mind on rewind

When I last left you, I was beaming inside and out about how rad things are. It keeps getting radder.

My trip to Calgary with Leah for the M. Ward show was super fun. Matt and his wife Carrie were exceptionally nice people, easy to work with, fun to dine with, and an awesome sight to see. Leah's roomie Amy opened the show, followed by Matt, who hypnotized the audience, completely.


Leah and I also broke the news to her parents about us skipping town. When she told them she had news, they assumed we were engaged.
Easy tiger, first things first. The move to Toronto is creeping nearer and nearer. Every day I hear about one more cool and exciting thing happening there in the coming weeks, and I'm reminded that it's cool and exciting ALL YEAR LONG. Leaving is already starting to get hard though - my co-workers' gentle ribbing about my departure is getting more and more sentimental and genuine. Friends who I haven't seen in a while, have heard one way or the other, and are coming up to me with bummed-out faces and big hugs. It's nice, but saddening at the same time. I'm not looking forward to not seeing my closest friends for months, maybe years. I am looking forward to NEW friends, seeing my sister more, living in a new city, and learning a TON at my new job. I'm looking forward without forgetting to look back every once and a while and appreciate those who nurtured me and my growing sense of self. Much love, friends.



Call it a bad segue, but the MSTRKRFT show (not pictured above) was a stunner. Juan Maclean played the sickest in deep Chicago vocal house, NY gay club anthems, bangin' Detroit techno and more. The deadly duo of Keeler&Al-P then stepped up to keep the joint SHAKING IT for almost 3 hours - big ups to those guys, who were ALSO nice and easy to work with.

The night before I played host to your favorite brazillian faith healer and mine, Mr. Fritz Tha Cat, 1/2 of OK Cobra...I got him on a show with locals 30 Nights of Violence, and a band from Vancougar called 1000 Year Plan. Look at these guys:

Amazing. Imagine the Melvins being PWND by the Locust and Yes. FAST prog metal with humor, mathy drums and tempos, heavy heavy heavy vocals. I'm totally crushed out.







Enough for now. Watch this. Dizzee rules.

boom bip beep bop

The other night we sat on the footbridge, smoked a joint and tried to remember the words to all the musicals we loved when we were kids. My dad was an actor, so theatre and musicals were a big part of my life growing up...we sang from Annie, Sound of Music and Grease...giggling incessantly at our lack of ability to remember any words.

It made me realize something.

I am having what might be the best summer of my life. I'm happy as a clam, so in love it's almost nauseating, enjoying amazing times with good, close friends - old and new. Motion Notion was a fucking blast. I'm SOOOO looking forward to Shambhala. My birthday totally ruled. I got some awesome gifts.

I'm off to Calgary this weekend to work/see the M. Ward show. I'm EXCITED. There is so much to look forward to in the coming months, including but hardly limited to:

-MSTRKRFT w/Juan Maclean!!
-Diplo w/CSS & Bonde De Role!!
-Final Fantasy in September.

Stoked, I am.
How's your summer going, friends?

So far, not bad

I was talking to a (particularly cynical) friend the other day who said, "NO good records have come out this year. None, except the new King Khan". I don't think it's THAT good, but it made me wonder about what I think the best records of 2006 are...so far. It's true that I have yet to find an LCD Soundsystem or an MIA to freak out about, but what I have below are some records I simply can't stop listening to. I usually would break this out per genre, but I don't feel like it. Here's 5 records that completely slay...a single, a DJ mix, a couple full records...whatever, jes'deal.

In no order, the best records of 2006 so far ARE:

Spank Rock: Yo Yo Yo Yo
I heart Baltimore. This is the best shit outta the northeast since Cex. There's something about the unabashed nerdyness mixed with totaly pervo lyrics that appeal to me; there's nothing more rad than the line, "behind my game boy/I got game, girl". I recently read an interview with MC Spank Rock himself, and he was telling stories about booty shake contests they used to hold in the YMCA to jams he and XXXchange would kick off their laptops. I imagine that this is the music they did it to. hot hot hotter.




Part Chimp: I Am Come
Technically this came out in the UK in 2005, but it's been released domestically on the label that can do no wrong, Monitor Records. Without repeating every fucking music journalist on earth, this really does sound like Mogwai (a member of which produced this bitchin' slice of wax) and Lightning Bolt hitting the bong with David Yow of Jesus Lizard. It's thick and mean and loud as fuck. I love it. War Machine might be the song of the year. Maybe. Listen, opine. Please.




Justice : Waters of Nazareth pt.2
Holy living crap. Justice continues to completely fucking destroy all that is holy and awesome in the world of glitched out techno and house. There's something...foreign, I think, to the French about people like DJ Funk, which is why they included him on this 12". "B-b-bbbb-bbbounce dat aa-aaa-aaassss" is something that just isn't in the average Parisian club vocabulary. Don't believe me? Watch the crowd react to his bomb being dropped. They just don't get it.




Booka Shade : Movements
Records like this make me nervous. It makes me think that everything I know about a genre is about to collapse around me, making me feel like a total noob when I talk to people. I'll be like, "man, that new Booka Shade is sick", and people will say, "dude, that's SO 2005." This is an exciting departure from pretty much EVERYTHING that's coming out right now - and proof positive that dance music is finally moving past its revisionism and post-disco obessions. I'll say right now that I'm harly a fan of trance, but I am LOVING the tendency of NEW dancefloor techno to embrace the driving, throbbing "raver-posi whoop whoop" of the genre, and that people like Tiga, Richie Hawtin & now, Booka Shade are pushing that sound to the edge. As MC Paul Barman would say, they push the envelope so hard it says "excuse me!".




Four Tet : DJ Kicks
If you know me, or listen to my radio show, you should know that I have a mild obsession with Mr. Kieran Hebden. He is seriously MIDAS, and his latest contribution to the DJ Kicks series is no exception whatsoever. Three insane highlights of this record: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE? what the fuck. So Solid Crew mashed into Akufen's Psychometry?!? Insane. His new track "Pockets" makes it's debut on here, in all its 4/4 glory, a definite departure from his normal broken-beat sound. There is his usual free jazz bits and glitchy bits and world-beat bits (The Shona People of Rhodesia make a contribution)...all packaged into a beautiful, chaotic bit of DJ brilliance. DJ Kicks has made the first 15 minutes of the mix available here, including the ridiculously fat bass of Syclops. Dig it!

cat, minus bag.

Your patience has paid off. Here I am with the news you've been waiting for. Drum roll, please.



I'm moving to Toronto.
With Leah.
I've been offered, and have accepted a job at Six Shooter Records & Management. I'll be working mainly in the latter 1/2 of that equation. They also run a store, above which is the office in which I'll work:



The motto of the company is, "Life is too short to listen to shitty music". I couldn't agree more. Their management roster includes The Weakerthans, Shout Out Out Out Out and Whitey Houston. I'll be working among some of the most respected musicians and music professionals in Canada. I'm thrilled.

In fact, I'm beyond thrilled. I'm ready for this. I should say, I need this. I miss my sister; she lives in Montreal, which puts me miles closer to her. I have a cousin in Toronto who works in the same biz, who I'm super stoked to spend more time with. Keith and Richard, pictured here with me in full thug/drunk mode, also live there and are just as excited for us to come out as we are to be there. It feels...right.

What does this mean for my time left here in Edmonton? I want to see you all, friends. I want to drink and enjoy myself, and your company. Vancouver peeps (yes, especially you, Marie)...fear not. The plan is to come west one last time for a visit in September (Lavender Lodge, get ready. I need to get some beach time in, stat.) before I sail off into the deep blue yonder.

I'll miss you all terribly, I know that.

Details to follow as they emerge. Know this: there will be a party. Oh yes, a party like you've never seen, like I've never thrown. It's going to be an egocentric bash to have a last hurrah, a few great hugs, and a slice of retrospect. I'm looking forward to it.

dashbizzle, futrizzlistic.

I have a headache. I have a sore back. I have a letter I can't send. I have desire, it falters and falls down, it calls you up drunk at three or four a.m. to wonder when...wonderful. All the cheap tricks I tried too hard not to pull. Pulled along or pulled apart. The diagnosis of a foreign frame of heart.
-jks


It's 10:30 PM. I've been at work since 6:45 AM. Where? Why?


Rexall Place, working for Dashboard Confessional. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to bitch about him; he was nothing but nice to me all day. In fact, when I went in to drop something off in the band's dressing room, he said, "hey, nice shirt." I'm wearing this one.

the point is that being on one's toes, off them, on again, off again...is fucking tiring. here it is, 10:30 at night, and I'm foolishly drinking coffee, just to get to the end of my shift. It means I'll be up till 3 AM again, and that Leah will probably fall asleep beside me, and I'll lie there and think about the future, about the life I'm living, about the life I'm leaving.

Sigh. Look at me. Emo bullshit, backstage at a dashboard show. Aren't I too old for this?

Soooo tiiiiiiired.
---------------------------

Fast forward. It's July 9th suddenly, and I forgot that I started this blog. I've decided to post it anyways. The night described above ended well, I was leaving and saying goodbye to the crew and band, and I said ciao to Chris Carrabba, and he said, "later, peanut butter." Context? ok.

I was backstage and the bassist asked me if I had been in the old punk band Punchbuggy...I was hella impressed that A) he even knew who they were, and B) that he thought I was old enough to actually have that be possible. I said no, I wasn't, but that I had been a fan at one time or another, and in fact often wore a Punchbuggy shirt that had a "PB" emblazoned on the front, made to look like a British Petroleum logo...long story short, it resulted in this group of girls from my high school that all called me 'Peanut Butter'. Now, note that this was a conversation I was having with the bassist, as Carrabba was eating food and chatting w/another bandmate. I was so impressed that not only was he keeping one ear on what else was going on, but that he made a note of it, and whipped it out when I least expected it. Nice guy, crappy music. Sorry, brah.

My week went by quickly, so did the weekend. I went to see an old friend DJ on Friday, and went to say ciao to a friend leaving for the summer at a house party after that...Saturday I went to see The Kabuki Guns Burlesque troupe, and then went dancing at The Roost...we went with friends who were celebrating their second anniversary. I kept joking, "what does a straight couple do to celebrate their love? They go to the gay bar. hey, it's the 90's!"

Anyways, you don't need a play-by-play of my life. I'll sum it up for you - I'm happy. With everything; the girlfriend, my friends, where I'm headed, where I'm at now. This time last year was the pits, my relationships crumbling and jobs collapsing. It's much much much better now. I'm in love. I'm enjoying life.

Beam beam beam.
Stay tuned for breaking news.

Planes, cranes & automobiles.

It was late; so late, it was early. We creeped around the site, like we did before, eyes on the prize. It looked as though they had replaced the fence around the scaffold, as it was harder to get over this time, so we kept walking around, looking for an easier way in.

Someone had left the gate open. We walked right in, crouching our way though the ladders and scaffold, following the edge of 15-foot cement walls, likely a loading dock-to-be. It was the border between remaining hidden and safe; the difference between being unseen, and completely exposed. We took deep breaths, and walked into the open, and over to the base of the crane. Anyone walking by could see us, but it was that perfect time of night/morning when nobody is awake. I looked up. It was doable, but halfway up, I had to stop and stay there. I blame a combination of too much coffee, beer and other consumables. I got scared. But we did it. Mostly.


See?


We. It's almost metaphoric to sneak into a new space, exploring gently and together, making sure not to make a stir, but rather learn to anticipate obstacles and learn to adapt and move past them. You get to the base of the crane, the tower which you have to climb to have a clearer view, to see your options and the literal/figurative 'lay of the land'. We did it together, climbing and observing, planning.

I'm being vague and I know it. I'll have big news this week, friends. I promise.

Sit tight. Love love, eli.