Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Monday, May 23, 2011

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Saturday, May 21, 2011

21 of 21: Judgement Day

My Idea of Fun's May 21st releases:

MIF197 - Illegal Boyfriend - 15 Envelopes

MIF196 - Red Benches - Where It Was When I Wanted It

MIF195 - Olivia Locher - Another Day on Earth

MIF194 - Narrow Berth - Out of Rut, Please

MIF193 - Norma Desmond - S/T EP

MIF192 - Jacob & The Jreams - Orijin

MIF191 - BP Gulf

MIF190 - Dan Oatman - Carl the Eisegete

MIF189 - The Redcoats - The Redcoats are Coming

MIF188 - ARC - The Future Is Soon

MIF187 - Mean Streak - I'm in a Bad Situation

MIF186 - Laci Hess - The Plan

MIF185 - The Meets - Sketch/Tempo Map for LP2

MIF184 - Christopher S. Bell - The Deflated Generation

MIF183 - The Hit and Miss Engines - Works and Days

MIF182 - Fern - Fern's Inner Growth

MIF174 - Technological Epidemic - Hollow Cost

20 of 21: St. Paul


After Endless Mike & The Beagle Club released and heavily toured The Husky Tenor, Brandon recorded Mike performing the album in it's entirety by himself. The 2007 recording was released as MIoF#11: Endless Mike Vs. The Beagle Club.

Recorded two days before We Are Still At War, Endless Mike Vs. The Beagle Club Re-Match followed the album release 17 numbers later at MIoF#77.

Update: Round Three! Endless Mike Vs. The Beagle Club - St. Paul is recorded & performed by Mike Miller, outlining a new Beagle Club record.

Download and enjoy quickly before it all ends:
http://www.myideaoffun.org/endlessmike/Vs3.rar

takin' it to the streets: home edition

The forecasted day of jvdgement is afoot!


takin' it to the streets

How it will come and what we should know.
a repost of an important and pertinent theoretical analysis

The “fire from heaven’s eyes” is a forecasting phrase taken from several ancient texts. Its usage is most notable in the earliest known version of what would come to be known as the Book of Lamentations (specifically Poem #4) in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Deuteronomy in the Tanakh, the phrase is used just before the death of Moses. In addition, and peculiarly so, the phrase also has several mentions in the Arabic Qur'an, specifically in connection with Haman, the Pharaoh’s advisor who was commissioned to build a structure for man to ascend into the heavens. The phrase refers to the notion that the savior, redeemer, orchestrator, cultivator, etc. would someday visit the earth cradled in a single flame said to be launched directly from the eyes of God. The flame was said to appear to man in a specific series of twelve vast, bulbous lights. Each light would represent a different faction of the flame as an entirety*, and would appear only for a few instants (less than one second by current measurements) before being replaced by a completely new representation, a brighter and larger light. The pattern was said to repeat itself for a duration of just over twelve and one half minutes, repeating nearly 780 times in that time period. Because a physical account of the flame is not included in the texts, religious philosophers, Biblical scholars, and scientists alike have long debated those actual physical properties the flame would display. The controversy starts at the base of the phrase itself, as the Hebrew word “ASh”, which is the singular Hebrew word for ‘fire’, is also understood as specifically ‘the fire of God’. A, aleph, often refers to "God," and Sh, shin, infers "bringing forth, or birth". So, the distilled definition for the word “ASh”, ‘fire,’ might be rendered, "The birth of God in us". It has been speculated that the chariot that brings the savior to us might also be the vehicle for man to obtain divinity. If the physical vehicle (the fire itself) is also the gateway to the divine, this poses some problems. Time and again the same text tells us that man is unable to obtain divinity, to see God, to become divine on this Earth. Under the constraints the same text imposes, the physical limitations of our minds in mortal bondage are unable to be surpassed until existence and representation in an unearthly setting, a divine realm. If the flame itself is the birth of God in our physical selves, the appearance of the lights themselves would constitute the absolute presence of God. Transport, most likely the vacating of the mental capacities, would occur and would have to be instantaneous in nature to avoid the proposed sensory overload that would occur in the Divine presence. Man would be unable to see the lights and their increasing intensity because long before the brain could process the sensory data via the eyesight, he would be transported. Barring any intervention, a real-time realization would be impossible given the parameters of this universe. Man’s essence would immediately cease to exist in the earthly realm, thus negating the savior’s purpose for returning. Also problematic would be the actual increasing of the lights’ intensity, as it is said that the natural pressure and continuum of our planet would intensify as well due to the immense heat, and luminosity. Within the first few instants of the appearance of the first light, all of the planet’s oceans would boil, the high concentration of nitrogen in the natural atmosphere would ignite in a cataclysmic chain-reaction, the skins of all the animals, including humans, would turn in on themselves. The arrival of the savior in this divine carriage of fire would the sole cause of our Armageddon. The earth as we know it, would end. What we can infer from all of this is simplicity. The savior will not arrive in the fire from heaven’s eyes because of the massive screaming it would produce, the utter destruction that would result. The savior will arrive on a whimper.


***The Twelve Lights of the Flame:
1) The Concept - Divine - Refers to the inception of being, the indefinable point at which God decided a distinct person shall exist.
2) The Construct - divine - Refers to the physical coital action of man and woman, the actual act that results in the creation of a distinct person.
3) The Connate – Divine – Refers to the indelible instincts, and tendencies common to all distinct persons at the instant of birth
4) The Consternation – divine – Refers to the period soon after birth at which the distinct person recognizes an external world, usually accompanied by the first sense of fear
5) The Confusion – divine – Refers to the early developmental period where the distinct person is freshly experiencing the external world, observing and detecting outside stimuli with limited self-interference (the subject is incapable)
6) The Convoluted – divine – Refers to natural progression of human consciousness through observation and experience, as complex thought, opinion and morality develop within the distinct person’s mind
7) The Continuum – divine – Refers to the ‘in motion’ experience of the distinct person. The immediate earthly experience as it is processed.
8) The Conflict – divine – Refers to the mundane imposed social dilemmas the distinct person is faced with during an experiencing life
9) The Consent – divine – Refers to the paradigm shift that occurs when the distinct person is confronted with imminent death and departure from the physical realm, occurs after the realization of absolute ineffectuality
10) The Conclusion – Divine – Refers to the point of worldly death for the distinct person, and the immediate cessation of the worldly experience
11) The Conviction – Divine – Refers to the event after the worldly death, in which the distinct person is made to be accountable for all pursuits, decisions and actions in the earthly realm, and a final judgment is made by God on where the subject shall spend eternity
12) The Connsumatory – Divine – Refers to the fulfillment of Divine prophecy by the distinct person, the validation of God’s original concept for the subject’s existence

Thursday, May 19, 2011

19 of 21: The Travelin' Javelin Band


Travelin' Javelin' Bands are events where many MIoF members get together to pull names from a hat and write a song in groups of 5 to 7. They usually go until about 3 in the morning, and take a long time to end up on My Idea of Fun, for some reason. This is the long lost first one. It went to Vermont with Brandon for a while, then got back to Matt, then to Jacob. Now to you. Listen for yourself if you were there, and let's do another one soon.

Visit the page and download here.

18 of 21: Jacob's New Website

A while ago, I threw some edits up online really just to get them out of my system and into the public's, but for the most part I've felt pretty private about my photography over the last two years. A little weary of the photographic interweb, I opted to travel, return to school and print my images for physical edits. After getting some hard copies together and feeling complete with my projects, I've finally put them up on the web.

Go to JacobKoestler.com to check it out. I'd love any feedback.

On the topic of the internet, I also wanted to list some blogs that I frequent. All of these folks are, in some way, involved with My Idea of Fun.

Roberto Clemente Rookie Card is a music blog that Scotty keeps up in conjunction with his radio show. He posts a lot, always hypes MIoF and let's me know about all the hip, weirdo shit that I wouldn't listen to otherwise.

Olivia beefed it to NYC a few years ago, but still makes it easy to see what she's up to and looking at with her blog.

A few years back, we all started heading out to play shows and party in Indiana, PA with some of the coolest chicks we'd ever met. They, along with a couple from Johnstown, started an incredible, but short-lived, band called cones. Recently they've moved all over to different parts of the state and country. They keep in touch at Doca Cola.

A few of them also keep personal blogs that always cheer me up:

Emmy took a trip this summer and moved to Johnstown afterward. She writes about and shoots it at Walking.

Laura moved to a farm in Dayton and keeps in touch with her friend, Ashley at the aptly-titled Laura Ashley

Laci, as always, finds the happy medium between romance novels and fine art at Keeper Shelf.

And Kelly bridges the gap between Pittsburgh and Johnstown with Teach the Free Man how to Praise.

She, along with a lot of help from everyone else, also keeps The Color Project tickin'.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

17 of 21: Endless Mike's Idea of Fun


There are secret sites on My Idea of Fun, you know.

Beagle Club's secret site was used as a way for Mike Miller, Matt Miller, Matt Davis, Cody Walat, Jacob Koestler, Brandon Locher, John Thorell, Ben Houck, Mikey D'Angelo, Josh Russo, Dan Oatman, Matt Shawley, Jake Palitero, Justin Cimba, Katy Davis, Dallas Zimmerman, Diego Byrnes, Laura Miller, and Brandon Volkman to hear the first rehearsal sessions for Endless Mike and the Beagle Club's We Are Still At War. It was recorded by Brandon's headphone mics, which sat on a bass amp. That's why the bass is too loud.


C'mere and I'll tell you another secret. Go to Siamese Dream's page. Run your cursor along the album covers and see if you can find a secret link to an uncut recording session.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

11 of 21: 4 Vids from '10 (re-do)

this original post, along with all others in a 48-hour period of time, vanished into thin air - a sure sign of the approaching end times.

Below are four videos from a My Idea of Fun Night at one of our favorite local bars, Dively's. This particular night in 2010 was also Cody's like third 29th birthday.

The One and Only Matt Miller (and Friends) - The Sun

The Hit and Miss Engines - With or Without You

Museum - Snakes

The Sunflower Spectacle - I Am

10 of 21: Fern's Logic Toggle (re-do)

this original post, along with all others in a 48-hour period of time, vanished into thin air - a sure sign of the approaching end times.



Above is a music video by Jacob Koestler for Fern's Logic Toggle, from the forth-coming release on My Idea of Fun.


Fern is (was) Jacob, Laura and Matt. They came together in an effort to write slow, distorted music. In 2009, they began recording a four-song EP in Johnstown's 709 Railroad Street. Laura moved to Tennessee the next day, and the half-finished cassette remained at Matt's place for over a year.

Just a few weeks ago, Jacob took the four-track to Pittsburgh and finished the tracking and mixing. The EP, along with many others, will be available May 21 on My Idea of Fun.

16 of 21: page 5 till page 6



page 5 till page 6 is taken from the forthcoming "Sketch/Tempo Map for LP2" by The Meets. Please visit My Idea of Fun on May 21st, 2011!

Monday, May 16, 2011

15 of 21: Mean Streak - I'm In a Bad Situation

Human beings that were born around the time MS formed as a band are now on the verge of their own angsty teenage years. The members of the band grew up together, and the shape of their music ran parallel with the eternal pull of time on their lives. After a scrapped full-length concept LP that had the band spinning their wheels for years, MS have resurfaced with the first vinyl 7inch record to be released on MIoF. Much is different about the band now than in the first decade of the 21st century, but this release, "I'm in a Bad Situation", finds much is the same.
The music is chaotic but catchy, and the lyrics are honest in their brutality of the contraining social conventions humanity has placed upon itself.
The future is uncertain (for the band and for the world:MAY 21), and the songs on the record are quite aware of that. With band members spreading across the country, debt and panic crushing down- some things are moved to change in this life.
"I'm in a Bad Situation" is nothing if it isn't a statement.

Carpaccio Magazine features --

Variations in Symmetry by Brandon Locher.

Open publication

14 of 21: Another Day on Earth



Images from May 21st release, Another Day on Earth by Olivia Locher.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Friday, May 13, 2011

13 of 21: Narrow Berth



Here's a little number from the upcoming NB release Thirst.

Damp Coat by IanRummell

12 of 21: Red Benches


Music vid for "I cut my leg off because I wanted to be a woman" by Red Benches.


I started Red Benches the last summer I lived in Indiana because I had no friends and was really depressed. All I wanted was to be very honest and open in attempts to try not to hate myself anymore. This was in 2008. Red Benches was and will continue to be the name for the music I make by myself, if I should ever show anybody. It's hard for me to show it. But I want to now, so I'm going to.
Red Benches - "Where It Was When I Wanted It" will be released on May 21 of 2011 along with many great others.
It will contain recordings from:
SUMMER 2008
WINTER 2009
FALL 2010
SPRING 2011

There will be 5 copies on tape and 15 on cd and that is all that will be made.

Thank you for your time and efforts. I love you sincerely.

takin' it to the streets

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

9 of 21: The State College Sessions


On Friday April 1st, 2011, Technological Epidemic practiced at the apartment above 709 Railroad Street for Penn State University's Annual Arts Crawl, occurring one week later. Despite the advent of modern social conventions and the good intentions of our peers and fellow musicians (well actually, not really), the sixty-dollar check for playing said event has yet to arrive in the mail. It is now with the deepest regard that we, My Idea of Fun, present you with Technological Epidemic: The State College Sessions. (Not to be confused with Emmett and Mary setlist in the binder for State College House Show June 2009, whereby we had every intention of playing "You Don't Know How It Feels" by Tom Petty out of the Trilogy, but never bothered to practice it.)

SETLIST

1. A Formal Psychosis/Sell and Bait My Defeat (From Party Songs 1972)
2. Gray Days (From Hollow Cost)
3. The Kids on Linden Street (From Promotionally Yours EP)
4. A Sobering Son (From Promotionally Yours EP)
5. In Processing (Hollow Cost B-side)
6. A Cluttering Husband (From Promotionally Yours EP)
7. Red Meds (From Hollow Cost)

MP3 Download as .rar

Monday, May 9, 2011

8 of 21: Higher Fives Preview

Higher Fives are working on a new record called Cystems, which'll be ready just in time for the end of the world. I shot the above video at the first recording session with Brandon at VOMA in Johnstown, PA. I found the audio on my computer from an even older cassette demo that Matt had me dub.

*

Sunday, May 8, 2011

7 of 21: I-V


Back in 2007 Dane Adelman and Brandon Locher started a band/recording project called Siamese Dream. Collaborating over entire weekend writing and recording sessions, in 5 months Siamese Dream wrote, recorded, and released 3 EPs (I, II, III) and 2 Full Length releases (IIII and V).

After the duo immediately completed a weekend recording session the newest Siamese Dream release was made available as a free MP3 download via My Idea of Fun. In celebration of the end of times, My Idea of Fun is proud to present a bit-size download featuring Siamese Dream's I, II, III, IIII, and V! Download away!

http://www.myideaoffun.org/siamesedream/SiameseDream.rar

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Friday, May 6, 2011

6 of 21: Dallas Zimmerman in Mid-Fi


This is a song by Dallas Zimmerman. It was recorded in Mid-Fi (unlimited tracks on a Boss Loop Pedal) with Matt Miller while he was recording his full-length the same way. It was intended for a split with Laika the Astrohound which hasn't come to fruition yet.

from American VII sessions

Thursday, May 5, 2011

5 of 21: Rubber Necking Presents Two New Releases on My Idea of Fun

Functioning outside of the RUBBER NECKING universe--yet closely associated-- we have two new projects. One, a book by RN'r Jacob. Two, a cassette tape with RN'r Ian. Let's a have a look.

In Something in the Way, but Barely There (MIF180), Jacob Koestler cultivates natural images within a throng of newly unearthed specters. Through his skewed perception, distinct facets appear and fleet like rusty bits of iron one notices while plodding a gravel path.

Spanish Leather's Dilated Jewel (MIF181) is an observation of rural pageantry, social implications of the Eucharist, and a microscopic assemblage latently constructed by falling slabs.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

4 of 21: The Hank Williams Review


"The Johnny Cash Revue played at VOMA on the 2nd of April. I was already planning on going to see Marianne Locher kill it as June Carter. A few hours before the show, Laura told me that Marianne put a thing on her Facebook page saying their opening act (The Rugs) wouldn't be playing. I figured I'd never have a better opportunity to play a set full of Hank Williams songs, so I called Marianne and asked if I could play. As it turned out, they only needed about 15 minutes worth of stuff, so I picked three of my favorite Hank songs and went to town. It was a lot of fun. It probably won't ever happen again. Enjoy."

- Mike Miller

01. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
02. Lone Gone Lonesome Blues [MP3]
03. I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive

MP3 Download as .rar