it seems like myspace has stopped telling you what album a track is on, so i thought i'd let you know who i remixed for each of the songs on my player thing.

-sea flowers blossom is a remix for the band sleeps in oysters and includes additional recordings of erin fein (vocals), john owen (noise, guitar), and tristan wraight (guitar). the orignal song was released on the luvsound compilation "summer gate, sun made of gave", which you can download for free at luvsound.org!

-it's alright is a remix for the band bang gang. the orignal was released on their album "something wrong".

-my sword hand's anger is a remix for the band apostle of hustle. the original was released on their album "national anthem of nowhere".

-rrrrrrright is a remix for the band deerhoof. the original was released on their album "the runners four".

thanks for listening!

on my way home from work tonight krv and i were walking and talking, and then this woman on the side of the street said "did you see the fire?" and pointed, and we turned, and there was this huge blaze. it was really close: on the next corner, and someone had set all this garbage on fire, and it was spreading really fast. i rode my bike like a scooter over to it, and called 911, and it spread to the telephone pole, and started to touch the nearest garage. we stood there watching it grow and waiting for the firemen to come and hypnotized by it's hugeness. we almost missed it entirely. it was giant and exclamatory and amazing and RIGHT THERE, and we would have missed it if it hadn't been pointed out.

it felt so immediate and intense, and i thought about how i used to feel like that a lot and how much i missed it. and i thought about how much i try to live, and how even trying that much i still felt like this, like i had lost it.

after the fire truck came and doused it out we walked home, and made some pasta, and watched a movie, and went to sleep.

everyone's favorite college radio station, 91.7 WMSE, recently released a cookbook of recipies contributed by milwaukeeans. it's available for a $30 pledge and comes with a cd of food-oriented songs by local musicians (including one of my own, a love song to my favorite sandwich, entitled "reuben", which i wrote for the occasion). so many ridiculous jams are on it, including songs by collections of colonies of bees, testa rosa, crappy dracula, party by the slice (best band name ever?), an amazing rendition of "hey, good lookin'" by the celebrated workingman, and many others.

supporting rado is good and makes santa put you on the "good" list!

a few weeks ago i played two improvised sets at hotcakes gallery here in milwaukee with two of my favorite musicians: jim schoenecker and erik schoster. here's a link to the second set we did that night:

hotcakes set 2

we had only "practiced" once for about a half hour, so all the music was completely spontaneous. in case you're curious, jim played guitar through a nord modular synth, erik played his laptop (mainly with a max/msp patch he wrote) and i played rhodes, guitar, and sang through my pedalboard.
enjoy!

this is my dj set from last night at redroom. for a fun game, try to figure out the exact moment i simultaneously got drunk and ran out of records. enjoy!

song - artist - album

momma - dudley perkins - a li'l light
only you - portishead - portishead
so what - miles davis - kind of blue
hidden shadows - herbie hancock - sextant
our way to fall - yo la tengo - and then nothing turned....
micael - juana molina - son
equipage de flors seques - savath y savalas - manana (excerpt)
son - juana molina - son (excerpt)
no puedo de cidir - savath y savalas - manana
cravo e canela - tortoise & bonnie prince billy - the brave and the bold
leaf house - animal collective - sung tongs
pagina sies - prefuse 73 / the books - prefuse 73 reads the books
vogt dig for kloppervok - the books - lost and safe
green grass of tunnel - mum - finally we are no one
ba ba - sigur ros - ba ba / ti ki / di do
tokyo - headlights - enemies ep
who found who's hair in who's bed - owen - i do percieve
in our talons - bowerbirds - danger at sea
king of carrot flowers pt. 1 - neutral milk hotel - in the aeroplane over the sea
dead dogs two - cLOUDDEAD - ten
run into flowers - m83 - dead cities, red seas & lost ghosts
dayvan cowboy - boards of canada - the campfire headphase
rrrrrrright (remix for deerhoof) - made of oak - n/a
chicago - sufjan stevens - illinois
cool kids keep - american analog set - set free
seventy four, seventy five - shearwater - palo santo
atlas - battles - mirrored
another one long gone - prefuse 73 - security screenings
special - dabrye feat. guilty simpson - two/three
game over - dabrye feat. jdilla and phat kat - two/three
the food - common - be
go! (remix for common) - jtodd - platinum soul remixes
two can win - jdilla - donuts
think again - innerstance beatbox - your eyes are like ufos, my darling
ny state of mind - nas - illmatic
two and a half months - team shadetek - burnerism
i was there for the last kiss but... - joshua treble - five points fincastle
spaced out - def harmonic - spaced out 12"
wolf like me - tv on the radio - return to cookie mountain
9-5ers anthem - aesop rock - labor days
the fury - buffalo - n/a
rock on - jackson - rock on (12")
night knuckles - clark - body riddle
true affection - the blow - paper television
teardrop - massive attack - mezzanine
dear prudence - beatles - white album
salesman at the day of the parade - rogue wave - descended like vultures
sunken treasure - wilco - being there
lover's spit (featuring feist - piano version) - broken social scene - bee hives
palo santo - shearwater - palo santo
hours - tv on the radio - return to cookie mountain
resolution (II) - john coltrane - a love supreme
monk's mood - thelonious monk - monk alone
la denegracion - bowerbirds - danger at sea
paths in soft focus - savath y savalas - rolls and waves ep
suite for kenny & nick (parts I & II) - he can jog - middlemarch

hearts/hugs to everyone that came out. and to you if you're reading this.
oak.

i'll be hitting the road once again with my dear friends headlights for the u.s. portion of their super-huge world tour extravaganza. it'll be six weeks of awesome, so please come out and say hi! i'll be the tall guy with the squeezebox. dates are posted here, and check out a photo series from one of their shows in germany a few days ago! safe travels, buddies!

1. Shearwater - Palo Santo (Misra)
2. Bowerbirds - Danger At Sea (Burly Time)
3. Clark - Body Riddle (Warp)
4. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain (Interscope)
5. Headlights - Kill Them With Kindness (Polyvinyl)
6. Owen - At Home With Owen (Polyvinyl)
7. Justin Vernon - Hazletons (Self Released)
8. Tornavalanche - No Money, No Problems (Init / Level Plane)

and to round out the ten, the two records that changed my life this year but weren't technically "released":

He Can Jog - Windowsill Fortran, Leather Guitar
The Snake, The Cross, The Crown - Back To The Helicopter

do whatever it takes to get a copy of them. whatever. it. takes.

Belated addendum to the year's best list...
Best New Band:Megafaun. Go see them play. Now.

i'm not texting anymore. got something to say? call me.
this decree may be rescinded if i renegotiate my cell phone plan.
until then, you'll have to actually hear my voice.

sigh,
nick

how is it that the two best new shows on television are both 1) based on a "behind the scenes" look at saturday night live, and 2) have a multiple of ten in their title? i can't tell if that makes total sense, or no sense at all.
anyway, studio 60 and 30 rock are fucking amazing. watch them now. what's that you're saying? "but nick, i'm a service industry worker! i'm never home for prime time tv! what about me?"
i feel your pain. no worries! nbc.com lets you watch all their shows on their website. what a bunch of nice guys.

and isn't diet snapple great? it tastes just like real snapple!

so a while ago me and the decibully/headlights crew are playing a show in portland with this band, "under the influence of giants". they're 2nd of 4 bands playing that night, but that doesn't stop them from bringing three roadies. they don't set up any of their own gear. they openly admit backstage to not knowing what "pabst blue ribbon" is. right before they go on, tristan walks backstage to find an older guy giving a pep talk to a group of 10-14 hot girls saying "ok guys, really cheer when they go on and get people dancing! i want to hear you clapping when the songs start!", etc. they paid girls to come to their show and cheer. to make themselves more boneriffic, they came out on stage in fucking ridiculous 70's glam rockstar outfits, which they promptly changed out of and placed in garment bags after the show. they then proceeded to leave the stage and let their three roadies take FUCKING FOREVER to get their shit off stage without them. not to mention they borrowed our bass amp and didn't say thanks. not to mention they tried to steal our case of pabst from the basement but the club staff chased them down the street and got it back while we were on stage.

long story short: under the influence of giants are a bunch of poser cunt bitches who have to pay people to come see them. do what you can to rid the world of their awful music and personalities.

what a bunch of talentless assholes.