Bar 9, Abstract Figure Drawing, and Scrabble.

Finished Bar 9 today. Did a sweet drawing today of a sketch I had done a while back. Post it soon. Drinking Blue Moon talking about stupid people in the world with a few friends. Bout to play some scrabble. Peace

Autechre and Dada.

Tonight was fun. Over the summer I had gone on a study trip with my school to Prague. Tonight there was a get together with the people that had gone on that trip. It was great. Some of the people I had left in strange standings with, but it was great. It was nice to put those aside and chat for a while over some beers. I also finished the A's today. I will definitely have to go back and listen to Autechre when I get the chance. My friend had just given me that album before I started my challenge.

Autechre: Confield

Experimental on the edge of experimental noise. It's really good. It reminds me of a smoother version of Songs About My Cats by Venetian Snares

Venetian Snares: Songs About My Cats

I'm also about to get to Bar9, which I just downloaded the complete discography last week so I'm SUPER excited to bump that shit. Anyway, I got some Tipping40s to watch. If you havnt seen T40s its hilarious and you're missing out. They play video games and get progressively more and more drunk towards the ends of the episodes. The episodes for Final Fantasy X (their first Let's Play) were about 30 minutes. The episodes now of Let's Play Shenmue are 20 minutes. You can find their website here.

FUCK YES BAR9!

Aphex Twin and Exquisite Corpses.

So I'm going to divide each post up into...well a new post. I feel like that makes a lot more sense and doesnt make me feel as neurotic about myself, it'll also let me talk about other things besides this music thing.
Been going through Aphex Twin pretty well. Was walking around the city today running errand with Drukqs which was awesome. Lots of energy in that album with enough slow spaces to keep it balanced. Right now, I'm on Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Disc 1). Just got to Cliffs which is one of my all time favorites. Just discovered how awesome Actium is though. When I find a new song from this challenge that I enjoy I snag it and throw it onto a playlist. So, Actium definitely went onto a playlist.
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Recent Albums:
Come To Daddy EP
Donkey Rhubarb
Drukqs
I Care Because You Do
Richard D. James Album
Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Disc 1)

Upcoming Albums:
Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Disc 2)
Ventolin
Windowlicker
26 Mixes For Cash (Disc 1 & 2)

And after that, I'll be done with Aphex Twin until I revisit him in the P's for Polygon Window!

It's kind of sad seeing what little progress I've made so far...especially looking at the scroll bar on the side of my iTunes. Its weird thinking that I wont be able to choose what I listen to until maybe February of 2011. I'm pretty happy with my restriction on myself though, it makes for an interesting next few months. I've also learned how much music affects my mood. I've been wanting to change what I'm listening to a lot mainly today because I was doing a lot of work today and I needed something fast, but it's been nice to have to deal with whats playing and its interesting how it changes my input to a project. Which brings me to my next topic of discussion.

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Finals are coming up for us SAIC students. I'm working with abstracted female figures a la Joan Miro's pastel drawings of the late 1920s and 1930s.

Joan Miro Pastel Drawing

 I chose female figures because at some point this semester I was walking through the Art Institute of Chicago looking in the European 1900s-1950s galleries and I saw a few Miro pastel drawings. That day, I was on lunch break from a class called "Drawing Materials & Techniques" in which we were using pastels that day. I had never really liked pastels and I liked them even less when I had to go to the local art store, Blick, and buy 12 pastels for like 30 bucks or some shit. But, after seeing these Miro pastels, I was drawn to them for some reason. His technical prowess with the medium gave me tons of motivation to learn the medium. I think the reason I identified with these drawings so much is that well, I'm a male and women are both good and bad to me. They're both loving and scary. In Miro's drawings, he depicts women as monsters almost. Once I started drawing them myself, I was able to show them a huge amount of attention and respect while also depicting them as monstrous creatures. This, I think was the initial reason I was drawn to the Miro's in the first place and I am very happy that I've been able to translate this feeling into my own work. Objects have been coming up in my sketches as well, like props for the figures. At times I will make a figure hold something like a fishing pole and this signals to me that I am thinking about Sirens and the qualities that Sirens have compared to women I deal with in my everyday life. Sometimes, I depict multiple heads for a single figure which then demand extra limbs. Within these extra limbs, I'll place objects like a briefcase or eating utensils, this adds meaning to the figures and allows me to move the audience's perception of the drawing with a well thought out title. Sometimes I will title the piece as, for example, "Husband and Wife" when there are extra limbs. In the finished drawings, I've been using abstract collage elements inspired by Kurt Schwitters and late Mattise (to be continued...)

Kurt Schwitters collage.

So my friend that wanted me to send her some snail mail...well she's also an artist. So I've decided to start a mail art project. The surrealists back in the day would make exquisite corpses

"3 Lovers" An Exquisite Corpse by I believe Breton, Miro, and....Picabia I think? I'm not sure. Shame on me.

I've always been fascinated by exquisite corpses. Lots of teachers at SAIC think they're lame because  everybody had to do one in high school or something like that. I disagree. Sure people did them in high school, but thats because at that point its a sort of community building exercise that makes you interact with the class. The surrealists would do them also as community building exercises, but they'd be drunk in bars and talking about the fate of the Arts and of Technology. Now thats awesome. I've been very interested in the communities that formed around Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and Neo-Dadaism for a while and I think exquisite corpses are part of why they had such close groups. So with my friend who's wanting to send snail mail, I'm going to send her part of an exquisite corpse and hopefully she'll send it back to me completed. I'm spicing up the format a little though, I've already laid a wash on the paper that she'll have to draw over and hopefully use as a midtone for her own drawing. I'm using water media first and then going to draw on top of that so it should end up looking like a very worked, finished drawing. I'm using gouache, water color, ink, and conte crayon and probably pen later on. (I'm waiting for it to dry right now). Im wanting to collage some things on to it, but I left my glue at school >_<. I'll just acrylic paint it on. I never use that shit anymore anyway. Too bad I dont have any watercolor paper. After seeing my friend's work, she's been doing lots of abstractions with water based media, so I have a feeling she'll want to use watercolor. OH YEAH Can you believe that stamps were fucking 8 dollars at cvs? wtf man? No wonder nobody sends snail mail anymore. Jesus Christ. Also! I went to the post office to try and buy stamps and...guess what, they didnt sell any. Maybe I just went to a branch for packages only, I mean it was a pretty small place on 5 S. Wabash so maybe its just them...but come on! You're a fucking post office you should be selling stamps. So I went to cvs and got some Fat Tire and some stamps in total for like 18 bucks. ugh. so fucking annoying. Oh well, the amount of stamps I have will probably last me long after I get out of college. Pretty weird.

oh my god....aphex twin ambient works putting me the fuck to sleep. I'll post some of my work soon. For now, I have to just post this shit and get up and do something. Can't...fall...asleep.

Snail Mail

A friend of mine wants me to send her a drawing via snail mail. I realized I didnt even know where to buy stamps. I mean obviously you'd go to the post office...but hot damn thats so inconvenient. I was like looking at Office Depot for stamps and they didnt have them and I was like, "man they really want to get rid of snail mail if Office Depot doesnt even sell stamps."

Another of my friends decided that Potbelly's has stamps on its hidden menu, thats what sitting at a desk all morning without breakfast will do to you I suppose.

 

Hey friends...I got your anthrax right here.

9378 Items, 28.2 Days, 59.92 GB

Yesterday I decided that I was going to listen to all the music I have in my iTunes library sequentially without skipping anything. This doesnt mean that I'm staying up all night listening to music, it just means that within the next month or so I will be going straight through my iTunes library without jumping around. I want to try and listen to everything before 2011. This is going to be really hard for me. The first album I had to listen to, shamefully, was A.F.I's "Very Proud of Ya"...so fucking bad. I cant believe I liked that shit at one point. It was followed by Alanis Morissette's album, "Jagged Little Pill" which wasnt as bad because at least she's not a fucking poser punk band. Then came Alarm Will Sound plays Aphex Twin, which wasnt bad but by the end of the album I was itching for some different sounds from different instruments. Up next was The Alchemist's album "Gangsta Theme Music." Its ok, its just beats for Djs to use in their sets which arent really life changing or anything. I'm worried because I have 2 metal albums coming up by All Shall Perish and I dont know if I'll be able to listen to both of them consecutively. Metal is really taxing on my energy levels so I danno how long it'll take before I turn the volume down or start doing something else. Well, it just began and so far its not bad, but by album #2 (I'm listening to Hate Malice Revenge and The Price Of Existence) I dont think I'll be in the mood for it. I will be updating this blog post frequently as this project will take me a very long time.

Nov, 29th 2010.
8:40pm

Ok, heres the list of done artists so far:
A.F.I (Very Proud of Ya)
Akira: OST from the anime. (yes i know thats not the artists name)
Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill)
Alarm Will Sound (Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Plays Aphex Twin)
The Alchemist (Gangsta Theme Music)
All Shall Perish (Hate, Malice, Revenge and The Price of Existence)
a local dallas band's EP. Altered (Delivery). they have since disbanded.
Amelie: OST (again I know that its not the artists name)

and I have now begun...the one...the only...14 hour marathon of Amon Tobin. I'm SO excited about this. I think I could listen to Amon Tobin all day and all night. Right now I'm still on his first album Bricolage. Currently listening to Chomp Samba, such a great track. (yes i know...Cujo will come later. Cujo is an earlier project of Amon Tobin's that released on some shit label who fucked up the release...Ninja Tune later rereleased Cujo-Adventures in Foam on 2 discs with more, previously unreleased tracks. That album will appear in the C section. Amon's project with Boom Bip known as Two Fingers will appear in the T section. However I only have the instrumental album)

Up next after the Tobin marathon is Anti-Flag - Mobilize, thank god I couldnt find my other anti-flag albums, I would've been listening to like 6 hours of horrible neo-punk music if that were the case....but good thing after anti-flag theres 9 hours of aphex twin to be had so I've got it pretty easy from Amon Tobin until Aphex Twin. Now in my Aphex Twin marathon Im going to wait on Polygon Window, which is a side project of Aphex Twin (or Richard D. James). Polygon Window will appear in the P section though.

Upcoming Dreads:
Anti-Flag - Mobilize, Azumanga Daioh OST (from the anime), Bad Astronaut - Acrophobe/Houston We Have a Drinking Problem

Upcoming Loves:
Aphex Twin, Bar9

Ok, I know that I'm jumping around a lot right now (Amon Tobin-The Nasty) but I just have a lot on my mind about this project and nothing else to be doing. I really dont want to listen to the Beatles...luckily i dont have a lot of their albums but I have enough. Pink Floyd is gonna be great for a little bit but I'm gonna get REALLY tired of them I'm sure. and....*sigh* Radiohead....I listened to The Bends, Ok Computer, Hail to the Thief, and Kid A SO much in high school that I really dont think I'm going to enjoy ANY of the radiohead segment. Maybe paranoid android and like...everything in its right place but I rEALLy dont want to listen to In Rainbows, that album is so fail. I remember spamming radiohead while I played Star Wars: Jedi Knight Academy multiplayer. aw man that was the shit. I modded the shit out of that game too! m.....hold that thought....iTunes just quit unexpectedly? hmm. makes me think its trying to tell me something. OMG Amon Tobin is a beast. He got me into drum and bass. So amazing, just hearing the intro to Bitter & Twisted is incredible. What a beast. The Beach Boys segment will suck so much dick too....its like, I have them on my iTunes so I can play ONE song every like 2 months or something or if it randomly comes up on shuffle and I'm like, "ok I'm in the mood for this" but then 40 seconds later I switch it again. They're important to music culture and thats why I figured I'd keep those albums, but god dammit am i going to regret keeping those albums. Oh god...not Bjork...I forgot I had so much Bjork...omg so bad.

Nov, 29th 9:45pm
Alas, the next Amon Tobin album Foley Room

I just listened to Bricolage, remembered some amazing gems that I'd forgotten. Namely The Nasty, Bitter & Twisted, One Small Step, and Mission. I totally forgot how awesome those tracks were. Of course some of my all time favorites off that album are, Stoney Street, Creatures, Chomp Samba, Defocus, and One Day In My Garden.

I know I'm not going chronologically....and I didnt realize it until I heard the HUGE difference of the production quality from Bricolage to Foley Room. Its strange...Foley Room is already going by MUCH faster than Bricolage did. I really like Amon's more jazzy work. I think my favorite album of his is Permutation. I'm excited to get to that album. OH WOW just got to kitchen sink. easily the best song on the album. It puts you into a different environment right from the start. Its so good.

Nov, 30th 2010
10:41am
I've been listening to hour long Amon Tobin tracks for my last few songs here and its pretty epic. I forgot how amazing they were. They do get a little slow at times but for the most part, they're amazing. If you havnt already, download Amon Tobin's 09Deckset off his website. The live recording of Foley Room in Brussels is also really good. I listened to Amon's Breezeblock Mix 2005 which consisted of Chaos Theory which was pretty good. It got really good towards the middle and then slowed a bit. Now I'm on Drumn' Caravan Mix (49m:20s) which is a mix of various retro drum styles and the classic melody of "Caravan."

(Amon Tobin, Luxemburg)

Nov, 30th 2010
11:08am

Horsefish Live Mix is amazing. Download it,  off amon's website, now.

Nov, 30th 2010
1:57pm
Jesus Amon, you're putting me to sleep with Out From Out Where, but its my fault too. I've been staying up late drawing and working on finals for school X_x. I was watching starcraft 2 commentaries on Dreamhack in Sweden during most of this album so the volume was turned down and I feel kinda bad about that. I feel like I missed it. I need to go to sleep before I lose my mind. Mighty Micro People was the tipping point...now before I start Permutation I HAVE to try and get some rest. I wanna be able to talk to my snail mail friend later tonight!

Nov, 30th 2010
6:22pm
Just rediscovered how good Escape is off the album Permutation. I listened to that album SO much my first year of college and am now revisiting it. Nightlife is also another of my favorite tracks...Switch is wonderful too; AH they're all so good! Best Amon Tobin album in my opinion.

Nov, 30th 2010
10:54pm

I've finished with Amon Tobin. I am now on Animals on Wheels. I only have one album sadly though "Designs and Mistakes". Soon after Animals on Wheels is Anti-Flag - Mobilize -_____-. Not looking forward to that. I mean I was on youtube earlier listening to some of my favorites by anti-flag which I dont have anymore for some reason, but they were few and far between. Like, I still only liked one song from each album after all these years. I didnt like any of the other songs that I youtubed so I think I'm in a world of hurt coming up pretty soon. As for Animals on Wheels, some of my favorite tracks have been Soluble Ducks, Nodding Dogs, Scene For Ash, Fall Like Dandruff, Flush Fit Fanatic, Clay Pot (absolute favorite), and Stan's Soluble Fish. Although I like all the tracks on the album, these are a few of my favorites.

Nov, 30th 2010
11:36pm
HAHA. So this is awesome. Unlike electronic albums in which each track is usually over four minutes long, this shitty Anti-Flag album's songs are only like two or three minutes long...so I'm already half way through the album! YES!

So good. (no not the album. the facts described above).

Nov 30th, 2010
11:59pm
Ok, so this is the first album in which there is a track that is 31 minutes long but consists mainly of silence, in cases such as these, I will skip around the track to see if anything is there, if there is anything on the track I will skip directly to that section. Yeah its not THE FULL 28.2 days but would you really want to listen to silence for 30 minutes when you know that its the end of the track? I thought so. HOWEVER, in cases such as The Supersuckers' album La Mano Cornuda I will listen to the hidden track at the end (which is just the album mixed together as one song). This also happens on Bassnectar's album Diverse Systems of Throb, theres a continuous mix of the whole album I believe. So I just wanted to specify that. If there are any other anomalies that occur I'll post about them. (Almost done with Anti-Flag, then onto 9 hours of Aphex Twin).