Colonel Sanders chilling with Alice Cooper, who I hear loves KFC’s nuggets.
Liars - WIXIW review:
Liars’ new album has just been uploaded for free streaming on Soundcloud! Consistently dissident (oxymoron?) regarding their own catalog, it is no surprise that WIXIW takes the LA-via-Brooklyn-then-New-Jersey-and-then-Berlin band on yet another new tangent. There are still elements of heavy, layering guitar, centered around and driven by Angus Andrew’s deep croon, particularly on the first two tracks. There are still ominously dark slow builders reminiscent of bits of Drum’s Not Dead, the self-titled album and Sisterworld. Having said that, WIXIW is absent of the post-punk stylings of They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top or the raucously heavy tracks that also inhabit the later albums.
Once the album gets to the third song, ”No. 1 Against the Rush,” the drone and loop based elements begin to kick in (check out the murder-themed music video above). The next song follows suit, and with good measure. Normally I give a haughty scoff when a band attempts to go electro (cough, Handsome Furs, cough), but Liars do it right. They let the electronic elements complement their unique, experimental and straight up bizarre style. This is particularly evident on both the title track and “Flood to Flood,” which both do a great job of enveloping upon themselves, juxtaposing straightforward guitar riffs, repetitively anthemic drum beats and choral melodies with the aforementioned new electro/synth elements. ”Brats” is the danciest-song they’ve ever written, almost to a surprising degree (even for a band that prides themselves on being iconoclastic). “Annual Moon Worlds” is a fitting closer for the album, bringing the vibe down about with the infusion of the simple strumming of an acoustic. Sidenote - this isn’t album isn’t completely out of left-field, as they have tampered with electronic elements already (best music video ever?).
Altogether, I highly recommend this album to anyone who is already a fan and/or interestend in something refreshing. Something weird. Something dark and strange. The Liars will never lose their creepiness, nor their willingness to say “Fuck the past, let’s try something new.” To which I applaud them.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
The Stone Roses
—I Am The Resurrection
Feels like a Stone Roses type of day, some live goodness above.
So Facebook is trying to build a smartphone again. This is their third try.
Greedy ol’ Zuck won’t quit until he reaches his desired global domination. Facebook is becoming Videodrome.
Employees of Facebook and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there, as well as people briefed on Facebook’s plans, say the company hopes to release its own smartphone by next year. These people spoke only on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing their employment or relationships with Facebook.
The company has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, the employees and those briefed on the plans said.
In related news, we’re going to give Zuck one of our kidneys so he has even more information to sell to marketers.
“Where are the gods of tits and wine?”-Tyrion Lannister
Cool Story, Bro..
Admittedly, it’s been too long since I’ve last checked in. Admittedly, having a Tumblr while living abroad is the hip, near passe thing to do. Well, deal with it. Plus, in my defense I’ve been scribing on this bad-boy months before my departure, and will continue to juxtapose work and travel stories with completely unrelated nonsense. Also, I don’t rock a cheesy pun-inspired name, e.g. “The Farang Diaries” or “Thaime of my Life.”
I can list the litany of thing’s I’ve done over the past three enthralling weeks (rode/received massages from elephants, killed and/or ate cockroaches, saw bizarre objects enter and exit orphuses I didn’t think possible, raged face, beached, celebrated my quarter century birth, taught students ranging from precocious little angels to rude, acne-faced simpletons, walked down a few dark alleys, indulged on local delicacies both delicious and revolting….). The list could go on and I could elaborate into further detail, but for succinctness’ sake, I’ll let you paint your own images.
One thing I would like to give deeper comment on is the social setup of the program that brought me here, OEG. The Overseas Education Group served as the landing place for 80 something 20 and 30 year olds to orient themselves and prepare for respective teaching journeys. It was interesting to see such a massive amount of people thrust into the same situation, similar to a new crop of chimps being taken from their individual homelands into the shiny new cage at the zoo. Not that this cage was restrictive, but confining everyone to one hotel, and letting all meet each other in an orgy of “hellos” and “so where are you froms,” was indeed amusing. I made a point to meet everyone, as the more walks-of-life one can hear about, the better. I like to assume that everyone has something(s) interesting to share, or at the very least knowledge that I don’t already posses. To partake in a program like this and essentially throw one’s inhibitions to the wind, you most likely have to have a certain (adventurous) mindset. In addition, similar to the first few wide-eyed nights of freshman year of college (damn, I feel old), you are thrust into a new situation, and almost forced to build relationships in an expedited time frame, whether they be holistically genuine or somewhat forged. Semi-long story short, I’m fortunate to been able to meet such an anomalous, but mostly like-minded, crew of people. You don’t have to be everyone’s best friend. I’d be lying if I stated “I really totally loved everyone!” But for the most part, I did. To those whose company was indeed pleasurable, to those I’m continuing to keep in touch with (and attempting to/ am seeing again), cheers. Exciting times are ahead for us all. And needless to say, of course I miss my fam, bros and bro-ettes (aww how sappy).
Lastly, yes, that is a pic of me with a ladyboy. And no, nothing happened.
