Lawrence Loves

http://www.lawrence.com/news/2008/sep/01/andrewmorgan/

The first night of fall has made its way to Lawrence. It feels absolutely amazing. I bought Vashti Bunyan's Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind the week before last in anticipation of this day. It's lovely, fragile, and perfect for this kind of weather. Some of the songs are unbearably sad -- like "Old Friends" or "Voice of Old People" on Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel. She was 20 & living in Oxford when she wrote most of them. It's hard to imagine being so inconsolable in a place so beautiful.

Reading: Emerson - Self-Reliance

After a long delay, mixing is moving along at a steady clip. So far, Mike has knocked out Always in Dreams, How Swiftly I Fell, Minji Lee I & II, A Matter of Months, Remedy, First Snow of the Year (new mix), Letter to the West Coast, A Little Discipline, and Southside Dive. I'll post something on Myspace later this week. Right now it's looking more like all the new material will surface as a stream of EPs and singles, rather than an album & EP pairing ala AM & As Long As We're Together.

I've been teaching & guerrilla marketing for Kaplan Test Prep in Lawrence, and will be playing my first show here in ages and ages at Fatso's on September 9th. Depending on where I land a full-time job, it could be my last, too.

Listening: A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
Reading: Nietzsche - Human, All Too Human

GORILLAS!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/science/05apes.html

woman in traditional clothing, Meiji Jingu, Tokyo

You & Me, the new Walkmen album, begins with the words "well it's back to the battle today, but I wouldn't have it any other way." Weary, but full of fury; resigned, but ready for a fight. I adore this band. The new album won't win many new converts -- it's The Walkmen being The Walkmen, as decidedly Dylanesque and rough around the edges as ever. I wouldn't want it any other way. The album has arrived just when I needed it to. Running out of money and looking for work -- if I didn't have You & Me to listen to, I'd surely be turning to Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone or A Hundred Miles Off (I always save Bows + Arrows for winter).

I bought the new Coldplay album the day it came out, and while most of it is irreparably marred by cringe-inducing lyrics, Life in Technicolor, Lost!, Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, Viva la Vida, and Lost? are all great. I was a huge fan of Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head, which makes the band's descent into irrelevance all the more difficult to witness.

I've also been listening to Lawrence songwriter Suzannah Johannes lovely, but overly brief debut EP, and the newly posted Of Montreal song "Id Engager." I hated Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? at first, but was later won over by its pathos (i.e. Gronlandic Edit) while living in Seoul. Can't wait to hear Skeletal Lamping in full.

Watching: The Darjeeling Limited

JAPAN

Japan was incredible. After a ramen & gyoza lunch near Tokyo’s sprawling Ueno Park, jetlag kicked in, and I was out cold in my capsule hotel room at Shin-Okubo. For the next three days, I would wake up around 5am and wander down empty streets towards the city's central parks. The Meiji Jingu is the most beautiful of them -- perhaps the most beautiful I've ever set foot in, and passing through its gates at sunrise for the first time left me awestruck and weightless. During these times I discovered Fleet Foxes’ mesmerizing eponymous debut. The songs seem to beam out of a bygone era, radiating goodness and tranquility. The first time I actively listened to “Meadowlarks,” I was passing beneath Shinjuku skyscrapers and hadn’t spoken a word to another person for almost three days. I was staring upward at sunbeams reflecting off the glass when I heard the words “inside the broken ovals of your olive eyes.” That was the summer right there. If I remember one thing, that’s it.


I was little worried I’d have a hard time fully appreciating Japan after having had such a bad experience in Korea, but those fears were allayed by the end of my second day in Tokyo. The city is more akin to Paris than Seoul, projecting the kind of self-assuredness that comes with having been prospering on its own terms for centuries. Everyone seems to be just going about their business, secure in their identity and not really in all that much of a rush to get from A to B. I didn’t feel like I was being stared at by the young and scowled out at by the old, as I did in Seoul. I think what is most surprising about Tokyo is that it doesn’t feel at all crowded despite being home to a population of 12 million. The subway system, though expensive, is a marvel. I honestly can’t recall seeing a taxi. All in all, Tokyo lacks Seoul’s fiery cuisine, sense of mystery, and encircling mountains, but more than compensates in general atmosphere, cleanliness, organization, and parks that rival those of even London.


Sendai, where Moorworks is based, is Japan’s 2nd largest city. A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit the city in mid-June, and when I was there an aftershock ran through while I was underground on the subway. I didn’t even notice it, but still, I can now say I’ve survived both a tornado and an earthquake. Far more terrifying than either was eating grilled tongue with Yuya from the label at a local restaurant. I’d tried barbequed cow intestine in Seoul, but this was even more fearsome. No matter how much you chew, the food doesn’t get any smaller.


The country’s famed bullet trains live up to their reputation, as do the stretches of lush countryside they zip through. The route from Sendai to Yamagata winds upward alongside a river tucked between mountains. Yamagata was sweltering, serene, and reminded me a little of Fort Collins, Colorado. I was only there briefly, but enjoyed walking through cemeteries and taking a day trip with Yuki from Moorworks to eat at the prefecture’s best soba noodle restaurant. These noodles are served cold and then dipped into a bowl of warm soy sauce, wasabi, and green onions. Highly recommended.


The tour was great. Within hours of arriving, I was signing little placards for a display of AM and MIR at the Shibuya HMV in Tokyo, which is the nation's biggest record store. The first show was that night -- at Mona Records in Tokyo's collegiate Shimo-kitazawa neighborhood. There were several bands on the bill, with the most memorable being a chain-smoking group of Italians playing as Salome Lego Playset. When I used to play every month in Chicago, it seemed like I’d have to stop the set and ask a few people in the audience to either please be quiet or take their conversation to the bar. It was a moment I always dreaded, but a necessary one because crowd noise completely unnerves me. Everyone in Japan was so polite and sweet, making it easier to play with focus and confidence. The show at the Junk Box in Sendai was the best of my life -- "supernatural," someone said – and so much of it had to do with playing to such a lovely crowd. Before the tour, I'd only played one show in the last two years, and hadn't missed live performance one bit. Since that show I've been recommitted to performing regularly again – it was my first time playing entirely without a guitar pick, and now I know I can do it.


I fell back to earth the next night at Sandinista in Yamagata, but it was all made to feel worthwhile afterwards when I was approached by a local record store owner. In broken English, he told me that my songs made him cry and that my guitar playing reminded him of Daniel Johnston. That really knocked the wind out of me.


The last show was at the Flying Teapot in Tokyo – a modest, but charming venue located in another youthful neighborhood near an art school. There was whimsical artwork on the walls, clarinet playing, and warm sense of camaraderie among all the artists.


With the tour at a close, I had three days in Tokyo to unwind. I was staying in Shibuya, which is the city’s analogue to Times Square. A little worn out by all the traveling, and fearful of spending too much money, I kept things pretty simple and mainly bounced around between the Meiji Jingu and Ueno Park during the day, and wrote postcards in bars and cafes at night. There were plenty of interesting places to be found – I think because my hotel was situated at the foot of “love motel hill.” Art galleries were also prominent, and on the last day I caught a lovely Matisse exhibit that featured a Japanese duo playing French music on violin and accordion. Much to my delight, they played Yann Tiersen’s song from the last scene in Amelie. It was a really nice way to end the trip.


AM

Live!

TOUR SETLIST: Statue on Summer Street, For a Little While / Three Months in Cook County, View from Nowhere, Roses from Todnauberg, Granville / Isadore / Vapor & Steam, Please Kid, Remember / Baby, Mine and Mine Alone, Five Paintings, Joann, You'll Be Happy Soon, Always in Dreams, Blood Moon, Stoneback Drive / A Simple Plan, Minji Lee (II), Hudson Ave, No One, and Somerset Place

A Thrill

in the racks at the Sendai HMV

Battle of Wounded Knee

Tiger Woods is a testament to human potential. He's unfathomable -- a Greek god in golf shoes.

Over the weekend I recorded some background vocals for my friend Nez. It's the first time I've ever sang on a song I didn't write -- just some 2-part "ahs," but hopefully they add a little something to the track. I'm also working on a string arrangement for a new Ghosty song called "Secret Language," and hoping very much the band digs it.

Fleet Foxes' debut appears to be every bit as good as the hype. "White Winter Hymnal" is this summer's "Young Bride" (Midlake).

Listening: Fleet Foxes

Cowards

A big, angry FUCK YOU to whoever posted the new album & EP at indietorrents.com. 29 thefts in 1 week on this site alone. If I find out who you are, I'm going to punch your fucking lights out.

Lawrence/KC & Chicago Warm-Up Shows?

I'm trying to set up last-minute warm-up shows for the Japan tour in Lawrence or Kansas City, and Chicago. I'd like to play in Lawrence or Kansas City on either June 18 or 19, and in Chicago on June 20 or, preferably, June 21. I'd be grateful to any people or venues who could help make it happen.

Listening: Alla - Es Tiempo
Watching: CELTICS vs. lakers