It’s a tradition in the Bloggins home to celebrate DMXmas (wherein we enjoy our favorite introspective canticles from DMX over some hard cider or nog) in tandem with the more traditional interpretation of this most magical holiday. I’ve curated two fine mixers to mark both distinct occasions. From our family to yours, we wish you nothing but the best yuletime tidings. Merry fucking Christmas, dorks. Hope none of you all find the xx album in your stocking. That would be barftastic.

DMXmas Mixer
MP3 :::
DMX – One More Road to Cross
DMX – Love That Bitch
DMX – Bring Your Whole Crew
DMX – Lord Give Me a Sign

Xmas Mixer
MP3 :::
Cocteau Twins – Winter Wonderland
The Flaming Lips – Christmas at the Zoo
The Sonics – Santa Claus
Banjo or Freakout – White Christmas
Wooden Shjips – O Tannenbaum
Mogwai – Christmas Song
Low – Little Drummer Boy
Can – Silent Night
Esquivel – White Christmas
Lee Scratch Perry – Santa Claus
Sonic Youth – Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope

Wooden Shjips, a distant but important cousin to the emerging kraut-rock revival, started as a casual project amongst four guys not looking to quit their day jobs. The music was originally designed for instant cryonization, with hopes of being plucked from a dusty flea market collection by some brave record geek ten years later. I suppose this vision stems from the thrill of hearing something without context or press, or as it is often called, “the Paper Bag Theory.”  But after the surprise success of their first two full-lengths, we find the Shjips partially abandoning this mantra for something more modern with their new album Dos.

After culminating a sound that revels in its San Franciscan backdrop, the most notable change on this record comes from its incorporation of east coast influences, especially New York. The vocals of frontman Ripley Johnson, previously cited as an homage to Jim Morrison, are now more in tune with the manic posturing of Suicide’s Alan Vega. The opener, “Motorbike”, is much more keen on amphetamines than the acid vibes that fueled their self-titled album. It sounds like a loose cover of the Jesus & Mary Chain’s “The Living End,” with it’s pinwheel distortion and nervous aggression. This decidedly dirty track doesn’t characterize the entire album, but it does echo an interesting shift in the group’s presentation that we first saw on their most recent single, “Vampire Blues”.

“For So Long” returns to the rhythm heavy aesthetic we know them for. The muffled bass and snapped drums lock in tight and don’t budge for the whole song, which allows the surprisingly emotive guitarwork to build up steam. Typically, the their high points are their full-fledged freakouts, that rival just about anybody else’s nowadays. Seriously, 5 hour energy shots don’t hold a candle to the Shjips’ Volume 1 when you need to pull an all-nighter, but most of the grooves on Dos feel like being sucked into highway hypnosis.

One of only two lengthy jams on the album, “Down by the Sea,” starts with the same motorik/molasses tension from the rhythm section that well, frankly, almost all of their songs do. I am relieved when the lead guitar is introduced a few minutes in, not to relish in any sort of solo-flaunting (these guys are decidedly non-musicians), it serves rather to take pressure off the rhythm section and summon a second-wind for the next movement. The sad part is after the, oh say, seven-minute mark, a lot of their songs turn into similar, predictable burning heaps of fuzz. And not to suggest that his simple riffs don’t compliment the songs, but if i were the bass player, I’d make sure to always have some good reading material on hand.

Dos ends with the surprisingly poppy “Fallin’.” The distortion is turned down from total scuzz to almost clean, as a glass organ floats around innocuously. It almost sounds like Fujiya & Miyagi at times.  Delicately-delayed guitar picking smoothes it over into something completely alien to the Shjips standard MO, but has a memorability that most of the other tracks can’t achieve by sticking to their roots. Now, having deviated a bit, commitment seems to be Wooden Shjips’ catch-22. Their best jams are forged from simple patterns played with utmost vigor, but this has left them sounding less inspired three records in. Dos is clearly aware of this trap, and initiates a transitionary period experimenting with different influences in hopes to remedy. However, there are still some killer tracks, and I’m still convinced that Wooden Shjips are capable of great things. They’ve taken the oaths, they’ve got the religion, but unfortunately, Dos find them struggling as missionaries.

Dos is available April 14th through the good folks at Holy Mountain.

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

MP3 :::
Wooden Shjips – Motorbike
Wooden Shjips – Aquarian Time

Before my annual New Year’s hedonism quest, I wanted to wish all of you, dear readers, a fine 2009, which coincidentally, will be the UN-declared year of astronomy and the Bono-declared year of Bono (both equally mystifying).  Should be a fine one, indeed.  And oh yeah, you have to wait one more second this time around for the next year…

Immediately before midnight a leap second — the first for three years — will be added to atomic clocks around the world by official timekeepers.

Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, said the Earth’s erratic rotation meant an extra second needed to be added.

“The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year’s Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008 and revelers… will have an extra second to celebrate.”

Traditionally time has been based on the passage of the Sun across the sky — a modern version of this is still used by astronomers to track distant stars and spacecraft.

However, since 1967, an atomic timescale — the extremely accurate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) — has been the world’s official clock and is used for broadcasting time signals across the world.

The accuracy of UTC is essential for the smooth running of GPS and the Internet.

By comparison, the Earth is far less reliable. It does not rotate at a constant speed — it can even wobble — and disruptions to its core, extreme weather, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can influence the length of a day.

Therefore, leap seconds are occasionally added to align atomic time with astronomical time and ensure that the Sun remains overhead at noon.

Whibberley told British media anyone sober enough and who had a digital clock that picked up leap second information from a reliable source, would see the final seconds of 2008 as 57, 58, 59, 60, 00 — with 60 being the extra second.
Source: CNN

If anyone will be in the Highlands area of Louisville, look for the el guapo stumbling around in a top hat grippin’ some purple drank.  That’ll be ol’ Kenny Bloggins.  Say hi to me.  Happy new year.

MP3 :::
Wooden Shjips – Auld Lang Syne

X-mas is one week away.  I guess that rules.  Wal-Mart employees getting pancaked for some plasma TVs, the industrial-sized carbon footprint of the copious holiday-induced traffic, a general feeling of malaise, and not to mention the cliched but nonetheless important observations of the Santa Calus’ pervasive creepiness.  Christmas is weird, and I don’t know if I like it.

So instead, I celebrate DMX-mas, which adopts traditions such as enjoying “‘X Gon’ Give It to Ya,” watching some of his excellent films, and drankin’ malt liquor.  But since most of you don’t celebrate DMX-mas like Lana and I do, I’ll put together a poignant mix fit for the most “wonderful” time of the year.  Have yourself a brain burnin’ Christmas with these whispy sleigh-worn canticles that don’t make me want to stab someone in the face with a morning star.  Speaking of sleighs, remember that part in Citizen Kane when you find out that “Rosebud” was actually the name of Kane’s beloved sled as a child?  This mix fits that mood sorta perfect… 

The holidazed Super Swingin’ Mix kicks off with a muy bueno weed-hazed Christmas miracle. As expected (and totally refreshing), WFMU does ChRiStMaS correctly, with loads of weird photos and a yule-time gem from Wooden Shijps.  Do not listen whilst decorating the tree.  It’ll never get done.  Too baked, dood.

Next we move to shoegazing’s response to Enya, Cocteau Twins, offering a gorgeous, reverberated version of “Winter Wonderland.”  A less traditional version of the previous song comes to us from the much missed and consistently awesome Grandaddy.  The rest of the choices should be self-evident as to why they’re included on this mix, even a little crazy coked-up space age bachelor pad Esquivel was mixed in for good measure.  The Sonic Youth song is absolutely amazing.  Wanna bum out your holiday party guests?  Break this glass in case of emergency.

Finally, my favorite traditional Christmas song of all time… actually, the only traditional X-mas song I really like, is “Little Drummer Boy.”  And nobody, absolutely no one, is more poised to exalt this song on high with majesty and prowess than Low.  This version sleighs me… get it?  Sleigh?  Slay?

If anyone wants to get me a Christmas gift, b t dubs, I want Hootie’s country album and this ornament with Darth Vader treating the Death Star like a lady:

MP3 :::
Wooden Shjips – O Tannenbaum
Cocteau Twins – Winter Wonderland
Grandaddy – Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
Sonic Youth – Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope
The Sonics – Santa Claus
Daniel Johnston – Rock Around the Christmas Tree
Esquivel – White Christmas
Mogwai – Christmas Song
Low – Little Drummer Boy

A lot of small, relevant snippets of information have been appearing on my newsdesk in the past couple of hours, so I figured, why not dump everything in my action items box into one convenient, slammin’ post. So here’s all the news fit to print, in one post. It will help augment my lack of posting over the weekend, as I will be out of town. The timing was a little bad considering…

Ariel Pink Hits the Bottle This Weekend… Hard

Ariel Pink, on his 2008 “Thanks Mom, I’m Dead” tour, is now bringin’ it proper with a lush, full band. I’m interested to hear this, considering the last time I saw Ariel’s twisted AM radio golden pop was his opening spot for Animal Collective during the Sung Tongs tour. They sounded (sonically, not compostionally) like shit, just like on album. I wonder if this same interpretation will happen full band (featuring members of Indian Jewelry, Lilys and Beachwood Sparks). Philadelphia’s singing-at-the-bottom-of-a-well siren Tickley Feather opens the New York, Philly, and Baltimore shows. I know nothing about Tickley Feather’s live show, but the recorded material is sick! As for local action, Ariel Pink hits the Empty Bottle in Chicago this Saturday (totally feelin’ sad panda for missing this). Please see it for me – take photos!

7/19 San Francisco, CA Cell Space
7/21 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
7/22 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
7/24 Omaha, NE Slowdown
7/25 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
7/26 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
7/27 Toronto, ONT TBA
7/28 Montreal, QC Zoobizarre
7/29 Boston, MA TT The Bears
7/30 New York, NY Knitting Factory
7/31 New Haven, CT People’s Center
8/1 Philadelphia, PA M Room
8/2 Baltimore, MD Sonar
8/4 Atlanta, GA Eyedrum
8/5 Tallahassee, FL Beta Bar
8/6 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon
8/7 Houston, TX Walter’s on Washington
8/8 Denton, TX Hailey’s
8/9 Austin, TX Mohawk
8/11 Tucson, AZ Plush
8/12 Los Angeles, CA Echo

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Grafitti – Inmates of Heartache
Tickley Feather – Natural

Lightning Bolt and Wooden Shjips Do ATP’s Release the Bats

Halloween is the only holiday I really celebrate, and if I can locate a few extra thousand dollars (plus exchange rate fund) lying aruond, I may just take a hajj to London’s Forum on October 31 for ATP’s Release the Bats. No, I probably won’t make it, but you Britons should take the trip to see Lightning Bolt and Wooden Shjips, then tell me how it was. Lightning Bolt, who refuse to play on a stage, is worth traveling any distance to see, for their energy, face melting performance, and sheer unadulterated volume. Wooden Shjips will be fun to see live, as well, since they will be testing lots of new material for the follow up to their airborne self-titled. ATP is encouraging people to dress spooky. Considering LB is booked – shouldn’t be a problem.

Lightning Bolt – Duel in the Deep
Wooden Shjips – Lousin’ Time

Watch Anton Newcombe Woo His Peers and Neighbors in DIG!

DIG is an amazing documentary by Ondi Timoner outlining the seven year trajectory of two very aesthetically different groups, starting from the same place, but creating two vastly incongruent story arcs (with the Brian Jonestown Massacre acting as the undeniable central force, the immovable object, like the Joker in the Dark Knight). Totally fascinating – sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up. Of course, a lot has been written and discussed concerning the general insanity provoked by Anton and company (which I think is kinda cool in a psychotic way). What really matters is the music, ultimately, and this film holds true to this ideal.

Now, thanks to SnagFilm, you can watch this riveting piece of human drama – for free. Way rad. Czech out DIG here, or go on and watch it all up in that lil’ widget dude above! Technology is fucking aces.

Personally, I love every Brian Jonestown Massacre record. But even if you’re not into the music, the movie is more than entertaining. If you do love the BJM, there’s tons of great music throughout. You should definitely buy the DVD if you like the flick, since the DVD is packed with tons of great deleted footage, extras, and BJM performances. In a later post, I have quite a story concerning my epic run-in with Mr. Newcombe. Look out for that, but in the meantime, enjoy a lil’ guy from the We are the Radio EP.

Brian Jonestown Massacre – Seer