TOTAL LOSS

Saturday, December 22, 2012

HOWTODRESSWELL.COM

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

love is a miracle. like, as far as i can tell, it almost shouldn't be possible, but it transpires sort of in spite of the the world. 'cold nites' comes out of experiences i've had w respect to the will to preserve love across long distances, thru challenging times, amidst life's changes--- this will to love can give us the most beautiful stability and a sense of truly living, but can also lead us into totally spiritually rending compromises, split between worlds.

BANG BANG

wanted to share this with u as soon as possible so i got my friend nick to make this little ambient video thingy – i think it's REALLY beautiful and i'm always so proud to work w him :+) love you nick

working on a music video for the song now v v v excited

with an AMAZING director
more details soon

thank u and love you,

tom

2 things

i never really get hit in the heart by songs that tell me what's going on and what to feel. i want to be shown something live and real, not told something. moved by an energetic affect (a deep experience, an ambiguous situation, an image of a moment of emotional intensity, a moment of true heart or peace or love or desperation) i set out to make my songs. and, for me at least (and i think this holds universally but i can't be sure), often times these intense affects happen right at the edge of language: i don't have words or a pre-set code to get a grip on these affects (this is after all what makes them feel intense!). and so in my songs i move back and forth between

a singing which is direct and pronounces words, which give me and the listener a certain foothold, some signifiers with which we are acquainted and with which we can begin to see in the dark

&

a singing which is impressionistic or expressive, tracing the contours of shapes which i do not yet know, and which i may never know. singing that feels out shapes, that makes its own shapes, and that isn't a translation of affect but tries to be or produce affects--- this might be impossible but i want to keep trying :+)

i want these two together, all the time. to sing my way towards affects which exceed language but do not exceed the power of the voice, it's warbles and whispers, even its words.

what i want is a song that does this:

help us get nearer to affects in a sweet way, like how one approaches an injured animal in the wild, or the way one chases after the memory of a dream: by approaching carefully, quietly, on its terms. or how u try to approach emotions if you are being honest with yourself. ok ya.

Friday, May 25, 2012

ocean floor for everything

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

so, this week i told u about my new lp TOTAL LOSS & i released a new song called 'ocean floor for everything'

it's here

and also here

people said really lovely, really inspiring things about it

so much love for all that, esp. to dummy magazine

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

it's a v personal song. i was supposed to meet a best friend who i hadn't seen in a year. i was returning home, and he was supposed to be there waiting for me. but on my way to him and to my home, he passed away. he always anticipated me: when we were younger, i'd discover something – some music or some feeling – and he would have already known it--- but he let me discover it for myself. it was like he was always ready for me to arrive. and then, this time, when i arrived, he had gone.

"i know u were always ready for me baby, way before we met--- i got there just to say 'hey.' and you were hoping for the days when u could say safely: 'i have my place, i have my home, i have my future.' but we never really plan for the worst of things do we? and then something like this happens --- for the sake of me? who? me? who? we? we've got feeling, got strength, and got the right thing for each other. there's an ocean floor for everything: for me, the sun, and he, gone."

UPCOMING DATES

PLEASE COME 2 SEE THE NEW LIVE SHOW!

it's going to be realllllly beautiful--- live violin, live cinematics, live drum machine stuff

all v live and v special

ALSO

i have a new proper website

links to buy ticks to the shows are there and soon more stuff

soon it will be integrated w this baby blog boy

<3 u

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

this 1 too

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

total loss

being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too being true to you i'm true to me too

Sunday, November 27, 2011

~ FAVE 2011s ~

what an amazing year for music. based on the last couple years i feel like 2012 is going to be incredibly special :+)

***

top 25 recs of

2k!! MMXI 2011

(in no particular order)

united waters – your first ever river

i haven't been moved so much by an artist in this style since i first heard the glow part 2

if you haven't heard this, cop it, get lit, throw on some headphones, and repeat

araabmuzik – electronic dream

timely as hell

when this is on there's no question we're taking the first deep breaths of this new century

asap rocky – liveloveA$AP

i know it's early i know it's contentious but this shit to me sounds like hip-hop hall of fame type shit

most exciting voice in rap realllllly tho

plus ferg comes thru w the goofball verse of the decade

tim hecker – ravedeath, 1972

wow. woah. so gorgeous. so lush and depressing.

sleep ∞ over – forever

beautiful and powerful music

really detailed too-- grew on me so much over the year

sleeper pop classic

terius nash – 1977

this record also grew on me immensely

on first listen i was like, ok, ya

now i can't stop listening -- the first five or six songs in sequence are absolutely killer

call back the giants – the risisng

absolutely the weirdest most spaced out shit of 20!!

'wrong at any speed' but so beautiful and wild

wolves in the throne room – celestial lineage

heavy as fuck and totally gorgeous

spaceghostpurrp – blackland radio 66.6 (1991)

yesssssssssssssssss

and everthing else this dude did this year huge year

this guy is WEIRD and toooooo trill

most anticipated 2012 dude for sure

holy other – with u

so sad so stark so special

cannot wait for new music from this man

diddy dirty money – last train to paris

wait, what? puffy did what?

most eclectic pop award

julia holter – tragedy

i don't remember a record that struck me as this straight up cinematic (since fantomas' delerium cordia)

beautiful, insane, aggressive but also hell of tender moments

light asylum – in tension

so thrilled this finally got released!!!

powerful anthems from an unmistakably powerful sprirt

pure X – pleasure

the most melancholic and sweet record of the year

absolutely love this boy's voice so innocent so spiritual

locrian – the clearing

dark spaces, sombre tones, sonic voyages

heart rending explorations of patience and anger

oj da juiceman – culinary art school 2

luger blastoff shit + oj's RIDICULOUS metaphors and ad libs = fuck w this

nguzunguzu – the perfect lullaby

this and their 'timesup' ep make for the best party zone of 2011

shabazz palaces – black up

these dudes are the best live act out right now period so sick

probably the most experimental record on this list
i think one of the most important rap records of all time

oneohtrix point never – replica

stoned and strange but somehow totally familiar

beautiful moments, funny moments, so much to chew on

pete swanson – man with potential

like aliens struggling to explain ibiza

torched darude + yellow swans

fatima al qadiri – genre-specific xperience

bizarro club zones

eery as fuck high fashion robot hyphy

real estate – days

one of the best sounding records ever

such a deep and pleasant trip

soulja boy – juice

HIGH RIGHT LOW LEFT

i put this shit on and get my lean w/ a smile on

s beezy = one of our great living weirdos he's always doing deandre and nothing else

burzum – fallen

unrelentingly heavy and angry sounds from another one of our great living weirdos
def would NOT want to hang w this guy, but i think i will listen to everything he ever puts out

prurient – bermuda drain

this + the 'time's arrow' ep = MAN OF THE YEAR

heavy horrifying and lovely sometimes all at once?

there were, of course, 100s of killer recs this year. also peep EXCELLENT AMAZING ETC. records from dj rashad, grouper, balam acab, burial, surachai, clams casino, mr. muthafuckin exquire, elite gymnastics, mitochondrian, machinedrum, colin stetson, pictureplane, etc. also, without a doubt, best of the year contenders!!!

<3 u
<3 new htdw end of winter <3