Lost In GroVont

A wee bit sceptical of the predicted weather...

NASA - Space Shuttle - Launch and Landing.

Update Report: The Countdown to Launch Continues Launch week for the STS-121 mission officially began on Tuesday, June 27, with the arrival of Commander Steven Lindsey and his crew at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Flying into the center in a squadron of T-38 jets, Discovery's crew arrived ready and excited for liftoff.

NASA - Bye Bye, Birdies.

Birds come with the territory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which usually doesn't mind when any of the nearby Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge's 310 species of birds swoop through for a visit. But one particular type of bird is causing concern: vultures. Bird hits Discovery's external tank during 2005 launch. That's why NASA plans to test special radar to track any vultures around Launch Pad 39B during the countdown to liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-121.

Said the mathmetician: Let's play!

Said the Gramophone: if you've got nothing to put on....

Jacob Borshard - "Grass Stains". I heard this as part of Ryan's Catbirdseat June Mix. It blew breezily past, the first time - but returning to the playlist this was such a stand-out; a beautiful little find. Borshard plays his ukulele in familiar ways, cute sing-song of bikes and mermaids - a sound squeezed in somewhere between Page France and Jens Lekman (& do I hear a touch of The Weakerthans' John K Samson?). But even forgetting the sub-Archies breakdown at the end, eventually the song's aesthetic tweaks a bit: there's something awesome and loose in how Borshard's indieboy romance takes a turn toward the sexy, the way he slips into talk of "birthday suits", the way he casts aside "your bra". Ultimately the artist "Grass Stains" most recalls is (early) Mirah: her casual, shrugging mixture of twee naivete and smoldering, savvy bedroom strum.

Seed: Scientists Triple Your Ability to Rock Out.

Two Canadian mathematicians from the University of Moncton in New Brunswick have created an entirely new kind of string instrument that exploits a kind of mathematics owing more to Pythagoras's theorem for triangles than to anything he ever thought about music. Listen to the Tritare Sample the scintillating sounds of a triple-necked guitar.

The Tritare is a Y-shaped guitar-like instrument, custom made by Claude Gauthier and Samuel Gaudet. The strings twist through three necks (Spinal Tap, eat your heart out), all of which project from the body of the instrument at different angles. When strummed, the result is a "network" of vibrations that yields a sound somewhere between that of a regular guitar and a gong.

Vox Vermillion

Vox Vermillion recently broke up in May of this year but that does stop Standing Still You Move Forward from being a great album. You just can't see them live.

Indie pop sounds are abundant on this album with the tinkling piano leading the way. The lyrics move from "fuck you anyway I though it was funny" to "baby girl loves her kittens" mimicking life's ups and downs.

Those first two years where[sic] great  and I quote "I love you but I don't like you."
-- from "Macbeth" (mp3)

Bonus download...Arrivals/Departures (mp3)

...on the dreamy Monday evening one November...

During Noise Pop this year, I managed to catch the Submarines opening for Jason Collett at Cafe du Nord. A duo bursting with pop energy. They were ecstatic at the show--very appreciative even though the audience was chatting through the entire set.

The music on their first album, Declare a New State!, is full of dreamy, pop songs with sometimes political, sometimes cute. Reminds me a lot of Rilo Kiley pre-More Adventurous with occasional hints of Weezer and the Rentals (especially when John Dragonetti takes over lead
vocals).

This Conversation

Modern Inventions

The track I linked to a month ago, Peace & Hate, is the song that makes me think of the Rentals.

Speaking of the Rentals...Matt Sharp wrote a lengthy piece on their website about stalking Sara Quin:

I asked him if there was a way to obtain Sara’s e-mail and phone number. Access to the former was granted, but to the latter denied...Did I have the nerve to play Sara’s pretty song in that fake, sandpapery, child molester-ish voice of mine?

I met Mr. Sharp. He seems like he'd make a good stalker. The Rentals remix of Tegan & Sara's "Walking with a Ghost" is available on their website too.

Evolution of an unbreakable heart

Hearts and Minds -- Gray 2006 (616): 1 -- ScienceNOW.

Now, a new study suggests that a powerful heart is what keeps the giraffes from swooning.

Thanks to its long neck, a giraffe's head can rise up to 5 meters in mere seconds after the creature takes a drink. One would expect this dramatic motion to trigger a massive drain of blood from the brain, but giraffes obviously aren't fainting all over the place.