Great.




Well this was a fun and productive 8 hour wait to finish uploading.

Bitch be trippin all the time ma'.

Hiroki Endo's Tanpenshu



Well this is a bit awkward. Last time I read this was in high school and I was all about "man I need to post this on the blog". Good thing I remembered to post it - right? I guess it's never late for love so here goes.

Actually I did post this in one small fragment which was The Crows, the Girl and the Yakuza but I had no idea that it was part of a compilation that contains several short stories by Hiroki Endo. Now after all this time I gave this another read and yes, it's still as awesome as ever. Calling them short stories would be a stretch though since most of them are 80+ pages long.

The stories are generally very melancholic so the comic is mainly maintaining this serious vibe about life, death, meaning and the usual things people like to ponder about. Stories themselves aren't really existing plot wise, it's more about characters and how they perceive their lives and relationships. Hiroki does his thing very well overall, the characters are fleshed out and don't act superficially like most mainstream manga characters. "Do good because we must!" and shit like that is nonexistent which is a refreshing change for me at least. They do what they must and struggle with their existence in a sadly happy way (but also murder).

If I could sum up this whole book in once sentence it would be: people are fucked up but they have good intentions, sometimes.


Recommended.

Download.

The Pyramids - King of Kings

This is for someone that is no longer on this planet; I'm sure he would like it because it sounds a lot like his music. Sun Ra was born on May 22nd and died on May the 30th 79 years later and as much as I don't really care what happens after/before this existence I think I'll/We'll celebrate these dates (as they are around now) in a way that everyone would benefit which is sharing something that he would like and possibly some other drifters as well that come here for a cup of digital tea.

Anyway, enough with the unmusical talk. The Pyramids are a free jazz ensemble that operated mainly during the seventies. This album, released in 1974, was probably at the peak of their creativity. During my research I found out that they released another album last year so it seems they are together again and also their previous three albums that were released in the 70s are now in print again on cd. The music is kinda like Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders combined, it's mainly melodic with several voyages into free improvisation. As usual with these records there's this really tight and diverse rhythm section and soloists on saxophones, flutes and stuff like that. Afro-big bands I call it. It's well composed, fun to listen and not long enough dammit. The percussion is especially great if I might add.

Check this out if you like Sun Ra and things like that.

Download.

Videos volume 3

Hi.

Nothing to do? Your vibes are getting bad? Here's some youtube stuff. Happy time killing.

Music: 
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor 
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninoff) Vivace 1st movement 
Stravinsky - Petrushka (Jansons)
Asakawa Maki - 少年
Schubert - Der Erlkönig
Death "Denial Of Life" (live) 
1 of 2: Brahms Cello Sonata No. 1 Op. 38, First movement 
Roy Orbison - In Dreams 
Do Make Say Think - A Tender History In Rust  
Nikolai Lugansky Rachmaninov Prelude Op 23 No. 7 
Seikilos Epitaph - Song of Seikilos 
Muzsikas: Chasid Dances with Cioata  
Jascha Heifetz plays Paganini Caprice No. 24 
Besh o Drom - Tortapapír  
Brahms - piano sonata no. 2 - Mvnt 1 & 2 /Julius Katchen/ 
Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances / with Danubia Orchestra  
Still Alive by Gamer Symphony Orchestra  
M. Ward - The First Time I Ran Away  
BORIS vs The Melvins live 1995  
BORIS live 1995 Orange Amps Wata  
Live on Soundcheck: Colin Stetson 
Thieves Like Us - Shyness
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Gathering Storm HD Live  
Liszt Totentanz  
Dynamite Hack-"Boyz In The Hood"
IS TROPICAL | THE GREEKS 
Star Slinger - Mornin' 
HD Preview - Audio Visual performance. Junichi Akagawa
DyE - Fantasy

Jazz:
Ryo Fukui - Early Summer 
Dancando No Paraiso 
Booker T. & The MG's - Booker-Loo (1968) 
Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine - 1964 
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Special Guests - Leverkusen Jazz Fest Oct. 9 1989 Complete 
Charles Mingus - Trumpeten in Norway 
BBC Documentary: Sun Ra, Brother From Another Planet  
Gary Giddins- Backstage Interview on Cecil Taylor 
Damir Kukuruzović gipsy swing quartet

Strange or cool things:
Rouge Warrior credits song + lyrics 
Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers 
Lightsaber Fightsaber 
Bro Team Pill: Cricket Revolution  
Left 4 Dead 2: Portal 2 Easter Egg  
Pikamon  
Fenriz - Black Metal University(FULL Video) Part 1 [also, what the hell?] 
The Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the Birds clip  
Quantic Dream - KARA tech demo  
Engrish is funny  
"I have 3, PS3's" 
A Swarm of Nano Quadrotors  
Ants - Attenborough: Life in the Undergrowth 
Take On Me by a-ha, North Korean Style  
Saxophonist Colin Stetson in Studio Q 
The scariest video you have ever watched in the name of science 
QuakeCon 2011 - John Carmack Keynote 
Microsoft XBOX 360 Stand Off McCann Erickson NY 2005
History of English (combined) 
RSA Animate - The Divided Brain  
Tarkovsky on Cinema

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Sunset Mission


Here's something that has seen a lot of rotation on my player recently. Someone on last.fm said that Bohern & der Club Of Gore are Kenny G. for metalheads. This to some extent is true despite how much hate Kenny G. gets. The reason why this is kinda like Kenny G. is because there really is not that much of jazz here yet it is often cited as dark jazz. The chords here are simple, non improvisational and they lack in pretty much everything that is usually associated with jazz (smooth jazz maybe) but that's not really the point of their music anyway. The reason why this would be for metalheads is, I guess, because of its pitch black atmosphere. The cover itself can already give you an idea of how this sounds. It's dark, minimalistic and sombre music for long nightly strolls through an industrial part of the city.

The thing Bohren does best is atmosphere, it envelops you and you can't let it go. The slow pace, the silent keyboards and the saxophone that tears through the dark really fit well together. It does not come as cheesy smooth jazz music for the most part.

If you're looking for some dark and relaxing music look no further.

Midnight stroll.

Krautrock documentary


Check out this BBC documentary about krautrock, it's pretty good/informative.

                                        Youtube link.

Roland Kirk - The Inflated Tear


Jazz had a lot of interesting musicians. Some could play really loud, some could play really fast while some could play really complex and then you had those strange cats that nobody could understand. Roland Kirk was one of those strangers and loners. He was blind but he could play three instruments - at once. Because of this a lot of critics considered him as just a gimmick player.

The Inflated Tear is usually considered his magnum opus that even negative critics liked. I for one think his live albums are far superior but let's start with something that's universally liked (later on I'll share some live albums of course). The album itself contains a lot of blues and bebop but it tends to develop into more modern jazz (modern for 1967 that is) as the tracks go along.

Despite his unique ability there's a fair share of one handed songs which I think is great because it showcases his more technical abilities on each instruments although his dual-triple wielding are where the real show is. The way he plays; it gives this strange atmosphere like no other musician ever achieved. It's just strange and really awesome at the same time.

Download.

Preview of the title track.

Steve Roach - Structures from Silence


Shit, I'm a little late but nevertheless let's get to it.

Ever since I  watched Blade Runner I wanted to find some more of that spacey synth music so eventually I found this little album. Steve Roach experimented with a lot of types of soundscapes so naturally he released quite a lot of things but he usually gets associated with those new age music/movements. You know, that music you listen while meditating and some middle aged guy tells you to open your mind. This means that he has released a lot of cheeky elevator music but he also has quite a few of the good releases.

Structures from Silence is one of the good guys from his discography. It sounds pretty much like being stranded in space on some desolate station eating plastic food, waiting to get impregnated by facehuggers. There are three fairly long tracks that suck you in their respective atmospheres. While monotonous (in a good way) each track is distinct so you don't get always the same thing albeit they all follow a premise of being a slow minimalist piece.

Great music for late nights.

Oh and please take note that this is in flac.

Download.