On The Sixth Day

Soooo cooool

2012-01-19T08:35:00.002Z

I can't even think of anything wittily ironic to say about Patti Smith. Her book 'Just Kids' is HIGHLY recommended and check out the little interview link. So cool.

The only slightly uncool thing I can think of Patti Smith saying is when she slagged off uber-God Bruce even though he provided her with her most enduring and popular tune which probably paid for a lot of camera film. Anyways -- she rocks.

'Camera Solo': Singer Patti Smith's first Polaroid exhibition

Tribes - Haircutty Central

2012-01-12T22:59:00.002Z

We saw a bit of them at Latitude Festival last year and as new bands do they had all their mates jumping around at the front, actually there only was 'the front'. Still as jangly indie goes I quite like this tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyDdSNHUCzI

There is a guitary version about too, but jangly is better

6th Day My Mission

2012-01-10T23:04:00.002Z

This is my first ever blog anywhere. Huzzah for me in joining the modern age!

Huzzah to Paul B for inviting me in from the cold.

Upon completing my initial On The Sixth Day review and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that the 90's and 00's must be eradicated.

To that end I now share with you a video, whilst easy on the eye, is as vacuous as anything Duran Duran have ever committed. Girls on film indeed.

Florrie - I Took A Little Something - YouTube

SmashHitsBoy Ahoy!

And for 2012

2012-01-07T20:58:00.004Z

This isn't going to come as much of a surprise to anyone...my new band of the year prediction is Meursault. OK not particularly new, but the next album is going HUGE...maybe 1500 copies sold.

An Acoustic Version of one of the new tunes

and with Frightened Rabbit chap doing a splendid version of I'm on Fire

A rather excellent acoustic cover version

Festive Fifty

2010-12-21T10:42:00.006Z

Here's a list of the most heavily rotated fifty tunes on my Ipod that were released this year, in descending order of astoundingness, and limited to 2 tracks per Artist;

1) The Domino State- Safe Now

2) Amusement Parks On Fire- Echo Park//Infinite Delay

3) Butterfly Explosion- Tracing Stars

4) Foals- Spanish Sahara

5) God Is An Astronaut- In the Distance Fading

6) Sennen- Age Of Denial

7) Malory- Floating

8) Amusement Parks On Fire- Flashlight Planetarium

9) Union Sound Set- Cause & Resolve

10) Holy F*ck- Silva & Grimes

11) I Like Trains- We Saw The Deep

12) Lowline- Outside

13) Air Formation- Low December Sun

14) Mogwai- Mogwai Fear Satan (Live)

15) Jonsi- Grow Till Tall

16) Biffy Clyro- Many Of Horror

17) Delphic- Clarion Call

18) School Of Seven Bells- Heart Is Strange

19) The Twilight Sad- The Wrong Car

20) 65 Days Of Static- Tiger Girl

21) The Arcade Fire- Ready To Start

22) The Boxer Rebellion- If You Run

23) The Domino State- You Are The Winter

24) Film School- Heart Full Of Pentagons

25) Butterfly Explosion- Closer

26) Exit Calm- Hearts & Minds

27) Mono- Pure As Snow (Trails Of The Winter Storm) (Live)

28) Kyte- Fear From Death

29) Blood Red Shoes- Don't Ask

30) The Joy Formidable- I Don't Want To See You Like This

31) Spotlight Kid- All Is Real

32) School Of Seven Bells- Ilu

33) The Arcade Fire- We Used To Wait

34) Tears Run Rings- Innocent

35) Union Sound Set- Here's To You

36) Sennen- Red Horizon

37) Frightened Rabbit- Nothing Like You

38) 65 Days Of Static- Debutante

39) I Like Trains- These Feet Of Clay

40) Delphic- Counterpoint

41) Kyte- The Smoke Saves Lives

42) Sad Day For Puppets- Such A Waste

43) Saxon Shore- Thanks For Being Away

44) God Is An Astronaut- Worlds In Collision

45) Mogwai- Glasgow Mega Snake (Live)

46) Team Ghost- A Glorious Time

47) The Joy Formidable- Popinjay

48) Holy F*ck- Stilettos

49) Interpol- Lights

50) Air Formation- Meltdown

30 tracks from this list that will hopefully make a difference to your lives will be available on 2 CD's in the New Year.

Merry Christmas.

Rich

Top 20 Albums of 2010

2010-12-19T17:22:00.006Z

Not the greatest of years, it has to be said, and a top 20 took me some head-scratching, but here goes;

1) Amusement Parks On Fire- Road Eyes- very few in the UK care, so this Nottingham five-piece decamped to LA, hooked up with Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups, and came up with the most shimmering, rocket-propelled sunshine rock album of the year. Not released in the UK yet, but doing decent business where it was intended.

2) The Domino State- Uneasy Lies The Crown- debut from London band who have Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland's brother in their ranks. Despite this, they managed an album that sounds like Ian McCulloch fronting Ride, which is a very good thing indeed.

3) Butterfly Explosion- Lost Trails- reverb-drenched heaven from Southern Ireland. Knob twiddling by Torsten Kinsella of God Is An Astronaut.

4) Biffy Clyro- Only Revolutions- the angular, stop-start rhythms of old are gone, and in their place a collection of balls-out, stadium-sized rock monsters. Suddenly being discovered by 12 year old girls, as a result of Matt Cardle's murdering of "Many Of Horror".

5) Mogwai- Special Moves- live album taken from their dates in Brooklyn, NYC, last year. Perfectly captures the awesome power of their live performance, with "Mogwai Fear Satan", in particular, scaring the hell out of the neighbours, as it should.

6) Malory- Pearl Diver- German Slowdivers with added Hybrid/Massive Attack electronics.

7) Foals- Total Life Forever- not as immediate as their debut, but definitely the sound of a band capable of going global monster huge.

8) Blood Red Shoes- Fire Like This- what The White Stripes should have sounded like, if they weren't so busy disappearing up their own crevices. Not seen a moshpit for a while like the one at Leeds Festival for them.

9) Mono- Holy Ground- Japanese post-rockers live with New York's Wordless Music Orchestra. I defy anyone to listen to this version of "Trails Of The Winter Storm" without being reduced to a quivering wreck by the end.

10) I Like Trains- He Who Saw The Deep- becalmed second from former Leeds historians, who focus here instead on a bleak environmental message for the future.

11) The Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

12) God Is An Astronaut- Age Of The Fifth Sun

13) School Of Seven Bells- Disconnect From Desire

14) Holy F*ck- Latin

15) Union Sound Set- Start/Stop

16) Sennen- Age Of Denial

17) Frightened Rabbit- The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

18) Jonsi- Go

19) Kyte- Dead Waves

20) Exit Calm- Exit Calm

Festive fifty posted tomorrow or Tuesday..top 30 tracks to make up "Best of 2010" compilations.

Cheers

Rich

Top Albums 2010

2010-12-15T21:38:00.040Z

Just for a change top to bottom

Meursault

By a mile the best album of the year, if you don't like it on first play, just turn the volume up. OK so Neil's voice may be back in the mix in parts- well - TURN THE VOLUME UP. The songs are fantastic, the guitars are excellent, he's a great singer and whatever the beeps and clicks are they work for me...By a Mile!

Titus Andronicus

I'm not sure I can explain this one properly either, it's got a lot of guitars on it, it's quite shouty in places and it's certainly got a few great tunes on it. It's also a bit messy a bit oddly produced and doesn't exactly flow. It just makes me excited listening to new music though, definitely a heart rather than a head album. Play it loud and be immersed.

The National

Not that tricky really, just write an album choc full of great songs and everyone will love it. It's worth getting the first issue not the re issue though as Terrible Love is far better on it, they throw a drum kit down a long flight of stairs and record it.

Akira The Don and Joey2tits

In which AKD turns in his best work of the year, awesome mixing, great tunes, and the best UK exponent of hip hop for sure. Tunes meet dance meet rap meet pop, it's even got 60's riffs in there.

Arcade Fire

It took me a while to get this, the online video wotsit helped and then I played it in the car. My favourite driving album of the year perfect beats to singalong songs

Male Bonding

Old style indie guitars, no really old style, think Steve Diggle with more effects pedals. It's like all of Manchester Indie music chucked in a blender, switched to max spin and popping the lid. 3 minute pop songs making a welcome comeback...with screech guitar.

Kid Canaveral

Every song a classic, Sarah Records meets the neu folk revolutionists.

The Hold Steady

Trust me it's better in retrospect, I played it to death for a month earlier in the year and loved it, then I got bored with it and now it's my 2nd favourite Hold Steady album. It's always about the quality of the songs you know.

Yelawolf

This was free at the start of the year and the blogosphere went crazy. It worked a treat for Mr Yelawolf who signed for a major and pocketed the cash. If you listen to one rap album this year get a copy of the earlier issue. The big label scrapped half the best tunes stuck some filler in and trashed a great album. (I know someone with a copy ;-))

Gaslight Anthem

It's probably become fashionable not to like them by now but, I'll still be playing this album in 5 years time. It may be as a bit predictable, however as long as the verses and chorus' are singable it'll do me.

Silver Columns

Electronic, dance fun from north of the border

LCD Soundsystem

Some top tunes in amongst a few duffers, what the heck is that Bowie rip off doing on there?

Frightened Rabbit

They've become a bit popular and indeed a bit pop in parts but, I've played this album an awful lot and I've a feeling it's going to stick.

The Futureheads

As with all Futureheads albums it's a bit inconsistent, but when its good its mint. 'Heartbeat' is the best pop song of the year.

Foals

Talking of great pop songs 'Spanish Sahara' is one of the best his year too. It's my favourite spinning around album of the year.

Johnny Flynn

I don't care if he's mates with the rest of the southern new folkies and almost so hip he can barely limp because this album is full of surprises. It's almost trad folk and it's very pop in parts too, but in the way that Shane McGowan can write great songs I think Mr Flynn may well have a few classics in his locker.

And then a few other notable inclusions

Best Album illegally copied for me

Shoegazey Pop

Best Album nonchalantly passed by USB stick

Jangly pop tunes

And without further ado back to the magnificent Meursault, best album of the year and best gig of the year too.

If you haven't seen the live songs from Glastonbury then these are worth a look. Some good looking chaps in this audience! You know the rules TURN THE VOLUME UP

What You Don't Have

Crank Resolutions

and the quieter

One Day This'll All Be Fields

I think I'm starting to like the fact that the music industry is disintegrating and you have to search out the god stuff again rather than it being spoonfed to the masses.

One great vid and 2 cool songs

2010-11-18T14:17:00.002Z

By any standards that's cool

Meursault vs Meersalt

2010-11-04T22:00:00.003Z

Before I turn into ‘Fanboy’ it’s only fair I declare my self interest. I’m a punter, pure and simple with no side projects and my only long term investment has been time and liver damage. The good thing about music unlike football is you can change your team at any time, I learned this lesson particularly early in life, having declared ‘Signing Off’ to be the best album ever written, definitely no long term investment there. Since then I’ve pretty much decided to live in the Northern Counties lower division of the music world, enjoying the outputs of everyone from Calling Autumn to Akira the Don.

Listening to recorded music is fine, but I much prefer to be at the front of a live gig, not knowing which way the nights going to go. For at least 25 years I must have averaged a gig a week and now having two teenage girls, one ‘pop punk’ and one ‘pop and folk’ I’m up to about 200 gigs a year if you include festivals. I’ve seen Girls Aloud four times ffs. A nod to the wise - it’s absolutely essential to be at the front for this type of gig.

Having read in many places the difficulties of earning a crust in the industry, I’m very pleased to have made the decision to live exclusively in Punterland. There have been weak moments where I’ve nearly jumped the fence, but fear of losing my enthusiasm by being on the inside has saved me.

And with scene setting complete, the point of this contribution

I’ve never seen a band play essentially the same set list on two different nights of a tour which was so fantastic and yet so completely different

I saw Meursault live for the first time at Glastonbury this year and despite ‘being absolutely fried’ after a nightmare journey, they were one of the few bands I saw over the weekend where everyone played at full tilt.

With typical over enthusiasm I’d convinced three pals that The Royal Park Cellars in Leeds was the only place to be on a wet Thursday night. For those that don’t know it, it’s an old local’s pub which now resides in the dead centre of student town central. I remembered it from the 80’s when Sunday lunch was £3.00, it’s gone up to £4.25 now. It was a bit of a dive in the old days and I couldn’t wait to see the state of the cellar. Just as advertised it was a cellar, painted black with customary silver pipe work and comfortably large enough to swing two cats but probably not safely.

There were plenty of seats and tables about and as everyone else was seated we took a pew 10 minutes before kick off. Quite why one individual decided it was appropriate to stand at the front, alone and two yards in front of everyone else I’m not sure, as my pal said, ‘he’d make a better door than a window’. From the first solo acoustic tune it was clear that the sound quality in the dodgy cellar was exceptional. Meursault played as a three piece with two lead guitarists and a drummer and an electric box of tricks. It was a unique combination.

Every song was tuneful, clear, well sang and to suit the environment had a laid back feel. My older non muso pal enthused about the fact you could here all the instruments and all the words, I should have brought my dad along. The set lasted about 40 minutes with one new tune and an amps off, ‘One Day This’ll All Be Fields’ to finish. We would have all been happy with another 40 minutes.

And so to the Saki Bar in Manchester 5 days later, this time I’m with a proper muso pal who’s been brought up on Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine and a diet of Brixton Fridge techno. He’d never heard Meursault, but trusted my taste, I think he was sold on the box of tricks and stories of effects pedals. The Saki bar is a bit ‘rum’ as my Gran would say and Tuesday night is ‘Underachievers Night’ quite how Meursault had been switched to a full on indie bar on indie night when Broken Records were playing round the corner I’m not sure.

At about 11.20pm (on a school night), the band eventually took to the floor and after a 10 minute set up were ready to play. Crank Resolutions kicked in…. all except for the vocal microphone, the slightest eye contact between band members and it was clear that nothing was getting in the way tonight. For half the song Neil half sang half yelled the words, thankfully the soundman salvaged things with a double mic switch. It seemed like a Ramones style 2 second pause before going straight into the new tune, which sounded absolutely nothing like it had at the previous gig. Meursault had turned punk and the urgency of the hammered snare drove the tune along at a frightening pace. It was utterly brilliant, even the old blokes (me included) had started shuffle dancing and head banging….really.

I only recall one acoustic song in the main set tonight and even this was forced out with intent as Neils’ voice felt the strain from earlier. Back to electrics, the guitars clashed perfectly and the clamorous no bass rhythm section worked on every tune. I’ve no idea whether William Henry Miller was played acoustic or electric but it felt hard.

Respite came as Fields was sung amongst and with the audience, most of whom were sporting a stupid grin on their face. And just when the people were on the pitch it was back for another go at Crank Resolutions ‘make it really loud please soundman’ was the phrase. Best tune I’ve seen live in ages.

If you get a chance to see the stripped back punk threesome on this tour, then take it.

But as my feedback loving friend pointed out ‘bloody hell wait till they do that with the full band’.

Best £3 I’ve ever spent

Rammstein Manchester MEN 2nd Feb

2010-02-06T20:54:00.003Z

I know, I know. I’m permanently stuck in the 60’s and 70’s, and on one of the rare occasions I am into a band that is actually still together/Has all members living, it’s the German industrial monsters Rammstein.

Now, not that I’m trying to justify liking the band, but I first discovered them when I was nineteen, and I have been a massive fan ever since. The fact that until recently, I have had absolutely no idea what they are singing about, has never bothered me. They make hard as nails music, with the odd Ballad and guest appearance by Sharlene Spiteri. I compare them to liking Sigur ros (whom I love). Top composers, but I have no Idea what’s actually being spoken about.

On their previous visits to the UK I have always missed out, so when they announced the”Liebe Ist Fur Alla Da” tour, I was determined not to miss out.

I arrived at the gig eagerly awaiting the main event, but instead I had my ears violated by a band called combichrist. Simply put, they were gash, coming off like an angry version of Scooter with a few extra tattoos.

Soon enough it was time for the main event. Rammstein entered the stage with a Metal entrance that would have made Maiden and Priest proud. Basically chipping through blackened rock, with scorching neon lights behind them, beaming their silhouettes out across the audience (very reminiscent of “The Thing” movie Poster) Then an outburst of sparks followed as lead singer Till Lendermann blow torched his way through what appeared to be a cast iron door and onto the stage. The curtain then dropped to reveal a colossal industrial stage setting, really too complex to try and describe. It was at this point I knew where my £50 ticket price had been spent. Too much metal for one hand indeed.

From this point on it was full steam ahead, immediately breaking out into “rammlied” and getting the capacity filled M E N bouncing. Lindermann had a neon light shining from his mouth every time he sang, which was both fascinating and quite distracting, still, they’re nothing if not inventive with the stage show.

The opening song was a great test of lindermann’s vocals. There has always been a certain operatic quality to Rammstein’s songs (like system of a down), plenty of growling in the verse, then ear shattering sustained bellowing vocals for the chorus, and I was pleased that none of this was lost in the show.

It’s hard to describe the show, especially to folk who are more than likely not fans of the band. Though I know many songs tackle dodgy subjects (at least the websites that have translated the songs tell me so) other tracks are poppy/ballad like in nature, and the band seem to have collective tongue’s firmly in their cheeks.

The gig sped along at a rapid rate, there was hardly a pause between song’s and the band never let up. Numerous set pieces popped up during tracks, which not only enhanced the proceedings, but pretty much put the gig up there as a spectacle (potentially a bit of a freaky sideshow, but a spectacle never the less). Fully animated robotic babies hanging from the ceiling with laser lights for eyes. Flamethrowers attached to guitarist/Bassist and Lindermann’s faces that sprayed 20ft flames each time they sang.

People being set on fire, crossbow’s firing (you guessed it) streaks of fire into the arena, it was all there, like a pyromaniacs wet dream.

About fifteen songs in the band broke out into “pussy”, the lead track with an incredibly controversial video from the new album. The middle of the song prompted a bit of a sing along (A capacity crowd chanting “you have a pussy, I have a dick, so what’s the problem?” was always going to be a little humorous) and a chance for one of the more bizarre set pieces of the night. Lindermann appeared at the side of the stage, with what can only be described as a very large pink penis. He then proceeded to move across the stage across a pre laid track, spraying foam from his newly acquired member over the crowd. Definitely something I will never experience at a gig again. (Though if snow patrol happen to read this blog, a stunt like a giant foam spraying cock would have definitely livened up your terribly dull show that I had to sit through when I last visited the M E N with my wife last year)

Foam Cannon

(not the best video ever shot but shows the “foam cannon” quite well!)

A further 15 songs followed and a couple encores. More bizarre set pieces, though all brilliantly crafted and executed. A great gig indeed by a band who obviously take the music seriously, but not themselves.

Last year when I left a Dweezil Zappa gig (the zappa play’s zappa tour) I had a feeling that I had just witnessed something really special. Now not that I am comparing Rammstein to the music of the mighty Frank Zappa, but there were definitely elements of the same vibe as I stumbled on my way outside the M E N to look at the cheap T shirts that smell of Dulux.

Rick M

Best cover version Re-Mix ever?

2010-02-02T21:24:00.004Z

I haven't fallen for the haircutty XX band, I love Florence and her wotsits and the original isn't bad at all, but this is exceptional

XX Re-Mix of Flo's Wotsits doing Candi Staton's - You Got the Love

Florence + the machine - you've go the love (the xx remix) by Cogstar

Anyone know a better one?

Album Review- Malory- Pearl Diver

2010-01-29T08:11:00.007Z

Naturally a quiet month for album releases, there have at least been a few on my radar. The Delphic album, a disappointment on the whole, has been reviewed elsewhere on these pages. And we all, of course, have taken note of the outcries of "new musical genius" that have greeted the 2nd effort from These New Puritans. I have yet to listen to it, but, based on the reviews I have read, I suspect, to these ears at least, that the "experimentalism" involved could also have been achieved by me recording the sound of my own farts in an empty school corridor. We shall see..

It was with some relief then that I saw the 4th album from German Shoegazers Malory also drop a couple of weeks ago. Having been around since as way back as 1995, when their debut album "Not Here, Not Now" was released, they have been swimming very much against the tide ever since, with their brand of effects laden, reverb drenched swirling drowning in a populist sea of mediocre Britpop jingle-jangle. Until recently that is, as in the last 5 or 6 years there has been a gradual re-awakening of interest in and existence of this much-maligned style of guitar based indie rock, culminating in the reformation of the true godfathers of the Shoegazing genre, My Bloody Valentine. Outbreaks of very long fringes, banks of effects pedals at gigs, dry ice and a landscape of musical and lyrical darkness are being seen all over the country again (thank Christ!), and the mainstream success of bands like Glasvegas and The Horrors, and their use of distortion, has led the music press to invent the laughable term "New Gaze". But at least it's back in the national consciousness for the first time since Kurt shot himself, and unwittingly paved the way for Suede, Blur et al to take over the world in the mid nineties, and bring all of us dreamers back down from their sonic clouds.

It is abundantly clear from the moment opening track "Floating" breaks from its 2 minute poetry recital (in French- apparently written by Astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet and presumably about black holes and the time-space continuum- or something), and explodes into 5 minutes of instrumental, cascading gorgeousness, that Malory have definitely listened to early nineties Thames Valley scenesters Slowdive. It might be an updated Slowdive, with additional synths and a hint of Trip-Hop in places (hovering around the Massive Attack/Hybrid area), but the dreamy, spacey quality of their early EP's and "Just For A Day" long-player can be heard throughout "Pearl Diver", with the boy/girl vocal contrast providing further evidence to build a case for Malory being a pretty good copyist.

There are, of course, 2 schools of thought with this particular scenario. The first of these is that Malory should be told off and dismissed for not having original ideas of their own. The second, which I tend to want to believe, is that it is as if the original Slowdive are still around and producing the kind of new blissful, crystalline tuneage that "Pearl Diver" is actually choc-full of.

This is a far more generous and accommodating slant, and therefore one that I shall attempt to take whilst listening to the album...possibly with my eyes closed and dreaming of 1991 and Rachel Goswell's gleaming white guitar..

Malory- Floating (get past the poetry bit, please)

7 out of 11

THE FIFTH SEASON: „FASNACHT“

2010-01-22T23:01:00.003Z

Narri Narro!

And I cannot blame you if you think now, what the hell is she talking about!
Let me explain it to you as good as I can and later you can say: “ Jesus, I knew it, The Germans are a strange type of stuffed cabbage.”

Fasnacht is called the fifth season, because it gets celebrated like Easter, X-mas and the one when Jesus mates got the holy spirit and his sandals…oh, and I think, and some women holidays….I do not know what you call it in English…..I will look it up later.

Some people actually only live for this fifth season “Fasnacht” and save their holidays and money in order to masquerade as witches, devils, barbies( that is easy, we have a lot of barbies and Kens), cowboys and Indians (easy too as Germans love to play cowboys and Indians in their spare time) and as police officers( easy too just do not dress) …ect… the list is very long – I remember that I had to go once as a clown when I was younger, because I refused to go as a ladybird and take part in a silly school play. So they dressed me up as a clown with a big red nose and a stupid clown costume which disappeared including hat and red nose after I left home. I told them I got robbed from a group of kids, they liked the costume so much….Costume got found two weeks later in the garage in a bucket where I changed to myself…

This whole madness always starts on the 11th of November at 11 o´clock and lasts for five weeks, that means for the half of the population five weeks drinking non stop and party until they do not know their names anymore. Every weekend is then a procession with all “Zünften” such as witches, cruel looking creatures from the black forest with whipes( these are the worse ones when they catch you , they put you in a cage feeding you the famous sausage or “Brezel” and giving you “Schnaps”!).

Also you have to bare in your mind that under the costumes of the witches are to 80% men – women are not allowed to play the witch – not this time….and the leader of all is the devil see picture. He commands and leads the mad crowd..

Once they captured me (that was the last time I spent my time watching this procession), forced me in a cage with a lot of hysterical women screaming their bloody heads off and doing noises like little piggies when they are hungry – that was not a very pleasant experience and I managed to escape by just jumping off – so easy, but some people like it to get whiped and fed …

The whole thing about Fasnacht is to banish the winter that is the excuse to take five weeks off and go on the gargle to strip nacked in bars, pubs and on the street and to rob banks.

Here a small video for you to get a slight taste of it

Album -Delphic - Acolyte

2010-01-22T19:51:00.006Z

I was about to right this album off as 'being just a bit too like New Order' for me. And in truth, at first listen there is a separated at birth argument. Up until today I'd listened to this album as background music in the car and more appreciated it rather than listened and loved.

If it wasn't a first album I would almost certainly have given it a 5.5/11 as ok - but could do better, it almost received a don't believe the hype title. But it's better than that (not the Public Enemy song though)

Cranked up loud and actually listened to it's packed full of tunes within tunes, a depth that's not obvious during a casual dalliance. No, it's not a traditional grower (ie a bit rubbish but hell I'm going to persevere) , it just requires a bit more attention than usual. Although I'm no technical expert, I suspect it's because all the dials weren't switched to 11 during the recording process and it doesn't fill your ears with the usual condensed white noise associated with most modern pop music.

It's yet to transcend that elusive corridor from head to heart music but I'm starting to like this album more and more , but then again I thought the 80's had their moments too. Another 3 plays and I'll be dancing.

Delphiccounterpoint by Cogstar

Testing Soundcloud

2010-01-14T21:01:00.003Z

Should be interesting

Meursault - Nothing Broke - William Henry Miller Pt.1 - 04 by Cogstar

Ladbrokes top 10's

2010-01-07T18:24:00.007Z

Ok, for what it’s worth, here’s the first bit of my take on the year. With the assistance of my Ladbrokes Diary I’ve been able to compile a number of lists. The first one is my top ten gigs, it’s as near as I can get to the rest of your lists. Top ten Bank Holidays, religious festivals and race meetings may very well follow due to them getting a mention in the diary, albums of the year may just have to be limited to a top 5 due to a failing memory.

Top ten gigs was fairly easy to do as I tend to make a note of gigs when I book them, mainly so I don’t forget to go to them and so I’m now able to see where I’ve been. Some good ones didn’t make the cut, The Specials in Manchester, SLF in Bingley and The Young Republic in Newcastle come to mind. They were all very enjoyable and I could have made a case for their inclusion without much difficulty. Perhaps a top fifteen is the answer, although that’s probably as far as it goes, I don’t get out much and a top twenty might have to include Splodgenessabounds and Julio Geordio

So in tenth place we have Ash at Darlington in December. One of my favourite bands playing everything I liked off 1977 and Free All Angels in a venue that holds 300 people. Can’t quite see why they bothered with a small one-off show there, unless they were dropping Christmas presents off or something, but I’m glad they did.

At nine it’s From The Jam at Mr Kyps in Poole back in August. This was the last time that I saw the ‘classic’ Foxton/Buckler rhythm section together. Even smaller venue than the Ash one, it was a great place to see them. It wasn’t bouncing in the same way as last year’s Newcastle Academy gig was and being 300 miles from home there weren’t the familiar faces from 1980 in the crowd, but it was the best of the gigs from them that I saw this year. Shame it all subsequently imploded again.

Number eight was British Sea Power, Derby, February. Despite an early navigational issue with the taxi taking us to the Round House pub a few miles away from the actual Rock House venue, it was my favourite BSP show this year. Not surprising really as I fell asleep during the only other time I saw them, which was at Glastonbury.

In seventh place were Hanoi Rocks, Helsinki, April. The farewell shows. I was never really a big Hanoi Rocks fan, which was more Paul’s thing. But I did like Two Steps From The Move and had seen them three times in the mid 80’s, so it only seemed right to pop along to the one of the final shows. They did very well; I got drunk, bought a handbag and ran down Helsinki High Street joyously waving my arms in the air at how good it was. The show that is, not the handbag. Although that was ok too.

Sixth goes to The Young Republic, Middlesbrough, October. Probably their biggest gig of the year, they succumbed to popular demand and played plenty of good stuff off Twelve Tales, before exceeding expectations by encoring with a Beatles Rooftop set, played exactly as it is supposed to be. If only they would do this sort of thing more often perhaps they would make it big and their singer wouldn’t have to butcher a band member or two every year just to keep his freezer stocked.

Bottom of the top half was Boo Hewerdine, November, Kirkby Stephen – Nearly blew it by booking a hotel in Kirkby Lonsdale, but got away with it. He played a tiny venue where you had to bring your own booze. It felt like I owned the town as I walked down the main street with my Dr Who coat on and a bottle of red in each pocket. Apparently the female singer from the support band was eyeing me up which caused my companion to growl a bit, but I was oblivious to it all after working my way through the contents of my pockets. Some great new songs, particularly Geography, which I would link to if I did that sort of thing.

At fourth is Morrissey, Manchester, May – Cant remember much about this one actually, but it was his 50^th birthday gig in his home town so I suppose I should include it, although I suspect I probably enjoyed The Undertones at Bingley or SLF in Edinburgh more. Regardless of that, it’s Morrissey, so he gets in. That’s just the way it goes as the man himself once sang. Fourth is too high however, but I can’t be arsed to alter it now.

Bronze medal goes to Sparks, London, March – Absolutely fantastic. I was just looking for something to fill an evening after watching the rugby and in any of the previous thirty five years this could easily have been my top gig. They played their new LP and one of their old ones and I was an instant convert. Really, really good. I wish they would play live a lot more often, because I would be there.

Runner up was Mott The Hoople, Monmouth, September. The warm up for Hammersmith, 400 seater venue, it was really odd seeing them for the first time ever. Buffin had been hospitalized so couldn’t make it. The crowd were a little subdued, staying seated until the encore, but it was a great appetizer for Hammersmith.

But the winner (and I suspect that this wasn’t much of a surprise) was Mott The Hoople, Hammersmith, October. I’ve grouped the five nights together as it wouldn’t have left much space for anything else if I had included them all separately. Mott had done some pretty high profile shows at Hammersmith in their heyday and it seemed as good a place as any for the reunion. I’d bought tickets for the Friday and Saturday shows as soon as they went on sale and then got a Thursday one when that date was announced. When they extended the run to include the following Monday and Tuesday, I got one for the final night. After all, it’s only once every thirty five years. I’ve had one or two comments that seeing them more than once is a little on the obsessional side and maybe it is, but you have to be somewhere and I reckon that for the first week in October Hammersmith Apollo was that place.

Thursday I knocked off work at four o’clock and got the train from Southampton to Waterloo arriving at Hammersmith early. I had a ticket for Row X so gave a tout fifty quid to exchange it for one in Row B, right in the centre. I had a couple of pints and watched Gideon and the Shark. They were ok, a bloke with a guitar and a girl on the drums. I can’t remember any of their songs though and, bless them, they had a bit of a thankless task. No one was really interested in the support act. It was all about Mott the Hoople.

Mott came on to Jupiter and then opened again with Hymn for the Dudes, followed by pretty much the same set list as in Monmouth. Ian had smartened himself up for a change, leaving off his usual polo shirt. The crowd in the stalls stayed on their feet for the whole two hour set and, again, the band looked to be loving it. There was a second drum kit set up next to the one that Martin Chambers was playing and it was uncovered for the encore. Buffin, looking extremely frail was led to the front of the stage and then slowly to his drum kit. It was heartbreaking to see him in that state, apparently suffering from Alzheimer’s. Martin looked after him though, supplementing Buff’s drumming and filling in for the bits he missed. Apparently he got his first drum kit from Buff forty years ago and was pleased to be able to give a bit back now that the opportunity had arisen. They got a great response at the end and I cleared off, just managing to catch the train that got me into Southampton not long after 1am.

I left work on the Friday even earlier than the previous day. I was checking into a posh hotel near The Embankment that my mate David had organised and had then had plans to go to an exhibition of photos that Morgan Fisher was showing about half an hour away. Morgan Fisher was the keyboard player on that first Mott the Hoople LP that my Mam had bought me. He took over from Verden Allen for the last year or so of the band. He wasn’t playing in the reunion but would be in the crowd for the shows, meeting his old mates backstage and taking the opportunity to show and sell some photos of Mott’s 1974 American tour. I got to the gallery about half an hour before it closed and as I went up the stairs was met by the sound of Morgan and John Fiddler playing Saturday Gigs. John was the singer in the post-Mott band British Lions. I listened to a couple more songs, looked at the photos and bought one. Morgan was very friendly, but I didn’t chat much, I always find it a little strange meeting people that I’m a fan of. I got back to the posh hotel, had a quick few beers with Paul, David and Doug and then hurried off to the gig.

I had two tickets for the circle for that night, but didn’t want to be up there. The stalls seemed to have a far better atmosphere and a much closer view, so I swapped my two for the circle with one for the stalls and then just before they came on made a dash for an empty front row seat that apparently had been set aside for photographers. Another great set, I cried a bit during the encore, shook Verden’s hand and we continued singing the ‘Goodbye’ bit of Saturday Gigs for at least five minutes after the band had left the stage. Met the lads in Covent Garden and, due to their connections, for the first time in my life walked past a queue to get into somewhere and was waved straight in as a VIP.

Saturday, I nipped off to see the Boro win at Reading before meeting up with Paul, Andy and David for seats toward the back of the stalls. I didn’t bother trying to get to the front this time, we just watched it all unfold from a distance. Another great show and with the added bonus of good company. I could have a fun time at a public execution with those lads, possibly even our own, if the weather was nice.

Monday and I was back again on the train after work. I’d swapped my spare ticket for Tuesday with someone who had a spare Monday one and that meant I’d see all five gigs. John, the bloke I was with, was an interesting character, he was driving an ice cream van to Greece the following week in the optimistic hope that there would be a big demand for 99’s over there. Glen Matlock was the support band and I nodded at Mick Jones on the way out. His arm seemed better now.

Tuesday, Joe Elliot did a covers set of Hunter and British Lions stuff as support, probably the best received support of the run. Too quickly though the final show was all over. They had got better throughout the week and seemed, like the crowd, to be having the time of their lives. It’s the little things that stick in my memory. The look on Ian Hunters face when he sang the line in Sweet Jane, ‘Me, I’m in a Rock and Roll band’ and the reaction of the crowd to the bit in Ballad Of Mott where he sings ‘And Pete’s still a Rock and Roll Star’.

I didn’t ever think I would get to see them and I’d never considered after the gigs were announced that they could possibly be so good, that they could play with the enthusiasm and vitality of a band forty years younger. Rock and Roll Queen could have been Oasis in their heyday, not a bunch of pensioners getting together for the first time in thirty five years. Let’s hope they do it all again in 2010.

Top ten lists to follow of sporting events, things I planned to do but didn’t, fishing trips and miscellaneous stuff that isn’t sporting events, things I didn’t do or fishing trips. My missed trip to the world angling championships may very well make all four lists. I hope to have them done by sometime in April.

Festive 45 Top Tunes 2009

2010-01-01T17:24:00.004Z

And finally, through a recovery haze we get to the top 15 tunes of the year. Just a few words for the coming year for the contributors on here.

Craig - get a new favourite band

Andy - play some dance music at least once a week

Rich - try an acoustic album or two

Rick- revise a decade per quarter and get out of the 70's

Wieb - keep sending the posts and thanks we loved the German beer

And so.............

15. The Young Republic - Bows in Your Arms

14. Miike Snow - Animal

13. Slow Club - Brilliant Friends

12. Warpaint - Billy Holiday

11. Florence and the Machine - Girl With One Eye

10. Eminem - The Warning

9. Joyzipper - One

8. Santiago - Calypso

7. Meursault - William Henry Miller Pt 1

6. Withered Hand - Religious Songs

5. Withered Hand - Love in the Time of Ecstasy

4. Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden - Bonkers Clubmix

3. My Gold Mask - Violet Eyes

2. Dan le Sac vs Scroobious Pip - Get Better

1. The Young Republic - The Alchemist

I saw TYR play The Alchemist at the end of the road festival in 2008 and it was the one song that was better than Isis (Bob Dylan cover) live. The studio release is even better, sounding like a runaway train just about making the last curve towards it's final destination via a virtuoso violin solo to die for.

Every household should own one.

More of the Festive 45

2009-12-29T21:35:00.004Z

I'm pretty sure that counts as alliteration, either way it's festive fun all the way. The weird thing about these lists is that they could change completely on any given day. This section is certainly made up of songs I've played an awful lot though, perhaps that's a good an indicator anything else.

30. Florence and the Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)

29. Kasabian - Fire

28. The Twilight Sad - I Became a Prostitute

27. Delphic - Counterpoint

26. Echo and the Bunnymen - Think I need it too

25. The Wave Picture - Tiny Craters in the Sand

24. Maximo Park - The Kids are Sick Again

23. Dizzee Rascal - Dirty Cash

22. Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring

21. The Joy Formidable - The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade

20. Hockey - Too Fake

19. Akira the Don - 18

18. Mumford and Son's - Little Lion Man

17. Maximo Park - Questing not Coasting

16. My Gold Mask - Bitches (The Hood Internet Remix)

Just in case the suspense is killing you, the final section will get posted tomorrow evening.

An Eclectic Mix of Nonsense 2009 45-31

2009-12-27T15:29:00.006Z

This year was the year after I binned football and two years after i binned tabs, the only relevance in any of this is that I've almost binned indie boy guitar bands in 2009. After the last couple of years really enjoying dance bands at festivals it was inevitable that I'd sway in that direction. I think the bigger surprise is the inclusion of quite so much Indie folk and borderline Americana. I blame Andy, the end of the road and the blogosphere and maybe the bands for writing damn good tunes.

And so my list in 3 parts and reverse order.

45. Sparrow and the Workshop - The Last Chance

44. Kasabian - Fast Fuse

43. Apteka - Traitors

42. Akira the Don ft Littles and Lickel P - Walking in My Shoes

41. One Hundred Hurricanes - Snake

40. The King Blues - The Schemers, the Scroungers and the rats

39. My Gold Mask - Bette David Eyes

38. The Big Pink - Velvet

37. Franz Ferdinand - No you Girls

36. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday

35. Echo and the Bunnymen - Do you know who I am?

34. British Sea Power - Spearing the Sunfish

33. Mumford and Sons - White Blank Page

32. Rachel Unjust - Blue Bleezin Blind Drunk

31. Bombay Bicycle Club - What If

Ok so there's a lot of white boys with guitar stuff in that 15 but it will diminish. Triple disc sets available in the new year to anyone who promises to listen all the way through. ie Not Craig

Merry Christmas from Santa and TYR

2009-12-25T12:51:00.003Z

And a short sketch from the Young Republic which is absolute genius is you like slapstick

The Young Republic save Christmas

Enjoy

Andy's Really Good (and bad) Stuff 2009

2009-12-24T16:18:00.005Z

Albums:

Category - Generally excellent:

Dennis Wilson –Pacific Ocean Blue…a re-release of a long lost old album and better than anything Brian Wilson ever managed. Really.

Joe Bonamassa – The Ballad of John Henry…blues/rock guitarist with a voice like Paul Rodgers. That’s a good thing

U2 – No Line On The Horizon…it’s almost obligatory to knock them because they are so big and successful, but they never rest on their laurels. In retrospect, though, the “cover” of Pump It Up wasn’t the best introduction to the album

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love…a prog rock concept album! (I bet that’s sold it to you)

The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin…either hollering like Tom Waits with the accompanying pots and pans, or whispering the most wonderful ballads in the world

Richmond Fontaine – We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River…slow-burning Americana about life’s losers

Pearl Jam – Backspacer…their best album in years. A band having fun!

Florence & The Machine – Lungs…a joy from start to end, except for “Kiss With a Fist” which I unfortunately heard first and is just plain rubbish. That set us back six months in our relationship

Shearwater – Rooks…haunting, uplifting. Best Americana album of the year

Really good, but lacking a certain something:

Bat For Lashes – Two Suns…she’s mad, she is

Doves – Kingdom Of Rust…completely eclipsed by Elbow nowadays, aren’t they?

Various Artists - Dark Was The Night…veritable who’s-who of state of the art Americana

Wilco – Wilco (The Album)…people raved about it, but I think their best albums are behind them. Singer Jeff Tweedy is just too contented nowadays

Dan Michaelson & The Coastguard – Saltwater…biggest grower of the year

Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream…not his best, but still making worthwhile albums

Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle…kind of like mellow Nick Cave. And a bit Nick Drake

Them Crooked Vultures…thanks to CDWow it’s only arrived recently, so difficult to form a full opinion. It’s great, but there are already a couple of songs worth skipping

Broken Family Band – Please & Thank You…manners are important. Still think the threat to spit roast a Peacock at End Of The Road was the best joke any band made all year (apart from maybe the Muse album)

Soulsavers – Broken…gets a bit samey after a while

Placebo – Battle For The Sun…a welcome inclusion of brass, but last album “Meds” was better

White Denim – Fits…manic energy and invention, but could do with a few more choruses

Joe Gideon & The Shark – Harum Scarum…nowhere near as thunderous as live, but gets better as the album goes on

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit…the man who wrote all the decent songs and choruses in the Drive-by Truckers continuing to do what he does

Blitzen Trapper – Furr…stylistically all over the place, and loses the plot in the final third. Note to Rich: Features the song “Black River Killer”, so that’s all the required Americana boxes ticked!

Monsters of Folk…like The Traveling Wilburys

Very, very disappointing:

Muse – The Resistance

The Dead Weather - Horehound

Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion…these last two albums are featuring in all of the music magazines best of lists – usually at the top. They’re both shite

Songs:

Scott Weiland – Missing Cleveland, Beautiful Day

Shearwater – Rooks, Century Eyes, The Snow Leopard

Bat For Lashes – Daniel, Glass

The Broken Family Band – You Did a Bad Thing, Stay Friendly

Bon Jovi – Brokenpromiseland

Dan Michaelson – Now I’m I Coastguard

The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song

Eagles of Death Metal – Anything ‘Cept The Truth, I’m Your Torpedo

Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over, Rabbit Heart, Drumming Song, Cosmic Love, You’ve Got The Love

Them Crooked Vultures – New Fang, Reptiles

Doves – Kingdom Of Rust

Pearl Jam – The Fixer, Unthought Known, Supersonic, Force Of Nature

Joe Bonamassa – Story of a Quarryman, Jockey Full of Bourbon, The Ballad of John Henry

The National – So Far Around The Bend

U2 – Breathe, Stand Up Comedy, Unknown Caller, Moment of Surrender

Sparklehorse - Revenge

Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind

The Low Anthem – Champion Angel, Charlie Darwin, To The Ghost Who Write History Books

Soulsavers – Some Misunderstanding, Unbalanced Pieces, Death Bells

Richmond Fontaine – Lonnie, You Can Move Back Here

Yeasayer – Tightrope

Placebo – Ashtray Heart, For What It’s Worth, Kings Of Medicine

Bruce Springsteen – This Life, What Love Can Do, My Lucky Day

Dennis Wilson – River Song

Wilco – One Wing

Bill Callahan – Eid Ma Clack Shaw

Sean Watkins – A World Away From This One

Thom Yorke – All For The Best

Films:

The Dark Knight – I know it came out last year, but I only got around to it on DVD this year…I’ve got stuff to do, you know!

Son Of Rambow

The Changeling

Body Of Lies

Redbelt

Baader-Meinhof Complex

Slumdog Millionaire

The Reader

Frost/Nixon

The Wrestler…like watching a washed out David Lee Roth

Gran Torino

Watchmen

State Of Play

Looking For Eric

Taken

The Wave

The Damned United

In The Loop

Star Trek

Moon

Let The Right One In

Anvil – The True Story Of Anvil

I await your scorn and ridicule…

AndyS

Tracks & Gigs of 2009

2009-12-23T09:49:00.003Z

Right, here we go, let's rattle off the 60 best tracks of 2009. Fairly tight spectrum, I freely admit, generally containing only darker mainstream Indie guitar shenanigans, a whole new wave of Psychedelica and Shoegaze, Post-Rock and Alternative Rock. In my defence, I could also do you a top 10 Trance/Techno collection from this year, but would risk being shot down in flames by underground dance afficionados better placed than me to comment on this year's releases. Instead, I have focused on my alleged field of expertise, although I am expecting a ferocious and prolonged slanging anyway. Tracks per band are limited to a maximum of 2, so as to spread the love...

60- Deep Cut- Bullshit Detector
59- The Northwestern- What Did I Do?
58- A Place To Bury Strangers- In My Heart
57- Tides From Nebula- Purr
56- Nova Saints- Lights
55- Engineers- Brighter As We Fall
54- Grammatics- The Vague Archive
53- Spc-eco- For All Time
52- Placebo- Battle For The Sun
51- Swimming- Panthalassa
50- Redjetson- These Structures
49- Doves- Kingdom Of Rust
48- 93 Million Miles From The Sun- The Times We Have Are Now
47- Fleeting Joys- Destroyer
46- Howling Bells- Treasure Hunt
45- Prego- The Longest Calm
44- Nine Black Alps- Full Moon Summer
43- Kyte- Eyes Lose Their Fire
42- The Northwestern- All The Ones
41- Doves- Jetstream
40- Placebo- Breathe Underwater
39- Lowline- Gun In My Side
38- I Hear Sirens- This Is The Last Time I Say Goodbye
37- Animal Kingdom- Tin Man
36- The Longcut- Tell You So
35- White Lies- To Lose My Life
34- Nova Saints- High Roller
33- A Place To Bury Strangers- Deadbeat
32- Engineers- Song For Andy
31- Daniel Land & The Modern Painters- Glitterball
30- God Is An Astronaut- Shining Through
29- The Twilight Sad- I Became A Prostitute
28- Deep Cut- Commodity
27- Mono- Pure As Snow (Trails Of The Winter Storm)
26- The Domino State- Firefly
25- Jeniferever- The Hourglass
24- Punk TV- Snowboy
23- The Joy Formidable- Whirring
22- Dinosaur Jr- Plans
21- Bombay Bicycle Club- Cancel On Me
20- Animal Kingdom- Into The Sea
19- The Big Pink- Velvet
18- The Horrors- Who Can Say?
17- I Concur- Build Around Me
16- Silversun Pickups- The Royal We
15- 93 Million Miles From The Sun- Yesterday Morning
14- The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart- Stay Alive
13- Caspian- The Raven
12- I Like Trains- Sea Of Regrets
11- White Lies- The Price Of Love
10- The Twilight Sad- Seven Years Of Letters
9- Redjetson- For Those Who Died Dancing
8- Punk TV- Happy Birthday
7- Nine Black Alps- Buy Nothing
6- The Airborne Toxic Event- Sometime Around Midnight
5- Daniel Land & The Modern Painters- Off Your Face Again
4- The Boxer Rebellion- Flashing Red Light Means Go
3- I Concur- Lucky Jack
2- Bombay Bicycle Club- What If?
1- Silversun Pickups- Panic Switch

4 compilation CD's covering my "Festive Sixty" are available "through all good record stores", sourced through sending me a request, and your name and address...!

As for gigs, I didn't do a huge amount this year, so I will limit myself to a top 5;

5- Kasabian- MEN Arena, Manchester
4- Placebo/The Horrors/Silversun Pickups- Central, Manchester
3- Swervedriver/I Concur- Garage, London
2- Silversun Pickups/Animal Kingdom- Academy 2, Manchester
1- God Is An Astronaut/Caspian/Tides From Nebula- Ucho, Gdynia

Have an excellent Christmas, and New Year.

Andys Good Stuff of 2009

2009-12-19T19:08:00.003Z

Unfortunately I'm heading to Keswick to play in the snow so won't be able to upload Andys stuff with pictures until Wednesday. In the meantime this is pretty much what it says....

Number 35: Bonkers novelty rap collective. Shows staff have sense of humour.
Number 34: Reserved for Britpop “survivors” who’ve made “their best album in years”.
Number 33: Wacky side-project of big-name band singer, which is a wacky electro-pop concept album about magic animals.
Number 32: Something from Iceland.
Number 31: The name that keeps turning up on every electro/house compilation CD released that year. e.g. Simian Mobile Disco in ‘07.
Number 30: Real authentic alt. country dude who made the album in a cave in the Appalachians/once dated Joanna Newsom.
Number 29: Return of once-derided old-timer who used to symbolise naffness, but has subverted expectations by making an album of honest, brooding ballads with a hip young producer.
Number 28: This space is reserved for Bruce Springsteen if he makes an album in the year of the list.
Number 27: Some dubstep record which actually came out last year but has roundly been heralded as “the sound of the future”.
Number 26: Disappointing third album from previously much-touted act, which is so bad that editorial embarrassment means it’s been crowbarred in here as a Pravda-style exercise in shrinking them slowly rather than dropping them like a hot brick, as would be most appropriate.
Number 25: The band that everyone was tipping as the year’s biggest act in January.
Number 24: You’ve never even heard of this one. You never will. Even as your read the blurb, you find your mind simultaneously erasing the entry.
Number 23: Glitchy and worthy and difficult record you’ve listened to once. Squarepusher, basically.
Number 21: British Sea Power.
Number 20: Token world muso.
Number 19: The band who’ve got a reputation for being “influential”, and have a geographically specific “scene” organised around them that they put on semi-mythical “parties” for at a semi-mythical “venue”. e.g. HEALTH and The Smell.
Number 18: Band who wrote album of songs inspired by the tragic accidental/drug death of their bass player last year. Somewhere the blurb says “courageous”.
Number 17: Fever Ray.
Number 16: Sexy pop act masquerading as “wonky-pop”/”nu-pop”/”underground pop”, which only barely disguises the fact that they’re Lulu with alt. dress sense.
Number 16: Put in a “stunning” performance on Jools Holland.
Number 15: DJ who made “the year’s party-starting mash-up compilation” that you’ve never actually heard at a party that wasn’t put on by media insiders. And never made any of those party-goers do more than pout extra aggressively.
Number 14: Dirty Projectors.
Number 13: Hyper-obscure album everyone was bamboozled into voting for ‘cos Pitchfork gave it a 9.9, despite sounding like every other folk album ever.
Number 12: Rapper facing child sex charges.
Number 11: Dizzee/Chipmunk (pop-grime slot shared on a rotational basis).
Number 10: Album described as a “groundbreaking fusion of dance and rock”.
Number 9: Tape of Bob Dylan coughing up some phlegm in June 1972, found in someone’s attic, dusted off, reissued, and hagiographised in the Sunday papers as a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.
Numbers 8-2: Records that were OK, but no one was mad about them, but no one disliked them much either, so they swum through the middle course, whereas intense records that some people were truly passionate about but others really hated all ultimately failed to make the cut.
Number 1: Coldplay (Q), Arctic Monkeys (NME), Sven Vath (Mixmag), Neil Young (Uncut), Neil Young (Mojo), Neil Young (Classic Rock), Neil Young (Home & Garden), people humming transcendentally over distorted tape loops of concrete being laid (Wire)

Please don't be too hard on him, its been a thin year for dadrock!

Top 21 Albums 2009 - Other Half

2009-12-16T21:54:00.006Z

DAN's the Man

Who cares about all the other ones that could have made it? I'm sure Andy will cater for that market, Brakes, Arctic Monkeys , Dizzee that sort of stuff. For what it's worth here are my favourite slices of happiness from 2009.

10) Deadmau5 - For want of a better name.

Don't give me 'obscure' it's about their 4th album. Happy dancy beats to twirl around and around to.

9) Miike Snow - Miike Snow

More dance beats with tunes and words, even you growing old pals will like this one.

8) Maximo Park - Quicken the Heart

More killer pop tunes and sing along chorus's from Billingham's finest. The kid's are sick again!

7) My Gold Mask - My Gold Mask

Find of the year, Indie dance pop smash hits music phenomenon with screechy bits.

6) Slow Club - Yeah So

More chorus's than the Beatles mustered in the whole of 1963. Would brighten up even a sour puss's Sunday morning.

5) Mumford and Sons- Sigh No More

Popular Indie folk for the masses but with more hooks than a Killers best of. Hum it all the way to the pub.

4) Florence and the Machine - Lungs

'Oh my God dad it's the best album ever written', I took it as a recommendation and its a fabulous album. If I was 15 and female it may have been number one in my head too.

3) Akira the Don - The Omega Sanction

Shut up, it's a work of genius, just because it samples loads of other tunes and mixes them with new tunes and new lyrics and has sick rap on it doesn't mean it's not for you. If you can sample Steam and make it amazing then it's a neat trick to pull.

2) The Young Republic -Balletesque

It's full of great songs, really fantastic songs. Indie blues folk rock music for the masses or if not then for my car.

1) Withered Hand - Good news

The tunes are deceptively simple, but they never quite follow the route you're expecting, an extra verse or a curtailed chorus changes the direction of a song. The singing is fragile and often strained but in the same way Dylan triumphed it fits the songs perfectly. The lyrics are funny, sad, poignient outrageous and so clever in parts they put Morrissey to shame. Half of this album grabs you first time, whilst the other half sneaks up on you and demands listen after listen.

Listen to the stories, hum the tunes, but most of all wish Dan and his band a Merry Christmas. Oh and buy the record

Buy it here

he gets more cash this way and can afford to make another one.

Top 21 Albums 2009 - First Half

2009-12-15T20:10:00.008Z

Well if he can ignore me then so can I

The good thing about writing on here is I can have a memory like a Craig but now have a reference guide. I think writing about music encourages me to explore more music rather than relying on the 30 billion songs already written most of which aren’t as good as The Beatles. That’s not my theory just a general paraphrasing of any Andy Craig music conversation. And so this year I’ve had a much broader basket to choose from and probably still chosen the same old tosh

21) Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part.

It’s got violins and stuff and it’s a bit ‘Big Music’ traditional tunes to love and learn

20) Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

It’s like dance music for people who don’t dance, plenty of beats and beeps and clanking and definitely different to anything else this year.

19) Luke Haines – 21^st Century Man

Yes he’s the miserable bloke who slags off everyone else and used to be in the fantastic Auteur's. Well he’s written his third masterpiece and given a few more listens this would probably be higher in the charts. Traditional Indie with bitter bitter chorus’s to sing along to.

18) Bombay Bicycle Club – I had the Blues but I shook them Loose

It’s jerky indie guitar stuff with great songs, what’s not to like

17) The Twilight Sad – Forget the Night Ahead

Lot’s of guitars and then more guitars with hidden tunes revealing themselves, play it loud in the dark

16) British Sea Power – Man of Arran

This is a work of art,the government should buy one for everyone

15) Meursault – Kissing With Tongues

Electronic Folk Indie for the melancholic, and with a heck of a good singer

14) Franz Ferdinand – Tonight

All the songs and all the hooks but beefed up a bit. If any album this year were a grower it would be this one

13) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Jingly jangly guitars with a bit of fuzz on them and a billion chorus’s, it’s gorgeous

12) White Lies – To Lose My Life

You can’t deny they do a great line in Indie pop songs

11) Noah and the Whale- First Days of Spring

Well he clearly doesn’t get on with his ex girlfriend anymore. Of all this years albums this is the one that I keep going back to ‘just to hear that bit again’. If I was doing a most interesting album of the year this would win…..but I’m not so 10 to go.

Top 20 Albums of 2009

2009-12-14T19:16:00.004Z

Despite Paul's best attempts at moderation, I have decided to almost totally ignore his request for brevity, as it has been an excellent year for music, and I definitely need to post a top 20 of albums released in 2009. In a nod to Paul, however, I shall restrict myself to 4 word reviews of each (not including hyphens!) with an attempt at NME/old style Melody Maker summaries, rather than my own verbose leanings;

20- Placebo- Battle For The Sun- "Return to form singalong".

19- Howling Bells- Radio Wars- "Australian folk-rock meanderings".

18- Animal Kingdom- Signs & Wonders- "Old-fashioned happy pastoral Indie".

17- Florence & The Machine- Lungs- "Queen of the Underground".

16- The Boxer Rebellion- Union- "Anyone Can Play Guitar" (I mean this in a good, early Radiohead way, rather than a bad, "You're actually shite" way). And yes, I know I broke my own 4 word rule.

15- The Horrors- Primary Colours- "Gillespie fronting The Telescopes".

14- I Concur- Able Archer- "Wilco meets Wedding Present".

13- A Place To Bury Strangers- "Mary Chain with Buzzsaws".

12- Dinosaur Jr- Farm- "Grunge grandfathers' excellent slackfest".

11- Caspian- Tertia- "Smouldering US Post-Rock finery".

10- Redjetson- Other Arms- "Interpol/Mogwai hybrid departure".

9- Punk TV- Loverdrive- "Russian electronic shoegazing sensation".

8- White Lies- To Lose My Life- "Manufactured New Romantic reinvention".

7- Mono- Hymn To The Immortal Wind- "Morricone infused Japanese Post-Rock".

6- Engineers- Three Fact Fader- "Beautifully constructed semi-ambient (eh?) soundscapes".

5- 93 Million Miles From The Sun- 93 Million Miles From The Sun- "Loop/Ride Doncaster Space-Rock".

4- Daniel Land & The Modern Painters- Love Songs For The Chemical Generation- "Slowdive inspired Sonic Cathedrals".

3- The Twilight Sad- Forget The Night Ahead- "Cathartic, romantic Glaswegian thunderstorms".

2- Bombay Bicycle Club- I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose- "Vibrant explosions of tuneage".

1- Silversun Pickups- Swoon- "The Invention of Grunge-Gaze".

You may commence taking the mickey...now.

Florence and the Machine - Manchester Apollo

2009-12-11T15:41:00.009Z

I really have got over people talking at gigs, I'd normally just move away a bit. BUT......when you have an incessant diatribe of utter bollocks being spouted throughout every slower tune in a monotone grating Manc accent by a girl who only stops to suck the face off her neanderthal doppelganger RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!, is it any wonder I lost it?

Just for reference I was sober and all I did was say excuse me while pushing past and standing in front of the gruesome twosome. When she moaned I explained things in words of one syllable, other than that, Great Gig. And really apologies for being a bit surly to the girl and her soon to be deaf chimp.

At the risk of declaring a bit early, The Temper Trap (support band) were way beyond expectations, you watch they'll come back next year all haircutty and Vampire Weekendy.

I was warned that i wouldn't like them much as they get played on radio one and the lead singer has a bit of falsetto going on.........if he did I couldn't see the join. They came on stage put their heads down and ripped into an instrumental that Mogwai would have been proud of (8oDb's higher Obviously). The rest of the set then continued to mix Mogwai vs Fine Young Cannibals which oddly worked, the bassist even had an upper body take on the bendy leg dance that bloke from FYC who was in The Beat had.............too much detail?

I suspect they may return with soaring guitars and Biffy beards next time.

A short break,then Florence and the Machine came on.

Make no bones about it, she is an absolute star and won't be playing venues this size much longer. Not only does she write great tunes, sing fantastically, have great stage presence and engages the audience from the start but she's gorgeous and self effacing too. Even worse she's got bags of energy, dances like St Vitus and makes her band feel like the most important people on earth.

The band crashed into 'My boy builds coffins' and the moment the singing started it was goosebumps all round. I was honestly stunned at the range of her vocals, it wasn't only the technical stuff which I'm pretty sure I don't understand anyway, but the movement from sweet to angry, from bitter to joyous.

I know some folk who read this like comparisons, well its Kate Bush, meets Siouxsie Sioux meets Patti Smith vs Karen Carpenter.....a bit good then.

I've seen some first album gigs that have been rendered tedious by filler when all we wanted was the album. No such mistake this evening, every track seemed vital to the set and every audience reaction was met with a smile and graciousness. 'You've got the Love' was euphoric, Drumming song was taking place inside my chest somewhere and Rabbit Heart could have lasted another 3 weeks for all I cared at this point.

Florence even did the U2 Bono thing of climbing on the speaker stack to perform.....although she did have the good grace to bash her head on the hanging speakers and then piss herself laughing.

Start to finish it was excellent and will make my top 10 list, And buy the album, it's great and they probably still need the money.

2009 Listery

2009-12-11T13:09:00.004Z

I'm all for a bit of listeriness particularly the wheat and chaff sort, you know the bit where Andy says 'I've listened to all the Americana this year and this is the good bit'. (and it's still all tosh). That aside and to prevent us going down the NME list of the minute/hour/decade/semiquaver route perhaps a few guidelines.

Lets keep it to stuff that happened (or should have happened or that you found out about) in 2009. No albums of the decade or haircuts of the century stuff.

Top 50's are dull, there are too many things to read all the way through, perhaps that's my ADD kicking in or maybe CBA. There's an TLA for everything these days. So good stuff to have

Top 10 songs, albums

Top 5 gigs, movies, events, and other stuff

Top 5 stuff you never did but wish you did.

I think that just about covers it, feel free to publish away over the next couple of weeks and as usual complete trashing of any of the above suggestions is good form. All I need to do now is figure out how to out obscure the shoegazing fraternity.

Any lurkers, feel free to be included by posting in the comments or sending a fuller contribution to the email and I'll post it for you.

merry wotsit

Movie Review - Tell No One

2009-12-10T11:28:00.004Z

Title: Tell No One

Year: 2007

Origin: France

Director: Guillaume Canet

Format: Blu Ray

Paul has invited me to vent on this blogspot about films, something I have wanted to do for a long time. I studied film for many years and am basically a bit of a geek, who since leaving college many years ago has had little outlet other than my long suffering wife to discuss/express opinions about film. I can go on for hours, so I will try to keep this brief. Here goes......

Since its release in 2006, Tell No One has been undeservingly overlooked by every major film distributor in both the UK and in America, but thanks to Revolver Entertainment, this top notch thriller has found its way onto Blu Ray.

The film’s focus is based on Dr. Alex Beck (Francois Cluzet). After his wife is brutally murdered, he is left with no option but to pick up the pieces and try to continue with life. At this point, the film skips 8 years later, revealing that Alex simply exists, and holds little pleasure in his family and all other aspects of his life.

Whilst engaging in another predictable day working as a paediatrician, Alex receives an anonymous e-mail showing a video of someone resembling his wife. Just a glimpse of what could be seeps life back into Alex, and the audience is then invited to share in our hero’s pursuit of the truth.

The set up of the film may sound straight forward enough, though it’s not long before Alex is side stepping the Police, being stalked by criminals and all whilst bodies are piling up that point to him.

Cluzet is brilliant as Alex, portraying a credible everyman under pressure. The viewer soon becomes completely transfixed with his quest, sharing in the strong emotional storyline and wall to wall tension that is littered throughout the film.

Director Guillaume Canet sets the tone beautifully, the simplicity of the camera work and none flashy approach suiting the mood and themes of the film perfectly. That’s not to say the director has no visual flair, I feel he just understands the subject matter, and knows that this approach simply ramps up the tension, and allows the story to unfold naturally, and most important, believably.

Credit is also due to all supporting actors. The casting is spot on, and the appearance (though all to brief) of Jean Roachefort (one of France’s most respected actors for the last few decades) is a welcome addition to what is essentially one of the best thrillers to come out of France in recent years.

How this film has not crossed over from the “world Cinema” bracket and found its way into the mainstream is beyond me, though I am sure it’s only a matter of time

Until America takes note, buys the rights and bastardizes it into a Michael Bay directed mess, no doubt starring Vin Diesel or some other equally incompetent actor.

If you’re not a lover of subtitles, please just take my word for it and give this a go. You will soon be engrossed and opening yourself up to some of the best film making around.....

RichM

The Biggest Advent Calendar in Europe

2009-12-09T10:36:00.005Z

Yes, the biggest Advent Calendar in Europe is in my current home town “Gengenbach”

As every year this Advent Calendar and its unique x-mas market attracts all people around the world to come over. It is a “multi culti” event for everyone, if you are green, yellow, purple or

pasty, here on this special market it doesn`t matter - we are all one crowd ( maybe because it is always very dark when people are starting to storm the market – opening hours from 18:30 – open end or the influence of too much “Glühwein”( a special hot x-mas punch here in Germany). Anyway everybody is invited, but it will cost you! Therefore a few advises

how to behave on the market and how not as follows:

- When you walk through the market and it is around seven p.m, please see that your

head and face are very good protected as some people trying to stick their sausages in your face or even worse forcing you to smell their breath.

- Do not talk too long to an Italian citizen of Gengenbach you could end up buying his car, dog , his bicycle or even his wife. They love making business on the market

- Do not give donations in form of money to the kids who are walking around the x-market – big danger – these kids belong to Antonio Lino Banfi from Campobello

- Always visit the market with a bunch of people, otherwise it could happen that

you will find yourself the next day waking up naked handcuffed to a tree.

One more thing do not stand beside an old woman when you are drinking your Glühwein or eating your sausage etc…as they will do anything to get your sausage or your drink( just for explanation near the town is a nursing home and sometimes they have a few escapees- so pay attention)

I was last week-end on the market as I am just living ten minutes away from it and it was nice and enjoyable, but didn`t convince me to buy a x-mas tree this year. Last time it was too much trouble to get rid off this stupid thing. Neighbours and myself threw this thing then over the fence of the most annoying neighbour in the middle of the night. A good thing, that his dog actually likes us very much! Thanks, Oskar!

In spite of that I like trees where they are in the forest and not in the sitting room for a fewdays and watching them actually dying. Plastic ones are far worse they are mad in China and could explode – happened to my grandma`s real x-mas tree as she bought the wrong light bulbs for her x-mas fairy lights – they were too strong apparently…I thought the x-mas tree looked much more real after explosion .

If you like to learn more about this fantastic town famous for its old buildings, wine and Kneipen , please have a look at this website

Here is a x-mas song. It is not Wham

Merry x-mas

And finally if you really want to see evil children doing the devils work at Christmas look at this video and scare the crap out of yourself. (I may have added this bit, PB)

Really Scary Stuff

Gig Review- Swervedriver + I Concur @ Relentless Garage, London

2009-12-06T20:46:00.010Z

2 separate and equally frustrating misunderstandings befell Swervedriver over the years. The first was that they were a shoegazing band, as they emerged from the Thames Valley in the early 90s at the same time as Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse et al, and were presumed to purvey a similar sound to the hazy, ethereal washes of guitar noise effected by bands of that ilk. The second and more alarming confusion surrounded their name, where the uninitiated were often immediately thinking of the ne0-nazi punk band of the mid to late 70s; Skrewdriver!

They were, of course, neither of these things, instead trading in a brand of open road, expansive alternative rock music that had its foundation in The Stooges, Husker Du and Pixies, and was then given a noise makeover courtesy of My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. The result? Some of the most exhilirating, rocket propelled tunes I have ever had the pleasure of discovering. Boy, the first time I saw them live, at the New Cross Venue in 1991, you could actually smell the petrol.

The first three EP's, on Creation Records (another reason music journalists lazily lumped them with the Shoegazing scene), which are littered with references to fast cars, desert highways, windswept coastlines and escapism, made the band taste deliberately of gasoline-fuelled America, with the vocals of Adam Franklin often sounding the same way. And, any lead track from a debut EP that contains the line "Been drunk for days now, been drunk to take the pain away", as "Son of Mustang Ford came hurtling out of my (admittedly) low budget speakers at the time, deserved far greater recognition and commercial success than it did....check out the dreads!

Swervedriver-Son of Mustang Ford

2nd album Mezcal Head is a lost classic, with "Duel", "Girl on a Motorbike" and, in particular, "Last Train to Satansville", all tracks easily making it into my top 100 most rotated of all time. I'm not normally big on lyrics, but "...Satansville" opens as follows;

"You look like you've been losing sleep", said a stranger on a train.

I fixed him with an ice-cold stare, and said "I've been having those dreams again.."

"In one dream there's this girl I love, and we dance every waking breath.

In the other they've thrown me in a cell, and they're trying me for her death".

Absolute bloody genius, and the tune itself clatters along with a rhythm section derived straight from the 0630 goods train from Salt Lake City.

Swervedriver- Last Train to Satansville

After 9 years, only 4 albums and enough record label hassle to sink any band, Swervedriver called it a day in 1998, never achieving the mainstream success their music, in my humble opinion, deserved.

Fast forward 10 years to 2008, and suddenly "The Swervies", as their fans called them, were back, with the same line-up as the one they split with, and undertaking a major tour of the US, with a one-off UK date at the Scala in London, which I didn't become aware of until it had happened, and so spent the next couple of months brooding over missing it.

Not to be denied, however, they returned to London last weekend, to play the splendidly refurbished Highbury Garage, a scene of some of my greatest drunken evenings in the early 90s.

Suitably tanked up, we arrived early at the venue to catch the excellent I Concur, from Leeds, who have just released their debut album "Able Archer" on Club AC30 records, our hosts for the evening. They play a kind of "Green" era R.E.M. meets The Wedding Present, which sounds, and is, just like my neighbour and right up my street. However, it's 8.00p.m. when we arrive, and one and a half songs later, they are gone. Early curfew tonight, apparently (10pm!!), so sorry we missed you chaps, and by way of scant consolation, here's their superb ode to Stott Hill Farm on the M62..

I Concur- Build Around Me

And then, they were before us, a reformed Swervedriver (!!!), with a now semi-shaven headed, bearded Adam Franklin launching the band into the many highlights of their back catalogue. The opening chords of "Duel" and "Girl On a Motorbike" are greeted like long-lost friends, and it's clear pretty early doors that a 10 year or so hiatus has dimmed none of their raw power, nor talent. Never particularly talkative, Franklin and co burn through 15 tunes like their lives depended on it, with "Rave Down" and, from the back of the venue and on a beer run, "Sandblasted", sounding huge. 90 minutes later, and after a 2 song encore of "Satansville" (of course) and "Kill the Superheroes" from the first EP, they were gone, having made several hundred thirtysomethings extremely nostalgic. Drummer Jez Hindmarsh summed it all up rather neatly- "You've made some old men very happy"...

Swervedriver-Rave Down (Live)

Album - Miike Snow

2009-11-29T13:14:00.005Z

This album really shouldn't be my sort of thing. Three blokes playing keyboards, no incessant dance beat to keep me interested and not a raking guitar in sight. Couple that with the fact that I accidentally came across the band at V Festival of all places and it just shouldn't work.

To make things even worse, 2 of the chaps are better know for their production exploits in the pop arena and amongst other things co-wrote 'Toxic'.

What makes the album work, is that its packed with memorable tunes, chorus's and easy access is granted through the addictively catchy single Animal. I'd heard this song prior to the V Fest gig and with the added live and loud drum sounds it was even better. There must be 300 remixes on the web but the album version is definitive for me.

From here on in it's tune after tune in a Beautiful South meets Darude fashion, sure you can hear the remnants of their chart music in the background but there is virtually no filler on this album.

12 tunes 12 songs 12 things to go back to and no skip button required. Perhaps this is the answer to the current downloading 'the hits' issue ie no one buys an album anymore. If every song were as good as the first single then the album would sell.

Of course its not all as good as 'Animal' but it'll last in the car stereo or on the MP3 player for a least a couple of months. What's more your girlfriend or boyfriend or mum will steal it after that and at least you can turn up to see one dance band at next years festivals.

Good value all round, anyway give this 20 seconds

Animal, the catchy tune

Guest Review - Morrissey 2006

2009-11-24T21:55:00.005Z

Saving...

The last time I critcised Morrissey in public was after The Smiths ill-fated gig at Preston, when a blood stained Moz stormed off stage during the first song. As a disgruntled fan I

aired my views on a local radio phone-in which the great man heard and quoted verbatim on the Janice Long Show. Quite a claim to fame that has not deterred a review of this, the final leg of his three nights in Manchester.

The Bridgewater Hall is acoustically wonderful, aesthetically beautiful, but as a venue for rock n roll it is about as lively as the Southern Cemetery. Previous Morrissey homecomings have been evangelical affairs but in the sterile home of the Halle Orchestra only the grasping front row could claim to have been touched by the hand of God tonight.

Misjudgement has lingered around Morrissey since the 90s and the choice of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as his entry music is greeted with boos and jeers. A deeply unpopular song round these parts, the pallid arena is suddenly turned into a football stadium as the association with arch rivals Liverpool proves a red rag to the Red Rags in the audience. Sadly this moment represents the energy peak of the evening and it’s all downhill from here. Non-plussed Morrissey has a dig at the audience for failure to appreciate the history of the song and later rebuffs the drinking classes who couldn’t be bothered to watch his chosen support acts. Perhaps he doesn’t understand his audience if he thought a scouse anthem would be greeted with anything other than derision. A fairly basic mistake for a Mancunian legend.

The next eighty minutes sees him deliver a mixed bag. Certainly there are moments of brilliance when, gliding like Vegas crooner in his flowing shirts and polished shoes, he reminds us of just how good his work can be. First of The Gang to Die, his best song in nearly twenty years, leads in to Still Ill, but when he sings “it just wasn’t like the old days anymore” he is so right. It wasn’t like the old days at all and the rest of the set meanders on taking us through the generally tedious Ringleader of The Tormentors. A blast of The New York Dolls’ I’m a human Being and the glorious How Soon is Now briefly spark life into the show, but the evening is enveloped in a flatness that never gets shaken off. Suedehead and other favourites are left ruefully in the dressing room and the night fizzles out long before ninety minutes are up. “He’ll be off to his hotel for a coco now” observes one fan. Perhaps they know him better than he knows them.

Drunken Stalking of The Young Republic

2009-11-22T19:37:00.020Z

It wasn't supposed to be like this, maybe one gig in Coventry and then one in Middlesbrough the following week........ just to see if they change the set.

The fairy gods in the sky had other plans though and conspired to present four opportunities to see the band, any of which would have been both rude and churlish to turn down.

Monday evening and for the second time in a few weeks I found myself mid motorway heading towards the soon to be legendary Brudenel Social club. The last gig I'd attended here was Slow Club and as per the recent review they were fantastic, so hopes were high. I guess I must have ranted on so much about The Young Republic (TYR) that Pam was quite keen to see them and I'd also managed to rope in 3 other pals. The Slow Club gig had been rammed so we turned up early to be sure of a decent spot, and we literally could have picked any seat in the house. I'm really not one for criticising up and coming bands or their management, especially as I probably have scant detail of what went on and little understanding of the difficulty of touring a band from the US....But Brudenel Social club is surrounded by student accommodation. No one except students and sad old ex students would feel comfortable in there, so why book a band to play the Monday night of half term.....

This is a slight aside, but through work I met the girlfriend of the tour manager a week after the shows............I so nearly put my foot in it, but unusually kept my gob shut at the right time.

Including girlfriends of the support band and a few other ageing folk like us the audience numbered about 20. As it was so empty I managed to get Rosie a signed T Shirt really early on and actually had a coherent conversation with Julian from the band. Pam had offered to drive after the gig so this level of coherence was soon abandoned especially at £1.80 ish a pint for cider.

Irrespective of the low attendance or perhaps because of the wide open spaces the band seemed to group together as a tight unit reminiscent of The Waterboys in the Fisherman's Blues phase. Interactions between members were frequent and it seemed to me they were creating the songs as they played. Sections of The Alchemist were played at a furious tempo and the violin solo really was special. Thankfully someone in the audience called for 'one more tune' and we were treated to a Beatles cover.

After the gig Julian and drummer Logan came over to say hi and thanks for making the effort, I'm pretty sure that I was tipsy and 'disgusted from Manchester' at the lack of attendance. I'm also pretty sure that I said I could do a better job, sometimes I should stay sober.

Part 2 of the adventure takes place on Thursday night in Dulcimer Folk Club on the outskirts on Manchester. It's 20 minutes from home and we had nothing else on, so myself and my 13 year old daughter headed over to the gig. On arrival it's most definitely 'a bar', with the gig in the upstairs room, I'm a little apprehensive at this point thinking Rosie may get turned away for being too young. I needn't have worried, she marched through the 3/4 full bar as if she owned the place and then made friends with the bloke on the till.

This was looking better though, it was packed enough that we couldn't see from the back and were ushered to the front just so child could see. Despite dubious billing of the support bands, local lads get billed higher than they really are, local band Petty Thief were on stage as we sat on the floor two yards from the front. They did a decent few tunes of folk indie to fairly rapturous applause from the audience, being totally sober and somewhat astute I quickly spotted the big local turnout. And true to form as the band finished the upstairs bar emptied and the locals went off to chat to their favourites. Why would they not stay to watch the other bands? Major good result though as a couple of chairs in row two previously occupied by grandparents became free.

I'm not going to write too much about 'Don't Move' who were on the whole tour with TYR except to say

Top musicians, particularly the bassist

Singing was good

Seemed like really nice people when we talked to a couple of them

Sounded a lot like The Monochrome Set - this is a good thing

The Young Republic appeared next about 4 yards in front of us, not much use if you are trying to play down your stalking credentials.

As in Leeds just one tune off the first album, a couple of new songs and unlike Leeds they played Tidal Wave (at the request of the support band). Another good result as it's Rosies favourite tune on the album and it works brilliantly live, so much so I could feel the cost of violin sessions appearing beside me. 'How come no-one told me you could get electric violins when I was eight'. My mouth said 'I'm sure we did' my head thought 'because I like my ears too much'. Anyway in the cramped space the playing was fantastic and regular accidental playing of the symbol by Chris with the base guitar was a bonus.

The following night

Friday had potential to be a big night and so it proved, the gig was in Middlesbrough at The Westgarth Social Club about 200 yards from where I grew up . I'm mentioned this to my gran a couple of weeks previously, to which she responded 'oh your grandad was a bookies runner in there and he's still banned'. He's been dead for about 35 years so whatever he did it must have been extraordinarily spectacular. Perhaps he lead a racehorse over the snooker table.

When you are catching up with old pals and a mate from work and again the alcohol prices are so low and your current favourite band are playing, then the consequences are somewhat inevitable. Some bands get to be 'Big in Japan' unfortunately TYR must have had their mapbook upside down in school lessons or maybe the town was hidden by the smog but 'Big in Middlesbrough' is not a phrase applied to many bands. I'm pretty sure the last one was a band called 'Bomber' in which my uncle Norman (Nosher- as he was known then) played drums circa 1971. If anyone reads this and knows him then take it from me , he prefers to be called 'Nosher' still.

This was the fourth TYR gig in Middlesbrough and had drawn in about 250 people so the atmosphere was miles better. The band acknowledged the support by playing about four songs off the first album all of which went down a storm with the locals. The second half of the set comprised mostly of the new albums noisier songs and was absolutely blinding, despite having a grumpy mate beside me who wanted more of the old stuff. Now grumpy Craig had also laid himself a time bomb last time we saw TYR at the EOTR festival by complaining that they did too many covers and he hated bands doing covers. For the encore Julian announced 'we are going to play the full Beatles rooftop set and 'see how it goes'. Well it 'goes' fucking brilliantly and even half inebriated I could spot a note for note rendition. Craig was speechless. Possibly his favourite bit of his favourite band covered perfectly.

I'd just about laid low enough to get away with the stalking thing again but made a mistake of going for a piss, just as I was leaving Julian walked into the loo's and give me a very strange 'stop following me look' in my defence I was in the loo first!

When Saturday Comes

Then to the final gig in Newcastle, except my day started with a slight hangover and we were off for pre football match drinks at 12.30....oh good. Today's plan then was to drink, go to the Boro match, half time drink, meet in the pub for post match drinks, get a minibus to Newcastle for pre gig drinks then gig and more drinks. We were in trouble early doors. Pals from the northwest (away fans) had joined us for the day, drinks, music, football and mates and now a bus tour. Add to that meeting a long lost cousin at half time at the football who also ends up on the minibus for the full session and this was going to be messy.

It was Halloween too, and so an official party night.

I honestly have little recollection of the gig other than the dancing and singing woohoo that's great stuff. The snippets I do have are

We had sausage sandwiches somewhere close

Richard mate nearly died climbing some steps

The bands got dressed up as monsters

Nearly half the audience were from our bus

Carl cousin got as trashed as the rest of us

We asked the band if they always had 40 velvet chairs on the backstage'Rider'

The whole set was changed round

They only played one old song

Even Kristin looked scary

They finished with the most perfect version of Ghostbusters

We drunk more outside on the smoking balcony and I didn't smoke

I had a very drunken conversation with at least 2 band members

I have no recollection of the shite I was talking and if anyone ever meets them please apologise for me as I'm sure there must be a restraining order by now. In conclusion the new album is fantastic and I think it sounds even better live.......... and never go drunken stalking a band as it freaks them and your liver cries for a week.

Buy the album here

I still reckon I could do a better job of booking gigs though, tequila or no tequila

The Airborne Toxic Event - Manchester Ritz

2009-11-18T18:31:00.009Z

Apologies for the delay in this gig review. The normal trick is to get home slightly tipsy and write the review immediately thus ensuring millions of hits on the site the next morning and thereby entertaining everyone with incoherent nonsense. In this case it's almost certainly a good thing that I collapsed into my bed rather than foist late night rantings on anyone.

There are two distinct types of gigs in my head, the ones where you can appreciate the musicianship and more often than not these tend to in smaller venues and are often acoustic. There is an exception to this, which is the early afternoon bands at festivals where the same thing can apply. The second and as anyone who knows me can testify my favoured option, is the full on band with drunken singalong 'how great is this?' behaviour.

This gig was always destined to be the latter rather than the former as I was meeting an old pal for a 5pm drinking start. We had a brilliant three hours of drinking heavily and talking bloke nonsense before staggering off to the gig. Just so you understand the caliber and depth of conversation the only useful conclusion we came to is; that blokes don't need any new clothes after the age of 40 (Ever) provided they don't change size. ok a sex change could change things too, but I don't recall that part of the conversation.

We met other pals outside the venue and promptly lost them as we had our beer and bar priority heads on by now.

Full enough but not too packed the perfect combination, enough room to get comfortably to the bar and back, swaying space and 12 yards from the front..ideal. The Ritz isn't a massive venue but a little imagination had created an excellent stage set, drums raised atop of a set of stairs rear mid stage and then two huge white light panels below on either side.

Silhouette guitar playing shapes and curvy silhouette girl shaped violin playing kicked off the show with feedback at two pegs below uncomfortable.

From the end of the instrumental the band played every song on the album with confidence and swagger, even I could tell they'd played an awful lot of live gigs lately. It was the third time in Manchester in 12 months, at least a few other people had missed the first 2 shows as we were informed that audiences had grown from 6 to 200 to about a 800 at this gig...that's a wild guess.

I'm sure the sound was fantastic and the playing virtuoso, but more importantly they played all the songs I know and we got to sing and dance. There was a Springsteen cover,a Lou Reed cover and they played a couple of new songs that went down a storm. They even threw in a couple of shortened Smiths covers during the encore tune as homage to their favourite Manchester band (cue even louder drunken singing). On top of this they looked like they were having a great time and that they appreciated the support of exuberant crowd.

Listen to the album, make an effort to see them at a festival next year and lets hope they play Manchester a few more times. Good band top night out.

9/11

One for the Weekend

2009-11-13T15:48:00.001Z

Now this ancient idea is stolen off other people who stole it off other people, as encouragement for folk to feel confident about dipping a toe into the hot waters of commenting, I’m going to introduce One for the weekend. Don’t worry it’ll last two weeks as it needs a touch of preparation.

The idea is, one of us rambles on about some nonsense or other that has happened that week or is about to happen and then asks some astute questions. Any passing drunk over the weekend can then add slurred and hopefully splendidly funny answers. Inevitably a couple of rules need introducing just so they can be dashed on the rocks immediately.

Firstly please sign in or at least sign your name at the end of the reposte,

Secondly its compulsory to post your response to the questions BEFORE commenting on the previous works of genius. And finally don’t be a knob or be mean.

So having had my bout of pig flu and given my dollops of blood for checking I’ve had the all clear, with a bonus sticker of ‘your liver count is a bit lively’. Last time this happened about 2 years ago I got completely shedded at a Christmas party and made it home about 1pm the next day. This time I thought great, virus gone feeling sparky a bit of Big Picture wouldn’t go amiss. It’s hardly my fault that the drinking party Gods have conspired to fill my next 6 days and nights with temptation.

So the last two nights have been Beechy stays over and that’s always bad for booze, followed by a 5pm start for a gig at The Roxy last night. And so in my woozy state I’m going to publish this before I head off for a works team drinking party in Knutsford. Then my folks arrive for 2 days and my dads never been shy of a pint and then Monday and Tuesday night are ‘out on pre Christmas business’.

If everything gets a bit disjointed in these parts you’ll now understand why.

And so to the first Four for the weekend

1) Your greatest drunken party moment?

2) The funniest thing that’s ever happened at a house party you attended

3) Best place you’ve fallen asleep or woke up after drinking

4) Favourite comfort food for hangovers?

That’s an easy start to proceedings and I’m counting on the usual suspects to kick this off, but anyone else should feel free to pitch in.

It’s nice to know you’re there.

Album Review- The Twilight Sad- Forget The Night Ahead

2009-11-10T08:31:00.019Z

The thought of dogs eating their own faeces (as described on these pages) and, in the same breath, the latest Arctic Monkeys album, inspired me to write this latest review..

Combining Interpol's dark meanderings with Mogwai's tempestuous thunder is a description of a band's music that only ever existed in my head. However, not only do The Twilight Sad sound like this, but they then go and top it by writing obscure, slightly macabre tales about televisons being too loud, becoming a prostitute, and making sure not to spill any blood before dinner, to name but a few. They are straight from the Arab Strap school of depicting seedy Glaswegian nightlife, all delivered courtesy of James Graham's thick Scottish burr.

Reference points other than the ones above lie mainly in the Creation records camp of the early 90s, with the coruscating guitars of The Telescopes and the tumultuous rhythm section of Swervedriver coming to mind. I can only begin to wonder how this might all sound live. But it is not just all about the colossal sound. There is an eloquent sentimentality to the songs, despite some of the subject matter, and it is this articulate suggestiveness that carries the emotional depth of this album above most instrumental post-rock output, and firmly into the box I've marked as Top 10 albums of 2009.

Opening 3 tracks "Reflection of the Television", "I Became a Prostitute" (which is worthy of anyone's attention based on the title alone) and "Seven Years of Letters" are an awesome start to proceedings, and although this level of intensity couldn't possibly be maintained throughout the rest of the album (or else the band and its listeners would have had to go and have a lie down in a darkened room for an hour halfway through), the gorgeousness of the chorus in "That Room" is enough to make an overgrown man weep...

8.5 out of 11

The Twilight Sad-I Became a Prostitute

The Twilight Sad- That Room (Live)

Guest Review - MOTIVATION A LA FISH

2009-11-09T22:50:00.009Z

This week I had a memorable or absurd experience. Our office was sent off to a workshop called “Motivation a la fish” and yes, it was fishy.

The coaches of this course were Dutch and we were divided in three groups :

First group was for the German speaking, second for the French speaking and third for the English speaking. It seemed someone pulled for me the lucky card, because I was in the English group as only one with the management. Great – just great – I tried to switch into another group inconspicuously of course by walking and speaking with the Frenchs, but well it was noted and the big boss called me back “ You are with us. Come on, that will be a really fun”. Shit, I thought and again shit …

Our coach for the English group introduced herself with a singing “Good Morning, I am Marlene and I will lead you through this fantastic day” – I think, she was half stoned and forgot to put real clothes on when she left her hotel room as she was dressed like a very old cowboy girl with white cowboy shoes and a strange brown skirt.

I won`t mention the top now that would go beyond the scope ….

After sticking our name tags on our breasts and introducing ourselves, we started with the first motivation game: Running around the room and trying to hit the other person with a balloon on the head. I had to ask her again: “Sorry, what shall we do?” and then she said to me:” Yes, you are a bit scared now, but do not worry it will help you with your motivation”

Well, she was really stoned and I thought, alright I have the permission to hit someone from the management on their heads. I had such an experience before in school. We played football teacher against pupils and what happened was by accident and it was really an accident I tripped my art teacher up. He fell so badly on his big belly that he had to leave the field. Well, I got a lot of applause and later a beer, but my next art mark suffered after that.

Well,Marlene turned on the music a bloody Britney Spears song “ do it one more time ” or so . and then shouting happily into the room “Let´s go and run”. I just stood up and didn`t move with my green balloon , because this was insane. Of course, Marlene came up to me and said I should join in and not to be scared. Yes, dead right I was scared of her and her stupid games.

Cowboy and Indians

Next task was to build little groups and find key words for choose your attitude, be there, play and the other one I forgot…it was something with to be focused on …

Took all groups nearly an hour to find words put them in order and discuss it – my motivation after this – please let me go home now!

Suddenly Marlene clapped her hands and said:,Come on all outside we have a little surprise for you!” Brilliant, probably we are playing hide – and seek and I just can disappear – super, now I felt a bit motivated,but this only lasted a second as it turned out we all had to come together for a group pic. Oh, God, this as well….and I had to stand in the front of all with a big fish in my hands…I tried to cover my face with the fish, but without success they waited for me until I was in the right position.

The resumé: I cannot recommend it at all – didn`t motivate me – I was very tired after it– even my son said to me: You look a bit sick, this training day wasn`t good for you, Mama! – a nice try

A training day with David Brent is more likely to work

Click on this

You know what I mean

Dog Toilets

2009-11-09T13:04:00.005Z

I got one from Argos a few years ago. Or The Argos as it seems to be called these days. It was made of green plastic, not much bigger than a bucket and you had to bury it in your garden with just the lid above ground level. Chemicals and drainage holes in it were meant to magically make the contents dissolve and disappear. No doubt reappearing some months later in Australia. That would be a surprise for them, when digging the vegemite patch.

First letdown was that my dogs refused to defecate in it. In hindsight if they had been capable of being trained to do that I'd have let them use the inside toilet and saved myself the job of digging a hole.Second problem was the quantity of waste that my two medium sized mutts produced. God knows who else was feeding them but the Dog Bog was full to the brim by day two. You would have needed concentrated sulphuric acid to dissolve that lot. And I was fresh out.

I toyed with the idea of buying a few more of them and littering my lawn with them, but the thought of Princess Di paying me a visit in full minefield costume was too much to bear.I finally got rid of it later that day after looking out of the window and seeing one of the dogs feasting on its contents before grinning at me with brown teeth and lips.

Classic Car Mart

2009-11-09T08:23:00.003Z

It’s a magazine and I like magazines. They are ideal for when you want more articles than you get in the newspapers, but you haven’t got time for a book. When I was working in Orkney the newspapers were delivered by plane and then boat. Not surprisingly they often didn’t arrive at all and so I would usually fill the gap by selecting a magazine from the limited selection available. It wasn’t so bad at the start of a month; I could generally pick a music or a sports magazine. If the weather had been poor for a while though I would often, in the search for something I hadn’t already read, find myself buying stuff like Exchange and Mart or Practical Fish Keeping. Once or twice I even bought a woodworking periodical and, if I learnt little else over the seven years I was there, now have a basic knowledge of turning out spindles to show for my time spent in Scotland.

These days I tend to limit myself to a couple of music magazines, although I did buy FHM recently, purely, or not so purely actually, to have a look at the blonde girl from Gavin and Stacey in her smalls. Actually, I wasn’t quite brave enough to buy it by itself. I’m of the age now where I reckon that buying a ‘lads mag’ is as inappropriate as buying Fiesta or Escort. For younger readers, they aren’t motoring magazines. That’s assuming that they still exist in the age of the internet. Anyway, I bought FHM in a twin pack with Q magazine, which seems much more suitable for a man of my age. At the checkout, the woman picked the twin-pack up, looked at the cover, looked at me and looked back at the cover. I was just about to point out that I was a contractor working away from home and if I wanted to while away my evenings looking at scantily clad young ladies, well, that was my prerogative. But no, she was looking at Q rather than FHM.

“Oooh”, she said, “He looks just like you.”

I hadn’t paid much attention to the music magazine, but on current form assumed that this months cover star must have been some octogenarian singer making a comeback or more likely the autopsy photos of Glen Millers recently discovered corpse, which, I suppose, serves me right for paying too little attention to my grooming routines and for buying diet-porn at my age. I was wrong though, it was that bloke out of Arctic Monkey’s who coincidentally also appeared to be in need of a trim.

I raised my eyebrows and modestly responded to the woman who was obviously only working on the checkout because her eyesight was too poor for her to be entrusted with restacking the shelves with “Maybe his Grandad” to which her shrugged reply of ‘Yes, I suppose” wasn’t really what I was hoping for. Every Little Helps, my arse. Still, it could have been worse; she could have said that it was his spots rather than his hair that prompted her comment.

Anyway, all this is leading up to my most recent magazine purchase, Classic Car Mart. Part supermarket checkout impulse buy and part grand plan to replace the junk in my garage with yet another comfort blanket of something from my youth. I’ve been fancying getting an old MG, ideally similar to the one that I had twenty odd years ago before children made a company car with four seats and a roof seem a more sensible option. Did I ever tell you about when my MG’s windscreen shattered? Of course I did. But now I’m going to tell you again.

It will have been about 1987 and I was driving up the M1, coming home from London. The weather was poor, it was a grey winter day, with a wet road and a steady drizzle. A little too wet to be described as inclement but not quite pissing it down. I was taking it easy at about 70mph in the middle lane, when the lorry in front of me flicked a stone up which hit my windscreen. I actually saw the stone coming towards me and flinched by way of reflex like you do when a bird gets close, or even an empty crisp packet. By bird, I meant the feathered kind, but I suppose it works for the other kind too, which would explain why a man of my age is still gawping at pictures of scantily clad actresses in magazines rather than spending his time at home pretending to listen to a wife’s complaints whilst quietly fantasising about divorce. Or murder.

Windscreens weren’t as good in those days as they are now and it shattered, but stayed intact. Good in one way, but absolutely useless for seeing out of, a quality I’ve always prized in a windscreen. I managed to slow down and carefully drift across to the hard shoulder. I got out, intending to walk to the emergency telephone, but the rain had got a bit heavier so I got back in again and drove there instead, with my head stuck out of the side window like Casey Jones on the Cannonball Express. I resisted the urge to sing the theme tune.

The good news was that in a rare moment of sensibleness I had joined the RAC two days earlier during my journey South. The bad news came when they informed me that I was covered for just about everything but windscreens. Wonderful. They would, however, put me in touch with a local garage. The garage was great, they were more than happy to fix my thirteen year old car, but would have to order the windscreen in and it might take a few days. A few days? I had stuff to do. I couldn’t sit around somewhere near Nottingham whilst they kicked my tyres. So what to do? Simple, just knock the windscreen out and drive home like one of those stock car blokes. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

I know this sounds like a bad situation, but it did have its good points. Knocking all of the shattered glass out of the windscreen with a jack handle was particularly satisfying. I enjoyed it that much that it took enormous self control to resist carrying on and smashing the side windows and the lights too. Passing motorists must have thought that it was Basil Fawlty on the hard shoulder. I got most of the shattered windscreen out, but unfortunately the sloping angle meant that almost all of the broken glass fell into the car. It did add that element of danger to any romantic liaisons in the car over the next few months though. There’s nothing like the threat of having your bare arse jabbed with a razor sharp sliver of windscreen to cool your passion. Or to spice it up I suppose, depending on your preferences.

Anyway, windscreen gone, I set off. It was easy enough, at least it was until I reached about fifteen miles an hour, at which point the soft top roof of the MG bulged outwards and threatened to either rip off or to lift the car off the ground. I had to stop and put the roof down. This seemed to solve the problem and I was able to drive off again, feeling slightly ridiculous at the idea of driving with the top down in the rain.

Once I got beyond 30mph it was hard to see with the wind in my face, so I put on a pair of sunglasses that a girlfriend had left in the car. Just as well really, as once I got beyond about 40mph, the remaining bits of glass that were attached to the frame of the windscreen began to work loose and hit me in my face. I didn’t get much beyond 40mph, which provided great fun for passing motorists, quite a lot of whom made a point of gesturing, Gareth Hunt coffee ad style, at the poser in the sports car who had the top down in the rain and drove in the slow lane wearing women’s sunglasses. I don’t suppose they noticed that the windscreen wasn’t where it should have been, but was mainly embedded in my forehead. I got home a few hours later and on removing the sunglasses looked like a negative of a panda, albeit one who used a cheese grater for exfoliating.

And so that’s what I want to do again, drive a fun car, not lacerate my face and Classic Car Mart is going to help me. It has some great stuff in there, plenty of MG’s, some Beetles, which would allow me to bore the arse off you a bit more with the tale of when my wheel fell off and a whole scrap yard full of Rolls Royces and Bentleys which should be highly beneficial next time I want to visit the supermarket and pass myself off as an ageing pop star.

Daniel Kitson at the Union Chapel, London

2009-11-08T17:02:00.002Z

I’m quite fussy about comedy, some might say a little bit precious, but that’s because it’s something that I care about. If people are going to set themselves up as comedians then they have a responsibility to be funny. There is so much crap about though, not just material that isn’t funny but stuff that’s dull, lazy, or sometimes just offensive for the sake of it.

I’d been tipped off about Daniel Kitson about a year ago, but hadn’t been able to see him up until now. He doesn’t do telly these days, so it’s live or nothing. I’d been on his mailing list for a while though and the snippets that I’d read gave me a bit of hope that he might be worth seeing. A last minute gig announcement in London coincided with the Boro giving their own dull, lazy and offensive performance at Crystal Palace and despite the tickets selling out within a day, I got one this time.

He didn’t disappoint, his material was highly personal and all seemed true, without even a hint of exaggeration for comic effect. This is important to me too. If a routine is based upon lies or embellishment, it’s worth much less. His routine was also on a subject close to my heart, death. Or rather, how do you function with the knowledge that whatever happens in your life you will eventually die?

If you are going to talk to a roomful of strangers for close on a couple of hours, you may as well talk to them about the important stuff rather than take the piss out of the appearance of teenage Olympic swimmers or do impressions of handicapped kids.

Interestingly enough, a lot of Kitson’s material dwelled on the recent death of a relative with Downs Syndrome. However, he told us how much he had loved her, how they had laughed at her during her life and it was done with such affection that it was a world apart from the meanness of, say, Frankie Boyle. In fact, it was as far apart from the likes of Boyle and Jimmy Carr (whose act I have always felt you could reproduce simply by monopolising the crackers during Christmas Dinner), that it seemed further than the difference between the likes of Bernard Manning and the first ‘alternative’ comedians.

There’s a certain vulnerability about him too, possibly partly due to him having a stammer, which sets him apart from the arrogant ‘edgy’ pricks that pollute my world. You know who they are. Anyway, my advice is get on his mailing list and watch out for ticket announcements. He has a large following, so they tend to go quickly.

Shared wealth from The Sticks

2009-11-07T14:25:00.006Z

This is a selection of the things I have listened to or seen over the last couple of months; handily classified in our new evolving style.

Excellent and worthy of Fanboy stalking:

Pearl Jam – Back Spacer:

Their best album in a decade. Eleven songs in just over 36 minutes, and the first four in just over ten. Classic rock / punk rock hybrid from a band simply having fun. They really have got it sussed nowadays: own studio, own merchandise organisation, they manage themselves…when they’ve recorded a new album they simply shop it around the labels to see who’s most prepared to promote it, then go with them for a one album deal (they keep the Masters, naturally). And they still sell out arenas.

They aren’t the only ones, but they record all of their concerts and stick them on their website for purchasing and downloading. And with every concert ticket you get an access code so that you can download the concert afterwards for free. Also, when you stick the new album in your computer you get to choose two concerts to download from the last couple of years.

They are also one of the bands that support my theory, which is:

All the best bands change their live sets from night to night.

I think this is even more important now that set lists, BitTorrent bootlegs and YouTube clips are all over the Internet. Don’t you think it’s crazy to spend £50 to go and see a band knowing exactly what they are going to play and in exactly what order? And with the live circuit being so important to band’s livelihoods nowadays, you’d think they’d make an effort. You’d think it would stop them getting bored. Wouldn’t you rather go to see a band and be surprised?

And it’s nothing to do with the size of the band or the production. I don’t know about the Green Day tour (though I could easily find out, if I was interested), but the two biggest touring bands in the world – The Rolling Stones and U2 – mix up at least part of the set each night.

Oasis, of course, could never be arsed. And neither, for that matter, could my old favourites Van Halen.

Richmond Fontaine - We Used to think the freeway sounded like a river: Nothing initially very striking about the music – standard Americana – but the best lyrics ever. Each song a vignette about some of life’s losers. Late night music. The singer writes books as well, which really isn’t a surprise – his lyrics read like plots.

Soulsavers - Broken: The band started life as a couple of DJs and they drafted in the odd singer, but now it’s turned into one of Mark Lanegan’s many bands (Screaming Trees; QOTSA; Lanegan & Isobel Campbell; The Gutter Twins; …a solo band). Surely the noughties version of Johnny Cash? Slow burning rock and generally about hellfire and redemption (though there seems to be little of that going)

Shearwater – Rooks: Knew enough about them to mark my card at End Of The Road festival and was blown away by them. This is their last album and it’s probably my favourite of the year. A bit Talk Talk, a bit Radiohead, a bit folky. Shearwater was originally a side project for members of Okkervil River, but ended up getting bigger. So one of them stayed with this band and the other stayed with Okkervil River

Jason Isbell – And The 400 Unit: Isbell used to be a member of The Drive-by Truckers and he always caught the ear as he tended to write songs whilst the others wrote excuses to have guitar duels. Having said that, his first solo album was pretty dull. This is much better. Americana again, but good lyrics, melodies and choruses. Isn’t that what it’s all about, really?

Eagles Of Death Metal – Anything ‘Cept The Truth: The first song on their rather average “Heart On” album. Like the best Rolling Stones meets the best QOTSA. Worth downloading and then playing really loud

Monsters Of Folk: A jokey title for a band formed by Coner Oberst (Bright Eyes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and M. Ward. Kind of reminds me of The Travelling Wilburys, - which might, or might not, seem like a good thing to you

Some films worth seeing:

The Damned United – much more affectionate than the book

State of Play – apparently based on a British TV series

Looking For Eric – Can’t tell what Cantona is saying half the time, but still a great feel-good film…with the ending filmed near where I used to live in Worsley!

In The Loop – Film spin-off of “The Thick Of It”, but even funnier. Some of the cast here play different roles but Peter Capaldi reprises his role as Malcolm Tucker

The Wave – German film about how a teacher embarks on an experiment to show his students how easily a dictatorship could rise

Arctic Monkey’s-like in it’s Shite-ness:

Muse – The Resistance: As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a big fan of this band – indeed they are one of the best bands I have ever seen live (do they change their live set nightly?). They have always of course been eccentric – it’s been one of their strengths - but this is overblown, sub-Queen bollocks. No chorus’s except for the first single where they steal “Call Me” (and the Dr Who theme tune)

The Dead Weather – Horehound: Jack White is starting to over-reach himself.

Transformers 2: I was stuck on a plane, what was I supposed to do? Stars Megan Fox, though

Just average:

The Black Crowes – Before The Frost: Can do much better. But the disco song is quite good

Archie Bronson Outfit – Derdang Derdang: Kind of reminds me of Franz Ferdinand, but gets repetitive

Boxer Rebellion – Union: Supposedly a new Bends-era type Radiohead, who caught my ear at Glastonbury. Dull.

Okkervil River – The Stand Ins: The highlight at EOTR, but I find it all a bit too arch and Noel Coward or Divine Comedy like. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul likes it

7 World’s Collide – The Sun Came Out: Charity record with members of Crowded House, Wilco, Radiohead, Johnny Marr and KT Tunstall. They all got together in New Zealand in January to write and record an album. It’s all very nice and everything, and all the money goes to a good cause. But it’s all just a bit boring

Andy

Akira the Don - I Am Not Dead (YEAH!)

2009-11-04T20:20:00.010Z

Zombies in music, old skool at that, dead as a dodo. AK's future is metaphorically frozen garlic bread and in a world where the music goldrush is ending as suddenly as it began, he's the great white hope.

While panic stricken executives in the majors reread 1984 and attempt to bolt flapping holes where gates once existed, some folk read the Strummer rulebook and get off their arses. If you find something you love doing, you have fun and you are ingenious enough to create income streams you'll probably be ok. AK does all this and he makes great music.

There's a deep well of here say lurking on the internet about Mr AK Producer turning down the Yankee Dollar when the opportunity to resuscitate a dying west coast rap scene presented itself. Pretty cool saying no to the dudes with guns.

And back in Blighty in a London flat, AK set about creating, music , cartoons, art, T Shirts, gigs and movies. It's only a timing issue and the events will surely follow.

Everything is available from the oneman online emporium

Akira the Don Website - Including Hi-tops and loads of free download mixtapes

All three of the physical CD's are worth buying, ok it's the past doing the future now but really go retro and buy them.

I Am Not Dead (Yeah!)

Older people (those that switched radio station) may be perturbed by non physical product but I'm sure a local teenager can reassure you.

The 7 track EP comes in a zip file together with artwork for old skool CDs. Its a certified zombie work of art, there's a clue in the titles

I Am Not Dead (Yeah!)

It Could Never Happen Here

Aim For The Brain

The Day ODB died

marketing mayhem ensues with a 5 minute zombie movie made with his pals, be honest you would if you could and 'hand crafted PDF with all the lyrics'.

All for £3.99 Biz

Or you can get the whole thing with a mint T shirt.

I love the fact that all orders and emails are personally dealt with and any money goes straight to the artist. My pack of goodies arrived with extra signed poster and chewy sweets, it's like buying a Whizzer comic and the xray spex attached to the cover actually work.

There is a postscript to this, I had half written this when at 46 seconds into the video this happened.

Actually this only works if you know me

Clearly I had the inside track.

What's not to like, zombies are fantastic

Broke the world record too, go buy something before the bad guys arrive..

11/11

Album - Hockey - Mind Chaos

2009-11-03T19:04:00.005Z

One of the reasons I bother my arse to write here is to counteract some of the vitriol published in the music press .......even if its only in my head.

I stopped buying the regular press a couple of years ago as a private protest to meanness and blatant lies, as Billy said 'don't encourage them',OK he was talking about politicians but the principle is the same.

And so to Hockey a band of nice young men who probably haven't even considered the remote as a suitable projectile, let alone a TV. Mind Chaos is their first album and its chock full of hummable tunes, nothing wrong there you may think. Well according to the music press and I'm paraphrasing out of laziness;

'not a credible band' 'poorly dressed' 'not as good as MGMT' and 'lacking substance' 'a bit lightweight'.

For my part I just like the songs, my kids like the songs and my wife likes the songs. It's a bit like a dancy A-ha with classic 2009 production beats and bleeps added to a serious amount of funky bass. If you liked Hot Chip you'll probably like it, if your inner soul requires a crescendo of guitars for breakfast then just download the one tune.

Too Fake is an absolute belter though - Wallop

Too Fake from the Jools Holland Show

Talking of guitars for breakfast Richard, you need to bring Silversun Pickups out of the darkness.

Album Review- The Longcut - Open Hearts

2009-11-02T17:33:00.006Z

Paul introduced me to The 'Cut (to give them their abbreviated title) about 4 years ago. He lined up "A Quiet Life" one post-Christmas drinkathon with his usual refrain "You're going to love this!" 4 minutes later, after a turbo-charged, frenetic wig-out of a tune, I was hooked.

I quickly discovered that this Mancunian 3 piece had a unique dynamic about them, as I saw them support Nine Black Alps in London a couple of months later. No, it wasn't that they were actually a 4 piece, it was that the drummer was also the full-time singer..and occasionally dabbled on the keyboards as well. With mic and keyboards front of stage, and drumkit back of stage, most songs were constructed in such a way as to allow Stuart Ogilvie (to give him his name) the chance to travel between the two without having to run (and potentially have a nasty on-stage accident). The best result of this was the sense of anticipation one felt as you waited for the vocals to drop out, Stuart to leave the mic, head for the stool, and fire up the drums. Or, in the case of "Gravity in Crisis", the other way round;

Gravity in Crisis live in Manchester

So, after disappearing into the studio a couple of years ago, they have finally emerged (blinking into the sunlight, naturally) with a real chameleon of a second album. On the plus side, "Open Hearts" is so bristling with so many good ideas that surely at least one of them should get a spot on Dragon's Den. As well as containing several tracks with their trademark combination of electronic beats and echoey, monotone vocals, followed by a breakdown, and then an outro of tight, frenetic drumming and blitzkreig guitar ("Tell You So", "Mary Bloody Sunshine", "Boom"), there is also a far dancier element to other tracks, with "Something Inside", "Evil Dance" and particularly the title track standing out, the latter morphing almost into pure house after a Joy Division/Cure opening. Elsewhere, The Fall, The Wedding Present, New Order, At The Drive In and Fugazi should also get honourable mentions.

The only issue with such an album is that, to these ears, it doesn't really know what it is or where it wants to go, so you end up feeling a little bit dazed and confused. This may have been their intention, and if it was, then "jolly well done you, chaps", but maybe it could have done with some more focus on the whole album listening experience thing, although Shuffle will urinate all over that particular bonfire at any time anyone desires. The Luddite in me wishes the album contained more of what alerted me in the first place, the muso applauds them for creating a work of such lofty ambition. I will watch with interest to see what they do next..and hopefully it won't be to write me a snotty e-mail.

Score 6.5 out of 11

A preview of upcoming reviews!

2009-10-30T16:12:00.004Z

I have been conspicuous by my absence from OTSD Towers in the last 6 weeks or so, as so many new albums by bands that I love have been released that I was forced to beat a retreat to a darkened room, in order to gorge myself silly on the feast of sounds newly arrived on the Poddage.

The outcome of this enforced blogging sabbatical is that I am fully satiated and so choc-full of opinion about these new albums that I will soon be regaling you with bite-size reviews of long-player efforts by the following;

The Longcut

Nine Black Alps

A Place To Bury Strangers

The Twilight Sad

I Concur

The year's nearly up as well (where did that go then?), so it's time to start thinking about the subjects for our year end polls, I reckon...

Album - My Gold Mask

2009-10-27T22:42:00.010Z

Most of the reviews I do for albums are pretty much out of date and have been blogged to death before they land here. But to my knowledge this band is pretty brand new to the UK so you are all cutting edge now. ( ok - thanks to a USA based blog which regularly publishes brilliant new stuff). On top of that, anyone paying any sort of attention will have noticed that I've stopped reviewing albums that are just ok. So its effectively Awesome or Arctic Monkeys from now on.

Fortunately this is Awesome and the good news is you can download the whole thing for about £3.70. You get to choose its worth, which is cool. If you are even tighter than that and want to ruin music for future generations you could just steal the free stuff, be careful though, one too many free download and the tectonic plates collide at high speed and that's you lithosphered right out of here.

Yes it's one of those two person bands where the girl drums and sings live and the bloke musics about the place. On record they share the instruments a bit more and for reassurance its nothing like the Ting Tings. There are certainly some Siouxsie and the Banshees influences but the guitar playing makes it a lot heavier in parts and it doesn't really sound like anyone else. Ten times better and more interesting than Big Pink and you can dance to it.

Link to buy the album or just listen to it.

Its a big thumbs up from me as I think they push the boundaries a bit, but for those who can't be bothered with the whole album thing just download this one for free and hold on tight.

Violet Eyes - the next single

Green Day - O2 Arena London

2009-10-27T19:23:00.006Z

So I had a few preconceptions about this gig, it was at The Dome which as everyone knows is cursed, next it's a bloody huge hall with 20,000 capacity. The band are definitely past their sell buy date and their last album is a bit iffy. And I get to go in the seats and not on the pitch for what is essentially a pop punk jump around concert.

On the positive side, I have good people with me and alcohol is encouraged.

As support bands go this lot were the worst I've seen in many a year, imagine The New York Dolls with a very degenerative mind disorder and no songs.......never mind. Bloody awful is enough.

The intro music from 21st Century Breakdown starts, the lights dim and the city backdrop appears behind the huge stage. It's about 8.15pm and they are scheduled to play till 10.50pm, this is going to be a long night....or so I thought. The sound quality in the arena is astonishing, it really shouldn't be that good, for a start 20,000 people should have some effect on it.

Green Day were up and running, quite literally crisscrossing the stage to start with and then Billie Joe just legged it into the crowd and halfway into the stadium guitar in hand....and still playing. OK we've seen it before but not at the start of the concert. From this moment onwards everyone was smiling and crucially everyone was included. Playing an inclusive punk rock gig to 20,000 people is some trick to pull off.

Yes they used all the tricks in the book

Big wavy hands

Big clap alongs

Audience members on stage singing songs and then stage diving

Shooting a child

Fireworks and Flames

Really loud bangs

Cover versions

A gun which delivered T Shirts to all areas of the arena.

More audience people on stage

Moshpit creation

Drumsticks a go-go

but most of all the music worked. The dull latest album took on a whole new life and filled the stadium it seemed designed for...it may well be a different kettle of fish at Leeds Festival on a windy evening but that didn't matter tonight. The hits were thrown in at regular intervals as if to keep everyone on their toes.

These vids from the night are amazing quality too.

When I come around

Know your enemy with crowd surfer at the end oh and BJ goes walkabout again.

We danced, we sang and we waved our arms in the air with the best of them. A three song encore and then back on to finish with a one man 'Good Riddance' (time of your life).

Good Riddance from the top floor

Good Riddance up close singalong

Over two and a half hours and breakneck pace...fantastic

Apparently 'it was always going to be THAT good dad!!'

'Well you ARE going to be good after 21 years dad!'

2009-10-26T17:03:00.015Z

My daughter Rosie had that exclamation mark in her tone as she delivered the above comment, clearly incredulous at my ability to doubt Green Day before the gig.

By way of background which isn't available on Wiki, my younger daughter loves guitar driven punk pop and pretty much no other music is welcome in her ears. One consequence of her narrow music taste is that bands reappear on the conveyor belt at regular intervals.....'cuddly toy' style for the old folk.

And as a further consequence; in early October I'm the oldest person in the Academy 3 at Manchester University to witness 'Hey Monday' and three other bands. Rosie and her other munchkin friend wisely ditched me within seconds of entering the venue and headed of for the barrier. As this was a total of 10 yards in front of me at the back of the hall I happily propped up the bar and opened my scout style 'be prepared' copy of 'Song's that Saved Your Life'.

At £8 for 4 bands or in my case £8 for a cosy spot of drinking they would have to be really bad to get a poor value badge.

Stereo Skyline appeared ' We're from New York' and then bounced around like Busted talking to the munchkins much like Charlie Clown would at a kids party. (I think the average age must have been 15). At one point I really thought they were playing musical statues, turned out to be a dramatic pause for effect style song. Daughter, friend and a host of new found bouncy friends played in the 3 yards wide 6 people deep moshpit. I'm using this term very loosely here and for real moshpit culture please refer to earlier blogs.

Out of Site were up next 'We're from Buckinghamshire' well it got my attention, where in Buckinghamshire is so bad to mention that you'd use the county name? They had a song call 'When we were young' maybe it was about series 1 of X Factor.

'Every Avenue' were up next, now this was going to be fun. They were the punk pop equivalent of Mud. i.e. every other band has 4 brickies and a pretty boy except for Mud who were 5 brickies.

Other than being stoned, sleazy and shockingly bad at what they do, they had full parental approval.

I'd seen Hey Monday supporting some other American pop combo previously so at least I knew they can play and they make a bit of an effort to entertain. Cassadee had learned to sing too and is good enough a front woman to whip the bouncy castle kids into frenzy. They played the 'hazy shade of winter' rip off song I like and then the blow the candles out song.....it was never going to work with mobiles.

It was the last night of the tour so all 4 bands played a cover version of their dad’s favourite Blink 182 tune and risked crowd surfing. It was spontaneous fun and high risk mayhem with the lack of strength and depth to the crowd. I put my book marker in and clapped along.

Rosie and her tiny friends absolutely loved it and as an introduction to indie punk pop bands playing pubs it was perfect. Only 3 years till driving lessons phew.

And so to the other end of the scale Green Day at the O2.

Pets at Home

2009-10-26T12:43:00.009Z

The final remaining goldfish expired last week, so my daughter and I popped into Pets At Home on Saturday morning to pick up a couple of new ones.

“We’d like some goldfish please”

“No problem, does your tank have a filter” said the bloke with the little net in his hand.

Well, I didn’t know that there were different types of goldfish. Some for bowls and others suitable for tanks with filtration systems. We got the last lot at the fair, just before Soph had put an air rifle pellet into the pikey’s leg on the shooting gallery. Hopefully ours had been bowl fish rather than filter fish.

“No.” I answered unsuspectingly, “they are for a bowl”

“Sorry, I can’t sell you any” he retorted, “it’s company policy not to sell fish unless they are going to a tank with a filtration system.

“Oh, FFS” I thought, but wisely kept to myself. Two options then. Find a different assistant and give the correct answer or buy a tank with a filtration system. I went for the latter, it looks quite smart and when you added in the plants and rocks it set me back nearly a hundred quid. Went home and we set it up.

The instructions on the tank said you had to leave it twenty four hours before you put the fish in, so we returned to Pets at Home yesterday. This time I was ready for them.

“We’d like some goldfish please”

“No problem, does your tank have a filter” said a woman who would have had a net in her hand if I hadn’t collared her whilst she was fiddling with the gerbils.

I was a little worried that I might panic and blow it, but we’d been practicing in the car on the way over and I confidently confirmed that our tank did indeed have a filtration system.

“Excellent” she replied as I breathed a sigh of relief.

“And how long has the tank been set up for?”

I hadn’t been expecting this, but I knew the answer as I’d read the instruction booklet.

“Just over 24 hours”, I replied, with emphasis on the ‘just over’ bit.

“Sorry”, she said, “but we only sell our goldfish to homes where the tanks have been set up for at least a week.”

“Oh FFS!!” Only this time I didn’t just think it. Well I wasn’t going to go home empty handed again, so we had to tactically withdraw for ten minutes and pretend to look at the dog kennels until a different assistant appeared.

And so, for the third time…“We’d like some goldfish please”

“No problem, does your tank have a filter” replied a different woman who was just as well versed in company policy as her colleagues.

“Of course” I responded, trying to give the impression that I would be horrified at the prospect of anyone keeping a goldfish in anything less than the Killer Whale pool at Seaworld.

“Excellent” she replied, sticking to the script.

“And how long has the tank been set up for?”

“Just over a week”, I replied, a certain smug expression firmly on my chops.

“That’s fine”, she said, “what are you after?”

I pointed to a tank containing some really small goldfish. Not much bigger than whitebait really, although I kept that thought to myself as well. I was fairly confident by then that they would have a policy about dusting them in flour and deep frying them.

“We’ll have one of the orange ones please, one of the yellow ones and one of those see-through ones.”

“I’m afraid I can only sell you one at a time. You would need to come back in a week if you want a second one.”

It was my daughters turn for the FFS this time. I was beyond being surprised. If she had told me that I would have the fish transported by air ambulance I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid by now. I know when I’m beaten.

She took all my details on a form, stopping just short of getting a magistrate to verify my identity and we took the orange fish, no longer than an inch long, to the checkout where I paid the £1.22 necessary. I could probably have adopted a child with less fuss.

Mutant Exhibition - One Foot in the Grove

2009-10-25T13:51:00.014Z

It's Saturday night, we're in London and the world is our lobster, 'right, lets go and see some mutants under the railway arches'.

The first saving grace is that it's in Ladbroke Grove which is a really cool and no longer trendy area of town, you can get seats in restaurants and there are no queues at the bars. It also has a bit of an edgy feel, the kind of streets you're not allowed down as a tourist.

The second is that the living art exhibition we've come to see has been put together by the folk responsible for Trash City at Glastonbury which at least prepared me for the freaks, the flames and the vaudeville. The huge metallic sculptures straight from the set of Mad Max were there as expected, but the bonus was the 'shed' of modern art. (I almost described it as contemporary then but I honestly have no idea what that word means).

Robots pole dancing is a weird concept in itself,

but extreme 1984 style cots next to them would have messed with my head had I not already taken tequila as a precaution.

The Mutant parade / performance started and in those well used words 'it was a health and safety nightmare' but great street art. High powered flame throwers, fire breathing horses and scantily clad women as likely to trip up and breath fire on you as they were to dance shadows on the walls.

I'm outside on a warm evening with lots of pals, a bar and music, it was always going to be fun. Couple this with street theatre, high jump girls and head mess art and all for £2 you can't really go wrong. If you're at a loose end in London in the next week you should nip down there. Santo's mexican restaurant opposite is pretty cool too.

And if all else fails, just score some drugs.

Album - The Young Republic - Balletesque

2009-10-21T18:32:00.007+01:00

The Young Republic are peerless, I can't think of one band that's released an Indie Folk Classical Blues Album. It's the broadest combination of big music I've ever heard. Just when your mind settles on a convenient reference, the whole box you were constructing gets ripped apart.

As an album Balletesque is an astonishing work, the variations in style and noise levels are held together by songwriting that few other bands match. The band members are in the main classically trained so of course they can play their instruments but the knack of complementing each other and creating space in amongst some very complex music is almost unique.

It's really difficult to reference to other bands and the nearest I can offer is the feel of 'This is the Sea' by The Waterboys when they were absolutely at the top of their game. 'Bows in Your Arms' rears like Medicine Bow or Be My Enemy, The Alchemist is massive and the classical compositions are possibly where Mike Scott was imagining the music. (But it sounds nothing like The Waterboys)

I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be to everyones taste as it's as unfamiliar as it is traditional, and its never going to be a sing a long Killers style album. The lyrics are more obtuse and the chorus' less repetitive than much of the formulaic and dull white boys play guitar music of the last 3 years. I have my doubts as to whether people spend time listening to albums from start to finish anymore, and as there is no obvious single I'm not sure this album is going to launch The Young Republic into the hearts of the nation. I just hope it sells enough to keep the band together so that we can be treated to more songs of this nature.

And in the end it's always the songs that matter, other than a 10 second intro to the album every song has the potential to be memorable and memories are priceless.

It's still Bloody Brilliant

Buy it here now and get a free EP exclusive to Rough Trade

Guest Review - LAIBACH

2009-10-20T20:00:00.007+01:00

I read a few reviews on your website and I thought I can do that as well even if I am just a German Girl. Well, hardly a girl anymore and maybe not such an expert as you all. So therefore I would like to ask you not to be so strict with me, if I have some mistakes in my spelling or writing etc…..

Some reviews inspired me to expand my music taste and I would like to introduce to you one of the most bizarre Slovenian avant-garde music group. Maybe you like it or you hate it. I have to say I hated them the first time I listened to their songs as they sounded a bit disturbed, but then I started to listen to their lyrics and read about the band history. Therefore

some important details about Laibach before listening to them;

The current band members:

Milan Fras - vocals
Ivan Novak - lights and projection
Mina Špiler or Boris Benko or Jadranka Juras - vocals, synthesizer
Janez Gabrič - drums
Luka Jamnik - synthesizer
Primož Hladnik - (member of Slovenian group Silence) synthesizer
Eva Breznikar - (member of Slovenian group Make Up 2) vocals, percussion
Nataša Regovec - (former member of Slovenian pop group Make Up 2) vocals, percussion
Damjan Bizilj - synthesizer

Music and influence :

Some early Laibach albums were pure industrial, with hard industrial percussions, heavy rhythms, and roaring vocals. Later in the mid-80s, the Laibach sound became more richly layered with samples from classical music including from Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The band began their tradition of cover songs in 1987 with the album Opus Dei, where their sound was changed again.

Some early material by Laibach and later neoclassical releases by the band — such as 1990's Macbeth release — were influential on certain artists within the martial music genre.

Also you can find a Wagnerian influence as you might hear in some of their songs such us "Sympathy for the Devil (Time for a Change)".

If you start thinking now they are extreme right wing, because they took some music material of Richard Wagner, you are on the wrong track.

They do not talk so much about themselves or their political attitude, you have to find out and analyse for yourself what you think what they are! One thing is sure, they are neither right nor left – as Laibach said in an interview:

"We are fascists as much as Hitler was a painter" .

It is up to you to decide for yourself what they actually are. You can discuss it with your friends having a bottle of red wine or cider, but you will have a different conservation with cider as with red wine- my experience.

Their most famous or popular song was “Life is Life” in German “Leben heißt Leben” covered from a lot of “ I would like to be famous and to be on Tele” people. These covers are all for beer tent packed with a lot of drunk people who cannot sit or stand straight anymore and if you say excuse me, could you please mind yourself here, they say “ Uh, can`t you see I am dancing” – and the next minute you see this fantastic dancer in the last corner getting rid off his beer having probably his last dance. Anyway do not like beer tents too many people and they start getting smelly after two hours sitting and drinking – no thanks.

So I think, that is enough information, if you really like them or you like to know more about them, then visit their official website

Here some song links (hopefully they work, otherwise you have to search for them yourself on youtube or not)

Life is Life

( this link could work or not, but to me it looks like not – well, have a try)

Sympathy of the Devil (go on have a try…)
Geburt einer Nation

(last one and the most historical one of all as it was the song for „Der Mauerfall” West and East Germany 9.November 1989)

I like constructive critic, but I am not accepting nonsense comment by “anonymous” .

Album - The Young Republic - Balletesque

2009-10-20T19:12:00.001+01:00

It's Bloody Brilliant

buy it here

Oh how easy it is to fall to peer pressure. Right, if you want some detailed analysis try here. I'll post my slightly less detailed opinions later.

Part 1 of Jules review

Part 2 of Jules review

Album - Noah and the Whale - First Days of Spring

2009-10-19T19:43:00.003+01:00

I'm not sure how this happened as under any normal circumstances I would have this lot filed under hippies and relegated them to EOTR sunday morning recovery music. Actually this may be a lot closer to the truth than I'd considered.

My normal cider and friends filter at EOTR festival last year held up quite well and I remember a distinct ' not bad if you like that sort of thing comment'. Their Big Chill appearance was special though, to overcome the poor sound quality at the back I found myself 15 yards from the front really enjoying them. It turns out a lot of the tunes played were from the upcoming album.

Cider and friends filter back in place at Leeds festival I saw 20 minutes and dismissed my previous experience as a one off never to be repeated......then I listened to the album. I've always been a sucker for a violin (I was going to write fiddle there, but it seemed all wrong) since The Pogues or The Waterboys so chucking in whole orchestras of them was always going to get approval.

The album is really uplifting and even if few of the tracks would make Muse look like they are a bit short of kitchen sinks I really like it. I'll been voted out of the jingly jangly guitar appreciation society if I carry on like this, still I can always sit and stroke a fake beard at Green Man festival with Andy I suppose.

I thought the cover was him being bludgeoned by a monkey with a baseball bat. Turns out it's not half that exciting.

God Ain't Jive

2009-10-14T19:21:00.003+01:00

I was too young to see Mott the Hoople the last time they played together in 1974. Well, not necessarily too young, but at nine years of age I was more interested in playing football or cowboys and indians. I was 12 or 13 before I started getting into music. My Mam, noticing that I had started buying LP’s, bought me one at a jumble sale for 10p. She didn’t buy it because she thought I would like Mott the Hoople, as she had no idea who they were. She bought it simply because it was a record and she knew that I had started buying them for myself. It was The Hoople, the one with the girl with the big hair on the cover, the one with Roll Away The Stone on and the one made after the original guitarist and keyboard bloke had moved on. I loved it. Thanks, Mam.

That LP was the last one for the singer too and not long afterwards he moved on and Mott The Hoople were effectively finished. The drummer and bassist persisted for a while as Mott and then British Lions but without their original singer they slipped off the radar.

A few months after I got that LP, I saw a book in Woolworths with a photo of that singer, Ian Hunter, on the front, all curly hair and the ever present sunglasses. At that early teenage stage in my life my usual Woolworths literary preference was for books about Hells Angels, partly for the violence but mainly for the much more explicit descriptions of sex than you got in the likes of James Bond. For years I thought that wiping oil off your hands onto your jeans was more than sufficient foreplay. There wasn’t much sex in Ian Hunters book, but Diary of a Rock and Roll Star was as much of a delight to me as the jumble sale LP had been.

Hunter had kept a travel diary of their tour to America in late ’72, describing in detail the gigs, the travelling and just what it was like to be in a band on tour. He met the stars like Keith Moon and Frank Zappa, he sneaked into Graceland in an unsuccessful attempt to see Elvis but was thrilled to come away with a leaf from his drive, he described his visits to pawn shops in search of old guitars and amps and he told us all about the people that he met whilst travelling and playing the gigs, headlining in small venues, supporting in the bigger ones. It was travel writing in the way I’ve grown to love. Go somewhere and write down what you see and what it makes you think about. No donkey’s, fridges or contrived restrictions to ‘give it an angle’. I’m digressing here and, anyway, I’ve done this rant before. The bottom line is that if the LP had left any doubts, the book had got me hooked.

I started buying Ian Hunter solo LP’s and loved them. I bought one by Bad Company too, because the original Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs had joined them after he left Mott, but I wasn’t too impressed. The other band members didn’t really have solo careers worth mentioning and for years it was Hunter who kept my interest.

There was often talk of a Mott the Hoople reunion, most of the band were on good terms with at least some of the others and Mick Ralphs had toured with Ian Hunter a few years back, playing a few Mott songs amongst the Hunter solo stuff. But getting all five back together seemed unlikely. Hunter isn’t one for looking backwards; it’s the current record that catches his attention. Mick Ralphs had gone on to far greater success with Bad Company than Mott the Hoople ever enjoyed. Verden Allen, the keyboard player had played in a few bands but hadn’t been successful, Buffin the drummer had become a Radio 1 Producer and hadn’t picked up his sticks for nearly thirty years. Pete Watts, the bassist, had given up on music altogether, sold all his gear and opened an antique shop. If occasionally a couple of them might have been interested, then the other three never were.

Last year, Verden was talking to Ian at one of Ian’s solo gigs and the subject came up. Verden pointed out that if they didn’t do it soon, then they never would. It’s like lots of things in life, it’s often enough to know that you could do it if you wanted to. Its only when the prospect looks like being taken away from you, that you get that metaphorical silver platform boot up the arse. I suppose I should have mentioned that Hunter is now seventy and the rest of the band are in their mid sixties. This seemed to finally strike a chord with Hunter and he agreed to ask Mick Ralphs. Mick was up for it. He had recently done some Bad Company reunion gigs and was possibly appreciating the benefits of spending some time with your old mates. And I suppose there’s not much on telly these days is there? Verden managed to rope in Pete and Buff and it was on. Forty years after they first got together and thirty five years after they split they would do two nights at the Hammersmith Apollo. The tickets sold out within a day and a third night was added, then a fourth and fifth. A couple of warm up gigs were then scheduled for Monmouth which is close to where four of the band live.

I missed the first Monmouth gig, I’d already got my flight booked back to Teesside that evening and I had stuff to do. Why on Earth I’d deemed anything more important I can’t comprehend now, but anyway I didn’t get there. Apparently it went really well. Buff didn’t show though, it had been announced beforehand that due to ill health he wouldn’t be able to play the full shows, but he would do what he could and Martin Chambers of The Pretenders would fill in for the bits that he couldn’t.

Saturday morning I set off for Monmouth. A clever bit of scheduling by either the Football League or Mott the Hoople meant that I could take in the Boro game at Coventry beforehand. It was one of those rare days where the Boro game wasn’t the focus of my attention though. I listened to Mott live recordings on the way down, hardly able to wait until that evening. The Boro game distracted me for 90 minutes, culminating in us throwing away a certain victory by conceding two goals in the last twelve minutes. I was pissed off for half an hour or so, but it didn’t really matter, I had important things to do.

I arrived in Monmouth about half an hour before the gig was due to start, dumped my gear in an out of town travel lodge and got a taxi to the gig, which was taking place in a former school gym that had been converted into a 400 seater theatre. I was in row 4, about 5 yards from the stage. Buffin was absent again, in hospital with a nosebleed, so Martin Chambers was filling in on the drums once more. When Ian sang the opening line to the first song, Hymn for the Dudes, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. They went straight into Rock and Roll Queen, a song that was surely a bigger influence on Oasis than The Beatles ever were, before playing Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane. The band all looked as if they were absolutely loving it, Pete Watts especially, as he peered into the crowd from the front of the stage.

They had an acoustic break about a third of the way through where they all sat down for Original Mixed Up Kid and I Wish I was Your Mother, before eventually finishing off with the hits and encoring with the even bigger hits. They brought it to a close with the singalong Saturday Gigs, by which time the crowd had finally got to their feet after spending the rest of the gig bobbing up and down in their seats in that strange seated dancing thing that looks more like they are dying for a piss than anything else.

At the end, a lack of taxis meant I went straight back to my hotel rather than risking a five mile walk later on. I didn’t mind though. I hadn’t ever expected to see Mott play live, so it was such a weird feeling. A bit like when you find yourself temporarily transported back to your youth by the smell of the assembly hall floor or a visit to some longer forgotten holiday destination. There would be a bit more re-living to come as well, with five gigs scheduled for the following week at Hammersmith.

Thanks again, Mam.

Craig

Slow Club - Live in Leeds

2009-10-06T18:43:00.004+01:00

Thats as in playing Live in Leeds as opposed to The Who who do in fact have a dormer bungalow just off Hyde Park. (Leeds not London)

Even in my own self appointed ‘expert on anything’ world I’ll admit I’m no Gok Wan, never the less, I’ve recently become conscious of making a few snap judgments on people based upon their clothing. It’s not even people I’m meeting, just randoms. It may have been subconsciously brought on by reading Mike Scotts opinions on the ubiquitous look of the 15 year to 55 year age group. The summary was scruffy, uninspired and dull…..actually, my favourite look.

And so back to judgements, lets start with UG Boots, I’ve already concluded that the type of person who wears these is ‘not my sort’ . Whereas, I’ve got people who wear hoodies now as good anti fashion people who may be a bit WAY but are no doubt good for a pint or two.

I like all hats and everyone who wears them and I hate the whole football top thing, unless of course its on the players, although even here I think I’d make them wear a shirt and tie if they are on the bench.. Oh yes and the point of this

Brudenel Social club is like a Rupert Bear convention when we arrive, I really like checked shirts. I go all the way back to Big Country and 80’s student life, Andy has always worn his with panache! how could I not like them. This place was more like a moving multicoloured Cluedo board though, I was so tempted to go for the Colonel Mustard in the toilet with the lead piping gag but it may have been misconstrued.

Tonight would be my first time seeing Slow Club and as Pam had offered to take me out and drive me home for my birthday I was all set for a happy time. £2.15 a pint for Strongbow was also going to assist. Thankfully we arrived early enough to bag a seat although the whole student sitting on the floor thing would have suited me just fine.

After a fairly non descript local band, we were treated to a fragile and sultry set from Cate Le Bon. Cate sounds like Nico doing a take on deliberate French accent, well she did until she spoke and then she was clearly Welsh. I sussed this in the middle of the Welsh language song she was singing…..told you the drinks were cheap. Much touted, recently I liked her enough to buy a CD. I know, ‘how many sultry singer songwriters does the world need?’ but I loved her fragility and her humour.

I’d watched Slow Club on Youtube, live performances and videos, on the basis of this I bought the album and loved it well 9/13ths of it. I had high expectations.

From the moment they started the gig unannounced in the middle of the audience I knew I was going to love it. Everything about Slow Club live is wonderful, the between song banter, the audience inclusion, ‘get on stage and dance to this one or we’ll look like prats’ to the snappier versions of the songs. Pam was sober and loved them, I was happyish and really loved them, people sang, people danced, people laughed, everyone smiled. They played all the songs I knew and a few more, then they hit the 11pm curfew. No worries…lets all head outside to the smoking area………and carry on.

I can’t recommend them too highly. They are playing Crewe next week and the first time anything mildly interesting happens in Crewe and I’m out of the country. Must see at any festival next year chaps.

Oh yeah, they disappear in a woosh of smoke at the end too

End of the Road Festival 2009 - Sunday

2009-09-30T22:08:00.005+01:00

Sunday:

Trips to the nettles and the CD shop successfully negotiated, it was time for more fun in the sun. We woke up to find that Craig had packed and left. I don’t think we had upset or insulted him; it was more that he had to go to work (though I did tell the couple camped next to us that we had sent him away because they had complained about his snoring).

A lazy morning spent reading the Sunday papers and then kicked up a gear when Judith decided to set the pace by being first to start drinking (the rest of us had decided that we would have a quieter day). Craig wanted to know about Whispertown 2000, so Judith and I went to check them out. Bit shouty with a girl singer/guitarist and girl bassist who were doing their best, bless them, was my verdict. Next up in the Big Top was Joe Gideon & The Shark (think: Johnny Cash meets The White Stripes, with the girl from Bat For Lashes on drums – she looked a bit mad to me). This lot were a big surprise, making a fearsome Old Testament-y racket. Though I must say that they did polarise opinion: Me and Chris thinking it to be one of the highlights of the festival, but the girls thinking it interesting, but no more.

So, via the CD shop we went to see another band marked on my card, Magnolia Electric Co. (think: Neil Young meets Fleetwood Mac…but, as I was to find out, without the tunes of either). As somebody (Rosie?) put it so eloquently in a comment to Paul’s Arctic Monkey’s review: Dull, dull, dull.

Having sat down and started to fall asleep, it was necessary to avert potential disaster and up the drinking pace. Once back at a safe altitude, it was time to check out a bit of Steve Earle (the man is a legend)

Unfortunately, Steve had also embraced the idea that he could just wing it with an acoustic guitar, and was making the girls restless. I had also mentioned that in his early days, he was considered something of a looker. The girls weren’t buying this, so it was off to the CD shop to look at the back of CD covers.

Having failed to convince the girls, it was off to The Local to see Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards (think: the deepest voice you have ever heard, go two octaves lower, and then imagine it has just got out of bed and needs the first of the days cigarettes. And a band that is a bit Nick Cave, and a bit Tom Waits). I had not originally been too impressed with the album, but it proved to be a grower. Live, I had been expecting some old bloke, but Dan Michaelson turned out to be some young surf-type dude. They were good.

Time for tea; a quick visit to the CD shop (and a meeting with The Hold Steady, who were doing a meet and greet there – so an opportunity to request songs…which were immediately dismissed), more beer, and then back to the main stage for the rest of the night. We arrived mid-way through Neko Case’s set (think: Stevie Nicks meets Fleetwood Mac…or at least the songs that Stevie Nicks sings in Fleetwood Mac) to find her in fine hollering form. Also a good line in stage banter between her and the Susan Boyle-type backing singer. We enjoyed them.

One final beer and it was time to set up stall for The Hold Steady (think: Springsteen’s E-Street Band meets The Replacements). Having sensibly ignored my requests (though they would have had to pay attention to me if they had been playing musical statues!), the band tore through 100 minutes of all their fastest, jumpiest, singalongiest songs. No let up for slow songs, they stuck in 3 or 4 uptempo newies, didn’t bother pausing for an encore and wrapped up the festival in grand style.

The girls were off to bed at this point, but something about The Hold Steady encourages the drinking of large amounts of alcohol. So, for me and Chris, the night was still young. Archie Bronson Outfit (think: Kings of Leon meets Metallica) were laying waste to the Big Top and making a fine racket. A nice change after all of the weekends pedal steel guitars. We watched half the set and then it was off to the Tipi to watch a “surprise” set by The Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay (think: Super Mario meets the keyboardist in the E-Street band meets Groucho Marx). We’d learnt our lesson with the Tipi the previous day so, armed with more beer, it’s straight down the front and into the Northern Soul melee to strut our stuff. Franz turns up presently and entertains us with songs from his new solo album, plus tales of his days in the Circus. He makes us laugh and he has a fair bit of banter with the crowd. In contrast to a discussion we had recently on these very pages, he thinks bands reforming is generally a good idea…though he agrees that maybe not in the case of Van Halen.

So, one last trip to the CD shop completed. We realise that ten pints have again somehow slipped themselves down are necks and we bid the festival goodnight.

Top weekend 10/11

And here’s a short film that somebody has put together of the weekend. It gives you a good flavour of the festival and has some nice music.

Short film about EOTR

End of the Road Festival 2009 - Saturday

2009-09-30T21:44:00.008+01:00

Saturday:

We awoke after 9 hours uninterrupted sleep (minus visit to the nettles) to another sunny day. Feeling surprisingly chipper, and with little lasting effect from the paint-stripper. After a trip to the CD shop, it was time to while away the morning generally talking crap and to perfectly time a visit to a Turdis. Judith was off to visit relatives for the day and, once he was full of bottomless pocket Cider and paint-stripper, Craig had rashly let slip that he had the Beatles Mono box set in his car and once plied with even more paint-stripper had offered to lend it to me. With trip to the car park duly taken, we were rapidly approaching the magical midday bar opening. So, with backpack and magical pockets replenished, we were up and running.

First up was a visit to the Leisure Society. Craig had these on his radar, as they, like many of the smaller EOTR artists, tend to play his local workingman’s club. We arrived mid set and enjoyed some pleasant Americana type music. They did however finish with a first rate cover of The Beatles’s Something. I always believe it takes a certain amount of confidence – or stupidity – to tackle a highly recognisable Beatles song, and they pulled it off.

Unfortunately we missed Bob Log III, which is a shame as he looks interesting

After a visit to the CD shop it was time for one of my must-sees of the weekend The Low Anthem (think: Tom Waits meets Neil Young). Band consists of a singer with a headband (edgy!), a girl looking somewhat confused – though Craig thought she was just a bit sulky – and another bloke. They all kept switching around instruments and played some truly beautiful music. One of the highlights.

Next up on the garden stage was Broken Family Band (think: Squeeze meets Libertines meets C&W band, but this is what they have to say about themselves: We all have different tastes, but we all love Mr. Blue Sky by ELO and Stop The Bleeding by The Bronx. Steven thinks he's Mister Eclectic, with his newly-downloaded Nigerian pop compilation and his adolescent Black Flag fetish, but really it's bad taste masquerading as fashion sense. No-one's impressed by a man with one token Marvin Gaye album. Jay is stuck in the 80s and hopelessly lost to Joe Satriani, Van Halen and all those florid men with shiny guitars. The only saving grace for this 'dude' is his passion for AC/DC and Stephen Malkmus b-sides. Micky has never made a secret of the fact that he likes Oasis. He goes nuts for sappy stuff like Band Of Horses, Howling Bells and even Coldplay, but he's the guy sending those youtube clips of Travis from Blink 182 playing drums in the noddy. Gavin is like a quiet horse, gently grazing forever in a field of 1970s "Soul Reggae", but he’s not fooling anyone – turn your back and there's some cruddy early 90s pop punk leaking out of his stereo. Jets To Brazil? Really? Three of us still like Rival Schools for christ's sake. Early on we were aiming for a country/folksy take on pop music, and we've gradually developed 'our own thing', which is perhaps a bit noisier).

The band had recently announced that they would be splitting up after this and a few other dates and, not really bothered to promote their new album, they played songs to make us laugh. Nice line in self-deprecating humour too, as in “to keep thing simple, the next song is in the same key and with most of the same chords as the last one”. Their set was very well attended and they went down a storm, though they did cause some distress at the end when they announced that they were off to spit-roast a peacock.

After two highlights in a row, it was back to the tents to drink beer and sit on the chairs we had been carrying around for the last few hours. This also neatly coincided with the arrival of Sue and her stock of ice-cold Stella and (no doubt) fresh raspberries. Suitably refreshed, it was time for the evening.

Next on my list was a visit to see J. Tillman at the Tipi tent. Unfortunately, it was too full and we ended up sat outside in the sunshine. Although perhaps not so unfortunate, as he was one of these artists who couldn’t be bothered bringing along a band, so was just strumming away on acoustic. As Judith was now back with us, we queued again to get in for Blitzen Trapper (think: Wilco meets the Beatles). This lot were on my must see list, but the tent was so full and stupidly designed, we couldn’t see anything. So it was off to the garden stage via the CD shop.

Next up were perhaps the highlight of the weekend, Okkervil River (think: Morrissey meets Springsteen). This band were simply fantastic, with each song something of a stirring anthem. Big thumbs up from Craig and Judith, though by the end of the set Craig was starting to flag and do the fall asleep stood-up routine he learnt of Copey. Off to the bar, a quick trip to the CD shop and then some food.

And here’s a clip of Okkervil River playing in the afternoon at the piano in the woods (it takes a while to get going, all you impatient instant gratification seekers)

Okkervil River at the piano in the woods

Headliners for the garden stage tonight were Fleet Foxes (think: Crosby, Stills & Nash meets The Byrds). Everybody raves about this band and I’ve tried really hard to like them, but I just can’t see what the fuss is about. The songs I like most seem to have Pan Pipes in them and inexplicably remind me of Fernando by Abba. Anyway, we tried, but all the messing around for two or three minutes between each song really does detract. So, to the strains of Fernando, we bade farewell and went to play in the woods.

First stop, the piano: some people doing Bohemian Rhapsody and then I tried to get them to do the 118 247 advert. They gave me short shrift, so, undaunted; it was off to the disco floor. Eye Of The Tiger, Livin’ On A Prayer. Come on! The classics! So we did our “guess who this is” dancing game (I won, naturally). There was also a game of musical statues, which I decided needed judging, but after a while Judith told me to stop as I was scaring and intimidating girls. And I’ve just remembered that we had lost Craig by this point. Where did you go, mate?

Tired and emotional, Judith and I headed off to bed. However Chris and Sue were having none of it and were off to watch Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley DJ. By all accounts a bit of a fiasco as (a) they had no idea what to do and (b) they were pissed. Jarvis apparently went all Professorial and started to dismantle everything, whilst Richard Hawley stood back and took the piss (much as Paul does, if you are struggling to put away your tent).