Concavity

I feel the deep grooves in your face
On my fingertips
With every breath
I fall deeper down the smooth sides
Of each

Concavity

You tell me your story
I listen
Grasping onto each word for just too long
Leaping from one note to the other
For just an hour

For rhythm is our time
It goes “pat pat pat” on the sand
Melody is our architecture
Crashing and building with each wave
Music wrapped around your story

Then I almost see it
A murky tear, maybe?
Please, don’t cry
Or I’ll become deaf to the waves
Blind to the moon

As my fingers numb
I desperately run them through your curly, dark hair
Trace your strong brow
Follow the soft edges of your lips
Sink leagues into your face

It’s a dry cold at the bottom
Blue and bruised
A frostbitten field
I am afraid to move
Petrified

A heartbeat
As my arm brushes against the steep wall
Brine flows from the cracks
Along burning red faults
The flood of ages!

The water boils
The billowing steam bellows
The iron is lifted
You are free
To fly away

Goodbye, my Skylark
I loved you when you were cold
I feel you when you can’t
I’ll keep you when you’re old
In my own

Concavity

~Anonymous

Dispatch fr da North

Last Saturday, there was a Halloween show @ shitbox in mid-town Anchorage. A rambunctious affair, here's the band list: the Flying Hearts, Los Gran Torinos, Stubby's Crack Co., Downed By Entrails, and the Spenard Satans. The audio-track bled gypsy punk and black metal. An eternal polka de los muertos. Booze, crimson, street folk/creatures, and even a gawd-damned chainsaw all made appearances. It was the first time I've ever seen beer & vomit icicles on a car. Nerds will never come out of the carpet, still picking up pieces of doors and bookshelves, and we put a few more dents in the ceiling.

Obviously, a grand time was had by all!

~e.b.

All of Me

--Lila enjoys an ocean skinny dip in a barren cove. Boulders confine the cove. Her clothing and accessories cover one boulder. As she swims she sings All of Me be Billie Holiday enchantingly. This may be what men once knew as a siren’s song, as she is a water nymph. Her song causes small strings going to pull unseen objects into the water. Jay finds himself pulled to the cove by one of these strings. As he gets closer, he looks for the song, until he is almost in the water. Her sight shocks him, but not vice-versa. She did not lure him on purpose, but this happens enough that she is not shocked.--

Lila- You took my kisses and all my love. You taught me how to care. Am I to be just remnant of a one side love affair. All you took. I gladly gave. There is nothing left for me to save. All of me. Why not take all of me? Can’t you see?… Hi there… welcome… Aren’t you going to say hello? You boys and your politeness. It always gets in the way of your manners. I’m not afraid, so I’m giving you a second chance… I mean now.

Jay -Hi there, I’m Jay, Jay Edward Howard.

Lila- Three first names?

Jay- Just the two. Howard is a last.

Lila- And unfortunate.

Jay- It’s not fair for you to insult my name, when I don’t know yours.

Lila- You’re getting better, but you can be more direct.

Jay- Fine. What’s your name?

Lila- Lila.

Jay- Lila…?

Lila- Just Lila.

Jay- Ok, just Lila, what brings you out here?

Lila- I was in the mood for a swim.

Jay- Plenty of places in town.

Lila- Oh… well I also like a good sunbathe.

Jay- Well that’s… oh!

Lila- Would it make you more comfortable if I emptied my purse for a swimsuit?

Jay- I’m fine, there’s nothing wrong with nudity to me, I’m naked all the time, I sleep naked eat naked, walk the dog… aren’t you worried someone will see you?

Lila- Why?

Jay- You’re supposed to be… decent.

Lila- And what if I’m indecent?

Jay- Well…

Lila- Why don’t you cool off a bit?.. We’ll be fine if we’re indecent together.

Jay- Another time?

Lila- I’ll pretend I’m blind. Besides, it’s not fair for you to be dry and me to be wet.

Jay- Names are one thing…

Lila- Then go. I like privacy or company, not this.

Jay- I felt compelled. Something drew me here.

Lila- That’s a surprise

Jay- This isn’t unusual.

Lila- Nope. Seems every time I relax, a boy like you has to interrupt me.

Jay- I’m no boy.

Lila- Really? Well then. Are you in or out?

Jay- It is a nice day.

--Jay tentatively disrobes and lowers himself into the water.--

Jay- Oh Sweet Mr. T it’s cold!

Lila- Get a little meat on those bones, like a seal, and you’ll be fine.

Jay- I’ll handle it.

--He swims closer.--

Jay- Watch out, we don’t want to get too close.

Lila- There’s plenty of room.

Jay- But it still is crowded. Why is that?

Lila- Humans crowd the most open spaces.

Jay- It’s not like you’re different… A ha! I knew it. You aren’t normal.

Lila- I do have some large feet.

Jay- No, I mean you’re not a person.

Lila- Sure. What am I then?

Jay- Something drew me to you. A song. Are you a siren?

Lila- Nope.

Jay- Harpy?

Lila- Same thing. And I had no intention of anyone interrupting my vacation.

Jay- But you are something? My grandfather warned me about the sea when I was a boy. Told me of beautiful women who lured you to your deaths. Are you a mermaid planning to drown my in the waves?

Lila- I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just relaxing.

Jay- Then why don’t you tell me?

Lila- Have some fun.

Jay- This isn’t.

--He swims to leave.--

Lila- Wait. I’m teasing. Have you ever heard of selkies?

Jay- You’re a seal?

Lila- Not exactly, legends distort things. As you see, I wear clothes not a pelt. I’m more like a water nymph, an Ephydriad like in ancient Greece.

Jay- My grandfather told me the story of the fisherman whose catch would grant wishes. He had financial issues, he had health issues, he had… issues. Said if he could catch one of you, his life would finally turn around and all his wishes would come true.

Lila- Do I look a koi?

Jay- No, but he said the fish was actually a woman. Can you do that?

Lila- Wishes? Sort of. The ocean has more than land could ever hope to offer. My people have a talent for utilizing it.

Jay- Any chance, you could grant me some?

Lila- Sure I’ll grant you a diamond mountain and rainbows of… Seriously?

Jay- It’s not important.

Lila- I didn’t mean.

Jay- It makes sense; you’re the other kind of nymph.

Lila- Other?

Jay- The wishes you grant are a bit more, in the present.

Lila- Jay…

Jay- Don’t worry, I’m gentle.

Lila
No. No, no, no, no, no. No.

Jay- Wait… what?

Lila- Sorry. You’re an interesting man Jay, but-

Jay- I see, “legends distort.”

Lila- I never said-

Jay- Sure. But if you aren’t going to eat my flesh or take me to your underwater kingdom, then why?

Lila- Can’t I just go for a swim?

Jay- You lured me.

Lila- For what? What makes you that special?

Jay- How should I know, I’m not a sea hor.

Lila- Jay Edward, get out of my ocean.

Jay- I’m not done with my-

--The waves rise an fall in rapid succession. Jay is almost smashed onto the rocks.--

Jay- What the hell you crazy bitch?

Lila- Get out!

Jay- Alright, alright.

--He climbs up, takes away his clothes and flees. The waters calm and Lila eventually resorts to her singing.--

Lila- All of me. Why not take all of me? Can’t you see? I’m no good without you. Take my lips I want to loose them. Take my arms I’ll never use them.

--Jay sneaks back in fully dressed and makes his way to the boulder. When he talks, she is the stunned one.--

Jay- Hey just Lila, I had a thought. My grandfather told me the selkies couldn’t return home if you had their pelt. And the mermaid had to obey the fisherman, because he caught her. So, I wonder, what would happen with these?

--He holds her clothing.--

Lila- Give them back!

Jay- Why?

--The waves rise again.--

Jay- Stop.

--The waves stop.--

Jay- So it works.

Lila- Please, I need them.

Jay- Sorry, they’re mine now.

Lila- No!

--She climbs atop the boulder and grabs her clothes. Jay runs away. She checks to make sure everything is there, but cannot find an earring.--

Lila- My…

Jay- Don’t worry. I’ve got it safe.

Lila- Really?

Jay- Yes, why don’t you come with me, and we’ll work something out.

Lila- Away from the sea? My family?

Jay- You’ll have a new family. Together we’ll make lovely kids and a substantial fortune. Right?

Lila- I…

Jay- You are coming with me.

Lila- I… I know.

Jay- Great, you follow me now. And put some clothes on, you look like a joke.

--Lila dresses in her clothes. They resemble kelp and her jewelry resembles the animals that live on it. Jay beckons and Lila, without any resistance, follows. She knows in this moment, she is hopeless.--

The end

written by Nicholas Seyyed

halloFUCKINGween

perhaps the best way to spend Halloween is at a show with drunk people in skimpy costumes and even better with drunk musicians in skimpy costumes...

Reggaetronic Halloween: A night of Rock and Reggae with Everyday Prophets
720, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 236-1190

Steve Kimock Crazy Engine
Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694

Pierced Arrows, HILLSTOMP, Frank Furter, DJs Miss Carriage and His Terectomy, Mike Daily, Chris Newman Undead Acoustic, Westward the Wagons, Kate Mann, Elvis AN ALL DAY AND NIGHT 15th BDAY BASH
Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. $10 after 8 pm, $2 4-8 pm. 21+

Mortal Clay
Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. $5. Map

Fall Into Darkness: YOB, Ludicra, Witch Mountain
See listing, page TK. 8 pm. Berbati's Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. $12 advance, $14 day of show ($30 for 3 day pass). 21+

Howl
10 pm. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683

Pepe & the Bottle Blondes, The Slants, Burlesque Acts, DJs and More!
8 pm. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047

HALLOWEED
8 pm. Dunes, 1905 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 493-8637. $4

Andaz: Anjali & The Incredible Kid
Fez Ballroom, 316 SW 11th Ave., 221-7262. Map

After Dark: Halloween Pre-Phunk
Groove Suite, 440 NW Glisan., 227-5494

Dr. Adam, Freaky Outy, Colin Jones, DJ Same DNA, DJ Mad Max
9 pm. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. $3. Map

Girlyman, Lucy Wainwright Roche
9 pm. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. $15 advance, $17 day of show

The Airborne Toxic Event, Henry Clay People, Red Cortez
9 pm. Roseland, 8 NW 6th Ave., 219-9929 (Grill), 224-2038 (Theater). $15 in advance, $17 at door. 21+

Edouble-Market, Lady Collosis, Rythma, ATOM, Forest Avery, Ryan Walz & Mason Robert, LunaLena, Joshua Lee, Patricio, Bounce Brigade, Children of Discord, Sportscars, Solovox, Manoj, El Capitan, Outersect, Medicine For The People, David Starfire, Hydrive, The Twilight Beings
9 pm. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683

Paper Brain, Holy Children
10 pm. The Knife Shop, 426 SW Washington St., 228-3669. $5. 21+
The Parlour

Second Annual Baba Yaga Ball: Vagabond Opera
10 pm. The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave., 890-0408. $16 advance, $17 day of show. 21+

Starfucker, Deelay Ceelay, Nice Nice, Wampire
9 pm. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. $14. All ages. Show doubles as a Halloween party/costume contest.

enjoy.

10 brutal albums

So it's almost Halloween. To properly fit in during a time that evokes feelings of violence, brutality, death and the like, you should probably get schooled on all things heavy. So this Halloween night when you are dressing up as a fireman or zombie or a slut or something like that, give the Indie a rest and head in a new direction. Put on some denim, crack a beer, light a doobie, and put up that fist. You know what to do...


10. Mayhem – Dawn of the Black Hearts

Live bootleg from this legendary Norse black metal band. Not actually that brutal, or even good for that matter, but had to be included in this list because of the many absurdities surrounding the band. One member is currently serving time (not a life sentence, I might add) for murdering another bandmate, and numerous members have been convicted of burning churches. The scene featured on this album’s cover is the band’s former singer, Dead, headless and bloody on the ground after shooting himself with a shotgun, pictured to left of his corpse. \m/


9. Corrupted – Se Hace por los Suenos Asesinos

If you consider Sun O)))))))))))) to be the masters of drony noise doom, then you probably haven’t heard Corrupted yet. Long, discordant, unrealistically slow, and creeeepy as fuck. With only three songs and probably less than five chord changes, Se Hace… brings the heavy to the minimalist genre like a Viking skullfucking a lifeless Phillip Glass.


8. Ire – What Seed, What Root?

Classic metal without shitty metal influences. Ire probably listened to more Born Against or Cursed than they did Celtic Frost, but still make brutal music that is definitely not hardcore and definitely is metal. This album was released by CrimethInc. back in the day when Requiem and Catharsis still toured, so you know its heavy. The liner notes probably come with instructions to shellbomb a building or kill a police officer, but I’d suggest finding it for free somewhere on the internet and not supporting an organization that sustains itself by feeding off of the naïve delusions of seventeen year old anarchists.


7. Graf Orlock – Destination Time: Tomorrow

You’ve got to respect a group of film school dropouts who love movies so much that they dedicate their band to celebrating them. And not just any movies… Destination Time: Tomorrow continues the celluloid drenched saga of time travel, shooting xenomorphs, and fighting terrorism. Featuring the likes of gems like Aliens, True Lies, Lethal Weapon II, and The Terminator spliced seamlessly between crushing musicianship, and ending with an epic interpretation of the Jurassic Park theme, this 10” will undoubtedly leave you balls deep and wanting more. And no, it’s not a joke.


6. Asschapel – Fire and Destruction

The only punk album I’ve included on this list, Asschapel was just too perfect to leave out. Sludgy, fast, slow, heavy, riffy at times, and very, very, dirty.


5. Mind Eraser – Conscious/Unconscious

With the third full length from the Northeast’s Mind Eraser, I have to say I was a little surprised. For a band that usually plays ten to fifteen songs in less than twenty minutes, I wasn’t exactly expecting a two song LP that clocks in at just over the twenty minute mark. This is, however, without a doubt the band’s best work to date. Taking all that all that is good about powerviolence and stretching it out into one giant sludgy masterpiece, this band has proved that they are modern kings of brutal music.


4. Nirvana – Bleach

Had to include it. Maybe you don’t want to admit it, but if you like good music and don’t like Nirvana then you are probably fucked in the head and should stop listening to music. Bleach was released in 1989 and was Nirvana’s first album, but has a pretty dramatically different sound than most of their other stuff. Sludgy with lots of distortion and also features some of Kurt Cobain’s best lyrics. One of only two records ever released on Sub Pop to go platinum. I might add that the other best selling three records released by that label are Flight of the Conchords, the Postal Service, and the Shins. Fuck sub pop nirvana rules.


3. Sleep – Dopesmoker

It’s one song. Its sixty-three minutes long. It doesn’t really change. It has skulls and pot leaves on the cover. So. Metal.


2. Eyehategod – Dopesick

Formed 4/20/88. One of the all-time most dope-as-fuck classic sludge metal albums ever, Eyehategod are demons who punish the world with brutal music and drink whisky with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden in hell. Reigning from New Orleans, Louisiana, this band throws the blues, metal, and punk in a gangbang and shoots heroin in the corner as they jerk off and watch. If you think that you can come up with a more badass and completely fucking legit sound in another band, then you are definitely wrong. Eyehategod is better than your favorite band. I’m sure of it.


1. Cryptopsy – None So Vile

This album gets my number one spot. What has now come to be considered a “benchmark” of technical death metal, None So Vile was just the second full length from these Canadian legends. Featuring the vocals of Lord Worm (who actually ate lots of worms out of a metal chalice at shows), None So Vile is the standard to which all other death metal albums are compared to. Stunning musicianship, undecipherable lyrics, and enough blast beats to kill a small child, this is the most brutal album I can think of.

-ds

make miles

I killed a frog the other week. I used a pair of stainless steel shears. I slid one blade gently into its mouth and put the other right behind its eyes on top of its head. Then I squeezed and severed its spinal column. It died immediately. Then I cut off one of its legs.

Later, I sat on the porch and talked to Sarah for a while. I told her how I read a book once where empathy was the last tattered vestige to humanity we had left, where outside of that, outside of something which, as excruciating as it may be, was ultimately indescribable and perhaps not real, or at least to our skin and to our intellect, existed miles upon miles of both flesh and steel and not a single difference between them. A lot of people saw the movie.

For a long, long time, I thought my empathy would be my savior. Empathy taught me to be human, but I fear that I lost a vital part of my humanity along the way. Feeling was replaced by knowing – knowing of limits and values. Responsibility and virtue are similar culprits. There is, no doubt, beauty in virtue, but not if virtue is a shield for breath. So, I think this is me, abandoning. Giving up on my former edifices, built with the bloody stones of others’ footsteps and stacked mercilessly upon the foundations of doubt, recoil, and limit. That’s what knowledge is, what knowledge tries to instill in the hearts of youth and our allies.

Well, fuck knowledge. I’ll take sensation any day. Tomorrow, when I wake up, I’m going to try really hard to forget my inhibitions. I don’t want to be held back by foundations anymore. I’m not going to sulk in mediocrity anymore. Tomorrow, I’m going to get really, really, excited.

And, in retrospect, when all has been said and I have prevailed, I wonder if I’ll look back on these four years and laugh. Of course I won’t, but I might want to. I’ll try hard to forget little things, wanderings, mistakes and the like. And then some day I’ll remember that it all happened – it did. Experience will be our monolith to the sky, our answer to the gods. Strangle life by the throat and you will be rewarded.

-ds

A Series of Lists Regarding Last Night

Here's a list of reasons you didn't go see Why? play with Mt. Eerie at the Wonder Ballroom last night:

1. You went to Grizzly Bear instead.
2. You had to write a paper, probably about Virgil or Homer or some greek shit like that.
3. You stuck around the house for some quality time with a bottle of Inglenook and your old copy of "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" meditating to the sound of your loneliness with your Low playlist on repeat and shuffle at full volume.
4. Still recoiling from the Pamphlette's accusation about murderous anti-semitic activities at Lewis and Clark, you were busy writing an angry letter to the editor.


Here's what you missed:

1. Phil Elverum has apparently left his folky pleasant strums behind for this tour and picked up two drummers, another guitar player and two keyboard players (with four keyboards) to form what looks to be the best heavy, melodic, transcendent and tranquil slowcore band I've heard in a while (see "Low" above). It was awesome, even if the crowd couldn't manage to shut the fuck up for 30 minutes during their set. It made me want to listen to their 2008 "Black Wooden Ceiling Opening," even though they didn't play a single song from that record. They did play a metal-ass version of "Lost Wisdom" though.

2. Why? tore it up. Not only was Yoni Wolf spot on vocally, his brother Josiah Wolf provided a rhythm section that was un-fucking-shakable, Andrew Broder (Fog) killed the guitar, Mark Erickson (also Fog) headbanged unnecessary amounts, and ridiculously good keyboard player Doug Mcdiarmid was hot in a Don Draper after work kind of way.

3. Most of the songs were from "Alopecia", because that's still what people seem to know best. That's ok, but the new album is better. The songs he played off of "Eskimo Snow" were the most dynamic and engaging, while his hip-hop material garnered more arm waving and pointing.

4. Yoni Wolf danced, a lot. Remember Rick Moranis? Never forget.


So here's a list of things you should have gathered from this article:

1. Grizzly Bear is pretty good, but you probably went to the wrong show.

2. Greek and Latin are boring and so are the stories they told, even if some fancypants fop in the 18th century decided to translate them into english.

3. Drinking alone is sad unless there's a really good reason to.

4. Sometimes too clever means not funny.

5. Mount Eerie has been good since before you started listening to real music. They are still getting better. Go buy "Black Wood Ceiling Opening" and "No Flashlight" and The Microphones' "The Glow Pt. 2."

6. Two drummers ALWAYS makes a band better.

7. The Wonder Ballroom's sound guy knows what's up.

8. So does Why? go get "Eskimo Snow" and drunkenly request those songs next time he's in town.


All in all, good shit. I kind of wish they would have play a Hymie's Basement track though.

-Will