Melding Screams and Shouts

stylin' into 2012 with origami samurai hats cause the dollar store across the street was closed

If you think about it, it's pretty lousy of us to wait 365 days just to tell ourselves that within the next 365 days you're going to do what you didn't do in the 365 days you just lived. I try not to force myself to make a turn-of-the-year resolution lists as a result, but I can't help but go to bed - covered in confetti, champagne, and remnants of slime from some celebratory Frenching - with thoughts of what the new year will entail and how I can better myself to make shit happen.

My family came to visit me last weekend, but more so to experience new year's eve in Time Square for the first time. (I'm pretty sure I put their travel priorities in the right order.) That weekend marked the end to the longest I've gone in not seeing my family, five months since August; and before that only three months last summer when I was in this city for an internship. Although there were bouts of annoyances that I didn't miss in living under the same roof, it was overwhelming to accept that through time, these familial encounters will shrink and the length of absences will expand. My mother is more understanding, more open, curious but not invasive; my siblings are more mature, more willing to share their personal passions, more respectful. I need to make the most out of these qualities and shared times for now on.

Mentally, this has been a very trying year. I stepped up to a green platform decorated in honors ropes questioning what I've been working on up to that point, realizing it may not be what I wanted to pursue as a career. Dealing with various setbacks has sprinkled my year with thoughts of uncertainty, uncertainty turned to fear, and thus slowed down my motivation and productivity. My social support fluctuated as my closest friends settled on opposite coasts (and Chicago) for the next chapter of their lives. Despite the tiny handful remaining in the small town which I spent most of my life, I knew that their emigrations were imminent, including my own.

I won't say that this has been a terrible year. A lot of my money went into some solo traveling on the weekend and breaks: visiting friends at shows and events around Ohio, Chicago, and saying hello again to my New Yorkers before settling months later. I've sent snail mail and care packages to those I couldn't see in the immediate future. I split my birthday week in Chicago and Columbus eating, drinking (a lot), dancing (not enough), and sweating (hot as balls that week), and somehow turned several awkward encounters into budding relationships. That didn't stop when I abruptly packed my bags and headed East. I stumbled upon new friends, rekindled old ones, and even developed unpredictable relationships with former acquaintances.

So fuck it. I'm diving into this year with smiles and laughs, and embracing my creative potentials. I've limited my resolutions to a very small, but powerful list: take chances (the part of 2010 me I miss greatly), embrace relationships, and "get money get paid." (Thanks, Chi City.) Oh, and finally combust into a giant cloud of dust when an asteroid hits the planet on doomsday.

... and I guess blog more. That was last year's resolution, and frankly I don't think I did a terrible job with that!

Reality of NYE: wasn't covered in confetti or doused in champagne, and didn't even receive my first kiss of 2012. (Yet.) I lost contact with all of my friends and, therefore, potential plans, around 9 p.m. Luckily, my brother bailed my family and the Time Square ball drop and come back to my apartment to use the toilet. A mixture of blasting Lil B, streaming the ball drop happening mere miles away (ungrateful denizen), walking around Williamsburg after midnight, and heading to bed before 2 a.m. Next year, a hotel party's gonna save me from being stranded YET AGAIN.

BUT WAIT! DON'T LEAVE. In the midst of this jovial state of mind, I compiled a mix of songs that stuck with me in the past year. This is not so much a "top songs of 2011" sort of mixtape... okay, maybe so as a lot of these tracks went through heavy rotation on my iPod, turntable, cassette player, etc. I know the music tastes of you readers are all over the board, but c'mon! It doesn't hurt to give it a spin and surprise yourself with a track or two you didn't expect to love. Hell, that's how I discovered a lot of these tracks. Plus, I decided to go pro and use my amateur knowledge of Audacity to MIX the mix. So ENJOI.

brought to you in 3D thanks to Miss Chance Morris

DOWNLOAD HERE

TRACK LISTING
1_ Lil B "Pretty Bitch"
2_ The Spits "No Place to Live"
3_ Warsaw "Leaders of Men"
4_ Unwound "Lucky Acid"
5_ Career Suicide "Cherry Beach"
6_ Duffy and the Doubters "Spider Baby Jesus"
7_ Milk Music "Out of My World"
8_ Bleached "Think of You"
9_ Toro Y Moi "Fax Shadow"
10_ Xeno and Oaklander "Sets and Lights"
11_ Pictureplane "Techno Fetish"
12_ Gary War "Grounds for Termination"
13_ Shabazz Palaces "Free Press and Curl"
14_ White Ring "Rick Ross - BMF [White Ring/One Nation Under God Remix]"
15_ Trust "Bulbform"
16_ Glass Candy "Etheric Device"
17_ //Tense// "Pulse Beat"
18_ Tyga "Racks City"
19_ Tyler, The Creator and N*E*R*D "Inside of Clouds [Remix]"
20_ Araabmuzik "Lost in A Maze"

And if you haven't gotten the chance to do so, download my other 2011 mixes: Sweaty Summer and Indonesian DIY Punk.

9_5. Words by A Girl Who Couldn't Get In: Fool's Gold Day Off @ City Winery, NYC

On Labor Day a friend and I got out of Brooklyn and headed to SoHo, a.k.a. my second 'hood, for the annual Fool's Gold Day Off fest. We made it to the event... with the exception that we didn't make it INTO the event.

The website urges attendees to come out early as "attendance is based on capacity," and the flyer is proven evidence that this warning was all in the bill. Juicy J of the Three6Mafia and weed aficionado fame headlines with Just Blaze, Bros. Macklovitch (A-Trak & Dave1), Araabmuzik (see post for how awesome he is), and more + special guests. Since Electric Zoo ended the day before, it's guaranteed that the special guests were going to be real treats for the crowd - one of them being Diplo and his forever unforgivably amazing dog tee. (See this photo I copped from Facebook. Glorious.) So of course everyone and their moms are going to make the trek to this event. It seemed acceptable to arrive an hour later than the start time because a) 2 p.m. is too early to those hungover from weekend BBQs and b) doesn't the majority arrive fashionably late to these all-day events anyway?

A surprise to many, it turns out that this was housed in a confined backyard of the City Winery with capacity of what must have been a teeny number. Long lines for both general and VIP admission were in queue and hopefuls stick around waiting to get in on the fun. A small crowd of kids in front of me grew agitated as event staff members and Fool's Gold representatives tell them that entry is closed due to capacity and fire hazard regulations. Fool's Gold wristbands were distributed among those in lines in hopes of alleviating the tension, though I didn't see them as guaranteed admission but symbols of a lost cause.

The metal gates are locked and what was once a linear line became a cluster and eventually a terrifyingly annoying cluster of teens/"adults" scheming to "stick it to the man." The premonition of madness laid in these words said by the king of brainstorming next to me, "There's more of us than them." Next thing you know, the whole front successfully plowed through the gates and failed an attempt to run to the event. I then see an event staff who previously tried to work with the crowd come out breathing fire through words, telling everyone that the event is indefinitely closed and no one will get in. Speechless and shaking heads at what just happened, the lingering crowd finally dispersed.


So it's almost like I was at the event. A piece of 2011 history for my autobiographical scrapbook.

So I'm going to say what's been on everyone's mind at that point, but may have not been said: the event organizer(s) needs to change the way these free shows are done. This whole ordeal took me back to December, when Fool's Gold hosted a free-for-the-public, admission-limited holiday party at Tammany Hall of which was headlined by Manny Fresh. Boom! Line down the street, barely moving, vips with an entourage of too many were cutting through, and those arriving on time suffered near hypothermia just to try their luck on getting in. Those in line got rowdy because they're freezing their asses off, and (surprise) authorities arrived to tell the crowd that they should go home.

I LOVE the label and its roster, and I'm sure these events were fantastic to those involved and those who were lucky enough to be a part of the crowd, but if you know that your events are going to be this big for the love of God please do not book them in small venues and, while doing so, advertise it as a free event for everyone. Either do what Mad Decent does with their block parties and book them in open air venues in which people can easily come and go, or host an admission lottery. I vehemently condemn the behavior of those who roughed it up with authorities and bum rushed the gates, but precautions could have eliminated this stupidity. If those in VIP can't even get in, then I say this is a problem that needs to be addressed and fixed at the next event. That's just my two cent.

8_31. DIS_RT W/ #HDBOYZ, ARAABMUZIK, GLASSPOPCORN @ MoMA PS1, NYC

Ryan Trecartin "Any Ever" exhibition



Glasspopcorn
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Araabmuzik
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#HDBOYZ

My friend Shannon and I took a cab north to Long Island City to check out the DIS_RT event at MoMA PS1. This was the closing party to LA-based artist Ryan Trecartin's first large-scale installation in New York titled "Any Ever." It's the internet culture of today coming to life: there's too much to see, hear, and feel that even the most jaw-dropping evoking sensation comes and goes like a passing Farrari only to be shown up by something new and flashy. There was a wait on the headphones that accompanied the installation, and I managed to snag a pair after 7 minutes in queue.

Outside, however was a throng of some of the gaudiest, sexiest, trippiest, and hippest kids (and I mean to list these adjectives in separates) of New York City. After having to first drown myself in this human sea to get a Brooklyn Lager tall can, Shannon and I gravitated toward the hip gyrating trannies with heels planted on an Escalade. (We love 'em.) I haven't heard of Glasspopcorn and his Tumbularity until tonight's show, and this odd popularity and fascination surrounding this kid that I was somehow oblivious to suddenly made me feel old - especially since he's 15-year-old and putting his rap career under the spotlight at freaking MoMA PS1.

The two draws for me, other than checking out Trecartin's exhibit before it closed, was #HDBOYZ (who I'll get to soon) and seeing turbo-fingers himself Araabmuzik pretty much recreate his work with seeming ease that we may as well have him draw a straight line on stage. This guy's works have been the voice nets of artists like Dipset, Busta Rhymes, and Fabulous, and you'd be an idiot to not check out "Electronic Dreams" if you're into this stuff. To prove that his live producing performance wasn't just putting a laptop on deck, there had to be a brief intermission during his set because I'm sure his fingers would swell to prunes otherwise. I knew there was a reason to stand up front, and I'm so glad I did.

So I'm beyond anxious for a video of #HDBOYZ to hit Youtube, Vimeo, whathaveyou because I don't think some words on a screen would do its justice on explaining how this 20-minute set made the highlights of my summer list. They are, according to their first interview with DIS, "the world's first boyband in high definition." I could not refrain from bursting out in fits of laughter over the brilliance in the execution of their performance. If you love a throng of handsome man serenading words like "HDMI in love?" to you, then you better not sleep on their next potential live appearance. I can't guarantee that a spectacular fireworks performance would soon follow.

Images source (except for the blurry phone pics) and more photos at: Weirdmagic.biz