Shit! Christ! This is the problem with using the internet when you have so much to get done.  This is can be an even bigger issue when you need to use the internet to finish what you needed to get done.  SXSW is coming.  Sasquatch! is coming.  I have a record review piling up on my plate.  I have 2 more show reviews… some networking….I need to edit another article… I need to do a lot of shit.  Fuck, I need to get a real job!  Then I come across something else and it catches my attention.  Maybe it’s some  crazy story about a 7 yr old that steals the family car.  Maybe it’s some ridiculous right wing propaganda, insisting that a imprisoned sea mammal get stoned to death (like it says to do in the bible).  Maybe it’s a trailer about a futuristic martial artist/lady of the night/cyborg.  Whatever it is, it threatens to stall me out every time.  “Post this now!  Fuck what you’re doing.“  These things scream at me, but I can usually blow them off.  “This is and/or will be posted to death anyway.“  I tell myself.  Or, perhaps, I just throw it on the “I’ll get to that later” pile.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter.  Sometimes, I have to stop what I’m doing immediately and enjoy something with the rest of the world.  “Then sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring the soul back and put the wrong things right “- [I couldn't help myself].  Sometimes, it’s just a music video. (more…)

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On Sunday night, Sean “Har Mar Superstar” Tillmann and his crew of band-mates rolled into Seattle.  The second to last show of their West Coast tour was held at Chop Suey, and it was the fucking jam.  Before his set, I sat down and conducted an interview with Tillmann, which was filmed with a flip video camera.  Two other past Monster Fresh interviewees/friends were also in attendance at the show: artist, Thea Wolfe and musician, Kimya Dawson.  Although it would have been nice to see a little more movement from some in the hipster Seattle crowd, we still had a full-on R&B dance party throw-down.  Some of this was recorded on the flip cam too.

The next morning I woke up with a message from Thea, who had been messaging  on Facebook with Har Mar bassist, Denver Dalley.  They band finally had a day off and wanted to go to a dance party, before heading up for their last show in Canada the next day.  Thea was set to throw it at her house.  Although the last minute party still went down, and went down well, Tillmann’s crew never made it.  After partying and traveling for 6 straight days, their bodies decided to crash out under them and use the day off for what it was intended for… regeneration.

I still need to go through my footage and decide how I want to edit and present the material.  Until I am able get all that shit together, however, we’d like to tide you over  by presenting you with a recently posted Har Mar Superstar tour video that was filmed on a  flip camera of their own.  In this video, taped on Jan. 22nd,  Tillmann shows of his dance skills and expresses his love for pop-star Hannah Montana by singing along to her hit track, “Party In The USA“, while driving a van up I5 to Portland. (more…)

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Back in the Winter of 2005, I officially moved to Seattle.  As I was being hired for my first job here, a night auditor in a piece of shit crack hotel, I made only one request; I needed December 29th off to catch DJ Greyboy at a Macy’s department store downtown.  I scurried around the building and, when I finally found Greyboy’s setup, the DJ was in the young mens section, spinning Steely Dan’s “Black Cow” and he had a table full of free Dominos Pizza and cans of Pepsi.  He was down to talk and didn’t seem concerned that I was one of only 2 people who were there to see him at that point.  I asked him what a producer/DJ like himself was was doing in the tween wing of a department store like that and he explained that, since he was sponsored by Ocean Pacific, he sometimes had to make those type of appearances.  He asked me to add him on myspace, but explained that there was a fake music account for him and that his was the one without the music player,  “I don’t even fuck with the music“.  He further explained to me about a project that he was working on, which I believe he had planned to put out within the following year or so.  After that, Mr. Andreas Stevens seemed to, temporarily, disappear off of the map.  He made a slight resurfacing to work with the Greyboy Allstars on their 2007 reformation project, but his creation of acid jazz-centric solo albums like Freestylin’, had all but ceased.  He released a greatest hits style compilation in 2008 but, when he finally returned to his trademark sound on last years Era Correct, I completely missed it.  The music industry has changed dramatically in a short period of time and, whether it was due to his disinterest in forced adaptability/conformity (ie. myspace) or a misguided assumption of his own staying power, the innovator slipped off the radar in a genre that he was the major player in pioneering.

This post isn’t really about Greyboy, however, but it is about the phenomenon of our favorite artists evaporating off of the face of the Earth. It is also a heads up about the next triumphant return by one of the greatest beat-makers of the last 10 years, because it has the potential to get buried in the current musical climate.  The pseudo-resurrection, of which I’m referring, is of a one Ramble John Krohn, better known as “RJD2“. (more…)

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A new album dropped today that you probably didn’t hear about.  It probably wasn’t something that you’ve been waiting for by one of your “favorite artists” and it probably won’t be making too big of a splash before the year is out.  Although I can easily see it gaining steam throughout the next year or so, that may not even be the case either.  In fact, this may become one of those albums that many people don’t discover until years from now, after the artist is already 3 or 4 albums deep and until a new critical appreciation for their work prompts “new fans” to dig through the back catalog to hear what the artists debut sounded like in 2009.  No matter how it happens, I’ve become convinced over the last week that there’s a new cat on the electronic scene who deserves your attention, knows it, and isn’t going anywhere until he gets it.

EDISON is based out of San Francisco and, even with the over saturation of quality electronic artists in the Bay, he’s still managing to set himself apart as a force in that circuit.  Part of what keeps me interested in the electronic musicians and producers that I love the most is their constant hunger for innovation and an unquenchable thirst to push their crafts, style, and sounds into new directions and possibilities.  It’s that need to always seek new levels of what else is possible.  From the little that I’ve witnessed from Edison so far, I have swiftly and wholehearted become interested in seeing where his desires and focus continue to take him in the future.  Unfortunately, my whacked-out,schizophrenic multi-focus is making it difficult for me to express all of the information that I’d like to at once and in a coherent fashion that would be more easily digestible.  Most likely, the place for us to begin is by acquainting you to the artist through the same means that I was introduced.  That method is by viewing this video. (more…)

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Neckties are, arguably, one of the most pointless and unnecessary garments ever created.  Thin strips of fabric tucked under a collar, don’t exactly provide a shield from the elements and, if anything, they create a potential hazard with their risk of strangulation.  Think about all of the countless folks out there suffering from Pnigerophobia (fear of choking), who are discriminated against and turned away from fine dining establishments, simply due to their inability to adhere to rigid dress codes.  You won’t catch Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad experimenting with any sort of neck-wear, because he’s aware of the tremendous likelihood of someone creeping up and trying to choke a mother fucker out.  Ties are played out as Father’s Day gifts and are usually given in some novelty form that, no matter how entertaining, Pops couldn’t take to the “office” anyway.  The aesthetic value placed on the necktie over the years is ridiculous and, beyond that visual stimulus, they are pretty much worthless.  At least scarves have insulating properties.  The production of the silk tie adds the element of touch into the equation, but fondling and adjusting your tie consistently gives off too much a sexual deviant vibe.  With so many risks, it would be nice if the classic necktie could be less one-dimensional and updated for our space-age lifestyles.

What if there was a product out there that could retain that striking appeal, which would allow you to influence others, and combines it with the interactivity of a light-up magnetic backgammon tie?  What if you could keep riding that debonair steez with the added benefit of stimulating your auditory canal?  Now what if I told you that this technology actually exists?!  What would you be willing to pay to get your hands on this modern day miracle?  4-hundred-thousand dollars?  A crate of Klondike bars?  The remaining balance on your EBT card?  Drown a neighbor’s kid in a plastic pool?  Take a hot rail of bathtub crank, blow the smoke in a raccoon’s face, and try to force-service it manually?  Burn down a Hollywood video?  Tase a cop?  Break into a Rite Aid pharmacy in a luchador mask and hoop a stolen prescription of someone’s Estrogen?  Sit through a Kenny Chesney concert… sober?  Well, these miracle future ties do exist and are currently available for a bargain price (less than 100 American dollars!) (more…)

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Back in our Oct. 2007 interview with with Charlie Day, I asked the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star/executive producer about marketing.  More specifically, I inquired about if there had been any show-related merchandising ideas that had been thrown around “Anything along the lines of ‘It’s Always Sunny’ in-soles or bondage gear?“  Now, it looks like the cleverly absurd merchandising possibilities for the show creators are finally beginning to hit their stride.

Last night’s episode of the FX program revolved around the concept of the gang trying to capitalize off of a merchandising convention that was coming to town.  Various product concepts were presented by the crew, including a shotgun that blasts liquor, but in the long run, the only successful idea that garnered any interest from investros was Charlie’s “Kitten Mittens“.  In the real world, however, another one of these ideas has actually been put into production and can be purchased by you through a website specially created for that purpose.  That’s right, DICKTOWEL.com actually exists.

Watch the video:

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