gotta get this in january ::::

how did dinner become so late? with friends Deborah and Reuel. Reuel is from the Philippines. and how cool it was to meet him and share wine & conversation. he is Deborah's new boyfriend and he is in a metal band, but we talked about Van der Graaf Generator.

outside. outside, and the night has begun. waiting for a way home in the Mile End. and to be surrounded by smiling & flirtatious faces. a staple of this fluid town. something i have come to enjoy very much. the gesture of a gaze. standing in the cold and waiting and listening to the new Warp Records 20 series ... and you are still waiting. smiling, silently through faces; you could easily be inside a cab within moments, with complete strangers, to a new destination, but you simply figure on getting home. you check out the dome of the basilica while listening to Chosen, and hearing LFO makes you privately happy crazy. and the dome kinda looks like a big butter dish against the sky. no lie. and LFO, LFO.

the kinda night where you unexpectedly hear Superchunk, and suddenly you are 19 again: Deborah puts on 'No Pocky For Kitty' and you remember second-hand corduroy pants purchased with your handsome boyfriend and time-travel starts colliding with the present. and then Yo La Tengo and 'Autumn Sweater'. i always liked that song. especially.

time goes fast.

and yet it all remains rather simple and honest. and really, these Warp comps should remind us all of something incredibly GREAT. and of our time.

one year ::

spent the afternoon walking up and around the mountain. it affords some very nice views and perspective.

made a short film within the woods. stark trees and yellow leaves making a carpet on the ground.

music, so much

can't get enough of this album. i was turned onto Eddy Current Suppression Ring by Guy of Cheap Thrills (a great record & book store here in Montreal) a couple of months ago. then this one showed up ... 'precious rose' and 'turn your page'
"and over - and over - and over - again ..."

as part of the Pop Montreal Festival, i decided to check out Faust again. nicely staying clear of nostalgia-hour, and featuring new blood (which is funny as the two latest members appear to be early to mid-40s), the band were unexpectedly relevant and contemporary-sounding. i was surprised to learn that this was Faust's first time in Montreal ever. it was a little disappointing the show was held at a seated venue though ... that was just kinda weird. and there was something about Alien8's new signing Black Feelings (who opened) too ... i'm not sure what exactly, but amidst all those influences running, something worthwhile is happening inside there, and possibly in a big way.

Om played La Sala Rossa the other saturday night. Lichens opened up, and perhaps it was partly due to Oliver and i entering again while Lichens was already immersed in playing, but we both fell for his performance hard. very cool. Om did what they do well, and the lock groove does start to take your mind and body elsewhere.

Broadcast is playing with Atlas Sound tonight. i think i am past excitement ... i picked up a bottle of red wine earlier today.

but can i finish thinking about Jane Birkin? she came in August as part of the Les FrancoFolies de Montreal Festival and her performance was so inspired. i was completely engaged by her simple presence; that being one of experience, grace, and flourish. and somehow she is 62, though you wouldn't necessarily sense such with her sprightly, always-smiling way.

she focused primarily on Gainsbourg material, which really remains the bulk of her recording career. about 2/3 way through her set, she began 'Yesterday' to which she started to walk the aisles of the Maisonneuve Theatre completely dark and lit only with a branched umbrella of tiny lights. she proceeded to give every balcony a visit - the audience was completely mush after this point, culminating with two standing ovations resulting in Birkin beginning to tear up upon the raising of the theatre lights.

so good to remember that night.

but another whisper for how happy i feel being here, in Montreal.
things are good.

[ impressions ]

Sometimes, beside human heads, I sent for objects, trees or animals. Because I am not yet sure of the limits which the body of me, human, can finally reach. Anyways, I have definitely broken with art, with style, and with talent in all the drawings you will see here. I mean, woe to he who considers them as works of art, as works of simulation and the aesthetic of reality. None of them is, properly speaking, a work; all are sketches. I mean, they are probes, thrusts, into every channel of hazard, of possibility, of chance or destiny.

- Antonin Artaud