Eight days ago, I took Amanda out to a new Japanese steakhouse and sushi place. We both enjoyed everything about it, but this post is about two micro-stories related to that date, not the date itself.

1. The restaurant was playing what seemed to be a mix CD of au courant radio pop, heavy on female dance pop vocalists; it was pleasantly incongruous. At one point “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” played, and I told Amanda about the time I was driving to visit Tyler (and Bane and Skala) in the summer of 2009 and heard an Indiana State University radio station DJ sheepishly introduce what she said was a special song to her and her boyfriend. The song was “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.” I suppose it’s appropriate that I heard it on a college radio station during the summer; a time when college students are often separated from significant others.

2. As I mentioned, the restaurant was exceptional. Amanda said that the pickled ginger that came with our sushi tasted “like Anthropologie. Or Christmas.”

imathers:

teenageart:

marathonpacks:

Pay it forward!

Nicola Roberts “Gladiator” n/a (probably around 60 times)

Johnny Boy - “You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve (Crews Against Consumismo Extended Mix)”

Which makes sense, because it’s awesome. The remix doesn’t seem to be on YouTube, but the almost-as-good album version is here.

Last.fm says Purity Ring’s “Ungirthed”, but if it could count vinyl spins, Smith Westerns’s “Weekend” would gain the seven required to pass it. However, I definitely listened to Beyonce’s “Countdown” more than either of those - on multiple occasions Amanda and I would put it on repeat while driving.

• Small Plates Records’ Crack Friday pack - this is the first six releases from the label run by the guys from yvynyl and I Guess I’m Floating. The releases are: 
  Guards Resolution of One 7” on mixed color vinyl (it’s bluish) - “Resolution of One” b/w “Crystal Truth” and “Long Time”
  Campfires Dusty Mansions 7” on red vinyl - “Dusty Mansions” b/w “Time Flying By” and “Chasing Planets”
  Idiot Glee Don’t Go Out Tonight 7” on white vinyl - “Don’t Go Out Tonight” b/w “That’s All For Everyone” (Fleetwood Mac cover) and “Don’t Drink the Water” featuring Women
  Supreme Cuts Trouble EP 10” on black vinyl - “Amnesia” and “Months” b/w “Fools” and “Issues”
  TV Girl Girls Like Me 7” on black vinyl - “Girls Like Me” b/w “Sarah (Meet Me In the Sauna)”
  High Highs High Highs EP on marble charcoal gray vinyl - “Open Season” and “Flowers Bloom” b/w “Ivy” and “Horses”
• Male Bonding Endless Now
• Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues (2x LP)
• Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver
• To My: Long Lost Love
• [edited to add] St. Vincent, Marry Me
• [edited again to add] Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials (180 gram 2x LP as a gift to both Amanda and I)

This feels a little like one corner of my interests; my lists are probably a more complete picture (songs | records, 2011). Among the Small Plates records, I’m most excited about Guards and High Highs releases.

1. To forgive once is to be blessed once. The more we forgive, the more we are blessed.
2. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO FIND PEACE IN THE SOUL WITHOUT SECURITY AND HARMONY BETWEEN THE PEOPLE.
3. GENUINE COMPASSION IS UNBIASED

*[so that she could finish a craft. Also I have preserved the punctuation and capitalization from the packaging in its presentation above]

/////// LPs \\\\

Read More