life after local

yo joe!

2009-01-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

back in the early 90's, i had this idea for a g.i. joe movie. i had started to cast it, too (i think ving rhames played a prominent role if i remember). somewhere along the line, i lost interest (see: grew up), but with talk of a summer joe-movie, i'm excited all over again. obviously i'm not expecting anything more than transformers-esque entertainment value, but this will definitely be one to see in theaters. seeing this poster made the topic blogworthy:

there's are entire sites/blogs devoted to the trailer alone, which is supposedly premiering this sunday during the superbowl. with march and may readily anticipated (watchmen and wolverine, respectively), hopefully this will be an entertaining end to the summer.

oh, hello.

2009-01-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

i've been terrible at blogging. i've been busy in the real world, so i guess i have the best excuse possible. i'll make it quick:

- the smyrk is back!
- the narrative is writing and playing some shows.
- ice nine kills is playing few as well.

spinning:

team sleep - team sleep. better than the deftones at many points, but very different. more melody, zach hill, and a few guest vocalists make this a welcome departure.
deftones - saturday night wrist. the best elements of white pony and the best of the self-titled together on one album.
burial - untrue & burial. spacey, slinky and foggy beats make me feel like walking london's cobblestones.
flying lotus - los angeles. glitchy yet organic, a soundtrack for any and all times. a perfect yin to LA's gaudy yang.

reading:

charles bukowski - women. every word is in its place, and those places are all perfect. a master of everything concise, the book is a starkly poetic jaunt through all of his later-life encounters with the fairer sex. a whole lot of alcohol with and between every meal, and a whole lot of his customary self-deprecation.

watching:

summer heights high - as a friend put it, it's like waiting for guffman meets murray from flight of the conchords. i've only seen a few episodes but i'm hooked. chris lilley is a genius.

lullabies.

2009-01-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

you know when you buy an album the week it comes out and it's just okay, then you rediscover it months or years later and love it? that's happened to me a few times. here are 3 albums that have grown into some of my favorites of all time after being less than thrilled on their release date:

Queens of the Stone Age - lullabies to paralyze
my favorite QOTSA record. murky and slithering, it's a darker side to an already dimly-lit band. a true analog recording that is obviously the exact record that this band set out to make.

Brand New - the devil and god are raging inside me
again, a dark band goes darker. although their previous record is a cult classic, i think many fans were let down with this more mature turn. better production, some experimentation, and more inventive song structures make for a more interesting band. the b-side "fork and knife" is also one of my favorite songs of theirs.

El-P - fantastic damage
it took me a year to get into this album. upon first listen it was a pure cacophony of blippy beats and jumbled nouns and verbs. then one day it hit me - el-p is a genius producer and lyricist. everything he does is riddled with his signature sound and swagger, and i love it. a gratingly beautiful masterpiece.

i'll try to continue this segment in a couple weeks!

welcome to 2009.

2009-01-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

i plan on making this a ~~good~~ great year. there are inevitable unknowns, but this is an exciting time. we've never seen a world as volatile as this, and it's time to challenge it with our own ingenuity and innovation.

pros of new year's:

- spring street natural.
- good company.
- enough alcohol to fight off some of the frigidity of nyc.

cons of new year's:

- frigidity of nyc.
- exorbitant cover charges.
- taking taxis.

and now for nostalgia: one of my most memorable new year's was spent with my mother. she gave me a tiny tiny glass of creme de menthe as dick clark trumpeted in the new year. that bottle of ozlike green liquid was probably 30 years old. what an odd beverage.

hollindaise.

2008-12-29T18:08:00.000-08:00

it's been awhile... what's new?

holidays were/continue to be good. new year's is last in line, as usual. i've never been one for new year's resolutions, but this year i decided to be proactive and i got my list together early. yes, it's a list. most of it's just for me, but here's one for us all:

think positively.

i've always thought that the whole put-out-good-vibes-and-the-universe-will-do-the-same-for-you outlook was rather naive and hippyish. i still think the second, but certainly not the first. i've started to consciously do it and it's made me feel better. it also makes me a better functioning human being, one who's still realistic but with a nice optimistic aftertaste. it's a very simple change - all it takes is a little effort but it goes long way. i suggest we all do it!

here's what i've been into recently:

The Bled - silent treatment
2007 record that brings the band back to the pummeling form of their debut. can't stop listening.

Porcupine Tree - deadwing
most bands stick to one sound. this band does not. i like that.

Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard - the dark knight (soundtrack)
this should've made my best of '08 list. the movie was great, but this soundtrack makes it achieve that greatness. very contemporary.

Six Feet Under
working my way through season 2. acting and directing rarely hit this level simultaneously.

if i don't see you - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

website!

2008-12-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

www.arisadowitz.com is now up and running!

...want guitar lessons?

beer.

2008-12-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

a recent favorite:

this is it!

best albums of 2008.

2008-12-10T21:19:00.001-08:00

and by best of, i mean my favorite. i listened to what, 2.3% of all albums released this year? if anyone has any recommendations, let me know! so here's the list (and i reserve the right to edit this within the next 20 days!):

===========================

Top 10:

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
i fell in love with this album at first listen. less harsh than desperate youth, more accessible than cookie mountain - a poppier, more fun TVOTR with all their weirdness intact. this is that rare record for me when i hear the lyrics the first time. a delicious and exciting sonic concoction.

2. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
i love this band. leaders of the free world was a great record, but this one is more eclectic and has more teeth. from the jarring first track to the end, Elbow show that they should be considered among the top bands of the UK (and the world, for that matter). pete turner's signature badass bass tones abound, and guy garvey's vocals are better than ever. hard to believe they've been around for 18 years.

3. Protest the Hero - Fortress
most best-of lists are full of bands that sound like depressed hipsters with long beards recording on "analog" gear in dusty log cabins somewhere in the rustic and melancholy beauty of big sky country. this is not one of those bands. at all. i'm not a heavy music connoisseur, but i know what i like - rhythmic insanity, melody, and tightness. they have all three and more, and make a more cohesive album than their debut. the first track is called "bloodmeat" and the concept of the record is the death of goddess worship. brilliant.

4. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
this is a band that i had heard of but never heard before this year. a group of germans with a 20-year career spanning multiple genres, they make haunting and beautiful music. a great winter album (although it came out in june). definitely a surprise favorite this year.

5. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
he's back! forget all that kamaal the abstract business. q-tip sounds like he's having fun again on this record, replete with organic production and not at all dated. with guests like norah jones and d'angelo and perfectly-produced beats ("gettin' up"), he only misses occasionally ("manwoomanboogie").

6. Copeland - You Are My Sunshine
i heard this record on tour, and it was a perfect compliment to long drives. a pristine-sounding and calming album from start to finish. "the suitcase song" gets me every time. they've always been a solid band but all the elements hit their stride this time.

7. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
besides #1, this was my most-anticipated record of the year, and i was not disappointed. after hearing "violet hill" i knew there would be some great moments, and when those moments come they're worth the wait. while it doesn't flow quite like their first two albums, "42" and "death and all his friends" are worth the price of admission. certainly makes up for the lame drowsiness that was x&y.

8. Portishead - Third
they're back! and they're not as somber, which isn't a bad thing. not to say they're not somber, because it's pretty somber, but they throw in a track like "deep water," an old-timey folk song to mix it up. as usual, the production is amazing and covers quite a range on this record. it's nice and somber.

9. Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
i can only take so much math-core, or whatever it's being called at the moment. that said, DEP has made an impressive album, and one that's fairly accessible to a non-mathy listener such as myself. sometimes it's obvious ("milk lizard," "black bubblegum"), sometimes it's not ("sick on sunday"), and sometimes it doesn't even exist (every other track). another aggressive record from the masters.

10. Roots Manuva - Slime and Reason
consistently one of my favorite rappers, british or otherwise, rodney smith has crafted a dark and clubby mashup of grimey rhymes. the trademark swagger and delivery are both there, and the production is crisp and electric. a step above his last release.

Honorable Mentions:

The Fall of Troy - Phantom on the Horizon
Emiliana Torrini - Me and Armini
City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love

Best Live Album/Mind-Boggling-Seizure-Inducing-Live-DVD:

Muse - H.A.A.R.P.
all i can say is that i wish i was there.

Best Album Released Digitally in 2007 and Physically in 2008:

Radiohead - In Rainbows
what can i say about this album that hasn't already been said? just another 43 minutes of proof as to why they're the best band in the world. (find disc 2 if you can, it's worth it).

Most Underwhelming:

The Roots - Rising Down
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
Fear Before - Fear Before

Albums I Still Haven't Heard (Yet):

Beck - Modern Guilt
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt 1.: 4th World War
Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vol. 3 & 4

===========================

so there you have it. my most and least favorites of 2008. still haven't heard the new britney... yet.

that didn't quite pan out...

2008-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

it's time to restart this blog. or start it. or something. i'm leaving the first post in there just to show you that things don't always turn out according to plan.

i didn't go to europe (but i will, rest assured). i had an itinerary, recommendations, new trek-ready clothes, a sigg water bottle... i was even in the running for a free eurail pass on facebook (total bullshit contest, by the way)! then i got a message from my friends in ice nine kills asking me to go on tour with them for 2 months. i struggled with the decision. here i was, trying to get away from being a broke musician for awhile, expand my horizons and set out for new territory... i ended up accepting the offer.

i had always been a fan of the band since playing shows with them, but i had no training in their style of music. after a week of 6-8 hour practice sessions, i knew the parts. unfortunately i didn't have a menacing guitar to go with the music, so i started looking. i settled on one of these:

it's an SG-X! i first heard about these guitars though the fall of troy. i found one on craig's list in manhattan and went down there as soon as i could. i love its simplicity - one pickup, one volume, one tone. coil tap gets some decent single coil sounds. it weighs about half a pound, which was great for such a grueling tour schedule. all in all, a great find. for the first half of the tour i ran it through my pedalboard (to be detailed later) and the band's mesa dual rec and 4x12. i had a lot of noise issues with the high output pickup and the mesa, but a noise suppressor semi-fixed that. i blew fuses at consecutive shows, but midway through the tour we scored a hughes & kettner matrix for $50 (what?!), and although i usually hate solid state amps, it did the trick for the rest of the tour. i'd love to check out some h&k gear in the future.

the tour was intense, fun, trying, financially draining, and a great experience. we had an amazing group of people and i miss them all. since i've already linked a few things, i'll add one more: oceana, a young band from florida. aside from being genuine and hilarious guys, they're a great band. heavy with a gigantic groove, melodic and thunderous all at once. they're kind of like godzilla drenched in soaring delay destroying mothra copycat bands with deadly plodding breakdowns. they're writing a new record right now and have a demo of anew song on their myspace. i've played it numerous times for the past couple weeks. very excited for the newness.

this blog will be about me. hopefully no rants, definitely some raves, and links to stuff that i'm really diggin at the moment. expect music, movies, books, gear, food and drink, websites, recipes... and on and on. we'll see how it turns out.

#1

2008-08-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

hello.

i've started a blog to coincide with my new chapter in life. i think i'm at chapter 6 or something. not sure, but it's new.

i'm currently planning a trek/walkabout/vision quest in europe. backpacking, hostels, the whole nine. i know it's been done, but it's been done for a reason, just like the rest of the world. so why not start with the fatherland of the USA? i'll be keeping the blog going as much as possible while traveling.

why the title? i picked "life after local" because a) it's catchy as hell and you can totally tell your friends and relatives. b) i've been a new haven, CT "local" for my entire life, and even played in a Local Band for 5 years. i feel like this is the beginning of my life after that stage. so here it goes.