Emperor X, Dust From 1000 Yrs and Family Portrait at the Twisted Branch

I was lucky enough to catch the entire show last night and I was very glad I did. I have loved Emperor X ever since a friend turned me onto him a couple years back, but the last time he came to Charlottesville, I only caught the last 2 songs, so I was super stoked to see that he was returning with one of my favorite bands on CLLCT, Dust From 1000 Yrs!

I had the chance to play a show with Dust From 1000 Years last May at the Garage (which is literally a tiny garage converted into an art/show room). It was foggy and drizzling and they played a beautiful droning set as a duo (the main Dusty dudes, Ben–AKA “Totally Bone” and Jimmy).

Last night, I was surprised to find Emperor X performing first, and man was I glad I got there early! In his usual energetic fashion, he started walking around the tea house as he played his first song with a small amp hanging off of his belt . Even though I only saw 2 songs at his last show, I must say that after seeing Emperor X twice now (or 1 and 1/4 times anyways) I am really impressed with his sincerity and energy as a performer. You can tell when you hear him that he puts his whole heart into every song. He played plenty of what are “hits” in my mind anyways, quite a few songs off of the album “Central Hug/Friend Army/Fractal Dunes (And the Dreams That Resulted)” which is definitely a favorite for me. A rather humorous moment arose when Emperor X asked Ben from Dust for a cover song suggestion and Ben proposed that he cover Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose”. Someone else yelled “Funky Town” and Emperor X joked that he should play both of them to make us suffer for our bad choices. And then, he actually played “Kiss From A Rose” to everyone’s surprise and delight (video linked below). He also did about 2 goofy bars of “Funky Town” before cutting it saying that was all he would play of that one. Then, much to my delight, he called Dust From 1000 Years up to play the last 2 songs with him.

Then, Dust played their set. They are  now a 4 piece band and the performance was really cool. Spacey jams that are equally gentle and heavy in nature. Layers of delay build under hushed, crying vocals…good stuff. My camera died right before the drum/synth build up finale unfortunately, but I was able to catch some prime moments in the 2 videos I took. Dust From 100 Years is a band that puts on a great show, so make sure to catch them if they come through your town.

Last came Family Portrait, the only band I knew nothing about. I could tell right away that they would be good and loud and I was right.  In fact, I wished my camera hadn’t died, because I would have loved to get a little footage of their set too. They had a really fuzzy, almost gritty dream pop kind of sound, and their drummer really had me hooked with some of his beats. I picked up their 7″ Split with local dude Andrew Cedermark and I have been listening to it today–it’s quite good!

I also picked up Dust From 1000 Years’ new album, “Marble Memo” which I have not finished listening to yet, but what I have heard is great. Check it out! Overall, a great show, with 3 great performances made for a lovely evening.

Here’s some links. I am only linking 2 of the videos I took of last night, but in total there are 6 videos up (so, you can check the others out if you want–they are uploaded under the same account).

Live Footage – Emperor X playing Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT32Wdc1ZM8

Live Footage – Emperor X and Dust From 1000 Yrs playing “Raytracer”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAyi0_uK51w

Emperor X: http://emperorx.net/

Dust From 1000 Yrs: http://moonjawrecords.com/dust.htm

Family Portrait: http://underwaterpeoples.com/index.php/artists/family-portrait

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new fourpaws album coming soon: grrooowwwwttttthhhhhh quirks

a lot of different magical mu-goo (it’s similar to mojo, but the word is derived from the term “musical goop”) has been collecting in my head, so i need to get some of it out. this is the first song, just a taste from a collection that is almost ripe. i’m just waiting for the mu-goo to reach maximum viscosity. but soon.

listen at: http://cllct.com/release/grrooowwwwttttthhhhhhquirks

happy friday 🙂

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CLLCT album review: inkmink’s “Keeping Up With the Wolves: A Cold Life in a Cold World”

inkmink is one of my favorite artists on CLLCT. i think he is also one of the more underrated artists on this lovely DIY collective. he seems to be an expert on creating and expanding on subtle feelings (and sometimes not so subtle feelings). personally for me, listening to his music invokes feelings from my childhood and from dreams…wonder, bewilderment and the occasional fleeting thought of monsters in the closet or under the bed or maybe even sneaking up right behind you.

this particular album starts off more energetically than most of the other inkmink albums i have listened . the entire album still has plenty of ambient lushness, but it also has it’s nervous, glitchy moments, purring synths and some hip-hoppy beat breakdowns.

here’s what the album description on CLLCT says:

“The 6th proper full length from inkmink. Future Laser animals and a small pod of humans trying to coexist. Is it possible to stay afloat in this new world when a mysterious outsider joins your camp and seems to be plotting some disastrous deed? Yes. Yes it is.”

sounds like a good story to me. but since i feel like reviewing this artist’s work in any rational way would not do it any justice, i will also offer my own abstract experiential interpretation of this album instead of a conventional review.

“IUOUI” pulls you down a road you are unsure of. you have never seen this place before, but you follow, walking quickly as the roads curves a bit frantically. you slow down as it begins to rain. “Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Water” is falling fast and it feels good in the warm air. you remember playing with your brother at age 10 as you splash through puddles and laugh at the drooling sky. exhausted, you plop down at the base of a tree to rest. you are dreaming your way along as “Bear Fin Soup” plucks an eternal tune that is resting in the infinite fold between memory and (im)possibility. you are dreaming…or could it be that you are waking up? your head rushes and you feel yourself snap back into your body, but everything seems lighter and fluffier as “We Eat Whatever the Arrow Hits” echoes all sharp edges out of existence. you stand up realizing your legs no longer feel so much like jello. ‘”I Never Miss,” he says.’ pulls your foot forward as you half stumble, half skip down a large hill. when you get to the bottom, you stop. you become hypnotized by the lights you hear moving all around you, even though you are not sure if they are actually there. suddenly, “It’s Gone. It Was Never There”. you blink in bewilderment and keep walking towards a sound that might be water. the rivers of hiss in “The Memories of Sounds are Ghosts in My Ears” flow in and out of gentle jittering tones and into a pool of some kind of strange cosmic goo. ‘”We all think it’s best if you leave”‘ dreams you through the ceiling and leaves you bouncing on tiptoe through a glass forest, where you are shaken abruptly from your play by a shadow wolf in “Claws Cause Pause”. you try to run away but your legs don’t seem to be moving. he’s toying with you as you struggle to get away and are pulled back by your torn pants leg and then snapped up by his slobbering maw. your vision fades to white as you look upon the first bardo in “Cracked Skull and Suddenly I See Things”. your body is dying, but your mind is still resonating with that last tone that dripped into your perception.

listen or download for free at: http://cllct.com/release/keepingupwiththewolvesacoldlifeinacoldworld0

check out all inkmink releases at: http://cllct.com/art/inkmink

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that 1 guy, live @ rapture 3-3-2010

that 1 guy played a free show at rapture last night and i figured i could not miss a chance to see the famed “magic pipe” in action.

i must say, i was impressed at his showmanship. he seems to be part magician and part musician. when he starts really jamming out, you can definitely hear that he has the background of a jazz musician, but with all the other elements in his music, he’s far from that at this point. he can actually sing too and has a fairly powerful voice and a decent range. but the main things about his show for me were pretty simple.

#1 – he knows how to kick a nice heavy jam.

#2 – it’s obvious that he is having a great time.

he is just having so much fun that it’s hard not to have fun with him, howl with him, and bob to the somewhat tribal funk industrial rock freejazz rhythms. besides the magic pipe, he also jammed out on an electrified boot (“the magic boot”) and an electrified saw “the magic saw”). it was definitely more than just the novelty act i had expected. although, i should also mention that he does excellent card tricks.

here are some links to the videos i took of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf3abm3OpZw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaeLVbk6v5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3FDs4baw4

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