Wire - Chairs Missing

Pink Flag is one of those records that changed my life when I got into it later in life, circa twelve years ago. It immediately became one of those albums that is ALWAYS on me, occupying a constant, non-negotiable spot in both my automobile CD binder and the ipod that I constantly have to juggle the contents of in order to accommodate day to day fancies along with such mainstays. Chairs Missing is a step further down the Wire spiral, and from the first track you can feel a little bit more madness eating in around the fringes of the classic post-punk sound that means so much to so many.

Pinebender - Fifth to Last

I came by Working Nine to Wolf by Pinebender on accident back when it was released in the fall of 2006. In the press that accompanied the record it's interesting to note that the band describes their music as "amplifier worship", and when you get to know the music that becomes a crystal clear encapsulation of what they do. I wish I could see them live, because as good a job the recordings on this album are in translating the loud factor - my guess is there are a lot of good room mics involved in the mix - simply by listening to it you become swallowed by the sound and inevitably I find myself wondering how much more glorious the 'worship' would be in a live room, with thundering space and the occasional breeze from a back room. This has been a peripheral staple of mine ever since, however listens are infrequent enough that I really never kept tabs on the band and as such with just a smidge of internet research this morning (woke up thinking of this song again) I am unable to discern whether or not Pinebender still exists. Perhaps someone from the band will see this and drop a comment? One can hope...

Ty Segall - Ghost

Filthy.

Al Jarreau's Working on the Night Shift

I'm rounding out the night watching Night Shift for the first time in about... oh, twenty-something years. Not even twenty, had to be twenty-something. Night Shift was originally released in 1982 - I would have been 6 at the time - I don't remember what year I saw this flick on late night WGN Chicago's channel 9 but a lot of it stuck with me. That's how 80's movies were. Part of that is probably just the nostalgia - you know, the first time you see Michael Keaton jump off a second floor balcony in a cave man toga and land flat on his face it stays with you, right? Yeah, but of course there's the fact that my brain was still gathering mad information and formulating future experiences based on what I was perceiving at the time - a lot of deep-seated psychological growth going on that explains the attachment as well. Either way, my boss and I have talked about this movie a couple times and I've been surprised how much I remembered for having seen it once. Surprised despite the fact that I held it in a slightly unexplainable regard ever since...

Alas, I fear that this post has become incoherent because I've now been up for almost 24 hours and have a handful of Sierra Nevada's in me, so why don't I just let my sudden predilection for jabber-jawing take the proverbial dive off the second floor balcony of an $8k a year strip club and let Mr. Jarreau attempt to pull my ass out of the recycler?

What?

Future Primitives

This is the shit. I LOVE the fact that this surf/punk is proliferating at the moment. I heard pretty much this entire record tonight and it is fantastic.

Spider Heart

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Driving home late at night, unseasonably cool air for September in Southern California whipping through the windows as I drive La Brea, dodging double parkers waiting for spots outside trendy bars, swerving to avoid bold or drunken J walkers, tired but buzzing from the electric city wrapped around me. And Spider Hearts is ripping through my speakers and everything is pretty goddamn awesome at the moment.

Future Islands - Long Flight

Just discovered Future Islands, a band that hails from my beloved Baltimore, MD. This song takes me all over the place - something about it evokes some of the Empty Bottle/Thrill Jockey corner of mid/late 90's indie rock (and lo and behold, guess what label two of their last two long-players were on?) and something else evokes Euro synthoids Stereolab. Either way, I love this and aim to hear more. You can check out some stuff on Friends Records bandcamp or just go to the band's website.