01. HEALTH - Die Slow (7" single, A-side, 2009) Buy the 7" here. 02. Can - Thief (Delay 1968, 1981) 03. The Congos - Open Up the Gates (Heart of The Congos, 1977) 04. Gui Boratto - Les enfants (Take My Breath Away, 2009) 05. Brian Eno & David Byrne - Regiment (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 1981) 06. Joy Division - Disorder (Unknown Pleasures, 1979) 07. Kraftwerk - Antenna (Radioactivity, 1975) 08. Brian Eno - The Big Ship (Another Green World, 1975) 09. Sigur Rós - Saeglópur (Takk, 2005)
Before I left San Francisco, I sold my drum kit and gave away my guitar. I don't partake in any "social vices" nor have I any friends in this city so the only way I get my kicks these days is through books, films, and music. Occasionally, I like to explore the asphalt jungles of Manhattan.
BOOKS: I'm currently plowing through Marshall McLuhan's prescient, media bible/manual, "Understanding Media." For a book that expounded on so many concepts that were ahead of its time and launched catchphrases such as "The Medium Is The Message," "the global village," "hot and cold media" into the public's consciousness (catchphrases that were novel in the late 60's when the book was published, but which have become commonplace today), it has a pretty boring title. But as the proverb goes, don't judge a book by its cover. I'm only 60 pages or so into it and I've already begun to think differently about technology and the way in which information in Western Civilizations has traditionally been organized and disseminated. I'm also trying to finish John Berger's book, "About Looking."
FILMS: I've got John Schlesinger's "Day of the Locust" in my DVD player. "Billy Liar" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (with an uncredited turn by a young Daniel Day-Lewis!) are next.
MUSIC: Listening to some Kraftwerk, Sigur Ros, Jane's Addiction, Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach (on a shag carpet with a dry martini in hand, naturally).
I recently discovered the inspired music of Heitor Villa-Lobos through watching a terrible VHS transfer of Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha's "Black God White Devil." As far as I can gather from the subtitles that weren't bleached out, it's about a mercenary (Antonio das Mortes), an embittered desperado (Captain Corisco), a messianic evangelist (Sebastien), and a man and his wife (Manoel and Rosa) divided by religion and civil war. If I were to be facile, I would say that it is about man's search for peace. Voted the "greatest Brazilian film of all time," the film was released onto DVD last year by Mr. Bongo, but it's only available in the U.K. The SF MOMA programmed a screening of Rocha's sequel to "Black God White Devil," "Antonio das Mortes" last year, but unfortunately, couldn't acquire the print in time. Major disappointment.
The music of Brazil's much beloved composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos is featured in "Black God, White Devil." Villa-Lobos seems to have been a very prolific artist. If you enjoy Erik Satie's piano works, you'll enjoy his piano pieces. If you enjoy the music of Paco de Lucia, Django Reinhardt or the Assad brothers, you'll enjoy Villa-Lobos' compositions for solo guitar. The latter duo put out an album of Villa-Lobos' complete guitar works. Scroll down to listen.
This week's edition of "On Rotation" features three tracks by Lil' Wayne, whose merits I discovered only yesterday while attempting to relieve boredom. Unlike Kanye West's over-inflated and masturbatory "808's & Heartbreak," whatever madness is behind Lil' Wayne's "Tha Carter III" is downright fascinating. Bewildering and kind of offensive too, but mostly fascinating. As far as I know (and my knowledge of mainstream hip-hop is admittedly scant), nobody in mainstream hip-hop today has ever recorded a rap about suffering from mental illness, being a martian and a "venereal disease" or hated by the seasons. Nobody has rapped about the disorientating experience of going from the ghetto 'hood to the gated 'hood with such self-consciousness. Nobody has had the temerity to claim to be the saviour of hip-hop, referenced Hitler and ESPN in the same song, dedicated a whole track to rapping about a prostitute or fucking the police (literally). He even delivers a diatribe against the Reverend Al Sharpton on "Don't Get It," berating him as a "Don King with a perm." Name a rapper that has done that. The man is "ILL! Not sick." Well, maybe a little.
01 Animal Collective - My Girls from Merriweather Post Pavilion 02 Aphrodite's Child - Rain and Tears from The End of the World 03 Beck - Youthless from Modern Guilt 04 Bill Withers - Can We Pretend from + Justed 05 Bon Iver - Skinny Love from For Emma, Forever Ago 06 Caetano Veloso - Cucurrucucu Paloma from The Best of Caetano Veloso 07 Chad VanGaalen - Echo Train from Infiniheart 08 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Wrote A Song For Everyone from Green River 09 Crystal Castles - Vanished from Crystal Castles 10 David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today 11 David Ruffin - Heaven Help Us All from David (The Unreleased Album) 12 Deerhunter - Never Stops from Microcastle 13 Donovan - Wear Your Love Like Heaven from A Gift from A Flower to A Garden 14 Dungen - Satt Att Se ("Ways to See") from 4 15 Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind from Etta James - Her Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection 16 Grizzly Bear + Feist - Service Bell from Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation) 17 Holy Fuck - Nude (Remix) from Radiohead remix contest 18 Isaac Hayes - Wonderful from Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It? 19 Ladytron - Black Cat from Velocifero 20 Lali Puna - Faking The Books from Faking The Books 21 Laura Cantrell - Love Vigilantes from Trains And Boats And Planes 22 Lil' Wayne - Mr. Carter (Ft. Jay-Z) from Tha Carter III 23 Lil' Wayne - A Milli from Tha Carter III 24 Lil' Wayne - Dr. Carter from Tha Carter III 25 Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone from Youth Novels 26 Matt And Kim - Daylight from Grand 27 Miriam Makeba - Olilili from Africa 28 Pinback - Good To Sea from Autumn of the Seraphs 29 The Raveonettes - Dead Sound from Lust Lust Lust 30 Rodriguez - Sugar Man from Cold Fact 31 Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information from World Psychedelic Classics 2: California Soul 32 Sigur Rós - Hoppipolla from Takk 33 Spiritualized - Soul On Fire from Songs In A & E 34 TV on the Radio - Family Tree from Dear Science 35 TV on the Radio - Stork & Owl from Dear Science 36 TV on the Radio - DLZ from Dear Science 37 Vetiver - Everyday from Tight Knit
