Soundscape #6: And If You Gaze Long Into An Abyss, The Abyss Also Gazes Into You.

Richard Stine. The Roads Between, (date unknown)

There are many laws that govern our existence here on earth. Perhaps subtler than the laws of causality, gravity and time, the law of space manifests both postitively and negatively, as well as mentally and physically. For someone who's quite painfully aware of (the lack of) space (I'm claustrophobic), I think that there is a strong relationship between space and its various constructs/confines and one's state of mind. I breathe easier in open spaces and I think clearer too when there aren't hordes of people bearing down on me. Space conjures up so many ideas and their antitheses--we think of freedom but also chaos, endless possibilities but also the paralyzing abyss-- they all attempt to describe the notion of space, but never succeeding to define it.

Space transcends even one's personal state of mind; it dictates the nature of the relationships among people as well. Ever wondered how two people at opposite ends of the earth can claim to look up at the skies and know that they are looking at the same star? Or how a couple can sit right next to each other and feel a world apart?



Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining (Buy The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast)
2. (5:18) Dave Matthews Band - The Space Between (Buy Everyday)
3. (9:21) Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Buy Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space)
4. (12:62) Sigur Rós - Glósóli (Buy Takk)
5. (18:78) The Postal Service - Such Great Heights (Buy Give Up)
6. (23:04) Luna - Lost In Space (Buy Best Of Luna)
7. (26:48) M83 - Don't Save Us From The Flames (Buy Before The Dawn Heals Us)
8. (30:63) Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place (Buy Kid A)
9. (34:74) My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes (Buy Loveless)
10. (39:93) Mogwai - Helicon 1 (Buy Ten Rapid)

You can also download the episode here.

Soundscape #5: Unplugged!

Roy Lichtenstein. Vicki, 1964.

I'll be the first to admit the (very) high possibility that I will die without my iPod. I simply cannot imagine going through an entire commute to and from hell work without something to comfort me or distract me along the way. It's really not so much the dread of work from which I need comfort/distraction but the incessant chatter of people along the way. I am highly suspicious of anyone who doesn't need some kind of protection from the chattering crowd. How do these people tune out like that? I realise I haven't actually tried that before, since I've never ever been without music for as long as I have to take public transport. I try to recall the conversations I have with friends during a commute but I don't think I'm objective enough to see my own inanity, so in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to unplug my ipod and plug into the collective.

To say it's deafening is a gross understatement. The sound of traffic--the engine revs, the honking and swerving--is already bad enough, but when you add to that cacophony the incessant schoolgirl giggles, or outright booming laughter, the highpitched bitchy whines about work or the droning baritones of someone's boring day, it's almost all I could bear.



Track Listing:
1. (0.00) Stephin Merritt - What A Fucking Lovely Day! (Buy Showtunes)
2. (1:22) Modest Mouse - The World At Large (Buy Good News For People Who Love Bad News)
3. (5:54) Rilo Kiley - It's A Hit (Buy More Adventurous)
4. (9:82) Kevin Devine - Buried By The Buzz (Buy Split The Country, Split The Street)
5. (13:21) Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices (Buy Silent Alarm)
6. (16:49) Shout Out Louds - Very Loud (Buy Howl Howl Gaff Gaff)
7. (20:54) Okkervil River - Song Of Our So-Called Friend (Buy Black Sheep Boy)
8. (23:81) Nada Surf - Popular (Buy High/Low)
9. (27:29) We Are Scientists - This Scene Is Dead (Buy With Love And Squalor)
10. (30:72) Arab Strap - There Is No Ending (Buy The Last Romance)

You can also download the entire episode here.

Soundscape #4: This Is Not My Beautiful House

I don't know if anyone knows this but apparently the Ikea catalogue is printed more times than the bible each year. Pretty mind-boggling eh? Granted, the Ikea catalogue is updated every year and is distributed free. But something within the glossy pages always seems to get me dreamy-- all these beautiful apartments, beds, closets, kitchens and rooms and stuff, you know? I realise though, I don't want just the sofa, or the couch or the Billy bookcase; I want the complete package, the floors, the carpets, sofas, the books, the artfully-cluttered apartment, the perfect mom fixing something in the perfect kitchen... etc. Damnit, I want to live in these pages. Bloody hell. It's all just an evil marketing tool targeted to get you to buy more stuff.

Ranting aside, there's nothing wrong with a little bit of daydreaming, is there? I don't think anyone would take offence to sitting down on a comfy chair and leafing through its colourful pages, sipping tea on a nice quiet Sunday afternoon, with some nice tracks playing in the background to help you fantasise about finally organising that over-flowing closet of yours or alphabetising your CD collection, to throw out the old and welcome the new and the possible.



Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Blood Meridian - Oh Oh Oh (Buy We Almost Made It Home)
2. (3:21) Elliott Smith - Fond Farewell (Buy From A Basement On The Hill)
3. (3:57) Feist - Mushaboom (Buy Let It Die)
4. (10:20) Headlights - Put Us Back Together Right (Buy Kill Them With Kindness)
5. (14:34) Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Good Kind of Crazy (Buy I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way For A Boy)
6. (18:83) Pavement - Major Leagues (Buy Terror Twilight)
7. (22:07) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice (Buy Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
8. (25:65) The Postal Service - Sleeping In (Buy Give Up)
9. (29:86) Tegan & Sara - I Know I Know I Know (Buy So Jealous)
10. (33:33) The Ladybug Transistor - The Places You'll Call Home (Buy The Ladybug Transistor)
11. (37:34) Yo La Tengo - My Little Corner Of The World (Buy I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One)
12. (39:59) The Weakerthans - Everything Must Go! (Buy Left And Leaving)

You can download this episode here.

Soundscape #3: We Are Nowhere And It's Now

Edward Hopper. The Long Leg, 1935.

Travelling, whether it's a well-earned reward or an indulgence, somehow always implies a desire to escape, to run away, to see the other side of the fence. It's too easy to think that whatever you leave behind will sort themselves out by the time you return from your trip. Or that you will return with new perspectives and deal with things differently. It's too easy to imagine yourself lying on a beach somewhere and your troubles simply floating away with the wind.

But more often than not, reality can be a cold hard bitch. The logistics of planning a trip alone can be daunting. Where to go, when to go, how to get there, how much to spend, what you need to bring with you, maps, directions, cash, travellers' cheques, languages, phasebooks, tickets, train/bus/plane schedules... the list goes on and on. It can drive you nuts.

This week's soundscape takes the hard shit out of planning a trip for yourself. While it's impossible that you dont have to do anything in preparation for a trip, this batch of songs will take the stress out of the planning and assure you that it's all gonna be worth it. After all, a holiday you take does not merely involve physically packing your bags and catching a plane; it's about a state of mind. Sometimes, the best holiday you can ever give yourself is one away from yourself.



Track Listing:
1. (0:00) Belle and Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying (Buy If You're Feeling Sinister)
2. (3:25) Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Buy In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
3. (6:47) Ash - A Life Less Ordinary (Buy OST A Life Less Ordinary)
4. (10:66) The Decemberists - Los Angeles I'm Yours (Buy Her Majesty The Decemberists)
5. (14:87) Spoon - I Turn My Camera On (Buy Gimme Fiction)
6. (18:15) Teenage Fanclub - Take The Long Way Round (Buy Songs From Northern Britain)
7. (21:40) Gomez - Homoa Beach (Buy How We Operate)
8. (24.74) Jason Collett - I'll Bring The Sun (Buy Idols Of Exile)
9. (28:08) 18th Dye - Trains And Boats And Planes (Buy Left)
10. (32:44) Beirut - Postcards From Italy (Buy Gulag Orkestar)
11.(36:61) Kevin Shields - City Girl (Buy OST Lost In Translation)
12. (40:09) The Weakerthans - One Great City! (Buy Reconstruction Site)
13. (42:63) Margot and The Nuclear So and Sos - On A Freezing Chicago Street (Buy The Dust Of Retreat)
14. (45:65) Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now (Buy I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
15. (49:77) M. Ward - To Go Home (Buy Post-War)

You can also download the entire episode here.

Who's up for some ass-beating!?

Yo La Tengo's new album, due out next week (9/12), has got to be one of the few albums most anticipated this year, at least for me anyways. I don't have to tell you all the reasons why they are great but suffice it to say that their albums are something I will give good money for, well in advance. And this album is especially special, the wtf title (it's called I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass) aside, cos Matador is giving out passes to preorders that lets you listen to the entire album online, among other exclusive mp3s and stuff.

I've listened to the album and it's great! I dont know how a band can consistently produce such high quality stuff but somehow YLT always manages to pull it off with the greatest of ease and good humor. Evidence? Check this out. Funny shit. I love it!

You Rock, Greg!

Ssswweeeeetttt!
This is one very good reason why you shouldn't steal music: you get good karma! If you recall from an earlier post, I emailed The Wrens asking them to hold a tshirt shipment for me because I wanted to add Seacaucus and Silver to my order... long story short, Greg Whelan said he would send the cds for free* and he even included the hard-to-get EP, Abbott!!! God, I can die happy now.

*although somehow G now thinks that I owe him one of my kidneys...

Soundscape #2: Hell Is Other People

One of the most iconic images of the 20th Century, The Scream, by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, was recovered a couple of days ago after being literally ripped off the walls of the Munch museum in Oslo 2 years ago. With The Scream, Munch has portrayed humanity's sense of existential angst and dread as something immediately primal and instinctual. I wonder with our increasingly busy lives now, do we even have time to feel this horror?

This week's soundscape explores this dread we undoubtedly feel, some more than others. I think that the dread and horror that sometimes have us pinned by the throats have somewhat become more introspective, a consequence perhaps of our desensitization towards the very real horrors of the world taking place all around us, all the time.



Track Listing:
1. (0:00) As The Poets Affirm - Polyhymnia (Buy I Want To Tell My Heart To You But I Cannot Say English)
2. (5:05) Portishead - Sour Times (Buy Dummy)
3. (9:18) Nirvana - Lithium (Buy From The Muddy Banks of The Wishka)
4. (13:35) Pavement - Serpentine Pad (Buy Wowee Zowee)
5. (14:51) Nine Inch Nails - Closer (Buy The Downward Spiral)
6. (20:64) Radiohead - You And Whose Army (Buy Amnesiac)
7. (23:75) PJ Harvey - Down By The Water (Black Session) (Buy To Bring You My Love)
8. (26:92) REM - E-Bow The Letter (Buy New Adventures In Hi-Fi)
9. (31:09) The Flaming Lips - Waitin' For A Superman (Buy The Soft Bulletin)
10 (36:33) My Dad Vs Yours - Law Of Unintended Consequence (Buy Winning Hearts and Minds)