keith birthday

but the borscht there is so good.

rubpawpress:

could you please tell me what library of congress film features boxing cats, I think I’d like to see cats box. I wonder if it is how I imagine

Video from the BBC in which a correspondent travels to Tomsk and sees the inside of one of the old wooden houses here.

 from BBC show Russia: A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby

sovietpostcards:

Moscow. Ostankino Tower. Cabin management and control of television station (1987)

Hello Mr. Soviet Supercomputer.

Recently I ran into a girl here in Tomsk who was wearing a sweatshirt from Hatfield, a small neighboring town to my hometown. I wrote a post about it on (Rub Paw Press)

OMG I totally need to figure out a way to get to this ‘big festival of cartoons’ OH GOD HOW I LOVE CARTOONS/RUSSIAN/RUSSIAN CARTOONS!

just click the pic and read the site (there’s an english version) and get all jealous of my relative proximity to this.

It is indeed a great feeling to wake up and have a new short by Tim & Eric on the internet.

freshphotons:

(via japanesescientists)

everything about this makes me smile, from the spacesuits to the guy leading off second in the background. sometimes japan just has really good ideas.

This absurdity of this blows my mind, and cracks me up of course.

(via sovietpostcards)

Ariel Pink - Round and Round

Wadda great track

(more silly Russian mod jobs here)

Putin is so good at doing this whole outdoor adventurer thing. Click the picture for more

I would watch this show in Russian more often, but the voice actors really really annoy me

from the cartoon ‘Полёт на луну’ (fly to the moon)

Guess I just ‘released’ my newest Norwegian Arms ep type thing called ‘jttrbg’ and it’s now available on my (bandcamp) 4 free n stuff. Two songs on this one, one that ya’ll may know because it’s been around a little bit but without a ‘proper release’. Also includes a super duper old song [written circa 2007] while living in Germany but also had yet to be recorded or what not. enjoy if you enjoy things like this.

Also now available there is my first ep release from last summer ‘Louise’ in its entirety. Also free. Share away friends.

“In the snow-coated Siberian city of Tomsk, one in every five residents is a student. Information security is what they excel in. But in college corridors here, students talk of hacking with respect, even reverence.”

Funny that they talk about “Tomsk University”, because there are six universities here, all with the words “Tomsk” and “University” in them. NICE RESEARCH BBC!!!! (read here)

Today I am featured on (Guts & Glitter) for being a guy with a beard who lives in Russia. All of my answers are 100% true.

Had to take/send the photos myself and it made me really nervous. Worried about the lighting/what plaid I should wear. Took a shower so I would look ‘not dirty’. Think it turned out okay-pretty good.

Sometimes I read G&G in order to try and understand women, not sure if it’s working. You should too. (read it here)

part two in an apparently ongoing series about Keith Birthday’s recent travels through Europe. (part one here)

It was probably the most absurd thing that I had seen/heard in a while, the ‘DJ’ in this Warsaw basement bar was making a ‘shicka-shicka’ sound into the microphone in rhythm to the music, in what appeared a very lame attempt at beatboxing along with the music. At that point I wondered two things: a.) did he actually think that it sounded good? and b.) why on earth did he decide that the best sound to use in order to accompany the music was a half-assed maraca? Looking at K and the Australian and the other Australian they all seemed to agree, and we all imitated him and laughed…..(more)

Big big big fan of Jose’s Seattle project (Neighbors). He just linked me to the (EP) called Finalist they just ‘released’ on bandcamp and it’s absolutely fantastic. Makes me think if Pavement had a noisy baby with the quiet earnest observant kid next door. Nice touches of tasteful dissonance throughout.

Jose’s lyrical ability has always made me a bit jealous, and coupled with his ‘I’m sorta apathetic about this’ vocal delivery these songs shine.

It’s also free. Always a plus.

he also has a (tumblr)

the strongest grandma in the world lives in Dagestan (Султан-Янгиюрт). JUST LOOK AT HER RIP THAT PHONEBOOK IN HALF/STAND ON NAILS/HOLD THAT LONG TWISTED PIECE OF METAL LIKE IT’S NOTHING!

Padla Bear Outfit - Za Belym Krolikom

This is by far my favorite Russian band, mostly because they are one of the only groups in this country that doesn’t make super sugar coated pop/techno music. Also digging the Guided By Voices reminiscent lo-fi aesthetic

So Helen turned me on to this large collection of photos of Russia taken for LIFE by Margaret Bourke-White during the second world war. Apparently a lot of them were unpublished. All of them are fantastic. You can see more here.

I have wondered essentially my entire life the following information concerning the above song/video:

1. Who sang that song

2. What the hell it was called

both of those problems have now been solved.

all the good stuff happens when I’m not in town.

was nice to see a different city for a week, though. have more ‘conference related presentation giving’ feel more like an ‘academic’.

1. Sonic Youth (64)
2. Bear in Heaven (31)
3. Palais Schaumburg (14)
4. Best Coast (13)
5. Kosmonautentraum (13)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

first there was a stray dog, lying on its side, shivering, convulsing, seizing or freezing, am still not exactly too sure. A women stood next to me, said ‘this is what happens when they freeze to death.’ How do you help a stray dog?

15 minutes

second there was a man, lying on the ground, at the bus stop where I got off to work. Sprawled out like a starfish, not moving, two people guarding, blanket over his face, everybody staring. Wonder if he froze to death/had a heart attack/was drunk/got hit by a car. There was no blood then or on the ice afterwards when I walked by again and pointed the spot out to a friend. He said something like ‘You see, this isn’t really a good place to live.’

This song by Palais Schaumburg never ceases to amaze me. Even crazier that it’s twenty years old.

A compilation of silly Soviet era commercials from the 80s. Can’t help but lol at the editing. Being able to youtube in Russian has opened up endless possible foriegn lol possibilities. loving it.

1. Skeletons (8)
2. Owen Pallett (6)
3. Twin Sister (4)
4. Best Coast (4)
5. Skeletons And The King Of Al.. (3)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

There are no fewer than six of these videos from the last two olympees from Russia, and each one is performed by and reflects a culture/language within Russia other than Russian. I figured this space would be a good one upon which to ‘review’ each one and ‘discuss my feelings with the blogosphere/twitterverse’. Also saw this as a way to expose all you ignorant jerks to other cultures and to ‘open your eyes’ to new ethnic styles to integrate into future buzzbands you might create. Who knows?…. (continued at rubpawpress.com)

funny that all these tumblrgrrrlz are all boasty/confused/questioning their internet presence n stuff because their existence isn’t reinforced/confirmed through tumblarity.

dont miss u tumblarity.

to appear on rubpawpress.com very soon.

teflon:

Soviet Jet Train

wish Russia really had sweet jet trains like this.

Small Black - Despicable Dogs

I love this song, but I have a serious problem with every single one of small black’s drum tracks either being (most of the time) or sounding EXACTLY LIKE preprogrammed casio keyboard beats.

Russian ladies like to sing Beatles’ songs translated into their own language, which is not Russian, but one of the many different ethnic languages Russian has within its own borders.

I played my first concert in months today. I was invited to the Tomsk rock school to talk about rock schools in America (via Eric Slick’s and Dom’s jobs) and then play a a bunch of my songs and talk about american independent music. Good atmosphere, felt good, made me feel good about music/performing/recording again. Hope this mood sticks.

had my first couple authentic ‘Russian garage band jam sessions’ this week. There are some garages on the outskirts of town, and an acquaintance is in possession of one. My closer friends (friends of this acquaintance) have moved a drum kit, a guitar + amp and a bass +single powered PA speaker there. We then attempt to play music. I usually make noisy jams, some of the other bros make ‘jammy jams’. I missed playing drums, although I’m still pretty terrible at them. maybe there will be some pictures of this jamming in the near future, I know they exist on Gosh’s (real name, short for something) camera. we also drink some beers.

It’s also nice to have an all-Russian bro-haven, where I can just chill and ‘be myself’ and ‘speak russian’ with authentic sibereeun/rushn frendz.

Tuvans, known throughout the world mostly for their throat singing, believe that if you touch poop in your dreams, you will quickly become wealthy.

Father Abraham just makes me want to learn Dutch even more. His ‘smurf song’ is also golden.

1. Raw Thrills (15)
2. Tocotronic (12)
3. Стекловата (6)
4. Best Coast (4)
5. Pradada (2)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

I want to play connect four with the Piraha tribe, cause I’d always win. They don’t really count past two.

comicallyvintage:

Machines! I Hate Them!

lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol

Was really hoping to find a silly Russian music video today. I was getting discouraged for a while, but upon seeing the keytar ten seconds into this one, I knew my search was over.

If you have a keen eye, you may just recognize these guys from the famous Novij God (new year video). They were the ‘featured group’