Music Video: Major Lazer

Oh. My. Word. This has got to be one of the most repulsive videos in recent history made for a similarly repulsive song.

Major Lazer "Keep it Going Louder" from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

The colors and the digital is all eye candy, so why creep it out with those shrunken man faces on large, scantily clad, ladies bodies? Are you trying to be witty? Create some juxtaposition? What does that have to do with the song? Nothing. There is nothing challenging about this song!!

Darkness

I get all of 4 hours of daylight these days. I find the nearly-constant darkness to be a catalyst for complete personal metamorphosis: from a bubbly, active outdoor-type to a lethargic, whiny indoor-type. I ache more, i sleep more, and therefore i dream more painfully staccato dreams: murders, loss, ruin, endless pursuit, dead robots, peril.



Meathaus represented illustrator Farel Dalrymple has announced his forthcoming comic book, The Wrenchies, from which the above panels were jacked. If you likey like... there's an interview with Farel on the Vice site where you can also see more illustrations from the book.

mp3: I LOVE YOU BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS: When You Go Out
Blog credit: Music Is Art

Music Video!

Ready, Able by Grizzly Bear

Collage. Face.

I started this blog as an outlet for my collaging - and yet this is the first time i've posted my own collage. This is something i like to do (and impose it on my friends during drunken nights). I have stacks and stacks of them. Anyway... most recently:


by Adam Jessop


by Malissa Jeffers


by Dean Halford


by me, Dani Vachon
mp3: ELLEN ALLIEN & APPARAT: Do Not Break
Blog credit: Circle Square Triangle

Quickie = Simian Mobile Disco + some rad photograph

Oops it's after midnight. I did it again. Didn't mean to go out dancing til 2:30, but free beer and good music and un ske un ske un ske... i gotta work tomorrow (today). So here... lemme give you a Quickie (and i know my art posts haven't been kickin as much ass lately, but... i'm sleepy... cut a girl some slack):



mp3: SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO - Audacity of Huge
Blog credit: Dinleme Parki

*sigh*

Les Electrix

I'm pretty sure my hard drive is out to get me. It's not tersely holding a knife over it's "head" with the tip quivering an inch from my face while i lay unknowingly asleep - and it's not planting delicious poisons within arm's reach - it is, however, stubbornly refusing to accept new songs, and it is regularly warning me of its illness. It's playing les trix... ELECTRIX. Clearly, as someone paid to select songs in the hippest of public hangouts, it puts my life in danger to know of a vast array of fabulous new songs that i cannot play for the people.

So i'm protesting! Eff tha plastik! I suggest a return to des animaux de les woods (that's french, just to let all y'all Americans know):


(FALSE ALARM! I hope you didn't get your hopes up that you might buy one... these shits are 404 NOT FOUND)

mp3: EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROES - I Come In Please
Blog credit: Pasta Primavera

To Babies or Not To Babies

There is no question that the world is over populated. Global warming is clearly an issue. We have transformed the majority of our natural resources into hectares and hectares of trash. A scientist once said that the world cannot safely support more than a million and half human beings.


Giraffe Sex by Belle Brooks

So people have to die. We can't keep everyone alive indefinitely. All these population thinning terminal illnesses have arrived for a reason. And we can't be procreating at the same rate our grandparents were. They all thought, "more babies is good for the economy!" The economy can no longer be our number one priority.

So what does this mean for people like me (and maybe you) who naturally have an instinct, and accompanying intense desire, to have a child? I've been thinking about this for many years now, and my theory is this: each couple who wants children should have one and only one and commit to using cloth diapers and teaching the ways of green, while those who do not want children should TIE THOSE TUBES and guarantee that they never do.

Harsh? Maybe. But not as harsh as the average 600 "disposable" diapers per baby per month (that's 7200 per year) used by over 90% of the world's 134 million babies per year. That's 868.3 BILLION DIAPERS PER YEAR. "Disposable" being a sickening term given that most "disposable" items are made with plastics that will take 1000 years to biodegrade. Just sayin.

mp3: BABY DAYLINER - You Push I'll Go
Blog credit: Cerulean's Love of Music

Hint: Vacuums In Reverse

As you well know, when a vacuum is working normally it sucks up all those little bits and pieces that you can't sweep up or collect with your fingers. It gets in the corners. It sucks up small, winged insects. It's thorough.


by Raquel Issima

So who was the genius that invented the reverse switch? Think about it for a minute... what is the need for a "blow" feature? So you blow all those little bits and pieces that you can't sweep up or collect with your fingers into... what? the air? the corner? your dog's face? all over your person? And in the instance of fruit flies... ??? Nope. Not OK. This is chaos. This is mayhem. And this is dirty.


by Raquel Issima

mp3: GOLDEN SILVERS - True Romance (Remix)
Blog credit: Hate Something Beautiful

Today my song and art don't relate to my hint. Cuz i'm too busy to look for related items. Suck it.

Hint: Apples

So there are a whole bunch of thoughts that i really feel like blogging about because they are so on me brain, but then what if so-and-so browses my blog or google search results reveal my true feelings about such-and-such? So i'll be cryptic.

As with the wind spreading dandelion spoors, gravity can make the apple fall far far from the tree. Two apples from the same tree can even end up different colors, so that if they were presented to you on two separate plates you'd think they were unrelated brands of fruit.


by Jason Levesque aka StuntKid

mp3: PANDA BEAR - I'm Not (Phaseone Remix)
Blog credit: Pasta Primavera

Olio Festival

Dearest 25 people who heart my blog: sorry i've been lacking in the post department, but as you may already know, i've been throwing a festival. And while this may sound pretty straight forward, it is actually quite challenging and time consuming. I hope to be back in blog land next week. In the meantime, please enjoy two whole entire photos from the fest and a song i'm really digging this week:


I'm not sure who this is (!?) performing at the Red Room Thursday August 13th in front of a giant wall installation by Robert Mearns and Andy Dixon. Photo courtesy of The Futurists


Fake Shark-Real Zombie! performing at Funky Winkerbeans Thursday August 13th. Photo courtesy of The Futurists

mp3: SEA WOLF - You're A Wolf

Questions

I have questions... so many questions... i think it means i'm having an existential crisis.

Are we inside our bodies, or are we our bodies?
What are forces made of (ie. gravity and attraction)?
Does free will exist or are we slaves to fate?
Can we really manifest anything we want like The Secret suggests or is Rhonda Byrne just a lucky hippy who saw a window and opened it?
Where do we get one of these for our house?


Baltic Installation by Seripop


I'm Listening by Seripop

mp3: GANG GANG DANCE - First Communion
Blog credit: Cream Team

Funerals

I hang out with a lot of grieving people. And by "hang out" i mean "walk past them on the street." There is a funeral home and crematorium downstairs of my apartment. I have no idea where they put the burning corpse smoke, cuz i never smell it. Must be some rigorous bylaws that apply to crematoriums in the middle of the city. But they can't put a bylaw on crying. No crying in the streets. I wish. It's a off-putting event to weave your way through a bunch of bawlers every afternoon.


by Daniel Danger


by Daniel Danger

I thought the darkness of Mr. Danger's work might correlate with that story. But you know me... my stories almost never correlate with anything.

mp3: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - Brothers On A Hotel Bed
Blog credit: The Mahogany Blog

Mindsplosionz : three different songs (!!!)

I win. My mind made the biggest splash when it exploded. I like to dance harder than you.


by Yuko Shimizu


Tonight my roomie and i went to see the Bowerbirds at The Biltmore in Vancouver. I knew i loved their songs based on the fact that i'd been mad stealing them off the internet since the buzz hit and, when i found out they were in town this afternoon, i knew it would be self-punishment for weeks if weren't there. But really... they hit every note of their perpetual 4-part harmonies. Accordion, violin, upright bass, sideways kit, acoustic guitar and poets. Brilliance.

mp3: BOWERBIRDS - In Our Talons
Blog credit: Citzen Dick

I wanted to tell them, "I stole 3 songs of yours off the internet." I really did. I wanted to tell them that "It's OK that I stole them cuz I 'DJ' them at Narrow Lounge on Tuesdays and people ask what's up." I'm perpetuating the love, see? Love ooze. But i didn't tell them that. I was too busy riding the high of having whistled using my fingers for the first time

Anyway. Yea. Random change of subject: I'm still hell-bent on bringing some dancier artists to town. Things 'n' stuff.

mp3: KID CUI - Man On The Moon
Blog credit: The Burning Ear

Diverse Populations

Little dots, big dots, white dots, red dots, dots with dots inside...


by Jacob Livengood

Momma always told me "It takes all kinds..." And as you probably know (because everybody's momma says it) this is in reference to the variety of people on this earth.

Regardless of that deeply insightful wisdom, i still don't understand people who press their faces into a frown while simply walking down the street or sitting on the bus. That takes a lot of facial muscles... if you work those out too much you risk developing strange bulges in your cheeks, lips and forehead. And that's a Dani-fact. Differing from real-live-fact only in that it's not necessarily true.

Today, my experience doing advance production for Olio Festival has highlighted the diversity of people in the world. There are people who are easily excitable. There are people who look for any excuse to throw a tantrum. There are people who are flexible. There are people who, for the life of them, can't help but be the most beautiful, creative souls you have ever laid eyes on.


by Jacob Livengood

mp3: THE VERY BEST - Julia
Blog credit: The Tape Is Not Sticky

How Much Vancouver Kicks It

Vancouver is SO RAD. We have festivals and car-free Sundays. We have beaches and mountains. We have green roofs. We have a chef cooking for 48 hours straight (2 hour seatings of 20 people) down at grace-gallery this weekend while indie short films are shown on the projector. We have culture to the moon. Today i share with you two very talented visual artists and two amazing musicians from Vancouver:


Portion of the Atlantis installation by Christian Nicolay


Portion of the Generation Atari installation by Christian Nicolay


Winning album art by Andy Dixon


Detail of a Sitka T-shirt design by Andy Dixon

mp3: LIGHTNING DUST - Never Seen
Blog credit: Citizen Dick

mp3: HEY OCEAN - Mama Cries
Blog credit: i heart music

Dinner for Lovers

Share by Dan Park

A four letter word
I clutch my breast
I hang my head
Release my breath

I want not a psychology song or
Forbidden minutes the whole day long

A five fingered hand
I count the ways
I sink my teeth
In loin fillets

I fear not a long, thin life alone
But the digestion of my own marrow

Poem by ME, gaylords


Finally by Dan Park


Swim by Dan Park

mp3: METRONOMY - The End of You Too
Blog credit: Blog Rockin Peet

Sleep Dep

Wow, i seriously just spent 100 solid hours over 5 days designing the program guide for my festival. I had an average of 5 hours of sleep a night, ate at my computer, and had one break consisting of walking 3 blocks to a sushi restaurant for an hour. Thank God it's done and it looks good. So here's the thing, i'm exhausted. I shouldn't even technically be conscious right now. So what i'm gonna do: i'm gonna get horizontal, then when i wake up, i'm going to find you some amazing art & music. Deal? Deal.

Quickie = James Jean + Mum

Trike. Graphite and Digital, 4.75 x 7", 2006. By James Jean.


Chemistry. By James Jean.


Wallpaper for Haaz Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey. Graphite and Digital Color, approx. 10 x 33 feet, 2008. By James Jean.

mp3: MUM - The Smell of Today Is Sweet Like Breastmilk In The Wind
Blog credit: The Decibel Tolls

Never Grow Up

I read Getting The Love You Want while at the farm. Mom likes self-help books and i forgot to pack a fiction. It was surprisingly interesting. The psychology of romantic partnership suggests that we pair up to heal old childhood wounds. And here i thought it was for the sex and spooning.

The book also suggests that as children we are "whole beings" and as we are raised, we push parts of our personality into repression in an effort to please our parents and therefore survive. This repression apparently makes us partial beings who wander the earth as adults looking for our other half.

I don't know about that, but i do know i like kids! And i've always loved their drawings. South Korean photographer Yeondoo Jung obviously shares my appreciation but with more lust. Check it out:





If you like his stuff, please follow the link, there is so much more incredible work posted there. And you know what is SO BALLZ??? I just blew a speaker. Fuck.

mp3: NOW NOW EVERY CHILDREN - Car
Blog credit: Eldur Og Is

The Farm

Remember art-deco?




both by Erte

So i'm going away to the farm for 5 days. Helping the mom with the chores. Right in the middle of a huge work rush. Good one, Dani. So anyway, thought it best to leave you with another Quickie cuz there ain't gonna be fresh materials for a few days. Unless, miraculously, one of my "contributors" decides to contribute something. Ha! Prove me wrong, ladies... prove me wrong :-)

mp3: THE ART OF NOISE - Moments In Love (12" Beaten Version)
Blog credit: Art Decade

Quickie = Moby, Apparat, Neasden Control Centre

Hayward Gallery Installation (part) by Neasden Control Centre


TV On The Radio -music video by Neasden Control Centre

mp3: MOBY - Pale Horses (Apparat remix)
Blog credit: Datasapiens

Sheena Beaston

Sheena, you're a fucking Goddess. And you know it. Thank you for e-tronically sharing your amazing stiz-eez from the NY to the Ceeeez.



Sheendawg, we friends on the ol FB! And we never actually met. So um... next time i'm in NYC me+you+sparks=something like my vibe right now, except instead of being alone in front of a computer drinking vodka, it'll be me and you and a shit ton of radsters making hilarious jokes.

And also, i'm heavy petting this song right now. Not even kidding you.

mp3: MORRISEY - When Last I Spoke To Carol (Toy Selectah remix)
Blog credit: Subex

Hi! Like art?


by Container Collective


by Container Collective

I might be drunk. It's the time of day that teachers get up and influence the youth... whilst i attempt to influence that one random dude from Amsterdam who stumbles upon my blog before i decide this post is foolish and remove it.

Craig Kosak

Up here in Vancouver, if i were a painter, i would paint ocean and mountains and glass-steel high rises. Maybe the odd seagull eating some litter or scenester drinking a can of Dude Beer in skinny jeans on the beach.

So when i see Craig Kosak's paintings, knowing full well that he's from the South West, i imagine he's surrounded by horses, ravens and buffalo on a regular basis. And here i thought the South West was all strip-malls and fast food restaurants. Pfft. Go back to school.


Four Winds by Craig Kosak


Ravens And The Bison by Craig Kosak

mp3: CHRIS GARNEAU - Fireflies
Blog credit: Winter Academy

A. Andrew Gonzalez

This morning (noon) i woke up in the bathtub after walking home drunk post-DJ-debut. I had been dancing pretty hard all night on what turned out to be the last day of a heat wave. I think i exercised for a good solid 4.5 hours all told, including 1 hour directly up a mountain... i'm not even kidding, there were like 1000 "stairs" straight up. Anyhoo, the point of my story is that when i woke up in the tub, which was filled with blankets not water, i smelled like a hippy. Now, i got no problem with peace and love, but B.O. leaves something to be desired.

I did wash the grime off pretty much immediately, but the feeling of hippyness remains. I love you Dawn & Nik. Love you mom. Love you Rache and Antonia. Love you Matty. Love you everybody! I loOove you, world. Love your hippy ass, A. Andrew Gonzalez.


Naga by A. Andrew Gonzalez


Unio Mystica

mp3: LEE HARVEY OSMOND - Love of One
Blog credit: Hero Hill

Inka Essenhigh

I am refreshed, despite this massive sun burn on my back (uh oh no ozone!), by the uniquely fluid delivery on these paintings.


The Snow At Night by Inka Essenhigh

Now i know Inka Essenhigh is not the newest kid on the block, but she was a forger, and for that she holds a special place in my blog. In the late 90's she inspired several artists in New York (most noteworthy: Cecily Brown, Will Cotton) to follow her "Pop Surrealist" style.

Pop Surrealists, great term, great art. Can it be applied it to music, too?

mp3: HOT CHIP - Take It In
Blog credit: Mr. Meuble

Moments

I went to the ION Magazine party last Saturday. It took place in an old abandoned bank on Main & 2nd Avenue in Vancouver. It was very raw and original and there was free chocolate and gum everywhere. Needless to say, i scooped as many chocolate bars as i could fit in my purse; i'm just that kind of girl. They are called Cadbury Moments - 8 individually wrapped pieces of solid chocolate with soft gooey chocolate in the middle (per bar).

Having a plethora of free, soft chocolate is an absolute hazard for me. I have been eating ludicrous amounts of the stuff. Yesterday it felt like my blood was vibrating. It wasn't until this very moment that i realized it may have been from consuming detrimental quantities of chocolate goo. My veins got snakey and i felt nauseous. To illustrate to you how i felt, i have found these paintings by Jack Morefield:


Red by Jack Morefield


Tara by Jack Morefield

Do you feel it? No? Grab yourself about 75 Moments, eat them in 3 days, and you will. Guar-an-teed.

mp3: JON HOPKINS - Light Through The Veins
Blog credit: Pampelmoose

Um

What is this? Seriously, what is this?? And better yet, what kind of person would paint this? I did a little surfin trying to find out who this Chris Ryniak character really is, but all i found out is that he was born a baby.


(an ulcer with eyes eating a rock?) by Chris Ryniak


(an angry hummbingbird carrying a giant lima bean?) by Chris Ryniak

So what have i learned today? Hallucinogens make you crazy.

mp3: MEW - Introducing Palace Players
Blog credit: Esoteric Mumblings

Grasshopper-kabobs

Few times in my life have i been cruel to animals, but when i was about 4 years old with family and friends at an outdoor Blues Festival in the Okanagan, i did a terrible thing. The Okanagan is hot and dry and laden with grasshoppers. Me and my little friends thought it would be fun to make grasshopper-kabobs, skewering them alive, and then placing the kabob in a plastic bag and pulling the stick out and watching them spazz about until they eventually died. It was disgusting. Lucky for my conscious, i saved a baby bird that had been bitten on by my cat a few months later. Its brains were coming out of the holes my cat's teeth had left in its skull. Regardless of that act of sainthood, my conscious has not been cleared. The first thing i thought of when i saw this beautiful illustration, was grasshopper-kabobs.


by Feric

For the record, i now hold a deep respect and love for animals (and insects), and prefer vegetarian food.

mp3: LA ROUX - In For The Kill
Blog credit: Chrome Music