Here’s a video of (Blevin) Blectum From (Kevin) Blechdom covering the Olson Twins. They played at The Smell in LA a few weeks ago and destroyed it with microchips and some of the most incredible visuals I have ever witnessed. They will be playing some more shows in California soon and I look forward to them, and you can too.

Speaking of incredible visuals and nice dudes: if Mahjongg are coming to your town, and you do not consider yourself to be a fool, you should without question go and watch these masters of polyrhythmic proto-wave do their amazing “thing,” complete with a LASER LIGHT SHOW, at your local music venue. This is necessary.

More relevant is: ordering from the Life’s Blood catalog has never been simpler, no matter where it is that you dwell. Just look at those EZ directions that head the catalog page, and bon appetit. In addition, prices have been pretty much stabilized. The double 7″ split has been upped $1, just because it’s a pretty intense production.

And here’s the original NOISE ABOUT BOYS. What a world we lived in back then: terribly mastered pop songs featuring pop singers whose voices are largely undoctored in the final product! Incredible.

OK, things, redux:

• Flow 13 is and has been on-sale for some days. It is called “Drowsy Bruise” and it is by the brotherly-love duo Italic Indian, a friendly pair experienced in aggressive sampler abuse. Here is a track called “Sports,” and it is on the record.

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  You can buy this record right now, if you wanted to. It will be shipped to you with speed and passion. These dudes have been gigging around for the last two and a half years, cinching the belt on their squelchy, broken sound tighter and tigher and here it is about to burst at its relative climax, and take that both ways, please.

• Flows 8 and 14 are being totally created as we speak. Flow 15 is in line and being mastered. These platters are begging, in the future, to be cranked on your deck with the subs turned to “quake” (this is when the bass knob is turned all the way to the right).
• Peep the art for Kites Sail High’s “Alone/Secrets”:
  
  Available for preorder now, duh. Listen to “Pollen” from this bad boy:

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• Life’s Blood Flow -1 has also been released. This is “Pearl Jams” by the band Moon Pearl (this is my band). A beautiful stamped CDR in a polybag with xeroxed art and a real postage stamp from an era bygone, for real-life use on real-life mail (remember paper?). You can add this to any Life’s Blood order for $2 or order it solo-style for $3. Here is the “single,” “Hand/Stand,” a slice of that surreal-world, big-band not-punk sound.

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• Prices have been pretty much stabilized in this particular world of record selling. Tomorrow, I will add buttons to communicate, as effectively as possible, the cost of shipping to countries that are not the United States.
• “Life’s Blood” will soon be entering the digital age. This is exciting news and will be revealed more wholly in the near future.
• I just witnessed a girl go into ape-shit hyperdrive upon being asked, as far as I could ascertain, calmly, by a fellow coffee-shop patron to please turn down her tinny iPod headphones. Pretty remarkable! “ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? REALLY? NO, THESE ARE MY HEADPHONES. STOP HARASSING ME.”

Apologies for the lull in updates. Here are things:

• Flow 13 is now available and will be imminently listed for purchase this week. This is Italic Indian’s debut full-length, and it is called “Drowsy Bruise.” The band recently toured the west coast fruitfully and sent many watery beats into the hearts and ears of so many unsuspecting Davis-ians. It is like “Jurassic Park without all the being eaten by dinosaurs.”
• Flows 8, 14, and 15 will all be out at the end of JULY. There are many reasons for this 1 month delay but the most relevant is simply the interplay between learning how to “run” a “record label” while trying to do many other things at the same time. I apologize for this delay and home it is not too much of burden on any who have purchased these to-be-art-works.
• Within the next week prices/international shipping whatevers will be finally figured out and updated 100% to reflect newly gained information vis a vis calculations.
• If there is any interest, my band recorded this EP a few weeks ago and supplemented it with a short tour this past week. It was created with the skills of Paul A. Rosales, d/b/a WONDER WHEEL. He recently went to London to play a few shows to promote his recent/upcoming 7″/LP releases on “Care In The Community” records. You can find out more about that here.
• Look for updated stuff across the site through the week re: tour dates, distributors, etc.
• There is excitement in the future. Without it, there would be nothing at all.

Of course, you can direct any questions to sam at lifesblood dot org and I will get back to you as soon as I can. What is America?

This was recorded last month at the 1st “No Junk!” rummage sale and music concert.

This new-but-not collaboration between Robby Moncrieff and Zach Hill is available from the wonderful Porter Records.

And just because,

Did you know that there are people who stand deathly still during performances of dance-rock bands and video-record the majority of the live set with their iPod Nanos? To what end, I will never know.

Here’s Mahmoud Ahmed:

Sort of amazing that that last one features him playing before Akon at some super bangin club in Atlanta just a few years ago.

Click the dancing baby to download a nice compilation of tracks, one a piece, from Flows 1 through 14.

Here’s a classic that I have been listening to and watching pretty much nonstop for the past week.

From TERROREYES.TV. This track is not on the “May Peace Bewitch You” tape, but it’s Michael in his element to the fullest.

Here’s a teaser of what each of the four panels on the “Sacramento Split” will look like. This is not the ACTUAL cover. This is currently on its way to getting mastered. The songs that will exist in this future wax are shockingly good.

ANTN HRKWK’s “Thoroughbred” LP is sold out in Japan. Maybe you guys should check this slept-on hit-in-waiting? Cut-up fragments of sound assembled with masterful precision in Final Cut Pro into glitchy workouts equally perfect for the treadmill or the club. Here are two MP3s to listen to while you think about the decisions you make in life:

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And here is the video for “Green Bricks” if you haven’t seen it yet:

This will be on the aforementioned double 7″ split

First: “It’s Not Just Kissing” by French Quarter is now out. If you preordered it, it will be out in the mail tomorrow (Friday the 21st). You will get it soon thereafter.

Here is a picture of what it will look like when you hold it up against the backdrop of your living space:

I saw French Quarter play a set of mostly songs from this LP last night and it was really not only the strongest performance I’ve ever seen from Stephen and his boys, but one of my favorite band-watching experiences in recent memory. These songs have such a propulsive, kinetic rhythm that allows them to stay grounded while Stephen sings and plays guitar, both actions full of a rare passion and flair that is truly expressive in a way that kind of puts French Quarter at the top of their, and maybe some of their contemporaries’, games.

If you want to purchase the record, you have until Saturday morning to buy the record at the “nice” preorder price — though, be aware that you will not be receiving a zine at this point as they have all been accounted for. After Saturday morning the record will be for sale post-paid to the US for a fair $12. This includes an insert and a CD of all the album tracks.

Also, go see FRENCH QUARTER on tour with MARRIED IN BERDICHEV:
May 21 – San Luis Obispo, CA – 3069 Broad St.
May 22 – Oakland, CA – Fort Gallery
May 23 – Sacramento, CA – The Hub
May 24 – Arcata, CA – The Green House
May 25 – Portland, OR – The Artistery
May 26 – Portland, OR – Stank House
May 27 – Seattle, WA – 20/20 Cycles
May 28 – Olympia, WA – Thee Gold House
May 29 – Bismarck, ND – HELP BOOK
May 30 – Fargo, ND – HELP BOOK
June 1 – Minneapolis, MN – TBA
June 2 – Iowa City, IA – HELP BOOK
June 3 – Chicago, IL – Ball Hall
June 4 – Grand Rapids, MI – DAAC
June 5 – Ann Arbor, MI
June 6 – Oberlin, OH – TBA
June 7 – Buffalo, NY – HELP BOOK
June 8 – Worcester, MA – Distant Castle
June 9 – Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel
June 10 – Brooklyn, NY – Bruar Falls
June 11 – Philadelphia, PA – Castle Gay
June 12 – Washington DC – The Smithsonian Institute
June 13 – Baltimore, MD – Jesus Camp
June 14 – Charlottesville, VA – TBA
June 15 – Asheville, NC – HELP BOOK
June 16 – Athens, GA – The Hanger
June 17 – Nashville, TN – HELP BOOK
June 18 – St. Louis, MO – HELP BOOK
June 19 – Lawrence, KS – Drew’s House
June 20 – Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis
June 21 – Albuquerque, NM – Gold House
June 22 – Flagstaff, AZ – TBA

If you can help them, email Stephen here.

Second: If that’s not enough for you, Dash Jacket’s “Romance” is out tomorrow in beautiful CD digipak. There will be a record release party tomorrow night to commemorate this debut disc, here are the details in picture form:

This show is at UC Irvine, in Irvine, California, USA. “Romance” can be purchased at this show for an excruciatingly cheap $5. Plus, Box Elders from Omaha will shred, Wild Thing from San Francisco will shred, and The Light Rays from our very own Costa Mesa have always shredded. For more information as to exactly where at UC Irvine this show is, you can go to the “Acrobatics Everyday” website.

Dash Jacket have crafted an excellent and strong album: no gimmicks: two people playing two instruments, no pretension, no image. Some of the catchiest, warmest music that you will hear this year.

Likewise, you’ll have till Saturday morning to get this post-paid to the US for $7. After that, it’ll be $8 shipped.

Lastly, I’m working on adding buttons for international orders since that is clearly a problematic area. Bear with me for time being and just shoot me an email if you want to figure out shipping costs to your country — generally it is an extra $8 USD for shipping to Europe. An extra dollar or so should get it to Canada.

OK, phew, that’s all for right now.

Dude

Some updates:

• Dash Jacket’s “Romance” will be released on May 21 at this show at UC Irvine. If you come to this show, you can buy the album for a measly $5. Proprinted digipak CD for $5! After this it will be available for $8ppd on this very site.
• Pregnant’s “Regional Music” and Kites Sail High’s “Alone/Secrets” are going to be mastered imminently and then pressed. The split double 7″ will be heading out soon thereafter. All three should be ready sometime in June! French Quarter LPs will ship in a week!
• A new release to look forward to sometime in 2010: an eclectic compilation of contemporary artists’ takes on the hits of the 1990s. I am pretty thrilled about this.