Tuesday Melodies

Hiiiiiii, here are some songs for today!

1) "Half Light II (No Celebration)" by Arcade Fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhWliEQRTFg) Sometimes I ignore the fact that this album came out and that it was AWESOME and won that important Grammy or something. Weirdly, I went to high school with the Butler brothers (NOT in Canada...they are Canadians, but went to boarding school in New Hampshire with nerds like me). I remember they used to perform at these rock assemblies that we had and even then, they liked suspenders and sounded fantastic. Anyway, I am just telling you I am famous by proximity and that Arcade Fire is the real deal.

2) "Magic" by Ladyhawke (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy3t6dDyXHg) So first of all, if you haven;t seen the movie Ladyhawke with Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer then you haven't LIVED. Second, I typically think this band is a bit MUCH, but this is one of my favorite songs to dance around my apartment alone to. It's got this Gothic, dramatic quality to it, but this is just a great, 80's-style pop song.

3) "Wait" by M83 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4uBFX7gOuA) Yeah, still not over this concert. The only real version of this song I could find on youtube is paired with images from some show on the CW called The Secret Circle and for that, I apologize, but you have to hear this song. Soon it won't be cool to like M83, because "Midnight City" is already running in a Victoria's Secret commercial and getting airtime on mainstream radio, so get into this now while it's still relatively hip. Honestly, this song is heartbreaking enough as a recording, but live it was nothing short of revelatory. It KILLED me. So, this is me, zombie stranger, telling you to go out and buy this whole album right now.

PS Song: "I'll Be Your Lover Too" by Van Morrison (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA_oz-wUFmk) This Thanksgiving in Woodstock was VERY Van Morrison-heavy. To be fair, I became obsessed with this song after watching Proof of Life, Taylor Hackford's turdy movie where Meg Ryan met Russell Crowe. Russell does look REAL good in a tank top though. Anyway, this is a sexy/lazy/tumbler of whiskey tune for you.

Hi, It's ME!

Guys, I really missed you! I hope you had a delightful Turkey time. I was with my family in NYC and then at my mom's cousins' place in Woodstock to give thanks. It was really nice; there was only one incident involving the turkey flying across the room...but cousin Amy caught it! Just like a bouquet at a wedding!Anyway, I enjoyed the break. I got to go to my college homecoming and see all my wonderful friends, do the following with special peeps:

Tasty. I got to escape the parade, which happens literally outside my parents' house. LOOK:

Yup, that's a cop car whizzing by. I also went to dinner at Porsena with my fam (it's so good, http://porsena.com/. Get the ring-shaped pasta with spicy lamb sausage and thank me later) and got to see my childhood home, which used to be a walk-up apartment building with a stoop frequented by heroine addicts and is now a swanky single-family residence next to Babbo. See?

Okay, yeah, this one is a little bit dark. I also went to Fatty Cue with my amazing friend Sasha (works in finance but is really a hippie who would rather be on her farm upstate at all times). Fatty Cue (http://www.fattycue.com/menus/west-village) is an Asian-influenced BBQ place in Brooklyn and now in the West Village and it is SICK-good. I started with this Mezcal drink (Mezcal is like Mexican vodka, guys) and then we got warm homemade bread with chiles and this sort of crumbled, salted burrata. Then we got a sensible kale salad because Sasha can't see kale on a menu and not order it and THEN we got this INSANE spicy, brined sausage soup with PRETZEL DUMPLINGS. The flavors were so incredible and surprising and I am still thinking about that damn soup. Then we had sardines over braised cabbage and once you eat the fish off the bones they do the COOLEST thing: the chef takes all the bones and fries them up so they're like chips and they serve them to you with a shitload of Siracha...as many of you know I LOVE a weird chip, and this is exactly that. Then we had some great ribs, I had 2 of these INCREDIBLE sour ales (I am sorry sour ale company, I cannot remember your name) and we had this wild, milk-themed dessert, which was this custard with milk ice cream and these fried wontons that tasted like funnel cake. It was a good meal.

Then I went to Mother's Ruin (http://www.yelp.com/biz/mothers-ruin-new-york), this awesome bar where there's no menu and you just tell the badass-looking bartender what you like and he makes you something yummy. I NEEDED my Manhattan-like cocktail, because I did forget that it actually gets COLD and RAINS in some parts of the country (the back of my tights were conpletely soaked through...not the sexiest look on the block). But it was a great time in the city overall. I got back to Silverlake Saturday and immediately needed a Thirsty Crow-run with Emily and our friend Elliott (followed by maybe 7000 chips at Mexico City...oops). Then Sunday I met Miss Noelia at Madame Matisse (http://www.yelp.com/biz/madame-matisse-los-angeles), which is like a stone's throw from my apartment, but this was my first time there. It was GOOD...I had this wild beef hash with two over-easy eggs on top of it. My stomach kind of hated me later on, but I walked it off on the reservoir and I think it was worth it. It's good to be back friends!

Movie Music: The Early Years

So, I love movies. Like, it goes my fam/friends, movies, music, my own life. But maybe the coolest gift movies and TV ever gave me was my appreciation for good tunes. Like, one lead to the other, get it? I have very specific and distinctive memories of certain songs in certain movies awakening in me a deep love for a jam. Here are some songs from some films that opened my eyes to the power of music and images paired together (lately I have been typing very scary/cheesy sentences like this, go with it):

1) "Olympia" by Hole from Stealing Beauty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDr-HZzNGOQ) So, okay, I was twelve when this movie came out and it just blew my world right open. It's probably one of Bernardo Bertolucci's LEAST acclaimed films, but man does it hit a nerve with girls who were "coming of age" at the time. Basically, 19-year-old Liv Tyler goes to Italy for the summer to figure out who her father is and lose her virginity. I literally experienced puberty as I watched journey. The entire soundtrack is amazing (Portishead, Liz Phair, Stevie Wonder) and I bought it immediately (which was not easy as I was living in Hong Kong at the time...I know, jetset, me). However, I was disappointed to discover that the song from the scene where Liv Tyler angrily rocks out to her headphones was not on the CD! I searched desperately to figure out what this raging anthem was called and then FINALLY I stumbled upon Hole's Live Through This...and went through puberty all over again.

2) "Would?" by Alice in Chains from Singles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nco_kh8xJDs&ob=av2e) I was obsessed with this movie. OBSESSED. I wanted to move to Seattle and go to concerts and drink coffee all the time and be Bridget Fonda and show up at somebody's doorstep and be all, like "I was just nowhere near your neighborhood." More than anything else, I was obsessed with a gentleman named Eddie Vedder. He had the TINIEST part in the movie but as soon as he opened his pretty bow-mouth I was like, WHO WHAT WHERE HOW DO I GET? Anyway, this soundtrack is BOMB. Like, defined my childhood. I remember hearing Chris Cornell's voice for the first time and just being like, oh cool, I can die now. But this AIC song is really representative of the soundtrack and of that time in general and guys, remember what a great band this used to be before they got a doody new singer? Remember when Cameron Crowe was a good writer? He made me want to be a screenwriter! And then he made Elizabethtown...

3) "Big Empty" by Stone Temple Pilots from The Crow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv5LEdLZJqk) Okay, so all of these songs are obviously of a specific time period. This movie was a really big deal because Brandon Lee died while shooting it and it was a whole cult thing blah blah. I actually never even watched the movie until a boy made me see it like three years ago. It's dated, but very cool. But I remember the trailer running constantly on TV and the chorus of this song playing over it and thinking that the music combined with the images was just the greatest thing ever. I have to tell you though, I made up some crazy lyrics to make the song about ME. I don't remember what they were but it was something like "tiiiimeeeee to take her home her pretty brown hair is long and shiiiinnnyyyy."

4) "Blister in the Sun" by The Violent Femmes from My So-Called Life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aljlKYesT4&feature=related) This video is from Grosse Pointe Blank, but I first heard this when I watched Angela Chase decide she was like, totally over Jordan Catalano and proceeded to dance like a dork all over her bedroom. This Violent Femmes song, along with "Kiss Off" that appeared in Reality Bites made me realize how important music could be to a film and how much I loved records. Also, MSCL was the best show EVER. My college girlfriends will attest to the fact that Freshman year I would sit on my bed and watch every episode on my computer, breaking only for visitors and runs to Gourmet Heaven. It was a weird time; I listened to a LOT of Coldplay. But I mean, DUDE, remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IucL7_szrHw. Yeah, you're all welcome.

Gchat From Emily

emily:  http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2011/11/where-are-all-the-plus-size-male-models.html
like
am i the 13th person
to send you this?

Thanks Pitchfork...UGH

So guys, I really hate giving Pitchfork any credit ever, but sometimes I do discover really great bands on their website. Today it's Twerps, this Aussie outfit that sounds like Nirvana went back in time and made a baby with Joy Division, but strangely that baby is not incredibly depressed upon exiting the womb (and has an Australian accent). I may have gone way too far with that analogy, but the Twerps are great. Here is "Dreamin":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=XLyJvKJGJGQ

Found He-Art

Okay that looks like I am saying "he, art," which would be intriguing and sexy, but really I found THIS in the road:

See? It's a HEART and it's ART. OMG precious, right? Emily actually found it whilst we were walking with Noelia around the reservoir. It was branded into the sidewalk as if Cupid had shot a fiery heart down from the Heavens! What the FUCK am I typing?

Also, this weekend, I went to see my friend Jon, Jeff and Anthony perform in their new project called Beat Club (they're GOOD...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWsAL9-cU_o) at Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood (http://www.space15twenty.com/), which is this cool outdoor area thing. Check out the space AND the band if you know what's good for you...

TGIFinally

Remember TGIF on TV? So good. Anyway, I am still not over M83, but here are some Friday songs.

1) "Jump Into The Fire" by Harry Nilsson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QghwNqlCRE) This song makes me think of my friend Emily and my friend Jon, separately. Emily introduced me to this song, blasting it in her car when we were both annoyed about something (boys) and totally changed my mood. Jon just loves this song and I often think of him as a visitor from another time period...definitely the late 70's or early 80's. I mean this as a compliment: Jon is sweet and creative and looks amazing in tank tops and tight pants.

2) "Angel In The Snow" by Elliott Smith (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Q_fYuMZdA) So yeah, I can't really listen to Elliott Smith without bursting into tears or thinking about a really dark phase I went through Sophomore year of college (this pre-dates my Ryan Adams dark phase), but I adore this song. I was SO PISSED when Jason Reitman used it in his piece of doody movie Up in the Air. No, don't argue with me, that was not a good movie. Smith was so good at vocalizing emotions that are so incredibly internal and this song is such a fantastic depiction of what loves feels like. At least it is for me. Whatever, shut up leave me alone!

3) "We Own The Sky" by M83 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzge5vY72hE) WHAT I am not over them! Oldie but goodie. I wanted to do "Reunion," but it wasn't on youtube.

M83!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I went to M83 last night and they knocked my socks off. No, that is an understatement. They knocked all my clothes and accessories off and took the money out of my purse. Like, at one point I had to grip Noey because tears were coming down my face. Oh, this was at the Music Box Theatre, which is a really, really wonderful venue (http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/). And the sound was just like, OH MAN (I know, I am really eloquent today). Here is a picture:

Yeah, I know, you can't really see anything and there was also an incredibly tall gentleman standing directly in front of me and eventually I had to move over. But I was THERE. Anyway, the sound was just so consuming and good, the crowd got into it and actually danced, and that chick in the band really brought it with her angelic voice and sassy outfit (I wish I could wear a dress/tank-top where my cute lace bra showed completely without looking like a madame in an old-timey saloon but alas, I cannot). The drummer also BROUGHT it. Like, they used a drum machine because they needed to be REALLY LOUD, but there was also this guy just SMASHING his drum kit, but in this really sharp and precise way (man, I love drummers so much).

They played some old hits like "Kim and Jessie" and of course rocked new stuff like "Midnight City" (that one really got everyone pumped up). M83 is already pretty successful, but they're about to be ENORMOUS so go see them now.

Oh also, we got a drink at Public House in Los Feliz before the show (http://www.yelp.com/biz/1739-public-house-los-angeles-2). It's kind of the only place in that neighborhood where you can go and watch sports. It's not the SWANKIEST, but they have an incredible beer selection, trivia nights (although it wasn't so enjoyable to have a trivia night going on around us while we were trying to converse), and some handsome dudes...because you can watch sports there.

PS This is random, but in an earlier post I said I was really meh on Tom Petty...and then posted "Yer So Bad." This morning, this song came on the radio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0JvF9vpqx8&ob=av3e. Jesus Christ, this is a cool song. Also, I had completely forgotten this weirdo-Alice in Wonderland video. Anyway, I am sorry Mr. Petty; you're not that relevant anymore, but you had some jams.

It's a Toozy!

Guys, I don't know. I thought Daylight Savings Time (do you capitalize that shit? Did I really graduate from a university?) was supposed to make you MORE AWAKE in the Fall...this is a lie. So I am listening to some wild songs to pump me up. Behold:

1) "Hang With Me" by Robyn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3a2qoyONVA&ob=av2e). I think you guys know by now that I love this woman. The acoustic version of this song is good too in a different way, but this tour video is really fun and I think this Jem and the Holograms-like bass really adds something.

2) "We Found Love" by Rihanna (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg&ob=av2e). Wait, did I already do this song? OMFG EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER'S. But seriously, I think this video is beautiful. It's kind of new Fincher meets the Drive dude meets A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Also, this song is so 80's and I love it. Like it could be in Flashdance. Okay, I will stop with the movie recs.But this video is hot.

3) "Turn The Beat Around" by Gloria Estefan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvGTQ0jH7KM). I think everyone has a story about how they have mangled the words to this song...especially the part where she says "love to hear percussion." I used to think it was "love to feel the pressure," and I thought Gloria was a wacko, because who LOVES pressure?! Come on. This song also makes me think of my friend Leslie, who thought the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" were "I'm a cowboy. I'm a stay-at-home guy!" I can embarrass Leslie like this because she's basically a perfect human lady.

Adios.

Stranger Downtown...

I am an idiot for not taking pictures, but Saturday I went to the coolest EP release party in this warehouse/loft thing downtown. The band I saw is called COYOL (http://coyol.bandcamp.com/). Check out "Gone Gone" now please. Basically, this band is comprised of the three most attractive people on the planet. Like, tiny, stylish hipster girl with an exotic ethnicity and a HUGE voice and bearded lead singer/guitarist man with a strange but beautiful voice and then pretty, beanie-wearing keyboardist man who makes jokes. They almost completely distracted me from the fact that we were in an enormous loft that you could ride your bike inside of and that people actually lived in with crazy art everywhere. Side-confession: I can't really ride a bike.

Anyway, they served beer made by some dude that was friends with the band (delicious and hoppy; I am sorry I can't give said-dude a proper shout-out because I didn't catch the name of the beer) and you could silk-screen your own t-shirt and I felt totally out of place, but loved every minute of it. COYOL will also be appearing on Noelia and Kalen's awesome new site Knock and Rock (http://www.knockandrock.com/) very soon and then they will probably blow up and be huge because they're good and so goddamn gorgeous.

Afterwards, we went to Lindsey's friend's birthday at some swanky, American Psycho-looking loft facing the Standard hotel and danced to some old Madonna. So, a solid night. But I took no pictures. So here's one I took of the crazy weather out the window of my office. Doesn't it look like Armageddon?

Doesn't it?! Whatever I hate you.

Fried-day

I am so clever. I also had a ROUGH week. Like, work-wise. But everything's okay now! Sort of! Whatever, it's Friday, and although I am monumentally sleepy/mildly hungover from eating sausage (get your minds out of the gutter) at my magical and Italian friend Antonio's birthday into dancing to Soft Pipes' Anthony and my friend Christopher (his musical name is Miracle Parade and his tunes are a DELIGHT...check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdqgE_5CEUw) DJ at R Bar (cool place in Koreatown that you weirdly need a password to get into: http://www.yelp.com/biz/r-bar-los-angeles), I still need to share some jams with all 19 of you:

1) "I'm Going Down," by Bruce Springsteen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZarmRLa2p9Q) So in college, the hockey house had some really good slash chauvinistic parties (um, CEOs and secretary hos?), but they would always play the same three songs: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness (what happened to them?), "We Built This City" by Starship (fucking stupid lyrics), and this song. I don't know why I am giving you this useless information but this song reminds me of college and the good times I had there and now I am old and SIGH.

2) "California Soul" by Marlena Shaw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MMflNf-ocg) Anthony LOVES to play this song when he DJs. Because it's awesome and you can't help but dance to it. Also like, it's appropriate for where I live. Anyway, the boys played it last night and now it's in my head in a good way.

3) "Realist Alive" by Clams Casino (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYMH8NagwKU&feature=related) I hate the name of this music project. It totally grosses me out even though I don't even know what the dish of food Clams Casino entails...I mean, it's obviously something involving clams. Anyway, I love "I'm God" by Clams, but this song is equally dreamy in its hypnotic chill-wave repetitiveness.

PS Guys, did you know what a Pickleback was? I didn't until Emily told me. It's when you chase a shot of whiskey with a shot of pickle juice. Don't knock it 'til you try it...

Youth Lagoon at The Echo

I went with Kyle last night. It was awesome. The bassist was so hot. Look:

You're welcome.

Tunesday

What's in my brain today:

1) "Wash the Day" by TV On The Radio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dfHPorYNw). Damn, I really like this band now. I know, I know, I am super-late to the party, but at least I made it, right? This is TVOTR at their best: booming, thumping and yet melodic.

2) "Common Burn" by Mazzy Star (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7ayH09psxc). GUYS, do you remember "Fade Into You"? You don't? Here you go, idiot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKY6TZEyrI. This song (and the movie Angus, in which this song is prominently featured) like, defined eighth grade for me. I know Mazzy Star only plays three chords or something for reasons unknown to me, but they're like, THE BEST three chords ever. This new jam from them captures their old dreamy sound while incorporating some new, jazzier and honestly, lighter elements. Good stuff.

3) "Ingenue" by Life in Mono (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otRmKa9WNbM&feature=fvst). Okay, so I just dove down into an eighth-grade wormhole. But do you remember the soundtrack to Great Expectations? I was obsessed. I was also obsessed with the movie and even though it was panned, you could still see how potentially brilliant Alfonso Cuaron was. I mean, setting the Dickens novel in the NYC art world of the 80's? All the green designer couture? So good. Anyway, I could not get enough of this soundtrack. Whatever, just consider yourselves lucky I didn't use the Chris Cornell song I wanted to post.

Halloweekend

So Halloween lasted four days this year.

Friday, my delightful and handsome Venice friends Jon, TJ (they're brothers, it's hot), and Charles had a Halloween/Bday Party and it was great. Jon and TJ were also saying adios to old Venice as they are moving to my neck of the woods (YAY). I did a very hipster-friendly joint costume with Anna and we are SO HIP, no one has any pictures of us together. All I got is this:

Noelia is the hot nurse in the middle. Hot not only because she's a pretty lady, but because she painted flames and soot all over her dress. Deanna on the right is zombie-Blanche from Golden Girls and that is an INCREDIBLE costume (the wig is actually an Edward Cullen from Twilight wig). Although I HATE me in this picture as you can see, I am Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Obviously Belle, obviously. However, Anna dressed as Sebastian from The Little Mermaid and together we were Belle and Sebastian, like the very hip folksy band, but NOT. You have to trust me when I say Anna looked incredible. The girl really committed. She wore this full Sebastian the crab hat that she order online, all red, and oven mitts in the shape of lobster claws, which she refused to take off and so was hilarious when attempting to hold or open anything.

Saturday night I BABYSAT, which is the scariest way to spend Halloween, let me tell you. Luckily, the children were DELIGHTFUL. But I was very afraid.

Sunday night they do a soul-thing at this bar called Short Stop in Echo Park (http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-short-stop-los-angeles, yes it looks like the unmarked doorway to Satan's lair), but my friends and I just drank Bohemias and talked about horror movies. It felt really nice. Last night I hung with Anna and then some women and I had some mulled cider with whiskey in it and watched Dancing With the Stars which was HORRIFYING and wonderful.

And that's what happened.