TOP 10 SONGS OF 2010

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MOST VIEWED POSTS OF 2010

1.) My High School Senior Project: The Myth
2.) PLAYLIST – Yelp Holiday Mixtape Banger
3.) “Everything Is Meaningless” / Joseph Campbell, Ants, and (since it’s me) Radiohead
4.) “In the Movies” / Giants win the World Series!
5.) La meglio gioventù – My favorite film that’s not Inception
6.) PERFORMER MAGAZINE – Interview with Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl)
7.) Chopin, Piazzolla, The Temper Trap / The most beautiful music in my life right now
8.) Merry Christmas!
9.) PERFORMER MAGAZINE – RECORD REVIEW: Mikie Lee Prasad, Jukebox Folktales: Volume Two
10.) ARTIST ADVICE – The First Gig – Setting your head for a proper performance

When I look into the future, I imagine life with faster computers and smarter phones. I see myself in an office, generally happy, and suppose I may or may not be married. If I happen to have kids, I wonder what they may look like; more like her or more like me? Or, perhaps, I grew them in a future petri dish kit I bought from future Walgreens for $15. Because, at this point in the future, we still don’t have flying cars but we finally do away with non-whole-number price tags.

Then I’m brought back to the present, laying down on the floor in my childhood home in Hawaii. Staring at photos from the 80s and realizing that everything I imagine upcoming is, at this moment, irrelevant. And I’m happy to be where I am now with family, the amazing friends I have (you, most likely) and no sea monkey brats that need caring for.

Merry Christmas!

Click image for more photos of Honolulu City Lights at Christmas

RECORD REVIEW: Mikie Lee Prasad
Jukebox Folktales: Volume Two
By: Keane Li

One of the hardest working musicians in the Bay Area, Mikie Lee Prasad has been performing his rollicking brand of energetic Americana in local pubs and clubs for well over a decade. His recent release, Jukebox Folktales: Volume Two, a sequel to 2009′s Volume One, features a number of the talented local musicians he’s worked with on past projects.
The album opens with the diabolical “Try Evil.” Mikie sings a story not uncommon for a bluesman – a meeting with the Devil in an otherwise common place (this time, a gas station), with the humor and gypsy-esque jive of Tom Waits. “Don’t Wake Up” and “Hammer,” ballads steeped in that classic swirling American sound, conjure images of summer evenings and family friends. The inclusion of Bongo, his dog, and Marie, his wife, on this record show that it is, indeed, a familial affair.

Jukebox Folktales: Volume Two is an exhibition in what experience, maturity, and witty songwriting can get you. From its happy highs to its somber depths, the variation on this well-balanced album creates an experience that can be tirelessly enjoyed. (Self-released)

(link to review…)

John Vanderslice | MySpace | Twitter

RECORD REVIEW: John Vanderslice
Green Grow the Rushes
By: Keane Li

Few musicians have given as much to the Bay Area indie scene as John Vanderslice. The former frontman of MK Ultra in the latter half of the ’90s, he has since broken off into a successful solo career. His renowned analog recording studio in San Francisco, Tiny Telephone, has recorded great acts, from Death Cab For Cutie to Deerhoof, and he has himself helped produce records for Spoon and The Mountain Goats. Green Grow the Rushes, his latest EP, continues his journey through American alt-rock.
The record features a cacophony of whimsical tones. “Thule Fog” sounds as if it were part circus and part kabuki. Vanderslice manages to fill his record with the strangest of voices, as if he had an orchestra of worldly instruments at his disposal. Even on the relatively straightforward “Lay Down,” he employs an underlying synth sound reminiscent of the ’80s. The result is adventurous, as much a treat for the mind as it is for the ears.

While Vanderslice’s songwriting is remarkable, the production and instrumentation on Green Grow the Rushes truly shine. His songs are articulate and organized without being derivative. It’s refreshing to hear an artist explore new frontiers of sound and succeed so well. (Self-released)

(link to review…)