The Drums at ND

Went out to see these guys play at ND last night. Really was a great high energy show in a nice small venue. Here are some pictures. Listen to their single Let's Go Surfing below.

More pictures...

Bubble Pets game for iPhone

My old pal over at Chungking Mansions in Shanghai re-taught himself objective C and made this iPhone game! Pretty awesome if you ask me. I love the 8-bit music and graphics, and the strange concept of bubble pets. Can't wait for it to come to the App store! Hopefully this will make him very rich.

Dual Citizen - Speeding at Night

Here's a new song I made. It's minimal, synth-driven, night drive disco inspired by I-35. Stream the lower quality player below or download a high quality mp3.

Chromeo and Questlove

A couple weeks ago we had a 5 day mini-vacation and it kicked off with a bang. Began with a taping of The Roots (plus John Legend) at the Austin City Limits studios. Always been a fan of the Roots, especially now that I see them on a regular basis as the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Never been to an ACL taping before, so I was surprised that a) they give out free beer before the taping starts, b) they allow photography during the taping (as long as it's not flash). I just had my iPhone, but you can catch a glimpse of what it was like. I happened to be getting some water just before the Roots showed up in the freight elevator. A cop got in my way and told me not to move, so I whipped out my iPhone camera only in time to catch their backs walking in.



After the Roots, we rushed back downtown to have a quick jello shot and to recharge my phone before going to Stubbs BBQ for Chromeo, Holy Ghost!, and Telephoned. I had been really looking forward to this show, but by the time we got there (early, like 10 pm), Chromeo were already half way through their set! WTF! Then I looked at the ticket and it all made sense. 7 am start time. All ages. The place was packed with like 2,000 college undergrads. Anyway, we caught a couple of Chromeo's hits - Night by Night, and Don't Turn the Lights On - and then got out of there right when they began their encore. (I have always hated encores, except in those extremely rare circumstances when they occur organically, but that's for another post.)



After Chromeo we went to Red 7 to catch Questlove of the Roots spinning a DJ set. Must say, the guy is an amazing DJ. He was playing a wide range of hip hop and funk and disco, and he would do these really fucking amazing transitions. Definitely an educational experience, not just from a DJ technique perspective but also from a music history perspective. He would take you on a journey and make these really fascinating connections between songs, like mixing Notorious B.I.G.'s Big Poppa seamlessly into the Isley Brothers' Between the Sheets, which was the sample in the Notorious song. Except it was like on and on like that all night. Here's a crappy video that doesn't come anywhere near to capturing his skills or the energy of the set. We danced for three hours and then I was done.