New Theory

A go-to favorite song for me is Washed Out's 'New Theory'. A go-to remixer for me is RAC. Put them together and get the awesomeness below that is causing visions of back roads and camping in the spring.

Washed Out - New Theory (RAC Mix) by RAC

Lucidity in Dreaming

Lucid dreaming, for those of you that haven't seen Inception yet (highly recommended) is a dream where you are aware you are dreaming.  Most often, a person has no mental ability to recognize a dream state while they are in one.  Things that would be quite unbelievable or even impossible in the real world, seem to happen so naturally in dreams:  running in super slow mo whilst being chased, or experiencing first and third person simultaneously, or maybe you can even fly. In the dream, all of this is hunky dory, it's just the way things are....not so!  Wouldn't it be awesome to realize the consequences of a dream aren't real and have fun with it?  Zombies will not eat my braaaaainz, I will not die after falling off this cliff, no one is after me.  The answer appears to be a resounding YES.

My good friend Aditya is an accomplished lucid dreamer, and has been talking it up big time.  I must say, I'm quite intrigued and have been working on recognizing my own dream states.  I've had minor success, and recognized my dream, only to be woken by the shock of the realization :'(  Amongst all of this, (and I'm trying my best), I still trick myself and fail to recognize dreams.  Asking questions of yourself in a dream state can be quite the conundrum and your brain will almost certainly try to 'lie' to you and tell you this is all real (my mind to me: "Yes, John, your peak running speed is actually a 25 minute mile - you're SCREWED...and they're going to get you!").  Give it a shot next time.

I think the following audio clip from Inception, and Ariadne's resulting "Aha!" moment, is a great introductory description of lucid dreaming, and how easy it is to fool yourself.  The accompanying We Plants Are Happy Plants remix of Hans Zimmer's fantastic score is also impressive.

Hans Zimmer - Time (We Plants Are Happy Plants Remix) by WPAHP

(This track is downloadable, don't miss it!)

There are lots of resources out there that will help you learn more about lucid dreaming, or if you know Aditya, you can ask him yourself and watch the smile spread across his face...

'Item that Explodes' Remix

The last time I was in SF was over Thanksgiving 2010, Bruno Mars' Grenade was literally blowing up the radio everywheres (srsly, James' radio was in shambles and Weezy almost took some shrapnel to the eye).   Well, now that the original version has died down (a bit) and the explosions have subsided, it's given my ears and nerves a chance to recover enough to really enjoy this Passion Pit remix.  I'm glad Passion Pit doesn't feel like they have to stick to their own music and their DJing is really just fantastic.  Big ups to Bruno on collabbing with the boys on this as well.  Keep it up good sirs!

So the last week has been insane, with two Arcade Fire shows (one in which I was front row center in a Big Sur meadow with only 200 other people) and an epic ACL trip with Weis and Dowks that I'm still barely recovered from. So until I can wrap my head around writing about those amazing experiences and coming up with the SAT-appropriate adjective for 'mylifefuckingrocks' I will leave you with the very chill remix of Zero 7 and Jose Gonzalez's 'Futures'. Enjoy and Dowks- start stretching cos you know I always win dance offs....

Zero 7 - Futures (Maur Due & Lichter Remix) by Maur Due & Lichter

Never thought I'd say this...

...but I've taken a strong liking to a lot of the stuff on Katy Perry's fall-release album Teenage Dream.  I'm not crazy about California Gurls, but Teenage Dream, Firework and Not like the Movies are all fantastic tracks.  The Teenage Dream vid is super sexy and looks like everyone had a blast making it.  It's off-limits for embedding, but is definitely worth a check out on the youtubes.   Methinks I should sell my car and pick up one of those sick old bmw convertibles, how rad is that thing???

Anyway, I have probably listened to Teenage Dream about 30 times over the past week, so I felt rather lucky when I snared a copy of Kaskade Club's remix that blew me away all over again.
Teenage Dream (Kaskade Club Mix) by ulissespanic_bs

Also, we'll have more on Ratatat's new album before I get into some major shenanigans with Car, Weezy, Les and a bunch of the crew @ ACL this weekend!!!

a chilly fall in the northwest?

Snow in Seattle is rare, even in the thick of winter, but as it turns out, the stars have aligned and we'll actually be getting some this October! Ok, perhaps it will be Miike Snow, and not Snow snow....but still cool, methinks, aaaaaaand...my friend Les just let me know there is a ticket waiting for me, one month from today @ the Showbox at the Market.  Thanks Les! (and Kate)!

Actually, the band makes frequent appearances in Seattle, and has performed across the city on several occasions over the past year.  I was lucky enough to make it to one of their shows last year with my friends Sean and Erica.  The crowd was fantastic, and I think it has something to do with the odd persona of the oft-masked Swedish trio, Andrew Wyatt, Christian Karlsson and Ponstus Winnberg; the masks add to their mysterious stage presence while the ffffffffat beats and light show put everyone in a great mood.

As you can tell, their concerts are great, but don't count out the work they do in the studio.  They've done some work with Passion Pit, Peter Bjorn and John, as well as this excellent remix of Vampire Weekend's The Kids Don't Stand a Chance.  Check them out, you won't be disappointed.


Miike Snow - Vampire Weekend VS Miike Snow - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance by telilys

Re-mixed

I've been digging some very mellow remixes recently from both RaRaRiot and Vampire weekend. Then I found this picture and knew it was meant to be.

Vampire Weekend "White Sky" (Basement Jaxx remix) Alloedit by AllofyaBooshikA

Ra Ra Riot - Boy (RAC Mix) by Remix Artist Collective