"The shape we meant to make is gone." - Iron & Wine

Back in Cambridge for the night before jetting off to KCMO tomorrow afternoon. Had a grand time in PA, particularly at Toshio's moving-to-New-Orleans party, where in addition to chilling with T+T and Karim, I was also treated the company of Bring-The-Keg-In Geoghegan and Graziano, who both had infants in tow. Reminiscing and beer drinking ensued. Etc.

Anyhoo. I was shocked to learn through an email exchange with the Good Doctor last week that the early Lilys records are out of print and can fetch as much as $50 from Half.com. I will come out and boldly say that each of the first three Lilys records are worth this sum, but I think everyone who knows me knows that I am totally biased as the Lilys are one of my favorite bands. Anyway, this whole conversation was part of a strong sell of these records to the Doctor. I was even bold enough to just come right out and say that "Claire Hates Me" from the Slumberland release "In The Presence of Nothing" is my favorite song, hands down. And I stand behind that. So if that sort of thing interests you, download the song. And play it really, really loud.

FYI Buddyhead is still really funny. A classic comic excerpt about that nu metal producer recording the recent Cure record: "You can tell the drummer is thinking, “Dude, when you thought Korn was the next Nirvana, I had already been doing this for YEARS B*TCH! GET THE F*CK AWAY FROM ME SO I CAN RECORD MY DRUMS!”"

I may have reported this a year or two ago, as I can't imagine it slipped me when I reviewed the Scheider TM ep "6Peace", but Schneider TM was in the band Hip Young Things, which released an amazing indie rock record in the 90s called "Shrug" and were part of the so-called trash scene that also produced The Notwist. Interesting, huh?

Speaking of Schneider TM, I've just received the forthcoming Kptmichigan record. Kptmichigan plays in the live Schneider TM unit, and put out an AWESOME electronic record last year called "Player, Player." Anyway, the new record is self-titled, and frankly, it is phenomenal. This guy has shown up with a record that has grown beyond the electronic stuff he was doing to include noise, psychedelia, feedback, and more prominent vocals. The sound is definitely kind of singular, though I have read some stuff about Animal Collective and even the Liars that make it seem like it isn't a unique viewpoint right now. Anyway, I'll be reviewing that soon, as well as a new Tim Hecker and a new Keith Fullerton Whitman, both also faves of mine among the practitioners of contemporary electronic music.

That is all.