Stuff

So Friendly Neighborhood Records is legitimately off the ground. We have two releases out now. Monday we are releasing stuff by moon trees, Alex's (of Ghost Mall un-fame) little side project.

What I really want to mention is SUNSHOWER ORPHANS' NEW SINGLE OUT ON HOLIDAY RECORDS!!!!

Download that right now. It's really good.

Ghost Mall shows coming up. Some art show after party stuff.

10/3 in Kingston
10/10 in Brooklyn

Come.

Started a record label.

Check it out. Friendly Neighborhood Records. (blog) (myspace)

Right now this is only the creative project of Sunshower Orphans and Ghost Mall but will hopefully include material from E. Carson, Whalebeard and Cody Torlincasi among others.

We'll focus mostly on small free releases until we have the money to put out a physical release. If you like us to host one of your releases, send us an email at fnrecords [at] gmail [dot] com

Local Bands To Love: Wood Burning Stoves

I don't know how I haven't written about this band yet. Granted I have been slacking on these little features.

Anyway, Wood Burning Stoves are a great band from New Paltz. I have had the pleasure of playing with them on quite a few occasions. They are loud, dynamic and aggressive in the vein of Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Sonic Youth and Jawbreaker.

See for yourself.



They just released or are going to release their first album. 6 songs of distorted guitar, bass and drum goodness. Get at them at their myspace to get a hold of more of their music.

mpFREEs
There will be some when WBS send me some!

This is living.

The centerpiece of the greatest weekend of my life.



This is Ghost Mall playing a little earlier. We hit some technical difficulties during "40 Nugs."

Balloon Ideas

This is from the show on Tuesday featuring Cameron Wisch (with video work from Eric Drasin), Elemeno, Datadog and Ghost Mall! Cameron put it together. Thanks to everyone that came and played.



This is happening!

>>====> Exciting punk/hip hop show
JULY 4th, 2009 @ Lit Fuse Cyclery
409 Willoughby AVE. Brooklyn, NY
1 to 4 pm Benefit BBQ!!! BYOB (BBBQ)

-Ghost Mall (Queens, NY Pop Dance)
--MuhammadAli (Houston, TX Hawd Raaawk)
---Ninjasonik (Brooklyn Tight Pants)
----Deathset (Gold Coast/BMORE O.G. lineup)
-----Japanther (Brooklkyn pop punk dance)
------w/ DJ Ephew (El Paso, TX elctro dance beats)

$5 - $10 dollar sliding scale. LETS DANCE!
>>===> 3000 dollar goal for Ephew's new leg

Also, Ghost Mall has five songs.

The End.

Unsubstantiated Ramblings: June 3rd, 2009

- The next great American indie rock band, Sunshower Orphans, has filled out their lineup.

- Ghost Mall is playing a killer 4th of July show. I'm pretty sure it is benefiting the good people at Showpaper. Japanther, Ninjasonik, The Death Set and Muhammad Ali are also playing.

- Holy shit, Muhammad Ali is such a good band. (More on this in the future.)

- I just started listening to the New Bad Things, J Church and Bent Outta Shape. All great bands I'll never get to see live. I hate being late to the party.

Ghost Mall Update.

I needed to write something so I decided on this.

We finally had practice today. It went pretty well. My throat is a little sore but that's all part of it. We rerecorded the vox on "40 Nugs" and "Young Liars." We also came to the stunning realization that, while we did name our song after the comic book Young Liars, it is very possible that David Lapham named his comic book after the TV on the Radio song. So it has come full circle. aybe I'll change the name to "Danny & Sadie" or "Getting Your Junk Cut Off By A Midget Sucks."

We have our first summer show booked! It's at Retox with Apeshit! They're a hardcore band. I really want to play with Cerebral Ballzy. They are a great hardcore band. We also are probably playing with Japanther on July 4th. It's becoming a tradition.

Oh, and we sort of wrote a new song. More on that on June 11th.

This is a super lame post but whatevs.

Local Bands To Love: Pizzza Time

Steven Barry, the drummer of my old band Hidden Power, is an extremely talented individual. This is his secretive little new project, Pizzza Time. It has the same name as a Ducktails song and I guess that's fitting because it does sound a bit like Ducktails. But on "Hope You'll Be Home" he isn't afraid to be on the much noisier end of the spectrum of this kind of tropical psychedelia. It's melded with a Black Moth Super Rainbow kind of sound too. It leaves me a little speechless. I like it because it is good. And I think I might be in the background of "Let's Just Be Friends."

mpFREEs
Pizzza Time - "Hope You'll Be Home"
Pizzza Time - "Let's Just Be Friends"

Unsubstantiated Ramblings: May 21st, 2009

A few things to address in this edition concerning last night's St. Vincent show.

- St. Vincent was fantastic. Never change.

- Pattern Is Movement, don't play any songs without your drummer. He was my favorite part of your set besides that killer cover you did and your beards.

- When you go to a show, don't sit on the floor while you're waiting. It is very rude. Especially when you get up and then come back to find people standing where you were once sitting so you just plop yourself down on their feet. I'm looking at you guy who was actually a girl. But seriously, don't go to the show early if you're not prepared to stand for a while before a band comes on. GO SOMEWHERE WITH CHAIRS! Webster Hall has no chairs on the main floor for a REASON! This isn't a picnic. This is indie rock. Kay Booboo?

- Clapping guy. Give it up. You shouldn't clap along to every song. I will give you credit for clapping in time on every song and being a little creative but dude, once it gets so quiet that your claps are drowning out the singing, you should just stop.

- If you're going to stand against the barrier, I would hope that it's because you are a huge, huge fan of whatever band is playing. So you should probably be up there singing along, watching the band and making them feel good about their career choice. You should not be fucking around with your camera settings. You are not in the photo pit. Let the people getting paid to take the pictures, take the pictures. Your job is to watch the show and not have your camera tell you what the rule of thirds is. You want something to remember the show by? Then actually watch it! And buy a t-shirt.

- Webster Hall, turn the bass down. What's your deal? The bass is always really high at every show I go to inside of you. Chill out.

- Move over Jenny Lewis. I have a new indie rock crush. Annie Clark you have my heart. Seriously, nothing more attractive than a girl shredding on guitar.

That is all. Most of this has been a gross exaggeration.

Unsubstantiated Ramblings: May 18th, 2009

-Sunshower Orphans have rereleased their first EP, Thing We're Supposed To Forget, as a free download. You can get it HERE. It's a bit different from their more recent output but still pretty solid stuff.

-The new Sonic Youth album, The Eternal, is pretty good. It took me a while to get to it but I'm glad I did.

-I saw The Soloist last night. I was told it was awful. I thought it was okay. I wasn't feeling all the long classical music over birds flying or random colors scenes though.

-I saw Japanther on Saturday. They played for an hour and a half. I'm pretty sure I heard "Not A War" about three times. But I did get to hear a bunch of songs for the first time and THEY COVERED MY FAVORITE RAMONES SONG!

Local Bands To Love: The Touch Yourselves

I saw the Touch Yourselves last week in a kitchen in New Paltz. Their set was illuminated by an open microwave and camera flashes. Maniac drumming, catchy guitar hooks and Johnny Cash covers make them a lot like a Lightning Bolt with discernible lyrics. It is easy to see the Zach Hill/Brian Chippendale influence on drummer Devin Brown but it's nice to see that put together with something less abrasive than huge walls of noise. Devin's brother Chris can shred. 'Nuff said.

mpFREEs
The Touch Yourselves - "We Are The Bees"
The Touch Yourselves - "(Burning) Ring of Fire"

Local Bands To Love: Sunshower Orphans

In the interest of full disclosure, Sunshower Orphans are my friends. Mike and I were in an awful band in high school that he was smart enough to get out of. Then at some point after the demise of the first incarnation of the Sunshower Orphans, he decided to quit music forever and sold all of his equipment which was a damn shame because they were responsible for one of my favorite songs of all time, "Polly Ana."

Anyway, Sunshower Orphans is back in all their 90s slacker, shoegaze-y glory (although still rounding out the live lineup) and Holiday Records is releasing a FREE digital single featuring two fantastic tracks, "Lies in Sepia" and "Manic Flaneur." Two masterpiece pop songs. Seriously. Just as good if not better than the EP they released last year.

Sunshower Orphans and Holiday Records. Doing good things.

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Sunshower Orphans - Lies in Sepia Digital Single
Sunshower Orphans - "Polly Ana"

Local Bands To Love: Sharks Roar

Keys to making me like a band:
1. Write good songs.
2. Don't sing. Yell.
3. Lots of electric guitar.



Sharks Roar fulfills all three. They are a punk power trio in the vein of Jawbreaker with a little Modest Mouse thrown in for good measure. They only have a bunch of demos on their MySpace right now but honestly the quality of the songs FAR exceeds the quality of the recordings. The lyrics of "Yellow Piracy" ooze with the bark of a bittersweet lover: "I'd be happiest taking everything down with the ship. I'd be happiest taking everything down." and the music is loud and fast. My favorite is "Books" but that's just because I think that "Write a book about it!" is a great refrain. They should have their album finished and out sometime this summer. Stop listening to me. Start listening to them.

mpFREEs
Sharks Roar - "Books (Demo)"
Sharks Roar - "Yellow Piracy (Demo)"

Alien Lanes

We finished our own lives. Now we finished off the wine. Now we're used to staying up all night. Two hearts beating OH YEAH! OH YEAH! Japandroid's "Young Hearts Spark Fire"

It's almost raining today.

My little brother's school was the one that had the Swine Flu outbreak. I think the whole Swine Flu thing is a bit silly. Diseases are dangerous but this one is dangerous to Mexico and babies only. If you start feeling sick, go to the doctor. This super flu is treatable. Everyone stop freaking out.

The semester is winding down. Ghost Mall has been going pretty well. We have our seventh show tomorrow. We still have only 4 songs but hopefully that'll change soon. I guess 7 shows isn't that big a deal either but considering Hidden Power had only 8 in 6 months, 7 in 1 is pretty good. The plan is to write a few more, record them and shop them around to a couple of labels. Maybe put out a 7"

Oh check out this band, Sharks Roar. Killer dudes. Killer tunes. Like a more melodic, less abrasive Jawbreaker.

My external hard drive decided to delete all of my Pavement. Bummer.

Summer is almost upon us. So time to break out the summer records. Here's a list of favorite summer records of mine.

Desaparecidos - "Read Music/ Speak Spanish"
Japandroids - "Post-Nothing"
Guided By Voices - "Alien Lanes"
Japanther - "Skuffed Up My Huffy"
Pavement - "Slanted and Enchanted"
UGK - Any and everything.

That's the short list. I'm really digging that Japandroids record and Guided By Voices lately.

Just about time for band practice. Playing with Terror Pigeon tomorrow!

What are you doing?

The Little Rebellion!

I am a Web Editor for a new online publication that caters to the New Paltz community.

Check it out!

In other news:
-The new Dirty Projectors is great.
-I can't stop reading "Scott Pilgrim"
-Listen to Plumtree's Predicts The Future

This Is Why I Read Comic Books

This is fantastic.

Scary Monsters and Superfolks

Love has that funny way of finding you when you look away. It happens every single day. Don't believe me look it up. Lima Research Society's "Magic Juice Box"

So I've been reading Robert Mayer's Superfolks and it is one of the most refreshing things I've read in a long time. For those not in the know, this book was published in the '70s. It is almost a prototype for the deconstruction of superheroes that would be seen in Watchmen and Miracleman. But this book is much funnier than those books set out to be. Our hero is from the planet Cronk. He is basically a Superman analogue who has all the powers but when he uses his x-ray vision for checking out women he always runs into something.

He can be weakened by Cronkite. Hilarious!

The book is riddled with little digs at movie stars and obscure pop culture references. Which, while it is a treasure trove for a junkie like me, frames the story so well. He lives in the same world as our favorite heroes. But they are dead and he is forty.

My friend picked up Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's Umbrella Academy recently. Originally, I was out off by a musician making a comic book. Even though I have a soft spot for all of MCR's albums (you chalk it up to some high school nostalgia but The Black Parade was a pretty fun exercise is raising glam from the dead). The first arc is pretty fantastic but I hate that there isn't more of this book. I want to know everything about the characters. It bothered me that I didn't know more. It was like coming into a movie halfway through. I suppose that that is just the literary device that is easiest to use for a rock star who is constantly on the road. Still, it's frustrating.

In other news, my band played it's first show. It went well. We played three songs in a black-lit room. Tons of bands played: Cameron Wisch, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!, Math the Band, Lima Research Society, Landlords, Elemeno Pete, Santa Dads. It was a good day. Cameron Wisch really blew me away. He used to drum for Ra Ra Riot. Definitely one of the sickest drummers I've ever seen.

We have another show on Friday. Zombie-style.

Ghost Mall

New band.

Check it.

GHOST MALL

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out and round up everyone that knows more than they do Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row"

Watchmen was much better the second time around on a screen bigger than my house when I wasn't pressed up against the front of the theater, needing to basically lay down in my seat to actually see. (Damn New Paltz Cinemas!)

After watching it the first time I was kind of mystified by it. I mean, they did it. Filmed the unfilmable and all that jazz. Couple of problems though.

1. The soundtrack was too loud and no one should have sex to Leonard Cohen. That man's gravely voice will have you losing wood faster than Rue McClanahan naked on a freezing winter day.

2. Malin Akerman is the worst actress ever. She ruined just about every scene she was in.

3. The resolution of the movie took too long. After the plot is revealed, it should've been Rorschach dies, Nite Owl gets mad and cut to the newspaper scene. cue credits and bad MCR cover of Dylan.

4. The Dr. Manhattan/ Silk Spectre scene on Mars was completely unsatisfying. (See #2)

5. I wish Ozymandias wasn't so villainous. And I wish Matthew Goode was a better actor.

Watching it the second time, I was distracted by less things like the gratuitous amounts of violence and blood and all the annoying slow motion. I think the movie is really as faithful an adaptation we'll ever see. Almost everything is covered. Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis' homosexuality is alluded to. The Rorschach scenes are fantastic.

I was much more skeptical a few days after the first time around. The message of the material does change through this adaptation but I think that the book just takes the film's resolution ne step further. In the book, I like tot think that there is world peace for a split second before the Squid wipes everything out. The movie just never lets the world end.

Maybe it's too nicely packaged. But maybe that was the only way to do it.

Oh, and go watch those opening credits at least. They are easily my favorite part of the movie, Jackie Earle Haley not included.

Rebirthed Like a Phoenix Through the Spirit of the Beat

AbsolutePunk.net published one of my pieces today!

It is called "Rebirthed Like a Phoenix Through the Spirit of the Beat"

Here's the beginning:

The walls are sweating. I’m sweating. I’m stepping on someone’s broken beer bottle and a large plank of wood just fell from the ceiling. Feedback rips through the room. The basement is packed like the E train during rush hour. A broken chair, a mop and scraps of duct tape litter the floor. They used to be a mic stand. The crowd looks on expectantly, straining to see over each other. I quiet them down.

You can read the rest here.

This feels really good. Thanks AP.