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Aaron Davidson www.brilliantmp3s.blogspot.com |
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 | Out of the Park Posters. Prints. Paperweights. Paperbacks. Piggy banks. Postcards. Pillboxes. The Petit Pattern book. It's only appropriate that the store housing such miscellany be named Park Life (emphasis on the first consonant). Opened in 2006 on Clement near 3rd Ave. in the Inner Richmond, Park Life provides a fresh take on art and design, creating a space where affordable goods meet adventurous designs.More |  | Released on Social Registry, 1/22/08 The nicest thing I can manage about Blood on the Wall is that the music sounds spontaneous. The third album from the Brooklyn three-piece begins with four stick clicks, an apt starter gun for three or four generations of basement-based punk rockers. The remainder of the song -- it's called "Hibernation" -- showcases all of the band's meager abilities: the apathetic vocals, scuzzy guitars, loudly played drums recorded softly. That's pretty much it.More |  | Hustling The day I moved to the city, I picked a direction and walked that way. One block from my new apartment at the northeast corner of Baker and McAllister, I found a rack of tee shirts in front of a window with a large gold watch hanging behind the pane. Beyond the window -- and the watch -- silk screeners worked machines, pressing colors and assembling graphics.More |  | Released on Kill Rock Stars, 1/29/08 Xiu Xiu albums always have the unpleasant job of balancing mastermind Jamie Stewart's addiction to experimentation. To Stewart's endearing credit, his ideas often warp into a perfect noise shape, and that's why I love his bizarre menagerie of sounds and words.More |  | Released on Fabric, 3/11/08 Fabric is a nightclub in London that -- a la Factory Records in the 80s -- releases albums. The label has booked 40 live-mix albums from DJs and producers like Diplo, James Murphy, and Justice (whose forthcoming mix will drop in June). The most current installation features the prodigal DJ Craze.More |  | Released on XL Recordings, 1/29/08 I'm going to make this a big deal because "I Stand Corrected" was the moment when my uncertainty towards Vampire Weekend calcified and became mild disdain. For a band enjoying so much buzz, I find Vampire Weekend difficult. Massive enthusiasm rarely influences what I listen to, especially since I set up something of a force field to keep out the hype -- or at least establish my own opinion.More |  | Roaring As Divisadero approaches Haight St., an eccentric strip of shops and boutiques appears. The area is more of a destination than ever before, with fine dining (Nopa), live music (The Independent), and nightlife (Madrone, The Page, Waziema). As regular foot traffic grows so do the businesses, which already include a comic shop, a day spa, a games shop, and various second-hand stores.More |  | Resolve To See Live Music New Year's Eve Monday nights can be confusing times for musicians, torn between performing to yawning, working-class crowds or taking the night off to party while the rest of society turns in early. Thank the rock gods for New Year's Eve 2007, a Monday night where the day-jobbers join the rockers for a night of responsibility-free debauchery. To commemorate this unusual mingling of interests, venues across San Francisco host live music from across the globe.More |  | Released on Invisible China Records and Bloodshot Ltd., 12/04/07 Martin Atkins knows about drums. He drummed for Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Pigface, and many other industrial bands. Atkins' drums are played live and sampled, a technique that, when executed correctly, can sound like John Bonham's bionic spirit, back from the dead with a hard drive sharing space in his brain. Imagine the drums on Nine Inch Nail's "Closer". Atkins career revolves around that drum sound.More |  | Released on Columbia Records, 10/30/07 Even at a glance, Bob Dylan will mean different things to different people. This seems to be the theme of the new Dylan film, [b]I'm Not There[/b]. In the film, which was co-written and directed by Todd Haynes, six actors play different Dylan identities. Those actors include Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, and others.More |
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