No doubt that regular readers are familiar with the satirical Billy Corgan Twitter gimmick. It’s really taken off in a ways that I could not have foreseen, and I have to assume that you all might be interested in an update. First, Corgan himself has acknowledged its existence.

Official statement from the Pumpkin King, found in paragraph six of his mission statement thesis:

I do plan on doing other things coming up though. I have notions to start 2 other bands and also release some more solo work. I would love to get into more details on those projects but I would like to secure the domain names first because I don’t want to have to fight to get them back later. It’s bad enough that I have someone posing as me on Twitter LOL…the general idea is the work of the other groups and solo may intertwine with the SP album as far as a release schedule would go. But I’m all ready ahead of myself there

Yes, it is bad enough.

It’s hard to glean exactly how he feels about it, though. I mean, he does finish the sentence with a hearty lol (in ALL CAPS). So perhaps he has a sense of humor after all. Or… it could also be the type of lawl that’s more along the lines of “heh heh… cute. Kill him.” That remains to be seen, but I’ve gone on and removed my mailing address from this blog.

At the very least, of course, I’m thankful that fake Billy is still around to discuss his drama (today Billy is bummed because Dave Grohl won’t drum with him, claiming he doesn’t play in one-man bands… not to mention he also sat on his bucket hat by accident).

A lot of people get the jokes and are as entertained by these web 2.0 antics as I am. However, I’m quite dismayed at how many people still really think they’re talking to Billy – despite the fact that the bio line reads “completely satirical,” despite the fact that the profile picture is an image of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series, despite the completely insane things said on there, despite Billy’s own acknowledgement that the account is indeed a fake. That’s insane, ya’ll.

And now radio stations are reading the Corgan Twitter!

Marco is a DJ for Star 98.7 in Los Angeles, as well as the beloved KEXP, which of course, I listen to all the time for them hott Lykke Li remixxxes lolz.

notmarcocollins@Billy_Corgan Wondering what you think about The Silversun Pickups? Damn, their new CD sound familiar…
Billy_Corgan@notmarcocollins I have no idea who they are. I really only listen to Taproot and my music, save for all the drummers next weekend
987LA Hey fellow tweeters, It’s @notmarcocollins. At 11:50am, I’m gonna play the new Silversun Pickups & read a tweet I got from @Billy_corgan!

I didn’t hear it myself, but its announcement was confirmed:

ltldollclaudia@Billy_Corgan Some jackass on the radio quoted the wish remark today, saying” Listen to what Billy tweeted. Wow, how deep.” LOL
ltldollclaudia@Billy_Corgan He doesn’t know it’s satire, apparently. What a Johnny Douche.

And of course, there’s the fans as well. Wishful thinking, I assume, is the catalyst for the cognitive dissonance. I hope I’m not being too big of a jerk by messing with these people.

Stoked this bro shared his MySpace with me:

Edwardgug@Billy_Corgan yo billy! my favorite album of yours is your solo album
Billy_Corgan@Edwardgug Really? Shit, I don’t even like TheFutureEmbrace.
Edwardgug@Billy_Corgan why not man? its one of your best I think! Still one of my favorite records! Im a musician too myspace.com/edwarduglielmino

Billy instructing people how to properly parent:

Barbie1492@Billy_Corgan You rock Billy!!! My 5 yr old daughter and I love ya. You are our favorite.
Billy_Corgan@Barbie1492 Your 5 year old shouldn’t be listening to my music. Don’t you know that I cuss?!

This has to be my favorite conversation. Here Billy demonstrates prose similar to what’s found in his poetry book Blinking With Fists. At least this dude’s trying to do his homework, though:

kylespringford@Billy_Corgan Loved Blinking With Fists, are you thinking about releasing another poetry book in the future?
Billy_Corgan@kylespringford Does a bear wear a funny hat? Does the Pope shit in the woods?
kylespringford@SmashingPumpkin is @Billy_Corgan fake?

At first I thought I was a little harsh, but after some consideration, I think Corgan really feels this way:

jaqroy@Billy_Corgan hi billy i was at your show november 15th at the wang! great show, loved everything! your music changed my life!
Billy_Corgan@jaqroy Thanks for the support, but the existence of Smashing Pumpkins does not rely on whether you all come to our shows or not.

Not much more to add – this entry sorta wrote itself.  Stay tuned for more news and merriment as it develops. It’s worth sharing a few of my favorite exchanges from people that do get it, just to keep things balanced…

eillumination@Billy_Corgan I didn’t even know you wore pants anymore. I’ve only seen you in dresses, skirts, and sun-god costumes lately.

Billy_Corgan: Fuck you guys. Tila Tequila is an amazing young woman whom I respect a lot. Pants-Off Dance-Off is an incredible, groundbreaking show, too.
FloppyNono@billy_corgan but did u get hed?
Billy_Corgan@FloppyNono Oh, indeed I did. Her specific pleasures we lovingly call “Tequila Sunrise.” But you didn’t hear that from me *WINK*

I HEART YOU BILLY CORGAN! Here’s my “Heart You” Mix, brah.

MP3 :::
The Free Design – Love You
Boredoms – (Heart)
Numbers – I Love You ‘Til I Don’t
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – Funny How Love Can Be
Pia Fraus – Loveloops
MV & EE with the Bummer Road – Drive is That I Love You
Ciccone Youth – Addicted to Love

Last week, I had part one of the 26-song, seasonally-inspired, massive clusterfuck mix. Guess fucking what! This is part dos, just in time to send March off like a lion (or a lamb, depending on where you are I suppose). Spring rules, and I want you to have the jams I’m cranking in my car with the windows down and rims still spinnin’. Below are 15 more songs that are one million times better than the new Phoenix or St. Vincent or Lykke Li albums (or whatever the other blogs are poppin’ boners for). Fuck that shit. String Band, Meadow, Growing, Yoko, the Banke, Lilys, some Ghost Box, some insane old and obscure psych… I even put ol’ Ginger and Eric on here. I mean, Jesus, I wish someone had made me a mix like this.

No annotations just time. Just enjoy the jams. As always, if you think these shits is tight, support the artist and grip their album(s).

As a visual aside, I took some photos yesterday evening of the beautiful seasonal unfurling in the Old Louisville neighborhood. For our readers in the area, you should grab this mix (as well as the samples from the new Akron/Family and Lotus Plaza albums), load the tracks onto your iPod, iPhone, iCranial RFID chip, pipe ‘em through some big headphones (not shitty earbuds), and take a stroll down South 2nd Street between Magnolia and Lee Streets for a most transcendental time. Nature owns.

MP3 :::
The Incredible String Band – Koeeadi There
Penny Arkade – Woodstock Fireplace
Tower Recordings – Other Kinds Run
Belbury Poly – Scarlet Ceremony
Dungen – Familj
Dead Meadow – Stacy’s Song
Cream – Passing the Time
Growing – Wrong Ride
Margo Guryan – Sun
High Places – Namer
The Left Banke – Desiree
The Free Design – Now is the Time
Lilys – FBI and Their Toronto Transmitters
Sun City Girls – The Flower
Yoko Ono – Mind Holes

There’s no real need for an introduction. Spring is here finally, and it rules. West coasters may not be privy to this, but on the east coast, we have this thing called February which really sucks the life out of you. With these new mild conditions and sunshine, I had the energy to pull together a rather massive springtime collection of music – sunny folk and psychedelia (with annotations!) that evokes the oft conjured imagery of the season that I won’t waste time reiterating here. This gangsta-ass mix is so massive, as a matter of fact, that it will be be broken up into two parts. I wish someone made me a mix this monumentally ballin’, but unfortunately I’m probably the only one dope enough to bring this to you.

As always, please support the artists if’n you take a likin’ to any of these torch ballads. Salad rules, as well.

MP3 :::
Margo Guryan – Come to Me Slowly
You can find this gem on the collection 25 Demos

The Free Design – Bubbles
Everything is small potatahs up against the mighty FD, trick

Mia Dio Todd – My Room is White
Remixed by Dungen for her collaboration compilation La Ninja (ZOMG NINJAZ!!1!)

The Left Banke – Ivy Ivy
Technically, this is a Montage song, but since both groups have Michael Brown at the helm, it matters not. Good gravy either way.

Fairport Convention – The Deserter
Okay, so the subject matter of this one, as with many Fairport numbers, is not as pleasant as spring tends to be (a narrative of being ratted out on and meeting your executioner), but Sandy Denny makes everything gorgeous.

The Incredible String Band – There is a Green Crown
Eight big minutes of sitars and freak-folk before anyone knew what freak-folk was. You can find this one on The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter.

Broadcast – Look Outside
Considering their respectable following, why… in the fuck… is The Noise Made By People not available in the United States? Warp… dudes, what gives?

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Smile Heavy
Yeah… why does the sun go down? Rotation – fuck that shit. Find this on their 2004 effort Start a People.

Pia Fraus – Springsister
With the word “spring” in the title, this was an obvious choice. What I lack in subtlety, I make up for in honesty.

Mahogany – Chance
Excellent neo-gaze band from the early ’00s

Koushik – Be With
You would think this might be on Sundazed. But it’s not – it’s on Stones Throw.

Tower Recordings – Other Kinds Run
Matt Valentine, PG Six, and other rad dudes on acid freak the fuck out for three minutes.

For those who were absent last time… the Super Swingin’ Mix is, like, a fuckton of MP3s in a single post focused on a particular genre or theme. The songs sequenced are meant to be listened to, ya know, as a mix. Hence, it’s recommended that you enjoy each song in order without commercial interruption. So you should hit Apple + T (or Ctrl + T for you, egad, PC users) on that shit, throw some D’s on that bitch, and keep the MP3s on this page rockin’ whilst you browse whatever it is you browse on the Internets. Rotate thy volume dial clockwise. Tinnitus for days. Today, you guys are getting nine blockbusters – a veritable kaleidoscope of face melters. Nine! That’s one more than eight psychedelic rock bangers to jolly you up and lubricate that brain. Nobody keeps it hype like The Decibel Tolls. Nobody. Pass that Electric Kool Aid.

Now… I have to say that I’m decently pumped for this weekend’s Flugtag. Thanks to the seven useless years (seben jahren!) of German I took throughout school, I can tell ya that Flugtag, directly translated, means “fly day.” What Flugtag really is, though, is the most amazingly, exultantly dumbtarded event ever, which is why I’m stoked for it. Though I had aspirations to participate, it’ll be just as rowdy to observe. You see, this Saturday, September 6th, hundreds will converge onto North Avenue Beach (here in Chicago) to watch their peers launch makeshift flying machines off a 30 ft. ramp into Lake Michigan. Yes, flying machines.

Better living through technology. Behold the Flugan. Would’ve been awesomer if it had some rims up on that piece:

Back to the point, this is my first year going to Flugtag. My friends have already informed me that, unlike Orville and Wilbur, no one actually gets airborne. It’s like watching a skateboarding video – the fun lies in watching failure after failure after failure. Lift vs. drag… shit’s hard.

So yes, completely pointless and asinine. Should be awesome. The shebang takes off (hardy har har) at 11 a.m., which, if you’re not a morning person, shouldn’t be a problem as Flugtag is brought to you by Red Bull (because Red Bull “gives you wings,” you see). So chances are, there will probably be a lot of free RB, as that company is wont to drive around and sling that shit hither and fro for free. That’ll be rad, since Red Bull is a good replacement for drinking Antifreeze, which I like to do when I can. Czech Flugtag’s lil’ webby guy here for more info.

Irrelevant aside: Astute observers will notice that the Flugtag site uses my fuckin’ font – Gotham Book Condensed. That’s mine, dudes. Did you know there’s a documentary about fonts called Helvetica? Did you know that my girlfriend totally will not let me rent this for us to watch?

So to celebrate Flugtag and a possibly righteous weekend ahead, here’s a most triumphant mix of sick cuts to tax that ass and assist in maximum stokeditude. As you’re probably aware, I use any excuse I can to throw a bunch of jams together and send ‘em out there. Billy Corgan does the same thing, except he does that with his own shitty music. Enjoy the mix, and a gold star for those who “connect the dots” (protip: all of the song or artist names have to deal, in some way, with flying… you… did you see what I did there?).

MP3 :::
The Free Design – HowDjadoo (Fly Me Down)
Pentangle – Light Flight
Landing – Fluency of Colors
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Flying Circles
The Byrds – Eight Miles High [BBC Session]
Broadcast – You Can Fall
Experimental Aircraft – Electric Surgery
The Telescopes – Flying
Pink Floyd – Point Me at the Sky [BBC Session]

Yeeeeah, new Koushik joint. Koushik’s Be With compilation was amazing, but a little brief (only one track made it over the three minute mark). That issue is fixed with “Lying in the Sun” off the forthcoming Out My Window. “Lying in the Sun” is sunny psychedelia that comes correct and interpreted electronically – kinda like Caribou (Koushik even provided throat duty for some jams on Up in Flames, back in the pre-MySpace days when Danny S was known as Manitboa). However, Koushik remains very distinct, particularly by way of his clam, insanely reverberated vocals. All that was good about Be With is brought to the forefront – the sonically organic, lush, and hazy textures juxtaposed against crashing beats. However, you can tell, with this track alone, that Out My Window is going to showcase a lot more new ideas. Koushik is the latest heir to the Free Design’s throne, as long as that throne has room for some thumpin’ low end.

This… this sweet psych slice is so sickeningly good. It’s an IV drip of technicolor beauty. This groove can heal most terminal illnesses. I’ve got my headphone technology strapped on and am pumpin’ my fist hard to this. Get on it, share it with your friends, and pick up Out My Window when it drops like Chicxulub on Sept. 30 at your favorite local record slinger or at Stones Throw.

MP3 :::
Koushik – Lying in the Sun

As it is summer, I’ll be posting a lot of Free Design MP3s. The Free Design is such an odd group, insofar as the group’s music took on a whimsical, frolicking, sweeping sunshine pop sound whilst the lyrics leaned more toward, uh, metal. Take “Kije’s Ouija,” a narrative about a dude with a ouija board who talks at first of angels, then of the apocalypse in the next stanza.

Now many more like this the angel will send, but you could do yourself much worse /
Just push a couple buttons, let your favorite bombs completely cover over the earth /
Now the angel’s curse has come and gone, but everyone knew that

That’s heavy. The Free Design is coming back in a big way, everything from Light in the Attic’s Redesigned series that dropped not too long ago, to the increasing number of people on Last.fm rockin’ to Kites Are Fun, to a general new excitement toward the group that rivals their late ’60s heyday. For a group who wrote a song about how to make a huge hit yet ironically couldn’t do it themselves (their single “2002 – A Hit Song”), it’s about time for the Free Design’s time, regardless if it’s 40 years too late. Due to revived interest, the Free Design is back together and, hopefully, will be playing some shows soon.

Get ready to feel good. Seriously, if you want to solve problems, listen to the Free Design. No foolin’.

MP3 :::
The Free Design – Kije’s Ouija