Ghost: Caledonia

Verite Cafe & Cupcake Royale

I'm sitting in a little cafe in Ballard called Verite at the moment. The cafe also goes by the name Cupcake Royale for their specialty cupcakes.

It's a Sunny Saturday for once, and I've got my trusty Zune at my side. Right now it's on the lengthy second track off the latest album by Ghost, a band that, surprisingly, has been around in some form since 1984. The song is called "Hemicyclic Anthelion" and it chimes in at nearly 30 minutes; contrary to the rest of In Stormy Nights as it is a blend of experimental noise with likeness to a less grating Wolf Eyes. The rest of the album maintains more consistent beats and a more definable structure.

I'm seated comfortably against the scuffed eastern wall, hiding from the brightest of the sun's rays. Across the street can be seen obscure art reaching for the sky. The art sits atop wide poles. There's one that represents a mushroom but could also be mistaken for something quite phallic. Another represents a tree. They're located in a triangular block at an intersection with five points and Verite is across Market Street from the art.

I enjoy this location, but tend to frequent it more often in the evenings. Still, I am starting to relax in the mornings. I find that it helps me function better when I get to work.

Cupcake Royale cupcakes are delicious, thanks to interesting blends of frosting. I'm especially fond of the Mofro, which adds coffee to chocolate frosting and places it atop your choice of vanilla or chocolate cake. I always choose vanilla. Another favorite is the Red Menace, with red cake and a cream cheese frosting you'd expect more on carrot cake...

The rest of In Stormy Nights by Ghost has a more post rock, rather than purely experimental, sentiment. One particularly delightful feature is the inclusion of timpani, generally reserved for classical music.

This evening is Justin Ross's housewarming party in Portland. I'm still in Seattle because I have a proposal to complete for work. I was looking forward to seeing both AristeiA and Westfold play at his house party and it was rumored there would be plenty of booze as well. Jael, his girlfriend, bought him a pool table for his birthday. I'm missing out on quite a good time.

I don't mind remaining in Seattle. I love my job working for a small marketing agency and find the work fun, so, in other words, I'm living my dream to enjoy what I do. And I enjoy working for this company much more than I've enjoyed any other job in my time on this planet. So, when it comes down to it, staying in Seattle doesn't bother me one bit.

This entry has been a bit scattered and I will have no apologies for that. With this FensePost blog, I hope to ramble about music and life and culture; something I tend to do in my reviews for FensePost, but there I focus more on the music itself. Here I plan to divert to culture and life and reference music only in the form of an ongoing "mix tape" that will include an mp3 at the end.

Ghost: Caledonia (mp3)