a past in accidents

spaceman records and the balls dynasty.

2008-02-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

I think that it's only fitting that I make a Spaceman Records post. This fall, my friends and I moved into portland, and have since been in the process of creating a record label, and producing music out of our basement recording studio. So, over the past few months we've been constantly recording, and in the near future we will be seeing some really great releases from hello electric, dr. helicopter, rome in ruins, and hopefully much more to come. so prepare for some lovely sounds from the spaceman household. But, in the mean time, here are some songs to keep you going.

Hello Electric-North on the Moss
[from the album Soundwaves]
Hello Electric-Treetops
[from the album Soundwaves]

Hello Electric Myspace

Rome in Ruins-don't even try
[from RIR2008 demos]
Rome in Ruins-indoor:outdoor
[from RIR2008 demos]

Rome in Ruins Myspace

Dr. Helicopter-Jogger and the Light

Dr. Helicopter-Sgt. Arms

Dr. Helicopter Myspace

hug life with your great big arms.

2008-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

One of these nights, the sky matched the sidewalk and the concrete clouds were slowly backing away from me. On any normal walk, the night would stand between us, trying it's hardest to keep us apart. But tonight was different, the world had its guard down. It started as gentle sways and shoulders touching on the coldest streets, and ended as frozen fingers against the seams of each others pockets. I couldn't help but picture our hands in a steady grasp. We would keep them there for the next two blocks until we reached that yellow house on the corner, the one that swallowed her every night, but this time I would pass the fence, those same cold fingers would pull me in through the cloudy glass of those double doors, and we would make it, with every light in the house turned on.

But even if this did happen, would I really want to know what it's like? Would it be worth spoiling every idealized situation I'd ever imagined? Well, on a day this cold, I think not. I saw the double doors close from the street, so I wrapped myself around the corner and continued on for the twenty street signs that stood between us.

My own house welcomed me in and I found myself face to face with the empty turntable on the living room floor. Without hesitation I reached for the white vinyl, that moon-like disc, and let the volume control itself. And, oh, these songs! Like a dictionary with only the perfect words left inside, this is the kind of music that makes me feel like I'm closer to it than I am to anyone I've ever known.

Kickball-Fight (from the album Everything is a Miracle Nothing is a Miracle Everything is)

Kickball-Party (from the album ABCDEFGHIJKickball)

Listen to more songs at Kickball Myspace

Buy it here (Houseopolis Records)
and here (Boy Gorilla Records)

we're all long gone.

2007-12-01T14:22:00.001-08:00

So, last night we saw Les Savy Fav. They totally rocked me out of my pants and my shirt, and all of the other garments I lost. They even rocked eighty dollars out of my pocket and probably into the hand of some jerk that pushes people at shows for no reason. Hopefully not, though. Hopefully it landed in the hands of some kind kid who feels like things only make sense when Tim Harrington's voice is creeping through his tiny white headphones.

We got to sing into the mic, we even howled like wolves into the mic. I'm surprised that my voice was still there when I woke up this morning. I could feel my throat falling apart, but the cracks in its lining were filled by every Les Savy Fav lyric I could remember. The show gave me this overwhelming sense of self-confidence. It felt like I was dancing myself out of a cocoon.

So, yeah. I was going to post some Les Savy Fav songs, but I think everyone knows how good they are, and those of you that don't, will enjoy it much more if you go out and find them on your own.

What I wanted to mention was that one of the biggest highlights of the show was the band that played before Les Savy Fav. They were called The Dodos, and they blew every mind within a ten mile radius. I hate band-name-math, but their resemblance to other bands was so strong that I'll just go with it. They were a duo form of animal collective plus battles multipied by acoustic guitars. There, I did it. So, listen to them for yourself. You'll enjoy it.

The Ball, and Nerds from their album Beware of the Maniacs.

Notes, and Couples from their album Dodo Bird

You can also find some more songs at their Myspace

it's always our time.

2007-11-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Stepping out the door, I found myself marching through a field of wheat, which would have been fine, but it was midnight, it was raining, and I was still in the city. The wheat stock stood taller than usual, and the darkness was so gentle, like a blindfold made of silk. The ground beneath me was soft and wet, with creeks running through every crack in the dirt, and every footstep left another lake for those small enough to appreciate it.

It was hard to tell, but I had probably been walking for a few hundred miles before I was taken aback by a familiar breeze. The field had suddenly stopped, and my lips and my tongue met the windy mouthfuls of sand and sea as I suddenly realized where I had ended up. I continued on towards the ocean and found the point where the tide had turned its back. I tried my hardest to catch the tide (I wanted to put it in my pocket and take it home with me), but it insisted on taunting me until I couldn't even look at it. I turned back towards the fields that stood between my body and its home, with my eyes so closed, and my ears so open. And I heard it! The whistle of a train, the crawling tractors in the sprawling fields, the sea at my back, these, these are the songs to bring me home.

Elec Morin-When You Found That Sea (from If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now)

Listen to more songs at Elec Morin's myspace

Buy it here (from Boy Gorilla Records)

winter spring summer fall in love.

2007-11-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

To say the least, the beginning of this year carried a very unpleasant quality that spread itself thin across the different aspects of my life. It was during these first few months that I realized that the emotional attachment that I've always had with my music library was rapidly becoming a negative characteristic. All of those familiar sounds could deliver crushing blows to the deepest ends of my stomach and chest, and if I wanted to sustain my sincere love for music in general, then I had to find some neutral noise to disorient my current condition.

Around this time, I met Katrina. Her voice alone carried me to empty ballrooms and the floors of foreign cabarets, while it's ghostly eccentricity offered the comfort of an earnest heart. It was no longer life without love, but rather love without life.

We realized that we could never really be together, but we never talked about it. It was easier to just hold hands and whisper over the rattle of an organ and its quivering keys. The time would come when we would have to part, but until then, the drums would fill the holes in every heart, the guitar would scratch every itch on every back, the organ would compliment the characteristics of every living thing, and we, well, we would celebrate the fact that we would never have to speak again.

Celebration-Fly the Fly (from The Modern Tribe)

Celebration-Holiday (from Celebration)

Buy it here (from 4AD)