muse um

If you havn't heard by now, The Whitney has been doing a psychedelic era art exhibit replete with rockstar photos, swirling designs, more swirling designs, and films. It's packed with color and fun. Entering into this world via elevator will yield more satisfaction than the stairs.

This past Friday, the 20th, they also had music to go along with the exhibition aptly named Psychedlia's Progeny. Brooklyn's own Dirty Projector and um Lucky Dragons were among the artists who performed. Wine, beer, Janis Joplin's VW bug, a bass that looked a violin, and a fancy ass venue led to a thoroughly enjoyable show and ecstatic crowd. Reporters and photographers too young for the psychedelic era and too old to be its progeny went clickety click with her cameras and note books all through out the show. They are sure to write a version of this much better than mine, disseminating colorful youthful creative energy to aged virgin soil.

Lucky Dragons video

Thx Yelena!

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Recommendations:
Despite the super cheezy cover of Love, Peace, Poetry - Asian Psychedelic Music at least two of the tracks, the one labeled A2 by (cambodia rocks) which is actually called "13" and the song Katip Arzvhalim Yaz Yare Böyle by Mogollar (pronounced mo-go-yar) are must-hear ear candys.

Also "Les Rallizes Denudes" from 70s Japan, which is more noise than pop oriented, is something that will surely impress.



Ugh and one more cuz I can't help myself and because The Soft Machine and the whole Canterbury scene including my favorite band Gong should not be omitted in the grand scheme of things.

Speaking of drummers

So, this is not super hip Justice; it's boy muscles, chic rock, prog, rock, but damn I hope oh I hope this will be cool when drummer Zach Hill (Hella, the Advantage) and Marnie Stern come to play at the South Street Seaport on August 10th.

Zach Hill's body is molded to the shape of a drum set.

777

It's been awhile since I've posted. I'm slackin I admit. I'm also gonna be talking about old news. Bleh.

But hey, it's still fresh on my mind as I hope it is still fresh on the minds of all the other witnesses of the amazing, wonderful, and moving experience brought to us by Vice, JellyNYC, and the now canonical Boredoms.

The quick lodown: July 7th 2007 at 7pm there were 77 drumsets setup in a swhirl in a park underneat the Brooklyn Bridge looking towards the skyline of Manhattan. EYE, the 78th man wielding a trident opus conducts the ring by whacking on a set of super sensitive amplified metal bars. The other members of the Boredoms sit on a platform with amplified drumsets and lead the shifts in drum patterns for the rest of the volunteer drummers to follow. Most of the voluteers are drummers of notable local bands. Friends of friends; friends of friends of friends. I was told that there was a core group of about 7 or 8 drummers that practiced extensively with the Boredoms working on tightening the composition. The rest of the drummers just figured out what they had to do the morning of and made up the rest. It was nice to see that though many drummers were taking the liberty of adding in layers of flourishes, the overall sound was still remarkably coherent, not to say epic.

There was a definite sense of political or at least ideological undertone to the whole project and not in a necessarily straightforward way. A huge group of tribal beats certain reminds us of old slogans of solidarity. The twist here is that it is an improvised solidarity, one not based on theories, constitutions, systems, but rather on common experience. That's the shiney and easy side. Then there's the "brought to you by": [insert hipster think-tank]. And it's all back to the details, weighing this versus that, making choices about which parties to go to, which brands to brandish, which boy to take home.

Where am I going with this? I guess I'm interested in asking the question of: is this gonna work? Creative chaos backed by top notch management and pure refined globalized capital. All I can say is that, I was impressed and sold. Vice knows what the they are doing and if JellyNYC keeps putting up epic underground events, who knows what the future'll hold for DIY culture as well as mainstream commercial media.

It's scary being caressed by the invisible hand; but as long as that hand is blind or at least perpetually enebriated, I feel more or less safe.