How It's Done

I'm about to call it a night here after one terrible fucking day, but before I do, I need to share some things that are pulling me back from the brink. In honor of the book-everyone's-reading-right-now, Life by Keith Richards (which you can read as an instruction manual for how to live your life) let's turn back the pages of time a little bit...

If this doesn't make you wanna get up and say "Yeah!" then you should buy yourself a casket buddy cause yer probably DEAD!

How high is this guy?

And if you were to look up "How It's Done" in the Encyclopedia, it would redirect you to the entry "Keith Richards", and you would see only this:

(Yo Drew, I think we've found our title graphic)

...Sunday Meditation?

So many years ago in my day of slanging music for the man, with my pal The Truth; I came up with a genre in my head of "chill/'yellow'" music. I created some cd's called morning mixes before ever getting to a super genre I named Sunday. This comprises of a whole lot of music you see. Plenty of eastern folk will really blow your mind, but just listening to Van on repeat for a while might allow the drift to take hold.

anyway....


even if you know this one, and can still get around the moment of shrill, its right on with the vibe.



and this one is a gimme. It embodies the Sunday vibe perfectly.


So nothing fancy just some mellow for the monent.

Once more unto the breach

So it's definitely procrastination season - as you can tell from all this outpouring of content from me - not only from school, but from the real shit (a quality, well-thought out post) I'm keeping from you guys, for a rainy day.

Until that day comes, here's yet one more thing you all should know about. The ever-excellent blissblog reminded me of a good band I was digging awhile back but forgot to really follow up on: Fox. Short for Noosha Fox, the lead singer (but not the songwriter), this video is her from her solo period, after Fox broke up. Never heard of Fox? That's good, because you're in for a treat, as every one of their songs sounds different and every one is basically more inventive than any other band from the 70s you've been taught to respect. That's the kind of shit we invest in here at TNRR. As for this video, I'm sure all you ironic-disco lovers this will get your nips perked, but don't get too comfy cuz like I said, their style varies a lot.

School is in session

Watch Rich & Linda rock that folk-hippy style to the moon. If only I could go to Boone or Asheville and see shit this good... Drew already knows to cover this song, but he's also going to have to do it better than this:

You're gonna need help, man. Enlist me.

UPDATE: No sooner did I almost log off for the night, did I come upon this excellent bit of education in stagecraft. People must wonder why I'm so down on all the young gunslingers of today. Well, it's because I don't see much of this:

Note how P. Hook keeps the bass low, how the drummer doesn't do a lot of fucking around, how B. Sumner stays focused on delivering tasty lines, and leaves the attention where it belongs, on the weird & hypnotic Mr. Curtis (who shows off his dancing chops around 2:30)

I see too much of this:

One for the fellas (straight porno)

Here's something to kick back to this weekend that's a little less homo than watching a bunch of muscular dudes tackle one another. It's a clip of Come As You Are (don't mind if I do) covered by Girl Crisis - sort of a jokey side-project of various indie rock honies from Brooklyn (Au Revoir Simone, Telepathe, some others). Basically, I'd make it my mission if I lived in Brookliyn to sleep with every one of these chicks. It doesn't hurt that they're good musicians too.

That's my #1 muse Caroline Polachek in the back on the vibes. I don't care if Fred Durst produces Chairlift's next album, that's my shortie right there.

Not Rock Nor Roll

So tonight I hope I did the right thing by missing out on some new indie dancefest in downtown Raleigh. I'm sure we will all hear about it over the coarse of the weekend, and though some of my friends will try to ensue jealousy on my behalf, I will not be jealous of the sweaty time. I haven't been to the new Kings Barcade on Martin Street, but I soon will just not tonight. I know I might be for the progression of music, or...nope.



and whats with the melody rip of "How will I know" by Whitney Houston


It's lasts nights Ariel Pink show at the Cats Cradle that would have really had me moving.


Perhaps, he's right. I need the visual. I can't watch 2 guys jump around without something that really thumps.
So tonight, instead of going to see Javelin or last night's Haunted Graffiti, I sat at home listening to my Cerrone record that I picked up at (you guessed it) the NC flea market. (this is the video edit)

OUTLAWS: Operating Under Thug Laws As Warriors

(You're gonna wanna roll that blunt right about now)

So I finally got around to watching the Biggie & Tupac documentaries (Bigger Than Life and Life of An Outlaw, respectively; both streamable on Netflix) and I gotta say, I think Tupac's edges it out a bit. It's interesting... comparing the two, Biggie comes off as "realer" but Tupac as simultaneously more phony and psychotic. Big Skye (one of Pac's sideline guys, in the group Thug Life, which, if you aren't hip to the album Thug Life, Vol. 1 yet you should kill yourself. seriously.) calls him an "educated nut", and that about nails it. It's evident in their attitude towards guns: Big dropped out of high school and toted gats while doing drug deals nonchalantly, while Tupac was being tutored by an artsy new-age San Franciscan white lady, but later Pac becomes a gun aficionado, does interviews at the shooting range, discussing the technicals of armor-piercing bullets, etc. This basically explains everything about their personalities, and leaves the impression that, if not for rap, B.I.G. would've probably ended up in jail, while Pac might be a college professor at Howard U.

This isn't to discredit Pac though; indeed, he has the better story and movie, and crew, and collected body of work, really. I know you don't believe me. I didn't believe me for a long time. But check the title of this post - that's one of the Pac-fathered crews, aka Dramacydal:

Or fuck with this for a second:

Play all of the Dramacydal stuff on Youtube, and you'll realize there's no shortage. Then realize they didn't even release one album. Instead, these guys were all involved in a constellation of west-coast crews loosely involved with 2Pac, and all of it sounds just as fresh, if not more-so, than Junior M.A.F.I.A.

Pac was apparently big on stayin' true to the game, always curating new artists on the come up. Here he directs some prototypical West Coast joint (this is about as '93 as it gets):

Anyway, I could go on about the films, how Shock G - where is he now? - is more of a compelling screen presence than Method Man (Bigger Than Life's main interviewee), etc, but no one really cares what some white dude in the suburbs of 2010 thinks about all this shit, do they?

Más classics:

Thug Life - Bury Me A G

Da Brat (feat. Notorious B.I.G.) - The B Side

Dramacydal (feat. The Notorious B.I.G. and 2 Pac) - Runnin

That IS Rock and Roll

Inspired by that 2 minutes of pop magic that Drew dropped on us, as well as frightened by that image of geezer parking lot rock - is that guy playing a Bogner amp? - I decided to share another slice of essential youth culture. This one comes from Black Flag (the good, pre-Rollins vintage) and I think it may be my favorite punk record of all time. I'm pissed I can't find my excellent sounding vinyl ripped mp3s of this, so Youtube will have to suffice. If you want to remember what ROCK feels like, find the vinyl and turn this shit up to 11:

Here's the same song done by the Rollins unit much later on... not nearly as good, but I'm still giving these guys style points...

... and I'll take that over a hundred-fold of dorky shit like this:

Not hating on the Pumpkins, but the straight laced cover of one of their lamer songs embarrasses me. Way to rip off their logo too, guys. Oh, and I'm not "giving it up" for your motherfuckin "string section". Dorks!

Goals in my life...and ongoing dilema..

We all strive to do our best, right? I mean, you get up every day and you give a damn. Some people get up and and actually do give a damn and become something special or great. I'd like to do great things one day, but I really hope that my dreams never end up becoming anything like these guys in the photo above. This is too familiar of any shitty bar around on a Saturday night or earlier that day at the opening of the new Harley Davidson in the parking lot.

Realistically I'll probably take things over on my own, but it sure would be nice to get up with some fellas like this...

Sorry for the delay../(delay/delay)

Brian Eno interviewing Brian Eno