third time's a charm...

i've moved...

2006-03-25T16:32:00.000-05:00

please redirect yourself to aaronsawyer.com to get the "latest"....

ladies and gentlemen, the unthinkable has happened...

2005-12-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true, the unthinkable has happened, my free webspace so generously hosted by UK has seemed to vanish into the thin airs of the world wide web. What this means to you, or in normal people speak, most of the links to songs are dead, officially six.feet.under. So you must hold tightly until I can find some more space, or a new pad to host my fun "blog parties"...okay I have found myself drifting, back.on.topic. (is there ever a topic, alright, back onto the stream of conscious...who's a what's it...)

I'm writing to you from a little thing we call Walt Disney World killing time before I journey to France, England, Morocco, Norway, Germany, China and other spots of the world, well, let's reduce my world travels to a little place called the Experimental Planned Community of Tomorrow, no I'm not joining a cult, just heading to EPCOT.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Franz Ferdinand are reporting that they have nearly 12-14 songs in the pocket and are supposedly heading back to the studio shortly after their release of You Could Have It So Much Better.

In what looks like an act of protest to those blaspheming folks at MTV and VH1, DCFC, are apparently releasing a video for every track on their new record, Plans (...so I made that whole blaspheming part up, but hey, if the shoe fits...)

Travis is back in the studio recording a follow up to 12 Memories, with producer Nigel Godrich whom you might recognize as the producer of The Man Who and The Invisible Band. Following the trend of nearly every major recording act they are chronicling this recording process in a series of online journals on their website.

The ever litigation happy Fab Four are back at again, this time their target, EMI. As if they couldn't collectively go out and buy Africa they feel compelled to sue EMI for over $50M clams. Has Yoko's crack habit really gotten that bad??

further proof that myspace is the next major world religion

2005-12-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

See for yourself... Who has the time for this anyways??

my space or your space...

2005-12-03T01:34:00.000-05:00

If you are reading this blog, and by putting these words together in your mind to form sentances, you are indeed reading this blog, then you know about MySpace and its uncanny ability to suck people into is HTML black hole and judge the caliber of person they are by the amount of friends and comments they have on their profile. Oh how fragile life is...

Despite being a black hole of wasted time and self-worth (and latest marketing craze, MySpace has created a great way for unsigned acts to get their music to the masses across the globe and this post is going to be some of my top pics of MySpace meglomaniac.

For several months, Matt over at You Ain't No Picasso, has raved about Locksley, and frankly I wouldn't have heard of this Brooklyn gem if it hadn't been for him. Deliever powerful, British Invasion Era pop, these guys have made a name for themselves in the NYC club scene. Listening to these guys will remind you of early Beatles (think Meet the Beatles or Beatles for Sale) or The Kinks, right down to the matching suits. From the abundance of "hook-y-ness" to the vibrant harmonies, Locksley is a band you need to be introduced to. Check out their MySpace page to download four songs from their first EP.

Friends, sometimes you just want to kiss them on the mouth for letting you in on acts like Castledoor. I owe this one to my good pal, Alex. Castledoor is California indie whatever, yes indie whatever, not quite electronic not quite rock but not alternative or pop or mainstream, thus indie whatever (aside from music snob I'm now a genre creator). With amazing programming and engaging soundscapes, Castledoor can be reminiscent of the Postal Servie or Styrofoam at times and voice that hints of early Alex Greenwald (of Phantom Planet) but with a sound all to their own. Originally a duo they have now expanded to a trio consisting of Gabe Combs, Nate Cole, and Adam Breeden. Interestingly enough, the only place you can find these guys is on MySpace, so make your way over to their MySpace page where you can download a three song EP/demo.

Next time look for a spotlight of some of my Belmont U. buddies that have their music up on MySpace.

In other news, another REUNION!! Why are all my favorite bands of my adolescence getting back together, one would assume that this would be a joyous occasion but let me remind you of the crime of the Green Album by Weezer... Thanks to Reese on this find.

there is a puddle by my computer...

2005-10-27T02:28:00.000-04:00

Consider yourself warned....

doveman.

2005-10-25T23:02:00.000-04:00

doveman plays lamp rock
doveman plays insomnia pop
doveman likes jasmine tea and single malt scotch
doveman does not live in brooklyn
where is brooklyn?

Alright, if you can understand that please let me know because it still confuses me. Well except for that Brooklyn part because on the first couple listens you might think that doveman was a roomate of Sufjan's during the recording of Seven Swans. Doveman is laid back folk/jazz/acoustic...ok let's just say that doveman is mellow, the perfect thing to compliment a cool night at home dedicated to relaxing and doing whatever you do when you throw on mellow music. The music can be reminiscent of Sufjan's at times (I would say due to the use of the banjo as more of an acousitc guitar) but the voice definately reminds me of Belle and Sebastian, it just sounds foreign at times. Silent Uproar has a great review of their album The Acrobat up on their site. Their website has two MP3's from The Acrobat up for download along with some life cuts and their Steffani Birthday EP. But for you here's some music anyways...

MP3:
Doveman - Honey
Doveman - Teacup

Kevin Max and Mikeschair @ Exit/In October 23rd

2005-10-24T22:57:00.000-04:00

Last night was surely a milestone in my life, not really a "milestone" in the sense like a giant monolith that appears due to an event in your personal history but more like a "yardstone"; I could relate it to you like an 8-year old boy finding a geode in his backyard.

It was the first truly cold night in Nashville this fall and I had just returned home from Chitown a mere 4 hours earlier from seeing the bless'd Whitesox clean up in the World Series game one against the Houston Astros. It had been a struggle to get back in time but I had to get back in town to see this show. My roomates' band, mikeschair, was opening for Kevin Max, 1/3 of the Christian super-group DC Talk. This was huge to me as DC Talk's albums like, Free At Last, JESUS FREAK, and Supernatural were staples in my musical upbringing. I can look you in the eye and say that band and those albums were direct segways to me getting into the bands I love today like Radiohead, U2, Indie Rock and serveral others. The last time I saw DC Talk, well for this entry's purpose, Kevin Max was in either late 97 or early 98 during their Supernatural Tour at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Needless to say it had been a while since my last experiance with any member of the former poster boys of Contemporary Christian Music. It was a tad surreal for me to see Kevin Max in a small club with a capacity of approximately 500 when the past three times I saw him were in venues that could seat in the five digits.

The show started an hour later than it was supposed to (I would know, the fruits of my labor happened to be the concert poster) which translated to the audience waiting outside in the cold an hour longer than we were supposed to, oh well, it could've been like the Sufjan show where we waited outside for over two hours to get into the venue. After we got in Exit/In the show started promptly with a great set from mikeschair, where they tore through their standards like "Be Hear Now", "Awaken Me", "Free", and the new Mute Math inspired "Otherside". Being a Nashville based band they brought a good crowd to the show and had great presence for their first appearance at the famed Exit/In. If you're into CCM consider yourself warned, these boys are about to become a household name (...so I felt a bit obligated to say that seeing that three of them are my roomates).

KMax's set followed a prompt 20 mintues later, I thought it'd be a lot longer set change based on the hour doors delay precedent, but started off with a rather rockin' number known as "Confessional Booth" (or at least that's what I remember it opened with...where was my notepad when I needed it). The set lasted a little over an hour, he played most of the songs off his new record and a couple off his old, he popped out "Your Beautiful Mind" for the token mid show acoustic set and closed with an acoustic song which I can't remember backed by the guitarist for The Violet Burning.

I walked out really impressed by the show, through all the years/albums/live shows, Kevin's voice has really stood the test of time and don't worry he still has the Leslie Cabinet firmly placed between the vocal chords for Elvis like vibrato. He seemed a bit awkward on the stage at times, often singing with one hand tucked firmly in his blazer pocket but that could be for several reasons, it was a CD Release party, a triumphat return to Nashville with a new outlook on life and new material, and it was a club show, a far cry from the venues of yesteryear. It was a throroughly good rock show with great musicianship and quality songs.

KMax was performing songs off his new release, The Imposter, out now on Northern Records. It's more of a rock 'n' roll effort than his last release which was just a little more weird. Throughout the record you find elements of the new wave renaissance in the backing programming and synths in tracks like "Confessional Booth" and "The Imposter" but there's also a major riff rock song in "The Royal Path of Life". The Imposter has a very spiritual feel to it, as is to be expected from an old CCM artist, but on listening to this record a couple times it's a very honest spiritual vibe. Growing up, I was weened on Christian rock, acts like Audio Adrenaline, Hoi Polloi, Dakota Motor Co., Black Eyed Sceva, Bleach, the classics...and after looking back on this and listening to the records again you get the sense that a lot of these songs lyrically seemed forced or canned so they can still fit in the scope of mainstream Christian rock. In "The Imposter", Kevin is very poetic about his journey struggle with spirituality when he realizes that the imposter in his faith is actually him. At the helm of this project was Andrew Prickett (of Violet Burning) who along with producer played the roles of guitar, keys and keyboarding. He did a great job of straight up bringing the rock on this record but still spotlighting the out and out talent that KMax possesses in "manley vox box". From "Confessional Booth" to "Fade To Red" you can truley tell that while Toby Mac might have been the marketting genius behind DC Talk, Kevin Max was definately the voice that defined them.

MP3:
Kevin Max - Sanctuary
Kevin Max - Confessional Booth

Post Script: Be sure to check out the post below, cause yeah, it's definately been two posts in one night...oh baby, I'm back!

tales of handsome blokes and dashing dames...

2005-10-24T22:14:00.000-04:00

So the title of this post has nothing to do with the content you are reading and hopefully will continue to read but as I ponder words I will fill this page with and that expanse known as the title bar stars back at me feeling ever so deprived and I fill it in with the wittiest most clever comment I can think of in 30 seconds. Run on sentance I know, Mrs. Samples be damned... Alright onto what is important. According Silent Uproar, Keane's November 8th follow up to Hopes and Dreams, Strangers, will include "...a 2-disc DVD set featuring a documentary about the band, backstage footage, live concert footage, and exclusive practice space footage..." They also have a review of My Morning Jacket's new album and The Beatle's This Bird Has Flown... Tribute.

I was flying from Chicago to Louisville yesterday and I had managed to forget my headphones to my iPod so it was looking to be a quiet flight, in lieu of this I made my way to Hudson News to scope out the books, which happened to be way overpriced (Thanks Amazon for making me a true ebenezer), then I wandered over to the periodical section sifting through the women's interest and porn, I found the latest issue of Rolling Stone. To my amusement Bono was gracing the cover of this issue, it happened to be the 12th time he has had this honor. The contents of this issue centered around "the interview" with Bono, I kind of brushed it off as just a 2 or 3 page spread but decided to purchase this publication despite my gut feeling. As I made my way onto Southwest Flight 412 I became pleastenly surprised that 2-3 pages was only the tip of the iceburg on this large interview. It was an amazing interview where Bono let down his guard and discussed his childhood, faith, politics and music. You might now like U2 and you might think Bono is a nut or maybe even the antichrist but he surely is a good leader for the college aged of this generation who encourages us to get off our posteriors and get involved not just in our community but in the world. You should definately pick up this issue and check out the interview or go here to read a snippet of it and even download a podcast: Bono Interview.

the end is near?

2005-10-19T23:32:00.000-04:00

Well it seems that Florida is about to wiped off the face of this earth, thanks Wilma... Today was a good day in the life of Aaron as far as music is concerned, today might end with my and a broken heart but at least I've got good music as the ol' ticker is being mended. Ok, so I made up the thing about the broken heart, but the music, yeah, good day. So I downloaded This Bird Has Flown... and the Stubbs the Zombie Soundtrack this afternoon on iTunes and I must say good gods of music wahoo. Do I come off excited, well I apologize but after hearing the Beatles and hearing people cover the Beatles, I am consistently amazed at how extraordinary these four lads from Liverpool. The Beatles to me are ranked up there with the great discovers/innovators such as Lights Out Edison, I'm Calculus Newton, and Where The Hell's China Polo. They have crafted some of the most recognized songs in the past century. To me, the best songwriters are those who can make the listener feel as if they've written the lyrics to the song. Rubber Soul is that album. I'm a sucker for Beatles covers, well let me rephrase that, I'm a sucker for good Beatles covers such as This Bird Has Flown... and the I Am Sam soundtrack. Each artist in both of these projects is careful not to blaspheme the Beatles' name but at the same time adds their own style and flavor. This now segways me into the new Paul McCartney record, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. Life must be going well for Sir McCartney if he can be in his sixties and still making good music. I was blown away at the quality of his voice after that many years of performing. With this album Paul re-established himself as the solo artist that put out classic albums like Ram and McCartney.

MP3:
The Wallflowers - I'm Looking Through You
Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On
The Fiery Furnaces - Norwegian Wood (Courtesy of Stereogum)

the rapture is near...

2005-10-06T21:38:00.000-04:00

Neuticles
Yes that's right, fake nuts for you dogs that come in "...different sizes, shapes, weights and degrees of firmness." We surely are going to hell in a nutsack... In case is your pet is fixed but you feel compelled to give your pet the confidence he once had when he had balls, you can get more information here.

oh mercy, it's been sometime...

2005-10-03T22:27:00.000-04:00

Currently I'm residing at Portland Brew on beautiful 12 South in Nashville and what that means to you is absolutely nothing but what that means to me is that I have internet access. T-Minus 12 days till the move and semi-permanent internet and more stable blogging. Well I'm sure all of you are dying to know the latest of what's going on in the music world and I'm here to save your worries and fill you in. Tomorrow is Tuesday which some might say is the best day of the week because it's new music day!!! It just so happens that tomorrow is a rather remarkable Tuesday, Fiona releases her new record as does Franz Ferdinand, I know I will be venturing to either Grimey's or Tower to invest in these quality compact discs, well most notably the new Fiona Apple disc is a dual disc which means tons of amazing extras!! In other news I'm fairly ticked that I missed out on the Death Cab tickets for their City Hall gig on the 28th, looks like I'll be making my way on to eBay... Well I never thought I would see an artist on a Christian label to break the top 10 albums on iTunes but the David Crowder* Band managed to do so and even top out at number two. It's a pretty righteous album (haha) but I'll throw up a full review of it soon. But in the meantime do enjoy the following tunes:

MP3:
Death Cab For Cutie - Start Again (B-Side)
Death Cab For Cutie - Bad Reputation (B-Side)
David Crowder* Band - You Alone (Finally)

Post Script: So it's been spring cleaning in Aaron land and I've taken all the MP3's from past posts down so I'm sorry if you missed something, if you see something you would like, email me and I'll find a way to get to you, but if you read something and see a link to a song, chances are, your eyes are lying to you...

tales of an ark (an ark-ansas that is...)

2005-09-13T11:28:00.000-04:00

Today I find myself on a stale hotel bed wanting more than ever to find a record store and waste some money. Several good records find their way to the shelves today, the long awaited Nigel-produced McCartney album, the new David Gray record, the new Sigur Ros and even the new Switchfoot disc if you are into that. I'm currently in Harrison, AK for a couple of days and I now know why this is my first time here, it's a nice place? but I don't know why people call Kentucky the land of the inbreds but let me tell you Arkansas definately needs to be considered the next time they consider a capitol for Redneck-topia.

Now if I have any readers from the Razorback state then I apologize but let me explain my first experience on Arkansas soil. It was about 1:30 yesterday afternoon, it was hot and the sun was high in the sky. We had left from Nashville at 7:00a so we'd been driving for a while in a small van with a lot of gear. The van pulls up to a Sonic somewhere about an hour and half outside Harrison, Arkansas and I am cramped and I have to go to the bathroom, so I spy a gas station right next door to the Sonic and begin the journey I'll never forget. Whether I was blinded by the urge to relieve myself or just plain out of it why I didn't spot this on the way into the gas station, I'll never know. However, on the way out of the gas station I pass two farm fresh pick-up trucks. The one to my left seemed to filled with some sort of animal manure and it smelled so wretched that I nearly gagged and I'm not even prone to queasiness from olfactory sensation. The next sight didn't sink in until I was nearly back to the van. In the truck to my left i spotted a set of bull horns but what was attached to the bull horns was what was horrific to me, a still rotting bull skull. You might need to read that again - a still rotting cranium, temple, mandible, teeth, etc. of a bull. At first glance it appeared to just one of those token animal skulls with horns that you hang on a wall or attach to the grill of a truck but when i saw some flesh still attached to the calcium-enriched bone I was needless to say flabbergasted. Ladies and Gentlemen that is my first experience with Arkansas.

I was so amazed/traumatized by that experience I felt that I owed it to you to share it, now let's talk about music. Today could put me in the hole quite a bit at the record store but aside from that you should make your way over to Paul McCartney's website and register. Once you register you get access to his Chaos & Creation bulletin board where you can stream three of the albums tracks, Fine Line, Jenny Wren, and Promise to You Girl, and a video for Fine Line. Promise to You Girl is very reminescent of his days in the Fab Four with harmonies and show-tune-like piano.

Let me tell you about a Chicago-based band called The Redwalls. They are straight up rock n roll band that seems to have lost its place in the seventies. I can thank a Tower Records listening station for this find, upon dawning the headphones the first thing I noted was the vocals of Logan Baren. Imagine Bob Dylan and John Lennon having a child together, I'll let you decide who the mother would be, cliche as it is it sounds like an exact cross between Dylan and Lennon, it's kind of freaky. If you are into balls out rock and roll give them a listen.

The Redwalls - It's Alright

Switchfoot - Stars (Video) I don't care if you like Switchfoot or not but you need to check out this video, most of it was shot under water in front of a green screen, very cool...

Eagerly Awaiting...

post-script: over the next week i will be taking down several of the mp3s off the site so i can make more room for the future, so if you try to download something and you can't either RIAA has got a hold of me or I've taken it down.

social services should arrest me for neglect...

2005-09-07T18:37:00.000-04:00

Since it's already been established that 1) I suck at life and 2) I'm a terrible blogger, I can now move on and post stuff, whatever the vague term may be. I'm still/currently residing in Nashville and fall is breathing down our necks and as the seasons change I am a firm believer that one's musical library should shift with the seasons as well. So when the winter months dawn I will resuscitate such artists like David Gray, Eastmountainsouth, Nickel Creek, and generally mellow music but when the first day of summer dawns the Allman Brother's Eat A Peach or The Rentals Return of the Rentals will be the first thing played...however that doesn't really pertain to anything I'm posting about today.

I have a solid love for the band Radiohead, each of their albums means something a little bit different to me, I always tell people that if I had to be stuck with one artist's or band's catalog that I would choose Radiohead's. From Pablo Honey on up through their latest, Hail to the Thief, I love it all, of course some I like better than others but seriously, they are one of the greatest bands of all time and if you disagree you should stop reading right now. Needless to say whenever I find something of Radiohead's that is not found on an album I find myself going to any measure to get it. The latest of these is Not For Profit, a site for Live Radiohead mp3's. If you make your way to the site you can find a show of just Thom and Mr. J. Greenwood performing on the radio show, Morning Becomes Eclectic, somewhere around the time Hail to the Thief was released. Thom's perfomance at the Trade Movement Justice (rally?) from April '05 is also up. If you are a fan of music, I highly recommend checking this out. If you download any of the files they download in the .txt format so all you have to do is change that to .mp3 by either using "properties" on your windows machine or "get info" on a mac.

My buddy informed me of this next website, Elliott Smith B-Sides & Other Songs. I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Smith, don't get me wrong he's a highly influential individual who crafted great music, I just couldn't get into his voice for an entire album. But I browsed the site and it seems to be a pretty wicked sweet source for all your rare Elliott Smith needs.

Yeah, so why didn't someone let me know how good Bloc Party was earlier, I thought they were just a new wave fad band, but boy was I wrong...

we built this city on rock/roll....

2005-08-23T14:29:00.000-04:00

Well, I've officially relocated my residence, I am now a resident of the ever beautiful (and oh so hooott) Nashville, Tennessee. I've transfered from the University of Kentucky (i will always bleed blue) to the small Belmont University. Gone are the days of pouring over calculus and physics books and I am certainly welcoming my new subject of music business, hopefully I will enjoy going to college now. I must apologize for my lack of posts as of late as I've been fighting to find a steady internet connection, right now I sit in the Curb Cafe on Belmont's campus because I don't move into my apartment until after Labor day and the house I'm staying at doesn't subscribe to the information super-highway. But as soon as I land in a place with a good connection and some time I will resume regular posting and start throwing up some songs.

Anywho on to some music news...It looks as if Fiona Apple's new release, Extraordinary Machine, will be a dual-disc with a ton of cool video features, you can make your way over to her website and check out a preview of some of the features on the dual disc. Radiohead is back in the studio recording their follow up to 2003's Hail to the Thief and they are doing a good/weird job of documenting it on their blog. Maybe it's me, and don't hear this as complaining, but it seems every band these days is documenting the making of their album in blog format. Everyone is getting ready for Death Cab for Cutie's next release, Plans, and now you can to if you make your way over to MTVU where you can listen to tracks and see exclusive performances.

stand back, we're coming to america...

2005-08-17T14:37:00.000-04:00

Welcome back, err....

So so much has happened since I've returned, Peter Jennings has gone on home after losing his battle with lung cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Cancer is a terrible thing. But on the brighter side of things Fiona Apple's long awaited follow up to When the Pawn..., Extraordinary Machine, will finally hit shelves on October 4th thanks to our friends at Epic Records. iTunes has a exclusive EP from Fiona available to download featuring a rerecorded version of O' Sailor and a new song called Parting Gift. Fiona rerecorded nine of the songs from the original Extraordinary Machine disc for this new release. Elbow's new album, Leaders of the Free World has been pushed back to a September 27th release but they will include a DVD with music videos for each track on the disc. Franz Ferdinand has a new song, "Do Yo Want To", up on their MySpace page.

Artists such as Radiohead, Bloc Party, Razorlight, Hard-Fi, Elbow and many more are contributing their talents for another War Child charity this time entitled, Help: A Day in the Life. This disc will be in honor of the 10th anniversary of the first War Child disc, Help, which was released to raise support for Bosnian war victims. But you ask, what's the catch, well here it is, all the bands featured on the disc will go into the studio on September 8th and then the compilation will be release on War Child's website September 9th. That's right the next day. So what this means is you should send your favorite band hate mail next time they spend a year(s) in the studio.

leaving on a jet plane...

2005-08-06T15:13:00.000-04:00

Well last night was the wedding of the century (I'm the dude on the right), no ladies don't be discouraged, I didn't take the plunge. But my good friends Matt and Andrea decided to walk down the aisle, only after a half of decade of dating needless to say. So let's raise the glasses and say congratulations. In other news, I will be going into blog hermit/neglect mode once again as I will be traveling to Northern Ireland for a short while but hear you me, there will be plenty of stories to share once I get back, but in the meantime I'll leave you with some tunes for your enjoyment.

As I sit here in the lovely airport that is bluegrass field I would like to talk about a certain artist I discovered while browsing the listening stations of my favorite local CD store. Her name is Erin McKeown. According to Google, she is a funky folk artist, whatever that means but to me she appears to be a refreshing collaboration of all my favorite female artists. She has the pop craft of Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann with a voice that is somehow reminiscent of both all the while with hints of Bjork and Jen Lewis sometimes. So here are a couple tunes for your aural enjoyment:

MP3:
Erin McKeown - Aspera
Erin McKeown - Beautiful (I Guess)

MP3:

Radiohead and Marvin Gaye - Sexual High

Please check out my friends and you'll noice that Matt at YANP has an entire live video of a Sufjan show from San Francisco. Regnyouth Archives has the new Death Cab, Nickel Creek, Iron and Wine/Calexico and Sigur Ros albums up for download. Welcome to the M!dwest! has several setlist and a few live shows from Sufjan Stevens up to download or at least knows where you can download them. Indoor Fireworks has a cool entry on PJ Harvey and a few tracks up to download, with one featuring Thom Yorke on vocals. Silent Uproar reported that Athlete are headed back to the states for a fall tour.

September
15 Cambridge, MA T.T. The Bear's
16 Montreal, QC LaTulipe
18 Ottawa, ON Zaphod Beeblebrox
19 Toronto, ON Opera House
21 Chicago, IL Double Door
26 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
27 San Francisco, CA Slim's
29 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
30 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom

October
1 Seattle, WA KEXP radio show @ Neumo's
3 Baltimore, MD Sonar Club Stage
4 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
5 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
6 Atlanta, GA The Loft

PJ Harvey - The Mess We're In

Fab Channel - This is a terrific foreign website that hosts a load of live concerts of all the bands that matter, like Damien Rice, Snow Patrol, The Arcade Fire, Death From Above 1979, Ron Sexsmith and many, many, many more.

Some Funny Stuff

Here's some funny pages to tide you over while you remain stuck on the edge of your seat waiting for my blogging return.

Don't Be That Guy - All the no-no's of having a cell phone...

Jesus Is He Your Redeemer?

Percy Bible Fellowship - Probably the single most funny thing I've run across on the internet this past year, the online comics, although short, are "side-splitting" funny. My personal favorite is "Astronaut Fall".

Baby Got Book - Those funny Christians are up to it again...

Aaron Ruell - Not so much funny but cool photography from Napoleon Dynamite's, Kip.

this bird has flown, i'm a complete slacker...

2005-08-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

I am going on record for admitting to you that I have a complete and total slacker for not posting in what feels like eternity. Today I will try to make it up to you by bringing you the coolest in good music.

First off, Pitchfork has a review of the new Franz Ferdinand album, You Could Have It So Much Better...With Franz Ferdinand. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Razor & Tie records are releasing This Bird has Flown...A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul on October 25th. Included on the tribute are artists such as Ted Leo, Fiery Furnaces, Ben Harper, and Sufjan Stevens. Well, shoot, here's the complete tracklist:

01 Drive My Car - The Donnas
02 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - The Fiery Furnaces
03 You Won't See Me - Dar Williams
04 Nowhere Man - Low
05 Think for Yourself - Yonder Mountain String Band
06 The Word - Mindy Smith
07 Michelle - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
08 What Goes On - Sufjan Stevens
09 Girl - Rhett Miller
10 I'm Looking Through You - Ted Leo
11 In My Life - Ben Lee
12 Wait - Ben Kweller
13 If I Needed Someone - Nellie McKay
14 Run for Your Life - Cowboy Junkies

MP3:
Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On

If you are looking for some of Sufjan's latest shows make your way over to Welcome to the M!dwest!. If you would like to stream a new track from the David Crowder*Band's new album, A Collision, head on over to their Myspace page.

So now I'm offering up my pennance for being a bad blogger:

MP3:
Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan (new from Plans)
Coldplay - Talk (Alternate Take)
Kraftwerk - Computer Love

AND....you might be able to find most of the Sigur Ros album, Takk, here.

a few things...

2005-07-26T21:13:00.000-04:00

A few house keeping tid-bits for you. I was kindly informed that in order to post a comment you had to be a member, I've since switched this and now every creature can now leave me a comment, even though most choose to remain anonymous. So...as a student at the University of Kentucky you get certain priviledges. Things like student discounts all over town and $5 tickets to the best college basketball team in history. Another perk is 200 MB of free webspace which has been home to most the MP3's on this site. Now here's where the hitch in my giddy-up comes. I'm no longer an enrolled student at UK, I'm now seeking greener pastures at Belmont University in Nashville. I'm not really sure how much longer my account at UK will be up which basically means I don't know how much longer all these songs will be up to download. So basically you should get all the songs you can while the gettin's good. I've also updated the side bar with some more contact info and added a couple more blogs that you all should check out. Be sure to stop by LightMuzik and enjoy a ton of great albums he's got up there.

I've been hard at work at my first big feature on Thid Time's a Charm, The Family Tree of Matt Sharp, so keep your eyes peeled for that one, it should be up in about a week.

You might be wondering about what the heck is goin' on up there, is that the X&Y album art? Well, sorta... As I was browsing through the Rock Snob's site I stumbled across the X&Y art generator. The lovely Rock Snob also turned me on to Tom Cruise's Blog. Boy, I thought Top Gun and Days of Thunder was enough to catapult him to mega movie star status but this is just icing on the cake.

So back to the point of this site, music, I found out that Deathray has a new album this week and if you make your way over to their Myspace page you can stream a track from their new album, Believe Me, along with a demo and some other songs. But more on Deathray later...fuz out...

more to say about nothing...

2005-07-26T00:27:00.000-04:00

Although the clock says it's Tuesday, it's still Monday in my mind. It was a great weekend, I got to spend a day and a half relaxing on the lake doing a bit of jet-skiing, cliff jumping and sun burning. Needless to say the wave runners ran out of gas not once but thrice during the two days on the water. We only had to get a tow once, thank the lord for the reserve tank.

Anywho, there's not a whole lot to report on today. If you head over to Welcome to the M!dwest! you can find a partial Sufjan Stevens live show from 2003. It's posted out of order but all the songs have the talking and story telling and to even top all this off, Sufjan does an excellent cover of R.E.M.'s "One I Love". For all you with Real Player, Mr. M!dwest! also has a video of Sufjan's performance at KCRW.

OK...now I remember what I was going to talk about this evening. Fiona freakin' Apple. She's one of those artists I always knew I'd like but never really felt like pony-ing up the $15 to get one of her discs. After caving in and getting Tidal and When the Pawn... I was floored. This woman is a genius, her songs are so well written and recorded (I give a lot of credit to Jon Brion for this. Her songs about relationships, heartbreak, and just being pissed off are amazingly musical and well crafted. Even her big singles in "Criminal" and "Fast as You Can" are lightyears ahead of where the top 40 is now and was 9 years ago when "Criminal" first hit the air waves. So you might be like me and ask yourself where/what the heck is Ms. Apple up to these days, she hasn't had an album out in nearly 6 years. Despite no contact from her, she's been a somewhat busy girl. In 2003, she went back into the studio with Jon Brion to record her third album, Extraordinary Machine. According to several fansites like fionaapple.org and freefiona.com and other resources Sony shelved the project labeling it too non-commercial. There's that "man" for you. Fionaapple.org also claims another story about the shelved record, they claim that Fiona was unhappy with Brion's work and has since started working on her second third album with producer, Brian Kehew (Moog Cookbook).

I just want you to know that I'm going to take a risk for you loyal readers. After hearing about Fiona's unreleased third album I decided to go on a hunt with trusty Google. A little while later I found myself enjoying Fiona's latest work, Extraordinary Machine. I ran across several sites that had cease and desist like orders from the Sony copyright folks, but lucky for us music fans they can't really fine us because this album happens to be unreleased. So for your aural enjoyment:

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine

elbow...

2005-07-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

On September 6th, Elbow is set to release Leaders of the Free World the follow up to 2003's Cast of Thousands. After hearing most of the album, LOTFW is a good protraction from Cast of Thousands. It has a very similar vibe to the last album all the while gaining a certain evolution to song writing to keep the listener involved throughout the record. LOTFW tends to be a little more politically charged album than their previous effort, the title track is evidence enough of that, "The leaders of the free world are just little boys that throw stones / and it's easy to ignore / till they're knocking on the door of your house".If anyone was to criticize Elbow's albums it would be that they might have the tendency to lag in a few places but on LOTFW Elbow's "upbeat songs" seem to be well spaced out from their patented brit-rock ballads. If you want to check out lyrics and track listing to here and to find a sneak peak of the full album check that out here.

beetles or is it the beatles...

2005-07-21T14:48:00.000-04:00

Not long after lunch I was cleaning up the conference room because Thursday is always firm lunch day and as the #1 runner here at the firm (funny, i'm the only runner) it is typically my duty to do the menial tasks of cleaning up after the lawyers, etc. I was planning on doing my typical routine for the afternoon of making sure all my work was done then zoning out for a couple hours when one of the secretarys told me to drive to the booming metropolis of Paris, KY to pick up something for one of the lawyers in the office. Now, I always enjoy getting out of the office and getting paid for it, I can crank the A/C and listen to good tunes on the clock, there's nothing better. So I'm rollin' down US 68 en route to Paris and all I'm noticing is that every 20 or so seconds my windshield gets pelted with some foreign object not being precipitous or of the air nature. Half way there I realize the culprit was none other than the Japanese Beetle, or Popillia japonica for those so inclined in biology. Just like our other arthropod friends, the Cicadas, the Japanese Beetles are enjoying their summer in the infestation spotlight.

On the return trip home from Paris I decided to pass the 17 miles by counting just how many Japanese Beetles my car would have the good fortune to collide with. By the time I reached the interstate over pass my tally was at FORTY-EIGHT!!, yes, you read that right 48 poor beetles either lost their life or were severely maimed due to my car.

Oh yes and one more thing, apparently the Japanese Beetle is a very sexual creature as well. I would like to thank the Google image search for making this all possible.

MP3:
The Beatles - Drive My Car

pas/cal...

2005-07-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

For those of you down on the indie scene or those who simply watch waaaayy too much TV, you should already know about PAS/CAL. This band hails from Motor City, USA and provide their listeners with lush indie pop melodies. PAS/CAL seems to draw several comparisons to the Beach Boys because of their multiple harmonies and summer-fun-sounding music although the lyrics might tell you other wise.

As you listen to their track, "The Bronze Beach Boys", you might think, "hmm...where on earth have I heard that?" But whoa! oh readers, it's not on earth that you've heard that track but on Saturn, the most famous of the circumscribed planets, well or that car company that names their cars after clever three letter words like vue and ion. The kind of odd thing here is that despite the nagging comparisons to the beach boys and power pop of yester-year they name a track after that which chafes them to begin with. The way I see it the music (vocals not included) is a little reminiscent of early Eels, mainly due to the poppy key parts that are so prevalent among the tracks, but enough of my blabbing, listen for yourself:

PASCAL - The Sands
PASCAL - The Bronze Beached Boys
PASCAL - Oh Honey, We're Ridiculous (Demo)
PASCAL - The Glorious Ballad of the Ignored (Demo)

Currently they are working on their debut album but as always if you like what you hear make your way over to their website and check them out...

hump day...

2005-07-20T13:57:00.000-04:00

So today is the day they call hump day or Wednesday, it's been said people only call it hump day if they hate their jobs. Either way it's the middle of the week, you have just as much infront of you as you do behind you. FranzFerdinand.org has posted a live track of a song from the upcoming new album. If you are a Nickel Creek fan you can make your way over here and check out the new video for their single, When in Rome, off their up coming album, Why Should the Fire Die, which is due out August 9th. In other news, my pal Bubba and I are venturing to one of the best venues in the world to catch the Killers this evening. Which how this is happening is a miracle in and of itself. Originally the show was scheduled for May 24th at Jillian's in Louisville, but the week before the show the date and venue got changed. In my previous experience with the concert biz most shows that get cancelled don't get rescheduled let alone moved to the most wicked sweet venue ever. I was glad to hear the show got moved to the Palace 'cause the basement of Jillian's is a terrible place to see a show. When I caught Muse there in early May no one practice proper concert ettiquite and the ceiling's low and the stage is short, which as you know is a lose/lose combo. Anywho, back to the Killers, I was pretty stoked it got rescheduled because that meant I could catch Keane on the same day up in Cincy, which turned out to sound pretty much just like the CD but it was still a good show.

Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want It (live)

end of the rainbow...

2005-07-19T17:23:00.000-04:00

I feel that it is my duty that if I come across something of interest during the course of my daily web browsings to post it here to all my amazing readers, whoever you are... Today I felt as if I was let in on a secret, as if I found that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Several of the audio blogs I visit post a song or two or three from a given artist seldom do people post an entire album or series of albums from artists, my guess would be due to the whole legality of it. However, I've been visiting Regnyouth Archives a bit lately and as I mentioned in an earlier post, this gentleman posts up nearly 20 albums a day from the classics (Iggy Pop, Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, etc.) to the current (the Decemberists, Aimee Mann, Gomez). He posts all these files on foreign webspace like gfile.de and rapidshare.de where you can only download a certain amount of information an hour for free. So the other day I bit the bullet and got an account at each website and since then I guess you could say I've been going to town on expanding my library.

Today, I was doing my daily tour of blogs and stumpled upon a blog entitled Chocoreve, which I have no clue what it means but it's French. While on this blog I found several live and rare sets from Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, Radio head and several other acts. Where this guy gets this music is beyond me but I downloaded the rarities set from Radiohead. So I emplore you, readers, spend a couple bucks and get an account at one of these file sharing sites (it's paypal safe) and get yourself some tunes. For your aural enjoyment here's a live Coldplay show and a Radiohead rarity disc.

Coldplay - Live @ Glastonbury 2005 part 1
Coldplay - Live @ Glastonbury 2005 part 2
Password: chocoreve.blogspot.com

Radiohead - Lost Treasures - part 1
Radiohead - Lost Treasures - part 2
Radiohead - Lost Treasures - part 3
Radiohead - Lost Treasures - part 4
Password: chocoreve.blogspot.com

Here's the tracklisting for the Radiohead Lost Treasures:
1. Yes I Am
2. Inside My Head
3. Pop Is Dead
4. Thinking About You
5. Killer Cars
6. Creep (acoustic)
7. Trickster
8. Lewis (mistreated)
9. Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong
10. Permanent Daylight
11. Lozenge of Love
12. You Never Wash Up After Yourself
13. Maquiladora
14. Planet Telex (Hexidecimal Mix)
15. India Rubber
16. How Can You Be Sure?
17. Subterranean Homesick Alien (acoustic)
18. My Iron Lung

Set 2
1. Street Spirit (acoustic)
2. Killer Cars (acoustic)
3. Wonderwall
4. Blow Out
5. Pearly
6. Melatonin
7. Meeting In The Aisle
8. Bishop’s Robes
9. A Reminder
10. Polyethylene (Parts I&II)
11. Lull
12. Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 Mix)
13. Climbing Up The Walls (Filia Brazilia Mix)
14. Palo Alto
15. How I Made My Millions
16. Wish You Were Here
17. Talk Show Host

mmm, mondays...

2005-07-18T20:07:00.000-04:00

Well I can't thing of really any news worthy of posting. If you are interested you can check out the new deathcab single on their Myspace page. OR... You could check that out here:

Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body

Ben Harper has been in the studio recording his follow up to Diamonds on the Inside and played a couple new tunes at a recent show. And like always you can check those out here:

Ben Harper - Get It Like You Like It
Ben Harper - Gather Round the Stone

Now for some news on the purevolume front. If you make your way over to Page France pure volume page to stream the new Page France album. For those of you who haven't heard of Page France you should definately check them out. The vocals are a little reminiscent of Ben Gibbard from deathcab or the postal service (whichever you prefer), however the music is a bit more earthy/folky/organic and they are a little less polished with their studio albums.

Stephen Christian has recently made his solo tracks from Pure Volume downloadable and you can find those here. The three tracks were recorded in a studio somewhere in Texas for $25 and are the essence of lo-fi and feature the influence of The Smiths and Jeff Buckley. For those of you who think the voice might sound a bit familiar it's because Stephen's day job is as the front man of the Tooth and Nail band, Anberlin.

I was feeling a bit patriotic today so I must conclude this post with our hero, Sufjan, so check it out:
Sufjan Stevens - The 50 States Song (live)
Sufjan Stevens - The Star Spangled Banner (live)

this city is outta control...

2005-07-15T14:42:00.000-04:00

2:42pm...a little less than 2 and a half hours till freedom, nothing to do so i'll post...

Here's the skibby, our hero Sufjan Stevens was on Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday to a do a set in the studio. You can make your way over to Welcome to the M!dwest! to download it. In other news if you haven't checked out Regnyouth Archives yet, you should be ashamed. They have great reviews on music from the decades past till present. Needless to say they have plenty of music (cough, full albums) to download.

It amazing what you can find on the depths of the internet of simply off of a band's website. In case you didn't know Gomez posts several live shows from years past on their media site, Live Gomez. You can go here to check out a handful of live shows in MP3 and FLAC format.

The Strokes announced plans on touring recently however, they only announced shows in South America, apparently that's where the new scene is. Holopaw has released their track listing on their newest effort, Quit +/or Fight, the follow up to 2003's self-titled debut. Quit +/or Fight is slated to hit the shelves on August 9th.

christmas in july...

2005-07-12T22:18:00.000-04:00

Well if you read this you or any other music blog for that matter you will know Sufjan Stevens has been the hottest thing since Brad and Angelina. Needless to say he's making the news 'cause he freakin' makes the news. First off, Sufjan was recently in NYC over at WNYC doing a radio show. To check out pics and stream the whole show head here. Secondly, I was searching around the Marianna Trench of the Internet and managed to find a Sufjan Christmas album consisting of 24 songs from this past December. If you make your way over here to Irresponsible Journalism you can download the whole thing in .zip format. Thirdly, for the mega-fan, check out the Sufjan message board, All Good Naysayers, Speak Up!. Meanwhile, here is some more Sufjan goodness:

Some live Sufjan off Illinoise:
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago (live)
Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day (live)
Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy (live)

Some Sufjan Tour Dates:

07-15 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
07-16 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theater
07-17 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
07-18 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
07-19 Santa Cruz, CA - The Attic
07-21 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
07-22 Seattle, WA - Triple Door
07-23 Seattle, WA - Triple Door
07-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
07-27 Boise, ID - Neurolux
07-28 Salt Lake City, UT - Lo-Fi Cafe
07-29 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
07-30 Aspen, CO - Belly Up
08-01 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
08-02 Tucson, AZ - Plush
08-19 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
08-20 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
08-21 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
09-07 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Nightclub
09-08 Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre
09-09 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret La Tulipe
09-10 Toronto, Ontario - St. Paul's Centre
09-11 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
09-13 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
09-14 Newport, KY - Southgate House
09-16 Chicago, IL - Metro
09-18 Minneapolis, MN - First Ave.
09-23 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
09-25 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
09-27 Washington DC - 9:30 Club
09-28 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts

So I was in Nashville the past couple days for my orientation at Belmont University to find out that I had no campus housing, but things most certainly got better...syke. On the way to checking out Trent Dabbs and Lovedrug at Exit Inn I turned right in effort to find a place suitable to park my truck. But behold, I am surpised to look in my rear-view mirror to see the flashing blue lights of Nashville's finest. The officer proceeds to get out of his car and inquires if my turn signal works, I replied as far as I know it does then he took my liscense back to his car. That SOB gave me ticket for neglecting to use my turn signal!! WHAT KIND OF BULL **** IS THAT????? No turn signal, who even knew you could be fined about that, but despite my lawlessness I managed to enjoy the Lovedrug show. The only thing is now a'days anytime I find myself at a venue with a bunch of indie kids it seems like a giant myspace.com reunion. Myspace is a bit ironic in my mind but that is neither here nor there.

Lovedrug - Blackout

Although it happens to be Tuesday night and you might already have plans for the weekend but whatever you're doing Saturday afternoon you should cancel and make your way down to Fauntleroy's Cafe off of Maxwell to check out the The Josh Marcus Quartet from 3-5pm. This will be a great time of coffee and jazz, check out the link for music and downloads or reeserichardson.com for more details. For your aural enjoyment check out this:

The Josh Marcus Quartet - A Go Go (John Scofield cover)

Last thing for the night:
Matt Sharp - The World Has Turned And Left Me Here

EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF AN ASPIRING DEATH-METAL FRONTMAN

2005-07-09T21:23:00.000-04:00

Friends, words cannot express my eagerness to share this link with the world, these excerpts from the struggling death-metal front man really resonate with me, the angst, the glee, the love, the hate...truly unbelievable, enjoy!!

EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF AN ASPIRING DEATH METAL FRONTMAN

-deathblow out-

Live 8...

2005-07-08T15:10:00.000-04:00

In case you missed Live 8 last week and got fed up with AOL's streaming feeds neglecting to stream or simply just not work, our answer is here. I came across this link at Stereogum and thought I'd pass it along. The folks at Sonican put together a massive video list from all the artists and celebrites who participated in Live 8. They've seemed to have got something from every artist at every venue where Live 8 was held so you can choose which acts want to see and those you don't. As soon as you sign the Live 8 list be sure to check out Coldplay cover of the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" featuring Richard Ashcroft.

Sonican's Live 8 Downloads

All these files are in the Quicktime format so if you don't have Quicktime get it here.

baby's got the bends...

2005-07-07T18:57:00.000-04:00

Today while driving all over Lexington doing the runner thing for the law firm I work for, I popped in The Bends by Radiohead. It came to my attention that this great album, which set a milestone in rock music (you could argue this for every other Radiohead album as well), is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It just made me realize that even after 10 years this album is still rockin' and not forgotten. In other Radiohead-related news, there was a story about Paul McCartney's new album which is produced by none other than Nigel Godrich who has worked on any other Radiohead album that mattered. Nigel made news because apparently he's not afraid to tell one of the fathers of rock if his music sucks, geez he's got balls. Anywho, Mr. Godrich is the unofficial 6th member of Radiohead and is responsible for why The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A/Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief are the way they are. Nigel has also put his midas touch on albums by Beck (Mutations, Seachange), Air (Talkie Walkie), Travis (The Man Who, The Invisible Band), and Pavement (Major Leagues EP, Spit on a Stranger, Terror Twilight) among others.

Now for your aural enjoyment:
Radiohead - Just
Beck - Paper Tiger

For other Radiohead news be sure to check out Green Plastic and At Ease.

The great David Crowder Band has a new album due out in September. Interestingly enough they cataloged the whole process on Myspace.com and Xanga. If you were lucky enough they also had four webcams going during the whole recording process. There are supposed to be more songs and interludes on the album than there were on Illuminate. The band is also doing covers of Sufjan Steven's "Oh God Where Are You Now..." and Loretta Lynn's "Everybody Wants to Go Heaven". Although there weren't any major guest producers on this album like Charlie Peacock and Zach Lind from Jimmy Eat World, word is that Marty Stuart plays a little mandolin on a bluegrass tune somewhere on "A Collision". This winter look for the Crowder fellows to be found in places one wouldn't normally find a CCM artist. Later this fall dc*b will be heading out on a full scale tour in support of their new album along side of them will be the Robbie Seay Band and Shane and Shane. Until then these songs should keep you company:

Sufjan Stevens - Oh God Where Are You Now..."
David Crowder Band - Thank You for Hearing Me

Meanwhile, Sufjan Stevens has been all over the indie news lately for several reasons. Most notably Pitchfork Media gave his new album, Illinoise, a rating of 9.2/10 (why the 0.2 is relevant is beyond me) and take it from me it's great, i'd even go as far as saying I enjoy it better than Michigan. However, the cover for the album has raised quite a stir among the folks at DC Comics over the issue of Superman on the album cover. Thankfully, after threat of being delayed the album still went on sale on it's scheduled release date of July 5th. This whole mess cause hysteria on ebay and copies of Illinoise were selling for up to $75, thank goodness i preordered and received mine last week for $10. Finally, Sufjan was featured on NPR for writing a song about Brinkley, Arkansas, more importantly the ivory billed woodpecker that was thought to be extinct for several decades.

If you don't have it already, get the new Sufjan song, "Lord God Bird"...here.

Here's a live track off Illinoise recorded somewhere: Sufjan Stevens - Man of Metropolis (live)

like a virgin...

2005-07-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

hello cyberspace, nice to meet you...

today i realized more than ever how much i wanted to reside in the great area of the united kingdom. i'm ready to trade in my stars and bars for a union jack, bid adieu to rushmore and say hello to stonehenge. i love the allman bros. but ill take the beatles any day. radiohead, need i say more... but what sealed the deal today would make any leno fan think different. i stumbled across some personal adds from area news papers in britain that are unbelieveable...see for yourselves:

small ads from the UK

over the past couple of days i've gone through true trial by fire into graphic design, i realized just how addictive photoshop can be if you know how to use it. just like anything photoshop can be so rewarding when things go your way but at the same time you feel as if you want to light your computer on fire if it's screwing up. anywho, here are some of the projects i've been working on...

these posters are for a program that is being put on in northern ireland this august. i'm trying to go for the hip, postmodern vibe here but all i seem to come up with is this attempt at being creative. the one on the right was made "on the clock" today at the great office of sawyer and glancy, pllc, thus meaning i'm a terrible employee while the one on the right was made on my own time with inspiration from the real world austin. man, if only i could break my orbital bone and get a gorgeous chick.

while fooling with the neo-canvas that is photoshop i stumbled across some magnificent brushes from Miss M. and Fragile Decay. i also found some great fonts at misprinted type featuring fonts such as "horse puke" and "diesel".

if you are into this thing we call blogging i feel that i must give out a shameless plug to john b. for putting his life on the digital line and laying all his skeletons out to be bleached in the sun. if you are in for a good kick in the face with the boot of honesty i recommend checking it out.