bengt-erik norum

decided to clean up some blog spam.. i junked ~30 comment spams dating back to the 3.2 install, then clicked the "Junk" tab to see what moveable type had found:

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that's a big number. color me impressed.

we sold the house about 6 months ago. i've been in this one bedroom apartment, in mountain view, since. i love my apartment.

as a con, it's small. while it's not the smallest place i've lived, it's a close second. it's three rooms and a bathroom, plus a space that some might call "dining area", but blue calls home.

it's got dated fixtures. the bathroom fixtures are a painful pink color. the PANTONE colorist tells me that it's probably "698 C", which looks like this: ███. the kitchen sink is really pretty charming, though.

on the plus side, it's all hardwood floors. they really make the apartment, i think.

it's very very bright. windows on three sides of the apartment, including south-southwest and south-southeast. i love the sun, so does blue.

i don't share any walls, ceilings or floors with anyone. i listen to the music i want, when i want, mostly at the volume that i want. i picked up some klipsch promedia thx 2.1s for the living room. they're loud enough for this space. no, they're not crazy reference monitors, but whatever. they work. they sound good, esp for what i paid.

i'm surrounded by really good restaurants. (jatbar, courtesy of some former hotmail people, btw!) i eat sushi, mediterranean, hawaiian, bbq, thai, malaysian, burritos, italian, etc. etc. etc. etc. it's hard to not love a downtown like this.

i've been treating this apartment like very temporary storage, more than a dwelling. i've still got stuff in boxes, in the livingroom. i've got old webvan tubs holding stuff that really should just be thrown out and plastic bins of rc stuff stacked around.

i decided to change that. started with a really cool clock (right) and new floor lamp (looks better in person). the clock flips hours and minutes over using far more complicated mechanics than i remember from the alarm clocks of my youth.

aeron is at the fedex depot, just waiting to be picked up. new desk and a restaurant rack for the livingroom and i'll feel a little more like i'm "home", i think.

pirates.
monkeys.
cold nights and warm blankets.
fans.
timepieces.
lighting and lighting stores.
chocolate.
clever and witty jokes.
clever and witty people.
elegant scripts.
coffee.
sunday.
old t-shirts.
new music.
mountains.
big monitors.
learning things.
greasy gyros.
beer.
skate shoes.
computers.

heard a band that i was pretty sure the dj referred to as "the moan", on a reasonably mainstream fm radio station, couple weeks ago. it immediately struck me as something i should be embarrassed to be so excited about. it sounded like a much more heavily produced version of "the donnas." female vox singing campy, trite and formulaic lyrics backed by driving guitars hitting stereotypical power chords; i'm sold.

google search for "the moan" hit a couple restaurants and some other mildly interesting links... but not this band. "da moan" (maybe they spell it dumb?) suggested the spelling "damone". damone.net, that's it! complete with a little streaming flash thing of the single i heard. looks like they have a forthcoming ep "out here all night" that, based on their bio, `rocks harder' than their first, "from the attic".

i pulled down some 192kbps mp3s of the first album and, while i should be embarassed to admit that i love it, i do. it's not artistically unique, talented (but not bad), and the production is a little heavy... but... i love it. i guess there's no accounting for taste.

the lyrics differ from the donnas' `we rock and you don't, so go away' and `i'm a horny teenage grrl' themes, but retain some of the jealous energy i guess i like:

who's that in your chevelle?
is she your girlfriend now?
does she know the hell that comes
and its automatic when your gone.
i feel the fall tonight.
deem me the one denied.
skies come too big too high,
from an understanding crowd to know.
feel bad vibe is coming.
feel bad vibe is coming.
i found the one you tell
keeps all your secrets held.

bonus points for the chorus containing a reference to a muscle car.

2005 was a good year for music discovery. i found bands that'd been around for awhile and i'd missed, albums from bands i knew, and new bands. i'm pretty sure that getting my personal life somewhat straightened out let me pay attention to music. music has always been a big part of my life, but there's a gap where i let myself get distracted with other "stuff".

i made a list of bands and albums that i completely flipped over, when i heard/found them. i couldn't bring myself to rank them, in any way. i'll post about each of the bands on my list, as i have time.

calexico
this was an amazon suggestion from early in 2005. i initially disregarded it, as i'd been disappointed in the amazon suggestions i'd previewed in the past. mid-summer, i decided to take a trip to the record store and ran back through a running list of 'music to check out' that i'd been keeping, amazon suggestions, and soul seek's recommendations. i listened to a couple tracks from 'feast of wire', their 2004 release and almost kicked myself for not buying it earlier. the name conjures images of tex/mex style country-folk. it's not. while the music is dominated by latin rythims and vocals flip-flop between english and spanish, the most infectious tracks let you forget that the band is from tuscon, az (with members from berlin, germany, btw). needless to say, i bought 'feast of wire' on that trip to rasputin. i've since picked up the black heart single, convict pool (2004), even my sure things fall through (2001), hot rail (2001), and scraping (2002). i also found a couple bootlegs on soul seek and some band sanctioned recordings on archive.org.

favorite tracks are 'crystal frontier' and 'black heart.' crystal frontier (off 'hot rail'), particularly performed live, is just flat amazing. the combo of electronics, horns, acoustic guitar and vox force me into involuntary head bouncing and foot tapping. black heart is reminiscent of portishead (really!) with smoking overblown organs and dark lyrics. black heart manages to use strings without manipulating the listener. also check out 'quattro' and 'praskovia' for a sense of the band's range.

i missed seeing them at the warfield with iron and wine a few months back. i'll definately be keeping an eye open for another local-ish show, though.

their album art is reminds me of the linoblock work on the kmfdm album covers done by a man named "brute!"

i said i wouldn't rank or pick a favorite, but the fact that i couldn't wait to spout about how wonderful calexico is? i think they're very near the top, if not the.