I want for to dance « And Also This

Archive for the ‘I want for to dance’ Category

March 2nd, 2011

It’s been a long time.

Winter was a sort of interminable prison sentence this year, but spring is finally doing its slidy dance into the corners of the grass plots of Brooklyn. This month I don’t have any great back stories or epic inspirations, just an old cliché: the-best-of-something-or-other. So, this mix is the Best of White Gilt.

As a very few of you may know, my good friend Shay and I hold a sporadic dance party in Greenpoint called White Gilt, which was the name of our band, but then I turned 30 and we both got very career oriented. So, why not turn it into a DJ night, which is much more mature and serious-minded? This was, we both agreed, a Good Idea. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dalek’s Dream

July 30th, 2010

Being addicted to British television has its perks. In addition to off-color sitcoms and Welsh cartoons, the BBC has a very nice way with music documentaries. Synth Britannia is a well-researched, extremely interesting piece about how a once marginalized and underground genre of music came to be the defining style of a decade. It’s difficult to imagine PBS devoting the same kind of attention and care to these acts’ American counterparts, mainly (I suppose) because production costs would far outweigh interest in the subject. Read the rest of this entry »

The lord of depths

May 7th, 2010

Change is never easy. Whether it is the yearly confusion surrounding seasonal shift or a major alteration in fortune, change takes us all by the scruff of the neck and wags its finger in our faces. Through its clumsy reminders we are forced to accept that we are finite, that we own nothing absolutely, and that we must make the best use of the time that we have. I believe that an approximation of personal peace can be attained by acceptance that flux is the only constant, and that in the end, the details are everything. That said, sometimes you just have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and keep going. Read the rest of this entry »

Closing time

February 23rd, 2010

There is an end to everything. When I moved to New York City in 2003 I was 22 and mostly stupid. Having just graduated from art school, I was still laboring under the misapprehension that the world owed me a living, that my friends would always be my friends, and that I would be young for a long time. Those first six months were probably the hardest time I’ve ever had. I was seriously poor, working jobs that were detrimental to my health and my self-esteem, sometimes barely scraping up enough change to eat, and just wrapping my head around the fact that my previous four years’ experience in no way prepared me for life in the ‘real world’. Read the rest of this entry »

In a cold funk

January 29th, 2010

Deep winter is a tough time to live in New York. No one much feels like going out to brave the squalling wind and snow, especially for a drink in a hot, crowded bar with people so bundled up they resemble haystacks. February tends to be the month that we all burrow down into our skins and make a ream of plans that we have no real intention of carrying out, or research dream vacations that we will never be able to afford. Read the rest of this entry »

Highway Life

November 30th, 2009

Last week I was in southern California, driving around, trying to get a better idea of what constitutes American identity. It’s pretty amazing that this country is so incredibly diverse and yet manages to be cohesive enough to aspire to a national archetype. Landing in LA, the tall palms swaying against dry air, I felt as far away from New York as I did in Finland. Read the rest of this entry »

Lies About the Future

August 30th, 2009

I suppose we all have ideas about what the future entails. Whether our individual future, that of our friends or family, or the future of humanity in general, the weight of what might or might not happen down the road throws a shadow over our experience of life. Some say that this is one of the unique markers of man– we are the only animals capable of projecting our thoughts (and by extension, our wills) beyond the present moment. Read the rest of this entry »

The Blue of Distance

June 29th, 2009

This is a second, high summer mix, tailor made for rooftop barbecues, junkyard dancing, and sizzling down the strip. The recipe is simple, if seasonal, and comes from many years of experimentation. best followed to the letter:

Rad Summer:
(serves 1 well, but more better) Read the rest of this entry »

Some disordered geometries…

December 10th, 2008

As the weather grows steadily colder, the light more grey, and the last leaves fall off the trees, living in a city becomes noticeably, well, geometric. Without any real organic presence, glass, metal, and cement are the materials that make up the bulk of everyday existence. I always wondered why city dwellers dressed so differently from people who live in rural areas, or even in suburbs. Every time I get off of a flight in a Southern airport, one of the first things I notice is the profusion of pastels (and fleece– ha.) worn by people not-of-the-city. However, being here in the winter solves some of the mystery, sort of. What are the main colors of New York in winter? Grey, black, white, brown, and brick red. Read the rest of this entry »

Meanwhile, in the basement

November 18th, 2008

Let’s cut away from the strobe lights, neon gyrating, and glitter for a second to see what’s going on in a sweaty, ill-lit, bottle festooned basement bar down the street. Well, I’ll be hog-tied: it’s Post Punk! Read the rest of this entry »