newspapers, pdf's, etc.

sheesh, tell me about it. summertime is in full effect, and things keep piling up.

i set out a number of goals for myself, but as usual i am falling behind. i'm busy. Mostly, i've been writing an article every other week for the Ball State Daily News.

In july i am fulfilling a long dream of playing drums for Rodeo Ruby Love during tour.

oh, and remember that Summer Teen Zine idea? i didn't think so. 'm turning it into a pdf. i have about three or four things submitted. you are welcome to add to it. please?

i've been getting a lot of music lately. here is a list of what has been spinning.

1. cLOUDDEAD
2. Caddywhompus
3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist
4. The Rolling Stones - Goat's Head Soup
5. Why? - Sand Dollars EP and Rubber Traits EP


also, keep watching Interview Project. it gets better each time. continue reading...

Album of the Week IV

I know it's been more than a week since i've done this, but i finally found another album worth talking about.

Modest Mouse - Autumn Beds 7"


Stream "Autumn Beds" here
and
Stream the B-side "Whale Song" here

The single "Autumn Beds" is kind of just a Modest Mouse attempt at making a folk song... it's nothing special and it's pretty repetitive. Personally, i'm not a fan of the song. It's definitely not one of Modest Mouse's better songs, but it gets stuck in my head now and then and it's a pretty chill song to throw on every now and then.

What makes this 7" good is the B-side, "Whale Song." I would simply describe it as Modest Mouse revisits Moon and Antarctica. The guitar is hectic and dissonant, but the bass line keeps it driving along for the entire 3 minute intro. The vocals are exactly what i've been hoping to hear our of newer Modest Mouse recordings: the megaphone vocals in the background with a catchy line or two that Issac repeats and drills into your head. It all builds up and then just lets loose at the end in a classic, old-school Modest Mouse style. Definitely worth a listen.

-Stephen
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Album of the Week III

So this may seem kind of boring, because i know pretty much everyone has this album by now and has been talking about it a good bit, but hey, it's what i've been listening to most this week.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca


This album came up out of no where for me. I had never heard a Dirty Projectors song in my life. I read some good things about this album, heard some friends say it was rad, and decided to get my hands on it. I threw it in iTunes and started off with "Cannibal Resource" and knew right away that i liked it. I don't know if it's folk or rock or pop, but whatever it is, it's good. Not only are the vocals intricate and hauntingly beautiful, the guitars sound so damn good! I don't know what they did, but someone was a genius when they recorded this band. I think my favorite examples of awesome guitar on this album are at the end of "Useful Chamber" (starting at 5:15) and throughout "No Intention." And "Temecula", my gosh, what is going on with the instrumentation in that song? Blowing my mind. It's sporadic but perfectly uniform at the same time. I know Austin was raving about the part in the song where he sings "There's a space for you in my basement. All you gotta do is help with the chores and do the dishes... and i know you will". Yup, i agree, that part rules.

What really keeps me coming back to this album pretty much every day is the unique way the voices of the three vocalist (one dude, two chicks) blend and harmonize. They seem to utilize the vocal talents they have just about perfectly. Some of the vocal patterns, harmonies, and octave jumps give me chills.

One word for this album. Beautiful.

-Stephen
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Album of the Week II

I know that most of you already have this album, but here it is anyway.

Dan Deacon - Bromst



--Click to Download Album--

After Last.fm kept on heckling me to listen to Dan Deacon, I finally did the good and ethical thing and torrented every album of his that I could find. As I do with most new albums, I put on Bromst and listened to it straight through.

It starts with the song "Build Voice" which takes a good 30 seconds just to build up to an audible level, but once it gets going it is both haunting and intense. But the song that totally blew mind was "Snookered." My gosh, I don't even understand how a song can sound that good. There are not many songs that I think deserve to be 8 minutes long, but "Snookered" defintely merits the time frame. The first half of the song is magical and gets more and more exciting as it move along... and then at 4:16 the song breaks loose. The drums, synth, and samples are all going full speed at this point. This is where I thought the song was incredible, and then it hit 4:48 and I have never heard anything like the type of vocal cutting that happens at that point. Totally rad. Another song I really enjoy is the last song on the album entitled "Get Older." The use of a vocoder near the end is pretty sweet.

another thing about Dan Deacon... i have no idea how he makes the sounds he does. just looking at his set-up is so confusing. i guess that's part of what makes it so good.



if you don't have this album yet, get it. it rules.
-Stephen
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My Girls - Gigamesh Remix

I've been pretty into remixes lately... mostly because of all the dance parties that have been going down. This is one of the coolest ones I've heard

--click to listen, right click to save--

-Stephen continue reading...

Crack Box

New Animal Collective:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IFM3KXH0

Tracklisting:

A1. Jimmy Raven
A2. Ahhh Good Country
A3. Iko Ovo

A1 and A2 recorded live to MiniDisc 18 September 2000 at the Cooler, NYC by Avey/Panda. A3 recorded live to MiniDisc fall 2000 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda.

B1. Pumpkin Gets a Snakebite
B2. Pumpkin's Hallucination
B3. Pumpkin's Funeral

B1 and B3 recorded live to MiniDisc February 2001 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda/Geologist. B2 recorded live to MiniDisc 25 February 2001 at Mercury Lounge, NYC by Avey/Panda/Geologist.

C1. Jungle Heat
C2. Hey Friend
C3. De Soto De Son

C1 and C2 recorded live to MiniDisc winter early 2001 at 67 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda. C3 recorded live to MiniDisc August 2000 at Mercury Lounge, NYC by Avey/Panda.

D1. Oh Sweet
D2. Young Prayer #2
D3. Do the Nurse

D1 partly recorded live to MiniDisc summer 2002 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Deakin and partly recorded live to MiniDisc 18 October 2002 at Warsaw, Brooklyn by Avey. D2 recorded live to MiniDisc fall 2002 at Bard College, NYC by Avey/Panda. D3 recorded live to MiniDisc 18 October 2002 at Warsaw, Brooklyn by Avey.

E1. Ice Cream Factory
E2. Hey Light
E3. Two Sails

E1 and E3 recorded live to MiniDisc March 2002 at Tonic, NYC by Avey/Panda/Geologist/Deakin. E2 recorded live to MiniDisc winter early 2002 at N. 4th Practice Space, Brooklyn by Avey/Panda/Geologist/Deakin.

F1. Don't Believe the Pilot
F2. Who Could Win a Rabbit
F3. Mouth Wooed Her
F4. Covered in Frogs
F5. We Tigers

F1 and F2 recorded live to MiniDisc July 2003 at New World Brewery, Tampa, FL by Avey/Panda. F3 recorded live to MiniDisc June 2003 at a house party in Brooklyn by Avey/Panda. F4 recorded live to MiniDisc sometime and somewhere in 2003 (recording details are lost) by Avey/Panda. F5 recorded live to MiniDisc October 2003 at Concorde 2, Brighton, UK by Avey/Panda. continue reading...

Album of the Week

This is a bit belated, but here's my first "album of the week" review.

The Gaskets - Loose Change


--CLICK TO DOWNLOAD ALBUM--

The twins (Taylor and Jamison MacKillop) were the first ones to introduce me to The Gaskets. The Gaskets are no longer a band, and they never got really big, but I feel that the music they did make was a really fun twist on electronic pop. They were a duo from Richmond, Virginia that rocked it with just a microphone and a Yamaha RM1X sequencer. For some special shows they added a full band which was pretty rad (Taylor owns the live DVD if you ever want to see it).

The album Loose Change is full of catchy electronic funk and shout-out-loud lyrics. The first song that really got my attention is the the third track "Cold Busted." It's starts with an acoustic guitar loop that is intricate and yet easy to follow and then drops a beat with some fun lyrics about getting caught doing stuff you shouldn't do. Definitely a fun song. Recently my favorite song on this album has been "Eiffel Tower." This song is a straight rad danceable tune that has a chorus that gets stuck in my head and a breakdown/chant near the end that always makes me smile. The only song that I think is really weak on this album is "De Sunuke Sufain." Some chick guest sings on it and it just rubs me the wrong way.

here's the music video for "Eiffel Tower"


This is definitely a fun summer album to jam to and sing along with (which I've been doing a lot lately). So check it out and tell me what you think.

-Stephen


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last week of classes

This is tomorrow
And I'm going to see Native and ITFOW in Kokomo on Friday if anyone wants to go with.

-Stephen continue reading...

Passion Pit - Manners

here's the new Passion Pit album for anyone who's interested: CLICK HERE

my favorite tracks are "Let Your Love Grow Tall" and "The Reeling"

-Stephen continue reading...

After a quick first post, it's time for a real first post. I'm going to steal a few ideas from everyone on this one.

Summer Music And Books

Like Erik, I'm really excited to be able to have 3 months to hang out, listen to music, and read.

The best part of listening to music in the summer is driving around with the windows down. It's real cheesy, but it's kind of a dream of mine to go on a road trip in a convertible, cruising down the interstate, listening to tunes, and of course everyone is wearing sunglasses. That's not going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future, so until then, it's windows down with my imagination going. This is what (in no particular order, oh wow, I'm unoriginal) I'll be jamming too this summer.

1) Le Face - Isolation

This album is sick. Noise punk is huge all of a sudden, which is kind of cool because there is a lot more music out there, but a bunch of bands are starting to sound the same. Le Face rules though, they've got some sweet hooks. It's the perfect mix between the noise, hiss, and pop.

2) Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

All time favorite album. Good anytime, but especially great for summer. "Range Life" is such a great song, it should be the official anthem of summers everywhere. The line "Out on my skateboard, the night is just hummin'..." is so gorgeous and perfectly describes my dream summer, full of hangouts and 100% carefree.

3) Abe Vigoda - 2007 7" / Skeleton

I wore out that Abe Vigoda 7" last summer, and I'm planning on doing it again. There's only two songs on it, but they may be the two most perfect songs I've ever heard. It's not really an album, but it might be my favorite record. Skeleton is great too, tropical noise punk. I can't even begin to describe how perfect of an idea that is. I love tropical music, it's perfect for summer.

4) Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes / Mutantes

Tropicália is a sweet movement that deserves more attention. Os Mutantes are really psychedelic tropical music. Like I said before I love tropical music, I also dig some weird psychedelic shit. Favorites are "Baby" and "Dois Mil E Um". Forgot to mention these guys are from Brazil and speak Portuguese. I'm going to learn Portuguese sometime soon.

5) Prussia - Dear Emily, Best Wishes, Molly

Again, pretty tropical sounding. It's kind of funny that I equate tropical music with summer, seeing as I live in Indiana. Sounds like a tropical version of Danielson. Awesome.

As far as reading goes this summer, right now I'm planning on reading Atlas Shrugged and The Gift Of Asher Lev. If I can get those finished quickly then I'll probably read some John Kennedy Toole.

Other Summer Goals

Hanging out. This is the last summer that all of my friends will be together, and I plan on making the most of it. I feel kind of bad, but my family is definitely going to end up on the back burner summer '09.

Payne's. Here at school I spend a lot of my free time at Greyhouse, this summer Payne's will be my Greyhouse.

Music. I'm going to see Animal Collective twice, Passion Pit, Pitchfork Fest, and maybe Lollapalooza. I'm going to go to every show possible this summer. I'm hoping to get down to Bloomington with Aaron a couple of times. I'm also going to work on playing guitar, and I want to try to worm my way in on some people's bands.

Traveling. Like I said I'm going to a bunch of concerts, but I'm going to head down to Cinci a couple of times hopefully, and over toward Arlington Heights to see Zach.

Riding bikes daily. I've been riding an exercise bike like crazy lately (20 miles today), but I'm hoping to save up enough to put together a sweet fixie.

Blog Goals

I plan on bring the usual blog stuff to the table (music reviews, talking about how shitty my day was, etc.), but I really want to play the zine angle. I'm going to try to carry a tape recorder, and if I meet someone interesting, I'll interview them. I want to document some sweet experiments as well. These are my inspiration:

http://www.theplug.net/index.htm

http://www.viceland.com/index_int_r.php

I hope this blog lasts much longer than summer. Dream come true would be we pick up a bunch of contributors, everyone finds their voice, we get a real website going, and end up doing this part time or something. That's wishful thinking though.

This was way too long, anyways, I'm Austin, I'm 19, I'll be 20 soon. Summer Teen Diary everyone.

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hey oh! i love beer.

so this is summer, huh? i'm fine with making an initial post. if you don't know what's up, this is a collective. if you want to be a part of this, find us on facebook or some other networking site. you know us well enough.

since this is the Summer Teen Diary, it's important that i relate this to the summer, and when i was a teenager. so let's get this underway.

if there's anything i love to do more than anything in the summer, it's listen to music and read books. hopefully the rest of the gang will follow suit here. if you want to know something about someone, spend two minutes with them (according to one of my favorite fiction characters), or take a look at their music and readings. so here is what i plan on reading this summer.

1) Bablyon Revisited and Other Stories - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The last thing of Fitzgerald's I've read was The Great Gatsby, and this was back in high school. I'm almost a senior in college now. Being a sort of borderline alcoholic myself, I've been turned on to the lifestyle Fitz led. I am also an avid ex-pat, "Lost Generation" fan, and short story enthusiast.

2) The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
One of my favorite books. Sometimes you just need a picker-upper.

3) Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
It's possible that this is the only book I read this summer. I'm fine with that. 1,000 + pages? psh.

4) On the Road - Jack Kerouac
This is another book on the list of books i am trying to get through. Though I'm not much for the beatnik movement i've heard interesting things about Jack's style, so it's worth trying.

5) The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
Also on the list. During WW II, an estranged couple travels to the North African desert to find some common ground...but things take a turn for the worst.


Summertime also brings a sense of music. I'm talking roadtrips. Making out with a girl. Sitting on your porch, smoking a pipe. Hanging out by the campfire. This is what I will be jamming out to the most. No particular order.

1) Alopecia - Why?
This is sort of the indie hip-hop i've been dreaming of.

2) Some Girls - The Rolling Stones
Chill out in your backyard, light a campfire, and dive into the New York era of the Stones.

3) Ancient Melodies of the Future - Built to Spill
This is a newbie. But I am excited to learn more and more about this band. "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" is awesome.

4) The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
This is summer jams right here. Yea, you can take the Springsteen comparisons. But enough of that. It's fun and enjoyable.

5) Stay What You Are - Saves the Day
If I had to listen to only one album each summer, this is the one. Hands down.



This is Summer Teen Diary. each of us has our own aspect to contribute, whether it be words, art, lists, reviews, or updates on our Hot or Not photo.

-erik continue reading...