beta blog

People have continually asked --with a palpable sense of foreboding-- about the rise of China, as if two weeks spent living in dive bars mig...

Far from the gaze of Chairman Mao and Kris Kringle, I am now being watched by two other fatherly figures, that of the Buddha and His Majesty...

Stemming from my experience on the Great Wall, extending infinitely both forward and back, yet wholly in the moment, I learn that Chinese la...

When we arrive at the bus depot in Beijing, we no doubt look like pigeons: fat, clueless, cooing. Make that giant piegons, as we tower over ...

I cannot frame in words the sensation of being 36,500 feet over the North Pole, the temp hitting -81 degrees outside, nor can I properly con...

Having just shot $400 worth of crap into my left arm, I'm just about ready for my trip. Tetanus! Diphtheria! Typhoid! Influenza! Hepatit...

For that cold toilet seat in December, there are reviews of Ricardo Villalobos, White Magic, Sightings, Castanets, and Sunburned Hand of the...

At the last minute, I was asked to preview Harry Partch's late piece of "total theatre" Delusion of the Fury . A good friend b...

Like Travistan , Liz Phair, Zaireeka , and NYC Ghosts and Flowers , it's Web 0.0 at Vibe and Paste for me. This month, the former has...

This summer, I had the extreme honor of talking to Robert Wyatt. While I have never been more cowed by an interview subject, Wyatt proved to...

HOLY MAO! I'M GOING TO CHINA!

I wrote about film artist (for lack of a more umbrella term) Chris Marker for The Fanzine , joining the esteemed company of my friends Mike ...

In the midst of intense interview sessions with Black Dice for an upcoming feature article, meaning long talks with both the band as well as...

Finally got around to reviewing this Teshigahara boxset for my "VHS or Beta" column over at Idolator. Tried in vain to seek out th...

Going all Web 0.0, I am on the newsstand this month, with my lengthy --and now ancient-- exchange with Vashti Bunyan (which Pitchfork turned...

Am told that in the more upscale Anglophone parts surrounding the McGill campus, you can spot them, but I don't spy an iPod once during ...

Sunday - Animal Collective Discussion at the bar about a friend's music project (which apparently sounds like Junior Boys) reveals that ...

I know I wasn't alone in my underwhelming response to the latest Animal Collective, but as the band in the past has proved fully capabl...

Against my better judgment, I sat through Across the Universe , knowing full well that my personal mythology that these songs soundtrack wou...

For whatever reason, over the years peeps have been cowed when it comes to cooking up mixes for me. I love the act of making them, from tra...