pic of the week — the lake house

[MP3]: Black Moth Super Rainbow  ”Sun Lips”

Crackers united for a trip to Lake Wallenpaupack in northeast Pennsylvania last weekend. Cracker antics ensued as we invaded the quiet and lush forests of the Poconos for a second time. It was a gorgeous weekend as we fled our respective cities and soaked up some summer sun.

One thing that we learned on the getaway is that we’re much too old for Pictionary, unless you don’t know what a weathervane is and errr…and not to pee off a boat full of drunken Crackers (or you might just “fall” in). Poor bastard almost lost his trunks (with a bum shoulder too).

Pat’s documentation of the weekend’s tomfoolery is over on his Flickr site.

UGK and OutKast | International Player’s Anthem

Someone asked me the other day what I thought would be the “it” song this summer. You know, the one that they play over and over on the radio, but you don’t mind cause it gets the crowd hype every time. When you hear it in the dead of winter, it takes you back to dreams of dancing on rooftops and sippin’ on mojitos in the midsummer night. Songs will vary from person to person, but when I heard this recent release from UGK and OutKast, I immediately thought of the summer song. What’s your summer song from last year? Any predictions for this summer?

Beach volleyball + dislocated shoulder = morphine

Jence | “Wired”

Did you ever notice those people in the elevator who have to be pushing and touching the buttons every three seconds? I was fortunate enough to share the elevator with one of these “button pushers” this morning.

As a herd of people filed into the car, said button pusher, firmly posted in front of the panel, was busy hammering away on the “close” button. After the door nearly sandwiched a couple people, everyone selected their respective floors and took their respective places in the elevator. The button pusher, however, remained determinedly rooted next to the panel, pushing the button for her floor four times whenever the elevator stopped. I found the whole situation very comical and wondered what lead this woman to be so neurotic.

Maybe the elevator forgot to stop at her floor in the past and she feels the need to keep “reminding” it not to skip her floor? Possibly just crazy? Maybe she was just wired from drinking too much coffee? I’ll go with “wired,” which gets me to the point of today’s post.

If you’ve been consistently reading this blog, you may already know that one of our favorite labels of the moment is Kitsuné. Nghia just posted a promo mix from their 4th compilation on Friday and today we’re sharing a brand new single from the Parisian imprint. Jence aka Jens Moelle aka the skinny dude from Digitalism with the gold shoes that spins around in the video for “Pogo” recently dropped a spankin new single called “Wired.” Dark, rough, dirty, and distorted electro that fans of Digitalism, Guns’n’Bombs, and Justice will enjoy.

[MP3] Jence  ”Wired”

All My Friends Mix No. 1

Some of the best times I’ve had with my friends happened in a 400 square foot box on Thompson Street. It was the meeting place for everyone and played host to birthday parties, graduation parties, going away parties, pre-parties of every kind, and even sporting events were watched there. One of the things that I really loved was playing music, whether everyone liked it or not, there were always a couple of fans in the crowd.

Unfortunately, said “box” doesn’t exist anymore, at least not as we all remember it. It sort of moved south and in the process gained some more breathing room. However, the music hasn’t stopped, which gets me to the point of this post. Borrowing the title from a LCD Soundsystem song or Land of Talk for you Lizzie Powell fans, I put together a mix simply for that purpose, for “all my friends.” Sounds kitschy, I know, but I think a lot of you will appreciate this and for other readers of this site that we don’t know feel free to download and enjoy.

Expect the second part of this mix in a couple of weeks – I have to clean up some space on my hard drive.

[audio:http://www.crackersunited.com/blog/downloads/all_my_friends_mix_no_1.mp3]
All My Friends Mix No. 1 (128kbps :: 35MB :: 38:14 :: stream above or DL)

1. Bjork “Earth Intruders (Spank Rock Remix)” – I have to admit that I’m not the biggest Bjork fan in the world, but this song kicks ass.
2. LCD Soundsystem “Get Innocuous!” – from the much acclaimed Sound of Silver this song builds and builds with a pounding beat.
3. Justice “Stress” – aptly titled track from the much anticipated † is sure to stress you out with its screeching violins.
4. Chromeo “Fancy Footwork (Guns‘n’Bombs Remix)” – I don’t think I’ve come across a Guns’n’Bombs remix I don’t like.
5. Yacht “See A Penny (Pick It Up)” – Yacht and his partner Khaela from The Blow really annoy the shit out of me, but hell if they don’t write some catchy tunes.
6. Klaxons “Gravity’s Rainbow (Soulwax Remix)” – posted this song on here a little while ago and still can’t get enough of it.
7. Joakim “I Wish You Were Gone” – read what I had to say about Joakim in my original post.
8. Gui Boratto “Hera” – Axel Willner aka The Field did a remix of this song for the Chromophobia remixes but I still like the original better.

video of the week — gui boratto “beautiful life”

I woke up today and just felt off, not really feeling like myself. maybe I was out too late last night and had one too many drinks and didn’t get enough rest. all I know is that I couldn’t shake this anxious feeling. I usually really look forward to listening to music on the train, but today I spent the entire ride rifling through my ipod unable to settle on a specific album – nothing felt right.

I got to work and like every good employee does in the morning I spent a little bit of time surfing the net and going to my favorite sites. pitchfork posted a video of gui boratto’s “beautiful life,” one of my favorite songs of the year. I clicked the play button and was gleaming from the time the kid spins the skateboard wheel and the beat snaps in to the very end when the camera pans out and shows the bright blue sky. it completely turned my day around, a beautiful video for a beautiful song.

director cadú datoro does an amazing job of capturing boratto’s lyrics about seeing life and feeling love by showing a family going about their daily tasks. I guess it was the close up portraits of their faces and the end of the video that really won me over. the end really makes you stop and appreciate life as cars whizz past the family gathered at the table for dinner at a speed that life feels like at times. the family is oblivious to what’s going on around them and focused on each other. to me, the cars represent how fast paced the world we live in can be and that we have to stop and take some time to appreciate what we have and what’s truely important to us.

Givin’ Props…

…to ME. Today I am celebrating my 2 year anniversary to my beautiful wife, Nikki.

To my Scully, I love you. Two years is just a drop in the ocean of my love for you. I look forward to eternity…le melin, my bride.