The Audiozine

1) Peace to Plan 9 on the Corner. I missed the memo that Saturday May 24th was their last day open, so I wasn't able to make a final, hugely symbolic purchase (probably Chuck Berry or Charlie Parker...). It was nice having a decent record store within walking distance, picking up tons of cheap used vinyl (which I should get around to uploading), making friends, hearing about shows, and on+on.

2) R.I.P. Satellite Ballroom. I can't even begin to remember how many great bands, big and small, that I saw at this wonderful place. An absurdly incomplete list: Wolf Eyes, Animal Collective, Silver Jews, Cataract Camp, Les Savy Fav, The Books, Grizzly Bear, Bonde Do Role, Battles, !!!, Acid Mothers Temple, Deerhoof, Danielson, Chuck Brown (wind em up Chuck!), Cat Power, Ostinato, MEN, Mas Y Mas. I caught my last show there on Thursday night. The lineup was great although the highlight for me was the headlining set by Truman Sparks. Somehow, after 7 years in the area, I had not yet seen T.S., usually because I was busy with work or travel just about every time they have played in the last few years. They played a set that churned, shuddered, and hurtled forward at all times and it was the first straight up rockin' show I've caught in a long while. Anyway, peace to the Ballroom and the many good nights I spent there soaking up great music and making good friends.

3) Farsheed nearly saw Totally Radd!! at the Smell in L.A. quite recently. He ended up missing the show, but read on via that link and be amazed by Neil Schuh and his peculiar blend of alcoholism and 8bit technology.

4) I am reading a well-written, compelling book by Drew Daniel of Matmos. The book is in the 33 1/3 series and it is about Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats. You can read a great interview with Drew Daniel discussing the book and TG at length here.

5) Autechre. I've been listening to even more Autechre.

feeling gross for the last few days, called in sick to work, hoping it clears up soon.

On a study break today, noticed a stream of the first track from Autechre's upcoming full-length, Quaristice. Far more lush and accessible than most of Autechre's output since LP5, but hardly a sellout. Unlike most reviewers, I have tuned out Autechre since Confield not because they had grown too abstract or cold, but because I just wasn't that interested in hearing their excursions further down the electro-rabbit hole. For the last seven years, I have been listening to more jazz, hip-hop, soul, and top 40 music -- music that connects the head, heart, and hips seamlessly. In that time, the indie rock world has started to embrace minimal electronic musicians like Ricardo Villalobos, "local" electronic music scenes such as Dubstep, electro-rock-crossovers like Justice and Simian Mobile Disco, as well as bands, like Animal Collective and Battles, that represent a new rock-gone-electronic aesthetic that furthers and deepens the musical palette of 90's Warp/et al artists. And both aboveground and underground hip-hop/R&B has been moving into electronic music territory -- everything from T-Pain+Akon's robo-crooning to Clipse's dystopian crack-rap to Rihanna's emotionally cold pitch-corrected pop anthems to nearly every single Timbaland production from the last few years.

I wonder if the new Autechre album will be hailed as a "comeback". My prediction is that Autechre will put out a disc that is every bit as experimental as their last few, but that returns melody and emotion to their list of aesthetic concerns. Meanwhile, the rock/electronic listenership will have grown sophisticated enough to appreciate these abstractions instead of dismissing them as so much navel-gazing. And, hey, I might just snag a copy of Quaristice and join in the fun.