Sorry Been a Little M.I.A.

I'm a big fan of M.I.A.'s new album, Kala. It's not as one-track as her previous album, Arular, but contains Bollywood, hip-hop, and electronic influences in addition to her tribal drum beats and almost monotonous chanting of politically fueled lyrics. Featured guests of Kala include rapper Timbaland, as well as the talented kids of The Wilcannia Mob.

She opens the album with "Bamboo Banga," telling her listeners that "M.I.A. comin' back with power POWER." "Boyz" is driven steadily by heavy hitting drums, tambourines, a Bollywood singer's track and audience cheers. "Mango Pick Down River" opens with Kenyan horns which provide the steady vibration for The Wilcannia Mob and M.I.A.'s rapping of poverty and survival skills. "XR2" is a loud track of repetitive trumpet sequences, high octaves followed by a low. The bridge contains a toned down bar before a steadily increasing trumpet brings back the catchy trumpet sequence to finish the final chorus of the track.

Go listen, really. M.I.A. is performing at a new Brooklyn Bowery presented venue called "Termial 5." Judging by the lineup of Terminal 5, it seems to be a pretty big deal. The National will their first guests, followed by M.I.A., The Decemberists, The Shins, and Justice. Too bad I missed out on M.I.A.'s show since tickets were sold out within the first day or two.

Today will be another day of waiting for the cable guy. I'm expecting him at 4:00PM since the appointment is for 10:00AM-2:00PM.

Nicky's here (thank goodness). She's been here for about a week and we really haven't done much this past week. We attended the useless fashion majors orientation Wednesday and it truly was the biggest waste of 5 hours. We got to see some fellow classmates but I realized that a lot of the cool people I knew last year were of other majors. I also realized I don't know 90% of the other fashion majors or what to expect from this year.

Tonight I'll be going to Shelter Island with Nicky for the last time this year. Will be back Sunday!

Sleepy Mii

So shleepy. ZzZzZZZzzZ...

Totoro, please, I love you.

Whoopsies

Sorry for the delay in posting, it's been unusually hectic (as always).

I JUST moved into my new apartment/house in Williamsburg on Saturday. The house is really nice and homey; Nicky and I get the whole house to ourselves. It's the guest-house behind a larger house so we're kind of hidden from the main street, as the window views are of the giant peach tree right outside. The living space, kitchen and dining area are on the ground floor and our bedrooms are at the floor above. I'm not taking pictures because I want you to come visit and actually see the place. Also because it hasn't been fully furnished yet.

School starts in 2 weeks, and I'm not looking forward to going back at all. After having such an awesome summer at the beach, the barns, in Vermont, with kids, with friends, etc., the thought spending days and nights at the crappy Parsons facilities is absolutely dreadful. Maybe when school rolls around, I'll adjust to the cold weather and sleep patterns. Sigh.

Work at the lab has gotten worse. I'm getting tired of being there, dealing with my ridiculous boss.

On a brighter note, Nicky will be coming this Friday. Our Wii will come soon as well. Along with many of our friends who've been away traveling or home this summer. House-warming party to come, for sure.

I've also purchased tickets to the following:
-Animal Collective
-Jose Gonzalez
-Architecture in Helsinki
-Stars
-Mum
SO EXCITED!!!

Currently Listening to:
Justice - †
Funky bass guitar picks, remixed orchestral, absolutely strut-worthy snares and beats, downgraded vocals are held together with the most obnoxious buzzing ever. As usual, the Daft Punk influence is definitely there. Thanks to Dylan for turning me on to this.

MP3: Justice - Phantom

Má Fama

Portuguese radio station and blog. Awesome.

Also Awesome:
Jose Gonzalez's new video, Down the Line from his forthcoming album, In Our Nature.

A Print in Progress:

Explosive Frogs

Múm -

Kiss, Kiss

Got back from Vermont a few hours ago. The trip was wonderful, as usual. Can't even tell you what my favorite part was; there were too many. Watching Kathy Griffin fake-fall out of a London cab/get hit in the face by a branch/sneak into Hilary Clinton's pictures on television with Nicky was certainly one of them. We went swimming at "Big Rock," which was actually a...big, rock half submerged in water where I surprisingly didn't drown and ants crawled up girly parts.

The big plans for last weekend failed. Two of the apartments were immediately rented and a few didn't e-mail back promptly. We drove around and saw a few apartments in Brooklyn. East Williamsburg was too industrial and barren for our safety standards, Bushwick...was like Jamaica, Greenpoint was very nice and Polish, but painful to get to Midtown, and Williamsburg looks like our target neighborhood. This is obvious not because we want to be a part of the filthy snooty hipster scene, but we'll get more space for our Wii and stay as close to Manhattan as possible for less money. Plus there are hand rolled freshly baked bagels and restaurants on Bedford Avenue which will make for good eating.

Nicky and Daddy Nicky will be back tomorrow for a final day of hunting and we're just going to have to settle for what we get.

On Repeat: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP
YYYs recorded some songs between 2002 and 2006 which were never included in the albums. Down Boy starts with a steady organ chord accompanied by the initial snares and drum kicks until Karen O's chanting "down boy, down/count me down" sends the band into a heavily synchronized beat backed by steady crowd hand claps.

Kiss, Kiss is a faster paced track starting with quickly ticking drum sticks and picking guitar strings. The chorus sounds a bit like a rolling storm of loud guitar, fast drumming and almost indecipherable vocals based on a series of chords to set the listener in a rebellious rowdy FUCK YEAH attitude.

Overall I'm very fond of YYYs' Is Is EP but Down Boy and Kiss, Kiss are on repeat.

Also On Repeat: MP3: Mates of State's For the Actor