Christina Lee.

I'm over here.

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:00:28 -0400

I'm over here.:

Follow me.

LCD Soundsystem, “All My Friends.”

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:21:08 -0400

LCD Soundsystem, “All My Friends.”

"Human nature and how we experience it, or perceive it individually and collectively, is our main..."

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:53:00 -0400

“Human nature and how we experience it, or perceive it individually and collectively, is our main influence. Music is the dumpster that we throw that trash into and other people dig around in there for things that they can use or relate too. We all dig for the trash.”

- Flatlander, Death Grips producer and videographer, in an insightful but also frustrating interview with The Quietus. (I mean, how many times and in how many ways did Flatlander have to say that he doesn’t care for these comparisons to other artists — Odd Future, Eminem, DMX — only to have the interviewer press on?) Anyway! This is how every artist should answer the question, “Who are your primary influences?”

Now that’s what I call a power couple. (Old Fourth Ward,...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:06:00 -0500

Now that’s what I call a power couple. (Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta, Ga.)

“Work It,” Missy Elliott. From the second rap album...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:36:25 -0500

“Work It,” Missy Elliott. From the second rap album I’d ever purchased, Under Construction.

“The Words That Maketh Murder,” PJ Harvey.

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:28:25 -0500

“The Words That Maketh Murder,” PJ Harvey.

Future interview outtake.

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:15:00 -0500

me: Watching a kitten video is the same as watching a baby video, or maybe even interacting with either one for like five minutes. You may not actually want those things in your life at all times, but for those brief distant seconds or minutes, it seems like a super good idea/really amusing addition to your life.
STV SLV: I can't even speak for the baby videos. The only baby videos I've chosen to watch are when the sounds of the babies are Auto-Tuned.

Beyonce -” Year of 4.” You deserve three stacks,...

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:31:28 -0500

Beyonce -” Year of 4.” You deserve three stacks, word to Andre.

“I Hate Mondays,” Banksy. Ah, the images that haunt...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:13:39 -0400

“I Hate Mondays,” Banksy. Ah, the images that haunt my dreams.

"Cole’s restless intelligence works against him almost as much as it helps him; you end up..."

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:05:00 -0400

“Cole’s restless intelligence works against him almost as much as it helps him; you end up wishing he’d just take some delight in a new car or some nice clothes without reminding us, again and again, that he used to be poor. While it’s a major theme in rap— if not the major theme in rap— that up-from-nothing rise is implicit for most rappers, something to be touched on, not to continually fall back on.”

- Pitchfork’s review of J. Cole’s Friday Night Lights, a decent read that ends on an infuriating note.

St. Vincent’s Annie Clark on Strange Mercy, the ‘Worst Year in Life,’ and the Little Girl in Her ‘Cruel’ Video

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:37:00 -0400

St. Vincent’s Annie Clark on Strange Mercy, the ‘Worst Year in Life,’ and the Little Girl in Her ‘Cruel’ Video:

A few weeks ago I talked with St. Vincent’s Annie Clark about her new album Strange Mercy. An edited version of our conversation is already online, though I heard yesterday that it’ll also appear in a future issue of New York magazine.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m really excited to see this conversation in print. Around this time last year, I had just moved to Atlanta and was already feeling lost, wondering how I was going to find work as an inexperienced freelance writer. However, some part of me — the part that’s always searching for thug motivation in some way, shape or form — wishes that New York’s version ended on the note I originally intended:

As a writer in my mid-20s, sometimes I still struggle with writing with authority when there’s still so much more of life that I need to experience and navigate. Have you ever felt the same way, and if so, how do you get over that insecurity?
Oh, I know. I think insecurity is completely natural, but I think you just have to trust that if you are experiencing life in a certain way, it’s universal. That other people have felt that certain way, and it doesn’t matter what vantage that is; if there’s any number of people who are at that same vantage, it could mean something to them. Sure, I mean, at some point when you write in 10 years or 20 years from now, you’ll certainly see something different and richer than what you’re doing now – but that’s no reason to not begin and do it now. To trust your univer-, universal – blah. Universality? You’re a writer, what’s the word I’m looking for?

Alright, back to work.

"And now the news: I have the all-clear to proceed, at full strength, without mercy, from Friday..."

Wed, 25 May 2011 15:17:15 -0400

“And now the news: I have the all-clear to proceed, at full strength, without mercy, from Friday forward. I will be quite eager to show off just how potent the healing elixirs have been. And for those who sometimes express concern over my longer-term prospects, please let me put you at ease: I always get up no matter how many times I get knocked down and no matter how big the things that knock me down may get. I am descended from a race of giants who age like trees. One of them, over the course of his life, wrote so many songs that my present total pales by comparison, and toured until his feet fell off. My goal is to have my likeness replace his over the family hearth.”

- John Darnielle, “Brought My Doctor’s Note, Let Me In.” Proof that even tour updates can be inspiring.

Washington City Paper: Thao & Mirah, Reviewed. My first...

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:59:00 -0400

Washington City Paper: Thao & Mirah, Reviewed. My first album review for the alt-weekly and also the first review, period, that I’ve written in months.

I suppose I should be worried, too, because he had sausage on the brain. (He's a vegetarian.)

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:08:36 -0400

Me: Courtesy of Cosmo: Great brows are like the day after a night of amazing sex: Nobody knows what you did, but they notice you look incredible.
Him: ohhhhhh cosmo. that doesnt even make sense. i never sausage a bad simile.
Me: Sausage? Really?
Him: sausage, pronounced like "saw such. that's an original ... creation, right up there with, "Now that's what I'm Tolkien about!"
Me: That is terrible. That is just terrible.
Him: some things really are only funny on the internet
Me: Or in your brain.
Him: i'll have you know my starcraft friends all think i'm HI-larious :-[

“I Love Friction” — The Hood Internet (Asher...

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:55:59 -0400

“I Love Friction” — The Hood Internet (Asher Roth x The Pains of Being Pure at Heart). Okay, there seriously needs to be a name for when you hear a song you love but cannot truly enjoy it because suddenly all you want to hear is the Hood Internet mash-up version.

Well, just dropped in (to see what condition my condition was in).

Oh, and to say that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were wonderful at The Earl last night.

"Maybe I needed to know what it’s like to feel that sick elevator drop in my stomach. Maybe it’s good..."

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:34:00 -0400

“Maybe I needed to know what it’s like to feel that sick elevator drop in my stomach. Maybe it’s good that, right now, I’m still reeling a little bit, that I’m still pissed off, the steam coming off the top of my head. Because it’s been a long time since I’ve felt so ready to get to work. Suddenly I want to write better than I’ve ever written before. I want to work harder.”

- Esquire’s Chris Jones, on this year’s finalists for the 2011 National Magazine Awards. (He’s not one of them.)

"Now, I have no problem with Scarlett Johansson, and normally, I would have been fine to do that..."

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:24:11 -0400

“Now, I have no problem with Scarlett Johansson, and normally, I would have been fine to do that story. But after about twenty minutes, I actually told her, “I have no idea what to ask you.” I had no idea, because I didn’t really give a flying fuck what Scarlett Johansson thought about anything. I’d just been at the Port Mortuary, where the bodies of soldiers are put back together with wire and reams of cotton, and she decided I needed to know that her favorite word is “beans.” I felt like I’d wasted my life.”

- Esquire’s Chris Jones, on the eight months he spent writing “The Things That Carried Him.”

Metromix Indianapolis: A 'serious discussion' with Das Racist

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:02:00 -0400

Metromix Indianapolis: A 'serious discussion' with Das Racist:

Das Racist, I’m on to you.

PURGE: Young Orchids Finally Bask in the Afterglow. While the...

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 08:42:00 -0400

PURGE: Young Orchids Finally Bask in the Afterglow. While the people behind PURGE prefer to send photographers along with writers the day they conduct their interviews, founder Tim Song and I almost always have conflicting schedules (if not conflicting hangovers). This Young Orchids profile proved to be no exception — I interviewed the band at their rehearsal space on Tuesday, right before Tim scheduled a photo shoot with a band on Thursday, and now, after seeing photos like these, I’m kicking myself (yet again) for not being able to witness Tim at work.

"I’m not sure exactly what the audience might have felt, but some questions that came to my mind..."

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:33:00 -0400

“I’m not sure exactly what the audience might have felt, but some questions that came to my mind were, “Why do some people lead such normal lives and we see others lead such horrific and devilish lives? What went wrong in their lives to bring them to that point? What path am I on, and what direction am I taking?” I look back on my life and ask these questions. “What points in my life was I at a dangerous point, and how did I overcome that?” … If the audience can ask that, then I would want nothing more from them. I hope that as they leave the theater, they can really think about and value the peace and the blessings that they have now.”

- Washington City Paper, “Torturing the Audience? An Interview with Kim Ji-Woon.” I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard or read a director justify the gruesomeness of a film this way, have you?

Edit, courtesy of my roommate: “Sounds like something Rob Zombie would say.” Oh, okay.