chen's yen!

BE WARNED. A LOT OF CAPS. AND EXCESSIVE EXCITED RAMBLING ABOUT TO START. NOW.
So just this morning I've been thinking of a restaurant idea whilst having this traditional Chinese dish that my dad cooked. It's roasted and steamed pork belly and rice with napa cabbage. It's so much better than it sounds but it's like just really delicious. My parents are really good cooks. And I know everyone says that their parents are the best cooks ever but really.... my parents are pretty damn good. Not the best but really really effing good. Better than all the other Asian parents. Trust me I've gone to holiday parties and it's just like eating at home because I end up eating only my parents food. But my grandparents are like REALLY AMAZING. I can resolutely say they're the best ever. My granddad makes the best fried chicken EVER (MY granddad can totally whoop YOUR grandma's ass) without actually deepfrying anything, and my grandma is just like the TOP CHEF of my life. She makes the most fantastic angel-fish stew ever. UH HUH. WHO MAKES A STEW OUT OF ANGELFISH? MY GRANDMOTHER, BITCHES. And on my dad's side my grandmother basically makes the best Chinese home-style country cooking available. She's the best. :)

So going on I thought, there aren't any really nice Chinese restaurants out there. There aren't. Maybe in NOVA. PF Chang's? FALSE. Not real. I mean the Great Wall of Chocolate or whatever? That's so Chinese.
Anyways. I suggested that my dad start a nice little over-priced restaurant (he's about to quit/get laid off his job by the assholes at LG despite the fact that he's the hardest working, most needed guy there. POOP). I can tell he wants to do it but he's opposite of a risk-taker. He doesn't gamble, is afraid of playing the stock market, and has an iron-fist around the family savings. But I can tell he's intrigued by the idea.
So I've got this whole thing like panned out a little bit. It'll be a casual but overpriced and EXTREMELY DELICIOUS Chinese tapas bar. We'll have SCRUMPTIOUSly gorgeous traditional Chinese dishes served up rul pretty and in tiny portions so that people will think that it's like really really really high class. I mean it will be high class. The plates will look like peices of art and no one will want to eat them. And when they do they'll think they've gone to Asian heaven because everything will be melt-in-your-mouth, holy-Mao GOOD. It's GOING TO BE LEGEND-wait for it-DAIRY!
Here are some planned menu items. This is all stuff my parents or grandparents have made. Just a few selections.

• Steamed Arctic Char with braised fennel and a Fen Jiu (Chinese vodka) ginger reduction
• Hand-drawn twisted noodles with Chen's favorite Ragu! made pan-seared shitake mushrooms, mu-er (wood-ear), stewed tomatoes, egg fritata, and carmelized green onion. Served with a soy chili vinaigrette.
  
• HOT POT - a wintery dish that offers up the best of Chinese home cooking. A simmered Chinese-style mirepoix is simmered in sauce to perfection then blended with boiling water in a hot pot over a stove right at your table! Assorted thin-sliced beef, vegetables, mushrooms, noodles, tofu is served table-side to be dipped in the fondue and relished with a Secret Sesame sauce. One of my favorite meals.
  
• Grilled Sea Cucumber with slow-cooked celery in a thick soy garlic sauce - a true delicacy with textures and flavors you've never tasted but will surely love. Good for health as well.
• True-Moo-Shoo - small individual flour tortillas made the tradition way (cooked one on top of the other, you get to peel them apart!), sweet soy-bean paste, tender green onion slivers, and the following stir-fries: Egg fritata with mu-er shitake mushrooms and shredded pork, pickled cabbage and vermicelli, assorted delicate mushrooms and asparagus in white sauce, and bamboo shoots and sliced beef in a spicy sauce. Take the tortillas and spread the paste. Then lay down the green onion and a bit of every dish. Wrap and enjoy the explosion in your mouth.
• And for dessert: Honey ginger housemade gelato over sugar-crusted sweet potato bites. Drizzled with ginger-pear syrup.
• Ok so I've never actually had the last one but it sounds good. My mom makes the sugar-crusted sweet potato bites sometimes. It's really easy, and crusted is really not the right word. It's really more sweet potato chunks with a sugary glazed shell. It's sooo good.
  

Anyways. Thats my plan. And someday I will have a restaurant and it will be delicious. And you will all eat in it and be amazed.

MXTP#2

We'll see how this works out eh?
Here's the link to download MXTP#2. It will disappear in about a week.
<3>

SO MUCH SNOW.

So It's been a long while since I've made a blip on this blog-thing. I still don't know exactly what I'm trying to make this.
But I guess there's no better time to figure it out but now. When I'm snowed in my house without a snow shovel or cable. It's crazy outside. The snow in the driveway goes up to my thighs. I know I'm short but thats just ridiculous. I hope I can make it out tomorrow. I need to get my wisdom teeth out Monday and I don't want to reschedule. I did however already clear like 1/3 of it with pretty much only Rachel's sled (thanks rachel!), so I feel pretty powerful.

This semester has been pretty rough for a lot of reasons (none of which I'm willing to discuss on a blog) and the only thing that has been constant for me is the music I listen to. So I guess, for now at least, this blog is about my music. I know that when I'm listening to great music, all the bullshit that happens/is caused by me or other people/is just life, goes away a while. I think that's why I've attempted to go to so many concerts. The feeling I get at a concert or in my car alone humming along to a favorite song makes me glad to be alive. And I've needed a lot of that this year.
So this is where I'll just post music I love and talk about it a bit because I'm happy just talking about music. I'm definitely no authority on any art in general. I just need to wrtie down my thoughts and keep them around for a while.
This is the second mixtape - and... because everyone in the world has made their "Best of 2009" list, I will too. But the albums/songs on here are not all from 2009, they were just the best for me in 2009. I'm probably going to hurry and post a lot of these because the year is ending soon (!). These are some of my favorite things. Treat them well.
If you would like to download it email me/comment and I'll send you a link. I'm not posting it here because I don't want to go to jail. Thanks.

MXTP#2 - 2009 Part 1 (in no particular order whatsoever)

"Marrow" - St. Vincent
Album: Actor
Annie Clark is a strange girl. I feel like she's a loner in real life. She seems like that girl in high school that say alone at lunch but was devastatingly beautiful and mysterious and made you wonder what her deal was. Waif-like, she looks like Snow White but sounds nothing like her. At least not the annoyingly high pitched Disney version. She's soft but unrelenting and fantastic live (Her and Andrew Bird, BEST MUSICAL PAIRING EVER). The entire album is great but "Marrow" is really weird and strangely addictive. You probably won't like it the first time you listen. I certainly didn't but I kept coming back to it.

"Hooting and Howling" - Wild Beasts
Album: Two Dancers
Probably the best lyrics of of the year. And that voice. And they're at 930 sometime in Feb. Wanna go? And be brutes hoping to have a hoot? Plz?
"A crude art, a bovver boot ballet –
equally elegant and ugly.
I was as thrilled as I was appalled,
courting him in fistcuffing waltz.
Now I’m not saying the lads always deserve a braying.
And I’m not saying the girls are worth the fines I’m paying."

"Ghosts" - Fanfarlo
Album: Reservoir
OK so everyone remember Arcade Fire? How exciting it was when they came around and how quickly "Funeral" became one of the best albums every made? Fanfarlo reminds me of Arcade Fire, but softer, more reserved, and not quite as mature. Catch them before they become really big and start going commercial.

"So Far Around the Bend" - The National
"Big Red Machine" - Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
Album: Dark was the Night
This album/compilation for charity or whatever is one of the best things to happen this year. I love this album so much I want to propose to it on a rooftop garden, marry it, and have its beautiful, vinyl, indie-superstar babies. Practically perfect. If you would like a copy of the CD bring me two blank disks and I will burn it for you. No one should have to live without it.

"Broken Horse" - Freelance Whales
Album: Weathervanes
Ah Freelance Whales. So many things I'd like to say. I'll start with F Iota Club.
... anyways, I was going to go see them and Fanfarlo (I KNOWWW they were together!!!) up in Arlington. I was going to send out a SOC email being like anyone want to come? But that failed. Fail chen. Fail Iota Club.
What I was going to say in the email was that Freelance Whales is one of the most exciting new discoveries of my year. They're like the gorgeous bastard child of Death Cab and Sufjan Stevens. It's been a great year for me and my music, but it's REALLY REALLY REALLY fucking rare when you find a band/song/sound that just FITS YOU. Like music that could define you and that you can listen to for life. Music that makes you think If I could set a soundtrack to a movie about your life, THIS WOULD BE IT. Only a few artists make that list Sufjan, Bon Iver, Phoenix, others I can't think of right now. Andrew Bird, who is like Top 5 FaVES to me, does not even make this elite list. Freelance whales is on it.


"I Am Not a Robot (Unplugged)" - Marina and the Diamonds
She's been getting a lot of press and coming out with new songs like every week. A few months ago, I listened to this song on repeat for like two weeks. There's something weird and beautiful about her voice and the way it quivers. Usually when I listen to something on repeat because I'm so in love with it (i.e. Florence and the Machine, Passion Pit), it wears out on me, and I have to live without it for a while. But not this song. Or any of her songs.

"Island, IS" - Volcano Choir
Album: Unmap
Another song everyone's been talking about. Volcano Choir is a group of Wisconsinites centered around Justin Vernon who is Bon Iver. The album is ok. This song is great.

"Shooting Stars" - Bag Raiders
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. I know absolutely nothing about the Bag Raiders. They're from Sydney. And they sound really really attractive. That's all you need to know.

"Up All Night" - French Horn Rebellion
Two bros (blood bros!) from Brooklyn making sweet tunes. Fun. Also the homemade music video is really cute.

"Tall Boy" - Har Mar Superstar
This track was written originally for Britney Spears. Instead it went to a flamboyant, sweaty and rotund dude who likes to perform in only his leopard print underwear. It doesn't get better than this.

"Stillness is the Move" - Dirty Projectors
So these guys/girls are sooooo overhyped this year. So much so that I think it takes away from people actually liking them for the brilliant music they make. And thats stupid. When "indie" becomes so hip that people flock to it just because its cool to like a certain band. Dumb. The voices these guys have is just mindblowing. "Stillness is the MOve" is one of the most talked about singles of the year - Solange Knowles just covered it(not as good but a cute R&B spin). Also check out "Knotty Pine" on Dark Was the NIght. Amazing.

"Bluish" - Animal Collective
Album: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Music that sounds like a kaleidoscope of colliding colors. Deeelghtful.

"The First Days of Spring"- Noah and the Whale
Album: The First Days of Spring
These guys are so great. I love the classical music aspect of their songs. Everything's so orchestral. Apparently this was a breakup album? It sounds more like birth/rebirth. Maybe its both. Hey Noah and the Whale, score my life. OST plz.

"VCR"
"Nighttime" - The XX
Album: xx
You've heard of these guys right? They are even more overhyped than Dirty Projectors. Listen and let the minimalistic beats fill your head. It's not hard to fall in love. Listen to their wonderful covers and the entire album. So hard to pick songs. An almost perfect album.

"This Blackest Purse" - Why?
Album: Eskimo Snow
Remember Soko? That little French girl who sang that song that everyone liked once "I'll Kill You" with that cute little French accent. I think people described her style as diary music, lyrics written like they were scribbled in a diary. The words are honest and unfiltered and most importantly, unafraid. Why? is like that cept way better and way more mature. The honesty is jarring sometimes but totally refreshing. Too often lyrics try too hard to sound pretty or poetic, and it shouldn't be that way. Why? writes stuff that doesn't give a shit about all that. And it works. REALLY well. Alopecia is one of the best albums I've heard, and Eskimo Snow is not that far behind.

"So Insane"
"Swing Tree" - Discovery
Raise your hand if you like Ra Ra Riot? Meet Discovery, Ra Ra Riot's androgynous, electroR&B brother. "So Insane"'s beat is infectious and it's really one of the most outstanding pop tracks of the year. Also on the album is the "cover" of Ra Ra Riot's "Can You Tell" electropop-ified. Oh forgot to mention that Discovery is Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot and Rostam Batmagliasijajihasndaiwejwhatever from Vampire Weekend. College kids these days. PSHH.


"Because (ft. Radiohead)" - Chiddy Bang
If you haven't heard Chiddy Bang's absolutely genius reworking of "Kids" - MGMT, come to me and I'll slap you RUL good. Apparently these guys are college first years? WTF. Why did I major in Biology and not in Hip-Hop Superstardom? Here's a link to some free downloads http://www.last.fm/music/Chiddy+Bang.

oh my god. this video.

http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Soiree_de_poche___Andrew_Bird_et_St__Vincent/729/

Better video of Lolla Sleepyhead

Still can't believe I was like row 1.5. But this video is a better capture of what the crowd was like...Apparently it got so crowded that people who wanted to get to Southapalooza couldn't even get through.

More videos

Blogger is being really difficult and... not loading any of my pictures. Whatever.

Other Lives|Fleet Foxes|Andrew Bird

I won't forget to cry at my own BURIAL (Lolla Days II & III)

Saturday the Eighth.
My first real concert was Brazilian Girls @ Starr Hill. It was strange and kind of wonderful. The lead singer had pantyhose over her face the entire time (til the end) and used makeup to gradually apply her "face" song after song. I thought it was so rad. I've always been a little self-conscious at concerts. Always at least a little bit. How hard should one dance? How indie does one have to be to be at this concert? When does one start/stop clapping with the crowd?
The self-consciousness has worn away a lot. But it's still been there slightly. It sounds totally stupid but when you've moved almost every year of your childhood, being self-conscious is like a disease.
At the start of Lollapalooza I mad a little breakthrough. I did whatever the fuck I wanted and didn't care about anyone else. No alcohol or drugs needed.
Get ready for a really long post.

******************
DAY II

Miike Snow: Day II. Fuck yes. Pumped. Miike Snow is at 1ish and is kinda already a music blog legend. His remixes (both by him and of his songs) are some hot shit on music blog aggregators. But this guy is actually 3 guys (counted more like 5 on stage but whatevs). They all came out in white masks. They sound even better live. After the intro synth bit, they start "Burial" After which they removed their masks. AMAZING. "Animal" and the others were just as great. A perfect kind of dark electropop for the beginnings of a hot summer afternoon. Going to be in D.C. soon. I might have to go. They added more processed synth treats and goodies to each song. DELICIOUS.

Got out of Miike Snow. Katie went to Ida Maria which sounded rockin and crazy. And I just wandered around when I saw the crowd and realized that Atmosphere just wasn't happening for me. Not at least in that heat. we ended up hanging out in "our" sweet spot of glorious shade behind Citistage to await the coming of Santigold on the other side of the park.

Santigold: I still kinda have trouble replacing the O with I but anyways. We waited for about an hour for her to get on (she was 8min late. believe me, in that heat, you count each second they don't show). I'd thrown out an emptyVitamin Water bottle. Bad idea. It was totally sweltering and I should have anticipated the pushy, high, crowd. Heat in the mid-90s, direct sunlight, 360degrees body heat surrounding you. When she arrived, SHIT HIT FAN. Her fierce-vintage styled African patterned pantsuit and tiara didn't quite match her sweet demeanor. First song descends, cue crowdsurfing. She was good, humble and sweet, and exactly as you'd expect her to sound live. The best part for me were her backup dancers. Black and beautiful, decked in shimmering gold blazers, they were no joke. When not booty popping themselves into oblivion + rockin out hard at the choruses, they were stone still. Santi's Gold Soldiers. FIERCE.

Lykke Li: After Santigold, we were on the verge of death, so we headed to get some cold fruit and water and then headed to our favorite spotbehind Citistage to chill in the shade and watch the rest of Lykke Li.
I love Sweden. Musically one of my favorite countries. Lykke Li is I think their most valuable import yet. Better live than on the ipod.
I watched this little blonde only two years older than me fling herself across the stage frantically, dancing and singing her ass off. Her voice was whispery sweet @ times, and at others she bellowed with this kind of hollow glow. One song started with a heavy drum beat to which she booty popped better than I've ever seen any white girl do (sorry white girls). My jaw literally dropped when the speakers blared Lil Wayne's "A Millie" and she started rappin. I freaked out a "litttle bit" (haha...). Def will see again. Plus her tshirts were so purely awesomeness that they were the first to run out @ the Lolla store. The Swedes do it again.

Animal Collective: Stayed for like 15 minutes. Random ass-shit. Took forever to actually start on songs. Not impressed. Lame.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Choice headliners for the night (Tool is not for me). Plus It's Blitz is pretty great. Karen O came out with a huge neon Native American headdress and the show started off with a bang. I can say with confidence that no one has the level of performance quality and kind of mesmerizing slow languid movement that Miss Karen O does. The entire set was electrifying. "Heads Will Roll" and "Zero" lit up the audience and the north field became a pulsing dancefloor. In the middle of the show they threw out these huge eyeball beach balls that could fit 20+ small children in it. Towards the ends, she paid tribute to the other bands and the Beastie Boys whom they were replacing. And then they started a great acoustic version of "Maps," during which she forgot the lyrics, which was cute. I never really completely liked "Maps" but this rendition was really poignant and sweet, mess-ups and all. Hope she wasn't too embarassed bc she was incredible. My head fell off when she almost swallowed her mic. Twice.

*************************
DAY III

I keep saying that there's "no way today's going to be better than yesterday." False.

Ra Ra Riot + a little bit of Friendly Fires: I love strings. So it's only natural that I love Ra Ra Riot. They're only about a year old really. Their original drummer died a month before the album was released. Sad. Their music is great. Really evocative. The lead's voice is a bit generic but it's all made up for in the depth added by the cello and violin. Being such a new band I feel like they haven't fallen into being completely comfortable on stage yet. It shows for most of the band (esp. violinist I feel) except the cellist. She looked like she's been performing for large crowds since early childhood. They sounded absolutely great but didn't invoke the excitement of the crowd as well as say Lykke Li or Other Lives, who are also fairly new. For me, that morning was a dilemma because Ra Ra Riot was on one side of the park and Frienly Fires on the other. Ra Ra Riot had the string, but Friendly Fires was British and I was unlikely to see them ever. So I popped out after "Dying is Fine" and made my way to Friendly Fires. As soon as the crowd started thinning "Ghost Under Rocks" made its way out of the speakers. I yelled "fuck" so loud several people turned heads. Just my luck that one of my faves comes on as soon as I decide leave. Oh well. friendly Fires proved to actually not be that great of an idea. I made it to hear the end of "On Board" and song "Paris". Sounded great but I really wasn't in the mood for dance-rock. At all. Should have stuck to my original decision. In the end Ra Ra Riot wins. Their searing albeit slightly stage-awkward renditions of my faves "Can You Tell" "Winter '05" "Manner to Act" and "St. Peter's Day Festival" were just close-your-eyes-and-let-the-music-fill-you beautiful.

Behind Citistage: No not a band. Our fave spot. We decided to opt out of risking heat stroke for Bat for Lashes. Better off today because we'd bought a water sprayer, which made us pretty popular with other people. Still it was the third day, and we were tired of the constant speedwalking from one stage to the other. We opted for some delicious fro-yo and chillin for a few hours under some trees. We stayed there until about 4ish when it was time to start waiting for Passion Pit. While I was sitting there, admiring a girl who looked startlingly like Camille slowly spin a hula hoop up and down her body, this guy in a purple shirt, skinny jeans, and a fro was wandering around behind the stage. I blinked. HOLY ASS POPSCICLES. It was Michael Angelakos, frontman and creator of Passion Pit. I outwardly remained composed and tried to discretely pretend to take a picture of the chain-link fence. He saw me. LOL AT MY LIFE.

Passion Pit: I have been quietly obsessing over this band for about half a year. I DLed all their songs one by one off different blogs way before the album was released. I swear I have like 5 remixes of "The Reeling" alone. When I wove my way to the second row, Gang Gang Dance was still on, and maybe it was my embarassment at having been discovered taking that picture or my general impatience, but I strongly disliked Gang Gang Dance. I have a feeling that most of the crowd wasn't really that into them either because when they went offstage, the people didn't move. Most of them had stayed for Passion Pit.
Passion Pit started to set up. EXCITEMENT and nervousness. I didn't want to disappointed in one of my faves. There was no need to worry. Once they got on stage the crowd went totally wild I was impressed by how many people knew ALL the lyrics. I have never been pushed around and danced on so hard in my life, not even during Girl Talk. More than 20 crowd surfers made their way over my head in the course of the next hour. And this was just where I was standing. Imagine that X20. Not joking. The security guards were frenzied making sure that people were doused with cold water and catching and picking up the crowdsurfers. After a particular song, they looked exhausted and exclaimed "Fuck this shit." Obviously they were not anticipating the power of Passion Pit and its rabid fans. It's Lolla's fault for putting them on such a small stage.
As for the music, the sheer power of each of the songs on the crowd was ABSURD. At each song the crowd erupted, especially "Sleepyhead." During "Little Secrets" the chorus part where children are singing was completely and solely sung by everyone in the audience, an effect that was so awesome my head imploded just a little. And then one of the last songs (Maybe "The Reeling"? I forget) there was a part where the music stopped, the band froze, and for a few seconds it felt like the rest of the world had frozen along with them. Only to start back up again when the music commenced and Angelakos lept and stomped back down on stage. They were so intense and awesome that were broke their kickdrum, LOL, and had to borrow from Deerhunter.
After the show had ended I stood there as most people were leaving, drenched in the sweat of a hundred people, my vneck shirt now hanging below one boob, staring in awe at the place where I just had my mind blown.

Snoop Dogg: LOL

The Killers: I had no idea what Jane's Addiction sounds like and Katie and Francesca love The Killers so that was that. I was prepared to not like the Killers. I had dismissed them as a high school fling, a stepping stone to better music. First of all, their stage was incredible, with phenomenal lightwork and video. Brandon Flowers is gorgeous, and his voice is very nice. It wooed me. I was pleased that they played a lot of old stuff from Hott Fuss. I love the way they told a story about how they found each other and how the drummer gave Flowers a sampler of 5 tunes..."and one of them started like this..." Thus began Mr. Brightside. At one point Mr. Flowers sat down at a piano and played real pretty the chords to "Smile Like You Mean It" while some asian guy not in the band played violin. A minute later the song became the booming anthem that we're familiar with. I couldn't deny that these guys had charisma and could put on a pretty sick show. The last song, "When You Were Young" was ferociously received by the audience and near the end, fireworks streamed from the back of the stage. Hot shit. I'd forgotten how fun The Killers are. I'm officially back in love.

On the way to Union Station, the pilgrimage of people all going in the same direction whooped and hollered and clapped furiously to the end of a fantastic three days of music. I'm still in awe. I'll have this Lolla high for a while. And I'll certainly never forget it.

Thursday and Friday

Do you love long-ass blog posts? Apparently I do.
This is the first of two blogs about my trip to Chicago and of course Lollapalooza.

THURSDAY
Left the beach early Thursday morningo go to Chicago. Feifei was really really excited to show me her beloved city. It was cute.
CHICAGO IS GRAND. So many different cultures and types of people. I love it. Close access to everything you could possibly ever want. I WANT TO MOVE HERE. Feifei and my amazing pledgepal took me around to India/Pakistani town, Greektown, UIC Campus (where Feifei goes and incidentally very close to where Katie went to HS), Pilsen(Latino neighborhood), Little Italy. Which were all totally not touristy and genuine and awesome. The food is amazing.
I heard somewhere from someone today that there are going to be 250,000 people were going to be at Lolla.
I like the L. It's nice to not be underground.
When we were outside a bus stop at UIC waiting for a ride to Pilsen, we saw 4 people dressed in casual medieval garb, fighting with foam swords. We LOLed, tried to be discreet about taking their picture. They saw us and invited us to learn to swordfight. I think we were all itching to say FUCK YES, but declined out of embarassment?propriety? But we ended up going to to them and learning swordfighting. Harder than it looks. Really enjoyed the sight of Feifei looking crazy, yelling "I AM ARAGORN!" and lunging. Got scared when I realized that my insane cousin was lunging at me. We swordfought and chatted with them for like 45 minutes, missing three buses. AMAZING.
Caribou Coffee needs to be in VA. All over VA. All over my life.
LOVED everything about today. Life is looking UP.

FRIDAY
Had dim sum with Feifei, her friends, Katie, and Francesca, the Pollards gorgeously nice and sweet Italian foreign exchang student. Chinatown here is so much better than DC.
There was a steady drizzle all day. Katie and Francesca were freezing n the late afternoon and had to leave. After I left Katie and I went to Feifei's friend's apartment for a dinner party. MOST DELICIOUS FOOD I've ever had. Bar none. authentic and beautifully plated. I felt very grown-up.

• So Lolla. So many Camelbaks. Wonder what's in them.
  
• Other Lives: Sound just as great live as they do on their record if not better. We got there late-ish and only heard the last two songs including "Black Tables," obvious last song choice. Beautiful and haunting and Jennifer Hsu on cello is just heartbreakingly gorgeous. Sad I missed most of the set but confident that they will blow up soon and tour everywhere. Hopefully.
  
• There are like 15000 Porta-potties here.
  
• Hey Champ: unexpected surprise, never heard their music. Fun, dancey, electro-poprock. Really good stage presence and a good amount of improv, something that was sorely missed the rest of the day.
  
• White Lies: SEXY. All one can do is stare sometimes. I hadn't done much research on them. But I'd listened and loved their album, To Lose My Life, but I'd not known that they were British and extremely attractive. So what if the lead singer has an almost-mullet and the drummer has an awful bowl cut. They're British, hot, talented, and named Harry, Charles, and Jack. They were a serious band live. No one on stage cracked a smile the entire time. Instead it was an hour of smoldering, sexy, almost-mullet-filled instensity. Fantastic set. Sad they didn't play "Nothing to Give" (the M83 remix is awesome). Would have loved to hear his voice without much instrumental interference. Sexiest band I'd ever seen live.
  
• Bon Iver: We thought that we could just turn around and walk the 300 ft. to the other stage in the same field and get a decent spot. FALSE. Like 250000 people had the same thought. No idea Bon Iver was so popular. Apparently they are. Catherine Melton's sister texted me, which was really nice. Tried to find her but unsuccessful, of course. Bon Iver was very good, we were just like half a mile away from the stage and it was hard to concentrate on the concert because we were standing in puddles and people were constantly moving around us. I feel like Bon Iver works better in a smaller venue anyway.
  
• Fleet Foxes: skipped Ben Folds, waited at Playstation stage for an hour to be close to the stage. The band members arrived, cheery and heavily bearded. Beautiful live. They harmonize so fucking well its amazing. Of course everyone had a seizure when it came to "White Winter Hymnal." But the real highlight for me was when the rest of the band members went off stage for my personal favorite "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" done solo by Robin and his guitar. GUH. Mindblowing. Especially considering that he woke up with a high fever.
  
• Andrew Bird: So I started documenting today while awaiting Mr. Bird. Katie and Francesca had left after "White Winter Hymnal" and I stayed at the stage for another hour after Fleet Foxes to wait. Got front row to the left. The stage setup was really cool to watch because they had all these like huge fake record speakers in different colors. I was tired. My feet were so incredibly sore. And then Andrew Bird came on stage, picked up his violin, and I died. There is something I'm sure that all concert/music addicts all feel I'm sure. A feeling. It's like when you're kinda close to the speakers and the music starts playing and pulses out from the huge black boxes. It pulses your chest cavity and your windpipes and something turns on, and you're entire body is suddenly vibrating with not only the music but something else too. A kind of calm electricity. And you close your eyes a few moments to just listen to the music filling your body and feel that feeling. It makes you feel lucky to be there, alive. I love it. Such a high. Ok that all sounded really cliched and cheesy and dramatic but I feel it. That was basically the entire Andrew Bird set. I was so happy I could have cried. He's just a perfect man. I get excited just thining about him plucking the violin, the guitar and then whistling like only a perfect man could whistle. And when he actually plays the violin, its the most soulful sound ever. Damn. I just got the shivers thinking about it.
• Today was worth the 3-day pass money alone. I feel trapped because I want to see so many artists, but its impossible. I missed Manchester Orchestra, Ben Folds, The Virgins, Crystal Castles, Peter Bjorn & John, Of Montreal, Kings of Leon, and Kid Cudi. Sad.
  
• I HATE BEING SHORT.
• MY FEET ARE KILLING ME.
• Let me know if you want a program. I'll get you one.
  

This week has been nice. My cousin got here Wednesday night, we went to D.C. to stay at Sundi's house Saturday and Sunday. Sundi (I will never get used to Sandy) was not there because med school already started first year. Crazy. Sad bc I missed her. But XingXing was still not in college yet so it was fun getting to spend time with her.
It was great and I've really enjoyed getting to know my cousin better. I miss Charlottesville sometimes but I like being here too. It's nice to have your parents fuss over you for short periods of time. I hope your first day went well Jenny! Excited for Lolla. I'm wrestling between taking my Blackbird Fly and the old Nikon N5005 that my parents used to use. I'm so bad at photography that I shouldn't even try. Most of the stuff I try to shoot comes out black. Completely underexposed. But I"m terribly stubborn. And indecisive. Which means I'll probably bring both.

Anyone seen the trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are" before Harry Potter? It's greattttttt. The montage was wonderful and a pretty perfect trailer overall. The song fit well and reminded me of Arcade Fire circa Funeral. It was really well done. I swear that I heard a collective sigh of content in the theater at the end of it.

I have to apologize for the link taken down for the mixtape. I got a warning over email from blogspot saying that they'd taken down my post about dan black. Which is annoying bc shouldn't they like just like request that you take it down and then... like you do it on your own initiative. And then if you don't they warn you and take it down themselves. It feels like they skipped a step. I wonder how legit music bloggers escape the DMCA. Like that's how I find a lot of my music, through blogs. And there's no way that every one of those blogs have rights to different companies,etc. It's confusing. If someone can enlighten me that'd be great. In the future I'll just compile all the songs into one track and post it as like a mixtape for real. More of a hassle for both ends but less legally ... messy. I won't post random signed artist tracks unless I know that its a certified remix/cover/whatever i guess. Youtube videos I guess are never illegal.
So here's one. It's adorable. I'm not the biggest fan of coldplay but this video is great. '



EDIT: Ok so. I'm dumb. The song in the trailer is Arcade Fire. Its a special rendition of "Wake Up."

HOLY SHIT.

MXTP#1

I've always wanted to do this. Put music on a blog. Like since high school. Still a little afraid that this might be illegal? Whatever. It's a mixtape. Which is... less illegal.
Anyhow. These may be old, may be new, and may just be songs I like that I want to share. Kthanks.

Track Listing

MXTP#1- I included the m3u playlist file so if you upload that as a playlist into your music player, it'll turn out like a real mixtape.

1. Symphonies (Passjon Pit Remix) - Dan Black
Everything is better with Passion Pit, isn't it.

2. The Rip - Portishead
It was between The Rip, Magic Doors, or Machine Gun. Definitely listen to Machine Fun (probably one of the most talked-about tracks of the year?) and Magic Doors is lovely and under-appreciated. The Rip is probably the most haunting. And so romantic. Brb. Wild white horses are taking me away.

3. Howl - Florence and the Machine
Is it just me or are there more and more ravishly beautiful crimson-haired indie songstresses? Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, and now Florence Welch. Her debut album "Lungs" is already becoming HUGE. Duh. Her voice is gorgeous; it's deep, urgent and flowing. It rings with less clarity but much more soul than Lewis. And she's much clever-er lyricist; I mean what part of "Drive my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart..." doesn't make you shudder with musical pleasure. New Moon soundtrack? I'm calling it.
mashTape tells me she was discovered singing Motown covers in a nightclub toilet, drunk. BBC tells me that she writes her best stuff drunk or hungover. Raise your hand if you want to be her bff.

4. I'm in Miami Bitch - LMFAO
If you've been in my car ever since like March, you've heard and probably reheard their Love Lockdown remix, HotNCold remix, and La La La (my fave). Album "Party Rock" is exactly its name. They're the most infectious blend of hip hop and electrobeats. So get your hands up. Put that ASS UP.

5. Paper Cities - Other Lives
I put this on my first music exchange CD. I'm such a sucker for classical instrumentals. The song is pretty bleak. The album is pretty bleak, but its fucking amazing. Cannot wait to see them at Lolla.

6. Sleepyhead (Emil & Friends rework) - Passion Pit
Everyone loves some Sleepyhead. And Passion Pit has blown up. Sleepyhead is excellent, but this version is mellower and still awesome. Sleepyhead is kind of a heart attack. Like I'm sure that if Jenny listened to Kids on repeat for 24 hours, she'd have a stroke. Sleepyhead is the same. This is kind of like that Ben Lee version of Kids, just not a lullaby.

7. Cataracts - Andrew Bird
Who doesn't LOVE Andrew Birds. He's just a beautiful man. Who makes beautiful music. And this song is so PRETTY. Oh and he covers Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Bein Green"


8. Pennies - The Cool Kids
My favorite hip hop group ever. When I saw them a year or so ago opening for M.I.A. I was not yet knowledgeable enough musically to recognize their greatness. But now I'd do anything to see them. again. New album "Gone Fishing" (?) coming soon hopefully. Hearing this track and "Champions" makes me think it may even top "The Bake Sale." Rad.

9. Flume (Bon Iver cover) - The Chairs
I love covers. I love covers that sound even better than the original (not saying that it applies here, the original is great).
This is my favorite cover.

10. Puma - Good Luck at the Gunfight
Electropop is my new favorite genre. And this mashTAPE bio pretty much says it all: "Good Luck at the Gunfight is one, two, three San Franciscans. They like warm weather and the beach. They have this strange amusement with cats and moo cows. And Katy Perry.

All for now. Lolla-based tape soon. Bc I need to listen some more to those people anyways.

And just for Lizzie

i love trailers, i love music, this is perfect for me

I've never even heard of this before. A trailer for an upcoming album?
But this is pretty bangin. If it were a movie, I'd watch it.
Happy weekend. Mixtape coming sooon. I'm excited.

zomg ratatouille

remy. you know that little mouse in ratatouille thats a really good chef? you know that ratatouille they made at the end? well. I JUST MADE IT. without a mandoline.

So pretty. Pretty delicious. So proud. And it looks like the one in the movie!

So uh. Yeah I'd really like to be sleeping right now and be able to wake up early in the morning but... I'm on this really weird bodily schedule that started a few weeks ago where I go to bed at like 5AM and wake up around 2PM.
It sucks. I should take some homeopathic sleeping meds or something.
Or find some apples to put in a bowl on my nightstand. Or cook. Or stare at some music blogs for hours. Or paint some French girl. See why this keeps happening?

So I have decided to start this thing because I can't sleep and browsing the internets can only last so long before your brain starts to cry. To me this is kind of embarrassing bc everyone I know who has a blog is abroad or graduated. I half feel like I don't have the right to start one and half feel that its pretentious and that everyone who starts a blog (who is not graduated or abroad) is a self-righteous narcissist. Sorry.

But I'm bored. And can't sleep. And sometimes there are things that happen that I want to write down and keep forever. And I don't like diaries. I kept one in like 8th grade and every entry started with "Dear Legolas..." or something. It's one of those memories that whenever you happen to remember it, you involuntary implode with shame, seize your face in your hands, and cry out even if you're in a public place. So if I'm with you and this happens you'll know that I have probably just remembered that I once, at the height of adolescence, addressed my diary as "Legolas." It is enough to make you never want to touch a journal again.

So this seems the only plausible alternative. A blog.