Tom Sawyering the Corps.

-  Last night I made the mistake of beginning to watch the Lance Bangs Pavement documentary “Slow Century”.  A mistake because I should have known it would’ve been too fascinating to turn off, no matter how late the hours got.  If you’ve got the time, here it is:

-  Sage Francis has resurrected the Tumblr Hello There, Racists after an apparent shut down.  I think it’s outrageous to say it isn’t fair to publicly chastise these people, knowing full well that Twitter and Facebook are publicly viewed domains (they’re basically the 21st Century “public square”).  It also serves to remind us of some very important things, two of which: you’re not invisible on the Internet, and if you want to say outrageous shit you’d better damn well be posting anonymously (then again anyone with half a brain can trace an IP address), and yes… racism definitely still exists.  Some of this shit is just disgusting.

-  Very interesting article, that very well might go over your head a little (went over mine at least), on the nature of dark energy.  Is it static or dynamic in its existence.  If it’s dynamic… yeesh, the philosophical implications of such a thing are astronomical; a form of matter whose density and composition and structure changes as it shifts though space time??

While hypothesized dark energy can explain observations of the universe expanding at an accelerating rate, the specific properties of dark energy are still an enigma. Scientists think that dark energy could take one of two forms: a static cosmological constant that is homogenous over time and space, or a dynamical entity whose energy density changes in time and space. By examining data from a variety of experiments, scientists in a new study have developed a model that provides tantalizing hints that dark energy may be dynamic.

The results are still far from conclusive, but the scientists hope that future data might narrow down the models with greater accuracy. They hope that observations by the Planck spacecraft (launched in 2009; first data available in April 2013) and the Euclid spacecraft (launch date is 2019) could help pinpoint the dark energy models that most closely describe our expanding universe.

-  Great piece of street art (graffiti, if you prefer that term; I really could care less what it’s called) from GOIN, who I believe works out of the UK:

-Sonny

Let’s Go Eat the Secret (Nukes).

-  Two albums I’m excited to try out in the next few days:

Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat The Factory

I’m a big fan of GBV and this album’s been a long time coming.  It hasn’t gotten the best reviews by critics — 74 on Metacritic – but non-critics (“users”) seem to really enjoy it.  I tend to listen to both, but formulate my own opinion upon listening to the whole thing.  I’m not going to dismiss what someone says just because they’re not a “critic” (which isn’t true, everyone’s a critic), but I’m also not going to treat the critics’ opinions as the Bible of what I should be dabbling in sonically.  I’m liking the fact that most of the original members are on this, as oppose to Robert Pollard and a band of random musicians.  And the fact that the tone of the album is a step backwards from the more “professional” sounding GBV albums is intriguing.  I’m sure it won’t be my favorite Rock record of the past couple years or anything (or of this year), but I’m excited to give it a spin because it’s just getting harder and harder to find GBV’s brand of lo-fi, winding noise we’ve come to know.

DJ Spooky – The Secret Song

I stumbled onto this guy in a very strange way.  I was reading Sun Ra‘s bio on AllMusic (which is bizarre and fascinating) and I looked at his “followers” (essentially, who he influenced) on his overview page and there sat DJ Spooky.  Now, if you were to go Spooky’s AllMusic overview, you will see that he’s been influenced by a whole slew of artists as random as Sun Ra: Sonic Youth, Public Enemy, David Byrne, King Tubby, Grandmaster Flash, Aphex Twin, Afrika Bambaataa.  Anytime any artist has such a wide-ranging net of influences my interest is always piqued.  Plus, now that I’ve added turntables to the list of instruments I play I’m always on the lookout for talent in that sense, because it helps me learn and grow.  The Secret Song is Spooky’s most recent effort, from 2009, but I am interested in a bunch of his other stuff.  Notably, the album Optometry which features his production work and turntablism along side a grab bag of experimental/modern jazz players like Willy Parker.

I’ll be back with opinions next week sometime.

-  (Via Warren Ellis‘ site) Legacy of Nuclear Drilling Site In Colorado Still Lingers.

“In 1969, the government detonated a subterranean nuclear bomb to break loose natural gas deposits from tight sandstone formations more than 8,000 feet below ground on a Colorado mountain. The bomb was twice as powerful as the one that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

The scheme worked — to an extent. The gas was unlocked by the blast but was deemed too radioactive for commercial use.

Four decades later, energy companies are drilling near the nuclear site as they look to tap Colorado’s lucrative oil and gas reserves. Some local residents say they don’t trust the industry after what happened here and in the Gulf of Mexico during the oil spill. They’re fearful that accidents could pollute the air with radioactive gas if drilling gets much closer.”

-  Conrad’s First Novel and His ‘Personal Record’.

“… But not everyone was convinced about the accuracy of Conrad’s recollections. For many of his biographers Conrad’s attempt at an “accurate” autobiography proved a regrettable failure. What began as a “personal record” of his life turned out to be a document that misled those who were eager to penetrate its secrets. He misremembered the names of ships he sailed with and dates of significant events. Like Oscar Wilde, Conrad enjoyed bending facts and creating myths about himself. He even fabricated whole scenes in order to create a dramatic, vivid style which resembled that of his novels. “

-Sonny

Back On the Pavement.

I’m kind of an asshole.  I talk a whole ton of trash as Mr. Sonny Wilkins, sometimes I think I’m becoming the new voice of “no” (step aside all you _________s!!).  But OH MY some news I heard today sparked in me a special craving to once again write about things that I absolutely love.  PAVEMENT - the 90′s “alt” band who made “alt” music that was an actual alternative to the pop music most people, and radio stations, called “alt” at the time – is getting back together to play a at least one reunion show next year!!  There’s a bazzillion links out there, but THIS one explains it pretty simply.  One important part of the Pavement mythology is the fact that they never moved onto a major label throughout their somewhat successful careers.  And I’ll be damned if Wowee Zowee isn’t one of the best albums of the 90′s.

If you don’t know the band, or haven’t heard them in a while, here’s a taste (I was going to post an entire concert, but the MP3s have since been removed):

And here’s PAVEMENT on LastFM and Pandora Radio respectively.  “Half A Canyon” might bring you to your knees, listen with caution.  Have fun, true believers.

-Sonny