years ago, i was an angry young man
and i’d pretend that i was a billboard
standing tall by the side of the road
- i fell in love with a beautiful highway

David Byrne once listed the things he appreciated in art:

1. Lots of work put into it
2. Bright colours
3. Straight lines
4. Brush strokes
5. Words, letters, and numbers
6. Things that make me laugh
7. Things that remind me of pleasant experiences
8. Common things put together in a new way

9. Something I haven’t seen before
10. Glimpses of the artist’s personality
11. A good reason for the existence of each part
12. Symmetry
13. Things done in a formal manner
14. Things done to a personal scale
15. The interpretation left up to the viewer
16. Things that can be taken for their face value

17. Things that the Bourgeois would not like
18. Something that improves with continued viewing
19. Things that relate to the collective subconcious
20. Things that play little tricks on the senses
21. Gadgets and gimmicks
22. Elegant shapes
23. A fantasy world
24. A skillful use of the medium

LISTEN: Talking Heads - (Nothing But) Flowers

Hello.

This is to let you know that we have a special EARLY show coming up on Tuesday June 30th at Mercury Lounge. We will be playing early, at 7pm SHARP which is potentially a perfect time, depending on your schedule.

Below is some live video footage of us playing our song “Kerosene Dreams” out in San Diego last winter. We miss the west coast very much and we will be back out there soon!

Hope to see you on Tuesday, June 30th at Mercury Lounge more info on the show can be found here.

xo
autodrone

In remembrance of Michael Jackson, his legacy will live on forever.

ARTWORK BY YOMA

Jeff Buckley is one of those special artists that is deserving of being held on the highest musical level out there.  The honor is only for genius sounds that most could never compare. It’s an honesty reflected in attitude, and an emotion that triggers some of the deepest senses.

Stream: We All Fall in Love Sometimes [2009]
previously unreleased recording,
written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

Video: So Real/Last Goodbye [Acoustic]
from the Live in Chicago DVD [1995]

On June 23, for one night only in NY, see and hear Björk’s Voltaic: The Volta Tour Live in Paris in glorious high definition video and audio at the School of Visual Arts’ beautiful new theater.

**To win a pair of ticket’s for tonight’s NYC screening, leave a comment below! A winner will be selected by 4pm this evening.**

Björk’s very special DVD/CD/VINYL recording Voltaic, out June 30 in the U.S. via Nonesuch Records (One Little Indian in the UK, and Universal worldwide.) Voltaic is a lovingly produced celebration of the past two years of Björk’s Volta activities—her critically praised sixth studio album, which came out in 2007, and the subsequent two-year world tour.

Check out the trailer here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9llxf_bjork-voltaic-the-volta-tour_shortfilms

SCREENINGS
June 23 –  Los Angeles, CA  @  The Montalban Theater
June 23 –  Madison, WI  @  The Orpheum Stage Door
June 23 –  New York, NY  @  SVA Theater
June 23-28  -  Oxford, MS  @  The Amp
June 23-28  -  Lake Geneva, WI  @  Geneva Theater
June 24  -  Minneapolis, MN  @  The Trylon Microcinema
June 26, 27  -  Seattle, WA  @  Northwest Film Forum
June 26, 27  -  San Francisco, CA  @  The Roxie
June 26, 27  -  Bellingham, WA  @  Pickford Film Center
June 26, 27  -  New Orleans, LA  @  Zeitgeist Arts Center
July 20  -  Austin, TX  @  Alamo Drafthouse Ritz
*more dates to be announced at www.cinemapurgatorio.com

LISTEN: Björk – Innocence [Volta, 2007]

The night finally managed to reach moderately tolerable temperatures, opulently lit with huge bonfires and singing voices all around. After skipping round the maypole with the others, I’ve finally managed to find a quiet corner to ponder this year’s summer solstice. The days will grow shorter from now on, holding a very faint prophecy of chill and rain, once we scale the scorching hills of summer. It’s good to be reminded that even this sweaty, mosquito drenched heat will pass, global warming not standing, though it takes a few more months.

I don’t know why British Nat Johnson (of Monkey Swallowed the Universe) made me think of this longing for the cold; maybe it was her warm voice, fit for a place by the hearth. Perhaps, feeling stuck in this dreary job, the line “I want to go home” being repeated in “Heart of Clay” spoke to me in earnest. The overall soothing feeling of her songs, calmly blazing at my office’s speakers, certainly dispersed some of the summer wrought stickiness.

Are you also looking forward to winter solstice? Check out Nat Johnson on her website, MySpace and last.fm for more tracks and tour info.

Listen:

Nat Johnson – Heart of Clay

Nat Johnson – Judy’s First Beat

cigarettes
words, images & music by russian red

now tell me what it is
it isn’t fair ’cause i’m wasting time
’cause it isn’t my heart, it isn’t my fault
and every situation understands, well
the anecdote of chasing the location to your door

’cause i’m wasting time
now i’m wasting money again
and all the cigarettes that i have never smoked
and all the letters that i have never sent

and he was sitting by the swimming pool
but he was scared ’cause it wasn’t his time, it wasn’t his chance
getting older’s not been on my plans but it’s never late
it’s never late enough for me to stay

’cause i’m wasting time
now i’m wasting money again
and all the cigarettes that i have never smoked
and all the letters that i have never sent

music is art wants to start trading mix cd’s with the community. simply, if you would like to send one, you’ll receive one in return. sound good? ♥

this exchange is open to anyone all over the world. please feel free to choose your own theme and of course, don’t forget to add your own artwork. to sign up, send your mixtape to:

danielle langley
c/o music is art
160 fairfield woods rd, suite 52
fairfield, ct 06825
usa

“The thing that’s important to know is that you never know. You’re always sort of feeling your way.”

ART: Diane Arbus
LISTEN: ANNE by Santogold [2008]

“Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them.”

“You have to systematically create confusion, it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life.”

LISTEN: The Virgins :/: Rich Girls [XXXchange Remix]
ART: Salvador Dali

IMAGES: New Resolutions
LISTEN: Feist – I feel It All (Britt Daniel’s Remix)

LET GO OF THE FEAR
[Dub Version] by Maps

to be nobody-but-myself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting
-e.e. cummings

IMAGE: FFFFOUND