Got 2 B Down

Keepin' this short-and-sweet..

I got tickets for a few of these shows already, but if you're interested and any of them, let me know; I'd be down:

Feb 6th: Matthew Dear @ Mighty
Feb 7th: Tim Sweeney + Mike Simonetti @ Paradise Lounge
Feb 15th: Lykke Li @ The Fillmore
Feb 17th: Post Ventura @ Cafe du Nord
Feb 21st: Unicrons launch party @ Mezzanine
Feb 25th: Stephen Malkmus (solo) @ GAMH
Mar 1st: Veil Veil Vanish @ Bottom of the Hill
Mar 12th: Cut Copy @ The Fillmore
Mar 15th: Simian Mobile Disco @ Mezzanine
Mar 19th: MSTRKRFT@ The Independent
Mar 26th: Tricky @ Mezzanine
Mar 28th: Pelican @ Slims
Apr 15th: Crookers + the Bloody Beetroots @ Mezzanine
Apr 16th: The Presets @ Mezzanine

Are you down?

Drink some cherry wine!

I did some massive archiving/cleaningup of my laptop harddrive last week, mostly a ton of music to an external drive (or deleting the unlucky altogether). And before I knew it, I had kept only a few selected CDs and mixtapes downloaded over the past year or two; hundreds of others bit the dust..

So this was the elite.

Among those left digitally-intact on the ol' laptop was the "We Are the Future Mix", by Futurecop; I had found it back in July on the everspring-of-dopeness that is the Disco Dust blog. (I need to dig through those archives for my next mix! Soon!)

"We Are the Future" starts with the warbled piano (piano?) of "Borderline" by Madonna. And that pretty much sets the stage for this epic-80's-lovefest. C'mon.. one of the middle tracks is "Hungry Eyes"?!

I mean, none of the songs are going to blow your mind; they are all familiar (to most), yet slightly obscure (for anyone in their, ahem, early 30's or younger, anyway). In fact, it sounds like the whole thing could have been mixed by your buddy-with-the-turntables playing at your houseparty. Maybe that's the appeal?

Yeah -- this mix would be awesome at your next houseparty.

No crazy technical whizz-bang; but after a few listens, you come to realize that this simplicity fits with the vibe of the songs themselves (i.e. songs from a "simpler time"). And, somehow, the whole is so much more than its FM-lite constituents..

In short, it's not brain (um, ear?) food, but it's totally fun; here's the tracklist:

1. Madonna – Borderline
2. Cameo – Word Up (video)
3. Phil Collins – Sussudio
4. Belinda Carlisle - We Want The Same Thing
5. Janet Jackson – Principle Pleasure (video)
6. Jermaine Stewart – We Don't Have To Take Clothes Off (video)
7. Futurecop! – Tonight's Hero
8. Eric Carmen - Hungry Eyes (video)
9. Bruce Hornsby – The Long Race
10. Kenny Loggins – St Elmo's Fire
11. Robert Tepper – No Easy Way Out
12. Simple Minds – Don't you (Forget About Me)
13. Futurecop! – Transformers
14. Robbie Robb – In Time (Futurecop! Edit)

And the funnest -- the funnest! (funniest?) -- part of all comes in at minute 11:55.. Jermaine Stewart lets us know that he's not a piece of meat on "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off". A little bit silly, yes; but it's oh-so-catchy.

Drink some cherry wine! Check the video here. (video)

I've basically been playing it non-stop for the past two weeks. Really! Yeah, so, beyond any hipsterbusiness I download from the music blogs over the next couple of months, this song is definitely going on the next mix. I gotta. haha.

~~~~

Branching off, you'll find a couple remakes (tributes?) of "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" on youtube; most are crap, but I actually like this poprock version by Lil' Chris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVqEDk9YpE (video)

I mean, his voice is a little too young and emo (for lack of a better word) and the production is a little too "clean" for my tastes, but I can get beyond those things. To start, I love the na-na-na part of the chorus up front, and, besides, the filled-out band sound (guitars, drums, etc.) really works. Overall, this version makes for a totally different vibe, but still captures the essence of the original for a new audience. Naiveté is universal! haha.

Oh -- one last Jermaine Stewart-related thing.. do not adjust your television set (um, computer screen) for this last video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVqEDk9YpE (video)

There is no irony in its creation or delivery; it's just a totally tripped-out piece of work (in the best way possible.) hahahah.

Huh.. I think it *does* have artistic merit, regardless of the director's (danceyman's?) intention. At the least, it could (should!) be employed as a wonderful hypnosis device; add some research-grade ecstasy, and let the healing begin! Amen! And hallelujah. haha.

Yeah -- we gotta get this thing into the MOMA (SF or NYC); if I'm not mistaken, I think they're trying to bolster their respective video art collections. This shizz is gold.. nice one, Christopher Reynolds (i.e. the young man *feeling* the music in that last video); I'm willing to share any tribute payment MOMA bestows on me for such a quality submission. ;)

Watch out for flying spoons, at Humphry Slocombe

When I was younger, I didn't like cake. Yeah: a kid that didn't like cake! Whaa?

Even at my elementary school birthday parties -- wow: I can still remember the feel, the snap, of the cheap stretchy string that held cone birthday hats on our heads, the same cheap stretchy string that could also be used to launch various projectiles at a younger brother or sister -- yeah, my mom would get me an ice cream cake from the local Carvel, black cookie crumbs sometimes pressed into the sides. The spread also included sickly-sweet sherbert from Pathmark, served directly out of their clear plastic containers.

No cake.

While I've grown, over the years, to like a selected variety of cakey things -- give me ginger or carrot or lemon anything -- I've never lost that love affair with ice cream. In high school, I used to eat it by the half-gallon (rocky road, natch). Whew! But cut to 2009; and while I'm still into the stuff, I indulge in MUCH smaller quantities, refined quantities.

I got my latest fix just last week at Humphry Slocombe, a new, innovative ice cream shop in the Mission. Folks on yelp, on chowhound, on dailycandy -- not to mention in the local print -- are writing up a storm about it. Have you been? Have you been? Have you been?

Humphry Slocombe is the buzz of the town, it seems.

And, I think, with good reason.

First, you gotta check out the list of flavors that they have made or will make. At any given time, they will be selling maybe 12 or so of them (which seems to be the limit of the freezer in the front), with some favorites always on-the-ready and a rotating cast of, um, creamy-dreaminess(-and-sometimes-whimsiness).

I'm looking at you, foie gras, and, you, Andante chevre + strawberry jam.

On my particular visit, I got to sample quite a few of the offerings (the scooper seems to be patient enough to allow you to sample pretty much as many as you want -- on a quiet night, anyway): the Guiness gingerbread, the Valrhona fudgesicle, the Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee, the balsamic caramel, the olive oil, and the Secret Breakfast.

Without getting into individual reviews, my lasting impression is that the ice cream of Jake Godby -- owner/chef of Humphry Slocombe -- really embodied the ingredients. And given their high quality, this makes for a wonderful experience for the palate. Tummy too.

Now, I'm not saying that you'll like all the flavors -- for example, the balsamic caramel wasn't for me (I'm not a fan of vinegar tang in general) -- but you're going to really like something. Even for the ones that aren't totally up your alley, you're going to appreciate the flavors on an academic level (well, maybe if you're like me and occasionally dabble in foodie-dom); you'll say, "I've never had this flavor of icecream before"; or, "this flavor has never been captured in icecream so well". Word.

Well, like I said, I ain't the first one to say it, but here goes: check this place out! Humphry Slocombe, on the west side of Harrison St., a tad north of 24th Street (map).

You'll see a few tables outside.

You might even see me there, Secret Breakfast in hand.. er, dish. One warning though: if I'm wearing a cone birthday hat with one of those elastic string things, watch out for flying spoons. Whap!

Fluo Kids: keep the pics coming; music too

Since when do I wax French? Since never.

(Waxing French *people* is another matter.) Damn girl, I will s’il vous plaît. For reals. Wait!; I mean..

Nevermind; yes, I should save any discussion of waxing *anything* for a future post.. probably in the less-titillating context of endurance sports (ex. biking or swimming).

Ahem; where was I?

~~~~~~~

My lack of Francotextual knowledge doesn't stop me from getting off on the dancey track postings at the Fluo Kids music blog. It's straight dope, through and through, and that sort of thing pretty much translates in any language. In fact, they've been one of my go-to's for new-new music for the past year or so. (Sorry to keep it a secret for so long.) haha.

And with the emergence of the Diamond Street radio show this past September -- produced by some of the contributors to the Fluo Kids blog -- I really can't keep it to myself anymore, at least not in good conscience.

Already, they've got five episodes out and available for download; listen now! Find them at Fluo Kids, of course, or, more directly, at their myspace page.

Episodes seem to come out every 2-4 weeks.

Ah yes -- let me note that even as the blog commentary and radioshow is in the French (95% of it, anyway), most of the music is in English. For example, check the track list for the most recent episode (Saison 1, Episode 5):

Kleerup - Until We Bleed (feat. Lykke Li)
Happy Burger - Pizza All Around
Cheap Time - Glitter And Gold
Miami Horror - Don't Be On With Her
Del Shannon - Gemini (Pilooski edit)
Flight - Crackerjack Woman
Clinton Sparks - Still Got It 4 Cheap (feat. The Clipse & Pharrell)
Jay Z - Brooklyn Go Hard (feat. Santogold)
Dj Mujava - Township Funk (Radioclit remix)
A1 Bassline - Girl Thing
Octet - Euros Vs. Dollars (Pilooski edit)
Hot Chip - Touch Too Much (Fake Blood remix)
Tommie Sparks - Im A Rope (Yuksek remix)
Brodinski - Oblivion (Noob remix)
Digitalism - Home Zone (Proxy remix)
Meterhead - Biggie Dance (inst.)
Jesse Rose - Forget My Name (feat. Hot Chip)
Santogold - Say A ha (Phones remix)

In short, I gotta add these guys to the "Aural Delites" link listing over on the side there. That's it!; gotta keep my own shizz fresh, right?

And speaking of fresh, did you check out the pictures that the Fluo Kids post with each blog entry?.. snapshots of goodlooking young women frolicking in fields or rocking-out in clubs or whatever; the occasional racy photo doesn't hurt either. Do they take those themselves? If you read French and can find that out on their site, please let me know! haha.

For me -- and maybe this is because I can't read the postings -- the pictures became one of the main attractions; they allowed the blog to stand out among a cast of hundreds out there on the 'net. "Oh yeah -- Fluo Kids is the French music blog with the (tasteful) pics of hot chicks on it." To be honest, I think that was the only reason why I started going there regularly at first. haha. But now, it's straight-up for the music -- especially the Diamond Street entries.

That said, keep the pics coming. ;)

Sparks, I hardly knew ye

Consider this your (semi-)advanced warning..

It's time to stock up.

When Miller Brewing bought Sparks from McKenzie River Corp. back in 2006, you knew that it was only a matter of time before the formula was changed. Cost reduction is king in any economic environment (a non-planned one, anyway), and when established products are brought into the fold of another corporation (especially a larger one), they must be transmuted to use a common ingredient set, which is presumably already being bought in bulk-bulk-bulk. Or, you could imagine formulas being tweaked based on "market research".. but, again, any formula change is most likely a matter of making an established (but, presumably, beloved) product cheaper to manufacture..

And I'm all about doing things more efficiently! Waste not, want not, and all that. However, the product usually suffers because the philosophical essence of the original is usually lost in the journey from acquisition down towards the bottom line.

But I've digressed a bit..

Um, yeah: stock up on yer Sparks! You see, MillerCoors is reformulating it en-totál due to massive legal headaches all across the country. Huh? Not the type of headache you associate with Sparks? Well, about 30 US State Attorney Generals have sued MillerCoors over the past couple of years to, basically, take Sparks off the market. Yeah, so the change is not exactly due to cost-savings -- sorry about that earlier discussion/digression; how did I get started on that?

In any case, the states have argued that Sparks is an "alcopop" that targets underage youth in its marketing.. and, besides, mixing your uppers and downers in a given night is a bad idea. humph. I don't agree on either of those points; if anything -- *anything* -- I would sue based on the taste alone. And I'd make Smirnoff Ice a defendant as well, while we're at it. haha.

Well, the upshot is that you'll still find "Sparks" on the shelves; however, as I alluded to before, it will be reborn in a much different incarnation. Packaging too?; I don't know. The Washington Business Journal reports that MillerCoors will "voluntarily reformulate its Sparks beverage to remove caffeine, taurine, guarana and ginseng from the product."

What? That makes no sense. How is this new product -- Sparks in name only -- still going to be the somehow-charming, jacked-up hangover machine we're all grown to, um, tolerate? In any case, read the details here:

Maryland part of deal with MillerCoors to reformulate Sparks
by Rich Rovito @ the Washington Business Journal

Again, I was never a huge fan of any of the varieties of Sparks ("blue", "black", or the original "orange"), but I do appreciate that there is a time for such indulgence and, therefore, a place on the shelf, so to speak. And perhaps my brain and liver are celebrating this news -- that is, the news of Sparks' demise, and, consequently, the news that I will never be able to succumb to its temptation ever again -- but my heart is a little sad..

So, is seems, my only option is to to drown this sorrow in a vat of Redbull and vodka.. which, you know.. doesn't sound so bad. Salud!

Ladytron for me; The Virgins for you?

You got lucky.

I mean, if you missed their opening spot on the Black Kids tour through San Francisco back in October, The Virgins are back, playing at the venerable Popscene for their Holiday Gala 2008. TONIGHT!

The Virgins at myspace

They've got a sound where The Strokes comparisons are inevitable (and I think that's mostly a good thing), but to mix it up for the here-and-now, The Virgins have thrown the occasional disco-y beat or Clash-y guitar syncopation behind most of their tracks. And these are also good things; their shizz is catchy, while still being fresh and a little raw (more on that later)..

I also appreciate that a few songs -- including their huge hit, Rich Girls (video) -- emanate a bluesy-sexuality, a la The Rolling Stones.. and, luckily, the lead singer has the looks to make it all work. haha. Ah -- just a heads-up that the Rich Girls video is semi-safe-for-work, given that some scenes contain a model gettin' down to her skivies. ;)

So, with all that said, let me submit that this is the last time you'll see them at a venue so small.. unless you're deep in certain artscenes of the LES -- their home-hood -- where you might still see them play at a party/gallery once they're back from touring. Yeah, they seem to be getting more and more air/face-time on the radio, on the TV, over the past couple of months, so I'm only expecting a good 2009 for these guys.

To be honest, part of that (predicted) success is due to the "slickness" of their self-titled debut album on Atlantic records. The label/studio really got to them, and not in a particular good way for my tastes. That is, they didn't capture the "freshness" and "rawness" I mentioned earlier; they didn't capture that sound that I heard when I first caught a couple of tracks off their original, self-recorded EP (after a friend told me about them this past January).

No matter.. whatever they want to do professionally is fine by me. I'm not asking you to buy their album. But you *should* see them rock-out live -- hear their music the way it was meant to be heard -- in that hot, sweaty, 18+ box of musical taste: Popscene, tonite; doors at 9:30pm, so it's gonna be a late night of getting your dance-on!

~~~~~~~~

By the way, I would totally join you tonight at Popscene, but I already have tickets to the Ladytron DJ set featuring Reuben Wu at Mighty (playing with San Francisco's own Sleazemore). Maybe I'll see you there?

The show is presented by the good folks at Blasthaus; check out more from them here.

We'll make it happen in the 'Loin

You know, I'm usually pretty wary of lists trying to tell you about the "best food and drinks" in any city, or the best of anything, really.. and especially if it's a city of any significant size or density. Like San Francisco. But the folks over at chow.com have recently -- well, recently, when I first noted the article a month and a half ago -- offered up such a list for our fair city.

At least they acknowledge that the act of compiling such a list is "a bold statement"; and so by qualifying it as such, I feel better about the whole endeavor. haha. So, check it:

Grit and Grub in SF's Tenderloin
http://www.chow.com/stories/11247

And you know what? Part of the reason that this article caught my interest (and why I can't refute too much of its contents) is that I can't really say much about the Tenderloin; I just don't have intimate knowledge of the neighborhood. I mean, over my years here in San Francisco, I've really just fluttered through those roughshod downtown streets for the occasional drink, the occasional show, or the occasional meal; I've really only concentrated my (social) affections, for better or worse (but mostly for the better), on The Mission, SOMA, The Lower Haight, and, more recently, on Hayes Valley, Divis Corridor, and parts of Civic Center.

In any case, I keep *meaning* to explore the Tenderloin a bit more (I think I say that about a lot of spots about town), but in the weeks since this article was published, I still haven't visited any of the places on the list.. and these are places that I actually *want* to check out, like Turtle Tower Restaurant (for the pho ga, natch) and Fish & Farm (maybe just for the delicious-looking/sounding desserts and cocktails). What's up with gittin'er done?

Let me just say that the next person to suggest that we do something -- at least of a non-sexual and/or non-drug nature, other traditional vices of the area (although there is a time a place for, um, most things; haha) -- in the Tenderloin, well, we'll make it happen (it takes two to tango, kid). No questions asked.

'Loin, activate!

I remember the sounds of Souvlaki washing over me

Not sure what-the-hey, but one of my posts got lost in the digital shuffle a couple of weeks ago and dropped off the blog. So, if you were looking for The Twelves Became Sixteen download or tracklist at http://notaperfectprocedure.blogspot.com/2008/09/twelves-became-sixteen.html and got a "Page not found" error from blogger, I apologize.

I've reposted it, basically good-as-new, at:

http://notaperfectprocedure.blogspot.com/2008/09/twelves-became-sixteen_05.html

Yeah, so, if this new page evaporates, well, that would be silly. Silly, I say!

~~~~~~

In other music news, a friend pointed me to Discodust's coverage of Memory Cassette, a project putting out some quality bedroom-disco-electronica.. yes, recursive reverb, lovely buzz, and breathy vocals in full effect. The overall vibe of the music brings back memories of my obsession back in the day for those heavy-hitters of the shoegaze scene, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine (and, later, the Lost in Translation soundtrack). Yes, there is that element here; and it's good stuff.

In any case, check out the Disco Dust blog and download some tracks here.

Yes, I think this just might be inspiration/fodder for the next mix..