West Indian Girl

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PART 1

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PART 2

thanx to halloran and everyone else at fm 94.9 for having me on the station this past sunday. appreciate it. especially james and kate for making sure everything went well.

check it out..the other band i’m in (IWNBTS) just did our “first” live video interview after our last show. it’ pretty funny – the added bonus is you get to hear the band that went on after us play their whole set while we talk.

I Will Never Be The Same – The Chicks With Guns Interview from Jim Markunas on Vimeo.

ok here’s the deal – now u can download all of the music i post for this series at the ftp addy below. if u dont know how to do this then this is something good for u to learn cos most 10 year olds know how to do this. seriously u guys should all know how to do this. if u can’t someone will post a quick how to im sure. to access our sever use your ftp client to connect to: ftp://ftp.westindiangirl.com with username wig_2with10 and password ilovethis

server: ftp.westindiangirl.com
user: wig_2with10
password: ilovethis
directory: /FRAN WANTS U TO HAVE THIS

once logged in u will see 2 folders in there….one is for you to take my music and the other is for u to leave yours just drag and drop. thanx
fran

hey everyone I’m gonna be on fm 94.9 in san diego again this sunday night at 6pm – listen up if u can – I will post the show afterwards. you can find the playlists here. i see maynard was on a couple weeks ago – weird…i initially had one of the songs he actually played, on my list, but i swapped it out for a better one. im sure i will explain that on the air. look for another iwnbts name discussion too

ok this is getting better by the week. the letter C – fucking hell, tough call on c cos my immediate reaction was to play a track on side 2 of combat rock by the clash or my fav cure song of off kiss me kiss me kiss me but those groups are way too obvious…who doesnt have those records. here is c…cool and credible

Cruel Black Dove. cbd is a four piece from brooklyn. i discovered these guys pretty randomly and really love their debut ep full powers (2008). it’s dark electronic rock – i couldnt help but be reminded of pj harvey circa bring u my love when i saw their video but thats a good thing. their video is rad. as a result of my my la to brooklyn outreach program i have since become friends with cbd. anastasia is a sweetheart and alan did a remix for us that appears on our double remix cd as well as our latest digital release on origami recs. in a perfect world i would take these guys on tour with one of my bands…they would probably fit better with iwnbts. then again, a triple header with all 3 would be awesome – fingers crossed on that one.

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Cry On Cue. this is the first reggae band to make the list and it might be the only one to make the list. i spent many an hour listening to cry on cue’s truth to rhyme (release 2004) when it was my turn to drive the van on tour. cry on cue is a one man operation led by the incredible
bernie larsen. bernie’s resume is beyond impressive…he was part of el rayo-x, has played guitar for melissa etheridge, jackson browne, lucinda willians, rickie lee jones, etc etc – he even played guitar on public enemy’s last record. larsen has worked with all the legendary reggae guys and if im not mistaken had a few of peter tosh’s band memebers in cry on cue. in my opinion bernie is a guitar legend who has never gotten his real due. last year however, there was a massive spread about him in vintage guitar mag so maybe the masses are in fact finally taking note. i met bernie in the late 90′s in of all places houghton (butt fuck nowhere) michigan. bernie has since done a dub remix for both west indian girl remix records. his last one for indian ocean is a true classic. i love this guy – again, he’s one of the most talented musicians (if not the most) that i have ever met – he will be a friend for life. the song i picked is called mountain come down and it’s off of wash of light which came out in 2000. it’s a great peaceful groove. i need a mojito, a lawn chair, some palm trees and some hot sun right now.

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bring on some c’s people

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

once again thanx to everyone who sent in their suggestions. it was a job in and of itself to give each comment a full listen (as u can tell from the 3 part video response). i’m really lovin the you tube links to that special song and the myspace links are also great cos it gives me the opportunity to zone out on a few songs by the bands that i might be unfamiliar with. of the groups that i didnt have in my itunes, the band i most enjoyed reconnecting with was the beta band, the new discovery bands for me where the big pink and bonobo while the band that was most inspirational from a music writing perspective was battles. keep this shit going…it was awesome to open my mind and give all these bands a chance to make an impression.

quick note from the road via my iphone wordpress ap. I’m en route with dino to a private house party we r playing tonight. I know that I’m late with the next 2 w/ ten post but it’s coming. I will post the video hopefully by tomorrow. This has been a great success because I have discovered some cool new bands. We all need upgrades in our life— health, diet, style and music. I’m glad I’m getting my music upgrades from all of u like this. Keep em coming. Bookmark or rss the site so u know when the next post is up. Thanx again

ok, on to the letter B. b is a tough letter cos there are a ton of b bands i would like to play. i know i said i would try to play songs that also started with that letter but i’ve decided to bag that idea – too difficult and besides, i really want to play the songs that initially hooked me to these bands. some of the songs i post may indeed be the band’s most popular one and in that case i guess u can say i have agreed with the masses….shoot me.

Blonde Redhead. i first heard this band via an ex gf – hmmm i see a pattern developing, maybe that’s the role girls have come to play in my life…bearers of music rather than children. blonde redhead formed in ny in 93 and have since become a 3 piece with no bass player. the italian brothers in this band are also twins. i have an italian twin brother as well. it would have been nice to have been in a band with my italian twin…but probably just a trio like br cos 3 is a visually great # for compositions. my favorite br song is equus but magic mountain is a real close second. equus is such a great name for a song. i have grown to love this band – talk about an original and distinctive sound. the love or hate it aspect to this band is kazu makino’s voice. it’s fucked up, give it a chance.

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Boards of Canada. if you arent into electronic music then u might not understand how great this pair of scottish dudes are. i first heard about boc from a guy who moved into the apt across the hall from me when i lived near the troubadour. he gave me all their cds and it quickly became bedtime background music. the song i posted is called roygbiv. u guys know what that is right – short for the colors of the spectrum – red orange yellow green blue indigo violet. like equus was a cool title this is as well. i love the low tone moog melody line – that’s what hooked me about this song. the album this is off, music has the right to children, came out in 98 and it’s a great record. 98 was an amazing year for music come to think of it.

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B is for fucking bonus song!

Band of Horses. ok ok i know it’s called 2 with ten but for damn sake i couldnt get out of my b’s without talking about this band- more so because of this song. once again, i first got into band of horses via an ex gf’s laptop. there are lots of things i like about this band, particularly ben bridwell’s voice and phrasings. in a strange way he reminds me of mercury rev at times. i also liked the first photos i saw of them…one was in front of an old blue truck and another with a boxer in it…sort of like we did at one point. anyway, we’ve played a couple festivals with these guys but unfortunately both times our set times overlapped and i missed them. the first lyric of the song that never get tired of listening to is “it’s looking like a limb torn off” – very nice.

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b was tough..i’m really gonna go for lessor known bands when i hit c. i regret not mentioning bo diddley for this – please give bo a try.

thanx to all of u who responded to the first installment of 2 with ten – the letter a. i ended up listening to every suggestion. at the very least i feel like i increased the depth of my musical knowledge – out of the bands suggested i enjoyed reconnecting with autechre and discovering american analog set. again, thank you for sending in these myspace pages or you tube videos. the letter b coming up on monday – video response will follow as well. keep it up people.

yesterday i was thinking about how different most of my friends’ itunes libraries are. i think u can tell a lot about someone by going through their music library – to a degree it reflects ur personality. i thought a fun thing to do would be to go through my own library from A-Z and pick 2 artists that start with each letter and then play one song from each. im gonna play songs by artists that i think everyone should at least be familiar with. i’m gonna pretend we’re just hangin and vibin’ out. my goal here is to hopefully inspire and reinvigorate your music library cos we all could benefit from a little change and growth. i’m on a quest for new or even old music that i havent heard (thus making it new to me) that will add something good to my life. there are too many bands out there and no way to filter them all. i will usually trust my friends opinion before any publication’s. if i pick a popular band dont fucking rag on me…it’s in my itunes and hey, i like it and im gonna tell ya why. i might even attempt to have the names of the songs also begin with that letter but that might prove a bit too difficult. ladies and gentlemen, i give you the the first installment of 2 with Ten featuring the letter A

Astrud Gilberto. I first heard astrud when i was in the company of a pretty blonde in her downtown detroit dirty hell hole of an apartment. i have loved her (astrud, not the girl) ever since. astrud was married to joao (famous) gilberto and the song she’s best known for is the girl from ipanema. interesting fact – bebel gilberto (who tours now) is technically not her real daughter – same dad, diff mom. that might explain something that i have always wondered about. i have seen her live show twice (one of those times we opened for her) and both times she didnt play her “mom’s” hit. both times i remember being bummed out to the point of swearing cos i wanted to hear the girl from ipanema. i guess there might be some weird issue with her mom- that’s the only reason i can think of for her not playing that song – damn u bebel. without further adieu here is agua de beber and not the girl from ipanema.

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Air. i first heard air in the car of one of my gay friends back in 98. this guy had his finger on the pulse of what was some good electronic music back then. and no, his finger wasnt on the pulse of aything else if ya know what i mean. i was, and at times, still softly mesmerized by moon safari – their debut and easily my fav. i should play the song la femme d’argent which i consider the deepest and best track on that album but in efforts to play a song that begins with the letter A im going with alone in kyoto which is beautiful in its subtle build up psuedo chorus. this song was off a later cd…i think it was also in the movie lost in translation but i might be wrong about that and dont feel like fact checking it now. i havent been a big fan of their more recent stuff as i feel like it’s more of the same but not as good….that is the plight of almost every band. in an ideal world great bands evolve (ie the clash) instead of releasing watered down versions of their earlier records.

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OK – please send me some music starting with the letter A – something u think is super cool and i would like…as well as Appreciate. Leave a comment – this will be good for everyone.

looks like im going to indie 103.1 tonight with josh to be on dave navarro’s dark matter show. i will report back. i think u can listen live online at indie1031.com. 10:30 is when it starts.

UPDATE: so, that was fucking fun – the interview went great. before we went over to the station josh and i had a few beverages at my local bar (el carmen). i have posted the show below. thanx to marcy liu for sending it to me. i gotta tell ya, dave navarro and his little crew were cool. you know how i love to call people out but i can’t in this case. dave was dope and has a real quick wit. i liked him even though people say i look like him – but i still get the prince thing all the time. it never ends – i even got it tonight from the lady behind the counter at cvs. i also get the occasional cornell thrown in there…which still blows my mind. then again, people say i look like my dog more than cornell so im not sure what to think anymore. im going with tony cos i love him. enjoy the show

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oh yeah – speaking of radio interviews…i just got confirmed with halloran on 94.9 in san diego for another coup d’etat on nov 15th. awesome!

last night iwnbts played at spaceland. it went exactly like west indian girl’s first show at spaceland went…not incredibly smooth. given all the technical snags i was pretty happy with it though. it’s all part of the growing pains of a young live band because u need to learn how to play in some of the tougher conditions. the most common prob at smaller clubs is the stage sound. in a perfect world u have in-ear monitors and ur mix is great but often times that’s not the case and what u are playing (not what the audience is necessarily hearing) sounds like shit. bottom line, it was learning experience – the next time a band is in that situation the more they know what to expect and thus how to play through it without even blinking.

couple observations after the show: tony is the true rock god – it never ceases to amaze me how many girls this dog attracts. truly a man among boys. dylan, one of my star interns was there – we’ve decided i’m going to download my music business brain into his via ichat over the next few months. i’m looking forward to this because the kid is special (not in the retarded way). we had an interesting chat about data transparency while in route to the show.

noodles…so after the show we ended up at a house in the hills (see pic above). it’s been a while since i was at a party in the hills and it brought back many a terrible memory. this one was of the euro-transplants variety. the most in ur face feature of this place was the huge pool in the middle of the living room….yep in the middle of the living room. another strange detail was that the insides of all the doors were the same as the walls so as to blend in with them producing a sort of trapped dungeon vibe. not surprising quote overheard “ok, so where’s the coke?” add in the 5-1 guy girl ratio and we were gone in 15.

yesterday night i met my friend anthony for a coffee before rehearsal. part of our discussion touched on blogs/sites that we liked. anthony by the way, is the founder and ceo of buzzmedia so it’s pretty safe to assume he knows what he’s talking about. not surprisingly, there was agreement across the board on the following three that were brought up. i have mentioned 2 of these in recent posts but let’s make this official – in no particular order here they are:

hipsterrunoff.com – this is a culture blog. his point of view, perspective and commentary is intelligent, comedic and very random. it never fails to make me laugh. worth the bookmark and the occasional check back.

buddyhead.com – just go straight to the gossip section – which speaks directly to my so called “hater” gene. there’s not a funnier music related commentary out there, period. musicians, like any other entertainer or public figure shouldnt be immune from ridicule – that’s one of the hazards of the job when you become famous and bh isnt afraid to tell it like it is. this site is performing an in your face ego deflating public service that as far as im concerned is way over due. never fails to make me laugh…a bit more gut busting than hipster runoff which i would describe as a chuckle more than an, eek, lol.

thecoolhunter.net – appropriately named this site is just plain great, it’s both inspirational and educational. it doesnt make me laugh but rather look, read and discover. i think the music section is a bit weak but u cant have it all. the art, design, fashion, lifestyle and ad sections are all pretty awesome. you can easily spend way too long here but at least u come away with ur brain activated in a good way.

honorable mention:
allmusic.com – as stated in my last post this is the best online music reference guide i have found. all the hard facts about a band that u could want. it’s a great resource to learn about the artists you might not know much about and subsequently get turned on to more of their albums as well as related artists. safe to assume that this site in conjunction with itunes and some weed makes for another good threesome.

no, im not talking about my present day relationships with my credit card companies. im talking about death in vegas – one of my favorite bands of all time. DIV consists of richard fearless and tim holmes. they started out sort of like we did….a 2 man studio project but toured as a live band. ten years ago they released an album called the contino sessons which i still listen to for inspiration – it’s hypnotically beautiful. their show in la in 2000 was easily the best show i saw that year. if you havent heard of them please check them out and educate urself here. by the way, all music guide is a great resource.

the first track posted is: hands around my throat off of the scorpio rising record. i recently rediscovered this while floating away in my bed the other night. the girl singing on this is nicola kuperus from the band adult. this track is fucking great.

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the second track is: a remix of trip off of our first record by richard fearless himself. he actually had a band come in and record all the elements he used for the remix. it wasnt just a bunch of samples – he did it the right way. 2 years ago i was talking to richard about possibly producing a record of ours. i think it would be brilliant if it does indeed happen one day.

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this past summer i started playing in a very good friend of mine’s band called i will never be the same. remember the opening track of “to die in la” off our double remix record by nynex? well that’s the dude…josh…he is mr nynex. josh is a big fan of my band and i of his so this was a natural evolution of us working together. add to the fact that west indian girl and iwnbts sound nothing alike, it makes it all work out perfectly. i have a fun time playing in this band as it’s a bit heavier and more aggressive … a nice change of pace – it makes me more of a well rounded player and inspires a new side of creativity when jamming with west indian girl. so why am i telling u all this? cos we will be headlining spaceland this upcoming friday night. if you’re in the la and want to go please rsvp to this address. this will put u on the $6 dollar ticket list. make sure u put your name in the subject heading with the # of guests. there is no free guest list for this show so don’t even bother asking. six bucks for 3 bands is a good deal. my friend marguerite’s (who used to be in the slow signal fade) new band called am vs fm is opening and vale has the middle slot. this is our 6th show…i guess we’ll see how much fog and darkness we can bring into spaceland. shit…i just remembered that both my ultimate interns dino and dylan are gonna be there! they might be fighting over who can press the fog machine button. general rule for that though is “when in doubt…fog it”

fans. fans are an interesting bunch. sometimes fans are just fans, sometimes they’re really freaky, most of the time however, west indian girl fans are just plain nice people. yeah they can be a bit odd but i’m pretty odd and strange if ya think about it. with that in mind, it shouldnt come as a surprise that i end up becoming “friends” with some of our fans…some of the more…um, eccentric ones. take dan for example. i think i met dan via email after our first record came out. he was living in prague but was originally from san diego. dan now lives in paris. anyway, just so happens after a few years of exchanging emails we finally met. it was the afternoon after st scene at a wave house on the beach. since that bonding moment i have become the lucky recipient of dan’s late night famous drunk dial voice mails. you see, this guy gets hammered, calls me and rambles for sometimes 10 minutes. the shit he says on my voicemail always makes me laugh and at times it’s strangely profound. yesterday he called me from an indian wedding in memphis tn (with some really bad rap music on in the background) just to tell me he was sweating his balls off and wanted some random people in the wedding party to say hello. tonight during his diatribe he asked… “dont u want to live the love story without the back story” which i thought was a great line. it goes without saying that i never answer my phone when i see dan calling because i would never want to miss the wit and drunk wisdom that is “dan paris via sd” (as he is labeled in my contacts). anyway, thanx for the laughs dan…i save the really bizarre ones for weeks just to play back for laughs every now and then.

this past thursday i spoke on a panel at the digital music forum that focused on music blogs. i’ve been blogging since 2004 so this topic was one i felt could really sink my teeth into. why was i invited you ask…well, i was there to provide the artist perspective/point of view and that, as u know is something i relish…speaking out for the artist (and by “artist” i mean hard working blue collar struggling musician).

an interesting observation after speaking at 2 digital music conferences this year was the under representation of artists (and managers!) not only as audience members but as speakers. now more than ever is it time for the artist to be present at any forum centered around digital music. i know this isnt earth shattering news but there’s a huge disconnect and feeling of confusion among musicians when it comes to all the music tech stuff. digital music is just one piece of a complex puzzle that needs to be processed and understood as it’s changing faster than it ever has. musicians that dont understand what’s going on are going to find themselves in the same boat that most managers are in these days…and by that, i mean the completely clueless boat. anyway, technology isnt going to slow down so you either adapt or die – just ask the peppered moth about adapting.

ok, i’m getting way off topic here. blogs – by my definition a blog is more or less a singular point of view. any band blog would fit that definition but any site that is reviewing music from multiple authors (especially with paid advertising) is crossing over into music mag publication territory. what’s ur favorite blog? my current fav isnt even a music blog, its called hipster runoff and it’s an oddly funny breath of randomness that always seems to make me laugh. i was thinking about listing all the la blogs that i like but that’s gonna have to wait. my next few posts will get back to some music blogging basics and center around some of the music that has been inspiring me lately. fyi i listened to blonde redhead while i wrote this.

this is a total drag but it seems like we wont be playing the shows in santa cruz, berkley, and san fran in early nov. the shows are being rescheduled and i will post when the new dates get confirmed. this news is indeed a drag and leaves me with the same feelings i had the other night after i saw a screening of where the wild things are. that would be a not so warm and fuzzy feeling.