Hello.

So, it begins. Post #1 reaffirming, maybe embarrassingly so, my feeble attractions to whiskey-toting female guitarists who just happen to be from Brooklyn. Could it be Elisa Ambrogio's exhausted swagger? Or maybe just the fact that she is apparently using her half pint of Jim Beam as a guitar slide? I mean, damn!

In any case, the noise coming from the Magik Markers lately has been largely impressive and refreshing. This all in the wake of what seems to be a constantly recycled sound coming from New York's "king country". As a part of the often criticized "no-fi" movement, they are certainly not for everyone.

What really matters, however, is that their new record Boss, out on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, is like a spear of mind blowing textures that make it an unqualified, challenging masterwork in my eyes. At times reminiscent of late 80's Sonic Youth on tracks like "Taste", it also has a clear sensitivity to songwriting on "Bad Dream/Hartford's Beat Suite", all while preserving the discordant world they've been known to create.

This friday is the big 2-3 for me &, along with a few exciting coastal adventures on Saturday, I will be seeing them at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco. If I could urge you any more to find a way to the show I'd probably be hitting you point-blank in the face with a sledgehammer. Which is ironically what some believe their music simulates. They'll be playing with Seattle sweetheart Goatgirl.

Hold onto your face..

From the "BOSS" LP:

>> Taste
>> Bad Dream/Hartford's Beat Suite

**note: you might want to consider THIS before seeing them live.

Also, let it be known that the weekend will end with a burst of joy when Akron/Family plays at The Crepe Place (1134 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz). They are a virtually unclassifiable band that, along with ex-Swan Michael Gira's project Angels of Light, are responsible for two of the most undeniably great albums of the year. Akron/Family's Love Is Simple, and Angels of Light's We Are Him, both on Young God Records. More on the folk-inspired brilliance of Angels of Light later.



Sunday: a perfect day for delicious cheese-filled crepes and Akron/Family's epic display of beards and random toy instruments. Yum!


Akron/Family - Moment (live) Albany, NY




[I'm looking forward to writing along side these lovelies. I'll be filling up my pockets with more stallions, unicorns, and the like in the near future.. ]

Ebisu

Hats off to Tate's friends SPANK ROCK for not only providing us with a new dose of Philly Rap/Miami Bass goodness, but also creating the best album covers of this year. So far they have released 3 EPs leading up to their new album, each on with amazing cover art. peep these:

Bitch! - Spank Rock

B.O.O.T.A.Y. - Spank Rock

Loose - Spank Rock

Also check out this DJ mix by Terry Told 'Em. Still can't get over saturday night.

in-DEED - Terry Told 'Em

Alert! Pocket Full of Horses holds hands with friends!

Pocket Full of Horses is officially undergoing some changes that have nothing to do with our layout (which is already awesome enough). We've invited a few of our friends to help out with the blog so in the next few days you may be seeing posts from people other than just me! and dean!. Our first friend is Derek who pretty much has the same blogging story as me. He started out as a solo blogger at Dodge Attack and then moved on to Sex in the Breakroom with our boo Austin. We hold him dearly in our blogging hearts. Expect something ridiculously cutting edge from him.

Our other invitation was sent out to our friend Jon Lady. He's a full name kind of guy. Booty is new to the blogging community, but not new to writing and being cynical. From the looks of it, he's going to be writing some super high quality stuff that will be linguistically enriching.

So there's my official notice. Things will be changing a bit for a while. I think both of these guys will be great additions to our blog, but keep in mind that none of this is permanent just yet; someone may be jumping ship or walking the plank or crying mutiny any moment now. Anyways, I hope your excited for our new changes because we're really looking forward to seeing this blog take new shape. And as always, thanks for reading!

what it is what it do

I think everything will just be downhill from here. Last weekend I saw (in order) Ladytron, The Chemical Brothers, Dan Deacon and Girl Talk. By Sunday morning I was pretty much paralized from the waist down and in a deep euphoric state similar to drinking 8 onces of Kava. Breakdown!

Ladytron-
started off pretty weak but picked up speed towards the end. Overall a neat performance but stood quivering in the shadows of the Chemical Brothers.

The Chemical Brothers-
Fucking amazing. Their performance was on par with Sigur Ros except the chemical brothers had several thousands of dollars invested in LASERS!!!!!! The video projection was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and completly restored my faith in VJs. They played a whole bunch of stuff off of their new album We are The Night which was pretty quality. here is a sample:

Das Spiegel - The Chemical Brothers

Dan Deacon-
If I get by a 30ft great white the next time I take a bath, I would die knowing the I had at least one accomplishment: I saw and survived a Dan Deacon show. He had a flashing green skull, n'uff said. I ripped a live copy of "Silence like the Wind" to help me come down from the performance.

Silence like the Wind - Dan Deacon

Girl Talk-
Greg Gillis looks a lot like Jesus. He also was received by the crowd as if he was Jesus. Maybe he is the new messiah, or better yet, the new anti-christ (move over Rasputin). Either way I now can say that I have been on stage at the Hollywood Bowl and the Fillmore without playing a single note. Here is a highlight of the show:

Knife (Girl Talk Remix)- Grizzly Bear

Best weekend ever? Maybe.

p.s. Here is some proof that the show was awesome:

Cuteness obsession v3.0

First primordial dwarfs, then a ridiculously large bunny named Heir Hare, and now a special breed of cat that is noticably larger than others. What is it about overly large and small things that makes them so cute?? Today I stumbled upon this picture:

And while upon first glance, you may think "Yah riiiiiiiiiight. Dat ain't real boo", it is in fact, real boo. That right there is a 24lb Maine Coon cat. I looked into the breed of cat and it turns out they're predispostioned to be super cuddly as well as super big. They have really large ears, super fluffems tails, and big big tufted oogle-worthy paws. Wikipedia calls them "gentle giants" and says that they're intelligent and playful. In short, I considered flying out to Maine to pick one up from a breeder (that is, until I discovered you can adopt 16lb-ers in Oakland).

Here's another picture of Fluffers McGee looking super cute in the arms of this owner who looks exactly like me circa 2003. Coincidence? I think not..

Here in my loft I feel safest of all

From 90s jams to relaxing fantasy world. Another Caitlin-craze I never reported on is Taken By Trees, the new project coming from Victoria Bergsman (who sings for The Concretes as well as on Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks", both of which I wrote about here). Recently, Tough Alliance remixed her song "Too Young" to create something that sounds like Victoria Bergsman singing to a Panda Bear single. In other words, amazing, striking, beautiful. Another stand-out track is called "Open Field". Mostly ignored by the casual listener, Open Field is best when described fairly elaborately.

Do yourself a favor and download "Open Field", listed below. Next, read my description of what's going on in the song. Afterwards, try to out-description me and/or tell me I'm wrong.

It sounds like a mystical land. The main enemy (dragon, storm, evil wizard, etc) has just been defeated, and the peasants are walking out of their tiny huts to look around at their suddenly sunny, blossoming land which is covered in wild flowers and dew drops and populated by singing birds and fluttering butterflies. A sense of wonder encompasses everything. Neighbors say hello, including Mr. Toad and Mrs. Rabbit. Hello all! Strom has cleared, welcome to spring time!

Don't believe me? Take a listen to "Open Field" and see for yourself. Her other songs are also highly recommended accompaniments to afternoon naps.

(**all files via Z-share)
>> Taken Too Young remixed by Tough Alliance
>> Open Field by Taken by Trees
>> Julia by Taken by Trees
>> Too Young by Taken by Trees (original)

Taken by Trees space // site // shop

I like it when you call me Big Papa

(above is what I want to look like for Girl Talk. Please help.)

Here's a post that's 90% overdue: 90s hits. I made this fatty playlist at the beginning of summer filled with some of my fave hip hop and R&B hits from everyone's favorite decade du jour. Well, lady just uploaded a few of these. Upon re-listening, I realize I'm kind of overrrr a lot of these songs, but it's probably because I listened to this playlist everyday for a few weeks. Anyways, I now present to you The List. If you have any recomendations I wouldn't mind hearing them, but take note that The Jock Jams Party is now officially over. Jock Jams will live in all of our hearts (and party times) for a very long time, but my list and Austin's list should be aloud to remain separate. Speaking of the party, great job everyone. Sorry 'bout all the heckling, Austin you are a dance god, and my whole left arm is covered in bruises. If I found out you punched me, you're going down.

**Note: Yes, there are quite a few songs. Most of them are really good, but user discretion is advised. Also, yes there is a lot of Salt-n-Pepa. They've been my fave band recently, and they deserve a real listen. I have all their albums, babydoll. Anyways, they're supposed to have a reality show coming out on VH1. Kind of not gonna look into it, but hey, they've still got it (and they made albums from 1987-1997. hotties.)

Naughty By Nature - OPP
Blackstreet - No Diggity
Notorious BIG - Big Papa
TLC - Creep
Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise
20 Finger (but God I wish this was Salt-n-Pepa [heroes!!!] like LimeWire said) - Short Dick Man
Skee-Lo - I Wish
Mariah Carey - Fantasy
Salt-n-Pepa - None of Your Business
Salt-n-Pepa w/ Envogue - Whatta Man
Salt-n-Pepa - Boom I Got Your Boyfriend
All 4 One - I Swear
KC & JoJo - All My Life
112 - Peaches and Cream (not actually 90s, but soooo good)

Bone Fish

Caitlin and I drove up to San Francity last night to see Animal Collective at the Fillmore. Amazing? Yes. Insane? Sort of. Salty tears filled with a megaton of serotonin? Of course! I was really blown away by their performance because over half of the stuff that they played is unreleased but when they did a the occasional recognizable song the crowd went apeshit.

Peacebone - Animal Collective

The next show I am going to see is the Chemical Brothers towards the end of this month. Here are a few of my favorite CB music videos to keep you busy.

Guess who's back

I will be the first one to admit that I have been neglecting PFOH for the past month. Let's just say that I needed a break and I got one. But now I am back in Santa Cruz and ready to pick up where I left off. First off Beirut's new album, The Flying Club Cup has found its way onto the internet. Owen Pallett and Zack Condon make quite a cute couple if you ask me.

Cliquot - Beirut
The Penalty - Beirut

Also if you were not caught in the MTV news crossfire Kanye West outsold 50 Cent on tuesday. That means that 50 Cent will not release any more solo recordings. How could 50 Cent not see his end charging at him like that train that almost hit Verno in Stand By Me? Who knows.

Champion - Kanye West

Last night I watched the 1986 super smash hit Thrashin. Just as the cover promised, it was Hot! Reckless! (and) Totally Insane! peep this:

prepare to be w0w'd

(click for larger image)

This is definately the best album cover ever. From the blatently still-folded tropicalia back drop to those stunning outfits complete with enviable successories (get me some chainz pleeeeeeeeseeeee [heyya dean watsup]), and then all that oil!!!!

And the name of the album. Please, tell me God was in on this one, because this kind of awesome doesn't usually come from anywhere but little bottles of miracle potions. Get me a t-shirt pronto.