Reflections on 23 years.

Well, I have completed my 23rd year of being on this earth as of 8:18 am. Looking back on this year, I have done a lot yet done nothing. I have:

- Moved several times
- Seen Umphrey's McGee at about 7 different shows
- Seen close to 200 new movies (not including ones I have already seen)
- Ended the only real relationship I have ever had
- Schooled for the entire time
- Rose to the position of Head Prep Guy at Gables
- Drove to South Carolina and saw the beautiful states in between
- Went to Lollapalooza
- Saw Brand New in concert
- Found many many new bands
- Lost friends
- Gained friends
- Kept friends
- Continued my pot habit
- Watched about 4 seasons of Gilmore Girls
- Kept up with my shows: Heroes, Always Sunny, South Park, Entourage
- Lived alone for three weeks
- Did some psychedelia
- Re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, only to be disappointed by the movie postponement
- Saw Weird Al in concert
- Became a regular at the Alphabet Dinner
- Became a regular at Coral Gables' Monday Night Debauchery
- Have never felt stronger about who I am.

And those are twenty-three things I did in my twenty-third year. Love you guys.

Peace, G-O-E-R-G

The Sound of 'Silver' is right

LCD Soundsystem is the musical project of a producer, James Murphy. Sounds of Silver was the second release from Murphy on March 12, 2007. It was highly acclaimed when it came out.
When I first heard about LCD Soundsystem, I thought it was just another techno album with pounding back beats and loud annoying noises. As you’ll read, I was terribly wrong:

Get Innocuous
This song is a great opener with a solid groove. It is complete with a catchy chant phrase in the middle of the song which is always. This first makes me beg the question, “Was this a B-Side to Ziggy Stardust?” I mean, you cannot deny the obvious David Bowie-esque way that this song flows with its almost lazy lyric lines. It’s a very good song with just enough variation on the main theme to keep the interest in the song for all seven minutes. Off to a good start. Favorite musical part: The slightly palm muted guitar riding the beat for most of the way. 4/5. (Yes, I looked up to see what Innocuous means: harmless. Let’s get harmless!)

Time to Get Away
In the first seconds of this song, my head immediately started bopping and didn’t quit. The lyrical quality mirrors the vocals of Bands like Ima Robot, where the vocals are merely another melody to this song and it doesn’t matter if you are a master opera singer. You have to love the attempt (and succession) of a solid high vocal part. The bass kicks it through this song and the extra percussion comes in at the exact time it should. It has a very classy fake ending to the song and rocks it until the end Not as good as its preceding song but not far behind. Favorite musical part: The keyboard accents that come in threes in the pre-chorus and chorus. 3.75/5

North American Scum
Ah, the single. It seems like the song is going to be exciting for the first moments (a very monotone, low, rumbling synthesizer). The very millisecond that the verse starts, this song stands out definitely as the single. It has that certain catchy radio quality. The post-chorus/ verse 2 has a great guitar part that keeps even the punk-rawkers interested. ::points to self:: The extra female vocals on parts add a touch of class and Architecture in Helsinki sound to it. Awesomeness, sheer awesomeness. Finally, we have an anthem for all of us, North American Scum. Don’t blame the Canadians! Favorite musical part: The aforementioned guitar part. 4.5/5.

Someone Great
Postal Service comes to mind. This song is the first one that actually had deeper lyrics and a message or story to tell. The lines that grabbed me the most is: “I miss the way we used to argue,” or “And it keeps coming until the day it stops and then it keeps it coming.” This song would have to be the stereotyped “ballad” of a CD and it is a damn good one. It keeps it slowly and doesn’t add anything fancy because it doesn’t need it. It’s hard to find a good electronically themed band that can keep it not complicated. Solid. Favorite musical part: The lyrics! 3/5

All My Friends
This song has a great piano part that begins to build up the song. It very reminiscent of the way “One Big Holiday” made me listen to music. (Remember those Sweet Sounds Vol. 6 days!) This has a brilliant reference to Pink Floyd. “Set the controls for the heart of the sun.” I kept waiting for this song to change unfortunately and it never really came. I mean, seven and a half minutes, c’mon. Favorite musical part: The repetitious music saved by the beautifully melodic vocals. 3/5.

Us v. Them
I know I shouldn’t constantly compare this band to another band for every song, but it’s a compliment (since the bands that are being compared are my favorites). This song screams Beck…and in a really effin’ sweet way. It is the Beck that I love. You know, the smooth and groovy stuff. A porn-ish silky bass line rides the majority of the song and makes me feel it all through my body. I find it to be a really nice party-feeling song. Favorite musical part: The killer toms beginning at 6:53 and the soft “bells” at 0:45 in the song. 4.5/5.

Watch The Tapes
This song caught me off guard. It has a classic punk rock introduction a la Johnny Ramone. This song, my friend, is a stand out track. It blend so many sounds together. It holds a very simple beat, and holds a certain “basement Indy band” feel. It seems to cram a lot of words into the shortest song on the album. Yet always keeping my favorite line in every verse, “We’re both high high high, high high on lemon sips,” and always replacing the second line with something more clever than the one before. Outstanding. Favorite Musical part: Lemon sips, duh. 5/5.

Sound of SilverNow, to me, a title track has some certain expectations it has to which it must live up. It should represent the entire album and it should be an amazing track. This song did not disappoint. Although all of the lyrics can be fit into a small paragraph:

sound of silver talk to me
makes you want to feel like a teenager
until you remember the feelings of
a real life emotional teenager
then you think again

Now the music is what the song is about. This is the first song that really made me remember that this was an electronic band. It has a psychedelic pseudo-jam blending right into the end of this track. It was quite the change of pace from the rest of the album. (Then again, does this album have a pace?) Favorite musical part: All of it (cop out.) 4/5.

New York, I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down
This song is about how disappointed he is in the city as a whole of New York. It is completely different than anything else on the album and from what I’ve heard; different from anything he’s ever done. It is a very well written song with some very witty lyrics. It is definitely a favorite on the album. Favorite Musical part: “New York, I love you but you’re freaking me out \ There’s a ton of the twist \ But we’re fresh out of shout.” 4/5.

By my calculation, this album received 35.75/45 or a 79.44% but in my class, I grade on a curve so I think this album would get a solid grade of 85% or a B. This is a great album and I would suggest it to anyone. Silver is the right metal to describe this album, not quite gold. Peace.

Seriously Hock?

The instrument in Sub ID was a trumpet. Not a saxophone. How fucked up were you exactly? ;)

And if it makes you feel any better, I had very little knowledge of STS9 too - I mean seeing them at Bisco helped me recognize a few other songs, but it was only like 2 or 3. Most of those songs I didn't know at all, but agreed they were awesome. It's pretty rare for me to enjoy a band I don't know very well like that - even my first time seeing umphreys wasn't that much fun (although I'm sure the shrooms helped ;)). STS9 is just phenomenal live. I downloaded a few of their sets and they're seriously amazing. Being so far back at Bonnaroo definitely didn't do them justice. The music is just so intricate. Anyway, we'll have to go see them again soon, maybe bring a few other peops with, because I feel like theirs is a live show you should trip at at some point in your life. Just like umphrey's. Or anything. Basically I'm just a big proponent of mushrooms

I'm gonna get stoned. Because I can. So there

Call it blasphemy

But I think STS9 has surpassed Umphrey's as my favorite live band.

I'M SORRY UMPHREY'S!!! It's just more my type of music.
(Umphrey's is still amazing, maybe it's just because I've seen them more)

anyway, STS9 last week was unreal. Hock and I were trippin balls, and the set list was awesome. The bass was up so high that your whole body vibrated. The physical feeling that the music gave me was almost too intense to endure. It was amazing. Some favorites included Instantly, Aimlessly, the Rabble, Tokyo, F. Word, and Tooth.

I'm also considering going to see BassNectar in a few weeks in Chicago. Anyone wanna come with? ;) j/k I kinda wanna go to a concert alone as dave suggested, hopefully in the same state as for sts9, I think it would be a blast, not having to worry about what other people think... It would just be another good, but different experience.

But I would also be cool if someone wanted to come :)

PEACE! SOUND TRIBE ROCKS!!!

Hey Hock

So I'm thinking we should get tickets in advance for STS9. That way if we decide to pregame with some magical vegetables, we won't have to deal with getting them while out of our minds. Which would not be fun. I'm hopefully going to be in Lansing at 4:30 or earlier, so we could leave pretty much straight from there, take our shit as SOON as we get to Pontiac, and then we'll be very happy by the time the show starts, and most likely, completely fine again by the time it ends (which I imagine will be a little before midnight, because there's an opening act (PS I'm pissed becuase Bassnectar is opening for them in DC this weekend... if he had opened for them atthe concert we're going to, I might have just jizzed myself)). Anyway, let me know if this all sounds Kosher.

Also, if it's still cool, we should party it up at you guys' place once we get back. Make sure Scott and the girls know I'll be there.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THURSDAY!!!

Camp Bisco VI: A Weekend in Review

I was intending on including some pics with this... but alas, I think my camera must have fallen out in doug or dave's car... anyway though

So although I have been to Bonnaroo three times now, it was hard to know what to expect from this weekend. Very few bands I knew, and only one band I'm really into, in addition to the fact that none of us going had any idea of what to expect since we have never been to anything besides the 'roo. Coupled with the fact that I had spent money I didn't have on this festival and would not be returning until late at night the day before my theory placement exam, I did not think it was going to be a great experience.

I could not have possibly been further from the truth.

This was, bar none, the best concert experience of my life, and I'm going to do my best to try to explain to you all the wonder that was Bisco 2007.

We arrived at the Indian Lookout Country Club at around 1:00 in the afternoon to be greeted by short lines (reason #1 this was better than b-roo) and one of the most lax security checks I've ever seen. Essentially they just wanted to make sure nobody had nitrous or glass - but they didn't check very hard since they checked inside my backpack and didn't notice Thumper in the front pocket. We received a welcome letter from the management of the country club, which it turns out, is a bunch of bikers (which explained the fact that all of the security guys sported grizzly beards and bandanas. The welcome essentially said that bikers understand how easy it is to be stereotyped and how they were happy to provide a place for us to congregate, and said if we didn't get it right this year, they'd keep inviting us back til we did. Oh also the letter expressly stated that no cops would be on the premises. We parked our cars right by the children's section, which was initially a little disconcerting, but there were like 2 kids there out of 6000 people. We were maybe a half mile from the main stage, and about 200 yards from the side stage, which allowed us to listen to bands while just at our campsite.

We then began preparing for that evening's Umphrey's Concert. Namely by drinking a shit ton of gin and tonic and smoking a bit. We went to the concert, where we were pleased to find ample room to jam out and NO SECURITY WHATSOEVER. All they said was not to bring cans onto the field. Umphrey's put on an amazing show, by far the danciest grooves I've heard them play, in addition to playing their new song "wizard burial ground" - my new fav song of theirs. I drank way too much for this concert, danced like a fool, and promptly passed out in a chair at our campsite, before moving at some point to the inside of doug's backseat, on top of all of our cargo. Sadly, my passing out caused me to miss the Infected Mushroom concert, but I heard it wasn't as good as some of their others, so life goes on. It cooled off considerably, and I eventually climbed in the tent with Dave and Jess.

The next day was very windy, but once the sun was shining it was wonderful. We threw the frisbee around for a bit and listened to some of Indobox and King Britt (both phenomenal concerts). I pause in the story here for a moment to explain something about myself. I have a lot of trouble enjoying myself at concerts where I don't know the band. Sure, going to 311, Incubus, Muse or Radiohead is always gonna be awesome for me, because I will probably recognize 96% of what they play. But usually at concerts where I don't know the artists as well, I get bored and tired - even at my first umphrey's concert I had trouble with this. However, every concert I saw this weekend that I say I like immediately was totally accessible to me, and insanely fun to go to. I listened to Holy Fuck for a short time and came back to the camp to partake in some fungus digestion. We went to STS9's PA set, a band who I saw for the first time at Bonnaroo this year. It was well worth the trip to see them again (haha, get it? trip?). As my regular world dissolved away I was pleased to hear new versions of some favorites from the previous concerts, as well as some groovy new tunes I couldn't help myself but to dance my ass off to. I sat for a moment to look at clouds with Jess, but that was too intense and I just kept bursting out laughing hysterically at the way they pixellated and morphed unnaturally across the sky. By the end of the concert all four of us were out of our minds, and we returned to the campsite.

Shortly after STS9, the psy-trance group Hallucinogen started playing at the main stage. I listened for 4 songs or so at the camp, and I enjoyed it so much that I became very concerned that when the next band started at the side stage, it would hurt my ability to enjoy Hallucinogen. After much debating, I went it alone to the concert (after sitting back down again deciding I would stay, and then after listening again for a few seconds, immediately standing up and saying "no way, I'm going"). I'm going to set aside the next comment for dramatic effect.

It was the best concert of my life.

I creeped closer and closer to the stage throughout the concert, drawn almost hypnotically to the sounds. Their music went from being slow and calm, to sick grooves, to fast paced industrial type dance music, and everything was executed with the type of perfection that I wish EVERY band could achieve. Simon Posford (the head of Hallucinogen, and almost a member of Shpongle) is a genius. The music was also abound with ethnic sounds, especially wonderful Indian voices which only added to the trip. I danced like a fool some more, all the while considering going back, but finding it simply impossible to tear myself away. It began getting a little chillier so I put back on the shirt and jacket I had shucked earlier (putting on the shirt was a joke - I had no idea what I was doing and couldn't find the right holes, so I kinda made an ass of myself, but I don't think anyone around me was with it enough to care).

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a freak wind came careening from behind the stage bringing with it a downpour I had never experienced at a concert, especially in the state I was. The winds honestly must have hit 40 or 50 mph easily, as they RIPPED STRAIGHT THROUGH THE TAPESTRIES HANGING ON EITHER SIDE OF THE STAGE (that's cloth, mind you - and they were like 100 feet tall each). I stayed at the concert to the bitter end, amid cries of "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON???" and "Where the FUCK did this fucking COME FROM?!?!?!" It had now dropped about thirty or forty degrees in a matter of fifteen minutes, and I wandered, cold, wet and disoriented back to the campsite, where I found Jess in the middle of a bad trip (probably more spurred by stress and anxiety than by the actual drugs). We listened to the Disco Biscuits play from the safety of David's car, and at their set break, another of Posford's projects "Shpongle" played. Although there were certainly differences between it and Hallucinogen, the same knack for combining world sounds with blisteringly fast beats was present, and I found myself shaking my ass in the car with the music. We all stayed there til morning.

The next morning was almost unbearably cold, so I read some Harry Potter til a little after noon, still under a blanket in the car. Eventually, the sun warmed things up a little bit, so it was time to start drinking again. After I got really drunk again, we went to see Bustle in your Hedgerow, a jamming Led Zeppelin cover band, who were, not surprisingly, amazing. I began drinking again after the concert to ensure that I would be really wasted for STS9's live set that night. As a brief adventure by myself, I went to see Bassnectar, a really fucking awesome DJ who largely made remixes of popular songs - his dance-y "Strawberry Fields" was amazing. STS9 that night was again, incredible, although a much different experience since I was drunk this time.

And I danced like a fool before going to bed again.

We left early the next morning, amid a lot of drama, but I don't need to go into that here.



In short, I had truly the time of my life. I never though this type of essentially Electronic festival could appeal to me, and it was truly an unreal experience. I would go again in a heartbeat, and unless Bonnaroo's lineup is unmissable next year (we'll see who headlines), I would probably be more likely to look for smaller festivals like this.

Fractals are AWESOME!

Check out some sweet fractal art I found:

If I could have any medical disorder...

... It would be Synaesthesia. Or preferably music->color synaethesia.

For anyone who doesn't know, a synaesthetic person has a disorder that usually links and blends two or more senses together causing them to attribute certain characteristics to their daily life that are not there. For instance, in ordinal linguistic personifcation (one form of synaesthesia), sequences like numbers, letters, days of the week, etc. are given personality traits, as in the following example:
"T’s are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust… 9 is dark, a gentleman, tall and graceful, but politic under his suavity" - an 1893 study of a man with OLP

In music->color synaesthesia, tones, timbres, and pitches are experienced as colors, or patterns of colors. I would liken this to constantly tripping on mushrooms (or whatever psychadelic of your choice). In fact, sometimes after doing drugs, people develop this so-called disorder (seriously though, this would be sweet).

Thank you to wikipedia for not only giving me this information, but also for making it possible for any idiot (i.e. me) to seem like he or she knows what he or she is talking about

What is with the EYE?

Stuart Scott, from ESPN. What the fuck is going on with that eye, dude? I remember being young and perusing through the channels and catching the first glimpses of that eye beginning to wander. Well, today I flipped on the ESPN to hear about Barry "Steroids McGee" Bonds and his home run chase and my head nearly exploded when I saw the JOURNEY that his eye has recently taken.



Is it beneficial? Can he watch multiple games at once and keep up with everything? Is he just broken?