Faith No More-"From Out of Nowhere" at Coachella(2010)

This was my favorite band in 5th grade. I remember i had 6 FNM t-shirts and a long sleeve. I was really bummed i didn't see them open for a huge GnR/Metallica tour around 94(?). I have a fond memory about a PE coach giving me a hard time for not remembering something, and she said to me, "I bet you know all the words to that band whose shirts you wear every day". You were mostly right, coach.



I've still never seen these guys live. The closest i've been was a couple years ago when my friends and i saw Peeping Tom at the Granada in Dallas, with Dub Trio as Mike Patton's backing band and Dan The Automator spinning. It wasn't as good as i thought it would be, but that's nostalgia for you.

If i had ever bothered to look at the line-up for Coachella, i might have seriously considered going- partly to see Faith No More- for which i still have a soft spot in my heart.

R.I.P. Guru of GangStarr

Keith "Guru" Elam
(July 17, 1966-April 19, 2010)

Big L and Guru, rest in peace....

This letter that Guru supposedly wrote on his deathbed sure is cold-blooded towards his old homeboy DJ Premier.....







Here's a real news story about this.

Madonna-"Deeper and Deeper" (1992)

A few months ago, we listened to this one before we went out. It really helped set the mood for a gay, as in vivacious, night. It was charming how my Madonna-loving friend wasn't familiar with her early 90s era(he's into Music and Celebration and on...?) so this blew his dome.

Think of what you were doing in 1992? I believe i was in 5th grade and really into Faith No More. At that time, i definitely wouldn't have recognized Sofia Coppola's appearance in this or how it has a Warhol theme to it...



The classical guitar in this production near the end, along with the rest of the production on this track, are and top notch and tasteful. I might have to keep my eyes open for either this single or a copy of Erotica.

Mtume-"Juicy Fruit" (1983)

Another KSOUL jam that i heard on the LATE night creep a while back. I had no idea (although i should've assumed) that Biggie's hit "Juicy" just straight used this track for him to flow over.

The band leader for Mtume got his street cred in the 70s by playing and recording with Miles Davis as a percussionist and conga player.

My quest for this 12" has begun......





in case you forgot how dope Biggie's is:


It really is such a drag that if you wanna listen to Notorious B.I.G., you're forced to listen to Puff Daddy whisper bullshit all over these classic hip-hop jamz. Suge Knight did what needed to be done in '95 at the Source awards, when he called Puffy out for being "all in the videos....all in the record, dancing..." and all the stupid shit he still does.

btw today is Suge Knight's birthday. Happy birthday Suge.....

Warpaint at the Modern Art Museum in Ft. Worth 4/10/10

Mixing visual art and music makes perfect sense-like pairing a nice, crisp white wine with some golden brown fried chicken. Or barbecue and beer like we had. We ate at Angelo's Barbecue in Ft. Worth before the show, and it was collectively agreed that this was probably the best bbq we ever had. The cheap 18 ounce scooners only helped solidify the great impression this place left on us. I had an amazing hot-link sand-o and everyone else got the beef brisket. Shit was delicious and definitely the highlight of the evening for me!

The $15 admission granted access to the whole museum, which included the exhibit Andy Warhol: The Last Decade. I felt like i could have seen most of these pieces at the Warhol Museum if i had actually made it out of my friend's place last year when i visited Pittsburgh. Its like i was stuck in a k-hole.

The temperature outside the Modern was mild and had just the right amount of breeze coming off the man-made pond that comes up to the museum's walls. We knocked back some beers and got there just in time to watch the headliners, Warpaint. Their set started off slow and melodic and ended 45 or so minutes later the same way. I just kept waiting for shit to kick in. It never really did. I went to see these girls at the recommendation of some friends of mine that had gone to see Akron/Family with Warpaint opening. Warpaint had left them with positive things to say. I'm not sure i agree, even though their British drummer had great chops and their bassist locked in perfectly. There was some delay used on the drums to give them a little bit of that dub feel. Both guitarists were well prepared, had harmonious voices, and played well, but I was still left disenchanted by this performance. Oh well.....



We left for the Chat Room just before they finished their last song. Thanks to Rick at 1919 Hemphill who gave us 2 wristbands to use since they left after the Paper Rad dude played first. He had fun giving us a hard time for bliggin' out in the parking lot, and he played me like a fake ass straight-edger, who will take a shot by anyone who's excited about getting him one (since i thought he had the edge). Way to go, (p)Rick! I know i was feeling that shot of tequila on my ride home (and God knows someone else in the front seat was feeling the effects as he slept sitting up babyvine). I really like these Modern 'til Midnight events. This was the 2nd time i've been to one, and (first time, see here) all in all, another fun night.

Vivian Girls- "Perfect Day" (2010)

Sorry these last posts have been in reverse chronological order, Memento- style (shit, or Irreversable-style if you're into that, oh wait-no one is into that).

Most rational people save their time/money/energy on nights leading up to SXSW, but our friend was in town from Pittsburgh so i think we all wanted to maximize our time hanging out late even if we'd regret it the next week when we're recovering . If Fig is in town, all common sense goes out the window along with a shitload of roaches, hand-rolled cigarette butts and maybe some throw-up.

I arrived at the Lounge on Elm just in time to watch the last few songs of the handsomely young looking Abe Vigoda (LA, California). Not bad.

I had regretted missing what i was told was an amazing house show by the Vivian Girls at the Exploding House in Ft. Worth a while back. (I had also heard one of my friends "hollered" at the bassist by drunkenly reciting some 'lil Wayne lyrics from Mrs. Officer, ha! so that bummed me our more).

My friends arrived just before the Vivian Girls started their boozed-up set. As if we couldn't tell by their between song banter how wasted these ladies were, they kept telling the audience through apologies about their condition.

They ended the set by inviting their tour mates, Male Bonding, who looked worse off then the them, on stage to perform this last tune written by Lou Reed. At the end of song, one of the guys fell hard into the drums and the drummer, Ali. What a sight it was.



These girls said they had just learned to play this cover and it looks like they recorded it less than a month later. I like how Stereogum called out Male Bonding for "kind of hurting" this recorded version at the beginning. I agree. Vivian Girls- i don't think they're helping you all out on this one. (And Ali, you're welcome for that coke back).

Coathangers-"Parcheezi" (2007)

Hold up....rewind. Its been about two weeks since a few of us went to the Cavern to hear one of my bros DJ upstairs (it was billed as electro/indie/dubsteb, but i believe the night was rather HEAVY in dubstep, btw).

One of my friends had already been planning on going to this Coathangers show that was downstairs at the same venue. Around 12:30 am or later, we headed down there to catch some of these Atlanta girls' raucous set. They were definitely having a good time blasting out rudimental rhythms and quirky analogue synth tones- one after another.



I could have done without the cupcakes getting thrown around the place. I took a direct hit ("One shot kid....that's ONE shot) to the chest that could have been a major pink buzzkill, but it washed out.

The evening would have been just as convivial only listening to my friend Adrian and his Ft. Worth homeboy Dragonman DJ upstairs, but i sure was glad we went down (gratis, shhhh) to catch the second half of these girls' boisterous set.

Real Estate-"Fake Blues"(2009)

Fuck. SXSW was already almost a month ago. This was the first band i got to see Friday night, March 19th after driving to Austin by myself. Thank goodness for a huge iced coffee, Suicide's Half Alive, New Order's Low-Life to get me there safely.

I got to Klub Krucial just in time to catch these guys setting up and i would get to watch the whole set. It was pretty, pretty good.



I had missed these guys last November (where this song was filmed) in Dallas at the City Tavern. I've still never been there.

Real Estate preceded a band called Memory Tapes that almost bored me to death until they kicked out the jams (with increased decibels driving that four on the floor beat) during their last song.

After that show, i walked to Red 7 to see No Age followed by the Thurston Moore led punk supergroup Demolished Thoughts (not to be mistaken for a band name accidentally made up by my friend called Damaged Thoughts-try Googling that one). My friend Danny lost his glasses in the pit during these guys' set of old, hardcore covers. I loved that Dan said,"Oh. It was totally worth it. Losing my glasses to that!". What a sport. In between those two acts that had played outside, i was surprised at the tiny audience inside watching Viv Albertine of the infamous and influential Slits. Oh well, i guess there's a lot going on during SXSW.

We saw Bill "Ghostbustin'-ass" Murray outside after this show and from then the night continued to get a little crazy. I won't go into all the nitty grittys about our new French friend Marion bumming cigs off strangers and making Andy feel uncomfortable; possible clandestine, illicit drug purchases; or how we didn't get to sleep until after eating breakfast at 630 am, then dropping Babyvine off at the airport (that chicken fried steak hit the spot). Oh yeah, and it fucking poured on us when we finally got home to go to bed. I mean poured.

What a fun evening.

Carpenters-"Yesterday Once More" (1973)

Damn, man. This Carpenters documentary, Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters, has got me buggin'. My roommate has a thing for them, and after watching this documentary i finally understand why.

I know a lot of people's favorite jam is "Superstar", especially after Sonic Youth covered it for a tribute album in 1994. (This cover ended up being used in the 2007 horror film Juno).

I'm really glad my roommate scooped this doc from a Blockbuster closing-out sale. At $3.99, this turned out to be quite a steal.



with lyrics