Of Montreal at La Bataclan

Of Montreal rolled into la Bataclan last week and we were there to join the party.
I've mentioned what a great venue la Bataclan is, my biggest gripe, the beer. Kronenberg, a not too great French beer is all that have but you can get wine in a fancy plastic cup. Here Robbie displays one of each.
Becca and Robbie joined us at the show. Count the drinks.
Of Montreal put on a pretty amazing show. The music is perfect for dancing but the stage show was so crazy that you never want to look away and miss something. The band sounded great but the showmanship was the best part of the evening, there was just so much going on.
I don't know many song names but they played, Gronlandic edit, Wicked Wisdom, She's a Rejector, Bunny ain't no kind of rider, For our elegant caste and a bunch of others before ending with Take Me Out, a Franz Ferdinand cover.
Check out the bird headed judges beside Kevin.

I was amazed that he was such a good guitarist, a couple of the songs really rocked live.
This devil being worshiped by the pig was a catholic priest just moments before.
Kevin being carried by red faced things.
Kevin, now shirtless, and the red things.
Surrounded and embraced by the red things.
The white tiger has found the pig.
Sorry this picture is so bad but this is Kevin wearing an outfit that created its own smoke.
Kevin dressed in whip cream.

Everyone up on stage for Take Me Out.

Shirts

A couple of great shirts available here at Print Liberation.

I love this jacket by King Kog, in fact, they have a lot of great bikecentric clothing.

Morrissey 7 inch

This is reportedly the album insert for Morrissey's single I'm throwing My arms around Paris. Damn, brother is looking good but I think I would have used a full sized album, needed or not.

Keep It Hid - Dan Auerbach

I recently spent some time with Dan Auerbach's new album Keep It Hid. The first thing you notice is that this is not a big departure from what the Black Keys have been doing. It has a decidedly more laid back feel to it and while it isn't an acoustic album it has that vibe to it. Stand out for me are Whispered Words(written by his father), When the night comes and My last mistake. The first two are a couple of the most quiet songs on the album and My Last Mistake is a small rave up with a M. Ward old time sound to it. This is a truely wonderful intimate album that shouldn't be missed.

Animal Collective @ Le Bataclan

Gretchen and I caught Animal Collective on friday, our first concert in France.
Great show, not a lot of movement among the three band members but amazingly exciting none the less. I only commented once on how Sam Beam makes these guys look like old men(In reference to Gretchen's disparaging remarks at the Mars Volta show last year). I will say that it appeared that Panda Bear was participating in and probably winning an ugly sweater contest and the striped shirt dude either had a horrible haircut or had worn a hat for a week and taken it off right before coming on stage. I appoligize for talking about the band members but when you stand still for a couple of hours people are gonna notice these things. I think my point that headlamps are cool was reitterated by the dude with the beard.
Le Bataclan is a pretty cool venue, it reminded me of Metropolis in Montreal. It appears to be a converted theatre and had the biggest disco ball i've ever seen. The acoustics were really good from the two spots we listened from. The only venue problems was the single bar and the coat check staffed by one guy where we waited for an hour after the show.
Animal Collective opened the show with the album opener from Merriweather Post Pavilion, In the Flowers. They played all my favorites from the new album, My Girls(the closer), Bluish and Lion in a Coma. Gretchen was a little disappointed that they didn't play Peacebone but from all the dancing and hand clapping she was doing you wouldn't know it. The electronic heavy sound translated really well to a live setting, i didn't envy the roadies that have to plug in all the keyboards, pedals, effect and whatnot, they must have had a couple hundred miles of cable. The live situation was pretty interesting, a couple of times i thought that they reached a space that would really connect with jam band fans, it was pretty cool to hear them stretch out some of the songs.
High Life opened the show. High life was one American dude who sounded great. Do you remember that David Gray album a few yeas ago with that popular song? That album got a bit of attention because Gray used a tiny bit of elecronics. Imagie id Gray had really embraced electric drums and loops to the fullest, that woul be High Life. His voice sounded exactly like David Gray(That's a good thing) and his guitar playing was backed by some laptop wizardry that sounded really good.

By its cover

Judging from its cover the new Nico Case will be face meltingly kick ass.

Please do not let me go

Is Ryan Adams dropping out of music? His latest and last post on the Cardinals site seems to be his warning shot that this is indeed the end. We've heard crazy stuff from RA before but this sounds serious. I'm guessing he may be off the grid for a year or two but like Jordan he won't be able to stay away, someone with a gift like that can't give it up completely, can they? He has recently talked about cooling out and doing a couple of quiet solo records so maybe this is the first step towards something like that, a recharging of the spiritual battery. I keep telling myself not to freak out, besides if this is the end look at the body of work he's left behind, amazing. Does this mean that the box set will finally come out?

Je suis Morrissey

I listened to the new Morrissey album once yesterday and twice today and I'm here to tell you that it is awesome. This is purebred late era Morrissey. The album kicks off with the words "I'm doing very well", i mean come on, how perfect is that? It seems like he's gotten better and better over the last two or three albums after a little slump. There are some gems on this album, i don't want to get overly excited and list every song on the album but standouts include; Something is Squeezing My Skull, I'm throwing my arms around Paris (I had to like that one right?), That's how people grow up, Sorry doesn't help. There are some great driving tracks on this album,some catchy tunes and the lyrics are right on and best of all it sounds just like Morrissey. Morrissey proves that he can sing the phone book and make it sound heartbreaking and profound, In Something is Squeezing My Skull he sings a list of drug names. I haven't even touched on how gleefully disturbing the album art is, i think i might have to buy this on vinyl and frame the sleeve.
This man's live show is not to be missed!
4/12/09 Bass Concert Hall Austin, Texas
6/2/09 Grand Rex Paris, France

Slipping

It has been a long time since I posted any boobs, thanks Joe. I think I feel a new resolution coming on.

Bike stuff

I've been dying to get on a bike since getting to Paris but with bikes being expensive, me being poor and not knowing where in the world i would put one I haven't gotten one yet. One of my resolutions is to make use of the Velib bikes this year. I keep telling myself that spring is right around the corner and bike season will soon be upon us.
The above bike was built specifically for Mike Giant by 4130. Looks like the perfect city bike. Giant designed a pretty cool shirt for 4130 that you can buy from their site here.
Bad ass Freeman Transport, who got a mention from Mr. Staple the other day, has a really cool write up over at HighSnobiety give the interview a read, it really makes you think about what quality means and what it's worth. It's strange that Gretchen and I were having a similar conversation brought on by the Soldes that start today in Paris. Boiled down does the fact that something is cheap make it a good deal or is it better to spend more on a few choice items? Our total lack of space makes every purchase highly analysed around here.

New Animal Collective

After much nagging by my lovely wife i listened to the new Animal Collective disc Merriweather Post Pavilion today. Gretchen kept telling me that it was different enough from previous releases that i would like it. She was right. I'll come right out and admit that i haven't liked any of the other Animal Collective releases and lord knows i've wanted to. Everyone knows you can't be anywhere near hip wihout loving Animal Collective so i've listened through each album wanting to like them.
I haven't put this on my best of '09 list yet but after a listen ad a half i can tell that this album is going to grow on me. I'm not saying i don't already like it, especially My Girls and Bluish, but even after half a second listen i've noticed some cool stuff i didn't notice the first time through. That having been said this wil probably be "in the mood" music, something that i have to want to listen to at the moment. Some things i hear and i'm imeddiatly in the mood to hear them, they put me in the mood, other things i won't listen to unless i'm "in the mood". Riding alone on the metro sitting in that perfect spot(the strapontain by itself away from the door that opens) on a snowy Paris morning seems to put me in the perfect mood for the new Animal Collective.

G's list

Gretchen, big time Jackson Pollack fan(she went to his new exhibition on Christmas day), law nerd and lady about town, has posted her best albums list. Check it out on her blog here, she also breaks down the differences in French law and American law in terms a layperson can almost understand. She is one wicked smart chick.

Stuff going on

Fecal Face has a cool interview with Mike Giant.
I love when he breaks down living within the EU. Maybe the coolest thing is that he reveled that he will be showing new works at his show here in Paris.
Andrea updated her website with her albums of the year list. Check it yo.

Top Albums of 2008

Top Albums of 2008

1. The Cardinals(Ryan Adams) – Cardinology This is such a great album. It is common knowledge that I love anything Ryan Adams puts out so I’ll spare you a long fawning write up here, just know that since cleaning up Ryan’s voice sounds light years stronger.

2. Kings of Leon – Only by the night I wrote about this album on my blog when it first came out and I still love it.

3. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago This has shown up on almost every list this year so I probably don’t need to say anything more about how awesome it is.

4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seed – Dig, Lazerus, Dig!!! Like I’ve said before, the Grinderman album that Cave and his cohorts made not long ago really added a spark to this album that sets it apart from some of his recent work. As a long time fan of the Boatman’s Call this album is right up there.

5. Destroyer – Trouble in Dreams Not as immediately catchy overall as Destroyer’s Rubies this album pays off big if you give it a little patience and a couple of extra listens

6. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins A great album, at times a little loose and jangly often poppy and melodic but superb songwriting throughout. Pop Lie reminds me a bit of the New Pornographers at their best.

7. Vampire Weekend – S/T This album is too much fun not to be included.

8. Fleet Foxes – S/T This is another album that many much better writers then myself have written about and included on their lists.

9. Girl Talk I really didn’t like this Girl Talk album when I first picked it up but being the lazy bastard that I am I didn’t erase it from my ipod, then a strange thing happened, I found myself listening to every Girl Talk track that came up on shuffle(I almost exclusively use the shuffle feature) Now at the end of the year my I tunes tells me that I’ve listened to some of these tracks more than albums I loved right out of the gate. If you haven’t heard this album it is a seemless mix of a ton of samples that couldn’t possible have been legally cleared. Part of the fun of this is trying to figure out where that bass line came from or how many decades separate the release of the lyrics and the rhythm track.

10. Herman Dune – Next Year in Zion This is a late entry for me, I’ve had pieces of this album for awhile but only recently bought the entire album. I really like the simplicity of this work and the lyrics are smart and uncomplicated. I was turned onto these guys by posters in the metro advertising one of their shows.

11. Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Lay down in the light Will Oldham at his most awesome. I’ve really not spent as much time with this album as I would like to, I’m sure it would be higher up on the list if I’d spun it a few more times.

12. Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping I probably wouldn’t have listened to this more then once if it weren’t for Gretchen. This weirdly sung collection of funky dance tracks really grows on a fella. I think what put it over the top for me was the video Gretchen showed me where the lead singer was wearing a giant fanny pack. A Giant fanny pack!

EP Love:

One Day as a Lion – S/T While it’s no Rage Against the Machine There are three really strong tracks on this ep that I’ve listened to a lot. This ep is also to blame for me loading my ipod with the entire Rage Against the Machine discography, it ust plays so well on the Metro.

The Decemberists – Always the Bridesmaid As much as Gretchen hates them I love the Decemberists. This ep has several stellar tracks, Valerie Plame is probably my favorite.

Special Mention:

R.E.M. - Murmur(Reissue) – While I could technically place this at number one on my list and be done with it that might be cheating. I’ve probably listened to this entire album more than anything else, ever. This is still an absolutely brilliant album.

Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac(reissue) Another that could technically be placed in my top three for this year. This expanded edition is pretty awesome it has a live and early version of one of my favorite songs Houses on the Hill.

These two tracks will forever be linked in my mind with moving to Paris besides the fact that they are great songs they were played constantly on the French music channel (one of the only places to hear English).

MGMT – Time to Pretend

Estelle featuring Kanye West – American Boy

Le Lesson 2: Nutella

The French don't seem to eat peanut butter but by God they eat a lot of Nutella. So when in Rome... like the French we have switched, in large part, to Nutella. (A tiny jar of Peanut Butter runs about 6 euro,around 8 bucks)
The lesson in this switch to Nutella is this; if you get a little Nutella on your hand or shirt it looks just like shit. This can be terribly confusing if you've just gotten up. About twice a week I have to stop what I'm doing and run it down mentally, like this.
1. Have I taken a shit this morning? No i need a little coffee and a bite first thing so... not mine.
2. Has a child touched me this morning? I'm generally the first one up and if i'm not Liam has woken me and i've automatically made him a bowl of cereal. This is done with no touching so... not ours.
3. Have i touched something D might have touched without washing his hands last night? Alarm clock, sweatpants, coffee press, water pot, coffee cup, cereal bowl, milk. Nope, so...not his.
4. Should i taste this? Why not, ohh it's Nutella. I've been lucky so far.

Stuff for G

Gretchen will go nuts when she sees Largehearted Boys compilation of top ten lists.
She might pee herself when she hears the Of Montreal cover of Petty's American Girl.

Eames

Wow, some people really like those Eames Chairs. Does this give you any ideas Scot?

Le Lessons 1

I've decided to impart some of the lessons i'm learning here in Paris, some of them are Paris specific and some might apply to life in your city.
Lesson One: Ordering at Mc Donalds.
If you have small children you will find yourself at a McDo's, even in a city like Paris with so many other food options. Ordering at Mc Donald's isn't as easy as you might think even though most everything on the menu is the same in French as it is in English.
Here is the secret to ordering, numbers need to be said in french but the items need to be said in english but with a wicked thick french accent. example; "deux aumbeergers, un sheecan sanwich et deux appee meel". That's all there is to it, good luck.

Mike Giant in Paris

I just found out that Mike Giant will be part of a show with Dalek at the Magda Danysz Gallery here in Paris on April 25th. Magda Danysz is right down the road from our place.

Post it show

Tom, one of the Igloo Tornado members(he of the Blot fame), is taking part in a post it show. Like it sounds, the art is done on post it notes and Tom has done several portraits of famous artists. Check out his work here.

There as been alot of talk around my house about how tame my music tastes have become, here's what i listened to on the metro today and yesterday. BTW i've been using my wife's shuffle so i just go with what it wants.
Fallen from the sky - Glen Hansard
If you need a reason - Mason Jennings
Take the power back - Rage Against the Machine
Come on! Feel the Illinoise! - Sufjan Stevens
Ripchord - Rilo Kiley
Disturbance at the Heron house - REM
Harborcoat - REM
Pickpocket - At the drive in
Gimme Sunshine - Ryan Adams
Chapel Hill - Sonic Youth
Helicopter - M. Ward
Sausalito - Conor Oberst
We Fight We Love - Q Tip
Wolves - Iron & Wine
Rock the House - Run DMC
How I could just kill a man - Rage Against the Machine
Amie - Damien Rice
Stupid Girl - Rolling Stones
Candy Everybody wants - 10,000 Maniacs
Regina - Possum Dixon
No Rolling Back II - Jay Farrar
junkie Man - Rancid
Parental Discretion Iz advised - NWA
Bad Party - The Dead Milkmen
Oh my god, Whatever, Etc - Ryan Adams
Up in the North - The Fiery Furnaces
Neighborhood #1 Tunnels - Arcade Fire
Glory Days - ruce Springsteen
Mother's Little Helper - The Rolling Stones
Pretenders - Ryan Adams
Walking with a Ghost - Tegan and Sara
Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket
Waste of Paint - Bright Eyes
Wicked Gil - Band of Horses
You are a runner and i am my fathers child - Wolf Parade
Man on the Moon - REM
Vibrate - Ghostland Observatory
A small victory - Faith No More
Olympia Wa - Rancid
Jesu the Mexican boy - Iron & Wine
The Hardest Part - Ryan Adams
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Artichoke - Gabrial Mann
Superstar - Lupe Fiasco
Six Pack of Beer - Hank III
The Rat within the grain - Damien Rice
Houses on the Hill(early version) - Whiskeytown
Jus De Canneberges - Malajube
Secret Meeting - The National
Miss Sunflower - Ryan Adams
Paper Kitten Nightmare - Margot and the Nuclear so and so
Why would you wanna live - Wilco
Losering - Whiskeytown
Dirtfloor cracker - Mofro
Monty Got a raw deal - Catfish Heaven
Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
Another Sunny Day - Bellle & Sebastian
Metronome Arthritis - At the Drive in
Ship Of Fools - Ron Sexsmith
Mendocino County Line - Willie Nelson
Bonita Applebum - A tribe called quest
Dead mans will - Iron & Wine
Get Busy - The roots
Let me ride - Dr. Dre
making Friends - Bishop Allen
Sheila Take a Bow - The Smiths
War on War - Wilco
Benzie Box - Danger Doom
Someday soon - Wilco
Suffer - Smashing Pumpkins
Greatest Hits - Sublime
The Gulag Orkestar - Beirut
I Ain't the 1 - NWA
I can see clearly now - Johnny Nash
Answering Bell - Ryan Adams
Fake Plastic Trees - KT Tunstall
I Can't wait - Hepcat
Wild Internatonal - One Day as a Lion
Maria - Rage Against the Machine
Hysteria - Def Leppard
Fuck the Creationists - MC Hawking
Gold Digger - Kanye West
Flatheat - The Fratellis
Sad Sad City - Ghostland Observatory
Cosonaut - At the drive in
Ain't no nigga - Jay Z
First Tube - Phish
Mr. Jones - Counting Crowes
Blue - The Thorns
Ask me lies - The Replacements
I may know the word - Natalie Merchant
Instant Pleasure - Rufus Wainwright
Wild flowers - Ryan Adams
10 Seconds - whiskeytown
Happy Alone - Kings of Leon
Good Intentions - My Morning Jacket

Ok, i guess i might be a little lame.

Jane's Return

Somehow the fact that Jane's Addiction has reunited with the original lineup totally slipped past me. Jane's Addiction is one of two band's that really did the most to shape my musical tastes(R.E.M. being the other). I can't find any information on tour dates but they've been playing around L.A. a little and Shepard is doing posters for them, Dave Navarro is keeping everyone in the loop over at 6767. Phil is gonna shit a brick when I tell him.

Chinese Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman has a hilariously sincere review of Chinese Democracy here.
Yes, I chose that picture because of the shoes.

Art a choke

Mike Giant is back in SF(I'm not stalking him, it's on the Rebel 8 blog) and getting stuff done. The Rebel 8 blog as a nice post on drunk tattooing, this is why it's probably good that i'm not good friends with any tattoo artists or even people with tattoo equipment.
Fecal Face does a studio visit with Faile, the woodwork pieces are insane. I'd like to see how they did those columns.
Andrea has some sweet new pieces up(The Frida obsession continues) on her site Owl My Love. Congrats on the Etsy love.
Shepard goes off on Ebay resellers on the Obey site.
Scot has added a couple more letters to his most excellent ABC project. Obviously S is my favorite so far, check it out on the Loser Goes 1st site.

One day as a Lion

I've been listening to the Ep form One Day as a Lion which is Zack from Rage Against the Machine on vocals and keyboards and Jon Theodore formerly of The Mars Volta on drums. I really like it, the first song, Wild International, is probably my least favorite while If You Fear Dying is by far my favorite. A couple of the songs sound kinda the same which isn't a terrible thing on an ep. This has also sparked a frenzy of Rage Against the Machine listening and video watching on my part, damn those guys were amazing.

Giant news

I'm not going to pretend that i don't have a slight Mike Giant/Rebel 8 obsession. With that having been said the new Rebel 8 collection is out at Giant Peach these are my favorites.
Several pieces from the last collection are on sale at Karmaloop, i've got my eye on those socks and you can't go wrong with any of those shirts.
This one might be my favorite(Phil you feelin it?).

Awesomeness

If you check in to BME on a regular basis for tattoo, piercing, scarification inspiration then you've seen this already. If not then check out this article about eagle tattoos. Obviously this guy is taking the piss out of the practice but i really like the classic eagle design. The one above is from Mike Giant's current show at White Walls in San Francisco. The picture at the top is a Mike Giant t shirt design from the rebel 8 website (if anyone needs a last minute birthday idea i wear an XL).

Round One: All smiles

Warning: The majority of the French in this post is wrong.
The first trip to the prefecture was a success. A good 90% of stories involving the prefecture are laced with a healthy dose of horrors, hours wasted, documents rejected, flaming hoops jumped through, but we had a smooth first encounter. We were in and out in an hour and a half, one hour of that time was spent waiting for the one clerk who supposedly spoke decent English to return from lunch. One of my biggest concerns was the wait, it seems that most people are there for a minimum of three hours, Gretchen was there for almost five. I was mainly worried about how to keep the troops from revolting so we came laden with books, video ipods and gameboys, ready to set up camp. We weren't there long enough for me to stop sweating from the 30 degree temperature between the inside and outside before my number was called, literally five minutes.
I got through the first two or three questions; she asked for my passport, i gave it to her, she asked if the kids were there i said "oui" and pointed behind me, she asked me where i lived, "J'habite en onzeme arondissment", then she flipped to my visa and let fly with two or three paragraphs worth of unknown words while pointing to the date. I knew it had expired two days ago. I fell back on the old "Je ne parle pas francais bon". Still smiling plesently my lady went for backup and founda co worker that possesed a good knowledge of at least two dozen english words(more then the number of french words i know if you subtract the curse words). I think i managed to explain that the rest of the families visa's expired in another week and i had been perating with that date in mind(it could have been that i opened chloe's passport and pointed to the date on her visa). Somehow they, quite pleasently, tagteamed an explination that the English speaking clerk was at lunch and i would have to wait for an hour, either that or they were dumpingme(the nonfrench speaking ass hat) on the new girl. I gathered up my novels worth of documents and took a seat.
Almost exactly an hour later i was called back to the window where the very cute, miniuly english speaking clerk greeted mein French and then asked for several things all in french. After a few minutes of typing she asked for my picture, in english, and then disappeared. A few minutes later she returned with my three month visa extention(if the internet is to be believed this is the way it works, you get an extension every three months for a year and then you get a real long term visa). She then set up an appointment for me in french and explained to me what i would have to bring(everything i had with me right then). I then asked in my half English half French patois if the kids had to be there and she said NO!! This is good news, i hope she really understood my question. I then thanked her profusely and wished her a bon semane and she told me "good by, have a nice day" in perfect English!!


p.s. It took me three tries to find out how much money was in my account at the bank. The try that worked was in spanish; Combien euros(point to account number raise eyebrows questioningly).
I'm on a roll.

Everythings better with...

Yesssss, i want this.