Here are a few musical treats which recently passed through the ears… on a quieter note this month:
Tomasz Bednarczyk - Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow (12k)
thisquietarmy - Transmissions – and don’t miss Christy Romanick’s beautiful photography that accompanies this album (alien8)
Tomas Phillips - Six Notes (Koyuki Sound)
…and Whisper Room - Birch White (Elevation)
This weekend, I checked out the YBCA party where I caught the Nick Cave exhibition. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, Cave combines Leigh Bowery’s outrageous fashions with the obsessive embroidery skills of Francois Lésage, brought to life with the sweeping fluidity of modern dance (Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag performed at an earlier date in the soundsuits).
I met up with my favorite queen — decked in black, sporting a silver wolfhead fingertip and ready to impale new victims — and together we jiggled to Honey Soundsystem under video projections showing the soundsuits in action.
Later, we hit up Kontrol’s fourth anniversary party just as the Wighnomy Brothers went on. Admist the sea of crappy music out there, the German techno duo still manages to produce some of the best dance music in the industry… Robag Wruhme, the group’s main musical genius, is a longtime favorite and I was most excited to see him live. His solo and extensive remix work are not to be missed.
Wighnomy Brothers at Sunset
On Sunday, I went to Treasure Island where the Wighnomy Brothers played a second set at the Sunset party. The two are so cute when they dance, like little techno bears! Robag ended the set by putting on Carmen McRae’s “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” much to everyone’s delight. As we were leaving we paused to look out at downtown San Francisco, framed by the beautiful bay and its two iconic bridges, blissed by the late afternoon sun.
Ahhh… can a girl ask for a more relaxing vacation? I went to Kauai knowing very little about it, but after a week on this ambrosial island I can see why people love Hawaii. I’m continuing to upload photos to Flickr, so keep checking there for more in the next few days. Here are a few highlights:
Moloa'a Beach
The beaches… ah, the North shore won for me! Lumahai, Ha’ena, and Moloa’a were sublime lozenges of sand with sparkling clear turquoise water. I could spend a long time being a beach bum, roaming from one to another…
Moloa'a Sunrise Fruit Stand
Fresh fruit was everywhere… I grew up eating lots of fruit, so the abundant pineapple, papaya, apple bananas and coconut made me very happy. Along with Angeline’s lomi massage, I was in heaven 
Walking in Allerton Garden
The gardens… Allerton Garden down in the southern National Tropical Botanical Garden, along with its more primal sister Limahuli Garden in the north, kept me enchanted for many hours.
Waimea Canyon
Waimea Canyon… the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” was truly stellar, especially by helicopter (thank you, Mike from Blue Hawaiian)!
Na Pali Coast
The Na Pali coast was breathtaking. It had dazzingly remote beaches, towering mountain cliffs and endless miles of blue, blue water… mmm, Kauai. I’ll be back.
Music picks for this month (you can find these at Aquarius Records):
Northern Valentine - The Distance Brings Us Closer (Silber Records, 2008) - this album reminds me that yes, great music does come out of Philadelphia, no matter how much of a sneer New York may give its southern neighbor. Fans of Tim Hecker and Fennesz will surely take on this heady, washed-out music with welcoming ears (the color palette of the album art even reminds me of Fennesz’s Black Sea).
Xela - In Bocca Al Lupo (Type Records, 2008) - John Twells’ latest release shows a new restlessness largely missing from his earlier, sweeter body of work. Restricted to four long tracks, each lasting between twelve and twenty-one minutes long, Xela begins by venturing into bolder, darker territory where muffled bells clang softly in whispered succession amidst fitful percussion, slowly paring down to an intense quietude where distracted rhythms fade away.
An epic finale brings the tempo back up again with simple hand drumming layered with penetrating bird calls, developing into a series of long, uncompromising drones. Through it all, Xela retains the same delicate quality that I grew to love in Tangled Wool and For Frosty Mornings and Summer Nights, perhaps turning a bit more haunting than tranquil — alluring with a hint of fright.
Aavikko - History of Muysic (Muysic For Peoples, Solnze Records, 2003) - Aavikko pumps out super wacky Finnish synth music that jumps around, from spaghetti western-like tunes to luxuriant 70s disco to deranged surfer rock. All told, this meandering album comes across as the delightfully irreverent love child of Add N to (X) and Omar Souleyman – and oh, what a sublime feat! In these unseasonably past few rainy weeks, this record has been essential in banishing the grey bahs. There’s more good news, too: Aavikko has a new album coming out this month called Novo Atlantis. I can’t wait.
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