Showing posts with label Joup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joup. Show all posts

Thursday, February 7, 2019

2019: February 7th




Wow. My good friend Jacob messaged me a few weeks ago about the then-just released split EP Minsk and Zatokrev released at the end of 2018. Minsk is pretty much always a sure thing, but I'd never heard Zatokrev before. And now I am a fan.

You'll notice a binaural beats album on the playlist from yesterday. I have a weird suspicion about these; that they're a pop psychology/new age product made from something valuable. Way back in 2001/2002, when I was in The Yellow House, I had a pretty good makeshift studio setup in the basement of the house where we practiced, Joup's Joe Grez's original Palos Hills, two-story home. He lived there with two other guys he rented to as roommates, and we had the basement as our rehearsal/studio space. It was the early days of Pro Tools being available for laymen, and I was fresh out of Colombia College with a minor in sound recording. We had a pretty sweet monitor situation in the basement, but also had some big ass stereo speakers, located at opposite ends of the room. I was deep diving into Magick, the Occult, and all things related, and had stumbled across the waveform science that eventually begat Binaural Beats. I was fascinated and began conducting experiments, first on myself with headphones, then Grez became intrigued and asked to take part, then I began expanding my horizons, broadening my experiments to unknowingly include guests to the house. We'd often finish practices and end up with friends hanging out, and for a while they became involved. Nothing malevolent at all, but interesting...

Here's the deal: Theta Waves occur from 3 to 8 Hz, and are the frequencies of dreams, memory, and intuition. And the brain does a funny thing; if you apply a frequency to the brain using, let's say headphones, the brain will match it. Now, speaker responses are normally from 40 to 4k Hz, so speakers - which are transducers, that is they take one form of energy and turn it into another form, in this case sound waves to electricity - cannot at this point in time be made to physically handle sound waves outside of that range. So how do you apply 4 Hz to the brain and induce Theta state? Well, the brain does another funny thing; if you put 48 Hz in one ear, panned hard right, and 44 Hz in the other panned hard left, the brain splits the difference and matches 4 Hz. Crazy, right? So back in The Yellow House studio, I'd do this to myself and try and induce unease, nausea, joy, trance, etc. And I started doing it to visitors when they'd hang, put Hi-Beta waves (15-22 Hz) through the room by using a tone generator to pan 60 Hz through hard right and 72 Hz through left and watch too see if people began to feel irritated or high strung.

They did.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've utilized this. I have a meditation tone I constructed in Pro Tools a few years back, but other than that it's usually difficult for me to do that kind of thing with my now antiquated set-up. I've been wanting to get back to dreaming and dream journaling, and Lucid Dreaming has long been elusive to me - I've done it exactly once that I'm aware of. So when a co-worker who has a kind of pop 'metaphysical bent' to his interests told me he'd started using binaural beats to induce Lucidity in dreaming and it worked, I figured why not. I listened to this yesterday during the day, no where near the hour I went to bed, but I did have a pretty insanely vivid dream right before I awoke this morning, so maybe it will work.

Playlist from 2/06:

Ghost - Infestissumam
Bob Mould - Lost Faith (Pre-release single)
Bob Mould - Patch the Sky
Binaural Beats - Lucid Dreaming
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Bigod - Minsk & Zatokrev

Card of the day:


Interesting. I have a meeting this morning this could be relevant to. The dissolution of old paradigms to make way for something new...

Sunday, January 6, 2019

2019: January 6th



First available track from The Thirsty Crows' new album Hangman's Noose. My buddy Chris Saunders from The Horror Vision and Drinking with Comics is the Upright Bass player, and set me up with an advance copy of the album. It's fantastic. Read my review HERE on Joup, and pre-order what sounds to me like the first great album of 2019 from Batcave Records HERE.

Playlist from 1/05:

The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Iggy Pop - The Idiot
The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro
Tamaryn - The Waves
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
Henry Mancini - Charade OST
Steely Dan - Aja
Billy Joel - The Stranger
James Brown Presents - Funky People Part 2
Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

Card of the day:


Honing emotion with earthly concerns. To me, the cards still seem to be talking about saving money. Of course, if you've been reading these pages long enough, you'll notice I use my interpretations to support whatever is the issue of the moment, i.e. the way every pull for most of last year pertained to finishing the book. The book's now almost done (will today be the day? There'll still be editing, but to type the words "The End"...), and money is on my mind now, because in order to actually save it I will have to be 'full hilt,' so to speak. Frivolous spending is an emotional thing for me; the things I buy are movies, comics, books, records. Not buying them is not easy, but I apply my Earthly ideals and remember that while short term spending feels great, long term will be a longer lasting kind of joy.

Friday, December 28, 2018

2018: December 28th - My Top Ten Favorite Albums of the Year...




... can be found HERE on Joup. Hint: this is on it.

Playlist from 12/27:

Tool - Undertow
Ghost Cop - One Weird Trick

No card today.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

2018: November 15th



My copy of Thought Gang's long-lost album arrived a day early, so I've already spent a fair amount of time with it (though not nearly enough). So far, this is my favorite track on the album. My mid-90s self would have been all about this one.

Another day home feeling like shite. Trying to use the time wisely, though I've yet to do any writing, which I have planned in a bit. Spent the morning reading old issue of Classic X-Men, as I've been wanting to re-read a large chunk of Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men for quite some time now but never manage to find the time. I started off with the Dark Phoenix Saga and will move on from there. There are a few holes in the collection, but for the most part I have it all from Dark Phoenix on. A few of my favorite issues that I am looking forward to re-reading:


Fede Alvarez just proved what I've been saying for going on six years now. Thank you, Mr. Alvarez. Now, how about that sequel???

My friend Daniel just published a beautiful, heartfelt goodbye to Stan Lee. Read it HERE.
Playlist from 11/14:

Ghost Cop - One Weird Trick
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities Vol. III
Thought Gang - Eponymous

Card of the day:

I continue to encounter larger, archetypal guidance. I'm reading this as a suggestion to keep up a new yogic routine, which I began with two days last week and subsequently slacked off on.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

2018: August 2nd



In just two days of sporadic listening, and after an initial and unfair dismissal upon its release earlier this year, The Body's I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer is shaping up to be in my top ten if not top five of 2018. This is a POWERHOUSE of an album, and

The new and final of my Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying installments is up HERE - I'm hoping my fellow writers at Joup jump on this column and make it their own. It probably will no longer be a regular publication, but irregular's just as good.

Playlist from Wednesday, 8/01:

Shockwaves Podcast 104 - Paul Tremblay
Tennis System - Pain
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Johnny Marr - Call the Comet
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
Ministry - Dark Side of the Spoon
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
The Veils - Total Depravity

Card of the day:


This was apparently my friend Missi's pull today too. I don't have time to decode right now, but it's interesting we both received it.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

2018: May 31st 7:18 AM



On the way to work this morning, I put on Loyola Marymount's KXLU and heard Corniglia for the first time. This was exactly what I needed today. A gray morning, woke up late, desperately in need of more sleep than I've been getting - this just hit the spot. You can buy stuff at Corniglia's bandcamp
and they are also on Apple Music!

New Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying went up this morning, read it HERE.

Playlist from 5/30:

Opeth - Orchid
Opeth - Morningrise
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers
Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Card of the day:


This tells me I should eschew the after-work nap and write instead. I'm exhausted, but I am on an incredible roll! I re-outlined the project on Monday - which took pretty much all day - and now it's just a matter of realigning what I've already written and then ticking off the boxes. Feels good.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

2018: May 19th 11:25



Chester Whelks absolutely kills it with a brief call-to-arms for reassessing one of the greatest albums by a hip hop artist in the last twenty years (in my opinion). READ IT HERE.

K surprised me a bit by asking to go see Deadpool 2 for her birthday yesterday. We saw the original on video about eight months ago and both liked it, K more than I. I may still be suffering fatigue from blockbusters and thus, eschewing all of them, I'd never begrudge my girl anything. Plus, there's something about the strange, Meta-soup that Reynolds has spearheaded here; my interest and enjoyment of Deadpool 2 - which I liked infinitely more than Deadpool 1 - lies in its comedy. Ask most of my friends and they will half-jokingly tell you, "Shawn hates comedies." This isn't completely untrue; the comedies I love - The Burbs, Airplane, Real Men, Ghostbusters, The Convent, The Big Lebowski (not a comedy but still shows up on this list! How's that?), are so well-made they make me hate most modern comedies. While I quite liked both Neighbors movies, Pineapple Express (maybe more for the shock of Gary Kohl as a villain than anything else, but still) and the Twenty-One Jumpstreets revivals, I find no reason for laughing at most of what comes out in the genre. Deadpool 2 was f*&kin' hysterical, and largely because it is so aware of itself. The tragic backstory that catalyzes most of the events in the movie are even delivered so hard-nosed I couldn't help but crack a smile. And sorry, Josh Brolin was born to play Cable. Just saying.

Yesterday's playlist:

Apex Twin - I Care Because You Do
Lantlos - .neon
Geto Boys - Eponymous
Merciful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
Eagulls - Ullages
The Ocean - Heliocentric
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls

Card of the day:


Emotion tempered with Intellect. Rain falls on the calm waters - emotions rousing the mind, stirring decisions beyond those made by sheer intellect. The reins in the Prince's hand, wresting control from the tumultuous forces threatening the calm - this should not necessarily be looked at as 'bad' - the creative process is a marriage of Emotion and Intellect; a tumultuous explosion that we must shape and control in order to actually record or define.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Heaven's Endless Loop


Tommy, the man behind the always wonderful Heaven is an Incubator, also writes a lot of great stuff for an online magazine my friends and I contribute to called Joup. If you've been here before you probably know about it. Anyway, one of my favorite things to come out of Joup is Tommy's Endless Loop column; a weekly jaunt into the substance of those songs he confesses to be able to listen to endlessly. I can relate; at some point in my early thirties I developed a habit of looping tracks over and over again when I become obsessed with the mood they create in me. My point is I know Tommy's taste from reading his writing and I know when he says he can loop something then I'm in for a great track, whether I loop it or not. And this has bore out - I've picked up some absolute GEMS from Endless Loop. This week though, this week he hits it outta the park.

Tommy has a way of really summing things up succinctly and nowhere is that more evident than in his brief piece about Pulp's This is Hardcore, from the album of the same name - arguably the group's best - released in 1998. Follow the link below and then go seek out Heaven is an Incubator and book mark it. I guarantee you Tommy will turn you on to some amazing music if you do.

Well played Tommy. Well played...



>

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Steve Moore's ST for Joe Bego's The Mind's Eye...


... is being released on December 2nd by Relapse Records! I am PSYCHED! Just received my copy of the Blu Ray for The Mind's Eye, one of my favorite flicks from last year and one that I saw premiere last October at the 2015 Beyond Fest. Now, almost a year later to the day, I get news of the awesome, synth-ridden nightmare score from Zombi's Steve Moore as well!

The final months of 2016 are proving to be ripe with awesomeness! (and bloody expensive).

Thanks be to Heavenisanincubator for turning me onto Begos in the first place with this write-up of his first film, Almost Human, on Joup!



Sunday, September 18, 2016

For The Love of Comic Books...


... is a new column I started on Joup. It's the replacement piece for Thee Comic Column and meant to be considerably more interactive with my fellow writers at Joup. In this inaugural edition I talk about Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser's new series from Image, Kill or Be Killed. It's awesome. Read my thoughts here.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Mike Mendez's The Last Heist


In his weekly column for LA Weekly sometime early last year Henry Rollins discussed how much fun he had shooting a new movie called The Last Heist. Now, I am a Rollins fan, but even moreso the director of this film turned out to be Mike Mendez, who is responsible for one of my all time favorite flicks The Convent back in the very early aughts. Mr. Mendez has not done a whole heck of a lot since then (not a criticism), so this news made me very excited. I waited for sometime, confused He Never Died* with the forthcoming film, and then dropped my guard.

And of course, then it hits. Played here in LA last weekend. Damn!

Anyway, I'll be taking a page from Tommy at Heaven is an Incubator's Joup column Thank God For VOD! and watching this one very soon. Looks fantastic!



..............

* Which is also great!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Remember That Time When...

Nice shorts, douche
....is a new rotating column Grez started on Joup back in January. I picked up the thread this morning amidst reports of G-n-R's Las Vegas show by remembering the time in 1992 when Axl Rose cheated me out of 15 free concert tickets to see his band. Read about it here.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Monday, December 7, 2015

We Can Never Go Home...



... is quite easily Shawn's favorite comic of 2015. Wanna know why? Read this week's edition of Thee Comic Column, over yonder on Joup.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Re-Reading the Age of Apocalypse...



... is the topic of what will no doubt be a much longer conversation over the coming months in Thee Comic Column, over yonder on Joup. Part one is this week's column.

Placebo - Meds




I missed the boat on this one. Meds was in my collection for sometime but not by my intentions directly. I'd given it a half-attempted spin or two and not found the band to my liking - at the time - and that was that. And of course, the reason why I generally do not get rid of CDs is that A LOT of music is very time-and-place insofar as how you take to it. Murphy's Law dictates that if you do get rid of an album you have a pretty good chance of getting into it shortly thereafter. And that's just what happened here. My friend Katie's pick for the Joup Friday Album this past week was Meds and in reading her write-up and throwing the album on my headphones while at work on Friday I literally fell in love with it. First two songs gave me chills. Still do, two days and about six listens later. And yeah, Meds is no longer in my collection so I will have to be re-buying it. #don'tsellyourmusicbuildalifelibrary



I absolutely understand why previously I did not like this band. It's somewhat ineffable, however after really thinking about Placebo's sound in the context of the time this record hit I think I've come to some fairly weighty conclusions. There's no denying my initial prejudice has to do with the fact that Meds specifically and the band's sound in general has a lot of the trappings that bigger-market rock bands trafficked in during the early oughts. The voice and the way it sits in the mix, the guitar tone, the slightly narcissistic point of view and the underlying programming that gives the songs a sort of slick, Marilyn Manson Mechanical Animals three times removed feel is, to me, indicative of this era of rock music, where many of the bands that blew up to varying degrees just generally leave me cold and suspicious of contrivance. That said, I think a lot of what I just described is actually the product of one particular metric that I can't really prove as anything other than a hunch - the fact that beginning with the late 90s and traveling on into the early 00s a lot of the bands who rose to prominence were helmed by the first generation of artists to do so having been raised on meds for most of their lives. The sound I describe above has a slightly overly-polished veneer - hence the suspected contrivance - because that's what the filter of meds does, it polishing reality. That's what a lot of that era's music is about, coping with that, and it makes sense that would leave its sonic fingerprint on the music. Again, I can't prove it, but Meds specifically would definitely appear to add credence to my thinking.

What say you (the Universal You, that is?)