SOLAH - "DIVOT"


Here's a sneak preview of the Solah full-length coming out in '08, the first track, "Divot". I feel it's quite an evolution from the Darkcar EP; hopefully it's our ticket to a sweet record deal with Southern Lord! :)

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MEGAUPLOAD DOWNLOAD LINK

Enjoy!

EDIT: Just noticed that when you load the song into iTunes, the artist/album info come out wrong (it took my MacBook user settings). It should be "Solah" and "Upcoming Solah LP" respectively. Sorry, no name for the full length yet!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM SPITTING OUT TEETH!

And, of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without a greeting from The Duke and The Buk---



Have a great holiday season everyone--may it be filled with health, happiness & love.

KITTIES!

Jaime showed me these videos last night and they were just too damn cute (1st one) or funny (2nd one) not to post.

Talking Kitties:

Talking Kitties - Translated:

SPITTING OUT TEETH COMPUTER GEEK TIP O' THE WEEK


I woke up this morning and, as is my usual routine, I turned on the ol' trusty Power Mac G4 tower and went online. I tried to type a search into Google and it came out looking like this--

tannermccuinsexgodnudepics

Ok, so maybe that wasn't really what I was searching for (or was it....) but note the lack of spaces. I was still using the same keyboard that came with my G4 in 2002, so i figured that it must have finally died.

I went to Small Dog and picked up one of the fancy new Apple keyboards (the ultra-flat, MacBook style ones) and brought it home. I plugged it into the G4 and tried another Google search--

jbledouxasslesschapshighresolution

Dammit! What the hell is going on here? I unplugged the keyboard and tried it on my MacBook--works fine. Restarted the G4, tried again....nothing. I did a Google search and found one temporary workaround--Shift + the space key worked. But that was a major pain in the ass and obviously not a permanent solution.

I desperately tried a variety of Google searches until I happened across this promising sounding one--

"A few weeks ago space bar on keyboard stopped working unless I use shift key. Tried new keyboard same problem."

Now we're getting somewhere--someone with the same problem! After a bunch of useless comments, the final suggestion on the page was the winner--

"Open the Speech pane of System Preferences and check whether either the speech key or the listening key has become set to that keystroke; if so, change the setting."

Sure enough, as soon as I opened up Speech (which I never use), the space bar was indeed selected as the listening key. I changed it to F19 (god knows I'll never use that one for anything else) and tried another search--

Casey Rea-Hunter .jpg banana hammock

Success! Just thought I'd pass this one along just in case any of you Mac users ever run into the same issue.

I'M NOT THERE....AT ALL


So I finally saw Todd Haynes Dylan meta-biopic "I'm Not There" tonight and, to quote Dylan scholar Greil Marcus' review of the "Self Portrait" album, "What is this shit?" While I dig the concept of having multiple actors playing a single character, it just doesn't work here. Ok, so no one is called Bob Dylan, but they're all doing bad impersonations? And the references are either way too esoteric to be comprehensible to a non-Dylan fanatic, or just too out of context to appeal to a true Dylan aficionado . To top it all off, the badly acted fake interviews and phony album covers made it seem like a "Bob Roberts" that takes itself to seriously.

Maybe it was a metaphorical allusion to Dylan's elusiveness, the odd blending of fact and fiction, but if so it just makes out Dylan to be an illogical schizophrenic, not an extremely talented artist who (despite his aloofness and trickery with the press) was really not all that hard to "get". Haynes instead prefers to to further the myth of the enigmatic shape-shifter, but inserts too much fact & "Dylan-the-man" moments (marriage, divorce, etc.) to make this a purely fictional film. Instead, it's a mess of ideas resulting from what were probably misguided conceptions on the part of a filmmaker who obviously doesn't understand his subject.

I had high hopes for this film, and I was initially intrigued by Haynes meta-bio concept, but he blew it. I have a high threshold for pretentious, contrived art-house fare, but even I have my limits. While I have to give Haynes credit for absolutely nailing the look of "Don't Look Back" (and even Fellini's "8 1/2"), clever aesthetics alone can't carry this bloated dead manatee of project.

So, between this piece of trash & Anton Corbijn's disappointing Ian Curtis film "Control", my most awaited music biopics of the year turned out to be flops. Guess I'll be sticking to the rock documentaries from now on.

SPITTING OUT TEETH OBLIGATORY BI-MONTHLY LIVEJOURNAL-ESQUE POST

As many of you may have noticed, I've been pretty half-assed with the posts on here lately. A YouTube video here, a link there...pretty shameful stuff. The easy answer would be to say that it's the end of the year, I posted my "Best of 2007" list early (a bit too early maybe) and that because of the upcoming holidays, there really isn't much news to report. The honest answer, however, is that I've been completely lazy and unmotivated.

Ok, that isn't completely true. Here's what I've been up to lately:

• Going to work everyday at my increasingly irritating day job
  
• Working on getting my own post-metal/dark ambient radio show on WOMM 105.9 The Radiator
• Watching every Fassbinder movie I can get my hands on (read: Netflix or download)
• Drinking copious amounts of red wine (I have some great recommendations for the next wine reviews post)
• Putting myself even further into massive credit card debt buying holiday gifts for my loved ones.

Seems fairly productive. But here's what I haven't been doing:

• Updating this damned blog
• Working on the Solah LP and/or The LeDuo EP
• Editing my cousin's wedding video
• Leaving the house and spending time with my friends

I don't know if I'm in an early winter depression or what, but I've been a big fat sack of worthless for a couple weeks now. I'm hoping that my upcoming 17 day (!!!) break from work will help remedy all of the aforementioned issues. In fact, as a further motivator, if I don't have at least one new Solah track posted on this site by January 7th, I give you full right to spit on me when you see me in public. Not just a lame dry lipped spit or one of those snake-like spits with the glands under your tongue (what is that called? in school I think we referred to it as "yanging"). I'm talking full-out, throat-clearing loogie. Right in my face.

So, yeah, that's it. If anyone else has an early-winter rant, feel free to post a comment below.

SUNN O))) & BORIS - "The Sinking Belle" (Live @ London Forum)

CINDY & BERT - DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE



Ozzy is rolling over in his grave. Oh wait....

EARLY CHRISTMAS DAY


Yes it finally arrived--my Radiohead "In Rainbows" discbox. Just finished listening to the full album on 45rpm 180g vinyl and it was like hearing it again for the first time. Absolutely stunning and worth every overpriced penny.

I also got my first real Christmas present of the year today! Tanner got me the Criterion Collection special edition of Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries", one of my favorite films of all time. Only goes to show that as incredible as Tanner is as a blogger, designer, puppy dad & sex machine, he's an even better friend--thanks again man!

I was going to take a picture of me with my gift, but sadly realized that no matter how clever my photographic treatment, it could only pale in comparison to Tanner's reaction spread to the Schubert CD I got him last year. So you'll just have to use your imagination about my degree of excitement. Let's just say the DVD case is already sticky and smells vaguely of bleach.

HIGHER GROUND -- NICE START TO '08


First Rob Zombie, now the announcement that Neko Case and The Mars Volta will be playing shows at the premiere local venue for music. Keep it up Higher Ground!

THANK YOU KRIYA!



Tonight's experimental music show at Kriya was a huge success. Special thanks to Greg Davis and Toby Aronson for organizing the event & for inviting me to play with them. Thank you also to Duane Pitre for treating us to one of of the best performances of the year.

As many of you know, tonight's show was the last ever at Kriya Studio. Julia & Ian are pursuing new endeavors after a year of service running the Burlington area's premiere venue for experimental music and cinema. The closing of Kriya is a huge loss for the Burlington avant-garde art scene, but we all have been blessed with some great memories from great shows, some of which have been captured on photographs and video.

Here is where you come in--Julia would like to compile images from past Kriya performances in the hope of compiling them into a documentary about the studio. So if you have any digital photos or video tape that you would like to share, please contact me at spittingoutteeth@gmail.com and I can get the materials off to Julia.

Thanks again to all of tonight's performers for a wonderful night of music & a big thanks to Kriya for their huge contribution to the local art community!

REMINDER -- EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC SHOW @ KRIYA TONIGHT!

Tonight. 7:30. Kriya. Duane Pitre. Christian Wolff. James Tenney. Greg Davis. Hell, even me.

Be there or be somewhere else that isn't even a fraction as sonically enlightening.

BAZANTAR

Check out this amazing drone bass called the Bazantar. Get me one, Santa!

SPITTING OUT TEETH'S WINE PICK OF THE SEASON - MONASTRELL

It's winter time again, so I'm putting aside the 6-packs (who am I kidding...12-packs) and reaching for the wine rack these days. While 2004 was all about Oregon Pinot Noirs, 2005 Garnachas & Malbecs and 2006 was Owen Roe Rhone blends, 2007 is all about the Monastrell for yours truly.

A Spanish pseudonym for the French Mourvedre, this year's crop of Monastrell is amazingly complex and fruity, ready to drink now & probably amazing in a couple years time. And since they are only just being discovered, you can get a really good bottle on the cheap--anywhere from $7-$12.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Vinos Sin Ley's "G Series"

Vinos Sin Ley has produced five grades of Monastrell this year, from the economy G1 (at $7.99, still an amazing bottle of wine) up to the G5 premium ($12.99). I have only been able to find G1-G3, and the latter was one of my favorite bottles of the year. Look for them at Healthy Living Market.

Castano

I had this one the other night while having dinner at my friend Travis' house. A great Monastrell, easily on par with the G3. Paired with venison tenderloins in a pecan rub with hand-cut sweet potato fries, it was like angels were having sex in mouth. Yes, that's a good thing.

Barahonda

A bit more acidic and tannin-heavy straight out of the bottle, I suggest decanting and letting it breathe for at least an hour. The wait is well worth it--bold fruits, with a nice berry aftertaste.

Trust me--stock up these now. It's only a matter of months before there's a glowing review in USA Today (or a pretentious movie staring Paul Giamatti) and the market gets flooded with overpriced, poor quality Monastrell and the good bottles go for $20+ plus.