So it seems Gold Panda is coming to New Zealand for the first time and as much as I like his album Lucky Shiner (which is to say, very), I do worry how he’ll come across live.
Colour me less concerned for my own enjoyment than the odds of a sizable appreciative crowd at his Wellington appearance. This will be his first time here and one must give a good impression. Besides, Wellington needs acts like Gold Panda.
I mean, just listen to his Trust EP.
Just cinematic.
This is the Emperor Machine remix of “Orion” by Sons & Daughters.
Domino Records released a bunch of remixes from their catalogue late last year as the Motion Sickness compilation. While it is a mixed bag, as most compilations tend to be these days, this remix immediately stands out as one of the better songs on offer.
The so very DFA funk synthline, punctuated with stabbing pews of the laser-variety, makes this eminently nod-inducing across its relentless eleven minute length.
I could listen to this again and again and again, and I have.
This is “Lanzarote” by Lindstrom and Todd Terje.
Perhaps, the most appropriate description of this song comes from Piers earlier this evening, namely…
“Played… thinking yep, yep, pretty good, then got to the keychange at 1:22 immediately rewound so I could play it from the start, MUCH louder”
Feel free to see for yourself.
This is Classixx’s remix of “Take A Walk” by Passion Pit.
I’m sure I’ve seen them live, perhaps at Parklife last year, and can’t say I’ve ever been that much of a fan, but this remix does all kinds of impressive things to me. This would, for instance, be a brilliant remix to open a set.
Just incredible.
Maybe it was the humidity today, but I was going a bit spare at work and my mind was a-wanderin’. Actually, it may have been the misery of attempting to divine meaningful outcomes from impenetrably vague decision texts of UN negotiations that were written and agreed by trade policy wonks having a go at an issue they know nothing about.
Anywho, my train of thought somehow leapt to that culinary marvel: beef tartare.
Ever since, I’ve been dreaming of finely-chopped wagyu formed into a mound with a dimple in the top, of slivered pistachios flash-fried in a little sumac butter, of a quail egg carefully cracked over the mound so the yolk looks comfortably nestled in the dimple and the white gives the rest of the dish a pleasantly rich sheen. You know, something simple, something clean, but also something rich and satisfying.
My craving for beef tartare was such that I spent most of my early afternoon wandering the streets of Wellington searching physically and virtually for anywhere that offered it as a lunch menu option. To no avail, sadly. I know Ambeli does what looks on the dinner menu like a fussy beef tartare, but Chris and I won’t get a chance to go there until early January at the earliest.
Is it so wrong to want nice things?
This is a page from Soul Music by Terry Pratchett that grabbed me as an awkwardly relevant reflection on recent events.
I’ve been reading a lot of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series in recent weeks. More as a consequence of consistent recommendation at my preferred drinking establishment than any grand endeavour to visit everything I didn’t in my younger years. Thoroughly enjoying the books to be honest.
I think Soul Music is the 16th book in the series, running in order of publication date. The series runs a few key storylines or elements like Rincewind, Death, the Witches, the Guards, etc. One could read the books by storyline, but I quite enjoy the chaotic shifts from book to book as one leaps from storyline to storyline. There is, after all, a certain charm in finding yourself swung from storyline to storyline. Variety being the spice of life, sort of thing.
The storylines that grab me the most are the ones involving the Guards (Guards! Guards! was excellent, but Men At Arms was even better) and the Witches (Granny Weatherwax is the literary embodiment of who I wish I could have been). Just expect to hear the same exact things written in every god damned book about the light of Discworld, the Librarian’s transformation, and the water / aroma of Ankh-Morpork. Such is the necessity of serialised fiction, I guess.
Lacey of lulinternet fame made this for me.
Normally I’d balk at even the vaguest suggestion of warmth or happiness peaking out from under the menacing air I tend to project in person, but this is actually a pretty fair representation of my current state given the pretty great weekend I’ve had.
My brow wrinkles have been captured perfectly, have they not?
This is “& It Was U” from the album Total Loss by How To Dress Well. This is arguably one of the better songs on the album while also arguably being one of the better songs to do the rounds this year.
I mention this because another decision I have to make for 2013 is whether to head across the vast and treacherous Tasman Sea to see him live in Melbourne. Its on 22 February, so a long weekend could be doable. I know that a good friend of mine already has his ticket, so I’ll be in good company.
It would be epic if HTDW busted out this rework he did of Transparency by d’Eon. I know it wouldn’t work so well with the rest of his set, but one can dream. Support acts are yet to be announced. Hope th
For reasons I’d rather not go into right now, the Depeche Mode song I have the strongest attachment to is “In Your Room” from their album Songs of Faith and Devotion.
With news they have a new album coming out next year, as well as a North American tour, I’ve been listening to their catalogue a fair bit of this last week. I really need to see them live and 2013 could very well be the year I see them. I’d just need everyone in the crowd to look away from me when this song comes up on the set-list. One may need a moment or four to tend to something that will no doubt catch in my eye.
I normally don’t take much notice of the lyrics to a song, as they don’t usually mean a lot to my enjoyment of a song. “In Your Room” is perhaps the one exception to that general rule. I’d lost someone very close to me at the time so really got off on the low rumble of the menacing rhythm that swept along lyrics that spoke of questioning disconnection and the desperate need to know “what do I do now?”.
Portishead’s remix of “In Your Room” is pretty rad. Sounds kinda like the Jeep Rock mix, probably because it is.
Fuck I miss the 90s.
Source: Evan Palmer
2012 has been a trying and often painful year, especially in recent weeks. The image above perfectly encapsulates how I feel thanks to Mother Nature and her unwelcome bitch of a daughter, Hayfever.
Just. Woeful.