Fast and Bulbous

Tonight, it took me ten minutes to unscrew a lightbulb. In these minutes, I essentially dismatled my lamp in a futile attempt to change the globe. Once I got it out, it took me five minutes to try and put the new one in. Then mum came in and snatched the bulb off me to put it in. Five minutes along and she fails. Dad then "makes the bulb fit" with force. It didn't work and he ended up breaking my bedside table lamp. How many Greeks does it take to screw in a lightbult? Three can't do it. FML

You Can All Join In

Stuff I walked past today:

1. The oh-so-beautiful piano playing of a girl I once knew whos initials are L.L. I actually walked much, much slower (essentially just standing there) past her house to admire the lovely sounds coming from within. I don't know what she was playing, but it was simply divine and luckily I got to hear it twice. It perfectly calmed me down for a whole 10 seconds that I heard it.
2. Children screaming and playing. Torturuous. I don't remember people screaming like retards when I was at IPS. I would say we did, though. I don't remember it being louder than fucking Neil Young, though. Seriously, these children were screaming so loud, that if I were to walk into that playground, I would start bleeding from the ears.
   
3. My ultra-godly past-friend / current acquaintance drumming his arms off. It was really quite good. However, I do believe he had an exam today, so it was probably his equally-religious brother. You know those "Jesus: All About Life!" signs? Yeah? Yeah, they have one in their window. The south will rise again, Custer...
4. Two chefs from Al Martino's, the local Italian restaurant. They were chainsmoking cigarettes extremely quickly. I do not want them to touch my pizza again. I lie, I do, those pizzas from Al Martino's are fucking orgasm-inducing. G'damn I want one so bad.
5. A "FOR SALE - SOLD" sign. Normally this is no big deal because I don't really give a flying when someone new moves into the suburb. However, I think this sign was outside another past-friend's place who I planned to become very good friends with again after all this HSC shit finishes. It made me very sad because I kinda abandoned this great friendship we had. Oh the good times, oh nostalgia.

I wanna make an album, but I don't want it to suck which it inevitably will because I have no songwriting skill whatsoever. It's gross to know that my current "masterpiece" is Sodomy. Uuuuuuh pathetic feelings. But what genre? Noisy garage? Shoegazing? Folkish ballads and confessional poetic songs? Sludge? I don't think that a song I have written / will write will ever be displayed in public. I will not even match the cuntiness of Chad Kroeger and put anything I write out. BECAUSE I KNOW IT IS SHITTY! YOU HEAR ME CHAD, YOU DICK MUCHER!? FUCK OFF!

I feel totally empty. Hello, bodily organs and fluids and bones and muscles, are you in there? Because I cannot feel you. I don't think I've ever felt so much nothingless in my chest. I'll stop this bleakness now.

I have recently become hideously and dangerously obsessed with electronica, Kanye West and Jay-Z. 90s electronica is essentially my life because I'm sure a party guy and I love synths more than anything. And when I choose a CD to listen to, The Blueprint and The College Dropout just instantly go "POP!" into my mind. Why, HOVA, why have you poisoned me to love you so? RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH! is what I do when I listen to Napalm Death. And I get crazy urges to punch bitches in the jugular. Fuck yeah! Cowjab those fuckers so they can't breathe.



Napalm Death - Instinct Of Survival
Björk - Venus As A Boy

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are ABAP. I recommend every download this recording from right here:
THIS IS AN AMAZING LIVE DOUBLE ALBUM

But yeah, I've been getting into my bootlegs recently. Some Aphex Twin Peel Sessions, Melodies From Mars (unreleased Aphex), Beatles on Sweedish Radio in '63, Beatles rooftop gig on Apple Studios, Napalm Death Peel Sessions, Godspeed You! Peel Session, Nirvana live in '91 and Hendrix in San Diego in '69. Yes, Con's going download crazy because he just realised that 25GB is a lot of monthly downloadable crap.

And even if you don' like Sabbath (yet), you will after you listen to that recording. Iommi's guitar solos are shredalicious, Bill Ward busts out 2 freakish drum solos in consecutive songs, Geezer Butler's bass is as amazing as usual and Ozzy is really on point vocally. The boys have a real chemistry at this show, and you can definitely hear it. While they have 4 albums to cover and Sabotage is on the eve of release, they skip a few classics, namely The Wizard, Sweet Leaf and N.I.B. but the live power of Hole In The Sky more than makes up for it. In 1975, if I was alive and like 20 years old and lived in England, I would have been there getting my soul eaten by Black Sabbath.

On a more serious note, here's some beautiful music:

1. Claude Debussy - Claire de Lune
2. The Beatles - Golden Slumbers

And some depressing music

1. Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni - Adagio in G Minor
2. Bob Dylan - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Lastly, I was this:



Anyone want to shout me a $1,246 camera? It has 2 lenses included and is for photography noobs like me. Camaaaaan. Fine, I'll get it myself. I'll sell my body on the street so I can get it. At least then I can take crazy good photos of my syphillis and herpes from all the hideous back-alley sex I'll have to endure to get it. Then take some beautiful scenery photos and then say that I'm an artist because the juxtaposition of the factory smoke on the sunset really speaks to me about mankind's impacts on nature. You know, that cool stuff that cool camera guys do.

LOOKIN' FORWARD TO NO MORE EXAMS / THE REST OF THE YEAR! ARE YOU?

In One Ear...

Things I like the sound of:

• Revolver
• Yeasayer - Sunrise
• A screeching J Mascis solo
• Rain falling onto trees
• Cluttered murmer of a shopping centre
• Children crying (they all deserve it)
• The hum of a computer terminal
• Slamming doors
• Compliments
• Violins in harmony
• Cardboard being cut
• 4ht intervals
• Mudhoney fuzz
• "G-L-O-OR-EYAY" (Patti Smith's Gloria)
• HOVA
• Breathing
  

Things I don't like the sound of:

• Real Insurance advertisments
• Regret
• Radio pop
• Rain on aluminium gutters
• Children having fun
• Bones breaking
• Trees falling
• Bad 90s electronica
• Phone feedback through speakers
• Peter Sculthorpe
• Permanent ear-ringing
• Glitchcore (not this)

I am the world's forgotten boy, the one who searches and destroys

HSC Playlist

Here's some songs that I've been listening to a lot.
They, along with friends and my "poetic" blog posts have been keeping me mildly sane during these tough times. O what a strange nature is knowledge...it clings to the mind like lichen on the rock.
I tore up my English notes. It felt so great.

HSC Playlist: (<-- That's the link)

1. The KLF - 3 a.m. Eternal (3:29)
   
2. Les Rythmes Digitales - Sometimes (4:57)
   
3. At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor (4:20)
   
4. The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun (5:29)
   
5. Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral (4:53)
   
6. Eels - Novocaine For The Soul (3:08)
   
7. KISS - Detroit Rock City (3:39)
   
8. Opeth - The Leper Affinity (10:26 - Good luck!)
   

Forty...Eighty...One-Twenty...

...those minutes fly by when I'm with you. Under the pressure of expectation and situation, they will drag on forever. I declare a state of emergency in my brain - shut it off...shut it off for now. Electronica is the healing which brings about all calmness, collectedness and placidity in one's soul. Beam down on me, the sweet sounds of synth as I rack my conscious in panic and fury. Soothe me in the onehundredandtwentyminutes of despair and hoope. Pray to the forces that the ink is kind, fair an just. Or else, honour your wrongdoings over the course of this year. This year, a whirlwind of a year (prdictable). Not over yet, I've still got to become an adult! Don't get ahead of yourself. Libraries, libraries, everywhere, but not a drop to drink. A waterfall of knowledge and a weath of creativity. Pools of lost hope, can I cope? Will I remember? I sure hope so. We all do. For if we do not, onehundredandtwentyminutes of pain and suffering. Onehundredandtwentyminutes will drone on in your mind and scrape it's vicious claws of hatred across your back. Across your hope. Through your perception of self. Be kind...ink...be kind.

(Why do I suddenly think I am a poet?)

Excuse the typos...

And So It Begins

Last time when I couldn't sleep, I found blogging helps.

My room is super stuffy, I can hardly breathe. Hot, heavy air filling my lungs. I feel pretty claustrphobic right now. What I wouldn't give for a breeze right now. The water I put on my face has already dried. No trace of any liquid at all. I think the pressure finally got to me. Please, friends, reassure me. It all begins tomorrow. The mad dash for the end. Wind, wind, the slightest wind! Coming to save the day. I hope the song I started writing tonight turns out well, that would make me happy. Resting my eyes, a good sign. It feels good when they close, soft and refreshing. And I imagine what may happen. Static ringing in my ears - a bug was on my chest. It's fluid now smeared across my chest. A cooler breeze, thank the heavens. All my friends are falling in love, a fact I can't deny. Everyone has someone, and they know it better than I. All my friends are falling in love. I can assure you, I won't be too far behind.

Good luck to everyone who reads this and everyone who does not. Do not waste what you have acquired in your 12 years of learning. It is a gift. My best wishes to all.

Note to self: Cover The Windmills of Your Mind in shoegaze when you get your effects board.

An Ode To Sleep

I'm not an insomniac, I just can't sleep.

Please please please help me Sigur Rós, take away the pain of being awake. It is definitely not the time for this. Heavy air crushing my face into the firm pillow. That's not what I want. Please, Decoder Ring, help me reach my subconscious. No breeze and sweaty feet, uncomfortable situations with the ringing of damaged ears and silence. Please, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, let me find the Holy Grail that is peace and serenety in sleep. Itchy, itchy, why am I so itchy? My skin is dry as a desert, but elsewhere it's damp. Please, Tortoise, remove my thoughts and bring death to this day. It's still early at 12:40, I've got a long way to go yet. Hello, HSC, thank you for destroying my life for the time being. Look at what you've reduced me to. Please, Portishead, just take me away from life already. The frogs are so loud, I can hear them in my brain. How come when there's no noise, I can still hear sound? Please, Massive Attack, just put me to sleep! I need to sleep so I can attak the days ahead with mental vigour. Assault my exams with knowledge. Beat the expectations and release the pressure that weighs me down into the ground. You make me happy that we exist, detracting the grind from the current life. Adding spice and flavour to my soul. And to the other, thank you so. You are there when I need you most. Never leave, because if you do, I will surely fade into obscurity. Sorry. Please do not expect too much, I do not have the capacity to forge a life that may match your successes. Other, stern, problems abound, supportive in the desperate times, yet crushing my will. I apologise because you put your faith into me. Let me go my own way into the big bad world. When the lids close, it's hurts...will I never rest? Please, metal, join even closer, for the chemistry...chemistry! You plague my thoughts, yet I love you, so. Mathematics, the bane of my existence. Damn you ancestors! A blob of text is hard to read, I apologise once more.

Wherever you are, you are...

PS. This is not a suicide note.

Of Recent Times

This album is amazing. I'm going to have to import it because I've never seen it at a shop and I really, really want it because it's so fucking fantastic. Like super wow, just put it in that top 50 list I made that I'm not going to change because I don't overly care.

Also, I've been listening to a lot of HEALTH. There is no problem to this, HEALTH are a great band and it's a bit of influence or whatever. Noise music is surprisingly hard to make - if you want to make good noise. Riffs / hooks = Not Easy.

And I've been having a jam session every day for the past week(s). My fingers really hurt but it's some good practice. Today while playing Communication Breakdown, I was "shredding" out a solo and my pinky slipped and now the cuticle is mega owned and sliced. I love the guitar. I would also love being in a pub band who plays covers and when we play Brown Sugar, all the 40-year-old women get up and dance. That would be so great. Like, so great. And old guys would be all:
"PLAY SOME AC/DC!"
and I'll be all:
"I'MMA MAKE HELTER SKELTER A SHOEGAZE SONG WIF MAH PEDALZ!"
And I will. And they won't like that. But I will. And that's all that matter, right?



I wanna start a shoegaze band now. Maybe we should be shoegaze/noise. Yeah, I think they kinda go hand-in-hand. And I wanna play on stage. And wanna have people go:
"Hey, that guy's alright..."
That would be a dream come true.

And after the HSC, I'm going to visit 2SSR, the local radio station and apply for some work. I've got connections to there because my uncle (now drive-time "celeb" in Canberra) used to work there. But yeah, if I've got like a dodgy, late-night radio show, I expect you people to listen. We can't talk on air because this radio station is so dodgy you can't actually do that. Imagine, me on the radio for an hour or so. I'd talk crap for a few minutes, kick out some jams that are like my computer on shuffle (like Boredoms followed by The Small Faces then HITS FROM THE BONG!) and then read out some crappy community announcements that don't apply to you because they're all shire. Hopefully I get that gig so I can crap around in a radio booth, bring in a friend and then plug my own bands - MxP will be pretty huuuuge.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Allen's Music in Alexandria to put a VOX Tonelab LE Effects Board on lay-buy for my 18-year life anniversary. I'd put a picture of it up, but I'm keeping the colour in this post pink. Pretty much, if will allow me to make noise along with my Aria Flanger pedal and the digital effects in the amp. Hopefully there's some fuzz and muff so I can 2-cent Mudhoney it up (BTW HARRY: Learn Touch Me I'm Sick) and try to shoegaze and make the kids next door cry to their (hot) mum (happy, Tim?) while their massive New Zealander inslander dad gives me death stares for making his children cry and checking out his wife. Yeah, I'm cool like that.

Boris - Painted With Flame
The Big Pink - At War With The Sun

We Could Do With Some More Poison

This song is the epitome of dance-punk. I realised this while on the train the other day. It is a masterpiece of modern music. I am not exaggerating, this song is pure brilliance and it puts everyone and everything from every dance-punk and nu rave group to shame.

Someone has to give me a copy of The Vines "Highly Evolved" because I lost it in my old school torrents folder. Along with The Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon Collie...".

Pretty much the gist of this post is:
It's all good!

The noise band I had an overwhemling desire to make seems to have come together. Hopefully it works out and we call ourselves "Hola Hovito" and we open for HEALTH sometime in the future. That would be mad cool.

And the study is all good. I have high motivation thanks to the 5-stack CD player that keeps me company. One Led Zeppelin album a day, chronologically, of course. Tomorrow is "Houses of the Holy".

Plain and simple: Heavily smitten.

And I got this new application for the iPhone. It's a cool sketchbook that makes me like to think I can draw when in reality I cannot. Here's one crappy picture. It's called "Pablo's Cruise" because I was listening to that song when I made it.



Don't judge me, my fingers are fat and I have virtually no drawing skill. I just make heaps of lines to make it seem I know what I'm doing.

So pretty much, this new computer is great and I can't wait until post-HSC for so many reasons. I won't get into that.

Test Icicles - Circle. Square. Triangle.

Roc-A-Fella, Baby!

I'm just going to put it out there right now: I like JET.

Yes, they are devoid of intelligence and originality, but I don't mind a spin of "Get Born" or some tracks off "Shine On". I'm listening to "Shaka Rock" right now...it's okay, but I'll just stick to "She's A Genius" and maybe another track if it stands out.

I'm not liking the current weather. I want summery summer weather even though it's not summer, I just like the view of a sunny day more than rain. I'm not sure what a rainy Spring means, I can only hope it indicates a hawt summer ahead. I just want a lot of pool parties and no cares and relaxation and all that good stuff that I haven't had for the past years. Only a few more weeks, only a few more weeks.

You know that feeling you get in the middle of your chest when you see / meet up / hang out with that person you like? How it feels all pressured and your excited? I have that feeling right now because I'm listening to "The Blueprint" by Jay-Z. Am I smitten? Do I have a man-crush on Jay-Z? Very likely. H to tha izzo, V to tha izzay!

Also, no time to think about life and all that, it's all study all day. I'm motivated to study because these exams are pretty much the most important thing in my schooling life so far. Looks like I want to go well after all. Haven't stressed or anything though, pretty chill about it. Parents aren't, they're more edgy than me, which isn't hard. Being a slacker is the best.

The computer has not arrived yet either. This is shitty and simultaneously good. I just can't wait until post-HSC when I get to nerd it up for hours (days) on end playing WoW.

Con has Big Day Out ticket. I hope announcement 2 is ABAP, otherwise I'll sell it and make money. Or just deal with it. Probably the latter.

And this video is really hilarious:

Sweet.

Jay-Z - Jigga That Nigga

Feelings, Study and a Pair of Speakers Under The Bed

Dictionary.com defines love as:
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.
Yes, sexual desire. Love is an interesting thing, I'm sure we've all felt it at some point. Not necessarily for someone else. I love Revolver by The Beatles, it exposed all my senses to real music. You know, all that.




All my study has been done at this table. It's pretty much in the kitchen and it boarders the living room where the music is played. I get a nice view over the valley and the sky. It's a nice place to study and I've been getting a fair bit done. Hamlet essay is completely modified, hopefully I get more than 9/20 for that essay.

At the top is one of the speakers I put under my bed early this morning (like 1am). There's something special about lying there, unable to sleep, then you set up a little system that gives you total relaxation and aural pleasure in the early hours of the morning. Godspeed You! sent me to a peaceful sleep when before I was tossing and turning. I urge everyone to set up a similar system because maybe you're like me and you sleep when post-rock is playing.

This post didn't work as well as I was hoping. Ah well. Plus this is a new app for blogging, let's see how it goes.

Hughey Lewis And...

The News

Dad ordered a new computer, it's got some good specs and hopefully it'll be here by Monday. Unfortunately, it's before the HSC and I love to screw around on a new computer a lot, just to see what I've been missing out on for the past few years of having old operating systems and customising it. When I get it, I'll make a sound of my face like Bouzo has.

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Tunage update:

Today I've been studying to:

1. The Beatles - Abbey Road. We all love it and it's great and HAVE YA SEEN POLYTHENE PAM?
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon. A space music classic.

Coming up is:

1. Beth Orton - Central Reservation. Folktronica milestone and a favourite 90s album.
2. Neil Young - On The Beach. One of my fave folk albums and Neil's best, IMO.
3. Gorillaz - Demon Days. And they're turning us into monsters!

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I don't really have any social events coming up in the next few weeks. Study is pretty much all consuming. This isn't a bad thing, I have a lot of work to do, so I'm not overly complaining. Except maybe a movie this weekend. After HSC, I'm looking forward to beer and music sessions. MxP album will be complete. Flex my creative muscle.

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Zombies are pretty rad, so I've been researching zombie films. A movie marathon seems to be in order:

• Night of The Living Dead
• Dawn of The Dead
• Dance of The Dead

Last one is not related to the first to George Romero films, it's just really, really funny and cool. If anyone is in for this, we could make it a pretty big one or not, whatevs.

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I don't really know what's going on in the world, haven't seen the news in the past few days. There's been a second earthquake in Indonesia, those poor people, and Kraft already ditched the horrible name of "iSnack 2.0" for their new Vegemite. Cheesemite, plox. And a flock of 200 birds flew into a jet engine, LOL!

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I also watched Hungry Beast on ABC1 last night at 9pm. It was quite good, I recommend you catch up on the website and then watch it next Wednesday. It's got the funnies and the seriousness and all that.

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Major Lazer - Hold The Line (feat. Mr. Lexx & Santigold)