.michal maciej karcz.

…run towards the light…

a record that has been apart of my favorites for the past few years is the glow pt. 2 by the microphones. sincerely, whenever its getting towards the mid-end of summer… i take this out and dream about the fall. something visually comes alive in the music .. new changes, new beginnings, all those different colors of leaves, cool-warm air breezes… and that good feeling like yr able to breathe and start all over once again. for those who need some good ole inspiration, this is truly a beautiful low-fi homemade masterpiece.

from olympia washington, the microphones is all inside the creativity of one man, phil elvrum. completely full of delicate acoustic guitars, flashes of cello, horns, distorted drums and haunting organs, the music provides some of the most fragile and flawless sound driven experiments tested. unafraid to show feelings that range from melancholy to pure bliss, phil’s lyrical quality is absolutely poetic building cold tension into passionate release.

without any further hesitation, the song that left a first impression was “the glow pt. 2″ sharing a personal reflection of the afterglow of depression and being let in to feel every lil piece. every time i listen, these familiar emotions runaround inside of me. always sitting in a humbled silence towards the end, i cant help but cry and laugh at the same time, needing to repeat this song over and over and over again.

“i took my shirt off in the yard. no one saw that the skin on my shoulders was golden. now it’s not, my shirt’s back on.i forgot my songs. the glow is gone. my gliding body stopped.
i could not get through september without a battle. i faced death, i went in with my arms swinging. but i heard my own breath and had to face that i’m still living.

overall, throughout this entire magical album is an adventurous rollercoaster ride that works on an absolute sense of story-telling perfection. it is highly recommended and intended to be heard through a pair of headphones, just so you may notice the lil details of imperfections and special sounds moving from ear to ear. for some, it may take several listens to completely understand the genuine beauty and for others, they may immediately turn it off, never looking back.

however, if yr in the mood to give into something meaningful…. please, please, please take a chance and experience this.

• the glow pt. 2
• the moon
• the gleam pt. 2

im telling you. this lil mixer, arty fufkin. he keeps bringing me back. i dont know what it is. the heat wave we’re about to be experiencing.. my already consumed deliriousness? possibly maybe. but nonetheless, just like arty’s past mixup of kelly clarkson vs thom yorke’s atom for idols, his mashup of gnarls barkley’s crazy vs supertramp’s logical song vs the who’s go to the mirror boy vs rockwell’s somebody’s watching is very nicely done.

c’mon now..
who do you who do you who do you
who do you think you are
ha ha ha
bless yr soul
……
you really think yr in control?

i think yr crazy
just like me.

recently i was sent some music from sweden’s tobias froberg’s 2nd album *somewhere in the city* and decided to take a listen. i was taken back at first… as i truly enjoyed one of the songs — love & misery — this doesnt always happen very often. his collaboration with ane brun is one of the prettiest and most painful tracks ive heard all summer long. the way her voice mixes with his, its truly magical.

this is true i am fragile just like you
you and me, we are love & misery

through simple acoustic guitar patterns, tobias produces a similar sensitivity throughout the entire rest of his music. its almost like secretly reading an old dark journal that is so sad, it becomes beautiful. the new release *somewhere in the city* will be available in the usa thru cheap lullaby and in the UK on poptones.

in 2005, tobias froberg’s debut *for elizabeth wherever she is* won sweden’s singer-songwriter album of the year. his good friend, jose gonzalez won the year before.

she doesnt want to save the world
she just wants to be remembered
grace
[from for elizabeth wherever she is]

a picture, a playlist & message sent from annie

we’re constantly changing!!! everyday a bit of us dies gracefully, and then we crunch on the leaves beneath our feet….and it’s releasing, because the old fades away, and the new opens an ecstatic door….

Music creates universes inside of my heart when I listen I can actually feel new dimensions of stars inside of me, it’s a melting of emotions happening …ecstatic joy at times… and a hard to touch melancholy.

In the Morning of the Magicians ~ The Flaming Lips

As the World Falls Down ~ David Bowie

The Carnival is Over ~ Dead Can Dance

Unemployed in Summertime ~ Emiliana Torrini

Tomorrow Never Knows ~ The Beatles

nowadays, when i stumble into the local record store just to buy myself a lil new music purchase — it absolutely means everything to me. when i was young, naive and was able to afford more than 10 albums a month, it was complete indulgence. most were listened to more obsessively than others as i handled them like a deck of playing cards, while the scattered few that really didnt make the cut, sat back non-scratched in my cd book.

on july 11th, thom yorke of radiohead released his own album *the eraser*. last week, i excitedly drove to the music store to go buy this, feeling as if i was sixteen all over again. “oh man. where is it? where is it?” trying to remember the alphabet “t – u – v – w – x – Y – z” … as soon as i saw the familiar cover we’ve all been secretly anticipating for the past few months, i knew i had struck gold.

a rush to my car and when i carefully opened up the packaging, the greatest smile spread across my lips. to see this accordion style layout of hypnotic black & white lines, all in itself, this is creativity in its finest. a lil drive to nowhere in particular just in time to catch a sunset fade along with the sound. all i could think was how wonderful, with my last purchase of tool’s 10,000 days and now this… to go and have this amazing beautiful artwork inside of my hands from my favorite musicians keeps me going. its all about the lil things really.

of course, i feel that this special new release, may take some time to give the proper review… however, back when i listened to those first beginning tracks, i couldn’t help but feel it. with each rush from the tone of thom’s lyrics and the tie that somehow makes you feel as if every word makes perfect sense, pulls me to another level that reminds me of just why i love music as much as i do.

you ever notice how sometimes music immediately pertains to the flow & direction of yr mood? it can make you feel happier, calm yr sadness or make you feel more powerful than ever. i had a dream after experiencing *the eraser*, an overwhelming motivation came over me. full of new changes in my own world, every lil electronic piece made me believe as if i was alone inside of an airport on one of those moving walkways. going towards the beat, my thoughts were erased and all i wanted to do was keep on walking. to keep on striving. keep on breathing. i kept on thinking the hell with anyone else who tries to strike and take me down with them. im about to board that plane and im taking off. by myself, the future is now, it really is.

time is running out
for us

…..

this was sent
to m.i.a.
anonymously

…i secretly
enjoyed it.

[sssshhh...]

kelly clarkson
vs thom yorke
~
atoms for idols

mixed by
arty fufkin

“This is Atoms for Peace, off Thom Yorke’s new solo album, with American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson singing Because of You all over it. Poles apart or a match made in heaven? You decide for yourself. I tried to set up a bit of a dialogue between the two of them, a kind of unrequited love story, you know?Thom:

This blog really made my day! It amazes me how music is a universal language. It was strange to discover how someone hundred and hundred miles away, someone whom I’ll never meet, someone who was growing in a completely different society shares the same passion for music and has the same sensibility. I wish to thank you for some songs I’ve downloaded and to send you something in return.

I’ve seen some of Air’s songs, but this one from their 1999 Premiers Symptomes album is something that just won’t leave me alone. If I could choose and be transformed into something immaterial, this is how I would like to exist.

Maybe you already have it, maybe not…anyways, enjoy!

Salute!

Marija

• le soleil est pres de moi

im just trying to survive
thats all. photo by robert parkeharrison

originally from australia, sia’s prominent vocals with zero 7 truly left an unforgettable impression. she has created two solo albums both generously and cathartically sharing her own beautiful soft vulnerability. on her first album “healing is difficult”… in between the addition of hip hop beats and raw subdued mellow rhythms, you may simply notice the difference of feeling delirious and melancholy.

a few years ago, sia packed her bags and headed off on a round the world trip. after enjoying colourful times in some unusual places, she agreed to meet up in london with the man she described as her ‘first true love’. a week before she was to arrive, he was run down and killed by a black cab on kensington high street..

from healing is difficult [2000]

• im not important to you
• fear
  

I’m not going to post any fancy preface.

These are just a few digital pieces that i’ve done plus the songs that I am digging on right now. I hope that you enjoy.

Elliott Smith – A Place To Stay Featuring Mary Lou Lord
(from the Jackpot XO Sessions)

Failure – Smoking Umbrellas
(Live at the Whiskey A Go Go 6/9/97)

Nerf Herder – Van Halen

Keegan Dewitt & The Sparrows – Bed Of Mercy

Bob Dylan – Girl From The North Country

The Flaming Lips – Breathe
(Live At Glastonbury 2003)

For once, I’m going to post about a band that doesn’t involve acoustics.

While the name of this band has changed many times – Flavor, Tagine, now Secret Solution- the quality of their music has never wavered. This band employs several genres- particularly a seamless blend of rock and funk- to create some of the most original music out there. It’s so rare to find a band that is so flawlessly gifted in every area that I find it almost unbelievable that no one knows about them.

This is the perfect band to listen to when you’re looking for songs to dance naked to, or perhaps a song to blare at full volume while you pretend you’re the missing background vocalist.

This is a band better heard than described. When I rediscovered their music on Myspace I knew it was something I had to share with a blog that has only contained the very top notch of music.

nothing will ever come
between you and me
isn’t that what we said
and wanted to believe
is it an accident
that we were meant to be
nothing will ever come
between you and me
except each other

Except Each Other

Solution

Quite Enough