M-IS-ISOL35NOISE

It's because I am starting to look A LOT like Skeletor....

Remember He-Man???

**I35N'S 2009 Note: This page is live over at my WordPress blog:

http://isol35noise.wordpress.com/live-show-archive/

I recently came up with the idea to construct, recollect, reconstruct, and create a live show archive for my blog. Basically, I wanted to try and come up with a master list of every single (God willing) concert, instore appearance, comedy show, and festival show I've ever seen in my entire life. At one point in time, I had a lot of my old First Avenue colored concert tickets from the olden days (well, circa the early to mid 90s, that is) but I am not sure if I even still have them. This is going to be quite a challenge and will take quite a bit of time. For the time being, you can find the "Live Show Archive" link on the left hand side of The Noise under the Pages section, or you can click here. It will be updated periodically.**

...and I don't mean the band.



ATP Festival just announced that My Bloody Valentine is headlining their New York installment of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival happening September 19-21, 2008. Elsewhere, I've read that MBV (according to their booking agent) is planning to play in 6 to 8 U.S. cities in September. I hope that they at least perform in San Francisco or Los Angeles. I highly doubt that they would hit Seattle (unless suddenly Bumbershoot organizers announce their appearance at the Bumbershoot Festival, which is also in September). MBV hasn't performed in the United States in over 16 years. WOW! I can't wait until they announce more dates. Read more at:

Pitchfork Media
Tiny Mix Tapes
Brooklyn Vegan
The Daily Swarm
Prefix Magazine

Generally speaking, I am a firm believer in the freedom of expression in most forms. You don't have to like the art that certain artists create or like the viewpoints that certain people present to respect the right of these people to exhibit their expression. What does bother me is when this freedom of expression is used to harm another person, animal, or creature.

***WARNING: Link to this story contains disturbing photos. Please view at your own discretion***

I was sickened to read about this heart-wrenching story, which Margaret Cho posted in her blog. I am so disheartened by this random act of violence in the supposed name of "Art" that I have difficulty with providing an explanation. Basically, an artist took a stray dog from the streets and chained the dog in an art gallery (as part of an art exhibition in Honduras) for display, leaving the dog there to die from starvation without anyone doing anything. It should be noted that there have been some conflicting viewpoints as to whether this story is a hoax or not. Even still, the fact that anyone would even think for one second that orchestrating an elaborate "hoax" like this would be even remotely funny should be chained up and left to starve to death themselves.

It's as if I needed another reason to validate my belief that human beings in general are cruel and inhumane. This just proves my point further. The story speaks for itself and there's also a petition you can sign as well that could potetntially prevent this kind of cruelty from ever happening again.

If you don't want to view the photos, you can also sign the Petition here.

***WARNING: Link to this story contains disturbing photos. Please view at your own discretion***

P is for Portishead. It's been nearly 10 years in the making and is almost here at last. Portishead's new album, Third, comes out a week from tomorrow, on April 29. However, Last.fm is streaming the entire album on its Portishead page today ONLY.



Listen here

This past Saturday was Record Store Day and Easy Street Records in Queen Anne played Third when I was there. Judging from the first half that I heard, I am going to love this release. More on this exciting new release later.

Apparently, the new Madonna record, Hard Candy, is a hotly-anticipated release. That's news to me...I am not "hotly anticipating" its imminent release. As a matter of fact, I am not looking forward to it. I particularly don't like the fact that the grossly overhyped and overrated boy wonder Justin Timberlake is involved with the album. I mean, it's bad enough that he had to taint Duran Duran's album from last year. I wish he would just go away. I HATE HIM, plain and simple.* Sorry, but that's my opinion...and I am sticking to it.

*I hate him so much I simply can't justify inserting a hyperlink to anything even remotely connected to that tool.

...that's Birchville Cat Motel, in case you didn't know. I've heard interesting things about BCM (which actually is just one guy, a New Zealander named Campbell Kneale), although I don't know a whole lot about him. But, he's collaborated with other folks, including Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo. He runs two labels, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon and Battlecruiser, which releases his work along with other New Zealand musicians, a lot of which come out in limited edition CD-Rs. I recently stumbled upon a bunch of mp3s of some of BCM's limited edition CD-Rs on the MP3axx blog, which has peaked my interest in checking out Kneale's work. I easily have a workday's worth of drone and noise to get me through this Friday at work.

On a recent trip to Borders, I purchased two distinctly different magazines which featured cover articles on two of my absolute favorite female perfomers on Planet Earth.



1. Oscar-Winning Actress Tilda Swinton in Out Magazine, a GLBT publication.



2. Experimental Singer/Performance Artist Diamanda Galas in Terrorizer, a UK-based music magazine predominately devoted to the darker side of heavy metal (or black metal, I guess) music.

A funny happening at the checkout: I approached the seemingly nice salesperson with my impending purchases and was greeted with a "Boy, she's scary-looking." I was surprised when I realized that she was actually looking at the cover photo of Tilda Swinton when she made that statement.

Even though I was slightly aghast at the salesperson's comment, I giggled nonetheless at the ridiculousness of her statement. Huh? WTF? I smirked to myself. In her meek eyes, Tilda was scarier than Diamanda.

Spooky...

I should've asked her "What gives?"

I should've also asked the same question to the prissy, entertainment/tabloid television show hosts that dissed Tilda for her "fashion sense" on the Academy Awards red carpet back in February. The fact that Tilda won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in Michael Clayton was overshadowed by the condescending insults slung in her direction by the aforementioned celebrity wanna-be posers who really couldn't design their way out of a Gucci shopping bag. Tilda was accused of looking too manly and androgynous, was called an albino, and was mocked for not having eyebrows and the lack of makeup.

Diamanda Galas, on the other hand, exudes an outward intensity in physical appearance and stature. But, just when you think you have become acclimated to her presence, her multi-octave vocal range ferociously sends you flying into a brick wall. She's faced controversial and emotionally-charged themes head-on without flinching. She's extreme in every sense of the word, whether it's her approach to the subject matter of her art or her outspoken, "tell it like it is" demeanor during interviews. I revere Diamanda tremendously but if I were to ever to meet her in person, I'd feel extremely intimidated.

I guess it is just a matter of perception as to who or what is deemed scary in most people's eyes. I ponder why people seem to be so scared of those individuals who don't clearly fit either concrete "male" or "female" gender roles. So what if Tilda wears men's suits on magazine cover photos. So what if Tilda didn't wear makeup on the day that the Out cover photo was shot. What's the big deal anyway?

I've changed my Current 25 list so that I could insert the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album, Dig, Lazurus, Dig!!! I'd say that Lazarus is more rock-n-roll sounding than previous records, which could be atttributed to Cave's foray into the more blues-inspired grittiness of his Grinderman side project from last year. I am thoroughly enjoying this new sound.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Diamanda Galas - Guilty Guilty Guilty
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Lawrence - Lowlights from the Past and Future
Anthony Rother Presents We Are Punks 2
Faust/NWW - Disconnected
Boris with Merzbow - Rock Dream
J2 (Jarboe and Justin Broadrick) - Self-Titled
Grave Temple Trio - The Holy Down
Autechre - Quaristice
Sunn O))) - 00 Void (Japanese Reissue with Nurse With Wound remixes)
Ellen Allien - Boogy Bytes Vol. 4
Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
Miss Kittin - Batbox
Carlos Giffoni - Welcome Home
Sascha Funke - Mango
Justus Kohncke - Safe and Sound
Earth - Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
Stephen O'Malley and Z'ev - Magistral
Amber Asylum - Still Point
Stars of the Lid - ...And The Refinement of the Decline
CarterTutti - Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether
Uusitalo - Karhunainen
Byla and Jarboe - Viscera
Alan Vega - Station

Diamanda Galas - Guilty Guilty Guilty
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Lawrence - Lowlights from the Past and Future
Anthony Rother Presents We Are Punks 2
Faust/NWW - Disconnected
Boris with Merzbow - Rock Dream
J2 (Jarboe and Justin Broadrick) - Self-Titled
Grave Temple Trio - The Holy Down
Autechre - Quaristice
Sunn O))) - 00 Void (Japanese Reissue with Nurse With Wound remixes)
Ellen Allien - Boogy Bytes Vol. 4
Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
Miss Kittin - Batbox
Carlos Giffoni - Welcome Home
Monade - Monstre Cosmic
Sascha Funke - Mango
Justus Kohncke - Safe and Sound
Earth - Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
Stephen O'Malley and Z'ev - Magistral
Amber Asylum - Still Point
Stars of the Lid - ...And The Refinement of the Decline
CarterTutti - Feral Vapours of the Silver Ether
Uusitalo - Karhunainen
Byla and Jarboe - Viscera
Alan Vega - Station