Squid Can

Whew. I have not posted in 4EVA. My old laptop died about a month ago (RIP), and I've been building an Mp3 empire since. In my quest for the best (derp), I've found some lovely netlabel ambient records since.

Herzog's First Summer and the Running Dream (Resting Bell, 2009), is a blissful, crackly, half-hour work. A cohesive, stylish collection, this album is perfect for an afternoon nap. If you'd prefer an afternoon shit-your-pants, pick up Sylvie Walder and entia non's Bewilderment (Resting Bell, 2009). It's darkened shit (not Swans-dark, mind you), but sufficiently airy to be called 'lovely'.

You may also want to check out Herzog's earlier releases over at Archive.org. And in terms of paid-for ambient, Loscil's Endless Falls has been in heavy rotation in my CD player at night. You can get it at Amazon for just $6.

Reviews of Jessica Bailiff, Swans (!?!?!), and new releases later this week. Maybe. Finally, don't expect to see any new photos in the Flickr sidebar as I'm taking a break from the site for a while. Fuck online popularity (I mean, Christ, look at this ghost town of a site).

In my previous post I subtly complained about the lack of a new Knife album. Well, you see, life has been going great for me as of late, and I've been happy everyday for the past week. I thought this week was pretty good. Then karma was like, "Hey, stop bitching, here" and gave me a NEW KNIFE ALBUM. FUCK YEAHHHHHHH.

Whew. Entitled Tomorrow, In a Year, the new album is the soundtrack to an 'electro-opera' The Knife has been performing. It's based on some Charles Darwin shit and the album sounds like Zeena Parkins mating with Autechre in a tropical wood. Godammnit if that makes any sense, but you should pick up this album if you like 'crazy drone music'. It's an interesting experiment.

And thanks, life. Everything is better with a slice of The Knife.

...what

Get the album at Lala

Oh. Hmm. Yep.

Well, next best thing to a new Knife album, I guess.

Got the new Owen Pallett album in the mail yesterday. He's eschewed the Final Fantasy persona to please some Japanese people or something. Impressions: Gay man is good with violin. Gay man returns with violin and a concept album based on an ultraviolent farmer. Album grows slow on you, but surely, it grows. Gay puns all around. Everyone's happy. Buy it.

Anywho, new releases arriving soon that may interest you (and I, er, need a list for myself):
Massive Attack
Jaga Jazzist (Jan 25)
Sade (Feb 9)
Four Tet
Beach House
Hot Chip
Yeasayer
Xiu Xiu
Liars (March)
Goldfrapp (not 'till March)
Flying Lotus (April)

I’m in one of those creative moods. One of those moods that comes every couple months. Not where I simply feel like taking a photograph or writing a story, but one of those states in which I feel like doing both those things—along with critiquing everything I own, scripting a comic book, making a video, cutting up new noise music. Everything creative that I enjoy doing I feel like doing. Do you know what I mean? I hope you do. And I hope this feeling stays intact.

My new ‘creative thing’ is the capsule review. I don’t think I invented it. I’m sure I didn’t. I’m just not sure if ‘capsule review’ is the proper name for a short, succinct review that abandons the gristle for the heartiest of truth and lulz. Whatever it’s called (if anything), you’ll be seeing it often here on Squid Can from now on. Album reviews, DVD reviews, TV reviews, and—especially—comic book reviews will now be in capsule format unless I really feel like diving into the virtues of some work. I’ve come to realize that with the amount of media I digest—music, television, short fiction, graphic novels—there is no way I can ever feel ‘complete’ towards consuming them without some sort of judgment, some critique. It helps me make sense of it all, it helps me to make connections, and it helps my writing skills. I suppose that, after all the years of half-assing essays in religion class, I’ve finally realized the importance of reflection. Reflection can make a mindless consumer a responsible one. Writing is reflection. Art’s reflection. A whole lot of thinking shit is reflection shit. This shit right here? Reflection. Mind blown.

I’ve set up a few new banners (80s gals, natch), and I’m looking to make some other improvements towards the site. I’ve also come to realize that this site looks like Sodom and Gomorrah in Internet Explorer. So, IF YOU’RE USING IE RIGHT NOW—use Firefox instead. I like this theme and I’d rather not change it. To see the old theme, you could always sign up for an account and select the old theme. But that’s a pain in the ass. Finally, I’m working on a capsule review page entirely for the Uncanny X-Men. I have so much time on my hands. Why not use it for something mildly useless instead of completely useless?

Well, I’m off to bed. And when I wake up, it’ll start again—consumption, reflection, creation, repetition. Beautiful stuff, no?