Dissolve At the Chance

Right smack in the middle of adolescence, amid early sightings of emerging curlers breaking fresh dermal ground, amid awkward, inferential, and sweaty conversations with girls far out of my league, amid extreme urges to dismantle everything conventional society seemed to offer a young lad, I began going to $3 Dissolve shows at the Chance. Six bands. Three bucks. That was exactly one day's lunch money, which meant I could either skip a day of lunch or three days of beverage and just suck water from the fountain's tepid rainbow in order to earn enough for the show. These shows broke down everything pent-up inside me, gnawing off huge chunks of what the radio told me music was, shattering all my preconceived notions of what live music meant, what concerts did, how moshing operated, fanning some essential fire inside me that I knew was there but evaded me up until then. This was fucking Art. And this is why every time Dissolve decides to play some shows I think of the event as a religious-type ceremony, because it grounds my ever-pressing present in my own past, reminds me what is important about art and art-making, and douses youthful fires with fresh gallons of gasoline.

So I will go see Dissolve July 30th at the Chance in Pougheepsie. As at the $3 shows so long ago, they have some excellent bands playing along with them, including Now There Is Only a Signal and Living Laser, so you should go too, and get there early!

Dissolve Live (So you can see that they're just as good now, if not better, than they've ever been. But why would anyone think otherwise?)

Get Dissolve's album Caveman of the Future from Trip Machine Laboratories

Paul Thorstenson's short films

New Joshua album "Choices"

In 1999 I drove my car from Dover Plains, NY to Danbury, CT to Volt records. I remember it raining pretty hard and I believe my close friend B. "Cigway" was with me. We used to go to Danbury all the time to buy cds and records at both Volt Records and the great Trash American Style. Cigway and I would browse what the store had for awhile and then evaluate the selection together. Once we had our top two choices of albums we wanted to go home with, we would each buy one, this way we could make each other a tape of the selection that the other did not get. I got the album End Serenading by Mineral and Cigway chose A Whole New Theory by Joshua. I hadn't heard the record yet, but I remember Cigway raving about "...how great...!" this dude's voice is. We bumped it on the way home. Cigway was right about the dude's voice. Joshua quickly became one of my favorite bands and I would go see them play live every chance I got. Why is this story relevant you may be wondering? Because Orange County, New York's Joshua is back and they rock harder than ever. Their new record is called CHOICES and you can sample it at -joshuatheband. Check out A Whole New Theory so you can act like you knew... A Whole New Theory by Joshua (the band)

Fun shows that already happened in 2011

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin

Or two men Ben, or two men...Medallions - Jan. 8th, 2011

Spare Parks also celebrated the new year by playing a show. Actually it just happened to be booked in January.

Spare Parks - Jan. 15th, 2011

Spare Parks - Plastic Witches of Toronto from paul Thorstenson on Vimeo.

Medallions premiere live on Jan. 8th, 2011

Medallions (featuring Mike S. and Evan formerly of Casket Architects and currently essential members of many Glacial bands, e.g. Spare Parks, Living Laser, etc.) deliver their shiny, sleek, somber, decorative sound for all to enjoy in the home of the annual Applefest on Jan.8th, 2011. The Tuscan Cafe has long been a friendly host to many forms of alternative independent rock music for local musicians in the Orange County region. It was at the Tuscan Cafe that present-day everlasting friendships within the Glacial circle of musicians were born. This is but one of many reasons why Glacial loves the Tuscan Cafe and Medallions. We invite you to come enjoy Medallions, celebrate the new year vibe, and politic-ditto with the Glacial crew.

Red Baron vs. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time in which one should acknowledge the things one appreciates having. I (Jase) expressed my own gratitude for such things by recording some songs, all of which possessed a "cherish being at home with family and friends" type theme. Over my vacation I had been experimenting with syncopating different rhythms. These rhythms ended up becoming 5 songs that I played drums, guitars, and sang on. I asked Nick and Greg in between Winterlong recordings to play on the songs also. Greg played bass and Nick played piano. The final result has some kind of jazz-prog-rock sound. I'm calling the sound Red Baron. This side-project of mine probably won't fly its biplane again until X-mas vacation, or maybe it will get shot down. Red Baron Vs Thanksgiving by GlacialPK

YACHTBEETS

Sensitive poet that I am, my walls of sensitivity were thoroughly shaken when my sensitive beats killed the near-epic rhyme battle that came ever so close to popping off on my back porch one night a few weeks ago. My neighbor’s inability to locate his CD of instrumental beats prompted me to offer my own meager set of beats, which I’d been quietly compiling on my computer, to accompany the battle. I had some really hard bangers that I couldn’t seem to locate, so unfortunately the ones I could find were admittedly a bit on the artsy side and thus succeeded in swiftly dismantling the potential rhyme-battle before it even started to heat up, and even prompted one onlooker to remark that the beats I presented might be good “to have a nice sensitive poem spoken over.” As a devout fan of (in my meager opinion) the hardest kinds of rap in existence, I was saddened by my beats’ lack of ability to pop off anything substantial. I couldn’t do anything about it that night except go inside and cry. So since then, I’ve been on a hard-banger-creation spree in case I’m ever in the position to provide beats for an impromptu rhyme battle, which now I will happily yes gladly provide at first mention of such a battle. These will be incorporated with other Yacht Clubbers into a Yacht Clubbers mixtape in the near future:

Ornthological Atom by nickhaines

Couchant Monks by nickhaines

And Then There Were Three: Robots and Empire--both, in due time, end.

At this point in time, Brian (the singer) has chosen a new path in life. A path that does not include moving further with Robots And Empire. It is at this point in time that we (Jase, Nick, Greg) have also chosen to move on from the Empire. Nick, Jase, and Greg will still be practicing every Wednesday (and probably some Saturdays too because its fun) and be continuing with their vision eventually resurfacing as a 3 piece under a new moniker. Thinking of a name is hard and were not going to rush it. There will be two completed Robots songs still coming out on a future split with Park Ranger. We hope you've enjoyed our music thus far, and we appreciate all the help and love everyone has offered R&E. Please consider continuing your love toward the yet-unnamed Nick-Jase-Greg band. We're pretty positive about it.

Laser Life

Quite a buzz was astir at last night's 90s-reminiscent Death Threat/All Out War show concerning one of our flock's newest factions, the band Living Laser. And rightfully so, since they kinda rule, if you didn't already know. Check 'em out!

New Spare Parks EP

Enjoy. Now onto the next thing...

CT Show

Robots and Empire played Wrench In the Works's record release show last Saturday. Check out a review of it here.