Jam of the Day: Melanie Martinez - "Soap"

Pop music this year has been knocking things out of the park this year. Here is another killer pop song.

Jam of the Day: Micky Blue - "Champagne Reign"

Sometimes you just need to hear a really good pop song. This is one of them.

Videos of the Week

Been awhile, but here are some awesome videos from this week:



Claustrophobic video for this intense Zola Jesus track.



Colorful, stop-motion animation clip for the is bouncy Django Django song.



Gorgeously filmed video for Floating Points.



Cute clip from up and coming Toronto pop singer Bossie.



Intense and dark clip from The Weeknd.

Jam of the Day: Tamaryn - "Sugar Fix"

Moving away from her more somber shoegaze sound and into brighter dream pop areas, New Zealand born Tamaryn gives this ethereal track off her new record Cranekiss. It sounds like a lovely mashup of Cocteau Twins, a little bit of Kate Bush, and some low end bass rumbling from The Cure.

Non-Sequiturs

Sweet baby Jebus.

My lovely friend Dustin.  Such a cutie cub.

I want biceps bigger than my legs.

Sexy eyes and furry belly.

Love the beard.

Wet and sexy.

UNF.

Beautiful.

Nice views.

Tight body.

Woof.

So hot.

Perfect beard.

There is nothing much worse than too much cilantro in something, other than perhaps too much mint in something.

Would you live your life differently if you knew how it would end?

The Weeknd is going to be on an arena tour. I have no idea why this surprises me, but it does.

I think we are officially San Franciscans now, we had a homeless person defecate on the street in front of us.

I don't understand people who are rigidly set in their ways.

I miss my cat Missy so much. We were unpacking the other day and I opened up a box with an old scratching post in it that was covered in her fur, and I completely lost it.

I used to be so like this.

I got a PR email about the reformation of a band who they call "shoegaze stalwarts." I have never heard of them, and I like to think I know something about the shoegaze genre.

In this day and age, it is inexcusable to have a blurry picture on an online profile.

Over two weeks after I have moved from my loft I get a message from a Board member asking me what my mailbox number was for the new owner of my place. 1). Why would she wait two weeks to ask for it? 2). Why doesn't the Board and/or the HOA management office know what this number is? 3). There are only about 40 mailboxes, why wouldn't you just try the key in them and find it herself?

I guess I am officially a Californian, I now have a CA driver's license. The DMV ladies were actually very sweet and funny.

Right before we left for the DMV, Andrew asked me what was wrong with my eye. I looked in the mirror and it was black. I have no idea how it happened.

LOL.

Although I may be a Californian now, I will always be Southern.

Reminder: do not take the N train on Tuesday mornings. The street sweeper comes by at that time and will completely coat you in dust and dirt, and who knows what else. I need a Silkwood shower now.

Right now I'm so grudge reading The Girl on the Train. I'm 62% into it and I want to strangle the lead character so bad just so my misery will end.

There is a team of electricians that waits outside the Starbucks I go to in the morning. One is quite handsome. I look forward to seeing him each morning.

I saw Straight Outta Compton last night. Excellent movie, and very entertaining. Plus, my good friend Jon wrote it.

Duvet covers are pointless.

So wrong but so funny.

It seems to me that most Christians are hypocrites.

I need to stop buying blue shirts.

It seems like every week a friend of mine's pet dies.

I don't claim to be the best person in the world, but I will say, if I fuck something up, I will always admit it and do what I can to fix it.

It still amazes me that I live in San Francisco now.

Hee hee.

After moving, I still realize I have way too much stuff.

Ingrown hairs in one's nose are not very pleasant.

One word responses do not inspire confidence in our conversation.

Since moving to San Francisco, I think I have developed a minor addiction to eating pints of Ben & Jerry's in one sitting.

Every other week or so, they have a band play outside my building at lunchtime. They are quite loud.

My boss is bound and determined to get blood from a stone.

Your cute for the day.

Lyrics Rattling Around My Brain

"You shout cease fire
But the booms and bangs keep drowning out your cries
And the world comes crashing down before your eyes
And before mine
I cannot tell what's right

I beg calm down
But it's more to you to stay and
stand your ground
Don't you see we're losing more than what we found
Through this fire and dust
We'll never come around

I'd lay down my gun
If I weren't the only one
And I'd give up this fight
If it meant we'd sleep tonight
I'd go gladly through the flames
If it meant you'd speak my name
With love in your voice

You want no more
Because to win's no longer worth the damage done
And if you could I know you take it back and run
And you can't be blamed
Cuz if I could I'd do the same

I'd lay down my gun
If I weren't the only one
And I'd give up this fight
If it meant we'd sleep tonight
I'd go gladly through the flames
If it meant you'd speak my name
With love in your voice."

BASECAMP
"Surrender"

Appealing Things

Gold-Toe brand socks
Passing the CA driver's test the first time
440 Castro
Figuring out the SF transit system
Straight Outta Compton

Annoying Things

People who get on MUNI and don't pay
Trying to figure out the whole recycle/compost/trash thing

Jam of the Day: Lontalius - "Comfortable"

Stunningly intimate track from New Zealand teenager Lontalius (a.k.a. Eddie Johnston).

Jam of the Day: BASECAMP - "Surrender"

Gorgeous track off Nashville-based production trio BASECAMP's sophomore EP Greater Than.

Jam of the Day: Lanterns on the Lake - "Faultlines"

Atmospheric first single from Lanterns on the Lake's upcoming record Beings.

Jam of the Day: Wish Around - "Wondrously Blue"

Really digging this track from this up and coming band from Florida. Love the 90s alt-rock feel of it. It's off their EP Swim, which you can find on their Bandcamp page.

Non-Sequiturs

Faints.

Swoons uncontrollably.

Haaaay.

Daddy is waiting.

Beach bear.

Tackle me, please.

Woof.

Beast belly.

Gorgeous.

Cutie.

Ditto.

Lovely chest.

So, this has been my first couple of weeks in San Francisco, and here are some initial observations:

I love being able to walk one block from my house and catch the train to the office. I think I actually have a shorter commute than before.

I also love that I can take any train line back and forth between my office and home.

It is very odd that the weather can be drastically different from my house to the office, and it is only 2.5 miles apart.

I am really having to struggle with the whole recycle/compost/trash issue. Every time you go to throw something away, you have to have an intellectual debate with yourself over where it goes.

San Francisco is truly a breathtakingly beautiful city, but the streets are absolutely filthy.

San Franciscans love their coffee nuclear hot.

It's hard getting used to no air conditioning.

This said, mainly because my second weekend here temperatures were in the upper 80s.  Of course, at night it cools off considerably.

I love being able to walk to pretty much anywhere.

It's nice being on west coast time, so that at 2 PM here, I generally stop getting emails from people on the east coast.

The weather so far is amazing. I do not miss the heat and humidity in Atlanta.

My first day in San Francisco there was a 3.3 magnitude earthquake. We never even felt it.

My second week there was a 4.0 earthquake and I never felt it.

We love our apartment, and the neighborhood.

Paying 10 cents for a bag to carry your food can get quite annoying.  Thankfully I have bags at my office and home so I don't usually have to pay for one.

I ended up with a nice office at work, though I am on a very low traveled section of the hallway, so it is going to take a lot more effort to get to know people here.

It is very dangerous that there is a Chipotle across the street from my office. I just need to remember to go on the days that the stingy girl doesn't work. She is very conservative with her toppings.

The one odd thing about my office is that not one person has introduced themselves to me.  I have had to make every single introduction.

I have never ridden a bus on public transit until moving here.

I still haven't really experienced Karl the Fog yet.

I have to check myself all the time here that not every gorgeous man in SF is gay.  Though 95% of the time they usually are.

It's been really difficult for me to get used to being 3 hours behind everyone on the east coast.

In my office, they apparently have not heard of closing one's door while having a 2 hour conference call.

It's rather shocking how many guys on Scruff that live in SF don't show face pics.  Isn't this why one moves to SF, so you don't have to be anonymously gay?

Chinatown is a much better experience with my Asian coworkers who know the best places to eat.

There is a redwood park right next to the Transamerica Pyramid.  It is lovely.

At our Safeway, they are super serious about 15 items or less in the express lane.

Also, it is interesting that a lot of items are locked up in the grocery store, including, for some reason, soap.

Everyone here bitches about BART/MUNI, however, if they came from Atlanta, I don't think they would be that upset with it.

None of the clubs here know how to use AC properly. They are always ridiculously hot.

I have to take a written driver's test here. Ugh.

Two weeks without my stuff is too long. I need the rest of my clothes.

You really don't need a gym here because all the damn hills give you a killer workout. I've already gotten a Beyonce butt.

Apparently they test air raid sirens at 12:00 PM every day. It's a bit jarring.

I have this huge city to explore and right now I am even overwhelmed by my neighborhood.

Our friends have very interesting jobs, anywhere from the tech industry to the porn industry.

Thankfully I learned before I got here that you are not supposed to call it San Fran or Frisco. You either call it San Francisco or The City.  People are very persnickety about how to pronounce things here as well.

I love the small, off the main path streets here. So much beauty.

Oddest thing I have seen in this city is a woman eating a corn cob for breakfast on MUNI.

No one uses their car horn here.

My body can only subsist on fast food and restaurant meals for so long before pitching a fit.

I hate being stood up. I especially hate being stood up twice in one week.

And I hate needing to do something that you don't want to do.

My office has curtains and not blinds. I love that.

Sometimes you have to just find your own way.

I have no idea how much a stamp is these days.

The new Brandon Flowers album is the best album from 1987.

Passive aggressive doesn't really work for me.

Nor does being demanding.

I still haven't seen All the President's Men.

While I initially didn't like the new Beach House record, it is finally growing on me. They don't go far outside their wheelhouse, but they change things ever so slightly.

There are several friends I had from growing up, college, or early work days (before the Internet) that I would have thought would be all over FB and don't have accounts. Even more interesting, is that in the last few months I have met many people who don't have them.

You can be a dog person all you want, cats will always be cooler.

It's very simple, if you don't want to do something don't say you are going to do it.

Some people will always disappoint you. You have to brush it off and move on.

I'm doing my best not to take things too seriously.

I don't understand people's aversion to going to movies or out to eat alone.

Music doesn't have to be pretty to be music.

Lyrics Rattling Around My Brain

"You tell me there’s a pharaoh in town
And now the time is gone out the doors
They tell me he’s a household name
Only no one has a house anymore

They tell me there’s a way to cheat death
And how you let him do it at once
I bet you say he never does wrong
I don’t why you say it so much

If all your children made it out alive
Then why would you ever go back
Take you pharaoh and put him in the black suck
Why don’t you take for yourself

You’re living in an overturned boat
You’re waiting for the ladder to come
But every time you try to give blood
You somehow end up sinking it in

If all your children made it out alive
Then why would you ever go back
Take you pharaoh and put him in the black suck
Why don’t you take for yourself

Why don’t you smash him all up
Give me the gun…
With all these riches, put it at your god’s feet
Why would ever say no, when would you ever say no
All this fantage? Wondering round with no phones
Why would ever say no, when would you ever say no
With all those people laying down their whole lives
Why would ever say no, when would you ever say no
Break your pharaoh and throw him in the red sea
I’m gonna do it myself!"

Everything Everything
"Zero Pharaoh"

"Take me by the hand
Will you guide me through this phase
Of not really knowing where I am
Or knowing who I am

I could think of it as
I gave all my best in loving you
But I know it’s not true
It’s just my way of getting through

We experience the love that we think we deserve
And I guess I thought
I didn’t need much from this world
So I left you

But you’re exactly what I like
I will give you my whole life
Mmmm you taste so nice
Oh this feels so right

Take me by the throat
Will you push me up against this wall
And spit all your hurt on me
So I can feel my reach
I have these dreams
Of you laying it on me

We experience the love that we think we deserve
And I guess I thought
I didn’t need much from this world
So I left you

But you’re exactly what I like
I will give you my whole life
Mmmm you taste so nice
Oh this feels so right

We can’t explain why
We hurt the ones we love most of all
Deep in the iris
You see a place of hope again."

Braids
"Taste"

Appealing Things

Being able to call San Francisco my home
Getting our furniture finally
Being on the water again
Seeing HEALTH for my first SF concert
Finding an awesome Thai restaurant in my neighborhood

Annoying Things

Walking to Starbucks this morning and seeing a very healthy family of rats outside Safeway
Less than friendly people in the new office

Jam of the Day: FKA twigs - "In Time"

Hypnotic track from FKA twigs' new EP M3LL155X. You can listen to it at the 7:10 mark.

Jam of the Day: Deafheaven - "Brought to the Water"

New, punishing 8:30 minute track from the new Deafheaven album New Bermuda.

Jam of the Day: Deerhunter - "Snakeskin"

Shambling track from the upcoming Deerhunter album Fading Frontier.

Jam of the Day: So Below - "Drift"

Menacing track from So Below that has lots of echoes of trip-hop, electro, and some industrial thrown in the mix.

Jam of the Day: HEALTH - "Dark Enough"

"Dark Enough" is the slow-burning centerpiece to HEALTH's masterful new record DEATH MAGIC. If you haven't heard this record yet, you need to.

Jam of the Day: Billie Black - "RunnerUp"

Gorgeous and haunting track from Billie Black's This Simple Pleasure EP.

Jam of the Day: Jamie Woon - "Sharpness"

Sleek and sexy new track from Jamie Woon.