December 2011
1 post
Why I’m unhappy with my top ten list and why I’m... →
And with that as an inspiring title, what else could go wrong…
Slightly more seriously — so, for the first time in some years, I find myself slightly inclined to do something that I had half…
October 2011
3 posts
Mid-October AMG reviews →
Another big ol’ catchup here, admittedly…
VNV Nation — Automatic
Morkobot — Morbo
James Leyland Kirby — Eager to Tear Apart the Stars
Mountains — Air Museum
Bump — 2
Dillon —
Quick formal note on ILXor.com being down →
As apparently my blog is a go-to site for this based on past announcements — quickly paraphrasing what I’ve posted elsewhere via FB and Twitter:
There is a severe outage affecting ILX at the…
All it takes is one computer salesman to change... →
And it’s not who you’re thinking about.
In early 1987, my parents had said that as a 16th birthday gift they’d get me a personal computer. I had always shown a general interest in computers here or…
September 2011
1 post
Time for a MASSIVE AMG review catchup →
And I’ll make no bones about it, I’ve been very, very slack. So…
A Winged Victory for the Sullen — A Winged Victory for the Sullen Sóley — We Sink Her Space Holiday — Her Space…
August 2011
1 post
Gardening gardening gardening →
And yes it’s been being done but this was a full month and everything kept slipping my mind when it came to uploading clips! But here are the two most recent:
July 2011
4 posts
RIP Martin Skidmore →
And eight years ago seems too long now.
This is a passing that many of us knew was coming, not something sudden and unexpected. Martin knew most of all. With a directness, clarity and…
And the AMG reviews roll through July… →
A recentish batch:
Marsen Jules — Nostalgia
The Fruit Tree Foundation — First Edition
Twin Sister — Vampires with Dreaming Kids
Pictureplane — Thee Physical
Rubblebucket — Omega…
Back from a trip to Mendocino County… →
…and yes there are photos. My girlfriend’s family goes there every summer for a family trip and it was my first time along to see MacKerricher State Park, Ft. Bragg, Mendocino itself and…
Early July AMG reviews →
A little late but here we go:
Jackie-O Motherfucker — Earth Sound System
Atrium Animae — Dies Irae
The Phoenix Foundation — Buffalo
Herbcraft — Ashram to the Stars
The Deer Tracks —…
June 2011
4 posts
The garden on June 24, 2011 →
And boy oh boy did the squash take over:
Plus as ever some new photos:
Some mid-June AMG reviews →
More or less:
Horseback — The Gorgon Tongue
Ryan Garbes — Sweet Hassle
Mist — House
Forma — Forma
Agnes Obel — Philharmonics
Arnaud Rebotini — Someone Gave Me Religion
When…
What we’ve been doing these past few days →
…can be summed up this way:
The final step is when Sarina moves down in a few weeks with her stuff and we fully settle in (which is why I’m not showing all the rooms…
RIP Martin Rushent →
Some moments I can just perfectly remember, just perfectly. Here’s one for you:
It’s 1982, my family are moving out from Coronado, California on a cross country trip to upstate New York, where my…
May 2011
2 posts
AMG reviews for the end of May →
World’s End Girlfriend — Seven Idiots
Ear Pwr — Ear Pwr
Gypsyblood — Cold in the Guestway
Jeniferever — Silesia
Alessi’s Ark — Time Travel
Kid Congo Powers — Gorilla Rose …
RIP Clay Young, fellow KUCI DJ →
Time flies by far too quickly.
It’s been a grey, gloomy day here in SoCal, the remnants of a late winter storm only just now starting to clear up a bit, but even if it was brilliantly sunny I’d be…
April 2011
4 posts
Orzo salad with radish and fennel →
This was kinda nice to find, a good way to use a variety of different things I had around at once. Here’s the recipe — a great dish for the hotter days.
Sauteed radishes and chard with rice →
So I got this one via Farmer John’s Cookbook, a regular standby of mine — the recipe calls for arugula rather than chard, but I followed the recommendation to add a touch of mustard…
Some April AMG reviews are up →
And more on the way…
All Tiny Creatures — Harbors
Emanuele Errante — Time Elapsing Handheld
Com Truise — Cyanide Sisters
Makoto Kawabata — Samurai Blues
Dustin O’Halloran — …
The garden on March 29, 2011 →
Things are really starting to kick in — all that rain last week was perfect to help encourage things to start growing, and now the radishes are no longer alone:
March 2011
2 posts
Some end of March AMG reviews… →
Into spring we go with a mix of old and new:
Sister Crayon — Bellow
Deaf Center — Owl Splinters
Secret Cities — Strange Hearts
Roommate — Guilty Rainbow
Mike Gibbons — Marigolds
Dinosaur Bones —
Meantime, a slew of recent OC Weekly work →
Been busier than I realized there! Beat Blvd. work is continuing, including recent releases from Halle Ford, Her Voice Remains and the Wingard Manor.
Meantime, today my feature story on…
EMP Pop Conference 2011 — summary and full notes... →
Okay, so my plan for covering everything at EMP Pop Conference 2011 changed pretty rapidly from what I was expecting! After an early glitch with WordPress wiped out my notes from Ann Powers and…
February 2011
6 posts
EMP Pop Conference 2011 — weekend presentations →
So pretty much, just for ease and interaction, I’ll be firing off my coverage of EMP on Twitter. Lots of folks are doing the same so join us — #PopCon2011 is what to search for! A change but a…
EMP Pop Conference 2011 — Friday presentations →
Okay! It’s that time of year and for the first time ever it’s in LA — very handy, I must say. Feel free to review the official site of the conference to see what’s happening, while #PopCon2011…
AMG reviews for mid-February →
And another batch here. (Really, really love that Luyas album, BTW.)
Epstein — Sealess Sea
Cocoon — Where the Oceans End
Sun Araw — Beach Head
Tim Hecker — Ravedeath, 1972
Scott…
And the AMG reviews roll along into February →
Another week, another batch…
Michael Chapman — Trainsongs
Breathe Owl Breathe — Magic Central
Brother JT — Off Blue
Aethenor — En Form for Blå
Mark Fell — UL8
Shedding — …
A quick catch-up note →
It’s been a while since a post and for a good reason — there’s not much inclination to write anything when you’ve been sick. The slow grinding bug that’s been going around hit me last week and…
White bean fennel soup →
Made this up last week and have been dipping into batches since. Great stuff, and as I love fennel I couldn’t ask for more. The recipe came from one of my CSA mailouts:
• 1 large onion,…
January 2011
6 posts
Savory greens stir fry →
Such is the name of the recipe — it’s a fairly basic enough stir fry on the one hand but on the other it’s a nice way to use a lot of different things in tasty fashion. Recipe from my CSA…
Roquefort pear salad →
So this was a fun recipe to try — prepared for a monthly get-together with friends; I seem to have become the ‘salad guy’ of late but I don’t mind at all, as this almost always gives me a…
Honey roasted potatoes →
Roasting potatoes is an easy and common enough thing but the honey glaze suggested in the recipe following, which I received from my latest CSA mailout from who knows what source, was a very…
RIP Mick Karn →
I’m turning over more to say about Karn’s passing — and entrancing, distinctive technique on his chosen instruments, most famously the fretless bass style that was so identified with him that…
Easy seaweed soup →
You can’t go wrong with a name like that — and indeed, this was very easy, and quite lovely.
I found the recipe while wondering what to do with a small amount of fresh vegetable broth I’d…
December 2010
6 posts
Yet more mid-December AMG reviews! →
And why not?
Heavy Winged — Sunspotted
The Phantom Band — The Wants
Lonnie Walker — These Times Old Times
h.o.s.h. — Connecting the Dots
Pigeons — Liasons
Aidan Baker — I…
Mid-December AMG reviews →
Including a Christmas album, but of course…
Sean Smith — Christmas
Fern Knight — Castings
Sunset — Loveshines But the Moon is Shining To
Audra — Everything Changes
Harmonious Bec —…
Some days it’s all about the random things people... →
Like this over on ILX:
Tip of the hat to joygoat over there. Anyway I’d like to thank Cyberdyne for the initial assistance…
The garden on November 26, 2010 →
No photos but some video! The big cleanup and prep for winter planting was done so there’s actually not much to see — but it does look ready to go now!
Some end of November photos →
Just a few shots here and there of what turned out to be a blissful few days celebrating Thanksgiving — and time off!
Tuscan Swiss chard and bread soup →
A little overexposed but you get the idea! Used some homemade beet stock for the base and the rest you can find via this recipe I stumbled across. Using the bread in this fashion was damn…
November 2010
17 posts
Persimmon chutney →
Sorry about the rough looking photo here, I had prepared this for a dinner party with friends but forgot to take a photo of it in the kitchen so I had to do a quick snap via iPhone in low…
Eggplant and green beans in spicy garlic sauce →
So having made a huge batch of vegetable stock the other day I was figuring out recipes to use it for — and as it happened I also wanted to use up both eggplant and green beans I had around,…
Some more mid-November AMG reviews →
Onward and along:
MJ Hibbett and the Validators — Forest Moon of Enderby
Imandra Lake — Seesamseesam
Munly and the Lupercalians — Petr and the Wulf
Bachelorette — Isolation Loops …
Not Just the Ticket will be on a slower pace for a... →
Nothing major, it’s just that the time of year — and the time of the quarter! — means other commitments, in this case also including some further writing work for the OC Weekly and elsewhere. I’ll…
Roasted broccoli with lemon →
So this was a simple and handy lunch, building on a suggestion with my latest basket mailout. There’s not really much to this recipe, which is part of the point! Basically chop up some…
Enjoying a Saturday — especially sunset →
Nothing major here but yesterday was a great little trip up to LA and back, resulting in:
* A lovely morning in Anaheim:
* An excellent brunch at the Mercantile on Sunset with friends (I…
Marinated winter squash →
In this case butternut squash, which along with some basil was at the tail end of the previous basket. The recipe I used comes from the Lidia’s Italy site — the marinade was very tasty if…
Not Just the Ticket — #78, NOFX, December 10, 1993 →
Then-current album: none, as Punk in Drublic wasn’t released for well over another half-year from this point.
Opening acts: The Muffs, Wax, DI and at least one other one…
Back of ticket…
Garlicky roasted beets, leeks and eggplant →
This was actually from the other night — a good light dinner, very delicious! I was looking for some way to use these very three ingredients from the CSA basket and thanks to Sarah’s Cucina…
Some more November AMG reviews… →
Continuing along!
Voltaire — Spooky Songs for Creepy Kids
William Ryan Fritch — Library Catalog Music Series, Vol. 7: Music for Honey and Bile
I’m Not a Gun — Solace
Daniel Carlson —