Sunday, November 28, 2010

for forgetfuls sake

Saturday nites...don't venture out too often..but off tomorrow, yippee! so..reunited with krissie after turkeytime...it was grand as to be expected with family talks and mending of our broken dreams through whatever alley we ventured down. ..hit up usual jaunts with the exception of Gypsy Bar...nice incense (OMG did i just fucking say that?!?!) well it says a lot for a clean bathroom on the east side.. so ended the nite at Longbranch Inn..and i'm jottin down the playlist so i dont forget...the jukebox was broken so the owner had her ipod hooked up..

The cure
Band of Dorses
The XX
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Neutral Milk Hotel
The Smiths
LCD Soundsystem
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
Fanfarlo

i wasnt' there super long.. BUT made a swift beeline for the owner who i sorta know and asked for a nite to DJ. it was work peeps and friends dancing to WTF we heard..in a not so dancing sort of bar..that sorta says a lot for this town honestly. speaking of the bar: its narrow and long...the layout style is cavernous with windows wayy above yer head, almost an underground feeling.. always reminds me of a new york bar. and tonite was brilliant cuz texans are either eating leftovers, too pussy to go out in the cold, or doing something much cooler than i was..AKA NOT CROWDED! loved my time there. and seriously please let Team Fab DJ. trust me we will dance and play. frolic and sing. we will five finger the loner at the bar and curiously , candidly, convincingly invite he/she to dance. it'll be fun. i promise.even funner with a mic.
xoxo
elfgirl

Thursday, November 25, 2010

i'm thankful for YOU

so people i'm most thankful for always...and i've met a lot...so here's a totally random list of some of you lovelies and the songs that are most thoughtful to me...when i think of the beautiful YOU, even if i've not seen you/hugged you/met you in forever:

Brother Neil: ELf Power: Will My Feet Still Carry Me HOme
Jen Rea: We are Scientists: The Scene is Dead
Brother Ryan: The Hold Steady: Chips Ahoy
Mom: The Killers : When You were Young
Dad: The Zombies: She's Not There
Buffy: The Arm: The Privileged Few
K-Spot: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes: Home
Leah: Okkervil River: Unless its Kicks
Raya: MGMT: Kids
City of New York: The Walkmen: Thinking of a dream I had
Julia: Le Tigre: Deceptagon
Chris: Wilco: California Stars
Rapha: Trans Am: Futureworld
Jenny: The Gerbils: Fluid
Dude: Deerhunter: Strange Lights
State of California: Olivia Tremor Control: Gypsum Oilfield Fire
ESP: Neutral Milk Hotel: Holland 1945
Chris Dale: Wire: Early Miner
Jim Browning: Apples In Stereo: Look Away
Kelly: Sebadoh: brand new love
Craig: Best Coast: When i'm with you
Gunner: Magnetic Fields: A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
Penny: Nobunny: Nobunny Loves You
Grant: The Lauging " Don't Help Me"
Me: Future Islands: Little Advances
Britt: Spoon: All the Pretty girls Go to the city
Joan: Fanfarlo: Luna
JHF: TVOTR: Wolf Like Me
OC: The Good Life: Always a Bridesmaid
LG: Yo La Tengo: My Little Corner of the World
Jeanettio: Harlem: South of France

off the top of my lil head is what i wrote. i've not even met some of these people and i miss most of you...some of you i see thankfully quite a bit.. But yeah associations from the tiptop spur of the moment brain and here you have it. BTW, you all deserve more than one song.
besos,
erin

PS-can't fucking wait to hear the Kanye ALbum.. happened upon a rolling stone mag at the folks house...the review was superb and author said the album could've been penned only by an insane person. F to the Yes!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

turkey necking and high fiving

i hear a story: via the K-spot, bradford cox just released two atlas sound albums available for free on the DL tip on his website. i kinda cant wait to hear them.. Thanksgiving came early for krissie.. and it sure came early for me as K-Spot made me a mix CD...The new Girls EP Broken Dreams Club is there.. (i hereby nominate us as co presidents) plus beach fossils, Wild Nothing, and Foxes in Fiction. Not familiar with FIF except for blip, i turned the tracks to 15-18 to hear Foxes in Fiction. I guess i sorta melted away, and things were so backgroundishly surreal and sublime...atmospheric and lush... that the tracks flew the fuck by..all of a sudden i'm back to the Girls EP. I'm going to seriously enjoy the trip to my parents house.. it'll take an hour but with traffic maybe longer, so i'll be able to soak it in even more.. The girls EP does have me impressed. a bit unexpected... i hear female backing vocals, a pedal steel perhaps, and some serious twangish soul coming out. sort of like lying under a bed of small town texas stars...if i actually did go camping, this may actually fit in if only for one second. Jeff Mangum and everything Elephant 6 will most definitely dominate any sitting around a fire moments i have.. soo. GIrls: Everything about the lyrics is what we'd expect.. all about the broken heart, the lost love, searching for the high of just plain normalcy or the drug/buzz/crush that will let us escape from the dark place we all refer to when we look at ourselves. if i had the lyrics in front of me i'd quote it, but for now, ill just say thankyou. you got me. you got us all.

in other random news, its thanksgiving weekend. starting RFN~! Right Fucking NOw!! i'm dog sitting and house sitting, and both are still alive and well. BONUS!! tomorrow i go out to see the folks. Thursday the family.. I love it when my mom puts on her sirius radio in the mornings instead of news. its calming, and she will always pop up with some obscure reference to a band she heard... and its always quite awesome.. also quite enjoyable for someone without a telly: HD muthafuck! i will get to watch football all day and stuff my face with sweet potatoes and turkey and everything under the great big holiday sun. woo hoo! so yeah, its time to go out, come out, and get out. if only for a couple of days. being in the middle of nowhere is really something i could never do as a living situation, but to listen to your dreams under a bright clear sky of stars without the city noise or haze is kind of alluring. there's always a new reference point and new fantasy to be devoured.

BTW, has anyone else noticed how music lovers and sports fans are usually packaged into one person? Anyone read Chuck Klosterman? i've kind of seen this ellipse of music geeks and sports geeks..where the middle is the most dominant part..seriously! don't wanna analyze it..or relate the two at the moment.. just wanna appreciate it, and say, fuck yea a good games a good game! and i hope to see good games this week. *sidenote-can't wait for NBA post season

also looking forward to year end top ten/top 100/best of lists, etc.. maybe i'll even participate at some point.. its all about the recap and nostalgia of the year, and not that i've got better things to do...like.. say, looking at the future, I"m not above it, i totally get off on that stuff..so ill try to put something together. it keeps me grounded. i have to be grounded to move forward, and yes that makes sense..right??

i can't fucking believe its almost 2011.

ok, out for now.. eat all you can kids... hook em and shit!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

totally random and prolly won't be about music at all.

pre titled post. just have so much to say, and not sure if i am going to bring music into it, but IDFK really , there's a lot going on in the elfin brain. neurotransmitters are firing..sometimes actually landing on the right receptor..

* tonite was genius. an atypical tuesday nite.. went to coffee shop/food/bar spiderhouse and met up with HQ boy and HQ girls...i like it when different sets of friends get on

* my parents i absolutely adore. they are the best TTM!

*danced in HQ boys living room to Bruce Springsteen Youtube videos..Dancin in the dark and Born to Run. i hate saying epic, obviously, but shit Born to Run as a video, as an experience in my head.. was actually epic. how does it feel to have such a seemingly good time with your bandmates, high kicking, back to back playing, swaggering confidently to a stadium full of double armed yelling mfuckers and christlike praise?!?! again IDFK, but staged or not, those E streeters and the boss had fucking fun.

*ive not one dirty piece of clothing.. laundry conquered.. and i realize i enjoy clean PJs just as much, if not more, than clean sheets.

*i think that just general years spent on earth usually outweigh actual experiences. for example, i feel a lil more capable of seeing things in a different (i didnt' say better, just different..better, well, who knows?) manner than someone 10 yrs younger than myself. And yes, i have interactions with this age group all the time. and yes, perhaps youthful fame, sickening trauma involving death or death on earth (imagine what you will), and an inherited surname could be excluded..

*i see myself riding on a subway home, bleary eyed, yet with a nervous itch in my tummy waiting to spew with giddiness and the realization that I have in fact, done whatever it is i wanted to do.. But prolly it was spending time with a fictional "you"

*satisfaction won't come without facing lingering desires,. esp the ones that appear in your nightmares. and then resurface every waking second.

*i have an over reaction to coffee and the places i drink it most at. i never order enough, and i never leave satisfied. never/always. its like cigarettes.

*really would i have this much fun if i was your sister? i just count on being that valuable i suppose?

*ariel pink and matt fishbeck have me ...lyrics that i can decipher are here: "you can talk about the way you understand me. but i don't think you really understand me. go ahead and write my whole life story. sell it to my mother,for a good reaction, I'm sure she'd love to know....." sorta hopeless

WOW, ok..holy christ and then

"let every man sing his tune..note the changes in his voice... listen carefully and rejoice... " sorta hopeful

WOW realizing and feeling someTHING, and then..

" walking up the avenue i hear the bells chime.....ringing into my step and i feel so fine, knowing theres a place for me to ease my mind, knowing theres no reason to be unkind, oh the places we could go.." screw hope this is real!

*I adore deciphering songs like i did just above. i may not know two shits about the real meaning of this song but i sure as hell want to make it into a story. i also want my brothers to hear this song. this song reminds me of jeff mangum.

*Red Lights by Holy Fuck is sorta awesome. It had K-Spot still on the dancefloor, and my niece loooves the kitty cat vid.

*got wind of a Wavves/Best Coast collaboration for Target. super enticing. i hope its about the dollar spot or the fancy christmas chocolate sale going on as we speak.

* too much on my mind right now, but glad to dream a lil dream with fast typing hands and a virtual notebook i call my twinkletoes.

gnite

Monday, November 15, 2010

the itch to hitch

weddings are actually quite fun to DJ when people know how to moonwalk. not just the groom but the groom's daughter, sister, brother, mother,and father. i've never seen a family get down so much..except maybe when my dad and uncle are on guitar and bass, and everyone knows the words to both covers and originals from....whenever. Jen played Kicks tonite. and i thought about when i played the keys to Paul Revere and the Raiders with my Daddy. I missed it. i love that song. these lyrics c'mon:

Girl, you thought you found the answer on that magic carpet ride last night
But when you wake up in the mornin' the world still gets you uptight
Well, there's nothin' that you ain't tried
To fill the emptiness inside
But when you come back down, girl
Still ain't feelin' right

And don't it seem like
Kicks just keep gettin' harder to find
And all your kicks ain't bringin' you peace of mind
Before you find out it's too late, girl
You better get straight

No, but not with kicks
You just need help, girl

Well you think you're gonna find yourself a little piece of paradise
But it ain't happened yet, so girl, you better think twice
Don't you see no matter what you do
You'll never run away from you
And if you keep on runnin'
You'll have to pay the price

wow,you'll never run away from you...don't overthink it. STOP IT! so....in other news, if you've never seen jana hunter w/ the lower dens, please do so promptly. K-Spot and myself went to see Future Islands and lower dens friday nite..one of the best shows of the year, and its fucking november. Year end list to come, BTW, but for now, this one is making a good run for top 3. SO go do it, if you are even reading this and you live somewhere within 5 hours driving distance, i recommend taking the trip. You will most certainly be elated the entire way home.

fun wedding playlist tonite, just for grins:

The Beatles: I wanna Hold your Hand
Al Green: Let's Stay Together
Passion Pit: I've Got Your Number
Michael Jackson: Wanna Be startin Somethin
Millionyoung: Calrissian
Rolling Stones: Start Me Up
The Kinks: waterloo sunset
OMD: If You leave
Sebastien Tellier: Divine
Prince: I would Die For You
Bruce Springsteen: Dancing In the Dark
MGMT: Kids
Run DMC, Franz Ferdinand, The Knack: mashup TDF!!

only regret of the evening:
no sad Team Fab wedding photo to document. *sidenote, we're really not that sad ;)

alright, its been a weekend, and lugging around PA speakers and gear has me in need of a kick, AKA sleeeeepytime. gnite all <3

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

funfunfun weekend

happens all the time, whether it be before a fashion show, DJ gig, SXSW, a music fest, a vacation...I get sick. lay in bed all week sick. Last week was no different. Had plenty of time to rest and cross my fingers and toes that i'd be well enough to go to funfunfun fest with a full and healthy spirit. Luckily by Friday morning (Day 1) i was good to go. Not much to see except weird Al, which i didn't even watch. but it didn't matter cuz i got to hang with my favorite girls..Jen, Krissie, and my sister in law, but still my sister Leah. Let the weekend begin..in highlight form:

Saturday

-Jeff the Brotherhood: i didn't know two shits about these dudes. but seeing the two of them performing was awesome..i walked in on the last couple of songs, but now i'm kinda hooked

-The Antlers: as promised, beautiful, intense, dismal yet uplifting.. and the sound filled the park. Props to funfunfun for the last minute addition because they turned out to be a highlight.

-Wavves: for the first time live. Excellent set, i can listen to most of all the old album, and most def straight through the new one, and was pleased with all the choices.. But WTF with the volume? yet again, like Girls at ACL, how about a lil bit of amplification folks. Sincere and adorable with the crowd. Nathan needed a beer and traded a joint for a 24 oz tecate with a fan. He assured that they had plenty more weed. i expected a more excited crowd..but again, its tough without audible noise.

-Os Mutantes: well, i have an obsession with Brazil and this band has been making music for ages....first heard on a mix tape from boy i was dating several years ago. They broke into mean rock guitar solos under a haze of psychadelia and tropicana..they kept me on my toes. brazil always does.

-Man Man: shoulda watched more. but resting and sidewalk socializing (instead on gravel) backstage with every fucking scenester person in austin apparently took a bit of time, and didn't get everything done. Food and beer need consumption too.

-Delorean: the band i stalked during sxsw,i have much love for "Deli" and "Monsoon" but a lot of older tracks but was met with new and unfamiliar tunes at that particular festival. since then new songs have grown on me. perfect crowd for a dance band, glow necklaces and everything. and my favorite jogging keyboardist on the nord..so happy for these guys...they deserve the bigger crowds and kept the fun coming.. PS- great light show

-MGMT: first time to see live! Oracular Spectacular was a seriously meaningful album to me...it was one of those "get me thru this godddamn depressive breakup state i'm in " albums...i rode around the streets of san francisco listening to it with Raya, thinking, hey, things are gonna be for the moment, ok. and it was most certainly moment to moment then.. anyhow..definitely stoked to see live. Not let down. at that point was having crazy sisterly moments with my girls and doing that dance hug thing that looks really gay, but actually does kinda mean something.

Sunday:

-Black Nasty: absolutely the best way to start the day. without question. Black nasty has collaborated with several indie artists, and he receives death threats. But you know what, sack up, he has a lot of shit to say. PLZ listen to shark tank. if you are offended i'm sorry. truly.. i just think he's either taken too seriously or not taken seriously enough. enough of that talk..Team Fab, Gino, and the K-Spot and Leah laughed our asses off. Its funny to see your friends up there singing about doing it up the butt, festishes, and straight up jizz in the face.. Standouts were...fuckin A the whole set was a standout. congrats kids.

-Toro Y Moi: caught a bit of the action from the sidestage for this one. pretty amazing to watch so close. it was def a chill set, kinda matched the weather.

-Cults: long hair dudes, and lady.. all dressed in black. another decent addition to the fest. had their shit together.

-Best Coast: um, i love this band. i know there's a lot of singing about dudes and weed and cats and general dissatisfaction.. but get a group of girls together and whats likely to enter the conversation? dudes, cats, dissatisfaction, and coping strategies. weed, TV, wine, exercise, prayer.. whatever. i do'tn agree with people who say best coast is whiny...in my opinion bethany can sing about whatever the fuck she wants to...its stilly a beachy blast, even if you're not high. mucho singing along for this set.

-Deerhunter: most anticipated act of festival. it was pretty awesome. Expected to hear all of Halcyon Digest, but set peppered with older songs. longed for "Hazel St." and "Basement Scene" but it doesn't matter, its fucking Deerhunter. no lights, playing as shadows. lovely. i almost got lost.. i wanted to get lost... but most certainly not a letdown. a longer time slot woulda been really nice.

Weekend highs:
-attending a festival that's actually easy to get around with HQ bands and people
-Best coast guitarist stopping set to swig off the whiskey bottle in his backpack
-high fiving my favorite spaniard AKA delorean keys dude.
-Delorean saying we "De-yay" at beauty bar tonite.. AKA DJ awww..language barriers
-making friends with security homeboy
-meeting two members of wavves
-jen meets milo
-Seeing austin icon Leslie fully clothed for once eat a piece of pizza out of a trashcan.. 2 seconds later pulled a gnawed on turkey leg out of another trashcan and started chowing away. my stomach hurt from laughing.
-free beer and free burritos
-black nasty
-aftershow at mohawk with sonny and the sunsets..
-hanging out with blip friend igetfreepie
-seeing buffy
-clean port o lets
-K spot yelling penis! and being rewarded with vagina!
-jen getting on my shoulders for the descendents
-getting drilled

weekend lows:
-shitty sound at wavves
-missed most of man man
-missed most of jeff the brotherhood
-no afterparty dancing
-jen's camera lost
-egos and general douchebaggotry
-short sets
-my little bro not being around...but i had my sister

ok, i'm late for a meeting with ...guess who?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

finally seeing Wavves!



i have hope kids. and even though he went to a studio for his followup, and we all love the gritty fuck out of the bedroom recording sound, i mean its all the rage, have you heard that shit yet?!?! wavves and crew picked the right studio, the right producer, and obviously, the right weed. everything is still raw, plenty of feedback and strewn guitars, muddled vocals... just a little tinge of polish. I have this vintage hand mirror that's dusty as hell, old as shit, cracked....but it has so much character, I keep it around.. and with a little WIndex rubdown, its quite kitchy and has a lot of spunk. yes, its still perma strained but if i wanted a fucking new mirror i'd go to Target right, fuckies?? yeeeahhh!! so. yes that was an attempt to compare wavves recording efforts to an outdated hand held mirror. No i'm not high. Anyways,watch the short film about his experience in the studio...its pretty awesome. i'll try post it..i think its on pitchfork tv. super duper looking forward to seeing wavves weekend. i'm hoping for a singalong.

Epic is a four letter word.

i'm so fucking tired of the overuse of this fucking word. it should die an epic death. why is everything awesome now epic? i'm guilty of using it and writing it on occasion but seriously, its starting to make my stomach fucking turn. yes i love four letter words also, but this ones got to go. Epic parties! epic fun! epic songs! epic scenes! shits gonna be epic! WTF?! give it a rest. never took the the whole bananas thing either, but really we don't need to make everything cool,somewhat interesting, funny, large in size, neat, off the beaten path, innovative, savvy, or pleasurable "epic." Admittedly, i dont judge anyone for using it, its pretty much a buzz word, and its all over the place..i'm bitching about its overuse not the people who use it.

according to a more-reliable-than-not website, the proper definition of epic is: < heroic, larger-than-life (very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)) "an epic voyage"; "of heroic proportions"; "heroic sculpture" >

Obviously the word has power,if not takes the reigns and defines it. My mind wanders to times when i use the word most, and i lead straight to either music or perfectly penned scenes in movies. Perhaps getting married is an epic occasion, or giving birth..wait isn't that a miracle? either way...i have only one story to live and i've only seen so much... so.. according to this definition,the last time i appropriately used the word was when i saw Arcade Fire perform live at ACL a few years ago. YEARS. That show was larger than life to me. calling it a show doesn't do it justice, it was a fucking performance. regine was heroic on the keys, flailing around like an she was being exsorcised. Rafters were climbed, every song was an anthem. Of course i've seeen many great shows since then. I saw many before. Each is special in their on way...good, bad, moving,boring,awe inspiring... But the Arcade Fire put on a production worthy of epic. That also said, just because it was epic, doesn't mean it was the best show i've ever seen... but it did surpass the ordinary in an extraordinary way. And that is epic to me. a word we all know and have usually dismissed until...lately. GRRR!!!

Rambling on...ranting more...I guess everyone has their own associations to certain words...maybe these are words like cunt or wastebasket or tacky. Some words just sit well with people while sitting uncomfortably with someone else. Apparently epic is having its way with me. its the new alternative..but shit, that term stuck around and became a washed out and rained on umbrella term for sub culture. and obviously it took away meaning. oh epic, people are sucking you dry, and as much as i hate a lot of the assholes that keep using you, i love my guilty self and the non assholes a whole lot more. so before the plague of epic turns upon itself, may i suggest some other ways to describe fun things? how about dazzling,grand,can't fucking miss,knocked my socks off...etc etc... amazing and awesome are fine too. badass is fantastic.

see, this is what TMI does to me.. Too much internet.. i'm all huffy about a stupid word that everyone including me uses, i've been sick all week and without a telly... the world at my fingertips, its been lot of wasted internetting but srsly if i had a penny for the # of times on each website i saw the word epic, i'd have a chunk of change of e**c proportions. WTF. fuck it. FUNFUNFUNFEST is this weekend!

Monday, November 1, 2010

candy claws, millionyoung (thanks K-Spot), deerhunter, cults,and grandchildren. i want nothing else right now musically. on a more personal note, if you wanna gimme fiction, these nightmares and wanderlust thoughts would quit. but they don't seem to be stopping. so its a fact, elfgirl land is guilty without reasonable doubt...of confusion, suffocation, and negative analysis. i would hope to really be satisfied with just being happy with what i have. But i'm realizing i can't. i don't know if i should blame the sadistic media, my own musings, or the general fairytales i create about anyone else's life but mine.. either way, i need something else. i want to see myself changing every day..making little advances. (<--FUTURE ISLANDS!!!) i talk and talk, but can't take myself on a walk. so i will fly to portland, travel to atlanta with Krissie, text my boss in new york, and just be with my thoughts. try to figure it out. cuz right now, i have to think bigger than what i'm presuming i'm capable of. Team Fab made it into Nylon magazine this month. instead of champagne we drank Lone Star in celebration. a shitty picture and a blurb about DJing is really awesome when its in print. at least for us! all smiles... Also in Nylon's America issue: Boston,Nashville, Portland, blah blah, i havent even read the entire damn thing. but definitely some food for thought. anyways, a big shout out to my HQ friends whose ears i talk all the way off about this shit.. maybe i'll have something more interesting to say now that ive written it all out and can get off my own soap box..mmm...how about some Fun Fun Fun?!?!g'nite yalls.