Music Makers

I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory last night. In it, Willy Wonka himself says, "we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams." As I heard that I thought I might sample it some day.

Right now I'm listening to shuffle on my computer and coincidentally that quote popped up in Aphex Twin's "Music Makers."

Thoughts on Oddsac

I woke up with a hole in my tongue and the eerie feeling that I just hitched a ride through a wormhole.

I've been listening to Animal Collective for about five years now, and I've enjoyed almost everything they've put out since then; I can't say I've ever been to keen on Strawberry Jam, but that's another story. I was 16 the first time I heard their music. I was in the process of staying up all night, drawing. My friend put on Sung Tongs, and we listened to it three times in a row. Until then, I'd never heard a sound that mirrored my thoughts so well. It struck a chord in me to say the least.

Last night I watched Oddsac for the first time, and it certainly evoked the same feelings that Sung Tongs had that night when I was 16. It awoke dormant emotions. I found myself gazing, mouth open, head cocked, for pretty much the entire album. I feel as though Animal Collective and Danny Perez have found the key to blending human senses. As far as I can tell a "visual album" has never been created before. Oddsac, for me, was kind of a Zaireeka moment.

If you're going into Oddsac expecting a movie with a plot, you're going into Oddsac with the wrong idea. If you're going into Oddsac expecting a typical Animal Collective album, you've also got the wrong idea. Oddsac's audio harnesses the seamlessness of an Animal Collective live show. The music itself kind of sounds what happens when a group who produced Merriweather Post Pavillion goes back to their roots, brining back ideas from a Spirit They've Gone Spirit They've Vanished or a Hollinndagain. The film itself is challenging and stimulating. It warps reality and creates "simultaneous ecstasy and horror".

The DVD comes with a 50 page, hardcover book that made very little sense to me upon first flipping through its pages. I told myself, "it will make sense after I've seen the film." And it did. It makes so much sense now. The only criticism I have against this album is that it is not packaged with a warning label for epileptics or sufferers of frequent panic attacks .

All and all, my experience really blew the cap off of my expectations, and I really am still in awe. See this album.

Ears and Eyes

Two years ago I was in a band called Ears and Eyes. We stopped writing music and playing shows two years ago. Last spring we were asked to play a show in Normal, which we played. We decided it would be a good idea to play more shows. We played a show last night, 8/3/10, at The 7th Street Space in DeKalb with Hastas and Baby Sphinx Supreme Antiquities, which was awesome*. It was the fifth time me and Andrew played together in two years.

Here is a link to Trying to Capture Fire, Ears and Eyes' first and only album.

Packaging handmade by me and Andrew.

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*recorded by one of the Kyles from Hastas.