Vexed Pulp

The primary motivation of me even listening to these guys is the return of Larry to Chicago for my bday:


I'm normally not a Britpop listener, but for a solid 2 weeks I've had these guys on repeat in my car and felt compelled to share. The tracks hark back to the days of Lipgloss in Denver for me, especially 'Disco 2000' where it begs to drink $2 gin/tonics while jumping up and down in everything Buffalo Exchange. Even further back, 'Underwear' was my exact feeling in high school at my crush sophomore year while she was dating this really cool fuck-up:

I couldn't stop it now. There's no way to get out.
He's standing far too near. How the hell did you get here.
Semi-naked in somebody else's room.
I'd give my whole life to see it.
Just you stood there only in your underwear.

Like my own from the same era:

Stop it Conrad
Stop looking at my legs
'Cause if I catch you
You'll be walking on pegs

Pulp - Common People
Pulp - Disco 2000
Pulp - Underwear

Different Class totally characterizes all the babe angst I've had throughout the years. Maybe I should have been writing music about all my failings so I could fall into the stereotype of musician-has-following. Every DJ gig I had included a fangirl or two with the same foolish output: "beat it, I'm working here." I now understand why parents give their kids advice... I just need to figure out a better marketing method than normally employed by the olds. You should have figured out by now that naturally I know nothing about Pulp... except for them handing me an old summer preview TV Guide with Season 2 of Voyager and the ghosts of girls past, my hands never held their ass.

The Yellow Happy Triangle

I've seen YACHT before. I've heard YACHT before. The more I read about and experience YACHT, the more I want to read about and experience YACHT.

I'm standing at the head of the crowd at the feet of the lead guitarist; he's well put-together with his slick grey shirt, plain grey pants, no belt and haircut that reminds me of a young David Byrne. Claire Evans peels off layers of a white suit jacket, to a white thigh-length skirt, to just a wifebeater and white spandex shorts. It perfectly compliments the angelic perception I have of her enlightened soul.



Most times I go to a show and perceive the band's stage visuals while sipping my greyhound and being crowded in with the occasional patchouli fellow or sweet-scented female. This time, my divine essence is tickled. Truly the experience of hearing Yacht both in melody and in conversation conveys an embodiment of balancing subdued, Gaian worship with exercising group party yoga to advance human consciousness. At the show, Claire told me where their spiritual center is and now Marfa is my Mecca.

Which brings me to YACHT as a brand: human love and the pure, positive human experience. I can't think another appropriate word for it as the concept of a brand is fabricated, but YACHT's entire artistic vision is more of a discovery that they want to share in a focused manner with their audience. You could liken it to a religion but there is nothing overt or pressing about their message. Excerpt from their pamphlet "The Secret Teachings of the Mystery Lights" that I picked up from Jona Bechtolt himself:

Thankfully, the Universe need not be worshipped. The Universe is not self-conscious, not self-organized. It is merely an awesome extension of the space which we inhabit. We are part of its makeup as stars and planets are part of its makeup; if the Universe is infinite, then size becomes subjective. We are as relevant a part of it as anything else.

It may be difficult for you to picture yourself as an actual part of the Universe, to see your physical body as a visible nature through which the structure of countless waves of evolving life are unfolding their latent potentialities. But it is the case. Just as every cell in your body is an infinitesimal part of the system that is you, so you are an infinitesimal part of the system that is the Universe. And as we are part of all things, so we are capable of knowing all things.

Off their 7"...
YACHT - Dystopia
YACHT - Utopia

Experience them, travel to Marfa, and perpetuate positivity.

Another 90's post

I'm not there yet. The 90's are not back yet... not for me. The closest I've seen grunge make a comeback are folks wearing plaid shirts, but the long hair isn't there yet, nor are the Vans, the JNCO jeans, or Daria. What are back are the early 90's, only insofar as an extension of the 80's. Case in point:


Lady Miss Kier

Deee-Lite - Groove Is In the Heart ... and video



Many moon ago at Coachella 2007, I was walking along and heard some real grooves coming out of one of the side dance tents. I'm always a fan of the fag jams, and with the boys' presence on stage, that solidified the atmosphere. It was a big girl, with big hair, and a hot dress pushing up her girls, going all out with her mix. "Damn she's the jam." Who was it? It seriously wasn't until a couple of days ago when I became reacquainted with Deee-lite when I heard that Lady Miss Kier was DJ'ing at Berlin this Sunday (seriously, a gay club on Easter Sunday and a school night?) and hence this post. Now I can't get enough of her.

Reading about her influence on the NYC dance scene in the early 90's and the fact that she was already heavily a club fashionista makes me even more drawn to her. Her relations with Grace Jones and Bootsy Collins make my social libido percolate and her rampant self-canvasing makes me want to be my future-daughter's tailor. Now that she's coming (back) to Chicago, I can only imagine what she's got in store for the current scene... and what she's wearing.


Oh by the way, I hope she wears her hair up.