Spring Quartet

[D | R]

Strictly for the Birds

As I was eating my lunch earlier today in a park just outside the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, I noticed a small bird just beyond my feet. I briefly considered throwing it a small piece of bread off the PB & J sandwich that LM had so kindly prepared for me, but thought against it. A few minutes later, I felt wings brushing up against my left hand, a sensation strange not only for its rarity, but also for its acute softness, quickly granted. I then looked down, again, at my feet, and saw that this same bird, a lark perhaps, had a sliver of bread in its beak. It then occurred to me that the avian interloper had just stolen a portion of a meal, so delicious and fresh, from its rightful owner. The bird, which much surely belong to a hitherto unknown species of animal prone to urban thievery, then flew into the waiting chasm of Trinity Place, where Alexander Hamilton must have called out to it from his grave.

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The new EP by Brooklyn- and Chicago-based These Are Powers, Tarot Taro, suffers from ideas that are far too broad and loose, as though its creators were unable to agree on what chords to keep, on how to set their dirty impulses to tape (or Reason or whatever recording software the kids are using nowadays). But at least you can't say that their songs are devoid of spirit and drive; "Chipping Ice," for example, arguably the collection's best song, starts with an double-time snare drum pattern and just doesn't let up.

These Are Powers' abrasive energy, which can sound rather menacing, counts for plenty nowadays, whatwith positively dull bands like Low and Sigur Ros taking up precious space. The band, which features Pat Noecker (formerly of Liars) on bass, has previously released one full-length record, Terrific Seasons, which may or may not be terrific.

[D | R]

Transmigration

A few weeks ago, while waiting in LM's car, I turned on the radio, something I hadn't done in years. While running through signals of stations playing poor, mid-90's metal, alternative rock, and other sounds that only seem to exist on the far-left end of the dial, I heard a song done in the vallenato style, a type of folk music native to Colombia. I was instantly riveted, as though my brain was receiving a line through the aural conduit of my ancestral homeland. I've since discovered that the song, called "Eres" (Spanish for "you are"), is performed by Alejandro Fernandez, a Mexican pop singer. That last bit may not appear all that interesting, but I find it fascinating that there can be, in this world of light-speed communication, so many cross-cultural exchanges, so many opportunities for creativity to reinterpreted and reshaped.

The accompanying video, which has an overnight security guard going on a rampage of joy in an otherwise empty shopping mall, is also fun.

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Perhaps it goes without saying, but human stupidity seems to know no bounds:

"Homosexuality...is the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism." - Sally Kern, Oklahoma State Representative, as quoted in Equality, the magazine of Human Rights Campaign.

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Good night, and good luck...

[D | R]

Portrait of the Day

LM
[D|R]

Not the North Fork

LM (Montauk Morning)