Kayo Dot is…

…an American avant garde group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik Records label that year.

The music of Kayo Dot bridges several genres, from heavy metal to classical music. Their songs involve complex instrumentation (composed by singer and frontman Driver). They are substantially longer than typical rock songs, often ranging from 8 to 15 minutes in length.

Tzadik's descriptive label on that album reads: "Kayo Dot powerfully integrates elements of modern classical composition with the layers of guitars and vocals more common to rock and metal. With a compositional map that is strict in form yet malleable in execution, Kayo Dot uses a vast array of instrumentation to create an exciting convergence of violence and serenity."

SOURCE: Kayo Dot, Wikipedia

New Muxtape mix!

Future sounds from London

Daniel Burka - FOWD London 2008 from Future of Web Design on Vimeo.

SOURCE: DanielBurka

Black Postcards

A wickedly honest and unsparing account of a journey through the music world-the artistry and the hustle, the effortless success and the high living as well as the bitter pills and self-inflicted wounds-by a brilliant and fearless participant-observer, Black Postcards is absurdly rich in rewards for anyone who was ever in a band or just took an interest in indie music over the past twenty years-a sort of Kitchen Confidential written by a different species of front man. Black Postcards also captures what has happened, for good and ill, to the entire ecosystem of popular music over this time of radical change, a time when categories like "indie" and "alternative" started to morph beyond all recognition. Rolling Stone called Dean Wareham's band Luna "the greatest band you've never heard of " and named its album Penthouse one of its 100 greatest rock albums of our time. Black Postcards is also about what it's like to have to pretend to be civil as you answer the same helpful question over and over again, "Why aren't you guys more famous?" Why indeed?

SOURCE: PenguinPress

My Morning Jacket is grand

SOURCE: BrooklynVegan

Documentally speaking…

SOURCE: Documentally

Bloody well told!

When people think of "Activism", most envision some form of awareness program, protest or public disobedience. While these forms of Activism are functional and important, they often only operate on a limited level, usually failing to address root causes. In fact, our whole society tends to address any and all social problems from a superficial standpoint.

SOURCE: zeitgeistmovie.com

In The Year of the Pig

Simultaneously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary and the subject of bomb threats and innumerable editorial attacks, In the Year of the Pig became a rallying cry for the growing anti-Vietnam War movement and a sensation whenever and wherever it screened. In the Year of the Pig remains not only a great document of the era but also a sad and still relevant meditation on the hubris of power.

Print courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
SOURCE: Film Society of Lincoln Center

Portishead: 3rd times' the charm

What Barrow and Gibbons have cooked up now ain’t no party, ain’t no disco, ain’t no fooling around.

SOURCE: PASTE

Say It Loud!

Village Voice Poetry Roundup

Last week's annual Poets House Showcase held in the West Village displayed more than 2,000 poetry books and related materials published in 2007. As impressive and even overwhelming as that number might seem, it represents a sliver—as any overview must—of poetry's current state, a large portion of which also exists off the page in readings and classrooms, on the Internet, and via word of mouth. [READ MORE]

SOURCE: VillageVoice

Steve Gullick is a badass!

Photo by Steve Gullick

Trust your tribes

In the company's own words:

Praized Media is a startup company working on a web-based application that will enable you to find and discover local places and merchants with help from people you can trust. It’s also a tool that will structure local conversations within blogs and a new platform for local search providers to generate leads from the untapped social media market.

SOURCE: PraizedMedia

Dave Eggers gets it!

SOURCE: TED.com

Amy Tan on creativity

SOURCE: TED.com

Frank Zappa remembered

Go ahead and…

He who speak to fork tongue

Pitchfork invited El Guincho to submit to a guest list column. See how he answered the extremely banal questions.
[CLICK HERE]

Jazz On Edge

Jazz On Edge launches Vol. 1 on Saturday, Aug 23 at 9pm, at Taste in Orlando FL. The showcase of new, original jazz features Brian Groder ("Best CDs of 2007" -Downbeat Magazine) with Grammy-nominated bassist Doug Mathews; piano trio Eastside Combo; and jazz cellist Claire Courchene, and is produced by Joseph Hayes. See the website, Jazz On Edge, for artist details, music clips and a map. Already planning Volume 2 for February!

SOURCE: JazzOnEdge

What did you eat for lunch?

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich, (PB&J), also known as a peanut butter and jam sandwich in the UK and Canada, is a sandwich that includes a layer of peanut butter and either jelly or jam on bread, commonly between two slices. Jars of pre-mixed peanut butter and jelly are commercially available for making these sandwiches.^[1] It appears to have been invented by GIs during World War II.^[2] The sandwich has the advantage that it does not contain any perishable ingredients, so it does not require refrigeration in hot weather, making it suitable for lunch bags. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is very popular with both adults and children in the US and Canada. A 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 of the sandwiches before graduating from high school.<sup>[3]

SOURCE: Wikipedia</sup>

Eno/Byrne unite forces again

Thirty years since Brian Eno and David Byrne collaborated on Talking Heads records, and 27 years post the original release of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, the pair are
joining forces again.


SOURCE: Stereogum

Interesting take on an old adage…