CITY CENTER

Re: Direct

2011-11-22T05:52:00.001-05:00

It's about 6AM and I can't sleep, thought this would be a good time to mention that I haven't really been writing on this blog for a few reasons.
1.) Somehow it gets commented on by fake essay writers/resume helpers every five seconds, kinda makes it a drag.
2.) I've been playing shows, working, thinking, etc all the time.
3.) Haven't lived in New York for a long long time and can't change the address from citycenternyc. Feel like a poseur.
4.) In the last few years, though constantly excited about City Center, I've gotten involved with an incredible amount of other projects, sounds, bands, ideas and stuff that doesn't quite fit under the blanket that this blog has become. I'm writing over here at this new blog about any music I'm making or helping anyone else make, records or events I think are important, everything, etc. It doesn't really matter much I guess, it's just another name for the same bunch of feelings that will be happening forever. I'm keeping this blog and all the songs/photos/etc up, but this will be the last post I do. Thanks for reading and good luck on that custom essay!

Everything Is Pretty Much Totally Forecasted

2011-07-27T04:21:00.002-04:00

The folks at Polyvinyl records have had my back in this rap game (huh?) since 2002. Working with PV was my first foray into understanding how independent record labels and the whole music scene in general can work. We've worked together on a bunch of projects and recently they've done up a really nice page on their site dedicated to all my noise, of which there is a ton! It's a really sweet mini-archive, and they've got digital and physical media for sale of a bunch of stuff that I don't even have copies of anymore, as well as some sale stuff, etc. You can check it all out right here.

2011-07-26T01:44:00.001-04:00

My Dog Loves BBQ

2011-07-22T20:09:00.000-04:00

You have probably heard "After Laughter Comes Tears", a sick and oft-sampled Northern Soul joint from 1964 by Memphis house-shaker Wendy Rene. She's one of those artists who has an approach and vibe of almost reggae-like consistency. Meaning so many of her jams have the same feel and almost sound alike (dour, woeful and tormented someone-done-me-wrong soul laments) but you can still listen all day. Then some others are just fun and nuts (see "Bar B Q", below)... I assembled this best of today from a bunch of other online 45 rips, comp tracks, etc. Hope you dig it!

"MY DOG LOVES BBQ", The Absolute Best of Wendy Rene
1.Bar B-Q
2.What Will Tomorrow Bring
3.After Laughter Comes Tears
4.I Wish I Were That Girl
5.Give You What I Got
6.Can't Stay Away
7.Crying All By Myself
8.He Hasn't Failed Me Yet
9.Last Love
10.Love At First Sight
11.Young & Foolish
12.The Same Guy

Before and After The Goldrush

2011-07-21T18:03:00.003-04:00

This post right here tells the whole story and gives a place/zone to the photo above, which turned into the cover of one of the first records I listened to as a kid, and love so much to this day. I'm really into having a better sense of the surroundings outside of the iconography, the bigger picture that's always there. Also was pretty stoked to learn that this photo was taken right around my old hood when I was working in Manhattan.

Powdered Animal Gabble

2011-07-18T20:18:00.001-04:00

Just put out a tape for my friend Adam's band Mother Whale, and I've been working on a new collection of City Center stuff for his label. It's coming together, probably will be done by September. Here's a song I did yesterday for it, sneak preview style.

City Center "Powdered Animal Wig"
Someday I'll be as bored with my problems as my potential
Someday soon I'll feel the pull of all those past diplomas staring holes through me
Someday soon I'll fade into a broken place like you've been telling me
Someday we will run it all out
Oh primitive feelings, are you reading me?

Swimsuit LP is HERE!

2011-07-14T06:01:00.000-04:00

I am beside myself with joy to report that the debut LP from Swimsuit, the band of myself, Dina, Amber & Shelley is here! A self-titled full-length out on Speakertree Records from Virginia includes ten songs recorded by the band with help from Ryan. This set of songs kinda represents our first, brightest creations, and comes off like a sweet, sunblinded capsule of memory or haze, depending on the moment. Surfy guitar and washy reverb pops, but also some clouds and dark powerlines buried underground. There are 500 copies of the LP with a free download, and you can listen to the whole thing at our bandcamp over here. Order your copy directly from the label here while possible.

Sand & Roses

2011-07-13T17:03:00.000-04:00

For the Swimsuit/Secret Twins/City Center tour earlier this spring, all four members of Swimsuit made solo recordings for a three-cassette box set. My solo thing was, of course City Center, even though Ryan showed up on a couple of the tracks anyway. We made 50 copies and sold them all on tour. Here's a download for the CC tracks, though the rest of the box is really where it's at. The sides by Skinny Wrists, Avery Feral and Shelley just under her own name are all worthy of gatefold high-gloss vinyl release. For now, here's 5 songs, including one about Amber's dog Kuma, who actually inspired some of her solo tape jams as well!!!

City Center "Box Of Sand" tape side
1.Timelife 2.Channie 3.Grayson 4.In The Water 5.Sugar Cookie
Total time: 24min 38sec
Swimsuit jamming with me on drums and Shell on guitar, Kent Ohio, May 2011.

Plain Plane

2011-07-12T17:48:00.000-04:00

I was working on this beat on the flight from Chicago to Portland since Ryan gave me a way more portabe Pro-Tools set up. It sounds insane and unfocused, but you know, the altitude makes things kinda bubbly and strange. There's also a lot of natural sidechain compression at 30,000 feet!

City Center "Plane Beat"

Psychedellic, Venus In, Anti, Fake, Etc.

2011-06-21T20:09:00.000-04:00

City Center "Fur"
Sweet disgust, is it hot enough? You're wearing fur in August
Oh but you, you really don't mind
Scan your heart for the darkest part. Send a letter to the congregation. You, you really don't mind
Backwards mask, get your autograph and your suicide pact
You, you really don't mind
Where's the rest of the trouble-makers now?
Wearing fur in August, they say "We really don't mind."

Everything Upturned

2011-06-16T20:06:00.000-04:00

For those unaware, or anyone who wondered, Ryan is back in school working on pre-med and someday soon will be a doctor, fixing up the bones and noses of all the hurt children and child-like humans. This is miraculous in almost every way, except the way where it doesn't leave a lot of time to dick around on music with me. The past two years of delay and bit-crushing have been stellar, and right in time for our master collaboration, Redeemer to finally find it's way into the world, the union changes into something new, different and now (again).

Above is a complete video of what will most likely be our last set together for some time. It was the kick-off show of the tour Swimsuit, City Center & Secret Twins recently came home from. The next day on for the rest of the month City Center was just me (again) and different every night. End of an era blues, for sure. Big thanks to Scott Davidson over on Leroy Street for the video.

Forward ever, backward never.

Set list: Thaw / Teardrop Children / In the Water / Cookies / After Hours / Modern Love

Smiley Smile

2011-05-31T12:49:00.002-04:00

JUMP UP

2011-05-06T03:10:00.001-04:00

City Center, Swimsuit (pictured above) & Secret Twins >>> May Jump Up. No coast/West Coast (in Heaven there are no coasts) Tour. STARTS TONIGHT!!! Sick ridiculous tour and and and so many tour-only releases. Dates below, deets below that.

May 6 Ypsilanti Michigan - Woodruffs Tour Kickoff w/ In Tall Buildings
May 7 Kent, Ohio - Europe Gyro
May 8 Charlottesville, Virgnia - Al Haamra w/ Borrowed Beams of Light
May 9 Lexington, Kentucky - Al's Bar w/ Idiot Glee
May 10 Bloomington, Indiana - Micah's House 1222 w. Kirkwood Ave w/ Sleeping Bag
May 11 Lawrence, Kansas - Replay Lounge w/ Wheels on Fire and Rooftop Vigilantes (just Swimsuit)
May 12 Manhatten, Kansas - Ghost Parlor w/ Vehicle Blues
May 13 Boulder, Colorado - Astroland
May 14 Alburquerque, New Mexico - Dad's House w/ Story Ark
May 15 Phoenix, Arizona - Sound Kontrol (2450 E Chambers St suite 6) w/ Dogbreth & Filardo
May 16 Los Angeles, California - The Smell w/ Tinylittle
May 17 Los Angeles, California - Takeoff (15100 Keswick Avenue VanNuys,CA)
May 18 Sacramento, California - The Hub w/ Wet Hair & Rene Hell
May 19 San Fransisco, California - Milk Bar
May 20 Eugene, Oregon - Wandering Goat
May 21 Portland, Oregon - 6326 SE 66th Ave
May 22 Seattle, Washington - The Bread Factory w/ Iji, Calvin Johnson/Hive Dwellers
May 23 Olympia, Washington - The Northern w/Calvin Johnson/Hive Dwellers
May 24 Missoula, Montana - The ZACC (235 North 1st Street West) w / Keys Knees, Bryan Ramirez
May 25 (day off)
May 26 Omaha, Nebraska - TBA
May 27 Iowa City, Iowa - TBA
May 28 Chicago, Illinois - Ball Hall w/ Distractions, Street Rash
May 29 Detroit, Michigan - PJ's Lager House with some homies

Tour only merchandise: City Center "Highwire Days" tape (only 50 made, Ryan-heavy unrealized jams with paper catastrophe covers), Swimsuit "Life Style" tape (50, crazy live recording in classic Joy Division-everything's broken style), BOX OF SAND 3-tape box... (strictly limited to 50, one tape of Swimsuit's new album, two split tapes with a side each of solo material from each member!), Swimsuit SURFIN' RAT t-shirts... also gonna have Redeemer on LP and CD, a few of the Swimsuit 45s, a couple of the remaining Grouper/City Center splits and some beautiful and amazing tour posters made by Michelle Flemming and delivered surprise style!!!!!!!!!!! Please come to one of the gigs and support your homies, one tape = one gallon of gas!!!! WHAT THE HELL????!!!! SEE YOU SOON!!!

FF

2011-04-15T15:07:00.002-04:00

"Redeemer", the second proper full-length from me & Ryan's band City Center is finally here. We started working on it in November of 2009 and we've been playing these songs since we started jamming together as a duo band in late 2008. Our friend Chris Koltay recorded it at his High Bias studio in Detroit and we did some extra tracking at home. "Labor of Love" doesn't even come close to describing how much care and effort we all put into making this record what we wanted it to be, and we're so incredibly excited to share it with the world.

The record is released by our friends at the amazing K Records. It has an official release date of May 10th, but you can pre-order it over at K (click here). We are temporarily out of copies for sale, but there should be more soon.

Thanks to everyone ever anywhere for your known or unknown support. Nothing would be the same without it.

BCS

2011-04-15T14:49:00.000-04:00

Back from Mighty Clouds Euro Bloom tour, fully bloomed and feeling no doom, no tomb, no gloom and less tired than I imagined I would. Here's some selections of photographic remembrance, but no captions to speak of... I mostly looked out the window at trees and fog and thought about the future. It was amazing! AND NOW IT'S HERE! All told, it was what we call a BCS, or a Best Case Scenario.

Here's a recording of a show we did in Bremen, on a real mellow Tuesday night. Not a lot of people came out, but it was somehow one of the better feeling gigs of the tour:
Mighty Clouds
March 29, 2011 Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus Bremen, Germany
1.Mighty Cloud
2.Skeletons Join Hands
3.Spell It Out
4.Past Lives
5.Winter Wonder Land
6.Fierce Love
7.New Life
8.Miracle
9.Certain People I Know
10.I'll Be Your Mirror
11.I Could Have Told You Your Name Then
12.Since You Stole My Heart
13.Wavelength

When I came home, there was a box of Redeemers on the doorstep! Next post will be all about that.

T
O
K
E
D

2011-04-03T07:53:00.003-04:00

2011-04-02T10:59:00.000-04:00

In Bloom

2011-03-29T18:30:00.000-04:00

Writing from Bremen, Germany where we played a very sparsely-attended but still highly sweet gig just hours ago. This tour has been blurring by, and I'd like to do a proper recap, but I'm somewhat brain-boggled, so I approach the blog and slowly start to wobble. There have been a few highlights, but the finer points will have to wait. For now...

We played our first show in Offenbach with Wild Moccasins from Houston, TX. They ruled a ton and were incredibly nice people. I hope our paths cross again soon!

Another gig in Chemnitz Germany (with another killer band called 206, some kinda heavy Alternative TV/Swell Maps-meets post-grundge vibes) and then off to Poland for the first time in my small life. It was another world. Bombed out, gorgeous tree-lines and endlessly speeding cars into an unknown future. We met some locals after the show and they bought Betty and Viktor shots made of vodka, cranberry juice and Tobasco that looked like a parfait-alcohol approximation of the Polish flag.

A totally killer Monday night show in Hamburg last night, and off to Copenhagen tomorrow. More moments when I get a moment. I miss all my friends and loved ones and I hope everyone is feeling amazing until I see you next!!

Sometimes I Rhyme Slow/Suddenly I See

2011-03-21T03:42:00.002-04:00

In Stockholm, rehearsing for Mighty Clouds tour. Here I am having a nervous breakdown when I broke a guitar string, and hiding under my coat. JUST KIDDING!!! This is a picture taken seconds after I set foot on Swedish soil, following 14 hours of travel where I couldn't quite fall asleep. The lag is getting it's ass kicked today, however, as I already woke up at around 5 am and now (almost 9am) am getting ready to chug as much of the Swedish equivalent of Mountain Dew/Moon Mist/Etc as possible. In the silent space of 5am trying not to wake anyone up but wide awake myself, I listened to "Straight Outta Compton" on headphones. When Silk Flowers were in Detroit just a few days ago, Ethan asked me: "NWA or the Misfits?" Good question, and a hard call!! I said NWA right away because I could listen to them almost anytime, and Misfits have too much of a cartoony undercurrent to be anything other than phase-related... BUT Hold up--- NWA is so ridiculously cartoony! They might be the same band. What is the concensus? NWA or the Misfits??

Mighty Clouds Springtime Euro Bloom Tour:
March

Thu 24 Offenbach Germany, Hafen 2 w/ Wild Moccasins
Fri 25 ~~Görlitz~~ ~~Germany, tba~~ Berlin Germany, tba
Sat 26 Chemnitz Germany, AJZ
Sun 27 Poznan Poland, Meskalina
Mon 28 Hamburg Germany, Astra Stube
Tue 29 Bremen Germany, Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus
Wed 30 Copenhagen Denmark, KB18 Kødboderne
Thu 31 Gothenburg Sweden, Jazzhuset

April
Fri 1 Malmö Sweden, Debaser
Sat 2 Stockholm Sweden, Strand
Mon 4 Helsinki Finland, Bar Loose
Tue 5 Tampere Finland, Telakka
Wed 6 Turku Finland, Dynamo
Fri 8 Erfurt Germany, Franz Mehlhose
Sat 9 Darmstadt Germany, Oettinger Villa

Mixing Zombies

2011-03-19T02:33:00.000-04:00

It's 2:26AM on Friday night, and it's the sixth or seventh day that me, Amber and Shelley have stayed up super endless late working on mixing the Swimsuit record. They say it takes about an hour for every minute of music you hear on a record, or maybe it's ten hours, or maybe it's an hour per second? This record is gonna be really really good. We'll hopefully have copies for tour in May.

I leave tomorrow afternoon for Mighty Clouds euro tour. I'll post up the dates in the next two days everywhere I can. Haven't been to Europe since well... back when. I'm excited and deliriously tired already! Jumping.

I Want To Be All Of These Things At The Same Time

2011-03-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

CITY CENTER "COOKIES" from Peter J Brant on Vimeo.

New York Eye & Ear Control

2011-02-10T14:20:00.000-05:00

I'm in NYC for a bit, feeling the winter and working on new sounds. The new issue of Artforum has a big piece on cassette culture and it's present relevance to the art world, etc. I did an extensive interview for the article, but in the end, my quotes got edited out completely. Oh well! Life Like gets a nod as one of the tape labels currently doing their thing, as does 905 Tapes, Tapeworm and others. It's a pretty good article, worth checking out.

While it's nice to be out in the world, and remember the different dimensions of the big city, I'm missing being in Ypsilanti right now.

1.What is your favorite fruit juice?
2.Do the seasons bother or effect you?
3.Is it better to have a lot of ideas or a lot of results?
4.Do you think there is retribution? As in; do horrible people who do horrible things or just generally shitty people, are they already damned by the shittiness of their own lives or do they get away with everything shitty that they do because the world is ok with horrible things?

Orange Skies

2011-02-02T20:06:00.000-05:00

There was a snowstorm last night, but not quite the overwhelming world-ender some were expecting. Around 7 in the morning, my nephew Connor was born, and it's amazing to think that someday he'll get to hear the fabled "You were born in the great blizzard of 2011!" kinda stuff that kids sometimes get to hear. It'd be cool if he turned out to be some kinda young, stoic bad-ass and had a calm reply like "Shoulda done it in November instead." or something of the like.

"Florida Snow" is a new tape of City Center jams that have come up this winter. Two songs you may have checked out on this blog, as well as a reworking of the older song "Stones", as well as some icy drones, weirdly indie-rockish moments and other odd, cold sounds. There's 50 copies made, available at the same time as new tapes by Settle (a collab between me and Rob Theakston from Lexington KY) and the debut tape from Damned Dogs (glittery noise from Amber & me, not much like Swimsuit at all.) More information is available here.

Never Got In A Fight

2011-01-25T23:38:00.002-05:00

Man The Hunter is a relatively new band from Michigan started by young genius Evan Doerring. I first heard them when we played a show together this summer and the band was just Evan solo playing guitar and operating a reverbed-out drum machine with his bare feet. The songs were really striking right from the start, totally familiar and mired in a classic lovelorn powerpop songwriting style. Watching that show I felt that cool wash of thought where your mind compiles a list of thoughts you have about what you're seeing and the final and most important thought is to throw the list away before you remember any of it. Does anyone else have that cool feeling? I usually get it when I realize that there's always a lot of ways to interpret and analyse things you like, but it's probably enough just to like them. I really like Man The Hunter and these songs are something special. I've seen several shows since, and City Center & Swimsuit have both done a few with them. There's a full band now, and Ryan is the drummer!!! Shelley just put out their first 7" (pictured above) on her killer label Ginkgo Records, limited to 300 copies. It's a family affair! You can order the record direct by checking out Shelley's page here. This is not a sound to miss, and I'm stoked for everything to come from this band.

I also found a photo of a Bengal Tiger underwater.

Snow Day

2011-01-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

City Center "Snow Day"
Recorded live to 2-Track January 12, 2011.
Vocals, loop of bass & drums, reel-to-reel, electronics.

I wonder sometimes if winter and summer are sworn enemies or secret lovers. A friend of mine always talked about how much he loved listening to "Heart of the Congos"and other super blissful, sunshiny dub records in the winter. It kind of fits, in a strange way. I often get weird winter-nostalgia in the summertime, and this song is about the vice-versa. My room-mate's cat went kinda wild this last summer and would be out in the sun all day, coming back inside from hunting delirious and deeply dehydrated. Have you ever seen a panting cat? It's really un-nerving. Panting dogs are pretty commonplace, but a crazy-eyed panting cat is really freaky.

Nomenclature

2011-01-11T13:41:00.000-05:00

I did a post about Detroit dance-floor memory machine The New Dance Show about this time last year. The above video is from it's predacessor "The Scene", with a sick debut of Detroit electro classic "Shari Vari" by A Number of Names. Dirtbombs covered this song for their new record, I heard a little of it and it's pretty stellar. I'm not sure why, but in the winter I always have phases of getting deep into this kinda stuff. Been on a headlong Electrifying Mojo kick lately, too, which to me is the epicenter of Detroit culture, DJ personality and my own personal winter memories.

Deuces

2011-01-09T08:22:00.001-05:00

I used to be really into throwing up a peace sign for any photo someone took of me. Maybe for like the last five years or so. There's probably a trend I was subconsciously following, or some mass-mind shift, as a lot of things I get into end up being. I generally find myself knowing about or getting really into stuff at the same time it reaches it's peak popularity, just like most people (simple equation, really.) I don't feel too bad about it, cause I'm not someone who prefers obscure things. There's a lot of value in things that millions of people adore, and just because everyone else in the world has a deep, personal connection with Fleetwood Mac or Motown, that doesn't make mine any less important to me.

The thing is, I've noticed a lot of people chucking deuces both in photos, in life, some cultural references here and there, and wherever I see it, it seems to have this mean-spirited undertone of "fuck you". Not "Ok, see you later, peace", but more of a weird power thing. Like "Uh huh, I am calling the shots here, and this call is to get the fuck out of here, later losers." Now that every pop song has a reference to commodifiable "Swagger" (so dumb. like saying "I've got so much brooding!" or "Y'all ain't got debonair like mine!") maybe the time-honored peaceful greeting/farewell has been balled up into that misappropriation. I never wanted to come off antagonistic or even ironic with a gesture, but I feel like those are the choices now for throwing the two fingers up. What the hell.

Peace Gull Download

2011-01-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

"Peace Gull" was a limited cassette of all instrumental Swimsuit jams released on my label sometime this last summer. There were around 50 copies and it sold out pretty quickly. I've been meaning to post a download link to the mp3s for a while, so here it finally is. This tape is some of my favorite of the Swimsuit material because it just kind of washes by in a really soft, basement blur. I hope you like the sounds if you haven't already heard them.

DOWNLOAD HERE and more info after the jump.

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The (Beer) Hour Is Nigh

2011-01-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

My friend Michelle Birawer starts a tour with her solo-noise/scrapped glass bits on reverb-coil jam Strange Brew pretty soon. Check out the tour dates below the jump. Her sounds are pretty unique, and she's supposedly made six different cassettes just for this tour! Also, if you haven't yet, you should get one of the 10 remaining copies of the lathe-cut 12" I recorded and released of some of her last-summer's sounds. Check that out right here.

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Treasure

2011-01-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

City Center "Room With No Door"

Feel Like Jumping

2011-01-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

It's pretty much a given that if you're making music like I do, you will invariably have a field-recording style sample of some kids playing on the playground mixed into your shit somewhere. It's possibly a lost-youth/wish for innocence metaphor?? Who knows, but a lot of songs have it. I don't think City Center actually has any, but many a day I have walked by this school in Ypsi called New Beginnings Academy and heard the future poets, doctors and practitioners at play.

Without sampling the sounds, we did go so far as to name a recording after the spot. In case you missed out on the 50 copies of the New Beginnings Academy cassette, you can download the mp3s right here, right now. More information after the jump. Thanks to Amber for the photos of the true N.B.A. as well as help with making the gif.

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Flatten Out The Rainbow/Build A House On The Waves

2011-01-01T23:10:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, Happiest Dreams For 2011. Congratulations to Juan & Laura. Everything open, everybody ready.

You Could Have Walked Away

2010-12-27T00:49:00.005-05:00

Listening to this song again tonight... I hated "Strageways" when I first heard it at a young age. At the time it felt so much like a visit to the hospital to see a dying friend. One who'd made some relative progress in the past few weeks, so everyone was being especially supportive and smiley, but really, they knew it was just a matter of time. Or maybe not that dramatic, maybe it just didn't hit me in the same way as the other records.

Tonight I feel like this song is more honest and confessional than even "This Night Has Opened My Eyes", which clenched onto my being at age 14 in an un-nameable, despairing fog. Just as that song hit me so deeply with it's vague sense of loss and air of possible tragedy, this one is slapping me with it's naked fan-obsession and star worship. Anyone who experienced the pre-internet version of youthful idolization of rock stars might understand this like I do. There was a tangible barrier between the famous and the fans. Morrissey wasn't gonna tweet something clever, or even respond to the scrawled letter you sent into the fan club P.O. Box. Yet somehow, it felt pretty normal to silently, facelessly live for the idea of these bands and the experiences of their narrators. To give over your excitement completely, fanatically. It's hard to explain, and wasn't actually that cool. The vibe between people and their interactions felt so slow-moving and sequestered that having somebody else say "I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck" for you was enough to sign over your share to them as the voice of a generation.

This song addresses parts of what I'm getting at above and also the role of record labels in selling the feeling of complete fan-devotion to the dithering masses. Repackages, multiple issues of singles in different sleeves, etc. This marketing was also a huge part of things which seems harder to relate to now, especially as music and collecting it have shifted out of ownership and the prestige of fandom into a very casual universal library. For instance, here are a bunch of sick Smiths demos and instrumentals spanning their entire career. No amount of devotion required, no amount of excitement expected. In some ways the full-circle of the song comes about when the deception of selling idols to the fans is destroyed at the same time as the idol themselves.

Years On End

2010-12-13T01:59:00.002-05:00

Before I fall asleep-- here's a new song for the newly fallen, slowly creeping snow. Download below.

City Center "Florida"

Nicer

2010-11-30T01:07:00.002-05:00

The Swimsuit 7" is out now, and available over at the Life Like, as are a bunch of new tapes that I'm pretty stoked about. The Settle tape has some of the more adventurous sounds I've found in a minute, and all the releases just keep feeling great/better...

I heard the new Kanye record today at work. It's good! The beats sound great on a big system and it seems like a more coherent venture than 808s & Heartbreak (*wamp wah*). Just generally a pretty good record, but I'm told Pitchfork gave it a perfect 10.0 score. Somehow in the back of my mind I knew that was gonna happen! It's so utterly obvious that it's almost annoying, but also kinda funny. You can totally predict what will be hailed/hyped, regardless of what it sounds like or even how it's marketed. The meaninglessness is not just transparent, I feel like it's this silent understanding. I gave up p4k almost a year ago as my 2010 New Year's resolution and I've been a lot happier and a lot less perturbed by choosing not to read this stuff that disappears so quickly anyway. This sounds a lot like sour grapes, and I assure you, it is.. but the grapes were so much more sour when I was up at 3:00 AM every night refreshing the page just to scream at the computer in my disgust for people being so stoked on Major Lazer or whatever. In the end, this pretty much says it all...

Yesterday You Would Have Thought It Was Hilarious

2010-11-28T01:42:00.002-05:00

I've never been a big supporter of Vice Magazine, but the latest (maybe?) issue has interviews and features on way too many artists that I think are amazing. In an uncanny way. Hermann Nitsch, Cosey Fanni Tutti from Chris & Cosey/Throbbing Gristle, Raymond Pettibon, Ryan Trecartin (seriously blew my mind about 3 years ago in a way I've never caught up with completely when I saw the above video he made. It took me a few days and multiple watchings to figure out if I despised it or not, but ultimately I ended up thinking it was one of the smartest and most incredible things I'd seen in years, still ahead of it's time 6 years later) and most strangely, a piece on one of the early founding illustrators of Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby. I basically got interesting in drawing by trying to copy Jack Kirby's strange and globby style out of early 1960's issues of Fantastic Four. For me it's really rare to hear him mentioned at all, let alone see a whole feature on some of his unpublished counter-cultural comics of the late 60's. I'm ridiculously stoked. The last issue of Vice I saw had some story about a kid who made himself barf on different stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Feldschwirl

2010-11-27T12:14:00.003-05:00

It's cold as hell in Michigan, and I woke up with frigid air all around me, a grey sky looming outside the window and sick, static branches leaning down leafless from the once-vibrant trees on my street. Today it is winter, and my natural defense against the endless internal pain and cold touch of the world is to make a mix and blog it up with all my might... I have to grow up, seriously. But not today!!! Here are some songs I put on a tape for my friend Sean when he left for Austin TX in late August. There's an end of summer feeling, maybe, or maybe it's end of fall, or maybe it's just a feeling of ending. Hope you enjoy it.

Late November 2010 Mix
1.Jacob Danziger "Jump"
The first track from an amazing record called August 1st, recorded, conceived and packaged on the first day of August, 2003. Solo violin and some other elements. Totally worth seeking out the whole record, and this is one of my favorite songs to put first on a mix.
2.Gary Higgins "Windy Child"
3.The Dovers "I Could Be Happy"
Insanely perfect Byrds-meet-a-slightly-less-crazy-Love style band from the mid 60's. They only made 4 singles, a total of 8 songs, most of which were transcendently beautiful.
4.Earthen Vessel "Get High"
Christian rock unknowns. Get high... on Jesus, that is!!!!!
5.The Misfits "Cough/Cool"
6.Jandek "Nancy Sings"
7.Beech Boys "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (Instrumental)
From the "Stack-O-Tracks" record, a late 60's attempt to cash in on the now floundering "Friends"-era BBoy's earlier hits via a karaoke-style instrumental LP with accompanying lyric and music book. Coming up on an almost decade-long BB obsession, this is presently my favorite record by the band. There's a ghost-like impression there, even more searching and fake-happy/actually isolated without singing than with. This song especially.
8.Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda "Nataraja"
Deroche hooked me up with this hyper-out-there Alice Coltrane jam, I think available only on tape for some time (???) Weird dark synth washes and a room full of Krishna/something similar chanting and the obligatory guru talking over it all mid-way thru.
9.Bob Marley & The Wailers "Could You Be Loved"
Jah!
10.Hans A. Traber "Feldschwirl"
From a German field recording of bird calls.
11.Bill Fay "Omega Day"
12.Judee Sill "Sunny Side Up Luck"

Running Time: 37min 46sec

Download the mix here and bundle up!

Recent Jams

2010-11-26T23:12:00.002-05:00

Swimsuit at Glasslands November 12 2010
Uploaded by brooklynvegan. - Explore more music videos.
Thanks to Scott Davidson for the top two videos, and Brooklynvegan for "Winter Water" by Swimsuit a few weeks ago in NY.

How Very

2010-11-26T01:24:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving is done, and I'm hanging out at my sisters house as the night runs out watching Heathers. So amazing, still. I sometimes think about how my life would be if I didn't chance to see this movie, Pump Up The Volume, Trust and a few other key movies in formative days.

Come On Everyone, We're Gonna Go And See The Waterfall

2010-11-24T14:12:00.004-05:00

I just found this thought/note I wrote to my friend Michelle two winters ago, deep in a daily alcoholic/overwork stupor and reveling in the classic New York displacement. I don't know if I can follow it now, but there are sections that make sense still. I think the point is to do what you want and not get too caught up in thinking about how simultaneously important and horrible everything always is.

if one place is declaratively home, it means that all other places are not. more the not being something than even the something itself. if one way is love, all other ways are not. if one idea is truth or trust or obvious, any other option falls by the side. like the emptiness of rolled eyes and the beleaguered-yet-still-holding-your-hand moments of winter. miscommunicate to remember there's an inverse, or maybe one thing is communicating and everything else you do is not, so this is one less thing you're doing that isn't communicating. when you make something there's the race for the final moment, the fulfillment of finalization. could it be part of the process to throw the process away? could it be another step to disregard every step beforehand? if something is finished one way, does it mean every other way is unfinished? never getting to the point where the restlessness of creating an idea outlives the idea itself and we see there's a pattern and maybe eating food and/or spending time with people who (both/or maybe that) make(s) you feel better than when you were starving/not with them.

Drenched Rat

2010-11-22T14:57:00.002-05:00

So much is going on. I just got caught in the rain waiting for a bus for about 30 minutes. My paper grocery bag was destroyed and a dude on the bus emptied out his plastic bag from the cigarette outlet to let me put my canned indian food and organic hash browns in. Last week's Swimsuit tour was incredible and we played with so many bands I like a lot. At the last DJ night in Ypsi I did a set of mostly 120 minutes jams from 1991. It went over better than any DJ set I've done before. Mighty Clouds is playing our first show the day after tomorrow, which means Betty is here all the way from Stockholm. I'm reading three books right now, a lengthy history on the Grateful Dead, "The Rest Is Noise" and "Crossing The Water" by Sylvia Plath, a collection of what came to be known as "transitional" material.

SWIMSUIT TOUR STARTS TODAY (WEDNESDAY!!!) !!!

2010-11-10T00:07:00.003-05:00

(photo by Troutman)

The Swimsuits are headed back east for a short tour, mostly in the fair state of New York. If you're around any of these spots, come out and say hello! As of Thursday we should have copies of our first 7"!!!!

Wednesday, November 10
Foxhole (house show) with Elephant Upstairs & Amoeba Amoeba
244 Temple St. Fredonia, NY 14063
8PM, $5.00, All Ages

Thursday, November 11
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY
playing at a spot called The Mug with Velvet Davenport
10PM, pretty sure it's free to students

Friday, November 12
Glasslands with Blank Dogs, Velvet Davenport & Dead Gaze
289 Kent Ave Brooklyn, New York 11211
9PM, $10, $21+

Saturday, November 13
POPFEST!! At The Elevens
140 Pleasant Street Northampton, MA 01060
this is going on all weekend and will rule! We play at 9PM.

Sunday, November 14
Wildfire with Reading Rainbow & Velvet Davenport
106 South Cayuga Street Ithaca, NY 14850
8PM, not sure how much

Child/2nd Set

2010-11-09T19:00:00.002-05:00

Maybe you remember Child? There was one live show back in May and on Sunday night there was a last-minute jam opening up for some out-of-town gnarlers. Reel-to-reel tape being rabbleroused through a few delays. Set time was 4minutes 9seconds. What did it sound like?? Mp3 is below!!! Swimsuit tour dates go up tomorrow!

Child: Second Set, 11/7/10

Until '91

2010-11-07T19:21:00.003-05:00

Having another moment where I'm so happy I grew up in the early 1990's. This is really just a fraction of why.

New Band: MIGHTY CLOUDS

2010-10-27T15:43:00.003-04:00

Before City Center got rolling, and even during the time of this blog's beginnings, I was the leader of a long-running pop group from Michigan called Saturday Looks Good To Me. The band started playing shows in 2001 and we toured, recorded and released records extensively until about 2008. Betty Barnes was the lead female vocalist and one of the longest-standing members of the band. On one of our multiple tours of Sweden she decided she liked the country so much she moved there! The band kind of went on an unofficial break up/hiatus following the last tour in 08, but even then I had some ideas for a next step. I always wanted to do a band that kind of focused on Betty's voice. SLGTM was great, but it went too many directions over the years and sometimes confused and annoyed audiences. This was kind of the point, but not a lot of people got it. I imagined a stripped-down musical landscape with lots of different vocal parts coming in and out, an internal sound, open and direct. All my projects usually start out like this and then get layered with every sound I can imagine, sometimes to the point of clutter.

Last summer Betty was in town for a week, so we camped out for three days and recorded vocals to 11 songs. I spent the next six months recording all the other parts, mixing and basically filling out what turned into the record I am now so excited to present to the world. "Mighty Cloud" (named after an old Jamaican record label) was the last new song written and performed by SLGTM, and served as a jumping-off point for the new band, so we thought Mighty Clouds was a good band name, too. The record is available now in an edition of 500 on cloud-colored wax, and you can stream/download/whatever the songs on our bandcamp page as well. The record (and a sweet tape!) will also be available via the Life Like and there will be shows in both Michigan (November) and a European tour (March/April) upcoming!! It's really exciting to work with Betty again, and also to present a set of songs that I think accomplished what they set out to. I really hope you all like it as much as I do!

New Beginnings Academy

2010-10-21T03:04:00.003-04:00

It's late at night and Paypal is fucking up for some reason and not letting me put payment buttons up, but there are a slew of new releases on my tape label The Life Like, including this gem, "New Beginnings Academy" by the City Centers. Our proper 2nd album "Redeemer" is now done and off to the presses, but it won't be available widely until March of 2011. The NBA tape is kind of a companion piece/the other side of the album, with all the stuff we recorded during those sessions that didn't get included for whatever reason, as well as some weird demos, some songs that showed up on the blog, etc. Only 50 made, maybe 20 or so left. Wish me luck with this Paypal bullshit and check out the tape!!

sight/seen

2010-10-16T22:14:00.002-04:00

Long time no blog... life is whirring by as it always seems to in the fall. There've been so many shows and things going on fulltime since even before the summer, but shit never ever stops.. A few really sweet shows upcoming in the Detroit/Michigan zone if you live there or wanna fly in...

No, it's not 2008, you're seeing that right. Silk Flowers are playing their first Detroit (well, Hamtramck) show, and City Center is gonna do one of our increasingly rare jams to welcome them. Sunday, October 24th at 7 Brothers Bar in Hamtramck. $5, 21+ and the Something Cold DJs spin all night. I've heard this spot is really small, so it'll be a packed and amazing show even if there's only 25 people there!!

Two nights later me, Amber, Tim and Shelley DJ at the Savoy in Ypsilanti for the 7th installment of Absolute Beginners. A special live set by Dina, Derek, T-Bone and Timmy's new band Everybody's In. Their second set, so killer. This is a free night, so come out and dance/freek to the sounds.

Two nights later Swimsuit, Man The Hunter and SO COW from Ireland jam at the Lager House in Detroit. Both Swimsuit and MTH have 7"s coming soon (sadly probably not in time for this show) and this promises to be a really fun night as well.

If you're anywhere near Detroit, Hamtramck or Ypsilanti, try to check out some of the shows!

Thanks Shelley for scanning all the flyers. More posts to follow soon!

Winter Tape

2010-09-16T20:10:00.004-04:00

Last winter me and Ryan would jam almost everyday, recording directly into a hand-held tape recorder at our practice space. The best and brightest stuff made up what would become the "Feel Better" cassette, but there were a bunch of completely full, unlabeled and forgotten cassettes of these majestic mono jams that got thrown into a box somewhere. I unearthed an especially insane one today and transferred it to mp3s. It was the entirety of a 60 minute tape, but I edited it down to about half that. Just something strange and soft to listen to while the leaves start changing.

City Center "Winter Tape"

Six untitled improvisations recorded January/February 2010.

Total Time: 31min 19sec
Download here.

KY

2010-09-13T14:24:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a 24hour jam, up early and home late from a one-day concentrated roadtrip down to Lexington, Kentucky to play the Boomslang festival. It was awesome to see old friends and hear a ton of insane music in the fair southern breeze.

The fan in the venue was humungous! It was actually made by a company called, no joke, and we have verification by way of their website... "Big Ass Fans". Someone somewhere right now is making a living-- no, a legacy selling big ass fans.

Wolf Guys ruling

A feral at the gas station begging for Doritoes. (Which is which??)

Swallow The Ocean

2010-09-06T14:09:00.006-04:00

Just back from a roadtrip out to upstate New York and thru Buffalo/Fredonia for a couple of shows. Here's the audio from our cracked-out and super happy set at Vassar University with rad ambient/cut up beat-makers Blithe Field. A few new songs and more banter than usual.

City Center live at Vassar September 2, 2010

1.After Hours >>>

2.Cookies

3.Puppers

4.Teardrop Children

5.In The Water

6.Thaw

Total Time: 33min 17sec

Kick/Start

2010-09-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

Our friend Vice Cooler from Hawnay Troof/XbXrX is working towards a killer compilation NFJM:030, a benefit LP for the orphans of Rwandan genocide. All profits of the LP go toward providing an education for the young women orphaned by the genocide. This is good news, for sure, and also good news is that this limited-to-400 copies LP seems like it will rule pretty much! Exclusive tracks from Mt. Eerie, Deerhoof, No Age, Frankie & The Outs, Explode Into Colors (rip) and tons more!

Check out the kickstarter page here for more info, and charge it to da game!!!!

reason/jah

2010-08-27T00:56:00.004-04:00

Annie Palmer & Fred Thomas "I Found A Reason" (Velvet Underground Cover)

thanks to Ethan for sending along this image. it's from a zine I made in 1998. Time be flyin.

today me and Annie jammed on this song we're gonna sing at our friends' wedding soon. You guys know Cat Power didn't write this song, right???

the fall is my favorite time.

It Must Have Been A Happy Time

2010-08-25T01:57:00.000-04:00

Patient To Patient playing last weekend in a plaza in Ann Arbor, outside, for free, illegal. Visuals by Sean and sonics by Ryan. The large-scale video really made all the difference. Life outside of computer screens can be really great sometimes.

Anything Was Possible

2010-08-20T02:20:00.001-04:00

We finished our record last night. Would it be funny if we called it "White Castle"? Or more likely "Whyyte C∆$Tle"?

Cats In The Yard

2010-08-03T16:50:00.004-04:00

These are the things I bought in New York on Swimsuit tour:

a new hat, my favorite Neu record and one Mountain Dew "white out". all of them with elements of vulgarity, but some soft beauty to them as well.

and why not, here's a new song made just today:

City Center "Cats In The Yard" (for juan)

lyrics:

give yourself a day to think it over

fall in love with the numbers

see the storm approach

let it go your way

fall in love with the thunder

see the cats in the yard

are they playing darts?

does the sky look so good you could stay?

did you used to live on the westside kid?

when did you move your apartment?

give yourself some space to fade into today

fall in love and be starving

does the food on your plate make you hungry?

do the clouds in the sky know your name?

see the cats in the yard

are they playing cards?

does the sky look so good you could stay?

Things We Did Back When

2010-08-02T19:45:00.002-04:00

I kinda completely forgot we went on tour in the spring. I guess as soon as it was done, I got deep into the tape label, Ryan got a motorcycle and we went on to new mornings and evenings. But we did spend a month or so running around, and slowly the seeds we scattered around are blooming up and the polleny songs are blowing around. Up above is some video that I (clearly from my expressions and dullness) didn't even realize was being taken at our KDHX radio session in St. Louis and right here is a link to a pretty intense session for Chicago's Coach House sounds, including a song called "The End" that we only ever played around the start of that last tour.

SWIMSUIT EAST COAST TOUR

2010-07-27T15:39:00.000-04:00

Swimsuit is hitting the road for their first tour tomorrow, bright and early. It looks like it's gonna be a radical few shows, so if you're in the area, please come check us out.

Wednesday, July 28th

CRANKY'S with CLOUD NOTHINGS and CAMPFIRES
2527 W 25th ST
Cleveland, OH 44113
http://www.myspace.com/crankyspub
18+ show, $5 donation. Starts at 10pm

Thursday, July 29th

KUNGFU NECKTIE with LONELY AMERICAN and 1 TBA

1248 North Front Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122-4602

http://kungfunecktie.com/

21 +, $5. Show is early! 7:30

Friday, July 30th

DEATH BY AUDIO with PEOPLE GET READY, PET MILK and BAD INDANS

49 S 2nd St
Brooklyn, NY 11226

ALL AGES, $6. Starts at 9pm

Saturday, July 31st

PIZZA FOREST with REGAL DEGAL, SULTAN andGREAT MASON

28 Lawton Street

Brooklyn, NY 11221

ALL AGES, maybe donations. Party! Starts around 5, get there by 7 to see the bands!

Premonition

2010-07-27T00:37:00.002-04:00

I recently did a short tour of Michigan's upper peninsula with my long term musical companion and dear friend Kelly Jean Caldwell. Kelly grew up in and around the strange wilderness until she moved downstate in her early 20's. After a show in Marquette we drove to the incredibly small town of Cooks and stayed with her 88 year old grandmother. Looking around the house, like a lot of Grandparents' houses, the decoration was pretty much a shrine to the family and the Grandkids. Old photos of kids now grown and relatives now passed on, keepsakes and memories of all kinds. Our friend Thommy came with us and was asking about who drew the scribbled drawing which was hanging on the wall in the room where I slept. "That was my cousin.." (i forget what Kelly said his name was) "he was a motorcycle fanatic and he actually died in a motorcycle wreck when he was 21. Of course I understand it a lot better now than I did as a kid. When it happened I was too young to piece together that he was at a party and took some girl he met there for a drunken ride on his bike, then hit a pothole and flew off the bike directly into a tree. He died instantly." There was a strange stillness, and Thommy asked, sincerely astounded "Did you ever actually look at this drawing before? He drew this? This is a drawing of a man and woman on a motorcycle, both screaming and an arrow pointing towards a tree. There's a bird in the sky saying 'Tee Hee'." He was right. As if to mock the grizzly speeding death that Kelly's cousin predicted for himself years in advance in the form of a shitty doodle, the bird was most definitely "Tee Hee"ing miles above the impending wreckage. I wondered why this was the drawing hung in honor of the dead, and yeah, why had no one ever realized it told the whole story up front before it happened? Had they? My dreams were blank and my sleep fitful and strange in that room. The next night I stumbled over some kind of growling animal in the dark as we were walking back from the lake under black skies. The U.P. is weird.

City Center "Covered In Night"

Here is a new song me and Ryan have been working out recently. I know it's been a while since there's been much new activity or content on this blog, but it's not even a period of dormancy as much as just a new kind of time. There is still more coming.

Lyrics:

Soft as the light from the inside

Where houses die

Pain in your side

Covered in night

Keep it on ice

Tell them back home

Tell them you're gone

Sweethearts collide from the inside.

PATIENT TO PATIENT

2010-07-08T11:31:00.003-04:00

Hey little ones:

Recently, Ryan made an album that Fred put out on his label, LIFE LIKE. You can download the whole thing for free here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3978713/PatientToPatient.zip

And if you dig it, Fred still has some tapes left. Limited edition of 50!

http://friendswitheveryone.blogspot.com/2010/06/patient-to-patient.html

Enjoy!!

To Live A Better Life

2010-06-29T15:28:00.004-04:00

Zip Codes

2010-06-29T00:12:00.003-04:00

Did I ever mention how K is one of my favorite labels? It always has been, since the time I became aware of punk, independent music, people making tapes of their own music, basement shows, etc.. Getting a chance to work with the truly inspiring family of people at K has been one of the cooler parts of my musical career. I'm really excited to announce a few K-Related bits of news. For one, City Center has contributed some music to the new K-idea/smash hit called "The Zip Pak". A subscription of exclusive mp3s from K artists sent out weekly and available nowhere else. It looks like a pretty sweet deal for a year of unheard sounds running a mere $50. There's an interview with Calvin Johnson all about the idea here, and you can order the thing for yourself right over here. Our songs don't come for a while, but we have a number of pretty stellar compositions dedicated to the project, some recorded in Olympia at the Dub Narcotic studio and some recorded in our time-honored broke-ass way.

A little later in the year, we'll also have a new single on K as part of the Dub Narcotic Disco Plate series, (the singles with the hand-stamped letters on plain white sleeves) which has our new song "Zen Kids" and a pretty grimy remix/dub on the flip. This is radical news and I can't wait for these songs to enter the solar system at long last. I'll make some sort of post closer to the time these things are available, but I'm excited to say the least.

Alt Codes

2010-06-13T19:01:00.003-04:00

So, that was a relatively long pause between blog posts. Sometimes you just need to decompress after tour, but this is ridiculous. What is cool and new I can tell you? Where to even begin?

∆ We have a song on the new Woodsist compilation LP/Cassette. Our cover of the Grateful Dead's "Box Of Rain" that originally appeared on this blog in it's very early beginnings back in 2008. It's a real honor to be affiliated with such a rad label, and the comp is nice as hell. Unreleased songs from Ducktails, Woods, Nodzzz, Fresh And Onlys and lots more. You can check it out over here...

∆ My label the Life Like is finally off the ground, with a few cassette releases come and gone, and a bunch of other cool stuff on the way. I started a blog separate from this one so I could talk about whatever kind of candy bars I like in any given week and not get too off topic. Check it out and order some cassettes!!

∆ I found this unmarked CD in a stack which actually turned out to be a recording of the very last solo City Center show in Brookly, January of 2009. It was an empty ass night at Zebulon and I played four songs which sound really strange to hear so far away from when I wrote them, and having been played all over the place since then...

City Center

January 15, 2009

Zebulon, Brooklyn NY

1.Tomorrow Soon Come

2.Summer School

3.Killer Whale

4.This Is How We See In The Dark

Total Time: 19min 48sec

Download the set here.

∆ Still working on our record, and only playing a couple of shows this summer. There's so much more, but that's what I got for now. Hope you're feeling the sun out there.

2010-04-25T12:36:00.002-04:00

LEGALIZE IT!

2010-04-20T13:22:00.001-04:00

Playing this radical show tonight in Pheonix, AZ. ^^^^

Also had a weird dream you should check out>>>>>

ALSO: 420<<<<<<<

How To Live

2010-04-18T23:10:00.003-04:00

Sitting still in San Diego, three weeks and change into this tour. I think it was my original intention to keep some kinda hyped-up daily journal, but clearly I dropped the ball on that. I'm writing a synopsis-style tour journal for my friend's zine, so it started to feel redundant, and also it seems to make more sense with a little space between the events and the retelling. Here, however, are some photos and moments that stand out...

Ben Bracken in San Francisco

2010-04-17T23:26:00.000-04:00

rest in peace evan,

love and condolences to everyone in detroit and the rest of the world who feels this loss

2010-04-16T14:18:00.000-04:00

Grown Yp Ygain

2010-04-13T23:05:00.003-04:00

it should also be noted that this compilation went up today, and we're stoked to be on it with radicals such as Cloud Nothings, Campfires, Island's Eyelids and so many more. Check it out over here!

Eureka!

2010-04-13T22:39:00.003-04:00

In Eureka, California washing clothes at the laundrymat while the sun sets slowly. Yesterday I was at the top of a waterfall, then hanging with Koltay at the Deerhunter show in Portland, then driving all night to Grant's Pass, and then today we played a sweet, strange show at Missing Link Records in Arcata at 3 in the afternoon. A liter of Mexican Coca Cola at the store next door cost $1 and the really nice people at the store gave me a Butthole Surfers bootleg I used to own when I was younger.

City Center at Missing Link Records Arcata, California April 13, 2010
1.Intro>>Cookies
2.Poolside
3.Winless
4.Soft Marauders
Total Time: 28min 39sec
Download here.

Touch of Grey

2010-03-31T13:37:00.004-04:00

Makeshift tour journal;
Day 0: Wake up early after not a ton of sleep and drive through ceaseless rain from Michigan to New York City. Eat indian feast with Sellwood and Dan and then pass out on Sellwood's floor for as long as possible.

Day 1: New York. Great to be walking around, hanging out and seeing all the people that I love and have missed so much. The rain is still constant, but I get to hang with a bunch of friends before, during and after the show, which feels amazing and lucky.

The show is incredible. I was really nervous about this one because I like all the bands playing so much, I just want it to go well and be a good time for everyone. I think this happened. Despite the complete shit weather, it being a Monday night, and Passover, at that, a sizable crowd still came thru, and everyone played really well. I am beyond grateful and happy.

Love Of Everything

Drawlings

Soft Circle

Day 2: More relentless rain, all day. I wake up early after a super late night and go check out the Grateful Dead exhibit at the NY Historical Society museum. It's pretty cool, but not that extensive. They do have the life-size skeleton puppets from the "Touch Of Grey" video, but the museum dude yells at me when I try to take a photo. Oh well, I will get by. (sorry.).. We drive to Philly and hang out a little bit before an early show at Danger Danger gallery. This space is awesome and all the organizers and bands are wonderful people. For a miserably grey Tuesday night, the show is not bad.

Helen came out and helped us put together our tour tapes, which I had dubbed and made covers for, but didn't assemble before tour.

We stayed at her house, and one of the people she works with lives next door and has an extensive collection of Smiths and Morrissey memorabilia, including gold records from all 7 Smiths LPs, all the posters from the 12"s and even a signed cereal box prop from Moz's "Alma Matters" video. My day was bookended with exhibits on two of my favorite bands. How often does that happen?

more springtime waves of joy

2010-03-28T15:32:00.005-04:00

bunnies/booze

body holographic

sweater from mom (thanks mom!)

double dina

Get In The Mini-Van

2010-03-28T13:58:00.003-04:00

Me and Ryan are driving down the 80/90 right now. I just hooked up our mobile internet jam, which means, yes, I am liveblogging in a car driving thru Ohio in a rainstorm. Following a few weekends of out-of-town jams and a hectic WCBN fundraiser show in Ann Arbor last night, our tour has officially begun. It's likely that long drives will result in endless blog posts, but for now, here are all of our tour dates for the next month. Please come out and say hi if we come thru your area. Much more to follow.

City Center Sprang/Sprung Tour 2010
03.29 Mon Brooklyn, New York. Death By Audio w/ Soft Circle, Drawlings, Love of Everything
03.30 Tue Philadelphia, PA. Danger Danger Gallery
03.31 Wed Washington, DC. DC9 w/ Ribbons
04.01 Thu Fredericksburg, Virginia. Chidester House w/ Everybody Yay
04.02 Fri Columbus, Ohio. Bourbon St
04.03 Sat Chicago, Illinois. Hideout w/ Joan Of Arc powertrio
04.04 Sun Grand Rapids, Michigan. DAAC
04.05 Mon Detroit, Michigan. Lager House w/ High Places (Free show!)
04.06 Tue Minneapolis, Minnesota. First-Avenue
04.08 Thu Missoula, Montana. Zootown Arts Community Center
04.09 Fri Seattle, Washington. Comet Tavern
04.10 Sat Portland, Oregon. East End w/ White Rainbow
04.11 Sun Olympia, Washington. Northern
04.12 Mon Salem, Oregon. The Space
04.13 Tue Eureka, California. Nocturnum
04.14 Wed San Jose, California. Blank Club
04.15 Thu Oakland, CA. TBA
04.16 Fri San Francisco, California. Hemlock Tavern
04.17 Sat Los Angeles, California. Spaceland
04.18 Sun San Diego, California. Bar Pink
04.19 Mon Isla Vista, California. Biko Garage
04.20 Tue Phoenix, Arizona. Trunk Space
04.21 Wed Santa Fe, New Mexico. High Mayhem
04.22 Thu Lubbock, Texas. Bash Riprocks
04.23 Fri Austin, Texas. Mohawk (3rd Annual Psych Fest!!)
04.24 Sat Denton, Texas Rubbergloves
04.27 Tue Lawrence, Kansas. Replay Lounge
04.28 Wed University City, MO. Cicero's
04.29 Thu Bloomington, Indiana. The Bishop
04.30 Fri Detroit, Michigan. Majestic Cafe w/ Harlem, Johnny Ill Band

springtime, coming in waves, second wave (watch me 9000)

2010-03-18T23:20:00.002-04:00

R.I.P. Alex Chilton. You did so much.

Two shows this weekend, then monster tour begins next weekend and goes until May. If you're in Philly or Ithaca, come say hello! We play:

FRIDAY, MARCH 19: SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, OLDE CLUB
500 COLLEGE, AVENUE. SWARTHMORE, PA.
with MOUNTAINS
ALL AGES, 10PM

SATURDAY, MARCH 20: GIVING TREE CAFE
310 Stewart Avenue, Ithaca, New York 14850
with Niao and Spiral Bodies
18+, 10 PM

springtime, coming in waves (first wave)

2010-03-15T00:34:00.006-04:00

just back from an intense four-day weekend of shows in chicago, pontiac and cleveland. so rad to be in motion again, feels like a forward motion. i somehow got no photos of our show with ted leo in michigan on friday night, or our zip to and from cleveland on saturday, but documented moments notwithstanding, it was all amazing. thanks to summercats, afternoon naps, pharmacists, very truly yours, all the bands that played at the enemy show and everyone who put things together or put us up. so much more to come!

springtime colors. photo by sarah gardiner.

the afternoon before our second chicago show we stopped by coach house sounds and did a session. there set up is rad. they have bands set up and record to a 1/2" reel-to-reel tape machine in the basement of this carriage house and then put the sets up for free on the internet. our should go up before too long, we'll post a link when it does. these shrooms grew wild and stoney in the backyard.

my mind, essentialized

Also: i woke up the second day in Chicago about three hours before everyone else and read Henry Rollin's Black Flag memoir "Get In The Van" almost in it's entirety, skimming some entries. If you ever wanna have a weird day, do this. Shows, music, fighting and the world were apparently a lot different in the Black Flag days.

still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes

2010-03-09T01:52:00.005-05:00

We're getting ready to embark on a bunch of scattered touring, followed by all of April on the road in the U.S. Some really really exciting shows coming up, starting tomorrow in Chicago. Please come check us out if you can! More info up very soon.

WED, MARCH 10:ENEMY (last minute venue change!)
1550 N. MILWAUKEE, CHICAGO IL.
with Running, Human Hands, Tiger Hatchery & Flower Man
All Ages, FREE/Donations/Buy some records

THURS, MARCH 11: SUBTERRANEAN

2011 W. NORTH AVE, CHICAGO IL.

with Very Truly Yours & Summercats

21 and up, $8.00

FRI, MARCH 12: PIKE ROOM

1 S. SAGINAW, PONTIAC MICHIGAN.

with Ted Leo & Pharmacists, Title Tracks.

All Ages, $15 day of, hopefully less in advance

SAT, MARCH 13: BEACHLAND BALLROOM

5711 WATERLOO RD, CLEVELAND OHIO.

with Afternoon Naps & Summercats

All Ages, $7.00 show starts at 7pm.

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

2010-03-08T02:12:00.000-05:00

Show #2

2010-03-02T12:21:00.002-05:00

Swimsuit is jamming tonight with Daytime Television, second show for both bands. The show is taking place in my bedroom!!! If you're in Ypsilanti, come over, it's free and will be rad. And check out VC's new amazing video, above.

New Band: Child

2010-03-01T20:27:00.002-05:00

Child is the name of some stuff I started working on this past summer. Fucked up tape-loop disintegration fuzz. Knox put out the first, self titled tape on his label Green Records & Tapes in an editon of 50 copies. More sounds/cassettes/etc coming from this project really soon. You can also download the whole thing here.

love a dolph!

2010-03-01T02:05:00.001-05:00

Something New

2010-02-26T17:20:00.002-05:00

Something Old

2010-02-24T22:55:00.003-05:00

I found this song on my computer tonight, a really early phase one-part workout from sometime in late 2008. I used to play this song all the time when it was a solo-style band, but me and Ry came back to it a few weeks ago, and it was just a little too removed from time to play anymore. This song was called "Cemetery Man", "Sampson & Delilah" and "Congregation" before I settled on just calling it what it felt like. Hope you enjoy.

City Center "Painless"

Tape The World

2010-02-24T19:11:00.002-05:00

I did a guest mix for this rad blog No Conclusion. It ended up being mostly cassette releases by our friends, though I threw some other weird cassette jams in there as well. There's more than extensive liner notes and a download link here, but then again if you wanna fast forward straight to the songs, you can just download the mix over here.

Harsh Reel

2010-02-22T16:48:00.000-05:00

2010-02-20T18:35:00.001-05:00

it's raining chats & blogs!!

2010-02-18T18:50:00.004-05:00

Last night's show went really well! City Center ended up playing a three-song set of just guitar and vocals that was 1.) a little unpracticed, 2.) recorded on a cell-phone underwater, in a bad way. For both of these reasons I'm gonna opt out of posting the audio here. However, Ryan got a really nice recording of the Swimsuit set, and here it is for all to peep! Photos by Morgan, jacked from facebook.
Swimsuit First Show 2/17/10, Ann Arbor Michigan

1.Sunlight 2.At The Falls 3.Glow Machine 4.Little Drummer Boy 5.Changer 6.Untitled New Jam 7.Evaporation

Total Running Time: 25min 34sec

New Band: Swimsuit

2010-02-17T16:09:00.002-05:00

My new band Swimsuit is playing our first show tonight! It's me, Shelley, Dina (who also plays in Secret Twins, among others) and Amber (formerly of Dos Hermanos, among others) and I am beyond stoked about it. Did you ever watch that show Kids In The Hall? Remember the theme song? All of our songs sound like that. If you're in Michigan, come check it out!!! Ann Arbor house party, 213 E. Kingsley with Annie Palmer, Anna Vogelzang and a band that keeps changing their name.

2010-02-14T23:12:00.000-05:00

movie night

2010-02-12T13:13:00.008-05:00

cool lines

down there

BBCREW

streetflower

Been getting lots done in the studio lately. So excited to share it with everybody. Also, all the special packages have been mailed out! They included our new 12" out on Quite Scientific Records, pictured above! You can check it out at their webstore, http://store.quitescientific.com/qsr015.html. Real talk, son!

combination lock

2010-02-09T02:24:00.003-05:00

explode into colors in ann arbor 2/7/10

the t-shirts for our spring street deal came back from the printers today, and all the orders will go out on wednesday morning. thanks a lot for your patience and i hope you all enjoy the package!

Well, does it?!

2010-02-02T00:23:00.003-05:00

"that shit taste alright?" feat. chris!

First Of The Month

2010-02-01T23:47:00.002-05:00

We're back in Detroit finishing our record this week. In the downtime, I made this mix, feeling kinda spiritual. Ryan got a camera, so he's taking more pictures and what not, hopefully there will be more documentation in the raw winter months. In the meantime, I hope you like these jams!

FIRST OF THE MONTH

1.Pharoah Sanders "Love Is Everywhere"

2.Curtis Mayfield "We Gotta Have Peace"

3.Love "Nice To Be"

4.Arthur Lee "For A Day"

5.Buffallo Springfield "Flying On The Ground" (Demo)

6.B52's "Song For A Future Generation"

7.Ride "Time Of Her Time"

8.Galaxie 500 "Tugboat"

9.Beach Fossils "Daydream"

10.Modern Lovers "Wake Up Sleepyheads"

11.S.E. Rogers "Toomus Meremereh Nor Good"

Total time: 50min 46sec

Download here!

Summer Again

2010-01-29T22:22:00.005-05:00

The Deli mag just published an interview we did this summer before our tour. It dates us a little bit when we start talking about all the mainstream hip-hop radio jams that were blowing our minds at the moment, but such is time. The whole thing can be read here.

Also: The new Joanna Newsom song is ruling my winter moments like no other. It makes me wonder what kind of weight a songwriter so widely adored must feel at all times. Does she know exactly how many people have fallen in love to the back drop of her songs? Or that some people certainly can't cry without help from them? Or that there's endless, literally endless threads of inspiration coming from the seeds those songs keep planting? I wonder, if you were in those shoes if you'd even have a way to think about it.

New Dance Show

2010-01-24T18:30:00.003-05:00

The New Dance show was a live-party/dance/variety show on a local Detroit network from around 1988 to 1995. It was kinda like a low-budget Soul Train, but way more hood, way more intense and way more Midwest. I would see it after school almost every day when I was in elementary school. I'm finding more and more clips online of this show, and another pre-New Dance Show jam called The Scene, which ran in Detroit for 12 years before NDS. The one episode that stands out strongly in my mind is when the entire audience/dancers/party was a group of inner city boy scouts and girl scouts, all ages 8-13 or so. I wasn't old enough to understand the various levels of awkwardness, confusion and misunderstanding afoot there, but part of me still knew it was fucked up. Haven't been able to find clips of that anywhere.

For The Ages

2010-01-22T14:15:00.002-05:00

What the flyer for tomorrow's show doesn't tell you is that we've combined forces with some friend's canceled show and now it's a sick monster jam!! The entire program for Lillyfest, an all ages early show at Ann Arbor teen center The Neutral Zone is:
Us (delay pedals)
Secret Twins (flying V)
Blood Necklace (actual blood)
Ultrasounds (molten wood)
The White Ravens (boiled hemlock)
Sault Ste. Marie (orange amp stamps)

It will rule! Show starts at 7pm and is over by 11. If you need any more info, just comment here or email us. This will be our first show of the new year, with lots more on the horizon!

Bonker-rhythms

2010-01-18T23:01:00.004-05:00

Speaking of remixes, out of the blue my old frien Christian sent me this sick as hell remix of the last song on my recent solo jawn "Night Times". His band is called Coyote Clean Up and this dub of an otherwise droney jam takes it to someplace I sincerely could have never imagined. IT ALSO RULES!!! Check out a free album of theirs, up for download right here. Thanks Christian!! Now publish that thing I wrote for your zine about Joy Division in 1998!

Fred Thomas "Night Time VII (CCU DUB) (she doesn't like Dan Evans mix!)"

New Remix: Daytime Television "New YYYear"

2010-01-17T18:25:00.002-05:00

Our friend Jon Lockhart's recently been cultivating new sounds under the name Daytime Television. Super rumbly, sometimes blown-out, part spiritual, part dead-to-the-world jams that go so many places. I worked on a remix of one of his songs between the hours of 8:30am and 10:45am this morning, and the strange fog rising off the snow, the Christmas tree abandoned in my front yard and the 18 oz of whole cashews burrowing in my stomach like newborn baby boars resulted in this song. There's gonna be a live band, potentially with more members soon, and maybe a tour to follow. Stay tuned to the DT Blog, where other new jams and remixes go up at an alarming rate.

Daytime Television "New YYYear (City Center Remix)"

New Obsession: This One Song by Bat For Lashes

2010-01-16T21:00:00.002-05:00

Around the time when TLC's "No Scrubs" came out, maybe some of you were just being born, maybe some of you remember the era... There were a ton of answer songs ("No Pigeons", "No Rats", etc.) but more than anything, the song was on the radio about 16 times an hour. I remember being at Warn's house and kind of stumbling onto the chords for it on an acoustic guitar. He said "Just don't. You're figuring out the chords, and then you're gonna look on the internet for the lyrics and then you're doing a cover of it at your shows and it's just not worth it." Eleven years later, I wonder where I would have been had I done the emo-Americana (Eormicana?) rendition of "No Scrubs" when the iron was hot.

I might be relatively late to the party with my love for this song, but man, what a killer. In an weird way. I feel like so much widely popular music of the day is really boring, but not in a completely awful way. More so, one where repetition and reference have become tools of songcraft more than detractors from it. This Bat For Lashes song, easily a year or two old, is such an incredible faux-Kate Bush song about nothing (seriously, it's basically a fake love song to the protagonist from The Karate Kid movies) with one part and only slight dynamic variables throughout. Somehow, the boringness and blitheness of it is part of some bigger picture that's kept the song on repeat for me for the last two weeks and made me spend a few hours today recording a janky cover. Not quite "No Scrubs", but a boy can dream.

City Center "Daniel" (Bat For Lashes cover)

Last Time Caller

2010-01-13T13:54:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who has been so enthusiastic about the Spring Street package deal. In the first seven days we've gotten interest for most of the 50 available slots, but we still have ten or so slots left, so if you're interested in this deal, please get in touch soon. The deal will only be available for the next three days, but we'll have copies of both the 12" and new 7" for sale until they're gone, or at shows, etc. You can order via paypal buttons here.

And thanks also to Impose Magazine for this radical write-up about most of the new projects we've been working on this year so far.

Above is a photo of the "Feel Better" cassette, all 50 copies of which are fully duplicated and ready to go. Below are some photos of what I made for dinner the last few nights:

Tuesday night was Madras Sambar on a bed of rice with red lentils on the side. Totally great, but nothing too out-there, just some standard faux-Indian shiz.

Monday night??? Oh damn. Steamed-then-baked green peppers stuffed with fried rice, the fried rice cooked up with cherry tomatoes, actual dried Michigan cherries instead of raisins, fresh basil, onions, garlic, a mesh of spices and then served with garlic focaccia bread. KILLER DINNER!!!

New Work: Spring Street

2010-01-06T13:48:00.007-05:00

Spring Street is a steep North-South running street on the westside of Ann Arbor, Michigan. At the very top is Hunt Park, a hilly spot with a playground, tennis courts and a community garden. It's the highest point in the city, and though the trees of the park obscure the skyline to some extent, it's a different view for sure. This summer I lived on Fountain, a couple streets over and spent a lot of time walking the 3/4 of a mile downhill on Spring, or back up, or pausing at the park.

UPDATE: All of these packages have been spoken for and are now actually shipped out and probably in their new owner's hands. Thanks so much to everyone who ordered from us and to everybody who's been so amazingly supportive. Hope you like the music!

The records pictured above are our new 12" on Quite Scientific Records. It's called "Spring St.", and is composed of 4 songs we recorded this summer. The records are clear, one-sided vinyl with a two color silkscreen that I designed screened onto the non-playable side so that it comes through as you play the record. After a little break in releases, we suddenly had a few things coming out, so rather than just announce the new records with links where to get them, we came up with this mega-deal;

Available to the first 50 people who respond, a package with the Spring Street 12" (limited to 500 copies), the Cops Don't Care 7" on green wax (limited to 100 copies, the rest are on black vinyl), the "Feel Better" cassette (a 60min tape of gnarled out delay frost, exclusive to this offer and limited to 50 copies) and a new limited City Center shirt, also exclusive to this offer and limited to 50. The package costs $40 postage paid in the U.S. and $60 overseas. Because the shirts are limited, we're taking orders and getting people's sizes first before we have them made, so please include your t-shirt size for a typical Amer. Apparel style shirt. The design isn't scanned or visible yet, but I made it and it's a nice idea, I think it will look really good on a shirt.

I know a few people have already gotten the Cop's Don't Care 7", so if you wanted to get just the 12", that's fine too. Just email us at citycenternyc@gmail.com or leave a comment and we'll sort out the details. Or if you had any other questions or concerns. Otherwise, we'll be accepting orders for the next ten days, or until the first 50 spots are taken. This is the super-ambitious idea I mentioned a few times in previous posts. We're both really excited about all of these new releases, as musical endeavors and as art objects as well. In the present state of commerce, economy and the way music is listened to, I think it's going to be more and more important to meld the two. Thanks so much for your continued support and please get in touch if you have any questions.

New Record: "Night Times"

2010-01-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

I haven't been playing solo for most of last year cause me and Ryan have been concentrating on City Center so much, but over the course of 2009 I was working on this new collection of solo songs called "Night Times". I finished it just before the new year, and here it is. I played almost everything, except my friend Jacob Danziger plays violin on one song, there's a sample of Leah Paul playing flute somewhere in there and some source audio of a very young Amber Fellows chatting with her friends on the last song. Some songs have shown up on this blog in different forms, or the same forms, but most are pretty new. I hope you enjoy it in the context of a record, or in any context. If anyone is interested in getting a CDR with artwork and a lyrics, I made some of those as well. If you want one just email me or post a comment here with your email and I will get in touch with you.

Fred Thomas

"Night Times"

1.Night Time

2.Night Time II

3.Anything

4.Skeletons Join Hands

5.Like The Phantoms

6.Obvious

7.Civilized Fog

8.Night Time IV

9.People Don't Die

10.Faultless

11.Pumpkin Seeds

12.Night Time III

13.I Want To Die In Your Face

14.Her Hands Were Holograms

15.Night Time VII

Total Running Time: 36min 36sec

Download the entire record here. Thanks a lot for listening!