Blogs

Listening:
1. Club 8: Dream pop from Sweden. Listen to: Shape Up! (mp3)
2. Teen Daze: Vancouver's latest and greatest. Listen to: Shine On, You Crazy White Cap (mp3)
3. John Hancock: The solo debut from the lead singer of ANR. Listen to: Not Scared At All (mp3)

Reading:
1. Jolt by Susan Miller Silva
2. The Son by Curtis Smith
3. One Hour of Television (excerpt) by Kristina Born

Episode 15: Endless Spring

* Houses: Endless Spring
* Chloe Caldwell: Daffodils And Deodorant and You
* Secret Cities: Pink Graffiti Part 1
* Nick Butcher: Minutes Overlap
* Kathryn Regina: Something Wasn't Right
* Blackbird Blackbird: Pure
* Jill Summers from The Diagnosis of Saddness
* Blackhawks: Indigo
Additional music by Wax Stag

It's not too often that I feature a photographer in this section, but there is something so riveting and beautiful about the images of Christopher Schreck. He is experimenting with light and filters in order to capture life in a whole new way. This Chicago photographer is just beginning to make a name for himself but is already make his way around the local music scene, and starting to see big write-ups around the internet.

Recently, Christopher was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): What process or equipment do you use to create your photographs?

Julie Ann Bee calls herself Sea of Bees and has created a remarkable debut full-length album called Songs for The Ravens. What is even more impressive is the fact that on the record are first or second takes, with nothing edited in and no mistakes to hide. It's clear that this is an album of wild passion that managed to be translated perfectly to vinyl. Musically, she has chosen rock and Americana to release this passion, but it is her honesty and energy that bleeds through every note.

This album was released through Crossbill Records on June 1st and it is the follow up to her ep Bee Eee Pee.

Dan May "The Last to Know" from his new show 'Into the Wild' which is set to open this coming Tuesday, June 8th at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.

Listening:
1. Houses: The perfect song for a day at the beach from this new Chicago duo. Listen to: Endless Spring (mp3)
2. Blackbird Blackbird: More music to play while enjoying the sun. Listen to: Sunspray (mp3)
3. Invisible Elephant: This UK band released an album last month that may have been overlooked. Listen to: Communication Part II (mp3)

Reading:
1. The Many Lives of James Brown’s Capes by Patrick Wensink

Episode Fourteen: The Sucker Punch

* Moneypenny: Cannonball ft. FreeSol (The Breeders Cover)
* Ben Frost: Hibakusja (from Made in Iceland 3)
* Christopher Cunningham & Hosho McCreesh: What Is Truth?
* Coma Cinema: Sucker Punch
* Justin Blackburn: All The Fat Kid Wants is a Hug
* Gold Panda: You
* James Todd Adcox: Live from The Orange Alert Reading Series
* Tobacco: Fresh Hex

Probably by Jono Tosch (Kendra Steiner Editions, May 2010)

The latest release from Kendra Steiner Editions is a diverse collections of poems from Jono Tosch. Probably covers subjects ranging from Don Mattingly to really bad days to the journey of stray lunch meat. The one theme that connects this seemingly random collection is the idea of "what if". It's not that these are hypothetical situations, but they are situations that can be dissected and changes in direction may occur. Jono is inturpeting life, but from a slightly removed angle.

"Don Mattingly flickers like a disposable lighter, Don Mattingly rises to the surface of the great ocean of consciousness."

Common Prayer is primarily the inner melodies of New York's Jason Sebastian Russo (ex-Mercury Rev) and along Alexandra Marvar and other he has created an album filled rustic, melodic, and genuine songs. There Is A Mountain is being released digitally by the band today, and will be release in the UK by Big Potato Records on July 19th. What is so compelling about this album are the variety of sounds that the band utilizes throughout the album. From organs to violins to recorded scraps of metal, the structure and presentation is consistently changing.

There Is A Mountain is one those albums that seems to just jump out a defies everything else being made.

Just $8 (plus Shipping)... order one of the last twenty copies today.

"we give corporations the same consideration as PEOPLE in the courts, hell, the courts ARE THE CORPORATIONS and we must SEIZE a bit of the LIGHTNING back, and use it, unafraid of consequence. and our part, you and I as sh*t poets, is to KEEP SWINGING THESE MACHINES IN THE DARK. stay at it, no matter the uselessness. no matter the attitude of POP CULTURE JUNKIES, the DOLLAR HUNGRY MULTITUDES, blind and staggering thru dead end streets lined with hollowed-out bodies of CEOs and shredded Coke cans, blood running sweetly thru clogged gutters and ash."- June 2nd, 2002 - from Cunningham (excerpt from Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness at Noon