1.  I've posted a new song titled Day at Disneyland about entry into somekind of psychedlic inferno below the magic kingdom.  Pay close attention to the segue between songs on the myspace player. 

myspace.com/johnthill

2.  The Broken Freeways tape has been released by Unread Records.  I think it's one of the best releases I've had my hand in. It chronicles a time without plentiful gasoline in Los Angeles' dumpy suburbs.  West Covina is the site of civil unrest, East Los Angeles is a warlord's fiefdom, Pico is an agricultural land of plenty.

3. The Sun, Smog & Hate compilation LP, released recently by Folktale Records has charted #1 on KSPC, Claremont.  It's a good collection and it features a song by yours truly.  The rest of the line up is formidable; Voice on Tape, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Foot Ox, I.E., Whitman, Clark 8 and more.  It's cover was drawn by Brian Blomerth of Narwhalz infamy.

Folktale Records

KSPC

4. My Goth Tales Ep  is still available for pre-sale through folktale. Here's the basic lowdown on that.

"Many of you may already know Thill for his tendency to work with concepts for his releases, and this record lives up to that in full effect. This is a collection of eight songs about gothic/pagan culture. The songs are dark, distorted, and often disturbing. The pre-order comes with two additional mp3’s, one, “Dark Will” is an outtake from the record, and the second, “Sword of Fire” is a new song written in the theme of the record. Both songs are exclusive to this pre-order. The album will come on tinted-red cd-r’s which is packaged in a large, black screened on black, fold-out, upside down cross."

Folktale Records

5. The mp3 blog 20 Jazz Funk Greats recently reviewed a track of mine, though most of the buzz surrounds the accompanying photoshop picture in the entry.

20 Jazz Funk Greats

6.  I'm looking for Bay Area shows to play, pretty much anywhere.  If you have leads for me, by all means get in touch.

This week there are two things going.

(from craigslist.com)

$700 / 1br - Uptown Whittier (Whittier)

Reply to: see below
Date: 2008-12-08, 9:56AM PST

I'm playing at a health food / organic grocery in Claremont…With Kevin Greenspon! The mind is boggled.

Ecoterra is located within the confines of the "The Village" in Claremont. I used to live in this town. I find it particularly strange that only now am I performing therein. Do they know that Kevin Greenspon is not organic?

I'm playing a somewhat massive show at Ports O'Call Bedroom on Sunday, December 14. This maybe your last chance to hear lots of songs about West Covina in West Covina.

V
Broken Freeways (Unread Records)

This is a new tape, just out. I should have copies soon. Here's the scoop from the Unread website

"Newer than new cassette from John Thill...by and by...inland strum. High concept recordings dealing with a future of absent fuel in the suburbs of Los Angeles...mainly West Covina, but not limited to. Listen close to the new sound of songwriter. Hearty and full."

The long delayed (by me) Goth Tales CD is available for pre-order through Folktale Records. I hear the cover design concept is awesome, some kind of Satanic fold out with Goth poetry I wrote while drunk at Women on Crenshaw. This record is SO SAD!!!

Can't really remember all the song titles some were named dark symbols tied to ancient alchemy. All you need to know is there is a song about doing it with a Wiccan chick. I'm ill not sick.

My phone works now, so call me up.

I finished up the Broken Freeways record today, so it's off to Unread Records tomorrow.  Here's the final tracklist

Side A.

The Land Between the Rivers

Petty King

Joker and the Nazis

The Flower of West Covina

White Power

Holiday at the Biosphere

Side B.

Broken Freeways

Slow Rapture

The Pillars of Old Malibu

The Golden Hills

As far as my records go this one is pretty high concept. It deals with a future without plentiful fuel in the Los Angeles suburbs, mainly West Covina.

You can read lyrics at...brokenfreeways.blogspot.com

"Broken Freeways"

I played two shows this weekend, neither in L.A. proper.  Both were quite good.   I've been recording lately for a record that will be coming out on Unread Records of Roswell, GA.   Lots of samples are on the myspace page.

"Sidral Mundet"

This will be a 7" dedicated to life sweetness, a split with Whitman, expect it soon from Natrix Natrix.

So, I'm almost sold out of almost all my merch. Hopefully some new material will replenish the stores soon.

In the meantime, I'm gonna love being in love and like being hopeful as the world crashes down.

There was a blog I was going to post filled with rote updates on what I've been up to in music.  Here's the short version, so I can get on to matters that seem more important at the moment:

-Sun, Smog and Hate Comp test pressed, out soon.

-Broken Freeways tape to be released on Unread

-Seven Inches in Heaven Vol. 2 w/ Voice on Tape out on Tiny Panda in January

-Split with Whitman out on Natrix Natrix soon, mainly about soda and neon

-Further slow work on President of Happiness album

  I listen to R.E.M. in the car, the album Document No. 5. This is a record about upheaval in the world and what you can do to counter it, as much as any faggy art school record can be.  The song Fireplace in particular seeks a perfection of this feeling despite it's gnarly sax solo bridge.

Crazy crazy world, crazy crazy times

Hang up the chairs to better sweep,

Clear the floor to dance.

Shake the rug into the fireplace.

Let everyday banality be the solace and balance in utterly unordinary times.  I made a withdrawal from the bank recently after becoming fairly confident that Washington Mutual is going under.  Since I rely on these carefully acrued savings to pay tuition and rent I decided not to risk a possible discontinuation of service in the interim between Wamu going black and the FDIC coming through with deposit guarantees.  

Call it risk management.  The next month seems to be an all or nothing proposition for all of our lives as we enter a borderland between frightening financial spectors and a full blown depression scenario.  I hope to look back on this as a speculative overstatement, but quien sabe.  There seems to be a whirlpool at the center.

In the same spectrum of douchey 80's frontmen you find Bono, who on Joshua Tree contributes to an album about weathering uncertainty in landscapes seemingly devoid of hope.  Admittedly this record has been very influential on the Broken Freeways record I've been writing, though there's no steel mills or mining towns just service sector Los Angeles. The Joshua Tree afterall is the grizzled life in an inhospitable place, right.  The hope among the ruins.

U2 and R.E.M. are two bands best enjoyed in an audio only format.  Watching the videos causes quick alienation whether from Bono's sex symbol posturing or Michael Stipe's art school juxtapositions, but  as pure music those two records seem particularly important to the moment in an almost prophetic way, but of course that's placing personal feeling into it.  But it's something in their tone, the crypticness of Document that captures the riddle of uncertainty so perfectly, even at their poppiest points (Finest Worksong).  And then there are anthemic tunes of Joshua Tree that sound like the fight songs of a disposessed future. 

What's best, these two records are chock full of ideas, perhaps more so in the case of Joshua Tree, but they disguise themselves as populist nonetheless.  Maybe if Lil Wayne became more politically aware in a way that was more vague than immediate there would be a record that corresponds in the contemporary landscape.  But that would take a swift foray into the art of parable by a contemporary master of deft wit and clever phrasing. I wish it could happen because the last thing the world needs is a douchebag like Common monopolyzing thougtful hip hop.  First there's no flow, second there's nothing to match the inventiveness of the Edge's wiry feedback or Peter Buck's convolutions in his half baked coasting.  Not so with Wayne.

Can we expect Tha Carter to talk the fables of the destroyed city like New Orleans in a way that is more than passing (Tie My Hands), maybe as the unassailable curve of history overtakes us, he'll have little choice. But that's all all wrapped up in the ether.  If it came to pass it would be as beautifully vulgar as Henry Miller or William Burroughs, but more approachable in everyway. 

And though it is basically a cliche at this point the object of music now must be this: "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine."  The party underneath the binding fear, that nonetheless does not deny it.

Top Five Beverage (Aug 08)

1.  Hazelnut Coffee

2. Sidral Mundet Manzana Verde

3. Coco King Coconut Juice w/ Pulp

4. Jarritos Tamarindo

5. Jarritos Toronja

Runners up...Unsweetened Sun Tea, Litre Squirt from Mexico w/ pulp

Top places for obtaining these beverages (in my life):

Whittier Farms on Whittier Blvd., Whittier, CA

Frescos on Gale Ave., Industry, CA

Los Sanchez on Whittier Blvd., Whittier, CA

Circle K on Beverly Blvd., Whittier, CA

7-11 on Imperial Hwy, Yorba Linda, CA

Silence.

So I have been neglecting this blog, so the TRUE updates probably range beyond what will be covered here.  Work is stressing me out right now, so let me talk a little about things that are less likely to be objects of annoyance:

1. Midwest Vacation
2. New "Future" Record in the Works
3. State of State Address
4. Compilation News
5. Upcoming Shows
   
   

1. Midwest Vacation.  I'm going to Omaha, somehow someway for a likely show with Simon Joyner in November.  I'm not sure if I want to fly or drive.  Driving would mean dates in OKC and West Texas.  Flying means more upper Midwest shows.  Either way I'm excited at the possibility of playing with one of my musical heroes,  enough to get all lame and girlish about it.
   
   

2. New "Future" Record in the Works. So I've spent over a month now working on new songs for a record about the future of a post gasoline Los Angeles where movement is more difficult and infrastructure has collapsed.  Now, while I feel guilty subjecting people to such a high concept record, everyone should breathe easy because all the songs thus far have been very approachable, maybe even pastoral, but not in a gay way, you know. I've been playing a lot of these songs live lately, many of which are based in West Covina.  In a world without the car all I can think is that this hellhole in the center of the San Gabriel Valley would decay into a wasteland.  
   
   

So there.  Now, influences here range from mountain songs to Brazilian forro, anything super democratic.  The songs thus far, may give you an idea of the tone:

The Flower of West Covina

Holiday at the Biosphere

Joker and the Nazis

The Pillars of Old Malibu

Slow Rapture

The Land Between the Rivers

The Emperor of ¼ and ½

3. State of the State Address.  Here's the skinny on various things supposedly destined to come out beneath the John Thill banner.
   
   

Goth Tales – This is long delayed by myself because I haven't finished the cover art.

Voice on Tape / John Thill Split 7" – We found a great home for this release with Tiny Panda Records out in Phoenix as part of the "Seven Inches in Heaven" series.  Right now it's slated for December.  My contributions are "Loud Birds" and "In the Valley." This will be solid!

President of Happiness – I'm still working on getting some overdubs done for this record. Then I'll actually worry about securing a label to put it out.  Might end up on Shrimper, but I haven't talked to Dennis Callaci about it yet, so it's up in the air.  I know this much; it has solid guests on it thus far, including Brad Dunn, S. Pineda, Clark 8, Whitman, Golden Boots, Sam from No Paws (No Lions).  Sick!

Girls of Meth – New copies arrived in the mail on Friday and I've already sold a few.  I'll get this tape back up on the site ASAP, but it's likely to sell out again before we get too deep into Fall.  This has always been one of my favorite releases I've done, great bang per buck ratio. $5 ppd in the USA / $7 ppd elsewhere.  Send funds to presidenthappiness@yahoo.com 

4. Compilation news.  I don't even know where to begin.  I sent out a lot of stuff to labels for compilations many of which I've forgotten about completely.  There's a couple I'm pretty excited about. 
   
   

Sun, Smog & Hate: This Phoenix/Los Angeles compilation has amazing stuff on it and it will be a classic in my book.  I have some intimate knowledge of it because I was forced at gunpoint to master it by the label head. Yo j/k.  But really French Quarter and the Voice on Tape tracks alone make it worth whatever cash you got.

Rot Box: Chris Fischer, who I've never actually met, but I feel very indebted to is compiling I quote "a compilation of records and garbage."  I would take it literally if I were you.  I love this label and its ethos, though I doubt they are as thought out as I might assume.  Chris just does stuff the way he likes to.  I have yet to turn in my track, but I think it's about Atlanta's sprawling airport, unless I come up with something better soon.

5. Upcoming Shows:

8.31 Shamel Park, Riverside w/ Brother Mitya

9.15 Pehrspace, Los Angeles w/ Human Host & Gabbertree

9.27 Shamel Park, Riverside w/ Whitman, American Gil

Going slow with the shows for awhile due a hectic schedule, but I'm working on songs everyday. So I'll get a better handle on the situation soon.  Working on a master degree as we speak, going to school on the internet is utterly lame.  Where's the motivation to do anything.

So the other night I was awoken by Los Angeles County Sherriff's Helicopter shining a light repeatedly in the backyard.  What dangerous criminals are on the loose?  It turns out the whole incident barely warrants a footnote in the news though it stole more than an hour of my sleep.  LA County uses a helicopter to pursue car thieves, seems rather ridiculous to me, couldn't a cruiser suffice.  I was hoping to see the incident on Topix.com along with a discussion strand rife with gang slogans.  Sorely disappointed.

Call me Portland, everyone does.  Been hiding out riding a bike, growing a beard.    So, tour with No Paws (No Lions) was exceedingly fun, but far from profitable.  This I have decided is alright.  Is there anyway to make money in this game anymore?  Does that question matter for someone as personally invested in music as I am?  Fuck it.  No me importa nada.  I'm gonna play shows even if I lose money hand over fist.

1. Sold out of a lot of merch on tour and soon after I returned.

These are now gone:

Sluts CD (sold out at label also)

Love DUI EP (a few remaining at Narf)

Midwest Vacation EP (a few remaining at Narf)
Girls of Meth Tape (Unread should have copies still)
Las Lonely Girls 7" (Limited Appeal has a very limited quantity)
IDEAS Change 4 way split (Green Tape may has additional copies)

2.  Speaking of the 7".  It's been out for a awhile and I've been exceedingly slow about promoting it properly.  It's a 4 track release, of exclusive pure pop.  Many of the copies are on colored vinyl and a zine accompanies the package.  The asking price is a bit steep due to a very small pressing.

Here's what you're looking at:

Side A: Las Lonely Girls, Lone Star
Side B: In the City All Alone, A Girl Rides Her Bike

Please hit up Limited Appeal for copies.

3.  I'm on a break from any John Thill shows until August 4th at the Airliner in LA's Chinatown.

Until then there are these goof off sessions:

TONIGHT @ Denver Dome

6143 Fountain Ave.

Hollywood, CA

Bongo Fury

Allusions 2 Jazz

This show is highly recommended. Tripp from Denver's Bongo Fury project is some serious compositional comedy.   Get that weird mystic trip out feeling you get from drinking too much of that AMP slurpee and getting a major brain freeze.   How do I describe it; it's an ballet performed at Circle K.  Allusions 2 Jazz  keeps the high art going by presenting to you the fourth greatest poet of the current millennium accompanied by mystic new age butter.  It's like a fine lobster with sage on the side to match the open plains of AMERICA.   Anyway if you like poetry, classical music, the Doors, and dolphin songs this night is for you.

July 18@ Smell

247 S. Main St.

Downtown, Los Angeles

I.E.

Whitman

Treasure Mammal

No Paws (No Lions)

Fertile Crescent

  
I'm guesting in the I.E. setting helping Margot bring forth the deep cumbias of our native land, Riverside.   Lot's of other great music on the bill especially Treasute Mammal from Phoenix, which you need to see.

4.  There are three records in the works right now.  The first is President of Happiness, which is a full length that is nearly completed.  When it will actually see release is unknown at this time.  It's the proper follow up to Heart of Grime.  Some tracks include.

County Line
President of Happiness
Santa Ana Pass
The Wrong Man
Whittier
Engagement Ring
Unresolved Grace
Farewell Pomona
Pomona Girls
Sacramento

5.  The other two are a record about the future of L.A. in a time of transportation difficulties and a mostly instrumental record.

Keep checking back