Sunday, July 31, 2011

im living inside a moment, not taking pictures to save it.

a romance complicated by transatlantic distance. while not the first (or the last) time this story has been told, it definitely looks like it's worth catching this latest installment.


the sundance darling, like crazy hits the cinema october 28th.

-t

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011

i paid the light bill just to see your face.

jean-ralphio can get it.



-t

attention is the new currency.

the simplicity of raphael saadiq's new video is what makes it so appealing. following his steezy adventures on stage, with his lady love and his fans, it beats to a romantic drum that leaves you seeing nothing but the sweetest sides of the longtime crooner. 

raphael saadiq - "movin' down the line (don't you go away)"


-t

take flight or stand by.

i'm scared to ride a bike in any city. too many of my friends and relatives have either been hit by idiot drivers or have flown over unforeseen car doors. call me a sissy but i've seen too many gnarly cuts, scrapes, fractures and broken limbs. (also, do you know how much an ambulance ride is?!) but if i ever do work up the guts to take a ride somewhere, i can only hope to be on something as beautiful as a flying pigeon bicycle

how cute is that handlebar basket!



-t

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

bust out your straps for victory laps.

mf doom's articulation is so grimes, it's impossible to mistake it for anyone else. and ghostface killah's natural excitement always sounds like he's about to run out of breath. so when you put them both on a track, it's a mile a minute wordplay interrupted by small breaths and puns galore.

doom x ghostface = doomstarks


-t

useless celebrations, force fed disintegrations.

the new jam from neon indian delivers the right amount of disconnect between singer and subject that it's title suggests. alan palomo's vocals already carry a heavy burden, but the emphasis becomes more pronounced when the chorus drops. as he sings, "if i could fallout of love with you, with you, with you", his vocals become so distant, leaving nothing but echoes between the emptiness. 

stream "fallout" via pitchfork and download the single below.



his forthcoming album, era extrana, will see the light this september.

-t

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

you and me, shooting holes at the moon.

for (almost) three crazy years in the early 2000s, i was a pescetarian. it started off as a experiment to see if i could last one month. after 30 days, i figured why not a year? after a year it wasn't so much a challenge anymore and it was just my lifestyle. i seriously figured that i'd just live the rest of my life off fish and veggies until i booked a trip to new york and was eager to try everything carnivorous. 

needless to say i've rejoined the ranks of meat eaters since i returned, but i still enjoy a lot of vegetarian meals and options. my biggest indulgence is tofu. i often prefer it in certain dishes over dry or low grade quantities of meat. despite my love for the soy treat, i never really gave much thought into how it was produced until now. meet the self-proclaimed tofu ambassador - minh tsai, the owner of oakland's hodo soy beanery.



-t

sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive.

the other day my two year old niece was being playfully pushed by my cousin. she kept pleading for him to stop, but of course the pushing continued. suddenly, she pushed back and yelled, "stop it...MOFO".

needless to say, it was the highlight (and biggest laugh) of the day.

for your daily dose of awesome bad words, check out beautiful swear words!

-t

Saturday, July 23, 2011

you can't always get what you want.

i always feel bad for a band that has to battle an onslaught of technical difficulties while on stage. i also feel bad for bands that play for crowds who give off strong vibes of disinterest. despite both factors being a part of last night's best coast show in hollywood, i applaud them for overcoming such annoying setbacks and for playing my favorite song.

'our deal' (thanks to whoever uploaded this on youtube)


-t

everybody reads the same story differently.

can you spot how many celebs are in the trailer for the upcoming sci-fi flick, in time.

off the first viewing i came up with: jt, amanda seyfried, alex pettyfer, curly hair dude from big bang theory, pete campbell, olivia wilde, matt boner and cillian murphy. but you'll have to wait till october 28th to see the complete cast (without an imdb listing).



-t

Friday, July 22, 2011

i'm giving in to the rhythm of my feet.

some songs sound like a perfect compromise. the seamless blending of two separate ideas, the transition is smooth but obvious. in the case of seattle newbies, tInes, their debut single spends the first half shining it's light on the sultry vocals of chelsey scheffe. but when the beat drops courtesy of jordan koplowitz (beat connection), it definitely steals the show.

dance your way into friday afternoon. 

tInes - "becoming' 



-t

chase the sweet things in life.

couldn't actually tell you the plot of this movie, but you can pretty much sign me up for anything ryan gosling related. 

drive hits the big screen september 16th.


-t

Thursday, July 21, 2011

the world is a stage and we just have to play our part.

it happens more than you realize. you break up with someone only to find out that none of your friends or family actually liked them in the first place. you inquire why no one bothered to tell you the truth, and all of the answers usually revolve around people hating the messenger not the message. 

then you either choose to get defensive and end up hating everyone but your ex or things become clear as crystal and you finally recognize that yes in fact, you are better off without that shithead.

london duo summer camp just made a song about at least one of your breakups. listen to "better off without you" via gorillavsbear.

there is no me and you,

-t

leave it better than you found it.

color my life with the chaos of traffic
check out what happens when a dutch art collective spills paint in the middle of a busy intersection. 

"painting reality" by IEPE & the anonymous crew.



-t

they hold us down like anchors, they drown us out at sea.

i didn't think it was possible to make metronomy's latest jam anymore lush and fulfilled. kudos to londoners clock opera for proving me wrong.

metronomy - 'the bay (clock opera remix)'



-t

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

i don't know how i'm gonna manage, if one day you just up and leave.

most of the time, i enjoy the original tunes of an artist more than their remixes for other people. the art of reworking an already established jam is not an easy skill. the current exception to this idea is uk producer, chad valley. i can't get enough of anything he leaves his fingerprints on.

enter mysterious swedish outfit the touch. they've just released the sermon EP, via french party starters kitsune. download chad valley's version of "sermon" courtesy of xlr8r

-t

i wonder if he knows that i want him.

it may only be 12:50pm on a tuesday, but this remix will give you that triumphant feeling that only an after-work beer, or leaving the office early on a friday afternoon can reveal.

best coast x lindstrom - "boyfriend remix"




-t

the more you look, the less you see.

there's a saying that 'nothing good happens after 2am'. well i actually believe that nothing really pops off until about midnight - which leaves you two solid hours to transfer from the last plane of sanity to a red-eye to crazytown. 

dreamy french electro producer, m83, is familiar with the transition and offers a song to encompass your travels. 

m83 - "midnight city"



hurry up we're dreaming will be unleashed october 18th.

-t

in a different time, in a different city.

30% interview and 70% performance, check out this clip featuring a soft-spoken chaz from toro y moi and a handful of spanish subtitles.

documentocero: toro y moi



-t

Monday, July 18, 2011

chubby little tubby all stuffed with honey.

winnie & piglet! tigger & eeyore! she & him!

zooey deschanel & m.ward - "so long"



i really wanna see this movie.
-t

we are the champions, my friends.

i'm not the biggest fan of the heat or the sun. i also hate being dirty. but i am a huge fan of doing stupid stuff with my cousins. so yesterday we ran the irvine lake mud run. after running it last year, i thought i knew what to expect. but the organizers flipped the script and made the entire course harder, but ridiculously more fun. overall, the ten of us ran the four mile course in an hour and 10 minutes (not bad if you factor in the heinous amounts of mud weighing down our shoes and the sun burning our faces). bravo team butt nuggets!

and i can proudly that say i was the only one not to eat shit. here are the before pictures, i'll post the aftermath once someone develops the waterproof camera. 

till next year!
-t

Saturday, July 16, 2011

home is where the dreads are.

a few years ago i interned for a man named vizion. his email signature said e. "vizion" jones, so i honestly didn't know what kind of gentlemen to expect. during my internship we forged a great friendship and he would often send me on personal errands (like finding him a turkey leg to eat for lunch). his referral helped me land my first real job after college. he hates cake, so i once told his boss to get him a stack of waffles with honey. he's like my bigger, taller, blacker brother. a few years later he actually hired me to be his personal assistant. he's spent christmas with my family when he didn't wanna fly back to the east coast and even though i don't see him that often anymore cause he's always on the road doing his tour manager thing, he's always got my best interest at heart and finds the right time to show up at my apartment with a bag of mexican food and tell me stories about life on tour. 

today is his birthday and with the help of his baby brother malcolm (who is lil viz 2.0), we came up with a coming to america themed birthday present. rock your african themed gear with pride papa viz.


-t

when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

yesterday morning i had the pleasure of attending the latest installment of creative mornings los angeles at the amazing herman miller showroom in culver city. the special guests speakers were ted and angela from poketo. they shared how their company came into fruition in 2003 and how it has grown into an international brand that stands as a connection between art and everyday people.

hearing the excitement in their voices about how poketo has evolved and the humble pride they project at everything they've accomplished was definitely inspiring and left me with a nice outlook towards my own future. until the next creative morning, cheers!

-t

dont talk to anyone, don't touch anyone.

as a minor germaphobe, guess which parts of this trailer really rattled me.

it's outbreak for 2011, with one hell of a cast.

contagion hits theaters in september.



-t

Friday, July 15, 2011

gonna show the world that something good can work and it can work for you.

first person to make this for me gets to eat it with me!



-t

Thursday, July 14, 2011

are you counting on me? can i count on you in the end?

eclectic los angeles trio pollyn sure know how to spice up the treatment for a black and white performance video. projecting tribal patterned fonts and a flashmob of stick figure dancers, the real eye catcher is the screen charm of vocalist genevieve artadi

i've been a fan of pollyn since their debut, this little night, dropped in 2009 and it's great to see them releasing new (and quality) goods.

pollyn - "how small are we"



-t

everything is shit, except you love.

multitasking at it's finest folks. jesse kivel, lead singer of my current favorite local band, kisses, also has a hand in the band princeton (another thumbs up) and this new outfit called sleeping bags.

check out their hazy new single, "park" below. keep on keeping on jesse!



-t

does you inspire you?

the title and chorus of the new chairlift jam sounds like one of those moments when i don't remember something's name and instead of admitting my forgetfulness, i kind of just slur and quickly hum a diddy through a false pronunciation. 

check out "amanaemonesia" from the brooklyn duo below.



-t

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

the other half believe in magic.

sprinkled with delicate detail and impeccable performances, beginners explores the beauty of love, loss and connection. the film speaks through a million tender glances and evokes strong feelings of loneliness despite repeated attempts to keep a stone face. it's beautiful, vulnerable and it makes you realize that the distances between people can feel like nothing when they're filled with genuine affections (and a scene-stealing jack russell terrier).

beginners is now available in limited release.

the film will also do for the eastside, what 500 days of summer did for downtown - it will make you want to re-explore your local surroundings on foot.



-t

a business without a sign is a sign of no business.

espo's (aka stephen powers) contribution to the art in the streets exhibit was by far one of the best corners of the space.

"flights of genius by stephen powers".



-t

the cross and the switchblade.

ahh yes. what makes the world go 'round but doesn't grow on trees. what you're supposed to save and not supposed to over value. money is a complex problem whether it's in your pocket or not. and in the case of bowl cut brooklyn trio, the drums, it's not quite payday.

the drums - "money"


their forthcoming record, portamento, hits stores this september.
-t

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

high time, high tide. barely made it out alive.

since college, jenn has remained one of my favorite people in the entire world. she's game for anything fun, random, dangerous and deep fried. she's got an unmeasurable big heart (aka appetite) and is probably the craziest person i know. despite our schedules never being on the same page, we successfully completed monday funday.

powered by the metro and our little feet, we checked out mendocine farms (kurobuta pork belly bahn mi), art in the streets @ moca, four leaf tea and crepes (milk tea w/boba), spitz (sangria, hummus, doquitos), far bar (shots of sake), runyon canyon (tough after all that alcohol and lack of sunlight) and we wrapped it all up with the light installation at lacma. jenn brought her DSLR and took embarrassing paparazzi/fob food pictures all day and there was even a special cameo from gaps in little tokyo. the best case of the mondays ever!

check out the videos we made at moca courtesy of the levi's film workshop.

panda time!

bitchslaaaap!


-t

when i tell you how i feel, believe me when i say it's real.

when everything in life feels as if it were in a constant limbo, sometimes the only thing that you can recognize as being real are the feelings that you keep about the people who leave their footprints right next to yours no matter what happens. 

real estate - "it's real"



look out for their sophomore record, days, this october.

-t

why don't you sit right down and stay awhile. we like the same things and i like your style.

ohmaaaghads! jean ralphio (ben schwartz) x summer finn (zooey deschanel) collab!

"tonight you belong to me


check out zooey's lip scowl.
-t

Monday, July 11, 2011

i need the darkness, someone please cut the lights.

sometimes you wake up and there's a break in the heat. the clouds are overbearing and you can rock a cardigan without an uncomfortable shift in body temperature. today is one of those temporary summer humidity hiatuses. to celebrate, dutch duo homework is unleashing some heat of their own.

subtle with its dance intentions, the track builds momentum around sexy vocal repetitions and jazz-like echoes for a slick seven minutes.

homework - "raw groove"

 
made to play,
-t

separated from the sea, by a shifting shore.

probably the cutest theophilus london flip ever.
click here for the original

TL featuring sara quinn - "why even try (RAC remix)"


timez are weird these days drops next tuesday
-t

Saturday, July 9, 2011

drop the needle, we are playing for an audience of one.

a softy for little plastic trinkets and one-liners, check out the work of london's aled lewis


-t

asleep at the trigger.

last night i had the pleasure of heading to the skirball cultural center to check out courtyard performances from local favorites superhumanoids and autolux. with an assist from a bottle of jack and the beautiful westside wind, it was an amazing night of music that despite getting cut a little short (geez nina! jk), was still worth the trek down the 405.

superhumanoids latest, parasite paradise EP:

and of course, my favorite autolux jam:

special thanks to anthony valadez for the free tickets!

-t

Friday, July 8, 2011

whatever the situation - dramatic or mundane, some stranger will save you.

it's a michigan tripod of goodies in the new remix from ghostly international producer and hometown boy, shigeto. taking on a track from legendary detroit guitarist, dennis coffey featuring none other than ann arbor's finest mayer hawthorne, it's a dance floor ready reworking that utilizes an atmospheric pattern of bells and beats, while continuing to build upon the soulful vibes of the original.


-t

how to disappear completely.

i'll be the first to admit. i probably look so stupid when gawking at my computer screen. perennial DURRRR face.

this sketch video, people staring at computers, was brought to you by kyle mcdonald. read about his antics here.



-t

keep your heart strong and love long. and give kisses when you can.

it's been a death sweat high 90s this past week in los angeles. a far cry from spending the weekend in the low 70s bay area. so i've done nothing but dream of sitting somewhere in the windy shade, with a cold treat in hand and a good steel drum powered song to give the trees something to dance to.


-t

Thursday, July 7, 2011

we've done no wrong with our blinkers on.

most people will press play below and think someone ripped a hook from our favorite toronto sexpot, the weeknd. but the chorus originally belonged to the 1980 siouxsie and the banshees' jam, "happy house". check out my favorite french label (kitsune) and their latest signees, shindu, pay due justice to the track in their new video below.



-t