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  • The history of the Future

    Current mood:electric

    What up cyber-peeps?
    We're cold-kicking it in the Strangers temporary headquarters on the Icelandic coast while the heat from our last gig cools off. It was a fine fete at CoffeeTown as both Grhm Hayes & A Ross blew my mind with their electronic constructions & afterwards we all had a laugh about how it's pretty difficult to make dance music manually. Grhm had a laptop but the rest of us were just pushing buttons & flicking switches- no mean feat when the beat is chasing you at every measure! We had a proper 'back to mine' afterwards & everyone agreed they wanna do it again. I was telling sasha that i wanted to book more electronic shows while we drove down the freeway & a giant 18 wheeler passed us going the other way that had "DFS" printed on the side of it all huge- a sign from the digi-gods? Maybe.
    In other newsers, our gig at Saint Josephs in GV is closer than I thought ! One week from this Friday we'll be onstage- eeek! I have no songs & no band assembled just yet but we're getting there. We'll be doing a few original newies but I think mainly we'll be focusing on the monumentally mental music of the Spacemen 3! I've always liked doing covers & there were a couple of Spacemen songs that I've been wanting to tackle- mostly Recurring era stuff- done lo-fi by ourselves. I've got an acoustic, a keyboard, a maraca & a melodica, "We got the tools- we got the talent!" Lets do this.
    In the realm of past-life regressions I've got the midsummer Madchester bug- Happy Mondays (Pills & Thrills), Screamadelica, Inspiral Carpets (who, come to find out, are practically the template for Psychic Zoo!?)- Soho, anything from appx 1990 Manchester is doing the trick. I thought I 'd gone as far backwards as culturally possible with Madchester but my friend just let me borrow the new 2-disc Joan Jett best of- damn!!! I still have my vinyl copy of I Love Rock & Roll & as a nascent headbanger, Joan spoke to me in a big way. This shit is the shit. How cool would it be to be Joan Jett? Girlfriend has been making noise since before the Day. And she's still crankin it out- you go grrrrl. Double bonus is that Lucinda Williams is playing a double-bill with Chrissie Hynde next month in Sac- will be hard to miss tho I've seen Lucinda Williams like 10 times- & the Pretenders only once! (Opening for U2 at the Oakland Coliseum for the Joshua Tree).
    So yeah- new Strangers out some time this year- loads more gigs. loads more Psychic Zoo- I've programmed the Manc beat into the Rhythm Rascal so look for that- look for everything & you can say you were there.
    Rock over London! Rock over Chicago! Go Joan!!!
    cheers peeps eh wot?
    sorted!
    DFS
    Reykjavik, 2008
    6:13 PM

  • Dazzling gigs & news

    Current mood:adored

    Greeting from the Dazzling Strangers Headquarters located millions of miles beneath the Earth's crust! We(I)'ve been busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest between playing Strangers gigs. playing bass in Psychic Zoo, drums with Sasha & the Shamrocks & generally avoiding sleep at all possible costs. You know what this kind of lifestyle gets you? It gets RESULTS! (and psychosis- but mostly results.)
    Dig, here's what's on the plate-
    THIS FRIDAY JULY 16th- the Dazzling Samplers are doing an all electronic show at the new Summerthymes- which used to be Coffeetown inside Booktown in Downtown Grass Valley- I know- all these Towns it's practically a tour! But yeah- Strangers, Aaron Ross (of Aaron Ross fame) and Mr. Grham Hayes will all be toting our toys to the gig- lasts from 6-8 & will be a gnarley night of noisy oysters- I've sampled MBV, the Free Design, Bollywood soundtracks & made some of my own Beets in me own e-garden. I know it's last minute, but you should still come out.
    ALSO- MONDAY JULY 19th- Psychic Zoo are bringing it to the Crazy Horse in Nevada City- we're on first & have a fistful of new songs. The Crazy Horse is closing this month so we're jumpin at any chance to play there while the NC still has a decent bar to play. Aint no party like a Monday party.
    Lastly, I'm listening to the wonderful mixes of 5 (FIVE!) new Dazzling Strangers songs- seriously different & random & unexpected. These were recorded with the nifty 5-piece I'd assembled for our gig at the Crazy Horse about a month ago- fucking nice one!
    Furthermore, I think that's it- oh wait-
    FRIDAY AUGUST 6th- Dazzling Strangers (Samplers?) & Soft Bombs at St Josephs in Grass Valley with TBA- Soft Bombs is the new band of Michael Padilla formerly of Dora Flood so yeah- I'm thinking aging-shoegazer revival. I have been listening to a shit-ton of LOOP lately- so maybe we'll bring the iPods down & do some DJing too- shall be fun but is still quite a ways off- mark your calender.
    OK- supposed to be working- everybody keep your crazy head on straight & bring the peeps together as you do some good in your neighborhood like you know you should.
    Peace out! Strangers up- bummers down! Take good care of it babe.
    the DFS
    Stockholm, 2013
    8:21 PM

  • Strangers on the stage

    Current mood:obsequious

    Yo peeps what is going down on the Space?
    I'm starting to prep up some promo action for an upcoming Dazzling Strangers show! Yup- dig it- fr reals- it's on- it's happening, it's a gig & its gonna be fun.
    Here's a flyer:
    softbomb_2
    Yeah!
    We're on first (8:30ish?) & we'll have a ....five person band. We're going Dazzling Strangers Mach 2: the Jazz Odyssey- lots of new sounds, new line-up, new vibrations. We've got practice tonight & we've been pretty good about practicing so that's a big plus.
    Also in the Big Plus area is that the Soft Bombs are playing as well- it'll be their live debut & it features Michael Padilla formerly of Dora Flood- so they'll be the shoe-gazers to our calypso. AND Amaranth is playing which is Aaron Ross (of A. Ross fame) and Spencer from Hella- I've been wanting to see these dudes forever & am psyched that we'll get to share a stage.
    So if yr in town and you got an extra 5 ducats, now you know where to be.
    Or at least where I'll be.
    "In tomorrows realm we'll take the helm of a new ship and like the lash of a whip, we'll safely journey to another world- another world- another world's world!" Tell um about it June Tyson.
    Aight- Strangers out- Myspace is the place!

    6:37 PM

  • Rewinder

    Current mood:froggy

    It's on days like today when I'm stuck inside for the 5th day straight with a debilitating head-cold that I start chewing my nails looking for something new- even if it means looking backwards- after all, some day the first will be the last and the last will be first, right? I have the last Stratford 4 record on my iTunes ("Keep your crazy head on straight"- everyone told us the name was too long) and I just listened to one of the tracks that got cut before the whole thing got shelved & I sat there thinking about playing guitar in the control room at Electric Lady Studio and all the horrible things that Pitchfork said about us (err- me, specifically) and where the next Strangers album is going to come from (musically and ethnomusically) and I woke up today thinking about a previously unheard Strangers recording I made in 2004 & I feel how quickly the times move and how slowly things get made. The Strangers have a show in Nevada City end of this month (Friday April 30th) and I have a little pick-up group ready to practice if I ever kick this fucking cold & to tell you the truth, the songs we'll be playing have hardly been written yet and I'm playing a house party in Oakland on the 16th & those songs I haven't practiced yet but they're different from the band-songs we'll play on the 30th & I've scrapped Home On The Strange in exchange for this re-discovered disc from 2004 which just needs to be cleaned up & compared vs. different mixes before it gets pressed & internetically distributed. So I'm dealing with 3 distinct sets of music which sound nothing like each other and some of those sets are exorcisms to say goodbye to old idioms and some are peeks at the future and some are debris that's never been aired, like a three headed elk with a giant tangle of antlers coming off of each head. In the meantime, we've got Kevin Ayers, we've got the Spires, we've got Pharaoh Sanders coming to Grace Cathedral in SF, we've got myspace again since I updated my browser at work, we'll always have the internet, baby. 
    I say things get made slowly but music happens and disappears as quickly as a pick hitting a string & after that instant it's gone again so listen close because it only lasts while it's happening. 
    Everyone eat your veggies, get lots of rest, drink lots of juice, practice, sleep, discipline.
    Space is still the place, y'all-
    chris
    8:41 PM
    • Post a comment...
      • The Soft Bombs

        faith... in you i have brother!

        2 years ago
      • CAT FANCY!

        1. Oh, man. As I spend another day at work surrounded by thousands of records that nobody has ever heard of, I'm becoming even more painfully aware of how music is constantly being rediscovered and disposed of -- almost simultaneously. It's gone in an instant but it manages to exist forever.
        2. Pssshttt. Pitchfork. I wouldn't fuck Pitchfork with Spin Magazine's dick. HATE them.
        3. We play our first show as a three piece next Monday. We've practiced with our temporary drummer a total of 3 times. I'm freaking out and seriously missing you.
        4. Can we all tour together this fall?
        5. Godspeed recovery, head cold sickie.

        2 years ago

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