XX Merge is long gone…but the memories came flooding back today when Pitchfork posted Lambchop performing “Give It” which bridged into a cover of “Once In a Life Time.” Even though I had been told to listen to Lambchop many times in the past seeing him play at XX Merge was my first experience, and I can say I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.  Now you get a little taste of this magic too:

Lambchop’s performance from the XX Merge Festival will be released both digitally and physically later this month, and here are the details:

• Limited Edition CD + high definition QuickTime download (1280×720) of the concert film. – $12.98 (CD preorders before November 24 will also receive an MP3 download code via email on November 17)

• MP3 + high definition QuickTime download (1280×720) of the concert film – $12.99 (Available November 17)

• MP3 + standard definition QuickTime download (400 × 225) of the concert film – $9.99 (Available November 17)

This will be available at the Merge Store!

Lambchop was by far one of the highlights of the festival for me, and I can’t wait to own that recording.  I knew there was a reason why that didn’t pop up on the Merge site with the rest of the videos from the festival….and now we know.

Links:

• more on XX Merge can be found here.

Tomorrow marks a very special event for both Columbia’s Miller Theatre and the Wordless Music Series, and that event is a very rare set of music in which Dan Bejar, better know as Destroyer, and Loscil will perform together.

I have been a fan of Destroyer’s for quite some time, and seeing him play was one of the highlights of XX Merge festival this summer.  Dan Bejar as a lyricist and musician continues to amaze and inspire me.  Bejar seems to have a love hate relationship with New York City.  Both romanticizing it in song, and at the same time seem put off when playing venues like Bowery Ballroom.  I’m hoping that the Miller Theatre will be a welcomed change in scenery for Bejar rather than the normal bar/club scene that he is used to in this city.

Loscil is a musician that I am much less familiar with, and is the recording name of Scott Morgan’s ambient electronic recording project.  Both Bejar and Morgan are from Vancouver, B.C., and when Morgan is not performing as Loscil he backs Bejar playing drums in Destroyer.

As I read more about Loscil I am becoming more and more excited about this performance on Saturday just knowing some of the electronics that Bejar has used in early recordings and the potential this collaboration could have.   Here are the details

Saturday September 12th @ Columbia’s Miller Theatre

Destroyer and Loscil

with Jack Quartet

doors at 7:30pm/ show at 8pm

tickets are still on sale here.

As a tribute to Bejar’s performance here are several videos of his solo set at XX Merge from this past July.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do… they came out surprisingly good.

Destroyer-”Streets of Fire”

Destroyer – “Goddess of Drought”

Destroyer- “To the Heart of the Sun on the Back of the Vulture, I’ll Go”

Destroyer- “Painter In Your Pocket”

Buy music by Destroyer here.

Links:

• more on Destroyer can be found here.
• more on XX Merge can be found here.
• more gprecs videos can be found here.

On our way from Charleston to Chapel Hill klk and I took a detour to Columbia (SC), and then drove up the back roads.  It was a nice drive, and we successfully managed to stay off of I-95…way to much of my life has been spent on that highway.  We stopped off to get some delicious South Carolina Peaches in Mcbee, SC.

Peach Trees!

Big’s Meats and More (unfortunately closed at the time)

I’m guessing this was Big:

And a rad Antique Museum:

Calculator?

knobs (for Leah):

beerz:

me:

A couple more photos can be found here.

This is part of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.

Another one of the highlights of Merge Records 20th Anniversary, of course, was the Magnetic Fields.  Surprisingly the Magnetic Fields took the stage in the middle of the first night of the festival.  Their performance was wonderful, and I was kind of shocked that they played on night one.  This was my third time seeing them, and this time at the beginning of the set Claudia made a comment about Stephen’s hearing, and how clapping and hollering hurts his ears…but unfortunately the crowd didn’t realize how serious she was.

It was great to see the Magnetic Fields perform in a venue as small as the Cat’s Cradle, and part of this was that we were able to stand so close to the stage.  But on the other hand it was painful to watch someone like Stephen Merritt, a musician that I respect and who’s music I love, be in so much pain when his fans cheer for him (to the point where he had to stop playing when people cheered in the middle of a song).  I hope that in the future it will be made more clear that Stephen can’t handle loud clapping, and that the crowd will show their appreciation in another way (in the past Claudia had suggested snapping your fingers). Despite this their set was wonderful, expect for when a Palmetto bug attacked Claudia and Shirley.  Here are some photos from their set:

the pallmetto bug attack during “Comeback from SF.”  You can even see the bug fly across the stage (video by cotafloata):

While this was the Magnetic Fields announced that their XX Merge appearance will be their only show of 2009 it won’t be too long before we hear more from them…Stephen Merritt has said that the new album is almost finished, and should be out in January 2010!

More of my XX Merge photos can be found here.

This is part of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.

Julian Koster played a short set at the XX Merge afternoon show at The Orange County Social Club (one of the best bars ever!).  During this short, and hot, out door performance Julian played solo (only about 5 songs)…we’ll if you consider solo being acompanied by an organ playing robot, and the huge metronome he totes around.  The Music Tapes were one of the highlights of the festival for me, and I was a little sad the Julian didn’t have all of his E6 friends with him (Theo and Jeff, where were you?) and that he didn’t get to play at the Cat’s Cradle…but his preformace was still wonderful…I can’t wait for a new Music Tapes record.

Julian’s newest friend:

Julian:

saw and accordion time:

how the metronome works:

I also found a video of this demonstration (video by Adam)!

A couple more picture of the Music Tapes from XX Merge can be found here.

More on Julian Koster and his Muic Tapes (more photos, videos, ect) can be found here.

David over at The Creative Intersection posted an interview with Julian a couple months ago as well…read it here.

This is part of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.

This morning I made the mistake of not eating breakfast before riding my bike to work.  Although I wasn’t hungry I should have known that a six mile bike ride in the 80 degree heat would make me ravenous.

All that I could do for the second half of my ride was dream of the Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen in Chapel Hill.

There is just something about southern biscuits, their buttery light airy fluffiness just can’t be matched. It is something that we just don’t get up north (although some do try), and when it comes to southern biscuits Sunrise does them the best.

Basically you can get anything you want on a biscuit…country ham, egg and cheese, fried pork chop (pictured to the right), bacon,  friend chicken, if it’s southern or a breakfast food…you can probably get it on a biscuit.

Oh and they have 32oz sweet teas for under $2!

klk and I got to eat here two mornings during our visit to the area for XX Merge, and it was one of the food highlights of the trip. I’m still dreaming of that heavenly egg and cheese sandwich, and slightly wishing I would have tried something a little bit more outside of comfort zone (besides the bacon one, I did try that).  klk got the country ham, and it was also amazing.

It is a little sad to be sitting in an office in New York City knowing that the biscuits that you crave are hundreds of miles away.  If you happen to be in the Chapel Hill area, or headed that way do yourself a favor and grab a biscuit from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen…it might change the way you think about biscuits and the world.

Although XX Merge is over there will still be some of these related posts coming over the next couple weeks…this is part of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.

Photos by Steve Z via this forum.

On the topic of beer…have you ever had a beer float before?  klk and I made our first after one of the nights at the Cradle for XX Merge last week.

We used a two year old bottle of Terrapin Wake & Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout:

With Ben and Jerry’s Creme Brulee Ice Cream:

I have to say that this was the best float I have ever had…far better than one made with root beer or coke.  Beer Floats might be a foreign idea to people, but I highly recommend trying it.  I would like to start seeing this on restaurant menus.  All it takes is a good beer, and a good ice cream to make something fabulous (in our case we used a great beer, and a great ice cream)…just use common sense with your pairings.

For the record… the Terrapin Wake-n-Bake was not purchased at Carrboro Beverage Co.  I was aging these in a dark cold closet in South Carolina for the past two years…it only gets better with age.

This is part of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.

Driving back to NYC from NC I couldn’t help but bring back some delicious beers that we can’t get in the great state of New York.  This included Founders, Bells, Duck Rabbit, and Terrapin.

I acquired these beers from the Carrboro Beverage Company (part of Tyler’s Taproom).  This store had great prices, and an extremely knowledgeable staff.  They not only provided the beers we (klk and I) drank before and after XX Merge, but are pretty much responsible for us being drunk the past two nights.  A great store…if you are ever in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area check it out.

This is part of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.