David Bowie's new album The Next Day

I'll admit I was wondering if David Bowie would ever release a new album, and I would have been fine with him retiring from music, as long as that's what he wanted. What it comes down to is that I wouldn't want him to release a new album just to please his fans.

January 8th was his 66th birthday, and catching just about everyone in the world off guard, there was an announcement that there would be a new David Bowie album this year, titled The Next Day. Along with the announcement came a music video for a new song from the album called "Where Are We Now?"



Bowie had been working on the album for 2 years before the announcement, with producer Tony Visconti and several musicians he's worked with in the past, like Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey, Sterling Campbell, Gerry Leonard, David Torn, and Zachary Alford. It's amazing to me that they managed to keep it a secret in this day and age, and I'm glad they did, because it was a fun surprise.

It may sound silly, but knowing this album is coming out this year and having to wait for it is really exciting to me. Part of being a fan of a musician is looking forward to the release of their next album, and specifically as a Bowie fan, I haven't experienced that yet. Although I liked a handful of Bowie's songs already, I don't think I really became a fan until I heard Danny Lohner's remix of "Bring Me The Disco King" on the Underworld soundtrack in early September 2003, and Bowie's last album, Reality came out only a bit later that month.

I don't know what I think of the album cover for The Next Day, which was created by Jonathan Barnbrook. I think I understand the concept, and even really like the concept. I just don't really like the execution or end product. I think the artwork for Bowie's album Heathen already explored similar themes and did a much better job of it while also looking beautiful, with images of Renaissance paintings slashed and splattered with paint, pages from books ripped and shredded, crossed-out typing, a faceless Bowie. Looking at the cover of The Next Day and the artwork for Heathen, I almost can't believe they were done by the same guy. It's not that big of a deal that I don't like it though. It's not like it would be the first Bowie album cover I'm not really a fan of. Maybe after hearing the album, the cover art will grow on me more. If not, maybe I'll use this image as the cover on my iPod. Right now I like that image a hell of a lot more than the actual cover.

It's been reported that Bowie doesn't want to tour to support the album at all, and I'm also fine with that even though I've never seen him live before. If memory serves (I mean memory of what I've read. I wasn't alive yet back then), Bowie didn't tour to support Low unless you count the tour he went on after Heroes came out, but that was over a year after Low was released. I don't think that going on tour should be expected of a musician after they release an album. Going on tour can take up a lot of time and energy, and maybe they'd rather just spend that time and energy on other things. It's also been said that Bowie would like to get back into the studio later this year to work on another album, and I think that's great news.

Friendly Faces, Part I: Old Navy Dress Shirts

This is my good friend Philip K. Shirtovsky. He has great fashion sense. I found him in the clothing store Old Navy.

Taco Bell & Rudeness, Part II

I forgot about it until tonight, but I wanted to post about it because it amuses me.

Recently I was at a Taco Bell, and I was standing in front of the counter to pick up my food after ordering. After picking up his own food, a "gentleman" was headed to a table somewhere, and where I happened to be standing was in his path. Rather than go around me using the more than adequate space I left to my side, he apparently decided he wanted to continue in a perfectly straight line, requiring me to move instead. And rather than saying something even remotely polite like "Excuse me", what he decided to say to me was "Move, dude." I'm not sure exactly why rudeness like that amuses me, but it made me laugh.

This is, of course, not the first time that someone has been rude to me at Taco Bell. Maybe he and that girl in Florida are related though, and being rude at Taco Bell runs in the family.

Mike Crowley

I woke up this morning to the upsetting news that my old friend Mike Crowley had passed away. I met Mike years ago through the online LEGO community, in which he went by the name Count Blockula. I never met him in person, but I was among the many people fortunate enough to get to know him and interact with him over the internet. I think that his creativity and just the quality of person and friend that he was has been a big inspiration for me and just about everyone that knew him.

Mike hasn't been very active in the LEGO community or online at all really in the past several years, and I've missed him a lot. I was always hoping he would come back someday and that it would somewhat resemble old times. Every year I still wished him a happy birthday on facebook. I knew that his birthday was coming up again soon this year, and was intending to wish him a happy birthday, like usual. I can't believe I'm writing this instead. There are so many memories going through my mind right now...

...I remember so many of the cool things he'd build out of LEGO. Sesame Street, Mario Kart, Snowblower Man, WeeFormers, and all of the Star Wars characters and animals he'd build. And I've spent much of this morning going through his flickr photostream looking at each of those things...

...I remember experimenting with the various LEGO building techniques and styles he developed, and sometimes showing him the stuff I built...

...I remember him being an early supporter of my music projects. For a long time, he had a banner on his myspace page promoting my music. I always really appreciated that...

...I remember him messaging me in the middle of the night sometimes. He would have trouble sleeping, so he'd get on the computer, and I was often the only other person online at that time of night. If I remember right, he called me his "late night buddy"...

I miss you, Mike. I'm happy to have ever had you as a friend, and as a late night buddy.

"Cherry" by Chromatics

A new video for the song "Cherry" by Chromatics was released the other day. It was directed by Alberto Rossini, with additional footage shot by Adam Miller.



The song will be featured on the Italians Do It Better sequel compilation After Dark 2, along with a few other Chromatics songs. You can download the song for free from bandmember Johnny Jewel's SoundCloud.

New EP and new "Ice Age" video by How To Destroy Angels

"Ice Age" is another song from An Omen, the new EP by How To Destroy Angels. The song is a pretty big departure for the band stylistically. When asked about the song in a recent reddit Q&A, Trent Reznor said, "We were experimenting around with the juxtaposition of something familiar and almost folky sounding sitting in a very cold and sterile environment. (Lead vocalist) Mariqueen had this melody that would have been happy living in a Fleetwood Mac record, and we created this plucky accompaniment that sounded acoustic but was anything but. Then we put all that in the freezer."

There is also a beautiful music video for it, which is directed by John Hillcoat. Rob Sheridan is again featured in the video.



An Omen EP is out now, by the way. You can buy and download it from the band's online store, as well as many other places where you can purchase music. You can also listen to it for free on the band's SoundCloud, or on the player embedded below.

"Keep It Together" by How To Destroy Angels

I've been excited to hear new material from How To Destroy Angels. Two of the band's members are Academy Award winning film score composers Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, who are also known for the band Nine Inch Nails. How To Destroy Angels' first release was an EP in 2010 that I enjoyed quite a bit. They also had a cover of "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" in David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a movie which Ross and Reznor did the score for. They have a new EP coming out called An Omen, which is sort of a sampler for the full length album that will be coming out some time in 2013. They have a new single called "Keep It Together" which will be on both the EP and the album, and there's a music video for it featuring the band playing the song in their beautiful studio.



One thing about the video that's very interesting to me is that the guy playing the French Connection is the band's art director / photographer Rob Sheridan. He's been a part of the band since the beginning, but I didn't really expect him to have a musical role in it, just a visual one I guess. I've been a fan of his photography and art for many years, but I believe this is the first time I've actually seen him playing an instrument. In my opinion he fits right in.

You can download their first EP for free or preorder their new EP on their online store. On the band's SoundCloud, there are two remixes of "Keep It Together" for free download as well. One by Factory Floor and one by TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek. You can also download the unremixed version of the song.