Phoenix's shiny and clean production style has always been instantly likeable. Something about how they get their guitars to blend just-so with the synths in the mix really just does it for me. Their music sounds like the music which would be made by very nice boys who would win your mother's approval. It doesn't hurt that these dudes know how to write a catchy hook, either. "Alphabetical" was one of my favorite albums of 2004. And did you hear last year's live album? Makes me that much more sore that I've never seen them live. And it appears that I won't be seeing them live on this tour, either (still another 6 weeks or so until I move to NYC). Here's to 2007!

Phoenix are wrapping up the US leg of their tour in a couple weeks.

30 Apr Coachella Festival
02 May San Francisco CA @ Bimbo's
06 May Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
07 May Philadelphia PA @ Northstar
08 May Cambridge MA @ T.T. The Bear's
10 May New York NY @ Bowery Ballroom (SOLD OUT)

By now, if you've been keeping up, you've probably heard the track "Long Distance Call" off of their upcoming album "It's Never Been Like That" (release date May 23). Here are a couple more tracks from that album... if you go to their myspace site, you'll find some of these songs available to listen. They seem to be rotating the songs on there at a pretty good interval.

Phoenix - Consolation Prizes

Phoenix - Rally

Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better (Live) (from "Live! 30 Days Ago")

taken from the official website:

"IT'S NEVER BEEN LIKE THAT" Phoenix third album, is being released...
in Europe, Mexico, Australia, South East Asia > May 15th
in Japan > May 10th
in US > May 23rd (on Astralwerks)
in Canada > June 13th

Digital album out May 15th on all legal platforms!
(> deluxe version inc. 2 exclusive live tracks available on the iTunes stores across Europe + an awesome surprise package will be soon available on iTunes France)

"LONG DISTANCE CALL" is being released in Europe on May 8th!
It will be available as a digital download on all US platforms on April 25th.


Half-days are good for the mental health. Posting music is way better than writing about how bored I get in the clinic. Posts about my life will resume once something interesting happens. Have a nice weekend.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 3:40 PM |

i'm taking a half day tomorrow. weekend music comes early.

Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To (Metronomy Remix)

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out (Hot Chip Remix)

Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama Out (Hot Chip Remix)

Le Tigre - TKO (Hot Chip TK Max Mix)

p.s. people, if you're not listening to the coup, then you're not paying attention.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 12:26 AM |

from the same team that brought us "blue eyes meets bed stuy" comes this hot platter, PURPLE REIGN. this time they mix dipset with prince. honestly i could just stop right there. and so i will.

first, listen:

The Bangers - The Whistle Song vs. Kiss & A Love Bizarre

The Bangers - Horse & Carriage vs. Sexy M.F.

(both songs available for download from their myspace page.)

the song i'm particularly antsy to hear is the one that mixes "What Means the World To You" with "When Doves Cry" - jesus peas that shit will be so hot!

you can order this hottness from sandbox automatic, and they even throw in a juelz santana mix tape for free! this is something i am very tempted to do unless someone wants to send me a 4 month early birthday gift. if you like, we may also call it a 3 week early graduation gift.

---

and for those that prefer the details about my life: clinic was boring, happy to be almost done with school, procrastinating about packing and such, wong kar wai knows colors, samurai 7 is good fun, bit torrenting is consuming my free time, spank rock is still the heat, fishscale is still the heat, wearing neckties is still tired, and a haircut of drastic proportions is being threatened. anything else? ask tamar what was on TLC last night.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 9:53 PM |

to make my lazy sunday a bit more noisy, i present to you, dear readers, a smattering of music i've been listening to lately (some tracks are lifted from other mp3 bloggers out there).

Van She - "Kelly (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix)"

Luscious Jackson - "Naked Eye (Propellerheads Remix)"

Hot Chip - "Boy From School (Erol Alkan's Extended Rework)"


also, make sure to head over to my new favorite mp3 blog with only the occassional english language post, fluo kids, scroll down to this post, and proceed to download all 4 christina milian tracks, because they're all pretty fantastic (unless you've got something against three 6 mafia, lil' wayne, young jeezy, and juelz santana).

charles, any translations you can offer for that site would be well appreciated.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 3:04 PM |

last night, as a testament to how jumpin' beloit is, i stayed in and watched wong kar wai's "chungking express". it was beautifully shot, and the two plots were fairly loosely connected, but i enjoyed it nonetheless. i loved the shots where the cops were moving in slow motion, drinking a coffee or dropping a coin in the jukebox, and people were moving blurringly fast in the foreground. or those smeared, frozen-frame shots of whenever brigitte lin was dancing through the streets, squeezing off gunshots.

embarassingly, that's my first WKW film, i've never gotten around to seeing any of his stuff before. insert various reasons and excuses here. that will change soon, i plan on getting through "in the mood for love" and "2046' shortly. watching his film almost felt to me like i was reading a murakami book. does that make sense? he shoots like murakami writes. all dreamy and such.

while we're on the subject of interesting asian films, i'll also comment that i saw "oldboy" last week and while it certainly was violent and disturbing, i didn't find it to be nearly as shocking as i was warned it would be. don't get me wrong, some of the subject matter in the film would undoubtedly be untouchable in George's America, but i definitely thought movies like "battle royale" were much more violent (even though it's a different sort of violence, on a comic scale), especially if we're talking about blood-and-guts gore here.

*kind of a spoiler* what i found most interesting about the film was how when viewing the characters and their search for revenge, you realize that park chanwook actually misdirects you initially into thinking that the title character is the true focus, the vigilante, when in reality, the real vengeance is coming from his tormenter, as it were. *end pseudospoiler*

so. enough about asian films. let's move on to asian myspacers that look exactly like me. homeboy hasn't written back yet. clearly he's afraid of the same things that i was - what if he messages me and it gets delivered to his own inbox? creepy.

on a final note, alan braxe and fred falke can remix anything into pure genius. for an example, listen to their remix of van she's "kelly" - WOW.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 12:00 PM |

that is NOT me.

and this is NOT my myspace page.

www.myspace.com/kimchipower


but what the hell, dude LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE ME
bunny ears and everything

anyway, i tried to add him as a friend but he isn't biting
so i sent him this msg:

so here's the deal

we look a LOT like each other
no joke
its fucking scary
and i'm korean too
i just opened my myspace thing up and you were under "cool new people" or whatever and i just about shit
also because we have similar haircut
also creepy

so lets be friends because its funny
also, my rap crew performs in chicago
and i can't make a lot of the shows since i dont live there
so YOU can be my stand in, you would just need to lipsync
NOT EVEN JOKING

give it a thought

later

j

i realize that using the singular for "haircut" makes me seem even more asian than i really am. so sorry

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 6:24 PM |

big ups to my lil sis on her birthday

you done it for real now

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 9:08 PM |

more at flickr

yes i realize i've been quite slow in getting these pictures up.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 3:21 PM |

living in beloit, doing rotations at the clinic and hospital, staying with my parents = quiet. slimson and i have spent a lot of quality time watching asian films, which is always a must. i'm trying to convince him that spending 3 hours watching a kurosawa samurai flick is a great idea.

i haven't been posting much. not much to talk about. mon through wed i'm in clinic, doing mostly geriatric stuff, which is not hard but not terribly interesting. thurs and fri i'm in the OR doing anesthesia stuff which i find way more interesting, which was to be expected.

so what's been fun?

i was unable to make the live in-studio recording of tha 446 on WLUW's Radio One, but i was able to listen to the mp3 here. i'm totally biased and i found it brilliant and hilarious. is jacob EATING the entire time? awesome. i heard their cd release party went off without a hitch. totally wish i could have been there. i hope i'll have time to share the stage with them again before i leave for NYC.

i'm listening to the new streets album. maybe i've come around or maybe i just think this album is better, but this is the first streets album that i'm actually enjoying thus far. honestly i thought the first two were just crap. ok, maybe not CRAP, but the beats were unimpressive and his raps were barely there. no cadence, no beat-riding, weak vocals, and so on and so forth. so i'm on track 2 and so far so okay.

what's really impressive is the new T.I. album. seriously. that and the new ghostface.

i received my ACLS materials in the mail today. i will be taking the course in madison on may 23 and 24. this way i will have an extra weekend off in late june in NYC. unfortunately, montefiore housing will (probably) not be able to give me a move-in date until mid to late may. so much for planning ahead.

ok track 3 kinda blows.

and here's the plan for moving: rent a cargo van from enterprise, fill it with stuff, drive to bronx, unload, drop off van. this way i don't have to deal with packing and shipping guitars and electronics, or stressing about how much the moving company will rob me once they lock the doors on their truck.

hi charles, look at how expensive this sandwich is. buy one and tell me if its any good. send me some.

track 4 is better. have critics commented before that mike skinner is like a british pre-angst eminem? i'm sure they have.

i finished reading ham on rye by bukowski. it was really good. i will definitely seek out more of his writing. currently i'm reading a book about human cadavers used in medical practice. we'll see if it holds up against bukowski.

track 5 is starting off ok...

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 8:39 PM |