Pazz & Jop 2011

I just submitted my 2011 Village Voice Pazz & Jop ballot, which I'll share with y'all here. BIG DISCLAIMER: If your favorite hot platter is not here, it's probably because I didn't hear it and you should send it to me immediately. I don't get the deluge of freebies that I used to once upon a time. This is what I actually heard this year and loved.

Albums:
1. Poly Styrene - Generation Indigo
2. The Mekons - Ancient And Modern
3. Rob Kennedy/MDA - The Purgatory Home Companion
4. Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil
5. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
6. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
7. Wire - Red Barked Tree
8. Ruby Howl - Heaven Hides Here Too
9. Moon Duo - Mazes
10. The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

Singles (VERY loosely defined in these digital downloading days):
1. The Granite Countertops - Something Different (token piece of shameless self-promotion, actually released almost 2 years ago but I really like the video I made for it this year)



2. Deerhoof - Super Duper Rescue Heads!



3. Rob K/MDA - Bardot Hotel



4. It Thing - Life Is Sick



5. Half Man Half Biscuit - National Shite Day (came out in 2008 but I didn't discover it till this year so PLLPPPPPPPPPPPP)



6. MamaCoAtl - Food Is A Weapon



7. Vivian Girls - The Other Girls



8. Dylan Champagne - Baby In A Bear Suit



9. The Hallflowers - I Can't Get Started

(No videos for The Hallflowers! Perhaps it's time to dig through the archives!)

10. Shovelman - Rollin'

Different song, but this will give you an idea of what this guy can do with an altered shovel.

Whirlin' twirlin', I'm whirlin' daaaaown!

I always loved that one Poles single from 1978, but I knew absolutely nothing about them until Davis found this link and this video. Hope you're having a great life, Michaele Jordana, wherever you are.

Moon So Bright

Great new video of a long-out-of-circulation Angel Corpus Christi song that somehow never made it to her "The 80s" CD. Nice primitive animation. Good to hear this one again.

Noodle Brain Productions: The Integrity Tone Scale

Davis Jones has just posted the second episode of Noodle Brain Productions' 2006 TV show on Youtube. It's an educational program exploring the Integrity Tone Scale. It also gave birth to the Experimental Bunnies, who first assembled to provide the musical score for the show.

Now playing in four parts:









The music can be heard by itself here:

The Experimental Bunnies: Music For The Integrity Tone Scale by earcandleproductions

UPDATE: We neglected to mention that Matthew Grasso also contributes music in the very first part of the show. Thanks, Matthew!

Ear Candle Radio: The Ghost Ship Sails On

We made a startling discovery recently that, even though we ostensibly closed down Ear Candle Radio for a while, it's still up there, but only available for Live 365 VIP subscribers. We can't edit the current stream in any way until we restart our account. We can only turn the stream off or on right now. For our friends with VIP subscriptions, we're going to leave it up. There's loads of good stuff to enjoy there until we come roaring back at a later date with an all-new playlist.

The Wall Talks Back

As of yesterday, I am now ORIENTED! In January, I start my first semester in the Broadcast & Electronic Communication Arts department at San Francisco State, and had my final final at City College.

One of the best things I did this semester was this project for Sound Recording Studio class, where I did a special dub mix of "Talking To The Wall" by a young local garage-rock band, The Sweet Bones. Oh, for my own C24 Pro Tools mixing console! There is a terrible shortage of insane dub mixes of rock songs that I would love to remedy.

The Wall Talks Back - The Sweet Bones by earcandleproductions

Put a ring on it!

Cool movie about ringed planets and how they work.



I confess, I do get a twinge of childish amusement at the narrator's attempt to make "Uranus" sound less obscene by pronouncing it in an equally obscene fashion. Some things are better left alone. Anyway, check out these amazing graphic depictions! I love me some astronomy.