“Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” by Krzysztof Penderecki & National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra which clocks in at 10:00.
The following is Part 3 of a four part 8+ series based upon songs from the film ‘Children of Men’, the film itself, and the writing of Jorge Luis Borges. Read the first chapter HERE, second chapter HERE. Read more…
On October 10th EAR FARM will be turning 3 years old! That’s right, we’ve been harvesting music for your ears for three years now. Come celebrate with us and two of our favorite things… tasty barbecue and awesome music!
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Nothing says harvest like the crackle of hot, crispy pig skin, especially when that skin is covering a 200-lb Berkshire hog, roasted whole over an open barbecue pit by Tom Mylan, Brooklyn’s favorite butcher.
Hosted by Brooklyn Based, Sweet Deliverance, EAR FARM, and The Yard, the first annual Big Brooklyn Pig Roast and Harvest Hoedown is a prelude to the following day’s Harvest Festival at The Yard, and a celebration of all the best the season has to offer.
Snuggle up to someone special with a pint of Sixpoint and a plate of pork tacos, roast corn, fresh salsas, greens, warm apple crisp and cinnamon ice cream from Blue Marble. Then turn up your heels to the Americana twang and hillbilly swerve of The Jones Street Boys, Motel Motel, and Bel Air, as the lights sparkle on the Gowanus Canal.
Joshua Applestone of Fleisher’s Grass Fed and Organic Meats will be on hand to talk about why properly raised pigs are so delicious, and a member of the New Farmer Development Project, which the dinner will benefit, will speak about their work with farms. And Not Eating Out in New York blogger Cathy Erway is lending a hand with dessert.
Sixpoint beers $1 from 6-7. Five percent of proceeds benefit New Farmer Development Project. Tickets $32 in advance, available online HERE, or $40 at the door. (Free for kids 10 and under.)
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In order to get the music in before sound curfew, the first band will go on promptly at 6:15. It’s an early start, but with those $1 Sixpoints and Bel Air providing the happy hour entertainment, it’s going to be well worth it to be there right at 6:00. See you there!
From the Inside Looking Out is our opportunity to have those involved within the music world tell us a bit about things from their point of view. This time around, we have Daniel Neely
At some point during the summer of 2002, my mother-in-law sat my wife, her sister and I down to tell us how she “just loved that Ozzy Osmond and his wife Sharon,” because they took such good care of their kids. It was around the time the Osbournes reality show was getting popular and I think it was her way of being hip with the kids. It was probably the lounge-y version of “Crazy Train” they used for the theme that drew her in. Anyhow, two weeks later, we had finally stopped laughing about “Ozzy Osmond” and it began to dawn on us that Ozzy and his music had become more mainstream than we had realized.
This didn’t strike me as a bad thing. I grew up playing guitar and on occasion–like every adolescent boy with six strings and a dream–my friends and I would get together on Sabbath tunes. In fact, every kid in every band I knew growing up played Sabbath tunes. It was a kind of rite-of-passage that everyone went through. In my work Directing the New York State Musicians Index and Archive (NYMIA), I’ve come to notice that this hasn’t changed, so I started up a little project I call the “New York Black Sabbath Covers Project”. Here’s how it came about.
Read more…
….or, at least most of it is. It seems Deerhoof - Satomi, Greg, John and Edward - wanted to give us all an early taste of their forthcoming album Offend Maggie (out Oct 7 on Kill Rock Stars) via MySpace stream. And yet, technology has just not been cooperating with the gang; a recent blog posting on the band’s MySpace reveals the following:
“Due to the brand new Myspace players we have having problems uploading our new album “Offend Maggie” that is supposed to be streaming all weekend. Hopefully it will be fixed soon - in the meantime there are a few tracks that made it up.”
All in all, 10 of Maggie’s 14 cuts are up for your listening pleasure at the moment: “Jagged Fruit”, “Numina O”, “Eaguru Guru”, “Fresh Born”, “This Is God Speaking”, “Family Of Others”, “My Purple Past”, “Basketball Get Your Groove Back”, “Don’t Get Born”, and “The Tears And Music Of Love”. Add the MP3 for the title track offered below and we’re up to 11 tracks total, in other words, a hell of a lot of Deerhoof to tide you over until October 7th. Still, there’s the chance the rest of the album could be up and streaming at any point, so be sure to stay vigilant with your Deerhoof-watching. Try practicing by staring intently at the following video of the band in the studio during the sessions for Offend Maggie…
Listen: “Offend Maggie”
See Deerhoof Live:
Oct 03 Avalon, Los Angeles, California
Oct 04 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California
Oct 06 Wonder Ballroom, Portland, Oregon
Oct 07 Neumos, Seattle, Washington
Oct 09 Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, Utah
Oct 11 Bluebird, Denver, Colorado
Oct 13 The Slowdown, Omaha, Nebraska
Oct 14 First Avenue, Minnapolis, Minnesota
Oct 15 Turner Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Oct 16 Buskirk Chumley Theater, Bloomington, Indiana
Oct 17 Cabaret Metro, Chicago, Illinois
Oct 18 Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac, Michigan
Oct 21 The Spiegeltent, New York, New York
Oct 22 Irving Plaza, New York, New York
Oct 23 Middle East, Cambridge, Massechusetts
Oct 24 Pearl Street, Northampton, Massachusetts
Oct 25 Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Oct 26 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
Oct 28 Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, North Carolina
Oct 29 Grey Eagle, Asheville, North Carolina
Oct 30 Mercy Lounge, Nashville, Tennessee
Oct 31 40 Watt Club, Athens, Georgia
Nov 01 The Social, Orlando, Florida
Nov 02 Crowbar, Tampa, Florida
Nov 05 House of Blues, New Orleans, Louisiana
Nov 06 Numbers, Houston, Texas
Nov 07 Granada, Dallas, Texas
Nov 08 Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin, Texas
Nov 10 Club 101, El Paso, Texas
Nov 12 Club Congress, Tucson, Arizona
Nov 13 The Clubhouse, Tempe, Arizona
Dec 02 London, ULU (University of London Union), UK
Dec 03 Berlin, Lido, Germany
Dec 05 Trix, Antwerp, Belgium
Dec 06 Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland
Dec 08 Cabaret Electrique, Le Havre, France
Dec 09 Antipode, Rennes, France
Dec 10 Grrrnd Zero, Lyon, France
Dec 11 Sonic Protest Festival at Trabendo, Paris, France
Dec 12 Barcelona, Primavera Sound Winter Edition, Spain
Dec 13 Madrid, Primavera Sound Winter Edition, Spain
Visit Deerhoof on MySpace.
Over the past week, Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been taking a lot of heat for the answers she gave in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS News. The portion that’s getting the most critical attention is that bit about Palin’s foreign policy credentials… Read more…
New York City musicians are showing their support of Barack Obama in a variety of ways; McCain, notsomuch. Perhaps because ‘John’ doesn’t rhyme as well with ‘rock’ as ‘Barack’ does?? Too simple? Regardless, there are two items worth noting that make use of the Barack-Rock rhyme scheme. First up, a live show/benefit happening next week in Brooklyn… Read more…
Last we checked, tonight’s scheduled presidential debate in Mississippi is still up in the air. But hey, that doesn’t have to stop us from putting together a soundtrack for the planned throwdown. So if things do go as planned tonight and you find yourself at home, beer nestled in crotch and eyes glued to the television, consider putting the below mix on for some soothing - and pertinent - background noise and/or soundtrack for when you need a breather (you will need a breather). Will they or won’t they delay it? Stay tuned, and let’s get ready to rumble!
Read more…
Two giveaways in one week, how about that? If you haven’t taken part in the Brian Wilson contest yet, consider getting on it NOW as it ends today. If you’re holding out for the next promise of “free”, you can exhale now: our latest offering is Fujiya & Miyagi’s excellent new album Lightbulbs (CD version) - which came out last week - as well as a F&M t-shirt. Not bad. Read more…
“Eternity’s Sunrise” by Paul Goodwin & The Academy Of Ancient Music which clocks in at 10:53.
The following is Part 2 of a four part 8+ series based upon songs from the film ‘Children of Men’, the film itself, and the writing of Jorge Luis Borges. Read the first chapter HERE.
After nine or ten nights staring into the firmament of her mind, transfixed on her students in the night sky, on the ground, in her presence, entirely in her mind and not at all, she understood with acute acerbity that she could expect nothing from those pupils who accepted her tenet passively, but that she might expect something from those who periodically dared to challenge her. The former group, although worthy of love and affection, could not ascend to the level of individuals; the latter pre-existed to a slightly greater degree. One afternoon (now afternoons were also dominated by sleep, she was at this point only barely awake for a few hours each morning at sunrise) she dismissed the entire student body for good and retained one sole pupil. He was a reserved, sickly boy, often obdurate, whose rounded dark features resembled of those of his dreamer and whose thoughts focused upon the other students. The swift elimination of his peers did not concern him for long though; and after a few private lessons, his progress was enough to amaze the teacher. Nonetheless, a catastrophe took place. One day, Kee emerged from her sleep as if from a vast desert, peered into the ineffectual afternoon light which she immediately confused with the dawn, and understood that she had not been dreaming. All night and all day long, the unbearable lucidity of insomnia fell upon her. She remembered her baby. She clung to the thoughts that danced through her mind and considered ways in which to exhaust herself. She tried exploring the nearby forest, to lose her strength, and among the willows she barely succeeded in stealing several short moments of sleep, dominated by fleeting, embryonic visions that were ineffectual. She attempted to assemble the student body but barely had she mouthed a few brief words of encouragement before it became misshapen and vanished. Her mind was weak. In this perpetual vigil, tears of anger burned her weary eyes.
She reasoned that exploring the disjointed and dizzying matter of which dreams are made was the most difficult task that a woman could undertake, even though she could decipher all of the enigmas of a superior order; this, this was much more difficult than weaving a rope out of sand or catching lightning in a bottle. She vowed that she would forget the hallucination which had displaced her thoughts and sought another method of work. Before putting it into action, she spent a week recovering her strength, which had been drained by her delirium. She abandoned the obsession with dreaming and almost immediately succeeded in sleeping a large portion of each day. The few instances that she did have dreams during this period, she ignored them. Before resuming her task, she waited until the moon’s profile was perfect. Then, in the afternoon, she bathed herself in the shallows of the river, worshiped gods of another era, and went to sleep. She dreamed nearly immediately, with her heart pounding steadily.
Kee dreamed of a warm secret, about the size of a clenched fist, and of a deep red color within the shadow of a human body as yet without face or sex; during fourteen lucid nights she dreamt of it with great care and effort, conscientious love. Every night she perceived it more clearly. She did not touch it; she merely allowed herself to witness it, to observe it, and occasionally to remedy it with a glance. She observed it and lived it from all angles and distances. On the fourteenth night she lightly caressed the pulmonary artery with her index finger, then the whole heart, outside and inside. She was pleased with the examination. She intentionally did not dream for an evening; she took up the heart again, invoked the name of an ancient god, and undertook the vision of another of the major organs. Within a month she had come to the skeleton and the ears. These were surprisingly simple to conjure. The nearly infinite roots necessary for hair were perhaps the most difficult task. But she soldiered on. She dreamed an entire man -a young man- who did not speak or move, and who was unable to even open his eyes yet. She maintained a peaceful existence of sleep for him. In dreams she rested; he rested. Night after night, Kee dreamt him asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Buy Children of Men (Music from the Motion Picture) HERE.
*front thumbnail and top photo from HERE.
EAR FARM’s 8+ is a weekly feature that showcases songs longer than 8 minutes. Click HERE to see the songs recently featured in EF’s 8+.
Michigan-based quintet Mason Proper released their outstanding sophomore album Olly Oxen Free (Dovecote Records) yesterday. A tightly coiled collection of smart hooks, patient songwriting and restrained arrangements, Olly Oxen Free is both a creeper and an instant obsession, forging a comfortably warm landscape that often makes it damn hard for the listener to stop playing the first three songs on repeat (that is, until you realize how great the rest of the record is too). Bands like this - and albums like this - just don’t materialize from thin air, people. To that end, we cornered lead singer Jonathan Visger and prodded him with a vague series of origin-themed questions, from songs to cover art and lasagna to the gentle art of naming one’s band. Enjoy the inquisition… Read more…
Have you heard Brian Wilson’s new album That Lucky Old Sun? Sure okay, you’ve gotten your mitts on some compressed MP3s from the album but I’m asking whether you’ve actually HEARD That Lucky Old Sun; you know, as in cued up the limited-edition 180 gram vinyl and taken a mental holiday to California? No? Well, do you want to?
EAR FARM is very pleased to offer a prize pack that includes the aforementioned limited-edition vinyl copy of Sun as well as the 7″ single of “Midnight’s Another Day” to one lucky reader. The rules are simple: we will pose our usual arbitrary question, the most entertaining answer to which will be declared the winner. Ready? Read more…
Metallica’s ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, has “officially” been out for little over a week, but what a week it was. Awarded a degree of media attention that could only have been eclipsed by Jesus coming back to release The Second Coming: A Hip Hopera via iTunes, Death Magnetic has grabbed far more headlines than your average run of the mill chart-topping, Rick-Rubin-produced comeback metal album probably ever should. From Jessica Simpson to Mrs. Sarkozy, foot-long beards to fine wines, it’s Metallica’s world…we’re just reading the headlines. So for this week’s countdown, we’re running back the top ten Metallica-related stories that dominated the week that was (with a keen eye towards avoiding any “magnetic” puns wherever possible). Read more…
Two days ago I went to log in to EAR FARM’s Facebook account and what to my wondrous eyes should appear? Nothing! It seems those few warning emails they sent weren’t simply empty threats: they did indeed intend to delete our Facebook account if we didn’t stop adding “friends” at an alarming rate. Guess they hate popular people?
Anyway, EAR FARM does not have an interactive page on Facebook anymore. The powers that be have killed it. In memoriam we offer up the following mix. EAR FARM’s Facebook is dead: long live EAR FARM’s Facebook!
Join the EAR FARM Group or become a fan of EAR FARM on Facebook.
EAR FARM’s Mixtape #26: Ode to EAR FARM’s Facebook Account
1. “Bookends Theme” by Simon & Garfunkel
2. “Banned In The U.S.A.” by 2 Live Crew
3. “Broken Face” by Pixies
4. “End of Freedom” by The Wilderness
5. “Making Friends” by Bishop Allen
6. “Something of an End” by My Brightest Diamond
7. “I Need All The Friends I Can Get” by Camera Obscura
8. “Ain’t No Right” by Jane’s Addiction
9. “Nothing Is Ever Lost or Can Be Lost My Science Friend” by Liars
10. “Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone” by The Walkmen
11. “Friendship Update” by The Go! Team
12. “No More” by Dirty Projectors
13. “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” by Culture Club
14. “Like A Friend” by Pulp
15. “You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends” by The Wedding Present
16. “Shut us Down” by Brakes
17. “Shine In Exile” by Beat The Devil
18. “Never Going Back Again” by Fleetwood Mac
19. “I Miss You” by White Hinterland
20. “There’s A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends” by Morrissey
21. “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” by Edith Piaf
22. “Bookends Theme” by Simon & Garfunkel
*front image from HERE.
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8tracks is a simple way to create and share mixtapes that we’re now using in lieu of Muxtape, we may even like it more. Check back, as we post a brand new mix each week on Friday morning. You can see all of the EAR FARM Weekly Mixes HERE.
“Fragments of a Prayer” by John Tavener & Sarah Connolly which clocks in at 15:22.
The following is Part 1 of a four part 8+ series based upon songs from the film ‘Children of Men’, the film itself, and the writing of Jorge Luis Borges.
No one saw her disembark in the beclouded night, no one saw the gifted rowboat sink into the inviolable mud, narrowly evading the adversaries aboard The Tomorrow who’d taken her child. No one saw her arrive, but, after a few days, there was no one who did not know that the woman came from the East and that her home had been one of those numberless villages across the sea, where the English language has not been contaminated by The Gaels and where a third trimester is as infrequent as anywhere else. An air of uncertainty shrouded her just as heavily as did the aura of singularity that radiated from her core.
What is certain is that the woman kissed the mud, climbed up the bank with thoughts of her baby cradled so tightly she could almost feel her (probably, without feeling anything herself - unknowingly welcoming the blades which were lacerating her flesh), and crawled, nauseated and bloodstained, up to the circular enclosure crowned with a stone serpent or griffin - or was it a human infant? - which sometimes was the color of flame and now was that of ashes.
This circle was a temple which had been consumed by ancient fires, engulfed by the vaporous bog, and whose god no longer received the prayers of men. Kee, the name she’d been given (or perhaps had given to herself), stretched herself out beneath the pedestal and rested, thoughts of her child clutched and cloaked and safe. She had given birth, a daughter, they took her. She was awakened by the sun high overhead and was not astonished to find her wounds healed; she closed her eyes and slept, not through weakness of mind, body, or spirit, but through determination of will. She knew that this temple was the place required for her indomitable intent; she knew that the overbearing trees had not succeeded in strangling the ruins of another temple downstream which had once belonged to gods now burned and dead. She knew that her immediate obligation was to dream.
Toward midnight she was awakened by the disconsolate shriek of a bird. Tracks of bare feet, some figs and a gun warned her that the men of the region had been spying respectfully on her sleep, soliciting her potential, or afraid of her magic. She felt a chill of fear and sought out a niche in the crevassed wall where she concealed herself among obscuring leaves.
The purpose which guided her was not impossible, though supernatural. She wanted to dream a girl; she wanted to dream her complete in studied detail and impose her on reality. She’d done it before and needed to test her ability to do so again. The undertaking had exhausted the entire expanse of her mind; if someone had asked her her name or to relate some event of the past week, she would not have been able to give an answer. Not even as images of Theo and prison camps and Dylan and war filled her mind. Memory was fleeting, fuzzy. Intangible. Therefore, this uninhabited, ruined temple suited her, for it contained a minimum of visible world. The proximity of the workmen also suited her, for they took it upon themselves to provide for her basic needs anonymously. The rice and fruit they brought were nourishment enough for her as she consecrated to the sole task of sleeping and dreaming. They would aid her, passively, unsure of precisely what or why they were helping.
Initially, her dreams were chaotic; then in almost no time they became academic in nature. Kee dreamed that she was in the center of a rounded colosseum which was more or less the burnt temple; clouds of silent onlookers filled the rows of seats; the faces of the most distant ones hung many centuries away and as high as the stars, but their features were well-defined and obvious. She felt as though she were leading a class and thus lectured her pupils on anatomy, obstetrics, and magic, none of which could very well be separated in today’s world. The faraway faces listened uneasily and tried to answer knowingly, as if they guessed the truth buried behind nearly twenty years of improbability, or that they themselves might be ripped from the heavens of imagination and thrust into the real world if only through exhibiting an understanding. Asleep or awake, Kee thought over the answers of her phantoms, did not allow herself to be fooled by visions of others, and in an enigmatic manner sensed a growing intelligence. Somewhere among the nameless faces would be another - one to replace the daughter torn from her grasp aboard The Tomorrow - another soul worthy of participating in the universe and joining Earth as the second baby in a generation. Unlike any other person on the planet, she had created life. A child. And she was going to do it again.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Buy Children of Men (Music from the Motion Picture) HERE.
*front thumbnail and top photo from HERE
EAR FARM’s 8+ is a weekly feature that showcases songs longer than 8 minutes. Click HERE to see the songs recently featured in EF’s 8+.
Not only is Dungen set to release another staggeringly psychedelic album on the unsuspecting masses (their fourth full-length, and in a Zeppelin-inspired move appropriately titled 4), but they’re also considerate enough to kick off an accompanying US tour here in New York during CMJ. 4 drops on Kemado Records on September 30th; Dungen drops in on the Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 24th. What else do you want to know? Well, judging by advance single “Satt Att Se” (listen below), the drums still sound amazing. Other than that, let’s go straight to the press release, shall we? Read more…
