Back to our roots + the Lonesome death of Albert Hofmann

Alright, I'm back here again already for two reasons. One, I can't sleep, Two, to make sure the true meaning of this blog remains intact and lastly, to discuss the death of Albert Hofmann, the first man to synthesize lysergic acid(better known as LSD to you kiddies). Okay, that's three reasons, but I'm all fucked up on cough syrup right now, so like, whatever.

So if you notice our first post from a rather intoxicated journey into cyberspace back in late 2006, it noted that we're here to tell you when you're being totally artgay or when you're just been really awesome, so here's a list of who's artgay and who's not this week.

Code:
artgay=bad


U.S. Girls- I'm guessing this is some girl by herself making recordings in her closet with a rickety out of tune guitar(on purpose of course) and a delay pedal found in the trash. What's more artgay than that? Dreamy, ethereal, girl group music from hell. Actually, its sort of cool, treading the line between artgay and awesomeness. Do check- www.myspace.com/usgirlsss

Thomas Function- They killed it live at the House of Pleasure a couple of weeks ago(or Pet Cemetary) after a seemingly hellatious ten hour drive from New york city. They showed up looking pretty pissed and tired, but rocked out hard for the kids nevertheless. No artgay here.

Eat Skull- I like some of these songs, but they were kind of a buzzkill live. I'm willing to reevaluate my opinion giving the proper proof but 'till then, might be a little too high on the artgay scale. Sometimes I feel like i'm being tricked, you know?

Le Club des Chats- Man, I don't even know where to begin on this one. Can't decide if this is totally artgayed out or just plain retarded. Its definitely some freaky, fucked, French shit for true francophiles. Hey, that's me! Rating on the artgay scale = 10/o.

Slicing Grandpa- I don't even know what this is, but after seeing it on consecutive trips to the record store I've nominated it as artgay record of the year based on the cover art alone. Congrats!

The Yolks - These guys might actually be able to USE a little bit more artgay up in their piece after a pretty flat live set in Columbus a couple of weeks back. I dig the recordings, but its hard to get behind a band if they're lackluster live. Neither artgay nor awesome. Listen to the 7"s.

Death to Pigs - I guess they get compared to Saccharine Trust. Definitely can see it, maybe a little too much even. They hail from the land of Nancy, France, the same place a more artgay band called Monosourcil comes from. Think I like Monosourcil better, so this must mean I'm artgay.


Finally, I recommend for everyone to take a lot of acid this week in honor of the death of Albert Hofmann, the great Swiss chemist who gave us LSD! He died of a heart attack at the age of 102, so he wasn't able to be injected with it before he died like Timothy Leary was, but 102 is pretty damn old and this definitely proves that taking lots of acid makes you live longer. Hofmann discovered the drug while studying ergot, a fungus that occurs on rye that would cause massive poisonous outbreaks in the middle ages. If you really want to get nerdy about it, "Ignis Sacer", "mal des ardents", or "St. Anthony's Fire" are also names that refer to the disease which could be either gangrenous or convulsive. Apparently, Hofmann didn't approve of recreational use of the drug for pure entertainment purposes, so if any of you hippies out there plan on taking the drug without the intention of achieving some sort of spirtual oneness with nature, the acid-ghost of Albert Hofmann may come down and strike you with the worst trip of your life. Bummer, dude.