Fall Update 2018 - Some Potentially Bad Ideas & Upcoming Performances

I’m releasing some things this year!

(None of them are the thing that I intended on releasing this year, the visual album - which Fixing a Clock was the first single for...But that’ll be coming out next summer instead) 

The first release this year being the EP “Eternity in Hell is a Long Time” which I put out around a month ago.

I've got a lot of other dreams / audio journal things recorded...and maybe at some point I'll release another record of them if I feel like there's another collection of them that sort of fit together the way that those 5 on that EP did.  I also might make a separate soundcloud for just these recordings for folks who want to tune in...

I’m also going to release “God Bless America” (the track I mentioned on that EP which I decided not to put on it).  It's pretty ridiculous and probably more raw and unfiltered than anything I've ever recorded...which is why I initially decided to not release it...but watching the news has brought me to tears every day this week - & I still don't know what to do with myself about everything that's happening other than make music...so I'm currently finishing it up and I'll be putting it out on the interwebz once it's done.  

-here’s a super short preview: 

On a different note, for a while I've been writing on a bunch material that is about online dating / swiping apps.  My current plan is to invite every person I’ve ever met / messaged on swiping apps to a live show my where they will be the entire audience for it, and the video of that show will be the album.  I haven't decided if this is a bit too Cavehesque...but one way or another I'm planning on releasing this material at some point this year since if I wait too much longer swiping apps / dating through the internet will be all different and the material on the record won't make sense anymore...

A L S O  - I’m playing some shows coming up!

Two of which are this weekend!

The first is on Saturday at Webster Court - a house in Newton that is going to be demolished which they have opened up as an art installation / performance space before they do so.  I can't even begin to talk about how special this space is and all the amazing art that is there - but check out this rad video tour Krystle Brown made:

There's also some of the work from the project posted on the facebook event page & the instagram account.  I'll be starting my set at 8:25 and will be playing around 35 minutes.  The set this time around is darker than the one I played for the opening, but mirrors it at times.  I'll be playing some material that I haven't played in years that's been reworked and such. 

Then on Sunday afternoon I’ll be playing an acoustic set at Folked Up in Cambridge - the very first show at this venue hosted by Windowsill & Ashtray who just moved to the area from Hong Kong.  I'll be playing some material off "Eternity in Hell", "Just a Phase" and some other stuff as well.

More shows on the upcoming shows page (which I'll update as more get set up and such)

Much love,
<3
Mike Sim
 

Upcoming Shows - Fall 2018

9/15 - Kneebody & Donny McCaslin @ the Sinclair

(I know...this one is still technically Summer...but it's too good not to include) 

(from when he was at the Sinclair last year)

9/20 - IDLES @ Brighton Music Hall

9/23 - Aisha Burns, Alex Dupree, & Little Wolf @ the Treehouse

9/26 - Jon Hopkins @ the Sinclair

9/29 - Closing Reception @ Webster Court

(show I’m playing at this house in Newton that they're going to demolish that they turned into an art installation / performance space before it gets knocked down)

9/30 - Mike Sim Acoustic Set in Harvard Square (w/ Stace Brandt, Windowsill & Ashtray, and Uncle Jon) 

(Flyer by Callum Mackenzie)

10/5 - Third Annual Hassle Telethon

10/7 - Honk Festival in Somerville 

10/18 - Big Thief @ The Paradise Rock Club

10/19 & 10/20 - Nine Inch Nails w/ Jesus & Mary Chain

-yo, their new album "Bad Witch" is so good - super Bowie "Blackstar" vibes 

10/26 - SAMHANIC RITUAL @ Trendy Shit Town 
-DM for more info

10/27 - Guerilla Toss @ Elks 

10/31 - I’m playing a Halloween set in Salem 

-DM for more info :) 

11/1 - Behemoth & Wolves in the Throne Room @ House of Blues 

11/3 - Boston Decompression 2018

11/5 - Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers

11/9 & 11/10 - HASSLE FEST 10 

11/20 - Echo & the Bunnymen @ the Orpheum Theatre 

11/24 - Thom York @ Boch Center

I’ll be away for the Thanksgiving break :(….

11/30 - Cloud Nothings @ the Sinclair 

ETERNITY IN HELL IS A LONG TIME

this year I started to orchestrate and record some of my thoughts and dreams as a way of documenting

trying to preserve the experiences as unfiltered as possible 

however they might be

some resemble something like songs while others are a bit more stream of consciousness in nature 

here’s a short collection of them

1-2018

2-A Dream About Jackie (Dream 5/16/2017)

3-804

4-29

5-Wellbutrin (Journal 7/16/2018) 

Availible on

Bandcamp: 

Spotify

Applemusic

Soundcloud

Tidal

Amazon

& all other major streaming services

with love,

Mike Sim

:::<3::: 

Newport Jazz Festival 2018

This past weekend was the 64th year of the Newport Jazz Festival.  They’ve continued to bring in more cross-over artists (which Christian McBride helped curate, such as with one of the headliners being Parliament Funkadelic) as well as continuing to bring some of the artists who are pushing into new territory in jazz now.  This year they celebrated Charles Lloyd’s 80th birthday by having him play 3 sets (one each day of the festival)  

His first of the three sets with the the trio Sangam was the highlight of the entire festival for me - consisting of Zakir Husain, Charles Lloyd, and Eric Harland.  What is immediately striking about the instrumentation of this trio is the absence of a bass player - which Zakir often takes the role of by controlling the pitches of the tablas.  Charles Lloyd is truly a mystic - and this set was by far the most spiritual and hypnotic of the three sets he played over the weekend.

Still Dreaming was another highlight from Friday - being a project lead by Joshua Redman which pays homage to Old and New Dreams (a band which his father, Dewey Redman, was in) - playing some of the compositions from that group and some original compositions as well.  It’s the most interesting group Joshua Redman has been a part of in over a decade in my opinion - and Brian Blade’s drumming brings this groups music to another level.  

On the flipside: BADBADNOTGOOD were not bad, but not very good either (at least relative to the caliber of artists featured on the main stage).  There were some moments where their grooves carried it, and it was super cool to see them bring such a young audience to the NJF since they’re such a crossover act (such as collaborating with artists such as Kaytranada & Ghostface Killah), but more often than not it sort of sounded like a less inspired version of the Beastie Boys instrumental jams. 

R+R=Now is Robert Glasper’s new ensemble who closed out the festival on Friday.  I caught a bit of their set, and was digging it for a hot minute (especially their rendition of “How Much a Dollar Really Costs”) up until Robert Glasper opened his mouth.  Every year I feel so conflicted as I really enjoy the music this dude makes - but can’t stand how big his ego is.  He is by far the best player in his recent ensembles - and I believe this is mostly because he doesn’t want anyone to outshine him in his group.  Between his bragging about how he played on 9 of the tracks on “To Pimp a Butterfly” and his bragging about grammys, and just his overall vibe as a human being, I was too disgusted and had to leave.  

On Saturday Laurie Anderson performed with Christian McBride and Rubin Kodheli.  The set consisted of primarily instrumental string music with a few compositions where she was also doing spoken word.  To my knowledge the set was of entirely new material, which I hope will be released in the not so distant future.  She is the absolute fucking coolest.    

The festival ended with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic.  At 77 years old George Clinton is still vibing hard.  At times there must have been at least 20 people on stage - at least 5 being hype-men.  It was by far the highest energy set I’ve ever seen at the jazz festival and a fun way for it to go out - especially as this is George Clinton's last tour. 

More Photos: 

(Rudresh Manthrapa)

(Matthew Shipp) 

(Pat Metheny) 

(Cecile McLorin Salvant with Artimas)

(Charles Lloyd with George Wein) 

(Charles Lloyd)

(Charles Lloyd New Quartet)

:::<3:::

Fixing a Clock

Mixed by Brady Custis 
Written and performed by Mike Sim
Featuring Sound Shaman on doumbek
Choreography by Wisty
Dancers: Amy Jill & Michelle Turner Young
Filmed by Adam Blake
Additional Footage taken by Mike Sim & Wisty

"Fixing a Clock" is the first video from the upcoming visual album "<3" which will be released later this summer.

Top 10 Philip K Dick Books

Honorable Mentions: 

“The Transmigration of Bishop Timothy Archer” - the final book in the VALIS trilogy and the last that PKD wrote before his death.  The only book that I know of his that is written solely from a female perspective and that does not contain any elements of science fiction.  This book is devastatingly sad but absolutely beautiful.   

“The Devine Invasion” - The second book in the VALIS trilogy (which takes place approximately a century after the first) - This books is probably his most dense in religious allegories and symbolism and is a bit difficult for that reason. 

“Dr Bloodmoney” - A dream-like surrealist post-apocalyptic novel that is easily one of the strangest of his works.  

TOP 10: 

10-Now Wait of Last Year (1966)

In this novel there’s an interplanetary drug that has the affect of perceived time travel - it deals heavily with addiction, suicide, and schizophrenia - but also has a lot of humor.  

9-Time Out of Joint (1959)

The only 1950s PKD book on this list - It's an epistemological thriller and has some super Kafkaesque moments.  

8-VALIS (1981) 

The first in the VALIS trilogy is the most autobiographical novel PIKD wrote which deals with his hallucinations that he believed were actually intelligence being transmitted to him from a space probe called VALIS.  To me this is after PKD started to loose his grip on reality to an extent that affected his writing in a negative way - but it still stands as one of his best novels because of the personal nature of the work.  

7-Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) 

The most well known PKD book because of the film adaptation (“Blade Runner”) - This dystopian thriller explores the concepts of AI, morality, empathy and the question of what it means to be human. 

6-The Man in the High Castle (1962)

This is the book that put PKD on the map - An alternative history in which Japan and Germany won WWII and rule over the US. 

5-Martin Time Slip (1964) 

Although it has elements of sci-fi like time travel and such - it focuses more on mental illness and schizophrenia and the characters that these pathologies affect.  

4-Flow My Tears the Policeman Said (1974)

 A dystopian mindfuck about a pop singer / TV star who wakes up in a reality in which has never existed - It deals with the idea of solipsism and gets pretty meta in light of how PKD’s twin sister died at birth and the affect that had on him.  

3-The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965)

I don’t think any PKD book has as many twists and turns and shifts of reality / unreality as this one.  It’s one of the first of Dick’s work to hit on religious themes and also has quite a lot of humor.  It’s perhaps the most unfilmable novel he has written, as the imagery in this is not only surreal as fuck - but totally unlike anything I’ve ever read, heard or seen.  

2-A Scanner Darkly (1977)

This is the first PDK book I read and the one that got me hooked.  It’s a semi-autobiografical novel that deals with drug culture and addiction in a way that’s paranoia inducing, mind bending, and completely heart-breaking. 

1-Ubik (1969) 

This is his most acclaimed novel and for good reason.  It’s one of the more difficult of his books because of how fast paced it is, and how warped the reality is - It’s a wild psychedelic existential nightmare - but as much of a mindfuck and as unsettling as it is, it’s truly a lot of fun as well.  No book that I’ve ever read has ever felt as much like a dream, affected me so deeply, and inspired me as much as this has.  

Top 5 Films of 2017

Honorable Mentions 

A Ghost Story

If this whole movie was as good as the Bonnie Prince Billy monologue in it, it’d be the best thing ever...But maybe worth watching just for that.    

(although the pie scene was pretty great too though) 

Dunkirk 

One of Nolan’s best - surprisingly moving, and the cinematography in this film is super dope.  

TOP 5: 

5-I Am Not Your Negro - 

Hands down the best documentary I’ve seen this year - It uses accounts from James Baldwin’s close friends as well as civil rights leaders Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Medgar Evers.

4-Get Out 

“Get Out” is super unique in the way it addresses racial tension and is the best horror comedy that’s come out in a while.  

3-Mother!

Mother is a psychological horror flick that will definitely make you feel super claustrophobic and uncomfortable.  Although the religious symbolism and allegories are pretty in your face - I feel like the meta/autobiographical layer to this film adds a psychological dissonance that sets it apart and makes it one of the best Aaronofksy films.  

2-Good Time  

This flick was billed as “crime drama”, but I feel like this label is a disservice to it (maybe because of the extremely low standards this genre generally has) - but it is unlike any film I've ever seen.  Directed by brothers, Ben and Josh Safdie - who have been influenced by John Cassavetes (especially after studying under Ray Carney at Boston University), this film brings you into an experience that’s a truly wild ride.  The soundtrack by Oneohtrix Point Never is my favorite of the year and adds to the sense of paranoia and the rushes of adrenaline.  

1-Endless Poetry

Chilean director Jodorowsky’s “Endless Poetry” is his second autobiographical film following 2013’s “Dance of Reality” (which was his first in 23 years), and basically picks up where “Dance of Reality” left off - telling the story of Jodorowsky’s birth as a poet and his process in becoming an artist.  “Endless Poetry” is equally as personal and a stronger film than it’s predecessor.  It’s very Felliniesque in it’s surrealism and is visually gorgeous.   At times it’s super moving and emotional but at other times it’s funny, and as a whole it’s truly a lot of fun and probably his most accessible film yet.  If you’re a fan of Jodorowksy’s earlier work and surrealist film than I can’t recommend this highly enough.