Unprecedented!

I've been listed as a permissible writer of Heap since K. Tabor founded it, I never really posted on it though. I generally find out about neat things after they've lived their life, but I respect this place and am gonna post some news:

Architecture in Helsinki has a new album coming out by the end of this year, tentative name is "Vision Revision." Helsinki makes a variety of music: That Beep; Like It or Not.

However, I am more of a politics/current events guy. I don't want to plague this blog with a lengthy post on political affairs, but feel free to check out my personal one on my own blogspot (as shittily designed as it is). Most recent post deals with COICA, a very imminent bill that may threaten free speech and the structure of the internet.

I suppose one other cool thing I know about is a mashup of Daft Punk's "Robot Rock" and Beastie Boys' "Intergalatic". I think it's fantastic. This is a pretty awesome matchup, too.

Also, this guy's music is neat: http://yourimaginaryfriends.bandcamp.com/. He's a friend.

Aight Bitches

Time to bring the heap back. Seriously, for real this time.
I've been an angry little recluse for a while now and I was in no mood to put any effort into this. Beginning right now I'm gonna be updating this blog a lot and I'm gonna try to bring in a lot of new things, art, current events, and hopefully not just stuff I find on the internet.
But speaking of the internet, here's a nifty short film by the french animation collective H5.

Enjoy and leave any impulsive thoughts about it below.
LOGORAMA

Of Archetypes

Hey friends! I started a blog that I'll be posting on often about more personal things. If your interested, you can follow me at http://ofarchetypes.blogspot.com

I want to encourage free thought within that page. Feel free to oppose my assertions and views. Just remember to stay open minded and respectful.

Love you sugarlumps,
Marcus

Three of a perfect pair, King Crimson Vs BTBAM

Hello! I have a pretty simple question for you guys, whose version of "Three of a perfect pair" do you like better? The King Crimson original or progressive metal band, Between the Buried and Me's cover?

King Crimson

BTBAM

And just for fun, the two songs combined

RYAN MCGINLEY - PHOTOGRAPHER

Many of you are probably familiar with the Levi's Jeans Go Forth advertisements which started airing last year. Personally I thought they were awesome, and I'm usually pretty critical of corporate ad campaigns. I was so taken by the ads that I actually decided to look up who was involved in making them, and I am quite glad I did.
Ryan McGinley is the photographer behind the print ads of that campaign as well as numerous others, If you are familiar with the Sigur Ros album "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly" then you've seen his work adorning the front cover.
His photography explores the wild side of humanity, not by way of the grit of vices but instead by capturing jovial romps through the wilderness, youthfulness to its most extreme. There is a mystical quality to his photographs, especially the Moonmilk series which is pure magic.
Marcus brought up the debate of whether or not photography is art in his last post, I think that Ryan McGinley's work reinforces that it is most certainly art.

A little warning: Basically all of his pictures contain nudity.
RYAN MCGINLEY

NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA

It's been a while since I've posted so expect several more posts from me within the week.

Canada has a long tradition of promoting and protecting their arts. The National Film Board of Canada is the Canadian Government's public film producer and distributor (Those Socialists!). Since its beginning in 1939, the films produced by NFB have won over 5000 awards. The films range from Stop Animation to Documentaries and there's really quite a few cool films in every category.
Their website hosts many of these films and I suggest going there and digging around.

Several Films I recommend checking out: The Necktie, This Is a Recorded Message, and Subservience

National Film Board

Peter Funch - Photographer

I don't really have a lot to say about this except for that I think this man has some very interesting work. It has been a long debate on whether or not photography should be considered art, and I think that Peter Funch has made a case defending what photography is capable of expressing. In my humble opinion, his most interesting collection is "Babel Tales". If these photographs were not staged, they have impeccable timing.

DISCLAIMER: The selection "CRASH" has photos of death that could be a bit disturbing, so keep that in mind.

Peter Funch's Website

Essay: Ethnocide, or the Death of Language and Conversation

To coincide with one direction that I think would be beneficial for the Heap to head in, I'm posting an essay I wrote last semester for my Composition class. The essay is on Eugene Ionesco's Absurdist play, "The Bald Soprano" (a personal favorite of mine). I hope everyone will take a few minutes to read it and then leave some thoughts, it certainly would be appreciated.

Here's a performance of a scene from the play (a little hard to hear, but the best adaptation I could find on youtube).

The essay can be found here.

*Picture is from a visual treatment of the play by Robert Massin. Others are worth looking at, and can be found here. Sorry, its in French.

-Jordan C. Ozubko

Natalie Bush- Artist

Since it's late, and I have tendencies to ramble, I'll keep this first post of mine short and simple.

Natalie Bush, college senior, is a painter, poet, and photographer. She has a talent for blending these art-forms, as well as others, together to create beauty. Her pieces reach an achievement many artists' works fall short of doing, they spark something in you and cause you to think about things other than exactly what is right in front of you. She's something different, and something brilliant.

Check out her website

-Emily

POST #22

I'm taking a break from doing the band of the week this week, instead I'm just going to post a bunch of links to artists that I've discovered over the past month or so and you can check them out without any pretext.
The reason that I'm forgoing the usual fare this week is because I feel Heap has grown a little stale and only rooted in music related posts, I'm working on introducing some new things soon to remedy that.
Of course, I'm kicking that off with this post, which is music related...

Bombadil

Bowerbirds

Megafaun

Rocky Votolato

Two Door Cinema Club

Danger

Fanfarlo

Andrew Morgan

Matt Pond PA

Dawes

BAND OF THE WEEK: KITTENS ABLAZE

Political music is very hit or miss with me. When I can tell that it's sincere, and the band actually feels what they are playing, then, to me there's nothing quite as visceral and exciting. When it feels like the singer is just jumping on the bandwagon and complaining to show how "concerned" they are, I can't stand it. Recently most folk/americana acts have felt that way to me, they didn't want to incite any real change, they really just wanted to get attention, maybe it was because it was just so easy to join everyone else in hating George Bush, you always knew your band would agree with you. Don't get me wrong, I really like Bright Eyes (I figured I'd just get right out to saying what bands I was talking about) but it never felt real when Conor Oberst shouted "I'm wide awake, it's morning!", after listening I didn't feel like getting up and changing things, I just felt like a complacent middle class white-kid, content with sitting at a starbucks and complaining about how awful authority is.
Kittens Ablaze is not Bright Eyes, they didn't choose an easy time to criticize the government and it's leaders. Dissenters are no longer typified as anti-war protesters, people fighting passionately for a good moral cause as they were under Bush, instead they are seen as (often appropriately) nut-jobs and racists, people holding miss-spelled signs demanding the president's birth certificate. It's not easy to be political in a time like this, but Kittens Ablaze shrugs off any warning that they might have received and throw themselves right into the throng while still standing miles away from the Fox-News induced insanity.
Their music does not punch you in the face with knowledge like Rage Against the Machine, but it is just as passionate, possibly more so. The band is a six-piece Folk-Punk-Americana outfit from Brooklyn whose sound recalls a blend of Los Campesinos!, The Decemberists, and Bright Eyes. They've come to be known for their high-energy live performances, (they smashed a cello at SXSW last year), and the music to go with it.
If you aren't really down with politics at all it's okay, their music isn't all throwing stones at the windows of the establishment, they also deal with issues of morality and things of the like.

Sorry I spent most of this post knocking on Bright Eyes, I really do like their music.
anyway... check out the link below to hear something that's relatively unlike anything you've ever heard before.

KITTENS ABLAZE

Why I oppose Washington State's HB2401

Hello, my name is Jordan and I, admittedly, hate talking politics. However, in the past 6 months there has been a good number of states introducing medicinal marijuana legalization or decriminalization bills into their respective congresses. Those bills appeal to a certain interest of mine and I have begun following said bills through their (usually short) lives.

Currently 14 states have legalized medicinal marijuana and 11 states have decriminalized it. The most recent action on this topic has taken place in Washington state. This is in the form of HB2401 (non medicinal marijuana legalization) & HB 1177 and its Senate counterpart SB 5615 (marijuana decriminalization). House bill 2401 allows the sale of marijuana, in liquor stores, to those 21 and older. While this bill may appeal to most cannabis enthusiasts, I have a problem with it. That is, I believe that selling pot out of liquor stores isn't the right answer, for the reason that marijuana should have no connotations with alcohol. It simply wouldn't be fair to it, marijuana is non harmful and even medicinal, while alcohol is addictive and menacing.

Would it really be fair to sell something thats used to treat chronic pain, Multiple Sclerosis, and Cancer, alongside something with no medicinal value? Doing so, in my opinion, would only further perpetuate the negative connotations that cannabis carries with it.

That is why I am happy Washington voted against HB2401, 6-2 opposed. Heres a link to a news article. Still, congrats for trying Washington.

BAND OF THE WEEK: HADOUKEN!

Hailing out of Leeds, England is quite possibly the only band deserving of the name Hadouken!, a special move from the Street Fighter series (in case you didn't already know). Their sound, which is a dizzing blend of dance-punk, videogame-esque synths, drum n' bass, and rap/sung vocals is pure energy.
Their first LP, Music For an Accelerated Culture Was a lyrical the seedy underbelly of youth culture, accompanied by synth riffs reminiscent of 32-bit fighting games (huh, go figure) the result is an album perfect for getting you in the mood to go do something against the law.
Their newest album, For the Masses which dropped today, saw them team up with drum n' bass producers NOISIA to create a more refined release. The videogame riffs are still present but are fewer and replaced by heavier drums. The lyrics have become more simple and less focused, the sound is more like that of club music, but it's still Hadouken! and it's still incredibly intense.
Check em' out if you enjoyed playing street fighter or just want to try something completely new...

HADOUKEN!

SHORT STORY: A Death Study

Here's a short story from Jordan Ozubko, I'll post the first segement as a teaser and then a link to the rest since it's relatively long for the blog.

I

It was on that damp Parisian night that I died. I awoke the following morning to find that little in my setting had changed. The sun rose, the people were out, and I was in my room. In fact, nothing had changed.

Initially, I was utterly shocked and repulsed by the lies I was fed throughout my mortal life. In death, I was not condemned to hell, but instead I remained in my meek settings, pondering the circumstances of my death.I began smoking a cigarette, while watching the smoke dance off of the burning cherry at the end, it came to me. It must have come at some point after I drunkenly left the café and walked to my room. However, I see little benefits in dwelling on what cannot be changed, prevented, or altered. After all, what is the point of loathing and lamenting on your death after you spend decades loathing and lamenting your life? The purpose of these entries is to explain how I died one day and arose the next day .

READ ON

POLAROID IS BACK, STOP THANKING LADY GAGA

I feel I must say something before anymore word spreads that Lady Gaga had anything to do with Polaroid's decision to bring back their instant film and cameras. She did not, she was recently given the position of creative director AFTER the decision was made to bring back their classic cameras.
If you want to thank someone for saving Polaroid, thank the people involved with The Impossible Project they have been tirelessly petitioning polaroid to re-launch production and polaroid has given them the rights to produce instant film for the line of Polaroid cameras to be released later this year.

The Quite Late "Best of 2009" list

I apologize that this is much further behind than I originally intended, but the holidays were busy. Yada yada. Enough bull honky. On with the show!

In no particular order, these were my favorite things I found, heard, watched, learned, or ate in 2009.

The Wallflowers

This was a rediscovery of a band I grew up listening to, but never knew the name of. The Wallflowers "Bringing Down the Horse" is a blast to the past for a 90's kid that listened to the radio. The first few tracks have, what a few of us might consider, some of the best mixes in sound engineering history. Not only is the music quality, but the legacy behind the music is quite intriguing. The frontman, Jakob Dylan, is none other than the son of old Bobby himself. However, if you are not a fan of Bob Dylan, that shouldn't get in the way of you opening up to this band. Jakob has much more control of his vocals and rarely mimics his father.

Cardigans

I will admit, I was against cardigans as they became popular again for whatever reason, but maybe it was mere exposure effect when I started to want one. I caved.

Happy?

Ceasar Salad

Growing up, I never really enjoyed leafy foods, that was, until I recently discovered the Ceasar Salad. I'm not really sure how to elaborate. Moving on!

Grizzly Bear

When I first got ahold of this record, I had mixed feelings. Some songs were solid, but others were dull. The more I found myself listening to it, the more I noticed the subtle beauty they sewn throughout, and that's when this became one of my favorite records of all time. It's a very challenging record as a musician, because you aren't quite sure what they were going for when mixing this record. It's almost as if the recorded 90% of the record in a cave. Either way, they managed to pull it off.

(500) Days of Summer

I already established at Heap that this movie was earthquaking to me emotionally, but I felt like it needed to established again. Everyone should see this movie.

Guitar

2009 brought me a deep appreciation for this instrument, and I only grow more fond of it. I am by no means a great guitarist, but I practice everyday in hopes of becoming decent one soon. The guitar really became magical to me after watching the documentary "It Might Get Loud" with Jack White, Jimmy Page, and the Edge. If you haven't seen it yet, find a way.

- Marcus

MUSIC DOUBLE POST: THESE NEW PURITANS and DIRTY PROJECTORS

There's been quite a few bands putting up full album streams and free content this week. These New Puritans are streaming their new album Hidden on their myspace and Dirty Projectors are offering their Ascending Melody 7" as a free download on their website. Check the links below for the hookups.
TNPS
Dirty Projectors