00

Tempest the bunny is one of my favorite things!

Slight site re-design

2009-10-07T08:19:00.003-05:00

I've slightly redesigned this blog because I think the huge Youtube videos look so much better. Now the blog archives links section comes after the 7 current posts. Enjoy the new look! I considered a new color scheme too but nothing looked quite as right to me as the current soft tones.

Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)

2009-10-06T23:39:00.004-05:00

Hmmm, I read about this on Pitchfork today. Not what I expected from Raveonettes (well musically it is but lyrically it's not at all). When I think about it, I'm rather amazed that I've never heard a strong anti-rape pop song before. It's quite catchy and very sad at the same time. Does the song belittle the topic? I don't think so, I think that the very real issue of rape should be more in the public eye and I'm OK with a song going out against it. The lyrics are simple but then so are the lyrics of most anti-war or politically based songs. Simplicity, when in alignment with strong melody and beat, is a powerful tool. Rape is still hidden from the public eye and yet it's so frequent and one of the worst things about it is that due to the sexual nature of the crime it makes the victims feel terrible about themselves in a way that robbery or (non-sexual) assault do.

Meanwhile, the art scene signs a petition to get Polanski exonerated. Blech.

OK, apologies for the mini-tirade

Pictureplane "Goth Star"

2009-10-04T19:16:00.002-05:00

I quite enjoy this song and the video has a lovely aura of disquiet.

Grizzly Bear Tonight

2009-09-30T21:32:00.003-05:00

I'm heading out to see Grizzly Bear tonight! Should be fun, this video is pure brilliance!

Very Best "Julia"

2009-09-27T21:53:00.002-05:00

Well, Miike Snow was sold out by the time I got there. Bummer. I did however get the chance to dance for an hour and a half at Too Much Love instead and that was a lot of fun.

Here's a great video for one of the best of '09. Superhappy awesome South African pop with some cool electro flourishes. I expect this one is going to become big.

Sara Lov "Animals"

2009-09-24T20:37:00.001-05:00

That last track called "Animals" reminds me of this very different track, my other favorite song titled "Animals" from 2009

Miike Snow "Animals"

2009-09-24T20:36:00.002-05:00

I'm going to go see these guys on Saturday I think. Should be a fun show!

Moving out West

2009-09-24T08:19:00.002-05:00

I'm moving to California! The announcement has been made officially through work so I can talk about it, though I choose to do so here rather than on my higher profile Facebook page.

I'll be working with CorePower still (hurray!) and helping out at the Huntington Beach studio. I've been wanting to move to CA for years and it's great to see it finally coming together. Jan. 1 is the move dates. Noel's going to move out later so I'll be able to get a lay of the land and such. This will be the longest we've been apart but after 16+ years of marriage, I think it's safe to say a little long distance relationship time won't change anything.

Yoga and sun and beaches and the ocean and palm trees and all sorts of other good stuff - here I come! Does this mean I need to change the name of this blog?? ;)

David Lynch in Dub

2009-09-24T08:16:00.001-05:00

Cool thick dub track with samples of David Lynch talking about the creative process.

When I'm In the Club

2009-08-24T21:39:00.002-05:00

This is my current "song of the year can't stop listening to it" obsession. Simply the act of imagining myself listening to it brought me to dancing in the middle of an office supply store, how many songs do that?

The Bug

2009-08-19T16:26:00.001-05:00

I'd heard a lot about the Bug about a year back and I bought a remix of this track by the awesome South Rakkas Crew but never got the album. Just picked it up, damn it's good stuff! Here's the first single:

It's Been A While

2009-08-18T21:45:00.003-05:00

Hi! It's been a while since I've been here. Hope life is going good! I've got Yogi Training starting this weekend, so that's exciting. I'm over on Facebook quite a bit the past week (I go through phases of spending time on Facebook and then disappearing for months on end, I'm in a "spend time" phase right now.

I bought the YACHT album today. I'd read about them on Pitchfork and kind of avoided the album as the clips didn't do it for me. On first few spins, I'm rather enjoying it. You can hear the LCD Soundsystem sound for sure, but the lyrics are more fun and not as self-referentially ironic, which I like.

Tempest Bunny

2008-10-12T14:19:00.003-05:00

Poor Tempest has been ailing since last Thursday night, she's come down with Gastric Stasis. Basically it's constipation but on bunnies it can kill them. So, Noel and I have been force-feeding her and giving her medication. Today she's finally eating on her own, which is awesome, though she's still sluggish and not pooping like she should. Tempie is our first pet together and this is her first sickness. It's amazing how difficult it is seeing her through this time. "Financial Crisis" and elections haven't caused me anywhere near the stress of this poor Tempie's sickness. I know she's on the road to recovery but it's still tough.

Cherry Blossoms

2008-10-05T11:19:00.000-05:00

That's Nice!

2008-10-01T22:50:00.001-05:00

Everything I Know I Learned from He-Man Part Two

2008-09-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

Everything I Know I Learned from He-Man

2008-09-30T19:38:00.000-05:00

Klingon Romp Thru Ireland

2008-09-28T19:27:00.002-05:00

There's a strange melancholy to this video and I feel like I should make fun of these people but I only feel love for them.

Our Bunny is not this Scary

2008-09-28T19:09:00.002-05:00

This bunny looks designed to cause childhood trauma. Tempest is definitely not this scary.

EDIT: I brought the image back y'all.

Pancake Bunny

2008-09-25T22:24:00.001-05:00

Tempest Bunny

2008-09-25T17:31:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to post quickly about how much I love my bunny rabbit Tempest (aka Tempie aka Tempeh). She's a big black bunny with a white patch around her mouth. Once I get a digital camera you'll all get a lot of extra cute photos.

The New Truth

2008-09-24T15:46:00.002-05:00

It will never be as cool again as it was in the 60s. Never.

My New Secret Identity

2008-09-22T11:31:00.001-05:00

I'm Innocent

2008-09-21T09:35:00.001-05:00

Assassin Nation

2008-09-20T14:51:00.002-05:00

I did the sound design for this one back in the day. Enjoy Nick's awesome animation!

Tommy Lee!

2008-09-19T08:32:00.001-05:00

Walking and Falling

2008-09-16T08:56:00.000-05:00

Landmark Forum

2008-09-15T09:07:00.003-05:00

I've gone through the three day weekend now. I'll admit I was skeptical going in and went through a very wide range of thoughts and emotions about it over the course of the weekend but right now I can say it was exactly what it was and it transformed me. I highly recommend the program to anyone who wants transformation..

Sunday Cartoon

2008-09-14T07:51:00.005-05:00

The Satan sequence from the movie "The Adventures of Mark Twain":

Landmark Forum

2008-09-11T09:21:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow through Sunday and a little bit on Tuesday I'll be doing the Landmark Forum. I've heard a lot of different opinion on this, it will be interesting to view it head on.

www.landmarkeducation.com

These Desires that we Have

2008-09-10T13:31:00.005-05:00

Why are the desires that we have unfillable?

These sick needs that we hold - unkillable?

Where in the line of our duty can we go --
To get the seed of the stillness uncontrolled?

I don't know.

I don't know

Black Hole Baby

2008-09-09T09:19:00.002-05:00

An excerpt from Edward's performance at Club Underground 12/30/06

Eddie Entropy

2008-09-08T19:37:00.003-05:00

I'm getting a very specific itch and something tells me that our friend Mr. Entropy may return to live performance.

What precisely this means remains to be seen.

Suicide is Painless

2008-09-08T07:04:00.004-05:00

Legion of Gnomes

2008-09-06T20:23:00.003-05:00

We are Legion.

We are Gnome.

Das Gnome Machine endures.

One-Eyed Miller?

2008-09-05T21:49:00.003-05:00

I almost poked my right eye out last night. I was getting clothes to wash for yoga when I hit my head against a sharp-edged metal post in our closet. I've got a bit of a puncture wound about an inch or so away from my right eye. It doesn't look like much but it serves as a reminder for something that could have been much worse. Yikes!

Lenny

2008-09-04T17:47:00.000-05:00

Mr. Cohen, that's no way to say good bye.

Western Angels 2.1

2008-09-02T21:23:00.002-05:00

Where are these failures of form and function?

They are alive in their unyieldingness.
They are dead in their slumber.

Recorder Video

2008-09-02T08:20:00.001-05:00

Ka-baalim video. I love how this one feels.

Another Plod Down.

2008-09-01T13:00:00.004-05:00

Damn iPod, the hard drive seems to be fizzling on me. It was working fine until late last night, plugged it into the computer and now it glitches iTunes and the drive works it's "Little Engine That Can't" best. Ack! Of course I've dropped it a half dozen times or more so that's probably where the fault's coming from.

I don't have the best of luck with mechanical devices. The arrow keys on my computer went out last night too. Hmm, I smell a conspiracy!

That's all I have, have a great Labor Day!

Benny Lava

2008-07-02T16:19:00.001-05:00

This is totally silly and immature and also very funny: