namesakes

late night television ii

picklepuss

much ado about nada

Looks like the Catholic Church in Poland is freaking out about an upcoming concert by Madonna.

Newsflash to Poland: Madonna has not been relevant for the last eighteen years. No one in America cares about a damn thing she does, and neither should you.

Amazing how some people go out of their way to be offended, especially by a pop singer way past her sell-by date.

i left this heart in san francisco ii

misheard lyrics

She's so frumpy, eh?

quote of the day

A family is like a loaded gun: point it in the wrong direction, and someone is bound to get hurt. -- Hal Hartley

the legendary fog

late night television

embrace the random xxxvii

Carbon

Fractal lines slowly coagulate into images of solemn faces. There's something organic about how the portraits take shape, as if one is watching statues grow from pebbles planted in the dark soil.

This piece of generative art is no longer online, but it is available for purchase at Servovalve. The CD/DVD set contains many other generative artwork programs as well as a few generative music machines, including the brilliant Semuta device.

gesturing for effect

close up

it's quiz time

Aliens come to earth and ask you, "What is rock and roll?"

What three songs would you play for them?

hit the lights iv

talk talk

neon heat disease iv

quack?

matt from above

Portrait of the artist as a sunburned coconut.

america from above

This is Major Tom to Ground Control...
Is there life on Mars?

home sweet home

As much as I love San Francisco, it's great to be back home: my own bed, my stereo, my computer, my shower with much more water pressure. Ah, the little things, the creature comforts. This trip was the best one yet, with many photos and stories to come. Let's get caught up first on all the discs I had purchased before vacation:

129. Mastodon -- Crack the Skye
130. Six Parts Seven -- Casually Smashed to Pieces
131. Earth & KK Null -- s/t
132. Earth -- Living in the Gleam of an Unsheathed Sword
133. Rob Dickinson -- Fresh Wine for the Horses
134. Robin Trower -- Bridge of Sighs (2007 remaster)
135. Iron Maiden --Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (remastered)
136. Peter Gabriel -- Ovo
137. Genesis -- Three Sides Live
138. Sparklehorse -- Good Morning Spider
139. Gentle Giant -- King Biscuit Live, 1/18/75
140. Strawbs -- Blue Angel
141. Iron Maiden -- A Matter of Life and Death

back to the west coast

Well, my plane leaves tonight for San Francisco. Trade show madness and used CD insanity! Will take plenty of photos again. Be back on July 19 -- take care!

embrace the random xxxvi

that light breeze

Over a gentle bed of rustling white noise, a female voice speaks of tranquility. The voice begins to loop, slow down, speed up, overlap, stutter. An accompanying wash of flickering lines changes colors in time with the voices.

Peaceful yet ghostly. They're here.

series two, part deux

america, let your freak flag fly

The most bad-ass photo of the Mothers ever. Happy 4th of July.

shade iii

accidentskull

series two

shade ii

the count keeps mounting

118. Harmonia -- deluxe
119. Nadja -- Bliss Torn from Emptiness
120. Fear Falls Burning & Nadja -- s/t
121. Aidan Baker -- Book of Nods
122. Eric Matthews -- the imagination stage
123. John Zorn -- The Dreamers
124. Richard Thompson -- Rumor & Sigh
125. Richard & Linda Thompson --
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (remastered)
126. Frank Zappa -- The Dub Room Special (soundtrack)
127. Frank Zappa -- FZ:OZ
128. Heaven & Hell -- The Devil You Know

shade

this is too cool

From the Who Would Ever Have Imagined department, Henry Rollins giving the commencement address at Sonoma University in California. Starts at the 21:30 point of the video.

know justice, know peace

Hoping for a quick and peaceful resolution in Iran. Their people shouldn't have to die in order for their voices to be heard and for their votes to be counted.

quote of the day

When life is hard, eat the best meal you can afford.
-- Robert Fripp

the french know how to have fun

Courtesy of the FIMU blog.

one cd, two cds, three cds, ah ah ah

108. Suzanne Vega -- Beauty & Crime
109. Jeff Buckley -- Grace Around the World (live CD & DVD)
110. Eels -- Hombre Lobo
111. Sleep -- Dopesmoker
112. Laurie Anderson -- talk normal (2-CD anthology)
113. Roy Harper -- Once
114. Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell -- Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission
115. Rainbow -- Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
116. a small good thing -- 'cool cool water'
117. a small good thing -- The Pink and Purple World of Dishonesty

Brought to you by the letter M and the number 10.

embrace the random xxxv

in B flat 2.0

Nineteen embedded videos of various people with various instruments playing various melodies all in the key of B flat.
You can play the videos in various combinations.

The person that made this is a genius.

the latest craze

98. Be Bop Deluxe -- Futurama
99. Bill Nelson -- Chimera
100. Iron and Wine -- Around the Well
101. Rush -- Vapor Trails
102. KMFDM -- BLITZ
103. Quodia -- the arrow
104. bibio -- vignetting the compost
105. Burial -- Burial
106. yellow6 -- source:remix
107. Simon & Garfunkel -- Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme

quote of the day

It’s wonderful when you make people you like laugh out loud.
-- Hal Hartley

pet peeves ii

Today's complaint is a combo platter: people who talk on their cell phones while driving, and people who speed in school zones. A young lady driving behind me today was doing both. She even had the audacity to honk at me, as if I was in the wrong by doing 20 mph in a school zone. As she passed me, I rolled down my window and yelled a few choice words in her direction, informing her of both her carelessness and cluelessness.

Moral of the story: if you are polite and stupid, I will always cut you some slack. But if you are rude and stupid, I will let you have it with both barrels.

enjoying days off and new tunes

I'm on vacation this week, walking in the park when it's not raining and listening to new music when it is raining. On the speakers the past couple days:

92. Fish -- Zoe 25 (CD single)
93. Tim Hecker -- An Imaginary Country
94. Fennesz -- Black Sea
95. Zu & Spaceways inc -- Radiale
96. Isis -- Wavering Radiant
97. no-man -- wherever there is light (5-song EP)

half off? i am (out) there

Over the past month, Border's has marked down most of their discs by fifty percent. Never one to pass up such a sale, I have picked up the following half-off deals:

71. The Cure -- The Head on the Door (remastered)
72. Opeth -- Watershed (special edition with 5.1 mix)
73. Sparklehorse -- Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain

I've also scored some great deals lately at my regular used-disc haunts:

74. Sparklehorse -- vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
75. Madness -- Ultimate Collection
76. The Who -- Odds and Sods (remastered)
77. The Who -- The Kids Are Alright (remastered)
78. Popol Vuh -- In the Gardens of Pharao / Aguirre
79. Yellow6 -- if you see something, say something (3" CD single)

Plus, there have been some brand-spanking new shrink-wrapped purchases too:

80. Zu -- Carboniferous
81. Chastain -- The Voice of the Cult
82. Ed Palermo Big Band -- Eddy Loves Frank
83. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic -- Dawn of the Cycads
84. Iron and Wine -- Norfolk 6/20/05 (limited edition live disc)
85. Mark Kozelek -- Lost Verses - Live
86. Mark Kozelek -- Find Me, Ruben Olivares - Live in Spain
87. Nadja -- when i see the sun always shines on tv
88. String Driven Thing -- The Machine That Cried
89. Crimson Jazz Trio -- King Crimson Songbook Volume 2

Oh yeah, and two full-length downloads this morning:

90. Mike Keneally -- The Mistakes
91. Mike Keneally -- Nonkertalk

My ears are very busy and very happy.

on a diving board into the void

embrace the randumb

You are never too old for potty humor.

i can't make this stuff up

Playmobil Security Checkpoint

Be sure to read the customer reviews. Hilarious.

embrace the random xxxiv

Random Heavy Metal Album Generator

need a laugh? me too

Joy Division has never been funnier.

pet peeves

"x is the new y"

Oh yeah? Well, F is the new U.

ending the suspense

I know, I know, the suspense has been killing you--
"what tunage has Matt purchased lately?"
Wonder no more:

63. Mountains -- Sewn
64. William Basinski -- Shortwavemusic
65. Bill Nelson -- The Love That Whirls
66. Chris Abrahams -- Glow
67. Roger Eno -- fragile (music)
68. Peter Chilvers -- piano
69. Yellow6 -- bootleg#3
70. Yellow6 -- STHLM

Mostly in the ambient vein--
floating on a river of lava in a whitewater world.
The need for speed? I feel the need for slow.

happy easter

quote of the day

Hell is other people. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

cleveland rocks, indeed

My good friend Harry and I attended the Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last night at Public Hall in Cleveland. We scored a pair of free tickets from his friends: fifth row balcony, one section away from the left side of the stage, directly overlooking the two front tables where Metallica and their families were seated. We could see Joe Perry, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck seated three tables over. Everyone at the floor tables had gifts bags with the Gibson guitar logo printed on them--I saw a couple of guests dig through their bags but couldn't tell what was in them.

The show ran like clockwork, and it was fascinating to see all of the behind-the-scenes stage activity. We could see Wanda Jackson and her husband waiting in the wings as Roseanne Cash gave her induction speech. As the montage films were shown, we could see the stagehands changing the giant album covers behind the two podium areas. Harry pointed out the Marshall half-stacks waiting backstage to be rolled out later for Metallica's performance. We both chuckled as we watched one of Lars Ulrich's sons air-drum to the music on the PA during dinner.

All of the performances were excellent, but my favorites were Jeff Beck and Metallica, by far. As I had hoped, Jason Newsted joined his old bandmates onstage, playing alongside current bassist Robert Trujillo. The five of them cranked out killer versions of Master of Puppets and Enter Sandman. I felt like I was fifteen again, the age I was when I first saw Metallica live at the Variety Theater in Lakewood on the Ride the Lightning tour with WASP and Armored Saint.

Thank you, Suzanne and Rob, for the tickets, and thank you, Harry, for bringing me along for the ride. Awesome night.