I came across a couple tracks by a band called Cascaders on Friendship Bracelet last week, and low and behold it is the new project of Jamie from Group Tightener Records and Men & Women.  I contacted Jamie, and he sent over the three songs that he has finished.  I’ve been delving back into some philosophy texts these days, and instrumental music is what I crave…and Cascaders pretty much hit that spot.

Cascaders are dark cold compositions based in electronics and guitar.  The sparse sounds remind me of being up on a mountain or deep in a forest at night…with no one around, solemn and isolating echoing like the thoughts in your head.  ”Lifetimes” is calculated and timed to perfection, and “Harpoon Dodger” is sparse and beautiful.  Both perfect to complement deep thoughts and meditation.

But the track that hit me the most out of the “Skybridge,” a bit lighter than the rest, and up lifting in a way.  Where as “Harpoon Dodger” and “Lifetimes” evoke a the cold depths of a cave “Skybridge” is more like emerging from hibernation…seeing the sunlight for the first time in a long time.  The booming drums resonate in your head as the song progresses and is overall one of the most soothing tracks I’ve heard in quite sometime, and the last notes of the song just resonate like an echo deep in your mind.

[mp3] Cascaders- “Skybridge”

[mp3] Cascaders- “Harpoon Dodger”

head over to Friendship Bracelet to snag the third and final track “Lifetimes” here.

Truly looking forward to more songs coming out of Cascaders…especially if I get back into school…this could be the soundtrack to my studies.

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• more on Group Tightener Records here.

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The photo above was taken by klk, and is from the White Lodge.

• more posts featuring photos from the White Lodge can be found here.

All Weekend:

• WFMU RECORD FAIR!!!!

Tonight Friday October 23rd:

• Califone performing All My Friends Are Funeral Singers@ 92ndYtribeca
• Still Flyin’, Air Waves, Beach Fossils, The Smith Westerns, Knight School, Moonmen On The Moon, Man @ Bruar Falls
• Let’s Wrestle, Male Bonding, Surfer Blood, more @ Cake Shop
• Nebula @ Fontana’s (Brooklyn Vegan Day Show)
• Misery Index @ Fontana’s (night show)
• The Love Language @ Living Room
• Surfer Blood @ Market Hotel
• Sore Eros, Blood Oranges, Little Girls @ Pianos
• Heavy Winged, Gary War, more @ Silent Barn
• Tickley Feather,Kria Brekkan @ The Cameo
• Real Estate, Claymation Velociraptor, New Villager, Frat Dad, Holiday Shores, Pill Wonder, Inlets, Eternal Summers @ The Delancey
  • Underwater / Two Syllables Peeps Showcase!
• Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Lemonade, Cold Cave, Harlem, Glasser, Tanlines @ The Suffolk
• Nebula @ Union Pool

Saturday October 24th:

• New York Dumpling Festival!!!
• Kombucha Kegger @ Brouwerij Lane
• Surfer Blood, Screaming Females, more @ Above the Auto Parts Store
• Soft Black, Surfer Blood, more @ Brooklyn Bowl
• Future Islands @ Death By Audio
• Pitchfork / Todd P’s Show Paper Benefit @ Market Hotel
  • Lemonade (4:30am – DJ Set), DJ Alan Palomo/Neon Indian (3:00am – DJ Set), 20 Jazz Funk Greats (2:00am – DJ Set), Jamie XX (1:00am – DJ Set), Special Guests (11:00pm), Cymbals Eat Guitars (10:00pm), Cold Cave (9:00pm), Delorean (8:00pm), Real Estate (7:00pm), The Smith Westerns (6:00pm), Javelin (5:00pm), Small Black (4:00pm), Bear in Heaven (3:00pm), Highlife (2:00pm), Surfer Blood (1:00pm)
• Sub Pop @ Mercury Lounge
  • Male Bonding, Obits, Pissed Jeans, Golden Triangle, The Dutchess & The Duke, The Moondoggies, Dum Dum Girls, Unnatural Helpers
• Holiday Shores, The Dutchess & The Duke, Lightspeed Champion, Headlights, Dum Dum Girls @ MHOW (Day Show)
• Mexican Summer/ Kemado @ MHOW
  • The Amazing (members of Dungen), Real Estate, Farmer Dave Scher, The Smith Westerns, Young Prisms
• Pete and the Pirates, A Classic Education, My Teenage Stride,Slang Chickens, Jacques Detergent @ Silent Barn (PopJew Presents!)
• Underwater Peoples Day Show @ the Cameo (Day Show)
  • Eternal Summers, Sun Dagger, Big Troubles, Family Portraits, Fluffy Lumbers, Pill Wonder, Frat Dad, Air Waves

Sunday October 25th:

• Greenpoint Oktoberfest @ Transmitter Park!!!

Monday October 26th:

• Surfer Blood, Small Black @ Death By Audio

Wednesday October 28th:

• Charles Bissel (of The Wrens), They Might Be Giants, Nada Surf (acoustic) @ MHOW
• Steve Brodsky (Cave In) @ Bowery Ballroom
• Jeffrey Lewis Band @ The Glasslands

Thursday October 29th:

• Karl Blau!, Lake, White Diamonds @ Ash’s Place

This week is CMJ, and while most people are going to things every hour of the day I’m being very selective (shows aren’t conducive to studying)… but one of those things that I will be attending is happening tonight!

Group Tightener Records is having their showcase at Monster Island!

If you don’t know Group Tightener yet…you probably soon will…they are about to release the first Best Coast 7″. Best Coast is the lo-fi pop act of Bethany Cosentino, and has been drawing a lot of attention lately.  Cosentino was formerly a member of Pocahaunted, and has now moved on to make music that is a little more condusive for the laying in the sun.  While I personally have been moving away from the fuzziness something about Best Coast draws me back.

On top of  Best Coast playing I have heard a lot about Highlife (and the one single that has been released is pretty awesome….see below…features Sleepy Doug Shaw of White Magic) as well… and if these two weren’t enough… Alex Bleeker, Fluffy Lumbers and Ducktails will also be performing… and if you have been following the Great Pumpkin this year you know how big of a fan of Ducktails I am.  Group Tightener and Todd P have put together a line up that can’t be beat.

If you are still on the fence about the show hopefully this will help convince you:

[mp3] Best Coast- “Something in the Way”

“Something in the Way” isn’t on the Group Tightener 7″, but you can order that here.

[mp3] Highlife- “F Kenya Rip” (via Transparent)

[mp3] Ducktails- “Pizza Time”

“Pizza Time” is on the out of print Beach Point Pleasant 7″,  but you should really just pick up all the Ducktails stuff here.

[mp3] Fluffy Lumbers- “Cruisers”

“Cruisers” is not on the Weird Hug 7″, but you can buy that here.

[mp3] Alex Bleeker and the Freaks- “Never Goin’ Back” (via Chocolate Bobka)

If you are looking for something to do before the Group Tightener showcase…you should check out Alphabar NYC…it’s a drinking club that meets every other Wednesday.  Tomorrow is Alphabar’s first time in Brooklyn, and I is for Iona.  Drink specials start at 8pm.  Click on the links for more info, and join the facebook group.

Hope to see you there…this should be a great Wednesday!

Links:

• more on Ducktails here.
• more on Alphabar NYC here.
• Buy Ducktails releases here.
• Buy the Best Coast 7″ here.
• Buy Fluffy Lumbers releases here.
• Group Tightener’s website.

UPDATE 10/22/09: Check out videos of Best Coast live from Monster Island here.

This past Sunday klk and I drove all the way out to the end of the North Fork of Long Island.  I had never really gotten out to the wine and agricultural part of the island, but it was a really nice day.  The farm stands were abundant so we picked up pumpkins for the upcoming holiday, and other delicious veggies. We stopped off at Orient Beach…which I had no idea was as beautiful as it is.  The water is as clear as can be, and the beach is covered in stones (I’ve never seen this before…I assume it’s natural).  Looking out over the water I couldn’t help but think of the Montauk Monster, and the alleged government animal testing facility.  On our way back a little wine tasting and some of the best ice cream in the world.  I’m also learning how to use my camera better, and this is the result:

Farm Stands:

Orient Beach:

Maybe the best ice cream I’ve ever had:

On our way out to the North Fork we pasted Port Washington, New York.  This reminded me of one of my favorite Mountain Goats song:

[mp3] The Mountain Goats- “Going to Port Washington” (off of Ghana. Buy it here)

I’ve been thinking about the Mountain Goats a lot lately…they have been on Colbert, and the new album is coming out.  On our trip out to the North Fork we listened to Bitter Mellon Farm, and it was pretty much perfect music for our drive through all of the farms and vineyards.  I know that the Mountain Goats have gotten really big from their studio albums, but I truly miss the tape hiss and the grind of the acoustic guitar.  If you haven’t experienced this side of the goats check out the track above, or by a record pre- Tallahassee .

I’m really looking forward to another trip to the North Fork… it was relaxing, and I’m really craving another ice cream cone from Magic Fountain… the pumpkin and the bourbon cherry ice creams were to die for.

Tonight Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain (click through and follow them on twitter!) will host a screening of The State’s rarities at the Bell House…and supposedly a hang session?  Fingers crossed for more cast members too…but in the end…I’m always happy seeing Michael, Michael, and David.

The event tonight is sold out, but I would like to take this opportunity to present what I consider some very special State moments.

First up is probably the most strangest The State skit that was ever produced:

“Porcupine Racetrack”

And now here are some of my favorites (ones that MTV was nice enough to make available…for more click here.):

“Doug and Dad”

“$240 Worth of Pudding”

“Bacon”

“Planet Groovy”

If you aren’t attending the event tonight I at least hope you will watch some clips.

Getting the entire series of The State this summer was amazing, and I was finally able to watch The State in its entirety. If you haven’t seen it, or want to see it again,  consider this a very good investment: The State Complete Series on DVD.

This past Saturday klk and I took a drive to Asbury Park, NJ to go to the Silver Ball Museum (The Pinball Hall Of Fame). I was unaware that there was a pinball museum so close to New York City (I had previous only known of the National Pinball Museum in Silver Springs, MD)… but last week my friend Brendan sent over the link to their site.

The Silver Ball Museum is located in Asbury Park, NJ, and the drive was surprisingly easy.  Asbury Park is a nice little town (edit: I’m getting criticism for this statement…but as far as re-developing goes…it is a nice…slightly abandoned…town…what it comes down to it that I like it), and the block of Cookman St. that the Silver Ball Museum is on is pretty kicking…including a couple cafes, restaurants, the wonderful Paranormal Books and Curiosities, and the future home of the Paranormal Museum! The Silver Ball Museum itself is located in the back of the Speak Easy.  The Speak Easy is a music equipment, record, and rock apparel store (we did pick up a 7″ while at Speak Easy, but more on that will come later this week)….you walk in and head to the back…you see the Silver Ball signs, and walk down the steps into a basement filled with pinball machines.

If you have been reading the Great Pumpkin you probably already know that I have been working on The North Brooklyn Pinball Directory, and that pinball is a passion of mine.   Most of the machines in Brooklyn seem to be from the late 70’s up til the early 2000’s, but the Silver Ball Museum’s focus is on machines created from 33′-79′!

Typically when you think of museums you think of something that is hands off, and just for looking, but the Silver Ball Museum was 100% hands on.  While it might appear to be expensive there are several options for admission:

• $5 for 15 minutes
• $10 for an hour
• $20 for the day
• $50 for the weekend

Admission into the Silver Ball Museum gets you all you can play for the time you are there (and if you haven’t played a pinball machine in a bar lately, you can spend $10 and play the game much less than an hour).  The man working the counter let us in, and said “All of the games are on free play…if the machine is turned on all you have to do is find the start button.”

I had pretty high expectations for Silver Ball, and it exceeded my expectations by far.  Silver Ball gave me a history lesson in pinball in the best way possible…not only did I get to see how machines have progressed over time, but also experience how they feel during game play.  The most interesting thing I learned was that the flippers got much bigger sometime during the 70’s, and this made the game slightly easier…too me honest most of the machines from the 60’s were a little bit too hard.

Almost all of the machines were on (very few out of order…and most of those were marked), and in better condition than I could have ever imagined.  It was a great way to spend part of the afternoon, and gave us the opportunity to play a whole lot of machines (they boast 100 of the best from the 60’s and 70’s).

These were some of our favorites:

Fireball had an intense spinning mechanism in the middle that shot the ball in crazy directions…one of the most unique machines I have played:

Those were some of our favorites, but by far the most impressive thing was the amount of machines that you could try.

I’ll be honest, and say that this was my first good experience in New Jersey, and I really enjoy Asbury Park.  For fans of pinball in the NY/NJ area I think the Silver Ball Museum is a place you must visit…If I was spending the night out in Asbury Park I could totally get my moneys worth of a full day pass.

Paranormal Books and Curiosities (located at 627 Cookman Avenue) was a wonderful surprise, and we ended up bringing a book and some magazines home with us.  One of the best stores specializing in the occult that I have ever seen.  They do Ghost Walks, Haunted Investigations, Psychic Readings, and more all out of this shop! Here is a little bit more about the shop:

More than a store, Paranormal Books & Curiosities is a unique experience boutique! Participate in ghost hunting classes and paranormal investigations, view exclusive paranormal art and exhibits, or drop by for guest lectures, book signings and performances held throughout the year. We guarantee you won’t find any place like this in the world!

Paranormal Books & Curiosities also carries a wide variety of hard to find books and regional titles, including the current issue of Weird NJ. And for the paranormal investigator, we stock the latest in ghost hunting equipment and supplies.

I plan on going back to Asbury Park again once the Paranormal Museum opens…their first exhibit will be on the Jersey Devil! And while I’m there I will definitely stop back into the Silver Ball for another hour or so of pinball.  This is truly an amazing block in Asbury Park.

The Silver Ball Museum is located at
639 Cookman Ave
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
(in the back of Speak Easy and a couple doors down from Paranormal Books and Curiosities)
(732)-774-4994

Additional Info and Links:

• Silver Ball Pinball Museum
• Paranormal Books and Curiosities (and eventually the Paranormal Museum)
• The North Brooklyn Pinball Directory
• more of my pictures of the Silver Ball Museum here.
• Paranormal Books photo by Shawn Perez via flickr

As you can probably tell by the title of this post at least a portion of it is going to have to do with They Might Be Giants. I am definitely a fan of the Johns, but not as huge of a fan as some people. I think a GIGANTIC: A Tale of Two Johns was a great documentary…one of my favorite music docs, but as far as their music goes I tend to focus on their early albums…I have a two disc collection of the self titled and Lincoln that I listened to for days at a time when working at 52.5 in college (Clay probably remembers that).

Last year I acquired a copy of Lincoln on vinyl, and I am very happy to own a copy of that on wax (it brings a smile to my face every time I play it).   They Might Be Giants have a new track called “Electric Car,”  and I have to say that this song also brought a smile to my face in the same fashion that Lincoln does. The pop sensibility that I love about TMBG, but with no Johns singing? A really wonderful little track with vocals by Robin Goldwasser and horn arrangement by Dan “The Machine” Levine.

[mp3] They Might Be Giants- “Electric Car”

This track is off of They Might Be Giants’ Here Comes Science CD/DVD, buy it here.

Something much less exciting that I heard was the newest Modest Mouse single (I don’t recall it’s name, nor do I want to acknowledge it by looking it up). I agree with klk that Isaac Brock sounds like a caricature of himself, and this song kind of depressed me.  I hadn’t really listened to Modest Mouse in a couple of years,  but actually put on Sad Sappy Suckers the other week, and remembered why I loved this band.  There is a track called “Call-to-Dial-A-Song” on the album, and I can only come to the conclusion that this was an actual message left on TMBG Dial-A-Song Answering Machine. There are internet claims that the latter fourth of Sad Sappy Suckers were from a Dial-A-Song service that Brock ran for a while, but I haven’t found a way to confirm…but this is supposedly one of the songs that was used:

[mp3] Modest Mouse- “Black Blood and Old Newagers”

Buy it buy it here.

Either way I feel that it was a pretty awesome idea, make a phone call…hear a song, whether you would be calling the original TMBG line or one that Modest Mouse might have done (I would have been happy to hear that song above). According to wiki TMBG’s dial-a-song “had died of a technical crash, and that the Internet had taken over where the machine left off.” I feel like this is really sad…almost like the death of a format, but more personal than a CD or record…Dial-A-Song only existed for a moment (if you didn’t hear the song from that day it was gone).

In the internet age I feel like there isn’t anything that exists for such a short period of time as a phone message. We have music blogs, and myspaces.  While myspaces theoretically could work in a similar way (put a song up, take it down the next day), I feel like there was something magical in the phone call.

While it isn’t as temporary I really feel that City Center is doing the most modern day equivalent to dial-a-song by posting new tracks extremely frequently on their blog.  Now a days everything is archived, and that is exactly what City Center have done.  At the beginning of the year I listened to a couple tracks of theirs… I wanted to hear more, and ventured in to the blog…I found myself downloading seventy or so tracks the first evening. They have been consistently posting free and legal mp3s, documenting their bands experimentation and growth.  Currently I’ve been digging on this spacey folky jam that they posted back in August:

[mp3] City Center- “Sky Flower”

As well as the video of their last practice before tour:

City Center- “Dinosaur Games”

Buy City Center records here.

While Dial-A -Song was a specific moment in time… City Center’s is an archived time line.  I see the advantages to both, but thinking back on it I would love to crawl through that back catalogue of TMBG dial-a-song recordings…I’m sure there are some gems that never saw the light of day in there.

Links:

• more on City Center here.

Hello Everybody,

My transition to gprecs.com is almost complete.  All of my blog roll friends…you have been added to the new blogroll.  The old blog has been cleared out, and I am now redirecting people to this location. And my new RSS feed is set up!

Along with the new domain there will be new features here on the Great Pumpkin:

• Self hosted mp3s
• A mp3 player at the bottom of the page that will let you stream all mp3s hosted by gprecs.com
  • Just click on “Click to Play All Audio Posts”  in the bottom left hand corner! It will take me a while to get a playlist built up, but as soon as I post some new mp3s it will start working.
• And several new (hopefully) weekly features that I have come up with!

This is all very exciting for me, and I hope you enjoy!

I would also like to give a big thank you to Anoop for helping me get this done.  Without him gprecs.com would not be possible!  Thanks Anoop!

Cheers,

Tom