Grimes: The Next Generation

Goth-pop Electronica, Dark Wave, Witch House... I'm enjoying all of these genre names. I have increasingly gotten interested in Grimes, moniker for Canadian artist, Claire Boucher. Now that I've played through her catalog and joined in the internet's curiosity with her, I've come to like her...more than her music.

She's got a little impish grin, an endearing lisp, genuine humility that is so refreshing, tons of creativity and talent spread over many disciplines - singing, layered music composition, live shows, dancing, drawings, paintings, video concepts and directing and style - she reflects what I believe defines this emerging generation, more an any other artist out there.

"More than any other artist out there?" Those are big words and big shoes to fill. Well, not really. It's not the Hall of Fame, it's just a sign of the times. She reminds me a little of Tavi Gevinson.

This is the first generation that has grown up with the internet as part of their psyche. They know no world without this information depot a finger's length away at any second. They've spent their free time, their aimless teenage hours, browsing the net, finding bands, and clothes, and pop cultural movements, scrolling through infinite collections of pictures and snippets on sites like Tumblr and Reddit.

Elders like to point fingers and claim "today's kids have no attention span!" That might be true, but there are benefits and drawbacks to everything. The next generation has an unprecedented amount of information swirling around in their brains.

Intelligent ground breakers like Grimes personify this mix in the best possible way.

Represented in her style, music, and videos, there are shades of pop culture from every country, from every era, and from every angle: elements of Japanese anime, mainstream low-brow humor like The Simpsons and Family Guy, fringe Goth movements from the 90s like Marilyn Mansion and the ravers, beach and surf culture, hyper-sexualized Bubblegum pop from the late nineties, R&B divas like Mariah Carey, then there's Russian Literature and classic avant-garde film, underground hip-hop and noise bands, it goes on and on.

Her influences are so disparate that a decade ago she would've been a blip on the fringe of society, but today, because her experiences mirror so many of her information-saturated peers, the interpretation of these influences through her art is mainstream relevant.

She's able to funnel all of this into something new and creative. It is truly interesting, mainly because you can tell she finds it really interesting. Even though, honestly, I don't love her music, I find her style and videos like a black hole of goodies that want to be explored

According to an interview this video is supposed to be based on her interpretation of religion as she saw it as a child who was simultaneously watching loads of anime.

Lou Reed passing on

© Janet Macoska

Lou Reed finally succumbed to liver failure, despite a transplant back in June. I guess alcohol, drugs and Hepatitis had disintegrated his original one. With Basquiat, Warhol and now Reed gone, that era of music and artistic innovation feels further and further from our reach.

Lou Reed in one of the most influential rock groups ever: Velvet Underground.

The first time I heard this was on the Trainspotting Soundtrack. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of music. This song immediately takes me back to an abyss of nostalgic woes: unrequited love, seedy New York, and for some reason this book, which I imagined embodied the New York of Lou Reed's time: drugs, unscrupulous sex, close calls, and digging really deep into the possibilities of living and dying.

This would definitely be one of the albums I'd take to the deserted island with me. I know because it has a revival in my playlist every few years. I can pick it up and listen to it on repeat like it's new all over again.

The mix tape is not dead...

... it's on life support

This site, Share Tapes, makes nifty little cards that look like mixtapes with electronic information to direct you to the playlist for your amor or road trip or break up... a valiant effort.

What do you think? could this bring back the custom of giving mixtapes?

This blog is big in Latvia, just FYI

Everest - largest cathedral of Tibet, Nepal, India and the world

And now for something completely different: some Tibetan chants.

May 29, 2013 is the sixtieth anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest, or as the mountain is locally called Chomolungma. On the south side of this peak is the icefall in Nepal; on the north side, the Tibetan plateau.

In the Sherpa's Buddhist teaching, Chomolungma is home to a beautiful goddess called Miyolangsangma. She is a protective spirit that dwells high on the mountain. Many Sherpa have told of dreams where a beautiful young woman approaches them and makes her presence known before retreating to the heights of the mountain.

It was prophesied that a Sherpa would be the first to reach the highest point of the mountain and of the earth. In 1953 that prophecy came to fruition when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit. Hillary callously remarked that they, "knocked the bastard off." But one cannot completely blame the old chap. Though he failed to see the mountain for what it was, he did many good things for the people of the Khumbu community, building schools and medical centers in the decades after.

Following the historic climb, some of the Himalayan communities fought over the nationality of Norgay and the supporting climbers. Many porters were originally Tibetan, though the Chinese military had driven them out of their homeland. They settled in Darjeeling, India, the kick-off location for most climbing expeditions at that time. And then traveled through the heart of Nepal to reach basecamp and the summit.

The cultures and people in this area have their differences, but the Himalayan community all share one thing: the extraordinary backdrop of these mountains and their mystique. One day in the not too distant future, I hope to find myself at the base of these mountains. Anatoli Boukreev said it best:

"Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion."

Fredrik (quasi-new album) Flora + goose

Fredrik's third album, Flora, is here for your enjoyment today. They've  crafted this atmospheric cloud of ethereal something something. Coming to you from the southern town of Malmo. That's Sweden, if you hadn't already guessed it. Curse you and your government-subsidized artistry.

I don't know why, but when I first saw the little wolf I laughed for a good five minutes. Again, I don't know why. I guess it's kind of ridiculous and quaint at the same time.

On the  topic of ridiculous and quaint, last night I dreamt that I had a pet goose. My family gathered around the dinner table to eat, but the goose slipped out of the screen door. We watched to see what he was doing, as he very deftly caught a tiny bird and brought it inside, put it on a plate at the table, wattled up into the seat and waited for everyone to be seated before digging in. There you have it: a polite carnivorous goose. I really loved him. I carried him like a football under my arm everywhere I went; he was a great pet.

Is it the 60s?

Another swipe from my hermanito's collection. As soon as he gets internet connection out in his little abode by the lake, he can co-manage this little music thing I have going. We can call it Slobek / Milo..Slolo...Mibek...Slobilo..we'll work it out. Until then, I will pass on his game.

Opossom kind of sounds like a band that was unjustly overlooked in your Sixties anthology and their video confirms it. Other than the sound/mixing quality, you'd have no inkling that they were contemporary.