MMMMixtape is moving! RIP Blogspot

Blogspot's been real good to me, so many good memories. And boy do I have a lot of gems on here, but it's just not as social as I'd like, and after months of contemplating, I think it's time to make the move. I'm going to leave all my old posts up on this website, but start fresh on Tumblr.

Fear not, I'm just moving the address, mixtapes and music will still be the same.

Join me on my Tumblr blog here.

Come, be friends, follow blogs, and listen to incredible music.

Cheers,
Hayley

Someday I'll be like the man on the screen

The new Fleet Foxes album is so, so good. My dear compatriots, when you think the best of music is behind us, know that there is no wrong side of history. If you need more proof (as there are so many astounding musicians in this generation) I think Fleet Foxes have provided it with 'Helplessness Blues'. Since you asked, yes, I think Crosby, Still, Nash, and even Young would admire it. That's the thing with great music, when it's good, it's timeless. Gosh, I still can't get over the lyrics... I imagine laying in a sunny wheat field contemplating my whole life, and when I was done making all of those life changing decisions, I'd go to my orchard and work 'till I'm sore.

I can't quit playing Montezuma, Helplessness Blues, The Cascades (which makes me feel like I need to run away from New York City and join a band of traveling gypsies on and American adventure), and Blue Spotted Tail. Instaclassic.

I was raised up believing

I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking
I'd say I'd rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me

But I don't, I don't know what that will be
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

What's my name, what's my station
Oh just tell me what I should do
I don't need to be kind to the armies of night
That would do such injustice to you

Or bow down and be grateful
And say "Sure take all that you see"
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls
And determine my future for me

And I don't, I don't know who to believe
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

If I know only one thing
It's that every thing that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable
Often I barely can speak

Yeah I'm tongue tied and dizzy
And I can't keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues?
Why should I wait for anyone else?

And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
I'll come back to you someday soon myself

If I had an orchard
I'd work till I'm raw
If i had an orchard
I'd work till I'm sore

And you would wait tables
And soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight
My light in the dawn
If I had an orchard
I'd work till I'm sore

If I had an orchard
I'd work till I'm sore

Someday I'll be
Like the man on the screen

Oh, hello you.

I suck at this. I always make a plan to write about something, and then forget all about this thing. Is Tumblr better? Seems everyone likes it, but I haven't quite figured it out how to make it not suck yet. My profile looks like I made it on Microsoft Paint. Which I guess isn't that bad, it's probably ironically popular, you know, to make your profile look like you made it with your Nintendo. Anyway, I'll try to be better. I listen to a lot of music, and should probably keep track of it. Given I stopped buying CD's 3 years ago and haven't paid for a song in 2 (I know, I'm a maritime delinquent of music) I rarely keep track. So this is the song that when I heard it, I wanted to create a speaker hat and broadcast it for all to hear. So happy, this one from the new Starfucker album. Short; I wish there was about 20 more minutes of it, but it's such a nice little morsel. If it doesn't make you want to build a sandcastle on the sun then ride a unicorn over the rainbow into a pile of mini marshmallows...then you clearly haven't eaten enough mushrooms yet.



Like it? Here's the whole Album



Cheers,

Merman

Girl Talk - All (D-AY-um) Day

One song at a time? Psh! Who needs that? DJ virtuoso Gregg Michael Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, dropped his new album All Day for free download yesterday, and it broke the internet, all day. Literally, so many people scrambled to download it that their servers crashed within 20 minutes of posting it.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Girl Talk puts our multitasking brains to shame, often mashing up to 10 songs in 10 seconds. And for this 75 minute OG Opus, you can try to dig out those 350+ samples. I mean, ELO and Project Pat? Jay Z and Michael McDonald? Ridiculous. You know that feeling you get when your jam comes on? I mean your jammm. Times that by a thousand; it’s that kind of excitement on loop for the entire album.

Here's the track list:

01. Oh No
02. Let It Out
03. That’s Right
04. Jump on Stage
05. This Is the Remix
06. On and On
07. Get It Get It
08. Down for the Count
09. Make Me Wanna
10. Steady Shock
11. Triple Double
12. Every Day

Here, I've made it easy!

Download it here:

http://www.illegal-art.net/allday/

Or here, if the ravers are still crashing:

try these mirrors (send corrections/additions to info@illegalart.net):
http://www.mediafire.com/?vy057v6rld16oee
http://hotfile.com/dl/82708513/c2cc374/Girl_Talk_-_All_Day_IA123_.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/431007441/Girl_Talk_-_All_Day.zip
http://hotfile.com/dl/82737194/10b4ffc/Girl_Talk_-_All_Day_(IA123)_mp3s.zip.html
http://www.fileserve.com/file/VTHERSe/www.NewAlbumReleases.net_Girl
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=x48mbhdh3dc
http://d01.megashares.com/dl/kydpIvf/Girl%20Talk%20-%20All%20Day.zip
http://www.filesonic.com/file/r000216945/32493377/girl_talk_-_all_day_ia123

A very enthusiastic cheers!

Merman

Stateless - Ariel

The appreciation of body form of formal dance is making a [don't call it a]comeback. We've most recently seen Crunk turn in it's baggy pants for black tutu's in Kanye West's Runaway. And in Stateless's clip of the new single 'Ariel' (Off the upcoming Album 'Matilda, out early 2011) is a visually stunning display of such lyrical prowess. Bravo, the gang at FIELD, who directed this hybrid of raw movement and visual effect. I especially like the amass of musical styles, from the complex systems of sitar-ish beat to the (totally sounds like a Transformer) bass wave. Just absolutely stunning toe to tip. Can't wait to see what's to come, mark your calendars!

Cheers,

Merman

DIBS: Kanye West's Runaway

I guess I can't write this fast enough. While I was upstate this weekend Kanye West's Runaway premiered on MTV. On the way back, I sat in the front seat of a rainy, nighttime Greyhound watching, flabbergasted, at this 30 minute manifesto written and directed by 'Ye himself (with some highbrow inspiration from across the board, but we'll get to that later).

For tonight, I just need to get this in front of your faces as quickly as possible. Get a good pair of headphones a half an hour of interrupted time, and check it. Tomorrow, I'll fill you in on my thoughts on what this infuriating, intriguing beautiful piece is.

I will only leave you with something well put by performance artist Aliza Shvarts regarding West's performance, "Somehow we have to be open to unmaking ourselves to remake ourselves in other ways."

Love him or hate him, like Elvis's hips or MJ's Thriller, West's Runaway speaks very loud for our generation's musical imprint in the world.

"All of the statues that we see, where do you think they came from?"

"I think that artists carved them years and years ago,"

"No, they are phoenix turned to stone, do you know what I hate most about your world? Anything that is different, you try to change. You try to tear it down. You rip the wings off the phoenix and they turn to stone. And if I don't burn, I will turn to stone. If I don't burn, I can't go back to my world."

Cheers,

Merman

Make up Homework

Here are some of the songs I'm digging on at the moment... When I'm sprinting from work to the subway to volleyball games and then back to work. Maybe next week I will be able to form a sentence!

First two are from actress/singer/Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis most recent venture with boy toy Jonathon Rice, Jenny & Johnny. I think these songs show 2 sides to the golden coin that is this album.

New York Cartoon - The traditional side. The lyrics remind me of something I will sing when I'm young, something I will sing when I'm old, and something my children will sing with the same kind of nostalgia.

Slavedriver - There are those quirks I do love so much about JL. I think it's different than most songs on the album, a hook track if you will.

PS. I love you - New band to me, thanks Evan Minsker. Their playign at CMJ this week in NYC.. I'd love to see them, but, you know, I'm having trouble finding time to eat during the day.

Warpaint - A lady quartet with the most CLAMJAMMING Ashes to Ashes David Bowie Cover.

GOLDIES (Oldy but goody sandwich) and LCD Soundsystem.
The Long Winters -The commander thinks aloud, always gets stuck in my head in the fall.
LCD Soundsystem - Someone great. Watch the unofficial video, you'll understand.

Cheers,
Merman

Flying Lotus: LOL NO PROBS! :)

Are you serious? What a fantastic first video to watch today. BeepBoop, whatever your name is, Kudos for directing this video (#justkiddingit'sBeeple). Flying Lotus has somehow found a way to make mass genocide of parade patrons by the hand of robots super cute. The flow-stop movement and pixelated blood spatters kind of remind me of Reboot, a Saturday morning cartoon favorite of mine (remember that ish?) Maybe that's why I like this vid so much. God I loved that show. Anyway, I think my favorite part are the lovely wonderment of posters the doomed humans wave around in celebration of pony dreams, diapers, and kissing dudes.

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Merman

PS. Get it now?!

Disclaimer: I don't feel nice today

...So scroll past this post if you’re having a good Friday. Oh and family members? Sorry, I’ll probably offend you with my language.This is a first, and probably a last, but there's a song in there somewhere. Promise.

This is about women in NYC. Not just any woman, I’m talking about ‘that girl’. I’m talking to you, the diluted American Princess. The kind that give women a bad name, and will probably never realize it.

I get it. A 13 to 1 women to [straight]men ratio in Manhattan probably fosters much of the stupidity, jealousy, and full-on penis driven frivolity I observe from women every day in this city. I see it on the subway, at the office, and most often at highly concentrated breeding grounds thinly veiled as happy hour ladies' nights and office mixers. From 96th street to Battery Park city, women are hiking their skirts, skipping lunch, scouring for Prada, Bloomingdales, sex and perfume, all for the elusive whiff of attention from a well-to-do financially stable blue-eyed boy, just looking to display his woman like freshly hunted wild game on his Mahogany wall. She'll stand there, too, with a frozen glazed-eye smile, so proud of her coveted status as trophy girlfriend. And it's not hard, either. The men have it easy, fishing in a barrel full of vapid, beautiful exotic fish. At least once a day I see a leggy brunette, sunken cheeks pinched with rosy stain, hair slicked back in a deliberate disheveled high-bun, designer bag in one hand, and a slimy, short arrogant fucking disgusting Wall Street financial investor in the other. You must be so proud. You got your man, and it only cost you your values, self-worth, bank account, ownership of your body, and mind. Congratulations. What's worse is that said self-loathing entitled shithead Mister is representative of the greater part of the single, straight, disease free male population in Manhattan. Can I just say something? Just one, little, tiny bit of opinion to those choice men and women about which I'm ranting?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? REALLY?

I understand the human condition of love and the innate desire for it. I understand the human condition for the need to connect, for affection, for attention. I also understand that it may be more difficult in a city where woman outnumber men 13 to 1. But I really, really don't think that is an excuse for reckless abandonment of yourself, ladies. It may not seem like that's what you are doing, but every time you compromise your true self for the attention of someone else, not only are you relegating your own self-worth, you're also fueling the entitlement of self-centered people.

And yes, many women genuinely love to feel sexy, love to flaunt their assets and express themselves through high-end fashion and low-food intake. You know, I like makeup. I like feeling and looking good, too. I like new shoes and first dates and lip gloss. Heck I like dressing up and acting like a woman (rare, but true) and flirting, too. There's nothing wrong with taking care of yourself and having fun. But here's the thing:

You, and by you I mean the women who give women a bad name, have a fucking fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to love yourself, and what it means to sell yourself out.

In my very young, 24 year old freshly imported opinion, the moment a prospect of penis is introduced, everything else in many women’s lives becomes gray. I have seen and experienced, time and time again, the mysterious disappearance of a friend when a man is introduced, only to become the sporadic, wallowed shoulder after a fight about something stupid. I'll be there for you, too. We are all human and experience passion and fighting, irrationality and weakness. And I will comfort the shit out of you. But when it becomes permanent behavior, when erratic, self-pitying banter become the norm, that is when it is unacceptable. When you place more importance on your diet-o-the-week with the goal being to fit into those skinny jeans you've stapled to your front door, over showing up to your friend's home cooked meals, then you have disappointed me. Then you have contributed to the vicious, paltry cycle of gross materialism that infects the minds and hearts of women, and every little girl looking up to you. You love zombie! Stop eating our brains!

I only ask you to think about this: Why does sex or a relationship have to be the single most important influence over your happiness, where you live, what you choose to do, what you look like, what your interests are, and what your dreams become? Does it not seem like a shallow replacement for how you should feel about yourself? Shouldn't you want a counterpart to be a part of your life instead of the whole fucking thing? And don't you want to feel like an equal?

Maybe I'm too cynical at the ripe old phase of post adolescence, maybe I’m too critical, resentful, or scared to let someone influence me like that – especially deriving from the prospect of sex and attention – But, I can’t help that it infuriates me every time a woman, after dating someone for a week, adopts phrases like "WE'LL see you later!" or, "Oh, WE just couldn't, WE have so much to do this weekend" into her daily vernacular. Maybe I am making sweeping generalizations, but it just seems like a lot women think relationships are their main goal, their highest achievement, and must declare ownership of a man, like pissing on a tree, immediately. Have you ever thought that maybe it shouldn’t be your entire identity? You shouldn’t be Kyle’s girlfriend, and maybe you should have a life and set of interests that others identify you with before your relationship with someone else?

I should mention that I’m partially self aware; I realize this is most likely a self-indulgent and highly biased manifesto. But, I guess it’s better than taking it out on every starving, shallow money hungry sex driven retard in NYC who knows more about lipstick and high heels than they know about themselves; and every smart, respectable woman who transforms into a ball of stupid trying to act cutesy around their significant other. (Hint: Save it for when you’re not in public, save it for the quiet nights at home, whatever you do; just stop calling him baby in a whiny high pitched voice, especially on the phone at work. In your cubicle. Among 50 other cubicles. Note: WE CAN ALL FUCKING HEAR YOU.)

Wow. She’s really worked up. She thinks she’s so perfect, so rational, so edgy and curt, but she knows nothing about who I am. Who is she to judge? She’ll eat her words the second she’s in a relationship, too. She’s just jealous. She’s a coward for putting this on a blog, instead of saying it to whatever girl she’s talking about. Don’t hate me ‘cause you ain’t me. So on. So forth. I hear you, and whatever thoughts bounce up from your non-existent stop-gap. You want to know why? Because I am you.

I am faced with the same insecurities you are. Dear American Princess, I have fallen in love, too. Lust, too. I have felt lonely, and sought the company of others for a temporary solution. And yeah I have stared at a closet full of clothes and seen nothing. I might even have a couple pairs of emotional shoes, too. We all do. A completely rational life is the dumbest thing I can think of. Then again, so is following a penis around like a fucking pied piper. So what gives?

You have a choice. I think every woman will and should indulge in youth and sexuality, make some bad decisions, laugh about them the next day, shake them off, and learn the hard way. But after you do those things? You know, after all the Facebook stalking and new dress shopping, after all the subtext behind the texts and active sleepovers? After pretending to love the Atlanta Braves and Curb Your Enthusiasm and Derek Jeter’s batting average and Kenny Chesney… [can I insert trying to be a humble-yet-masturbatory HIPSTER through all of that? Oh come on, you’re not that ironic] take a time out, and learn from it.

Stop the rat race and do things for you. Stop pretending to like Kurt Vonnegut books and Kevin Smith movies just because he does (I mean you could, but probably don’t). Stop thinking ‘if you just lost 5 more pounds…’ then he would love you and every other silly thought going on in that spaghetti brain of yours. Value people, who, oh, I don’t know, appreciate your humor and intelligence, and the fact that you lead your own life instead of catering to theirs. You have so much more potential, you otherwise amazing woman. You might just find something more meaningful and impressive from your own brain; any maybe even stop one of those terrible, terrible types of men from thinking he deserves better than you. Because if you don’t respect yourself, then why the hell should he? I have complete faith in you, faith that somewhere buried underneath the Spanx, crash diets, and bandwagons that there is a much stronger woman in you. Can you just, like, let her show up to the party every once in a while? She’s so much more fun. Oh, here’s a song. I’m having a bad day. Whatever.

Cheers[sarcasm],

Merman

Do I like Telekinesis?

Well, obviously, I do. But, I haven't decided about the band. I like the song well enough, but can't decide if there's some sort of dark passenger hipster appeal sucking me in. Thoughts?

Telekinesis : Dirty thing from morr music on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Merman

Roethlisberger, Not David Bazan [who is better]

That's what I was trying to spell, but Firefox felt there were more appropriate alternatives:

I concur. I Con-Cur. Anyway, this little Roethlisbortion moment reminded me of a line from one of my new favorite tracks by David Bazan. He sings 'Because it's hard to be/ a decent human being'. Granted, I'm sure he wasn't talking about the strife of making bazillions of dolla dolla bills whilst wrecking motorcycles and raping bitches. I don't think Bazan, lead singer of indie minimalists Pedro the Lion and the very synthesized Headphones, would endorse said activity. He was probably just talking about littering and complacency.

Also, this infinitely better human being struck out on his own this year, band in hand for the first time in 5 years, and the last 2010 performance is at The Showbox in Seattle on Saturday, November 27. So, you should probably go.

Cheers,
Merman