Scenes from My Actual Life, As Lived by Me

Cass McCombs, “County Line”. End of the day, end of...

afterthetorchlight — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:30:12 -0400

Cass McCombs, “County Line”. End of the day, end of the journey.

“Barbie Girl”, by/featuring Courtney Stodden,...

afterthetorchlight — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:35:12 -0400

“Barbie Girl”, by/featuring Courtney Stodden, tweeted by Courtney Stodden, 5/19/13. Because if I am not a Stoddenista, I am nothing…

The Orb, “Toxygene” - Kris Needs’ Up for a...

afterthetorchlight — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:21:36 -0400

The Orb, “Toxygene” - Kris Needs’ Up for a Fortnight mix. God I love this record! My strongest association with it is driving way too fucking fast on the rush hour highways through Orlando, pumping this thing as loud as I could. I don’t usually like remixes that stray so far from the original, but this is great.

Aphex Twin, “On”. A song of pure texture, organized...

afterthetorchlight — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:16:50 -0400

Aphex Twin, “On”. A song of pure texture, organized meticulously. I love when the rain comes in at about the 30 second point. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out if the song title was “On”, “One” or “On E”.

Kacey Marie. I took a photography workshop with Chip Willis...

afterthetorchlight — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:25:24 -0400

Kacey Marie. I took a photography workshop with Chip Willis yesterday; this was one of the results. A really fun day,and I learned a lot.

Joy Division, an early recording of “In a Lonely...

afterthetorchlight — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:27:22 -0400

Joy Division, an early recording of “In a Lonely Place”; it seemed appropriate for the anniversary of Curtis’s suicide. The B-side for “Ceremony”, the first single they released when they became New Order, the song sounded so much like Joy Division, right down to Albrecht’s Curtis-cloned vocal, that I was sure it was Curtis singing for the longest time. The final New Order version is beautiful, though - I like it better than this demo, in part because Martin Hannett was involved. Hannett was far more important to Joy Division than he’s generally given credit for.

Eluvium, “Don’t Get Any Closer”. All the...

afterthetorchlight — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:49:09 -0400

Eluvium, “Don’t Get Any Closer”. All the softness of deep fatigue.

Aphex Twin, “Cliffs”. Now opening my hands and...

afterthetorchlight — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:16:00 -0400

Aphex Twin, “Cliffs”. Now opening my hands and letting something slip away, as I must.

Happy 65th to Brian Eno, probably the most important of my...

afterthetorchlight — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:14:14 -0400

Happy 65th to Brian Eno, probably the most important of my heroes. Here he is talking and playing his favourite records on NPR.

Roxy Music, “In Every Dream Home A Heartache”, live,...

afterthetorchlight — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:41:00 -0400

Roxy Music, “In Every Dream Home A Heartache”, live, 1973. No peace and love here, thank God. Probably the best view ever of Eno’s equipment, by which I mean both his VCS3 and his infamous ostrich jacket.

My mother, from Back in the Day.

afterthetorchlight — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:35:39 -0400

My mother, from Back in the Day.

Chris Hadfield sings David Bowie’s “Space...

afterthetorchlight — Sun, 12 May 2013 20:10:56 -0400

Chris Hadfield sings David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on the ISS. Phenomenally great.

Happy birthday, Mr. Bachrach. Here’s “Trains and...

afterthetorchlight — Sun, 12 May 2013 09:51:00 -0400

Happy birthday, Mr. Bachrach. Here’s “Trains and Boats and Planes”, just brilliant. For me, the original version is best - no big singer ego, the lyrics murmured rather than sung, mixed so low in the mix that they barely rise above the music.

Since I’m talking about heroes (well, heroines, I guess): Vija...

afterthetorchlight — Sun, 12 May 2013 00:03:00 -0400

Since I’m talking about heroes (well, heroines, I guess): Vija Celmins, “Gun with Hand #1”, 1964.

I spent much of the day looking at photographs by Sarah Moon,...

afterthetorchlight — Sat, 11 May 2013 23:53:00 -0400

I spent much of the day looking at photographs by Sarah Moon, the Grand Old Dame of fashion photography, and direct inspiration to another hero, Paolo Roversi. Much of it was spent convincing myself that I shouldn’t buy a coffee table book about her work; it is a collector’s item, and has become quite dear in the 4 years since it was published.

Oh, fuckit, I’ll buy it.

Jon Hassell, “Blues Nile”. It’s dark in the...

afterthetorchlight — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:24:37 -0400

Jon Hassell, “Blues Nile”. It’s dark in the city, raining now.

Thunder… Endless thunder on the rolling plains. How calm...

afterthetorchlight — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:10:00 -0400

Thunder… Endless thunder on the rolling plains. How calm it is in my bedroom, how loud the storm outside. Sleep now.

Spent the day resting and elevating and icing. In the evening, I...

afterthetorchlight — Thu, 09 May 2013 00:44:00 -0400

Spent the day resting and elevating and icing. In the evening, I caught part of Four Tet’s set at Webster Hall, a block from my front door. Brilliant, but I was uncomfortable - that my feet were sticking to the floor didn’t help. Ah well; at least I saw some of it.

Daft Punk, “Revolution 909”. One of my favourites,...

afterthetorchlight — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:58:56 -0400

Daft Punk, “Revolution 909”. One of my favourites, with all the urgency and extravagant, maximalist expressivity of Philip Glass in full flow. The song always seemed really, undeniably, utterly true to me.

Daughter’s in-studio cover of Daft Punk’s “Get...

afterthetorchlight — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:20:11 -0400

Daughter’s in-studio cover of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”. Sepulchral, deeply felt, affected. But quite pretty in a early-80’s retro way.