METHODOLOGY

i remember the first time i ever saw the word "methodology" in a mad magazine article that was making fun of overcomplicating simple tasks (it was used in the context of how to hammer a nail and there was a blackboard reading "hammerswing methodology") and for years i thought it was a word they had made up, until i started working full time.

-jen kimball

A HARD DAYS FISKADORO

jen: when they make the fiskadoro movie travis can play himself, he's an actor you know..

rich: hell, he can direct too.

jen: yeah, james cameron won't return my calls anyway.

RECORD REVIEW: TWISTED WIRES 'ONE NIGHT AT THE RAW DEAL' 12"(2009 Italians Do It Better)

shortly before we started this little mcbloggily of ours we had some technical issues, thus, we were not able to listen to records and cassettes for awhile. cd's were ok - but the older media was a problem. this was discouraging as there were a couple things we wanted to talk about here. one of which was the twisted wires 12" which will be discussed below. the other the balaclavas cassette on the skrot up tapes label (out of denmark), which we'll get to on another post.

the debut 12" from houston's twisted wires is one night at the raw deal b/w one night at the raw deal (instrumental) & one night at the raw deal (guitar & vocal mix). i'd look at the b-side as a gift for people to remix. or for dj's to spin their own extended mixes at dance parties. very late last night jen, sharpe james and i sat down in the 423 gallery to listen to the record with law & order: criminal intent airing on the television set in the background on mute.

jen: so far it kind of sounds like early simple minds. its good background music to this criminal intent episode. it reminds me of someone else from the same era, i'm trying to remember who.

sharpe: it really says alot about houston when this record is easier to find in new york. london. paris. tokyo. milan. all those towns we party at.

rich: yes. we really don't party much in houston do we?

jen: no we don't. we just get booked to play fiskadoro shows in houston and then get them cancelled at the 23rd hour.

rich: rowan really loved this single. he described it as techno goth. one of my other friends said it wasn't complicated enough.

jen: it is kind of minimal. but isn't that a good thing?

sharpe: people need to remember what we learned from the postpunk era. minimal is a good thing.

rich: no one seems to remember history anymore.

jen: i'd be interested to listen to one of my older simple minds records after this. i didn't really remember what twisted wires sounded like, i still have that //tense// show stuck in my head and i thought they sounded more like that. but... how wrong i was.

rich: oh look at bubbles [one of our cats laying on the floor on his back in variation of savasana pose].

jen: is this one of those times you think he's meditating?

rich: i think he's just enjoying the music.

sharpe: while lenny [another of our cats, looking out the window with much intensity] thinks this is soundtrack to some sort of nefarious doings going on outside in the quad parking lot.

jen: kind of like the nefarious goings on on criminal intent right now? i mean just look at them - i think they're in a chinese bar or something.

rich: this scene would be awesome if twisted wires were performing on a small stage at the other end of the bar. it would be like that great scene in fire walk with me. or wait -that scene in the aki kaurismaki movie i hired a contract killer when joe strummer & the astrophysicians played in that bar.

(jen and sharpe have no idea what rich is talking about)

sharpe: this sure is an awesome record.

jen: i think so too.

jen: its weird cause its got all these dance effects to it but its a little bit too slow to dance to unless you want to look like a total tool. its more of a sway back and forth song.

rich: maybe it depends on the kind of drugs you're taking?

jen: i think the drugs that would enhance this song are not the kind of drugs that make you want to dance. its almost more of an anthem.

rich: i'm dj'ing that chill-out room we hung out at in barcelona and this is number one on my playlist.

sharpe: with a fucking bullet.

jen: and someone is slipping a mickey into sharpe's drink as he looks down at his boots. one night at the raw deal. yeah.

sharpe: what is in this kiwi strawberry juice?

rich: kiwi strawberry juice.

jen: i can see playing it at a faster speed and having a bunch of strobe lights.

rich: they performed this when they played at mango's and that show was a veritable dance party.

jen: did you dance?

rich: i think we all did baby.... wait - you were there!

jen: i don't remember dancing at any shows. i'm not much of a dancer. the only person i really remember dancing at that show was tina.

sharpe: she's the best dancer in town you know.

rich: we sure do sharpe james... we sure do.

jen: if you played this a third faster it would sound like the things i was hearing in the gay clubs in the late 80s.

rich: like what?

jen: mostly stuff i didn't know. but like secession...

rich: what about new order?

jen: i would say its almost too clubby sounding for new order.

sharpe: this would be interesting music to play in a club scene in some larry clark movie.

jen: where everybody's fucked up.

sharpe: yeah.

jen: the guitar does kind of sound like new order.

[bubbles attacks lenny] lenny was asking for it... it almost sounds like a bernard sumner solo thing but i don't recall him putting a ton of reverb on his voice like often if ever. but it sounds cool.

rich: we'll remember this single as the big hit of the summer of 2009 in the 423 gallery.

GIBBY HAYNES HEARTS BUBBLES

THE DREAM

i was in a big school building, trying to figure out where and when my next class (for which i had not done the work) was. on a landing between stair flights was a small breakroom with a refrigerator. on the floor was a miller lite fridge pack and out of the tear-off opening peered my cat bubbles. peering into the refrigerator was none other than texas legend gibby haynes!

i called to bubbles to coax him out of the box as mr. haynes looked on. once i had bubbles safely in my arms mr. haynes commented on him.

GH: that's a good looking cat. i bet you can find a real good home for him.

me: he has a good home. he's my cat.

GH: yeah, i bet a lot of people would like to have a cat like that.

me: i told you, he's MY CAT!

GH: well you better get his ass home then!

-jen kimball

VMAs

Beyonce's a pro.

-jen kimball

CD REVIEW: //TENSE// memory cd (2009 desire records)

discussion between sharpe james (THE SPIES) and jen & rich kimball (FISKADORO) at the 423 gallery this evening.

sharpe: someone needs to notify the systems of romance blog about these guys.

jen: "give me back my life/it belongs to me"

rich: may i have some more wine please? thank you.

sharpe: i think they played with WILDERNESS last year. that makes a terrifying sort of sense.

rich: dread.

jen: they'd probably 'get' our cover of seconds. if you know what i mean.

rich: we sure do jen... we sure do...

jen: "i never want to sink down to your reality"

sharpe & rich: yeah!

rich: i bet this band still uses land lines.

sharpe: work hard short life reminds me of the first 1000 HOMO DJ'S 12". that is a good thing.

rich: i have a theory (i've told this to jen) that the original european synth bands from like 1979-1984 were so convinced of that idea that WW3 would be fought in the european theater that all of that music was about that. see PETE SHELLY's homosapien video and even the let me go video by HEAVEN 17. yeah, seconds may have been about the JFK assassination but it was so much more than that. people seem to forget that for several years we were convinced the end of the world was only minutes away. i think that feeling is coming back.

jen: this reminds me of THE THE song on the some bizarre album (1981) which i don't really think sounds like THE THE. and also THE LOVED ONE, so they definitely have a good techno history behind them. also the title reminds me of no name no slogan (ACID HORSE), plus they kind of sound like that, going back to the alan jourgensen thing.

sharpe: are //TENSE// retro-futurist?

perpetual swim: "you walk the corporate ladder/be all that you can be/when money is all that matters/you sacrifice your individuality"

rich: i feel like i'm in my room in cranford nj in 1984 listening to the seton hall radio station (WSOU-FM) at 1 a.m. this is before it went metal and single-handedly destroyed college radio.

jen: [audible gasp] you are such a hater. i love the metal WSOU.

sharpe: i really can never get tired of dub echoes on the vocals.

rich: it's got that same sonic terrorism feel the MARK STEWART & MAFFIA as the veneer of democracy starts to fade record had yet it sounds nothing like it. it's both scary and beautiful.

rich: when our digital cable freezes up, for a split second i think its due to an electro-magnetic pulse and i instinctively start waiting for the flash and the explosion.

sharpe: have you ever seen the movie threads?

jen: (talking about //TENSE// again) its brand new its retro. its awesome.

sharpe: they lose points by having back to back songs start with the letter L. but if that is going to be the worst mistake on this...

rich: i think i heard one lives in houston and the other lives in new york city. but i could be wrong. as we all know my sister knows stephen merritt. i think he'd be scared by this band but you know i probably don't know what i'm talking about.

jen: listening to this recording reminds me of why THE MAGNETIC FIELDS went so horribly awry.

rich: thank god there are no guitars on this. have i told you how sick i am of the guitar lately?? the next person that says FISKADORO reminds them of SONIC YOUTH gets a punch in the mouth. no offense to sonic youth... we love them but...

sharpe: this is the music we need to be playing when we burn down the offices of goldman-sachs.

jen: is it apocalyptic enough? yeah, i think it is.. i think it is...

sharpe: do you guys have any weed?

rich: i think my friend d-jam of the mighty M-LAAB would consider this music thin. i think most music isn't thin enough. this answers that. this is fucking skeletal, its like the x-ray of your body as the flash hits and then you're vaporized. remember the day after? that movie plays like a documentary today!

jen: i love this so.. i'm so mad i couldn't see them last week. i was looking for a job and then i found a job...

sharpe: its sexy. its scary. its apocalyptic as fuck. its music for the times we live in but nobody seems to be brave enough to admit. "body to body. lips to lips." 2009 is 1984. the world ends tonight!

jen: can we listen to some HEAVEN 17 after this?

rich: whatever you want tiger..