Sunday, October 25, 2009

I Answer Questions With Questions, Fight Fire With Fire

When I'm Expressin' Expressions, Take You Higher and Higher, Goin' Deeper and Deeper, To Read the Fine Print, Didn't Like The Definition So We Redefined It...






If anyone were to ever be jealous of me for anything, the only thing it could possibly boil down to are the fucking amazing people I find myself surrounded by. The past couple weeks have been turbulent, to say the least, and the amount of support and love and appreciation has been nothing short of legendary.

Whatever I did right to deserve this, I have no idea. But I love y'all, you'll never know how much. You have no idea how great you all are, and if you're reading this, chances are I'm talking about you.

After the past weekend of partying way too much and having way too much fun I found myself in a subsequent booze fueled depression. It has been happening more than I would like, but at least I know what's causing it. I set out for some quality conversation with some of my nearest and dearest, and found myself back on the right track. I'm not gonna name names...actually yes, I will: Munroe, Kate, Riley, Scotty, Kim, Rhoslyn, Rob and Tommy B. You are amazing, wonderful people and I thank you sincerely for being such great friends.

I was intending on reviewing the shows I went to this week, before the long term effects of Call The Office's draft "beer", shots of Jameson, bad red wine, quarts of Heineken, too many Steamwhistles, and of course doobies erase the memories forever. But I thought I should first attempt to document my gratitude toward these incredible human beings who have turned me back into myself again. You're the best friends anyone could ever ask for. Picks of the litter.







Anyways, Thursday, Oct. 22 - Hidden Cameras - Call The Office...This show was grossly undersold, and with a gang of two (myself and awesome lady Meghan), team concert was incredibly underrepresented. Either way, we missed the opener, we drank a couple of pitchers, we sat in a booth at the back the whole time and talked through a good portion of it, but it was fucking solid times. If I had to guess I would say they played almost half of Awoo! which was sick, and all of their new songs sounded excellent. But, as the next two will also point out, the fun had was more about the company than the party. And that's how it should be.

Friday, Oct. 23 - The Stills and Metric - Centennial Hall...Due to the shitty weather, we brought Rock Band pre drinks out. Of course, after taking the summer off we were all pretty rusty, but myself and the Woods's still managed to rock out Sunday Morning way more times than necessary. After being joined by the homegirl Rio and her lil cuz, we made our way to the show. Missing 99% of the Stills (except for Being Here and Snow In California), we were treated to a sweaty mess of a drunken dance party. Woods's were stuck on the balcony until half way through Metric, when I circumvented security and brought team concert together. And that's when it got retarded. Our obnoxious team definitely stood out as having way more fun than most groups, but hey, sometimes ya gotta do that windmill dance move shit.

Saturday, Oct. 24 - Broadcast and Atlas Sound - Lee's Palace...It's funny, up until now I completely forgot that I ran into Ian Doig Phanuef at this show, I like that guy. Anyways, I almost didn't come to this show, but with my recent requirement for people doing what they say they're gonna do, it was a no brainer (plus I fuckin wanted to). Anyways, I got to the capital city, and quickly linked up with bros Rob and Zack, and then Kate. I was drunk within an hour, and enjoying some high quality vegan chili at the always awesome Victory Cafe. Conversations started out amazing, and turned emotional for everyone involved (except Zack). It got intense, and then it got cool again, that is a great group of people who I would never trade for anything ever. If you ever have a chance to befriend the Greens, just fuckin do it, don't hesitate. Anyways, finally we make our way to Lee's, and right into the Jagers and Jamesons. I drank like Jimmy McNulty, which caught up to me in no time. Long story (semi) short, I missed Broadcast, and I was pretty happy to see Phil. We got stoned and rode the bus home, which is usually a sobering experience. Not this time.

I woke up this morning depressed and braindead. And that's when I was reminded not to be a negative jerk by so many beautiful people. This was a fucking epic few days, and life is good (oh so good), but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the good stuff, that's why I wrote this. I love y'all, it's you that makes me awesome, and I'll never forget it.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Here are some things I've been enjoying/keeping busy with lately, or whatever...

Jeff Tweedy, techno drops right at the point in a conversation where someone says exactly what you wanna hear, chili, hard work paying off, dancing like an ass, pints of Labatt 50, new friendos, drinking red wine out of an old popcan, 10 mixes in a year, Fiery Furnaces coming to London, cats chasing feather toy things on a stick, the Astronomy remix of that Metronomy track, polaroids, unexpected visits, sad bastard emo rap about feelings, realizing that you're a crazy person and taking the appropriate steps, avoiding silly drama, staying focused, Boston Terriers named Roy, vocoders (or autotune, whatever, robot singing is dope), Wilco twice in three months, people getting what they deserve in a positive manner, realizing that the word swagger is being used on the wrong species (dogs have swagger, not people), Major Lazers, finding shelter, shirts with wolves on them, asking people what they are doing, Zombieland, drinking coffee out of a rocks glass, the hot/crazy rule, people crying while laying eggs while being laughed at by a smug little 8 year old boy, djing in a suit, cut copy remixes, have you met Ted?, the video for Wolves 1&2 by Bon Iver, pop n chips, Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder's birthday song, yolengo, Pomeranians, gettin discounts, writing lists like this one, the rain, the snow, scooters, vacations, fall, lying down in the grass, knowing that there is at least a slight chance that you might be on the right track, Monster energy drinks, dryhumping, oh and finding like, the best barrel.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Check this out!

A couple of my good friends, who most of you probably know, have posted online blog/portfolios. The genius of Tom Bradnam and Jason Kraft are now on display for us all to stay up to date with...don't sleep!

Jay Kraft

Tommy Bradnam

Seriously, worth checking. Seriously. Cheers!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

It's Gonna Be Another Long One



Sorry again for promising to update and then not actually doing it. It seems I can only do one every few weeks and then they end up being way too long. But here it is my friends...this is what I've come across in the last few weeks that has been life enhancing and generally worth looking into. Make sure you read this whole post, there's goodies at the bottom!


This past weekend, I had the good fortune to repeat last years' idea of checking out 2 shows, with Nuit Blanche sandwiched in between. Last year i saw Ratatat on Sat and then MGMT and Beck on Sun. This year I had the opportunity to see slightly more obscure but just as (if not more awesome) Yo La Tengo on Saturday and Anti Pop Consortium on Sunday.

I have to admit, I'm not as familar with Yo La Tengo as I'd like to be, or should be, but they were great. They had a huge range from folkish to super grungy, with each member doing an instrument musical chairs, of sorts. I would see them again any day. Also, two encores, not too shabby.



On Sunday, we got super lucky and got to check out a very under-sold Anti Pop Consortium (clockwise from left: High Priest, Beans, Earl Blaize and M. Sayyid) show at Lee's Palace. They were legendary, rocking old tunes and new tunes, as well as solo Beans tracks and Airborn Audio tracks. We got to chill with them all after, very chill group of dudes, looking forward to their triumphant return in February.






Heard of Maya Jupiter? Some of us may know her from her appearance on the Aceyalone and Ab album "Lab Down Under", but other than that, she's kind of hard to come by. Well, I tracked her down, and she sent me a bunch of tracks for DJing. She is sick as hell, and not to be slept on. So please do yourself a favor and check out one of the dopest MCs (female or otherwise!) on the planet. Myspace!



This Sunday is Major Lazer (Diplo and Switch) and Crookers at the Kool Haus. I'm not gonna miss it. You shouldn't either. Wanna see Diplo rock a crowd? Check out this short clip I took at Lollapalooza.



Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. This is their myspace, you will not be disappointed my friends. I wasn't. Choice track: "Home".



Seriously, still the album of 2009 thus far.



Now that's looking over a city. Chicago, I fuckin love you.

But hey, here's a goody. I was inspired to tackle Party Exercise 4. And now you can have it, trust me, best one yet.

Party Exercise 4 by BigMitch

1. Deadmau5-FML
2. Harlem Shakes-Strictly Game (Kids at The Bar Remix)
3. Miike Snow-Black & Blue (Savage Skulls Remix)
4. Reverend and The Makers-Silence is Talking (Alex Metric Remix)
5. L VIS 1990-Flux
6. Phoenix-Fences (Nujax Remix)
7. Medina-You and I (Deadmau5 Remix)
8. Metronomy-Not Made For Love (Astronomy Remix)
9. The Xx-Shelter (Themjeans Drum Edit)
10. Band of Horses-The Funeral (Buckmaster Remix)
11. Crookers and Kid Cudi-Embrace The Martian (DJ Mehdi Remix)
12. Mr. Oizo-Cut Dick
13. Kid Sister-Beeper (Fake Blood Remix)
14. Lykke Li and Kings of Leon-Knocked Up (Death to The Throne Remix)
15. Cut Chemist-They
16. La Roux-I'm Not Your Toy (Jack Beats Remix)
17. Friendly Fires-Lovesick
18. DJ Mujava-Township Funk (Diplo Remix)
19. Digital Manges-Manges (Sharkslayer Dub)
20. Steve Aoki and The Bloody Beetroots-Warp 1.9
21. Major Lazer-Pon De Floor (Cold Blank Remix)
22. Does it Offend You, Yeah?-Epic Last Song (Jack Beats Remix)


Enjoy it, and share it. And come see me on a Monday. Love y'all! Thanks to everyone for such inspiration!