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http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/news/international/22095/Jay-Reatard-dead.htm

Bummer.

Jeff Mangum (who no one has heard of since Neutral Milk Hotel's final album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea) has popped up into the music realm after years and years of total musical obscurity (with Aeroplane released about 12 years ago), contributing a cover song called 'Sign the Dotted Line' to a Chris Knox tribute album.

Reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel leader Jeff Mangum hasn't released any new music in forever, so any news of a new Mangum track is a big deal. In July, we reported that Mangum would show up on Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox, a tribute album dedicated to New Zealand indie forefather and stroke survivor Chris Knox. But when the tracklist for the New Zealand release of Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox came out last month, Mangum wasn't on it.

Well, good news: Mangum is on the U.S. version of the album, which is out now digitally via Merge. (Physical copies are due February 23.) Mangum covers "Sign the Dotted Line", a song by Knox's band Tall Dwarfs.

I'm not sure if there are any Mangum/Neutral Milk fans on the forums, but I just thought this was kind of interesting.
Discuss

[Untitled #1]

Hey there AGS people, how've you all been?
The lyrics below are products of my insomnia.
Will hopefully end up lyrics for songs in my indie folk band.
Comments and critiques would be lovely.
Thanks, Blake.

Untitled #1 (Clever title, am I right?)

There's a light in the carriage
Next door to the ivory house
With a lady who comes out at night
She stumbles and falls into the grass
That is glowing a peculiar red
And I sat in the fields
Playing sad, lonely chords
And she walked up to me with a spark in her eye
Singing songs of old mariners,
swallowed whole by the tide.

And hopefully I'll never be
Lonely again
And hopefully I'll never be
Lonely again

The sun is exploding
Hindsight is just loathing
Wrapped up in a sepia thread
And the pitch-black words
In your light-coloured letters
Your language elegant yet dark
Your mind is a machine,
with spiralling plates
The antichrist lives below me
A few floors
A screaming maid locked behind
a cellar door

And hopefully she'll never be
Worried again
And hopefully she'll never be
Worried again

Untitled #2 (even cleverererer)

Little blue flowers all dying inside of your heart
Cardboard cut-out images of the sun
I'm drowning in the lake outside your home
Little wooden caskets in a deserted field
Falling apart at the seams
The souls that escaped are now trapped in an eternal dream

You are lying awake late at night
Your hand on my chest, but it feels like a knife
My eyes are closed your eyes are wide open

Little old trees by the snow-covered mountains
Decaying all day until one day they're gone
And all we are left with is the ever-present dawn
Little white lies told in secret to lovers
Hanging on to every monotonous word
Until they realise that the concept of love is absurd

Your are lying awake late at night
Your hands over my eyes, for it is too bright
Until we awake we are no more than lifeless cadavers,
Slowly dying alone

[1. Leaf House]

Aloha AGS peeps.
So my psychedelic folk band has been happy to record under silly, nonsense names so far. But now we actually have a gig in a couple months, so need to settle on a somewhat cool name. We've come up with 3, but are utterly unable to decide on one. If you lovely chaps would be so kind as to comment on which one/s you like, that would be marvellous.

1. Leaf House
A song by the freak folk band Animal Collective, whom I consider a major influence.

2. Pinball, 1973
Taken from a novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

3. Magic Eyes
Just a coolish name I came up with.

Thanks in advance

http://rapidshare.com/files/297453087/01.mp3.html

Sort of went for a laid-back, trippy kind of feel (a la Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective etc.)
Recorded with an acoustic and then had echo/reverb added later digitally.
Comments / crits welcome.

--Blake

House on the hill where your dead dreamer sleeps.
The dawn hits the sky in a fiery good morning,
and sweet-sounding music rains through the floor.
The screaming lost children fall to their knees,
I am waiting with you on the mountain.
The clouds they are starting to lose their shape and I
Smile for every little thing that is happening.
The world is it coming to a bitter end,
and I know that the problem is neither me nor you.
Terrible sight to be caught in the street,
while the ten-foot tall blood-machines collect their hearts and
the eversweet music turns to a high-pitch screeching
It piereces my soul like a six-sided blade.

My eyes start to close and the world turns to black
I am standing, just barely and hopefully you are still there,
with you arm around me for support, else I'd probably fall.
Down into the jaws of the many-mouthéd beast,
and my lungs fill with gas, toxins and poisons,
and the familiar stench of death on my clothes,
the blood pouring from my chest as the battle continues,
but nobody's sure who is winning or even what we are all fighting for
I am praying the sun will explode and with it will take
This cruel, empty world and maybe then we will all get some rest by tomorrow.


Kind of envisioning this as an 'end-of-the-world-but-two-people-in-love-have-each-other-and-shit' sort of thing. If anyone has any comments or crits or whatever that'd be groovy.
Cheers : D

Hey guys, haven't posted in a while.
I wrote this a few days ago.
Crits appreciated.


You feel as if you're flying.
Your feet are only just barely touching the ground.
The gravel becomes smooth, wet even.
You try and make out individual faces,
but you eventually give up.

You realise the futility of everything.
You start to question what a human heart is.
A sick, sweet sound resonates through your head.
Your eyes close, maybe for a second, maybe for a week.
You wouldn't be able to tell either way.

Every now and then you'll see something that reminds you of humanity.
Most folks see something symbolic or religious or something.
Like a Jesus statue or something, you know?
Which is ironic, when you think about it.

You wake up in seven places, but not all at the same time.
Your left arm might be able to function, make a pot of coffee or something,
But your left foot?
Forget it, it's gone, won't be coming back for another couple hours.
The worst part is when you realise you're alone.

You fish around for a bottle of pills or a knife,
or a gun if you own one.
You put the pills to your mouth,
the knife to your arms,
the gun to your head.

At the last minute you pussy out.
Like you ever had the fucking guts anyway, you fucking piece of shit.
You scream, scream like the heavens themselves are listening.
They aren't.
There's no reply, no response of any kind.
Today's not the day you have a catharsis, man.
It never is.

Hey, was messing around in some composition software today;
ended up with this.
Not really sure what much more I want to do with it, make it more interesting I suppose. Yeah. Anyway, crits appreciated. Thanks =)

So my band has started recording stuff and has played a couple gigs, nothing too big, and we've been mucking around with names, and we've basically come to the agreement of having a "Person and the People" type name, ala Echo And The Bunnymen, Pearl And The Puppets, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. I've been screwing around with ideas for a while and I think I'd like the first Person to be one word, and I'm utterly and completely unsure as to the 'and the People' part. I'd like the Person to be something rather, erm, 'cool'. Ancient Viking names accepted. If anyone has any ideas, chuck em this way.
Cheers,
-Blake.

Depeche Mode have released a new music vid for their new single 'Wrong', (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsXOcK9_Cw) off their soon-to-be released album Sounds of the Universe.
In my opinion the new track is fucking epic, nice and dark. Check it out, what does AGS think?

Fluke here with a new handle (sigh) and some new stuff for critique
I wrote these lyrics yesterday and have been trying to work on em a little.
They're pretty straightforward. Anyway.

'tie-dyed'
written by blake gallagher

she looks out at what seems to be
broad social trends and other fascist regimes
the lights go out and suddenly there's only darkness,
and lies, and sickeningly sweet death threats.
she dries her eyes only to turn left and be approached
by a man in a trenchcoat with the almighty dollar tied to his chest
he comes closer oh so casually and whispers 'trust me honey, i'm the best'

so i walk up and say 'buddy wanna trade shirts?
mine's tie-dyed, ha ha'
and he's just got this blank stare like he's seen just seen a ghost
or worse, revolutionism in action
cause see it doesn't fit his routine, caffeine, squeaky clean nicotine
point of view, and nothing else does either.

broad social trends, to whom the lust of power is their best friend.

Cheers,
mellon_collie92/flukeblake

Click here for free pr0n
So i'm working on the above midi and trying to maybe make it a little longer and work on it a bit, but so far I haven't really been able to expand too much.
And I know the percussion is, well. Boring, but when i put other percussion in it sounds to me like it's taking over too much, and I'd like the focus to be on the guitar and piano.
So if anyone has any crits or comments, that'd be great.
Thanks.

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/work_in_progress.mid

so up there is a link to something i've been working on today.
i'm kind of liking the direction it's taking, but i worry that it resembles "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin too much to be considered even remotely original.
I should point out that this is the basis for a track my band and I are working on, and I've obtained the .mid from working in Guitar Pro, so it's easily editable.
I'm trying to go for a pretty tense-feeling track, i wouldn't mind making it a little darker if possible, but my main gripe, like i said above, is with the similarities to Stairway, and how i could recitify these.
Thoughts and critiques appreciated,
[evol].
(The Artist Formerly Known As Flukezy]

For those of you who have had the unfortunate circumstance of having your normal place of residence replaced with a large rock, i urge you to check this out.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UOl1e5FRAUc

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2007/07/03/whitestripes-winnipeg-bus.html

Some lucky fans of the White Stripes got up close and personal with the band, which played impromptu concerts on a bus and at a bridge in downtown Winnipeg.
White Stripes duo Meg and Jack White, seen here playing a spontaneous gig on a Winnipeg bridge, are on a cross-Canada tour.
The Detroit duo, in the middle of a cross-Canada tour that has them visiting every province and territory, played to very small but enthusiastic crowd just before their main show in Winnipeg on Monday night.
The White Stripes, Jack and Meg White, serenaded a handful of fans on a city bus and then got off to launch into an acoustic set on a city bridge.
Thom Johnston, who was tipped off by a friend to head to a certain location, said he was surprised to discover it was a bus stop. Then a transit bus came, with the White Stripes in it.
"I was blown away. I was sitting right across from them, and they started playing songs. It was incredible," Johnston said. "It's really admirable. They care a lot about their fans, and just take the extra time."

Awesome, no?
=D

[Strong and conclusive.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Darko
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1231277/
http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/donnie-darko-sequel-being-made-s-darko-tells-younger-sisters-story/

So they're making a sequel to one of my three favourite movies ever, Donnie Darko.
I'm not happy with this.
For one thing, it's not being directed by Richard Kelly. Now, to me that sounds like blasphemy.
As well as this; why?
Why (other than to make a quick buck, thanks) would you do something like this?
Why the fuck do sequels keep getting made for movies that don't need a sequel.
Donnie Darko is in my opinion brilliant, and the ending is strong and conclusive.
Strong and conclusive.

Discuss.

So i set upon myself the task today of listening to NIN's new album, 'Ghosts I-IV', in it's entirity.
And i must say, it is quite an enchanting, near-euphoric experience.
I strongly urge anyone who is even remotely into NIN or industrial music as a whole, check it out.
The first nine tracks can be downloaded for free off the NIN myspace page by going to the 'Ghosts' widget in the about me section and clicking 'download for free', so if you want to have a little look to see if Ghosts is your kind of thing, yeah.

I think Trent Reznor as a musician has come a long way, and some of the tracks in Ghosts really show this.
I will admit i felt some of the tracks to be rather tedious, but others (my favourite is '10 Ghosts II') really show how truly gifted Reznor is.

So, yeah, if you haven't already listened to Ghosts, i really urge you to have a listen because some of Reznor's work truly is groundbreaking.
And if you have, discuss your thoughts.

Cheers,
Cherubgeist.
The Artist Formerly Known As Flukezy.

So i am really not liking the anatomy on this.
Particularly around the shoulders - i'd really prefer if it didn't have that 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' feeling to it.
Waist down i'm relatively happy, i think i did an okay job on the legs.
Maaaaybe would like to kick a few kinks out of the head, but low priority at the moment, the current problem is shoulder area.
Thanks,
Cherub.
The artist formerly known as 'Flukezy'

Saw "The Mist" the other day.
Yeah. Worst ending ever.
Or was it?
Discuss, kittens.

Okay, so just say you achieved the marvelous ability of stopping time. Bam. You could click your fingers and, yeah. Time stoppage.
Now, just say you decide to use this for your own personal gain.
So you decide you'll rob the local convenience store.
Now, after being robbed at gunpoint many, many times before, the proprieter of this particular convenience store has decided to put CCTV cameras all over his business.

So you walk up to the store and, ding, time stops.
You walk in, casually take some money out of the till, and maybe some gum.

Now, here's where it gets interesting.
You unstop time, and the shop owner, curious, wonders why there's no money left in his till.

He checks his cameras.

What does he see?

Does your stopping of time make the CCTV cameras freeze too?

Ponder..

So, Panel Patrol is my newest little project. It's a webcomic review site that strictly reviews amateur webcomics. And I need you guys' help. While I know and read a fair share of am. webcomics, I could use about 5 more to have me set a little while in advance. If you could list some of your favourite amatuer webcomics here, I'd really appreciate it. Please note that they should have at least about 25 strips in the archive, but other than that there are pretty much no restrictions on which comics you can submit.
Thanks,
Fluke.