Saturday, February 20, 2010

Japan Tour

Japan was incredible - these are only 1/3 of the photos I actually took but I had to cut it down, things were getting ridiculous.

Mt. Fuji - Welcome to Tokyo


Akasaka - our new home

Literally an hour after we get checked in we take off to Shibuya to go drink beer with Kato Man

Shrine in Akasaka


prayers?


If we bothered to ask someone to take our photo together this could've been a pretty awesome promo shot


Torii that leds to the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku


Takoyaki - yum fried octopus balls!


shopping in Harajuku


Barry McGee house across from the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art


JENGA @ Beat Cafe!


Bobby looking through Yosuke's art zine - possibly the single greatest thing we brought back from Japan.
JAPANESE CURRY = AWESOME!!!


carrying all your gear on the subway during rush hour is a terrible idea

Friday night at Astro Hall in Harajuku - DMBQ

Black Lips!!!


This is what it looks like when like 1000 people cross the street at the same time in every direction


excellent shoe display in Shibuya

standing sushi


Black Lips after party!


Jered and Bobby
Girl whose name I forgot and Joe


I forgot this guys name but he played after us and did a rad Smith's cover


German dance party in Japan with dudes from the South - love it.

best bartender in Shibuya ;)


ready for some rain


the unbelievably beautiful drive to Matsumoto


reason Japan is superior to everyone else #32 Adorable Snacks


Matsumoto Castle


Window of a cloudy day Cafe where we played in Matsumoto


Bobby and Chifumi - thank you sooooooo much for putting on this show for us!!


Love of Everything Cats - hot seller


surprise choreographed dance moves are my favourite thing


Asuna - The Kid Ikarus of Japan, sampling Narrator covering Bob Dylan's All The Tired Horses.
Wrap your mind around that!!


Oh.My.God.
After show feast thanks to Chifumi and her family


Michio: the best person ever, Silver Hats and Asuna


Reason why Japan is superior to everyone else #8
Karaoke is auto-tuned. I sounded fucking amazing


Traditional Japanese breakfast - Bobby's favourite

Huck Finn Factory in Nagoya


I'm Tokyo You're Osaka


JONNOSUN ! Kaori on Keyboard!


The best thing I've probably ever seen in my life: I'm Tokyo You're Osaka set.
What you can't tell from this photo is that the keyboard isn't plugged in and Michio is lip-syncing
Hilarious


out of focus tiny drums


after show Chinese food


it's not tour without bike rides


Bobby, Kato Man and Eri @ O-Nest in Shibuya


they sounded so beautiful


Esther and I
I love getting to hang out with Chicago people in foreign lands


After the show Sushi and Sake with other Masa

Hilarious diagram of how a carnivorous plant works @ the conservatory on Yumi no Shima aka Garbage Island


Memorial Cranes


Represent!


Fantastic in-store on Tuesday night


SNAIL! Cooked in it's own shell on fire at your table...so rad!


Sumire: Violet and Claire in Shibuya - cutest shop in all of Tokyo


What I imagine to be one of maybe two Vegan restaurants in Japan - Nagi.
Ate such a delicious dinner while Kato man retold the story of Nofx being in Japan like 15 years ago and Eric getting WASTED and the dudes holding down Kato man as Eric puked into his mouth. Yeah.


Shinjuku @ night


the raddest tiny alley of Izakayas


This bar was called "White Bear" - wonder why?


Kato Man and Masa: Popsicle party @ Beat Cafe

party!


good bye Tokyo

Saturday, January 23, 2010

2am updates

I couldn't go to sleep without re-posting this video



I didn't grow up in the midwest
I also wasn't an angsty teenager in the 90's
So I can't imagine what this night meant to some people - but to me it was still fucking amazing.
Especially this song, which is my favourite!!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

NEW LOVE OF EVERYTHING ALBUM!!



TIME TO CELEBRATE


Here's pretty much the best song ever - Fear of Missing Out
off of Best In Tensions, hopefully out sometime soon..



This song was the most fun ever to record - I played with tennis balls instead of drumsticks and we had soooo many friends come sing with us.
Mega thanks again to Tim Kinsella, Jeanine O'Toole, Eric Block, Seth Bohn, Jeremy Bolen, Chris Hansen, Matt Holland, and Caitlin Kerr :)

Friday, January 1, 2010

Top 9's of '09

Sorry this is definitely late - apparently the end of 2009 was busy.
Last year my New Years Resolution was to make a blog because "I'm thinking 2009 will be awesome so I want to be able to remember it."
I couldn't have been more right!!
2009 was fucking incredible and thanks to this blog I have great documentation of it.

To begin, in no order at all

Top 9 of '09 Albums:

Dinosaur JR - Farm
Passion Pit - Manners
Atlas Sound - Logos
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Japandroids - Post Nothing
Mannequin Men - Lose your illusion, too
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
The Dutchess and The Duke - Sunset/Sunrise



**Sidenote: The Dirty Projectors were HIGH on everyone's top lists this year and I have no idea why....if someone can explain to me why people like this shit I will knit you a scarf.


Top 9 of '09 Movies:


Inglourious Basterds
Sherlock Holmes
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day*
I love you, Man
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
District 9
Coco before Chanel
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Zombieland
*BEST MOVIE EVER
**this is really just a list of 9 movies I saw this year....I don't watch enough movies.

Top 19 of '09 Concerts: (in chronological order)

Les Savy Fav @ Epiphany
These Arms Are Snakes @ Subterranean
No Age @ SXSW
Anni Rossi @ SXSW
Ratatat @ Metro
Paletazo @ a vineyard in Lucca
Kid Ikarus @ somewhere in Paris
This Town Needs Guns @ 100 Club in London
Propagandhi @ The Bottom Lounge*
Killer Whales @ a basement show
Flaming Lips @ Pitchfork
The Killers @ Lollapalooza
Wavves @ The Empty Bottle**
Japandroids @ Schuba's
NOFX @ The Congress Theater
Atlas Sound @ The Bottom Lounge
Pool of Frogs @ The Darkroom
The Dutchess and The Duke @ The Empty Bottle
Mannequin Men @ The Empty Bottle


*dream come true - my first time seeing them live
**also dream come true - finally saw Zach Hill drumming

I can say without a doubt that 2009 was the best year of my life - my new years resolution for 2010 is to top it!! Also, to get Bobby to do a blog post at least once :)