Audio files: The shakuhachi; Sexsonica; and Virgo birthdays

No Gravatar

Welcome back to another edition of “Audio Files,” where blind eyes look into the vapid maw of Jennifer Lopez and see greatness. There’s lots happening this week, so let’s teleport to Elysium, where fields of asphodel await our rumpled back-parts. Chin up, fellow travelers.

NEWS

HEATING UP MY PLAYLIST

  • Glenn Danzig, “And the Angels Weep.”
  • Goldfrapp, “Number 1.”
  • Prince & the Revolution, “Girls & Boys.”
  • Stephen Malkmus, “Deado.” Generally, I dislike snide, aloof, cool, slacker, brown-pants, dude-their-first-album-was-great-and-then-everything-started-to-suck indie rock. The genre fills the brevities of my gymnastics with soiled shame and shriveled knackwurst. Still, life is full of paradoxes and complexity.  Which might explain my fondness for the music of Steve Malkmus. The guy has a gift for melody, and though his lyrics are full of smug, contemptible irony, the aggregate effect of a Malkmus song is good. Melody heals all wounds.
  • The Dukes of Stratosphear, “Vanishing Girl.”
  • The Kilimmanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, “Lobby.”

RANDOM SHARDS OF SONIC INFORMATION

SAILING THE SEAS OF YOUTUBE

SYMPHONIC FLICKR

CLOSING THOUGHTS

It’s September 2. If today is your birthday, you are blessed to share it with Laurindo Almeida, John Zorn, Hugo Montenegro, and Kraftwerk’s Michael Rother. Happy birthday, you earthy, mutable Virgos, from me and Harvey Sid Fisher both. Additional birthday greetings come via the Monkees, and their Jack Nicholson-directed opus Head, a.k.a. the greatest movie of all time. Head had the best assemblage of actors in history too — Frank Zappa, Toni Basil, Annette Funicello, Teri Garr, and football legend Ray Nitschke (fun fact: I went to school with Ray’s daughter).

Anyway, the Beatles suck.

Print This Post Print This Post

Discussion Area - Leave a Comment