Photo: Lawrence Lucier

I was on this early morning flight with an airline called 1Time Airlines, which I took to be a bad sign. But then they played this song while we were seating, and I felt like well, at least they get my cultural milieu.

Oh Land: Sun Of A Gun

Photo: Tommy Chase Lucas

Because I’ve been listening to it so much, I should mention this newish album by Grimes called Visions (Amazon). It’s quite good. Her earlier albums were a bit over my head.

I love this anecdote from Wikipedia:

In 2009, Boucher and her then-boyfriend from Tennessee constructed a 20-foot houseboat, named the “Velvet Glove Cast in Iron,” with the intention to sail it down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The cargo included chickens, a typewriter, 20 pounds of potatoes and a gifted copy of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Boucher and her companion adopted the names “Varuschka” and “Zelda Xox” for the trip. Due to engine trouble and subsequent harassment from the Minnesota police, the journey was cut short and the houseboat and chickens were impounded.

Also, the video for this song is worth watching.

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This song by School of Seven Bells got me through a bumpy flight this morning. Get their album Ghostory. It’s so nostalgic! It reminds me of something that happened 20 years ago, but I can’t remember what it was now. Perhaps you can remind me?

I’m looking forward to an official release of this. It sounds as if the mp3 below was ripped from the video, so it has the sound effects. They feel right in the video, but less so in the audio track.

Lana Del Rey: Video Games

Via The Awl.

UPDATE 7/29: See? Marina Diamandis likes her too. We think alike.

Could not handle @LanaDelRey’s beauty tonight. She is 1 of the true beauty queens. Listen to her music. Love u, gf.

Austra is a band from Toronto that owes much to Siouxsie and the Banshees. I think you will like it.

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Picture taken by Leah Lin at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The show was amazing.

Update 3/26: She used an iPhone 1, in case you were wondering.

Pulp – Common People

The Grates played an an amazing show at Brooklyn Bowl last night. I took some photos with this Sony CyberShot Leah is lending me, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. Flash or no flash? There was this one part where Patience rode someone’s shoulders out into the crowd and it was a great moment but dark. The only shots I got were when I overlapped with someone else’s flash. Anyway you can see at Flickr.

The Grates: Inside Outside

Mind-blowing Rube Goldberg machine video from Ok Go.

Update aaaand then there’s also this equally-mind-blowing version:

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

Ok Go – This Too Shall Pass

I think this is a pretty good review of Marina & the Diamonds’ debut album: it notes the Dresden Dolls influence (particularly evident in this song) and makes the following observation:

But it’s her taste for the bleeding obvious which, ultimately, holds her back from greatness. … It’s this kind of route-one thinking which reins in The Family Jewels … the song about being an outsider is called “The Outsider”. The song about being rootless is called “Rootless.” The song about feeling numb is called… OK, you’re ahead of me.

Indeed! (And that’s another similarity with Amanda Palmer.) But there’s something wonderfully, obscenely uncensored about this obviousness. Like the video for her single Hollywood. Because yep! There can be no doubt from the look on her face that she, Marina Diamandis, is indeed obsessed with the mess that is America.

I hope she’s looking forward to her upcoming dates in NYC. We are very much looking forward to seeing her.

Marina & the Diamonds – Are You Satisfied?