Travel Blog

Oh by the way, I'll be posting to a different blog while I'm gone.

Adam in Asia

Explosions in the Sky

How about that lightning storm tonight? I watched it from the Barton Creek Mall parking lot with twenty or so other people. Everybody was silent, just soaking it in, except for this one kid who kept going "oohhhh!" and "ahhhhh!" like it was the fourth of July. I am trying to figure out whether it is a good or bad omen, considering I leave for Singapore in six hours. I'm trying not to get too nervous but it is difficult. I can't believe it's even happening. Three months ago I had kind of accepted the fact that travelling abroad would just be one of those things that I talked about but never accomplished. So much for that. I can't wait to be there, just to feel the distance from home. This last year has been such a rollercoaster, so many ups and downs, and in the end somehow I have found myself feeling disconnected to the place I have called home my entire life. So I guess this excursion couldn't be happening at a better time. My hope is that as a result of the experiential overload I'm about to go through, I will not only look at the rest of the world differently, but that Austin too will be a little brighter, a little fresher, when I return. Ah well, enough sentimental blubbering. I'll miss you guys. But not too much.

Bart vs. The White Stripes

Remix Funday

Hey ya'll.....I have to hook you up with a blog that I stumbled onto recently called Palms Out Sounds. Billing itself as an "Independent New York Collective's Music and Culture Blog", it is hip-hop centric but they have two weekly features that should please a variety of music connoisseurs.

The first is Remix Sunday, and it's the reason I found these guys. Every week someone named Haldan posts remixes of all sorts, and going back through the archives I found some real gems. Ladytron remixed by Interpol? Check. A Bjork track remixed with Kelis? Yep. There is also Daedelus vs. Diplo, Brazilian Girls vs. MSTRKRFT, and Bloc Party reworking Chromeo. Just to give you an idea of the diversity of this stuff. As with all remixes, some of the collaborations look better on paper, but there are so many (and they are so free...) that you are bound to unearth something you like. (I still haven't had time to listen to everything I've grabbed, but I just shook my ass in my hospital bed to the Fischerspooner remix of Kylie Minogue's "Come into My World." Not sure how I have never heard that one...)

The second weekly feature, called Sample Wednesday is a little more classy. Every week they choose a different hip hop artist or producer or crew, and provide the full length versions of 5-10 original songs they stole/borrowed samples from. I'm still sorting through this goodness, but I've already got all the Jay-Z tracks. One week they feature David Axelrod, who I discovered recently through Pitchfork's Greatest Songs of the 1960's feature.

I've said enough. Go check it owt. Click on the pic.

Take Me Back to Your House

So, it's been awhile since I posted. Guess I got a little case of the writer's block. Now that I'm back in PPD for another study (this one is $3200 for 13 days, and pretty tame as far as the procedures and drug doses), I'm hoping to catch up. It's not like I won't have enough free time.

I have been listening to the new Basement Jaxx album for the last two days, and I love it. It's not perfect, and a couple songs verge on bad/obnoxious, but the good ones are really good. As always, they throw dozens of different samples and styles into the production on every track, something you can really only appreciate via headphone listening. As overwhelming and speaker-shaking as the Jaxx can be, it's always the details that blow me away. Ever since hearing Remedy back in 2000 when I was on a band trip in London, I have been hooked on this stuff and at this point they are pretty much infallible in my eyes, so take that into consideration, but definitely check this album out.

I mean come on, this video is crazy awesome!