Inside My Stupid Brain

First of all, check out my epic ATP review right here: http://mymusos.com/all-tomorrows-parties-vs-the-fans-part-ii-the-fans-strike-back/4557. I swear I've written essays shorter than it, so it would be very nice if some of you could read it.

In other news I'm thinking about trying to do some home recording. I've been really wanting to make some Noise Rock-type stuff after seeing The Jesus Lizard and I figure some rubbish lo-fi home recordings would sound alright and get that kind of rough Big Black/early Godflesh or Swans feel. So I'm scouring ebay for cheap 4 tracks. Any advice would be nice as well.

In celebration of the fact that I come up with about a million band names every day, here are some other projects I've been thinking of forming.

Pangolin - a Tortoise/Trans Am/Stereolab style melodic (but not so far towards the epic) post-rock group, with slightly complex, fiddly guitar lines. I've written some stuff for it, but I'm not sure I'm a good enough guitarist to do it properly yet. Plus pangolins are well cute.

Crushosaur - I made up this name after hearing about the metal band Bongzilla, and deciding that no name I could think of would be sillier. We would be pretty silly but massively rocking stoner rock stuff. I've written some stuff for this and it sounds pretty good. I can't not use that name, anyway.

Colossus - Like Crushosaur, but a little bit more experimental/serious. We'd probably slow things down and make things a bit doomy as well. We'd definitely be the one to make 12-minute epic.

Surgeons/Electric Barbarossa - One of my ultimate aims. We'd be an experimental rock/psychedelic rock/krautrock influenced outfit, but with lots of broader influences and, again, more opportunities for long songs and whatnot. Basically I just want to be Oneida, so much.

Also, please don't steal any of these names, unless you can do the projects much better than me. Which is pretty likely, actually.

Adventures In Oxfam #2. Godflesh - Messiah

Hello folks and welcome to the second installment of my new series. Today I will be reviewing Messiah by Godflesh, which narrowly beat The Cure's self-titled album in my browsing this week. Sorry this took so long - life/ATP got in the way, and then I lost the CD for a couple of days. Grr. Anyway...















(I apologise unreservedly for this image).

Backstory

You may remember that I was thinking of getting this album last time, and I've eventually given in, mainly due to curiousity as much as anything else. Godflesh is the project of Justin K. Broadrick, later of Jesu, and I've heard both name being bandied around as being fairly important metal bands. I also chose it because I thought this exercise would be a good opportunity to check out music I don't listen to that often. I have really very little idea what to suggest, wiki says "industrial metal". Well, we'll see.

Artwork

Ok, a bit minimal. Contains some fairly spooky photos (I have no idea what's going on in the one inside). Bare amount of information inside. 5/10.

(Also it turns out that's not the front cover I'm posing with up there. Oh well)

1. Messiah

Starts with a fairly big, yet melodic riff. Nice bass tone. Vocals quite understated, sort of spoken-word and quite low in the mix, which makes a welcome change from a lot of metal. This is a lot more listenable than I was expecting. I think there's a subtle hint of electronics, or at least some kind of tremelo-y noise in the background, which adds to the feel of the track quite nicely. I can definitely hear the common threads between this and Jesu, especially the Silver EP stuff.

2. Wilderness of Mirrors

Opens with some weird electronics and what sound like programmed drums (I checked the insert, and apparently the drums are indeed programmed, although they're done very well). Another big, squelchy bass sound and that kind of phasey, echoey guitar part that they love in industrial stuff. Again there's not a huge amount of variation as it goes on, but I suppose that's sort of the point. I do like the flangey electronics a lot. Another good track.

3. Sungod

Mostly drums and bass this one, with Broadrick's dispassionate (even for this album) vocals over the top. The guitar part is quite atonal and screechy, but it works quite well. There's not too much more to say, the tracks are fairly similar in their approach, but they all work quite well.

4. Scapegoat

Almost tribal sounding drums at the beginning (although they go a bit slowed-down drum n' bass later). I'm starting to appreciate how the repeition seen in these songs is part of the hypnotic charm. The vocals are a bit distorted on this one, which is a nice change and the guitar part is more of a traditionally metal one. This is probably the most aggressive track so far (and over 2 minutes shorter than everything else, I notice). Ooh there's even sort of metal shouting. \m/ I'm fond of this one.

5. Messiah Dub

I had wondered what all these "Dub" tracks were at the end. Then I found out this was originally supposed to be an EP released solely to the Godflesh fan club, but it got a rerelease some years later, with these four remixes tacked on to the end. Not sure what to expect.

I see why they call it "dub" now. There's a lot more bass, and it feels a bit slower and more groove-orientated. The bass isn't really distorted anymore either, it sounds like Jah Wobble playing it now. The vocals are nice and echoey too. Pretty good.

6. Wilderness of Mirrors Dub

A similar kind of thing going on here. They've not really played around with the structure of the songs very much so far, so I'm not sure how much extra value they add but they're interesting curiosities at least. This one is definitely a bit more swirly, atmospheric and shoegaze-y, so again I can see the link with Jesu.

7. Sungod Dub

I'm realising trying to judge these dub versions against the originals is somewhat tricky, given the fact that I've only listened to each one time. I suppose this is a limitation of the live reviewing format, but I don't suppose this problem will occur too much. It's not sounding too repetitive as I'm listening so I guess that's a plus for the remixes! I notice some additional piano and spacey background noise on this one, which I heartily approve of.

8. Scapegoat Dub

I'm expecting something different her, however, since the remix is about 5 minutes longer than the original track. Right away the drums sound even more drum n' bass/jungle style. Man these remixes make Godflesh sound quite a lot like Killing Joke. I like how they make up the extra time on these - it sort of deconstructs the original and throws it a lot of buzzy electronics and ambient noise while the drums pound on.

Overall, I really liked that. It was an interesting, and surprisingly listenable introduction into a genre I've been meaning to investigate for a while. I've been having a bit of a metal binge this week as well, which helps.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Horatio x

For those of you on lastfm

This thing is quite neat. It makes a wallpaper based on the covers of your favourite albums. You'll also notice that it suggests linking to it from your blog if you like it, so I have begrudgingly agreed.

This is what my desktop now has adorning it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37274331@N02/3530802678/

Oh and for the first time in a while I have a review up. Hurrah! Here is my review of HEALTH at Corsica Studios last week http://mymusos.com/health-london-corsica-studios/4502

I'll reiterate my appeal here: I'm lookign for guest bloggers, if anyone fancies it (and am happy to reciprocate). I might just have a guest blog up this week, if I'm lucky.

Peace

Horatio x

Knee Deep at ATP

Gnnnrrr ATP so good. Can't think properly. So tired and ill. But worth it. Best weekend ever. Just amazing. I don't feel up to doing a full review of all the music yet (though I'm sure I'll write one for one of my sites & put it up here) so now have a very long list of mostly non-musical highlights of the weekend:

-Geordie from Killing Joke drinking from a bottle of wine during their set.
-Some guy randomly lifting me up during same set
-Being so disorientated after Sleep (seriously my trousers were still soaked with sweat the next day) that I bought a load of sour sweets, for reasons I don't quite understand
-Being pushed along in one of those tall, thin trolleys by a very inebriated friend of mine at about 1 in the morning. Somebody randomly joined in as well. It's a miracle we didn't hit anyone
-Shouting myself hoarse to the DJ set right at the end to "Debaser" and other classics. I then witnessed a human pyramid (which collapsed) and took part in some kind of weird knee-sitting chain thing (which also collapsed)
-After above someone who happens to work for ATP talked about there being a "cock party" on the beach and mentioned how he'd like to get two men so drunk that they'd slap their cocks together rhythmically.
-During a technical problem in Marnie Stern's set her bassist told a story, pretending to be Marnie, about her rejecting John Cusack when she was 17.
-Some guy, whilst throwing up, saying to a girl who was clearly quite disturbed "It's just rock n' roll, honey, don't worry about it"
-There was an art exhibiton, and I popped my head in at one point to see there was a live improv jam going on on the floor of the gallery
-Lydia Lunch's spoken word set. Surprisingly good.
-Beirut asking if he should "put a donk on it"
-Future of the Left being generally funny, describing ATP as an "alternative festival of beards and flannel shirts" and throwing love hearts into the crowd. I caught one.
-Coming up with yet another pseudonym: "Justin Parenthesis"

And, possibly best of all, meeting the bassist from Parts & Labor so many times yesterday that I felt I was practically in the band. There's also an awesome photo of the two of us where it looks like I've pinched him on the arse. Observe:
















Wow, that's a lot of highlihts. Guess truly it was a memorable weekend.

Peace out

Horatio x

"No" Subject

Hello folks. I'm off to the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in about 15 minutes, so normal service should resume next Monday or thereabouts (I doubt you'll even notice, hahaha). For some content to keep you going, have a short article I wrote on No Wave for the Cherwell student paper in Oxford, which may or may not have been published, I don't know.

"Yes it sounds like a joke. Yes it sounds like something the NME would make up (incidentally does anyone remember their laughable attempt at “no name” some years back?). No, you’ve almost certainly never heard of it. But No Wave was an influential, pioneering and often challenging music and art scene that briefly thrived in New York in the late 70s and early 80s.
Although not strictly a coherent genre in itself the No Wave bands formed a loose collection that sort to distance themselves from the emergent new wave scene. Drawing on a range of diverse influence, including funk, jazz and all things avant garde, the music itself is often extremely dissonant and seems to favour rhythm and texture over actual melody. The musicians, many of them artists as well, embraced the “do it yourself” attitude of punk, with added nihilist tendencies.
No Wave’s mission statement is undoubtedly the Brian Eno produced “No New York”, which features tracks by scene stalwarts James Chance and the Contortions, DNA, Mars and Teenage Jesus & the Jerks. Of these the Contortions are by far the best, their signature song “Contort Yourself” being an essential introductory track, whereas Teenage Jesus are definitely best avoided at first.
However, perhaps a better introduction to the varied sounds of the scene, and one that’s somewhat easier to get hold of, is the “New York Noise” compilation, which includes tracks by the almost criminally funky Konk, the magnificent Bush Tetras and the sublime ESG.
Inevitably the influence of No Wave far surpassed the extremely limited popularity it enjoyed during its lifetime. Theoretical Girls, and especially their experimental guitarist Glenn Branca, were greatly influential on Sonic Youth and indeed both Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore played with Branca on his solo recordings. Sonic Youth’s “Confusion is Sex” is the best realisation of their early No Wave tendencies and Glenn Branca’s “Lesson No. 1” is one of the most beautiful and interesting compositions of the period, and relatively easy on the ears to boot. Other modern bands influenced by the No Wave scene, and all worth checking out, include Liars (particularly “Drum’s Not Dead”), Les Georges Leningrad and Erase Errata.
So if you like your music to be challenging and inventive, often difficult but ultimately rewarding, then you could do much worse than checking out this remarkable period in post-punk music history. Sometimes it is better just to say “No”."

Horatio x

Best Supergroup Ever

It has been brought to my attention tonight that if I were to form a band comprised of musicians who share my birthday it would include, alongside myself:

Neal Peart, drummer for the prog giants Rush
Ben Folds, of the Ben Folds Five and solo fame

and

Barry White (hey, I'm already stretching the boundaries of plausability)
Oh, and Maurice Chevalier (singer of "Thank Heaven For Little Girls")

It would certainly be an interesting sound. I'm almost tempted to try and record a song based on what I think that collaboration would sound like, although that might mean I'd have to try and imitate my own musical style, which is quite a freakishly meta thought.

Things have been a little quiet on the review front, but I rdid review the Sonic Youth gig at the Scala. (http://mymusos.com/sonic-youth-london-scala/4217) I basically said exactly the same as in my previous post, but in more words. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Also, I promise a more substantial update soon. I've just not felt like it today.

The First Third

It can sometimes be difficult to tell how good a year will be for music at the time. Often it only really becomes apparent at the end of the year, although hindsight can be an obfuscating force. For me it was only really 2007 and 2008 that I was into music enough to consider this question as the year was progressing (I think the former was the better of the two years, but that's not really the issue here). This trend of being progressively more up-to-date with music has continued this year, especially with the music reviewing, and so I thought I'd try and give a review of 2009 so far, to try and make sense of it musically. I slightly stole this idea from a thread on Drownedinsound, but here are a list of the albums I've heard so far this year, in rough order, with each one rated out of 5.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion 5/5
Dan Deacon - Bromst 5/5
Mi Ami - Watersports 4.5/5
Dark Was The Night (compilation) 4.5/5
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love 4.5/5
Micachu - Jewellery 4/5
Beirut - March of The Zapotec/Holland 4/5
Zu - Carboniferous 4/5
Mastodon - Crack The Skye (need to listen to this more) 4/5
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - The Century of Self 3.5/5
The Horrors - Primary Colours 3.5/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! 3.5/5
Thee Oh Sees - Help 3.5/5
worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals 3.5/5
Bob Log III - My Shit Is Perfect 3/5
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love 3/5
Fever Ray - Fever Ray 3/5
Love Is All - A Hundred Things Kept Me Up At Night 2.5/5
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project 2.5/5
Magik Markers - Balf Quarry 2/5

Wow, that's quite a lot, eh? And there's at least another 2 on top of that I haven't listened to enough to really form a proper opinion of. And I've probably forgotten about one that I've listened to on spotify or something. Whatever.

Looking at that, I'd say 2009's been pretty sweet so far. The top 5 are about as good as I could expect from new albums, and nicely varied too. Plus, there's plenty more exciting stuff coming out this year, and a whole load of things on my "excited about" list, which now includes Jeffrey Lewis, Big Business, The Field, Dinosaur Jr and drone-fanatics Sunn o))), among others.

I've also been making the effort to go to more gigs this year. Would you like a quick review of all the gigs I've seen this year? Of course you would.

Parts & Labor @ Cargo

Excellent. Very good start to the year.

HTRK @ The Lexington

Went on a whim, as was recommended by lastfm. Was surprisingly good.

Dinosaur Pile-Up @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Disastrous.

Dutch Uncles/It Hugs Back @ RoTa, Notting Hill Arts Club

First band (can't remember the name) weren't great, but these two were both good. Made up for missing an all-dayer at Brick Lane.

Maths Class @ This Is Offset Presents, The Buffalo Bar

Missed the first band, but these guys were good.

The Fall @ Koko

Really good, much better than I was suspecting. Certainly better than the first time I saw them. Mark E Smith was on good form.

Bob Log III @ The 100 Club

The most fun gig I've been to in an age. Very sweaty and enjoyable.

Mi Ami @ The Lexington

Had to go on my own, but really good. Very loud and energetic,

Some bands @ The Buffalo Bar

None were particularly memorable. The company was much better.

Frightened Rabbit instore @ Pure Groove Records

Interesting going to a daytime gig. Nice and intimate.

Sonic Youth @ The Scala

Superlative. Gig of the year so far, easily.

Mi Ami (again) @ The Macbeth

Even better than the first time I saw them. Smaller venue as well. Glad I went to see them a second time.

That's not too shabby, considering I've missed about 4-5 gigs I really wanted to see on top of that. And it's ATP this weekend! Roll on, rest of 2009!

Hip To Be Square

Aagh, can't stop the puns...

As people who know me well wall know, I like to consider myself as a hipster (some differing definitions here, for those of you who somehow don't know what it means). Basically, although the word has a lot of negative connotations I consider it as mostly a positive thing and am proud to call myself a hipster (I'm possibly trying to reclaim it, I don't know).

Anyway I was sitting in my room recently and it occurred to me that's it become a hipster den, of sorts. To find out why, have a special photo-heavy edition of Music Is My Boyfriend!

Contents of My Room:

First of all, the most important thing to a hipster (or muso, if you prefer) is their music. Because I'm conscientious, and I value the physical product, my room is stacked with CDs bloody everywhere, which wins me lots of hipster points. Observe:

Also visible: a root beer bottle (bought from a shop that specialises in imported candy, no less), and a Bill Hicks DVD. That wall of CDs on the left is two deep, by the way.

I really wasn't lying about the number of CDs I own. Also notice rad Nick Cave poster. Other awesome band posters in my room:

Magik Markers
The Hospitals
Erase Errata
Comets on Fire
Black Dice
A poster for the first Hands of Cuba gig
Plus an Achewood (webcomic) poster

On a similar musical note, I have strewn about my room:

2 basses
1 guitar
a ukulele
a drum machine
a very old keyboard (under my bed)

Hipsters also love their retro video games, right?















This gamecube is sadly not mine, but I like the way it is perched atop a load of graphic novels, and two amps. I have a good number of graphic novels in my room (but would really like some more!), and a few music books, as we have seen.

I also think this particular item adds particular hipster points to my room:















This was made for me, by my wonderful Seb, out an old t-shirt of my dad's which I loved, and which sadly fell apart one day. But I'm glad it can live on as a cushion.

Finally, to top it all off, this is what I'm wearing today:
















(Note the hipster-friendly beard). The t-shirt actually assures me that it is an "EarthPositive T-shirt... manufactured solely using renewable green energy from wind and solar power". I think my ascent into hipsterdom is sealed.

So what hipster items do you have in your room(s)? What does my room need to really give it that extra push? My friend Pat suggested it needed more ashtrays and half-empty ramen bowls, but I'm sure you can come up with better suggestions.

Crazy To Exist

Good news everybody!

1) Am officially in band (In that, I've been properly told now)

2) Sonic Youth tonight was just incredible. Would have liked to hear Teen Age Riot or Expressway To Yr. Skull but can't really quibble about the set. The combination of The Sprawl, which went into Cross The Breeze, was just about the most intensely brilliant 15 minutes of music I've ever seen live.

For some reason recently, I've had fantasies about being a wild frontman-type figure in a band. I think it's probably partly due to the books I've been reading, which feature a lot of energetic confrontational bands with similar characters heading them up: Henry Rollins, James Chance (The Contortions), Mark E Smith etc etc. Also one of my favourite ever bands, Les Savy Fav, feature a singer who is of similar, if not greater, girth and beardiness to me, and is basically my inspiration for being a frontman.

Check out the craziness of Tim Harrington in this video, for example:


For some reason I'm very much attracted to the idea of me flinging myself around the stage shirtless, diving into the audience, going through multiple costume changes, fighting, sweaty and a little bit scary, a whir of beardy energy. I'm not quite sure why this: perhaps it's because I'm so shy offstage and it would be a nice release, especially if I had a persona (I think the Horatio Outside one works well), and because I'm so transfixed by the power of music to make people do this. Is this normal? Is it something a psychotherapist would be very interested to hear about?

The Book I Read

(That's the title of a Talking Heads song, by the way. Most of my post titles are quasi-puns like that. I'm not sure why I do it, really. Try and spot them all!).

Seems to have been a generally positive response to my live review, so I think I'll be doing more of those in future. Might even do some reviews of albums not bought from Oxfam (I have a few ideas lined up).

In other news I have been somewhat immersing myself in music books of late. I recently finished Rip It Up And Start Again, Simon Reynolds' superlative history of post-punk from 1978 to 1984. It's a period of music I've been interested in for quite a while and despite the length of the book (500-odd pages), I found it a really compelling read. Reynolds is a very thorough author, and his love for the music of the time is evident. I probably enjoyed the first half, which was dedicated to the more avant-garde "post-punk" bands (Pere Ubu, Devo, The Fall, Joy Division, PiL etc.) than the second half, which deals with the so-called "new pop" of the early '80s (Orange Juice, Echo & The Bunnymen, Art of Noise, goth bands etc.), but that was maybe because I enjoy the music slightly more.

I think Reynolds' greatest strength is how he weaves together the story of the musical with the social and political situation of the time. In doing this he superbly sets the wonderful, fascinating new music being made properly within its historical context: there's none of the lazy teleological thinking that sadly dominates a lot of writing about popular music. He quite nicely explores the philosophical/theoretical foundation behind the music being made in general, and behind certain bands in particular, which is something I find particularly fascinating. Overall, an excellent book and one I heartily recommend to anyone with even the slightest bit of interest in that era.

My current reading is Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life, a history of the American underground scene from 1981 to 1991. Instead of taking a broad, very detailed approach like Reynolds, Azerrad instead focuses on 13 of the most important bands of the scene: Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, and so forth, with each chapter providing a biography of one of these key groups. While this is a slightly more atomised approach to take, it's still a very thorough book, as Azerrad conducted a lot of interviews with the key players in the scene. This really helps give the sense of what it was like to be alive and making music at that time, which is an obvious plus for the book.

His writing style isn't quite as fluid as Reynolds', and he doesn't set out events with quite the same degree of clarity, but I'm enjoying it muchly so far. There was a chapter about the SST records/American underground scene in Rip It Up, incidentally, and it does sound like a tremendously exciting time for music, so I am glad to find out more about it.

Unfortunately these books have had the effect of making me feel a bit sad, as I can't help but compare the ingenuity and general sense of optimism; the belief that new, brilliant music could be made and promoted independently; the tremendous sense of community and of a genuine counterculture movement, and compare it unfavourably with the musical landscape I want to try and make music in nowadays. I really do think I was born 25-odd years too late, sometimes.

But enough of my moping. Up next on my reading list is Words And Music by acclaimed journalist Paul Morley, which seems to be a more general book about music. It looks like it will be an enjoyable, if odd, read. Any other music-based books I should be aware of?

Adventures in Oxfam #1

Wow, I can certainly get things done when I put my mind to it, can't I? Today I ventured into Ealing and despite some tempting metal (Darkthrone, Godflesh) I decided that for my first installment of this new series I would review

...

...

(ooh it's tense)

...

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Stephen Malkmus


Backstory

I decided to get this album, not just because it was the cheapest one that caught my eye, but also because I've heard two songs already ("Jenny & the Ess Dog", "The Hook") and I rather like them. More importantly, I've never been a huge fan of Pavement, even though I like a lot of very similar bands (Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices, Dinosaur Jr etc.), so I'm hoping this album provides a way in to Pavement, because I really feel I should like them more than I do.

Review of Artwork

Front cover's a bit boring. Inside is a bit better, with some interesting collages, a comprehensive list of who plays what instruments (which I always like, the more detail the better, as far as I'm concerned), and a picture of Malkmus with a horse. 6/10

For this first edition, I thought I would review the album live, in real-time. I might do it again, depending on how well it goes. Anyway, let's get this show on the metaphorical road!

1. Black Book

After a slightly exotic opening, some nice guitars kick in. It's become standard, if not thrilling, fare. The chorus is reasonably catchy, though. A surprisingly long guitar solo in the middle, with those pan-pipe type things from the intro. I hope the rest of the album's better, or I may be slightly disappointed. Annoying bit of jamming at the end.

2. Phantasies

A more immediate start. Is that a xylophone? Handclaps, sunny vocals, very chirpy and upbeat. This is better. Ooh it's gone a bit dark and psychedelic. Only for a bit, though. I think I like this.

3. Jo Jo's Jacket

Odd spoken word bit at the beginning. It's by Yul Brynner, Wiki says. This is the first track I've noticed the lyrics being especially good. Malkmus' usual blend of surrealism and wry observation. This sounds very fresh and nicely constructed. Perhaps I've heard it before? I dunno. It's good, though, even if it isn't actually a stab at Moby. Nicely constructed, too.

4. Church on White

Bit more laid back. Perfectly enjoyable but hasn't hooked me in, yet. Sounds like the slower, less memorable Pavement songs, which is notable because the album hasn't sounded very much like Pavement so far. Picks up a bit right at the end, but then fizzles out a bit. Not great.

5. The Hook

"At aged 19 I was kidnapped by Turkish Pirates" is a brilliant opening line. This one's definitely got that laid-back, "slacker" feel to it. Like the squelchy, quasi-funk bassline. Never really goes anywhere but stays in a nice groove for the whole song.

6. Discretion Grove

Odd, cut-up tape style beginning. Then starts a pretty standard, driving riff. I think this was the first single from the album. It's quite fun, but it's not really very... special. As with a surprising number of songs from this album, the ending is bizarrely the best bit. Put the best stuff first, Stephen!

7. Troubbble

Shortest track on the album. Has a toy-piano sounding thing on it, and some interesting background synths. A bit more busy and all over the place than the rest of the album, and all the better for it. Very good.

8. Pink India

Slighttly country sounding, acoustic guitar-heavy one, this is. This is the longest track on the album, I note. Let's hope it does something decent with the runtime. Quite like the electric guitar sound in this - nice contrast. Hmm, this has managed to hold my attention quite a lot better than I thought it would. Starts going a little weirder in the last 2 minutes, which I obviously like. Quite a lot of different ideas in here. Will definitely listen again.

9. Trojan Curfew

Another quite country opening, this time with slide guitar. I really am a sucker for slide guitar. This is pretty gorgeous stuff. I think there's old-school organ in there too. Man, this track does everything right. Good coda, as well.

10. Vague Space

"I came to crave your spastic touch". Nice. I wasn't so keen on this, but there's more old-school organ and what sounds like steel drums. It's gone a bit bonkers too. Much better.

11. Jenny & The Ess Dog

I already know that I really, really like this song. Great lyrics, superbly constructed, and it does sound a lot more direct than quite a few of the songs on here. It's a very lovely/slightly bittersweet track and probably the best thing on here.

12. Deado

Slightly otherwordly sound. Sounds a bit like it was recorded underwater, or during an acid trip in the 60s. Quite a different sound to the rest of the album, and quite refreshing as a result. Again with the codas, though.

So what did I think, overall? I was pleasantly surprised all in all, I guess. The album actually got quite a lot better towards the end, which is unusual. I'm not sure it'll make me a rabid Pavement fan, but I might stick "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" on soon, seeing as it's all sunny and that.

Thanks for reading!

Horatio

PS. ANY feedback at all would be absolutely lovely.

Colossal Youth

So I was up at 9 today, in order to buy tickets for the only-announced-yesterday, slighty-secret Sonic Youth gig at The Scala (http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136650). Since I now have the tickets, and am struggling to stop myself frothing with excitement (seriously, I'm struggling to wipe it all up), I thought it only fair to write some words about one of my favourite bands.

Sonic Youth were, in fact, my absolute favourite band between the ages of 17 and 19 (they came inbetween ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and Talking Heads in terms of favourite bands, if you were wondering). I actually own physical copies of more albums by them than of any other band (10), since downloading was much less possible when I was really, really into them and I've been a bit more naughty with The Fall. I can remember buying Daydream Nation based on seeing it get a good write up in various places, and having no idea what is would sound like, except that Trail of Dead (my favourite band at the time, you see?) were heavily indebted to them.

I can very vividly remember putting the album on at my friend Pat's house and being completely blown away by "Teen Age Riot". It was the first track on my first Sonic Youth album, and from then on I was hooked. I have some great memories of that album, including listening to the whole thing end-to-end on a particularly long journey back from a dentist's in Wimbledon (I don't often listen to the whole thing, because it's pretty long and often challenging, but that worked really well), and getting pretty freaked out by the noise jam in "Total Trash" while walking back from Pat's alone, in the dark. From then on, I bought as many albums as I could, quite often from small record stores in foreign countries while I was on holiday, for some reason. I learnt as much about them as I could (this website is a brilliant resource for anyone as nerdy as I am). I think it's fair to say that the 'Youth properly introduced me to more avant-garde and experimental music, so I will always be especially fond of them for that reason alone. I even almost bought Goodbye 20th Century, apparently their most difficult album in their more experimental SYR series (there was a lone copy in the CD Warehouse in Ealing for years... I wonder what happened to that CD).

But you may have guessed that my interested in SY has waned a little over the past few years. The rabid album-buying, even downloading, slowed down quite considerably, although I did discover that their version of "Superstar" by The Carpenters is one of the best songs ever, and I was an idiot for not listening to it sooner, 'cause now people will think I only know about it through Juno. I even missed the opportunity to see them perform Daydream Nation, in it's entirety, in 2007 because I thought it was too expensive, and becasue I was my usual dithery self. I guess I was just listening to too much other stuff to give them the attention I used to. But every so often I give them a listen and they still make me feel as excited as they always did.

That's why I'm so excited about the Scala gig: I've never really done the whole "seeing a band you love for the first time ever", except for The Fall, and that was a bit different. They're all getting on a little bit as well, but I reckon they can still rock pretty hard. And it's a pretty small venue for them, which is nice.

Anyway, so I don't feel like I'm rubbing it in too much, have a hastily-compiled Spotify playlist of my favourite Sonic Youth songs:

http://open.spotify.com/user/corpsey/playlist/1xMJbpt4rJRMogI56rfymW

Not on there is the Peel Session where they only cover Fall songs, which I really, really love, for obvious reasons. Check it out. Also "Sonic Nurse", which I didn't put any songs from on, but only because I don't know which ones are best.

News (But No Tributes)

Hahaha, I have used that joke before, but I don't care.

Anyway, I have some ever-so-marginally exciting news about my blog, and for once it's not me stopping/restarting it. As anyone who's read any of it will know, I'm forever whining about how few people read it etc. To combat that I have come with a genius idea that will hopefully give my blog more of a structure, and thus make me happier to link to it/pimp it out all over the internet.

Basically my local Oxfam music shops is pretty awesome (as demonstrated by the amount of stuff I buy from there, some of which I've documented here). I've decided to every week - maybe more often, I'm not sure - buy something from there and review it on here. It might be something I've wanted for a while, something I've heard good things about, or just something completely random. It'll only cost me about £5 and it all goes to charity so is ultimately going towards a good cause. Of course my usual ramblings will still be present (and I've got plenty planned) but I'm hoping this will give Music Is My Boyfriend more of a "point" and purpose.

Alongside that I'm looking to redesing the site, to make it look a bit fresher and more contemporary. I've asked Seb to do that (he has some pretty good design skills), so hopefully there'll be news on that once his pre-term exams are done. Perhaps I'll change the name as well, but I don't want to change TOO much at once!

Anyway, I'm mildly excited about this and hope to have the first installment of my new idea up soon (this week ideally).

Horatio

Quick Update (Qupdate)

Not very much of musical note has been happening to me lately (although that's not the only reason this blog's not been updating). Pretty much the most interesting that happened was seeing mopey Scottish indie types Frightened Rabbit (or rather, singer/songwriter Scott Hutchinson) play an acoustic instore gig at Pure Groove records in Farringdon. It was a pretty cool shop, though more of a coffee shop/art space, as wanky as that sounds, than a proper record store. Despite that I did buy a CD (of course) - the Micachu album, which is a lovely bit of slightly avant-garde, wonky pop that is definitely in my top 5 of albums to have come out so far this year.

I've never been to an instore before, so it felt a little bit odd sitting at a table at the front of the shop, drinking a coke, while a band (or one person) played a set a few feet away. It was also odd to see a gig at lunchtime but there was a still a bit of an atmosphere at the venue, a new song was debued, and Hutchinson was in pretty good form, despite breaking a string during said new song and thus struggling with tuning issues for the remainder of the set.

As for my own musical projects, I managed to miss my first complete band practice on Sunday due to coming back from Cambridge too late, and generally being pretty tired and run-down. While I was up in Cambridge I also realised how much I missed performing live (it's been well over a year now) and thus am anxious to get together another project that can play gigs sooner than the band in Reading, who are aiming for late summer, at the earliest. It would also be nice to have a band where I can get out my more experimental tendencies, cause I think I'd continue to feel frustrated without an outlet for them.

Since this is a Qupdate (I'm using this word all the time from now on), I'm compelled to link to all my latest reviews. Since they're all for the same site I can link to my author page on musosguide: http://mymusos.com/author/joseph-rowan and they're the three top reviews there (Pink Mountaintops, Mr Oizo and volcano! for those who are too lazy to click on a link).

Right, that'll do for now, but I'm about to post some slightly-exciting news! Don't hold your breath for too long!

Back From The Dead

Oh Dear, I've not done so well at keeping this regularly updated, have I? I suppose it's all that fun I've been having. I'm not sorry at all.

As a way of apologising, have a potentially blasphemous Easter playlist.

Why? - Good Friday
The Tiger Lillies - Banging In The Nails
Big Business - Easter Romantic
The Velvet Undergound - Jesus
Talking Heads - Heaven
Erase Errata - Surprise It's Easter
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Espers - Dead King
The Flatmates - I Could Be In Heaven
Pearl Jam - Alive
Baroness - Rise
Slayer - Jesus Saves
Bob Dylan - Trying To Get To Heaven
Earth - Rise To Glory
The Locust - Anything Jesus Does I Can Do Better
Oneida - Sheets of Easter (mwa ha ha)

A somewhat eclectic mix, due to trying to fit it to a theme. Also, although it would count, there's no way in hell I'm putting "I Am The Resurrection" by The Stone Roses on there.

Also, have some reviews:

Bob Log III live: http://musosguide.com/bob-log-iii-london-100-club/3724
Mi Ami live: http://thisisoffset.co.uk/?p=1854

Read About My Life! I Promise It's Interesting!

An addendum to my last post, that also ties nicely into an update on my recent goings-on: last week I also bought the debut album by a band called Dutch Uncles.

I bought it because I saw them playing at the Rough Trade RoTa afternoons, which are at Notting Hill Arts Club every Saturday, and are free. Hooray! Dutch Uncles and the band after them, It Hugs Back, were both really good which made up for traipsing all the way down the Old Kent Road, sometimes in the rain for a gig in a disused car showroom earlier in the day, which turned out to be sold out. Damn you, East London.

In similar gig-related news I saw The Fall at Koko on Wednesday. I was hoping a good gig on the 1st of April would set the tone for the rest of the month. (Sadly, this wasn't quite the case as I ended up not being able to get into The Field on Friday - seriously, East London, what have I ever done to you?).

I ended up going on my own (first time at a gig, as well) and turned up quite late, although I caught about 10 minutes of the weird video artist they have supporting them on this tour. As for The Fall, they were really good. Much better sound than the last time I saw them, which was surprising given Koko's reputation for shit sound. Mark E Smith was in a wheelchair, due to breaking his hip about 6 weeks ago *insert 'Hip Priest' joke here*. This didn't stop him wheeling himself around the stage, fiddling with the amps as usual and nor did it stop him singing the last 3 songs offtstage, for whatever reason. They also played a few new songs, which sounded really good, so I'm hopeful for the new album in June.

In terms of bands I'm actually in, I think I'm pretty much in the Reading-based band for sure now, which is awesome. The almost full band practice went really well, and I have some rough live demos which sound pretty decent. I'm also having a jam with one of the guitarists from The Quatermass Experiment tomorrow, so hopefully something more noisy and experimental will come out of that. My musical life seems basically good at present, all in all.

Now to get on with reviews...

This Is Why I'm Poor

So it appears to be over a whole week since I last updated this thing. I do apologise - busy social life/apathy etc. got in the way and all that. To make up for this I shall try to do a bumper crop of posts in the next few dates so as to get a bit more content on here (only 13 posts in March? That's not so good).

As an easy first April post I could talk about how I came, in typical style, to blow £60 on CDs last week.

Monday was a fairly usual affair, with me buying The Decemberists' new effort "The Hazards of Love", which is a really excellent prog-folk masterpiece, and is basically a modern rock-opera (it tells a story, and all dialogue is sung).

The rest of the money was spent in the glorious musical cornucopia that is the Rough Trade East shop. Suffice to say I went a little bit crazy and bought the following:

Dan Deacon - Bromst (the 2nd best album released this year, probably)
Trans Am - TA (I love Trans Am, excellent experimental electronica)
The Fucking Champs - Greatest Hits
Oneida - The Wedding*
The Fall - Slates (I can't go into a record shop without buying some Fall, it seems)
Wire - Kidney Bingos (an excellent 3" single disc, and possibly the coolest thing I bought)

So yes, I feel quite proud of the fact that it's only 3 and a bit months into 2009 and I've listened to something like 12 albums.

In other news have some single reviews:
Tartufi - Dot Dash (http://www.musosguide.com/tartufi-dot-dash/3588)
The Paper Chase - What Shall We Do With The Bodies (http://www.musosguide.com/the-paper-chase-what-should-we-do-with-your-body-the-lightning/3503)

I will try and update tomorrow with recent goings-on and hopefully I will be less distracted by listening to podcasts featuring Speednik.

*bit of a theme going on here, since Phil Manley is in both Trans Am and The Fucking Champs, and contributes to this Oneida album, fact fans!

Heard About Your Band

Argh argh full band practice on Sunday panicpanicpanic.

To elaborate on that slightly, potential bandmate from Reading is back from his sojourn in Canada and is trying to organise a full band practice on Sunday, presumably so I can meet/play with the rest of the band. As this is the first time I've played with a whole band in months and months, I think I'm understandably having a touch of the vapours. Add to that the fact that my finger has a big old cut across the top (I have eczema and thus my skin cracks really easily) which makes it hard to play bass and I'm doing a little shit, figuratively speaking. Also I do feel I will be judged behind my back, but I don't want to indulge my neuroses in here (neuroses? In popular music? I never heard of such a thing!).

In other news I'm quite excited about potential doom-o-project (no. 5 from last time, if anyone's keeping up): the other member suggested using as a rhythm section a guitar pedal called a Total Sonic Annihilation, whose basic function is to make a fuckton of crazy noise. Once The Quatermass Experiment got it to sound like a hyperactive duck, but I don't remember how. This has also given me the idea to get a cheap old synth - the ones that can't replicate any instrument sound - and put it through pedals until it creates a massive wall of noise. You may be able to tell I'm quite into doing this sort of thing.

This leads me nicely onto thought I've been having of late about my "band ambitions". As far as I can tell, I only have three real goals for any band that I'm in, listed in rough order of importance below:

1. Play at ATP, possibly the UK's best festival (and home of more alternative/underground stuff)
2. Get a positive write-up on Pitchforkmedia, spiritual home of hipsters everywhere.
3. Play at Supersonic, a crazy experimental festival held in Birmingham which really does feature a lot of insane, weird bands. I almost went last year and wish I had, because I don't recognise very many bands on this year's line-up.

My ultimate ambition is to be one of those guys who's in lots of bands and seems have fingers in many musical pies - a sort of "figure" of a scene, if you will, perhaps in the vein of someone like Mike Patton. As I say that's my ultimate aim but let's not run before we have legs, eh?

A few further thoughts on favourite things

Following on from this post: http://horatio-outside.blogspot.com/2009/03/these-are-few-of-my-favourite-things.html I added that funny little application on facebook that lets you pick your top five albums, films, TV programmes, sandwiches, men called "Brian", segs, umbrellas etc.

This app was clearly aimed at people who like to obsessively demonstrate their good taste and make endless lists and categorisations. People like me, in other words, since I knocked off three in quick succession. And then I made some lists. Arf. Here they are.

Possibly My 5 Favourite Albums Ever

At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians
The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

Five excellent, noisy albums

Shellac - 1000 Hurts
Oneida - Each One, Teach One
OOIOO - Feather Float
Parts & Labor - Mapmaker
Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow

[Wives' "Erect The Youth Problem" was a possible no. 6]

Five great metal albums

Melvins - Houdini
Mastodon - Leviathan
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Boris - Pink

[Big Business' "Head For The Shallow" was another contender. And I forgot about Kyuss. Damn!]

I thought this might've been interesting cos it wasn't just a long list of albums, but was broken up into smaller, more esoteric categories (and I can get a lot smaller and more esoteric). I may be wrong, though. Who knows.

Also have some more reviews (I have been a busty boy):

Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project http://www.musosguide.com/?p=3220 (spot my moustache envy)
The Gay Blades - O Shot http://www.musosguide.com/?p=3308

This Is What I Do With My Time

So at the moment I am frustrated by the fact that, despite the vast number of band opportunities being presented to me, I can't help but notice than I am not in a band as such.

There are actually 6 possible band opportunities I could chase up. What would be excellent is if I could combine a few of them together (as most involve just one other person) into something truly awesome. The bands are as follows:

1. Band from Reading I have mentioned before. Main guy is currently in Canada but things will progress once he is back
2. Irish laptop/keyboards guy who I met for a drink ages ago. I texted him a while back to see what was going on and he claims to have found a drummer. Haven't heard anything since.
3. Bassist friend. We are considering forming a two-bass noise rock band called "Teenage Thunder Crunk". I like this idea.
4. Drummer interested in No Wave bands who wants to gig, record shitty CD-Rs and have fun. Like this idea too. Might work as drummer for Teenage Thunder Crunk.
5. Guitarist friend who I was in a band (The Quatermass Experiment, my very first) with. Potentially wants to make some "slow groovy noise" in the vein of Om. Sounds good to me also.
6. Some band that emailed me yesterday. They sound alright, but are a complete band looking for a bassist.

In other news I was talking to Seb earlier about my perennial fear of never being in a good band. He was reassuring me when I came out with this piece of inspired nonsense:

When I get a potato out, it is the same says:
but the last thing I wrote was a 20 minute funk-dirge made with toy instruments called "Pull on my Hamstrings, Mendelev!"
When I get a potato out, it is the same says:
Pitchfork hated it so much they sent a writer over to my house to punch me in the face
When I get a potato out, it is the same says:
you remember this

Well at least I know I'll make a good ideas person if I were in a band.

Finally, have my review of the Deluxe Edition of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" (http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/reviews/9805) as I'm really quite proud of it's savage indictment of reissues.

Irrepressible Rage

So last Thursday I returned to the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, this time with Seb, to go and see The Irrepressibles and hopefully improve my opinion of the venue after the disastrous Dinosaur Pile-Up gig, which I'm sure you've all read my review of!. But no, I'm now convinced that the HSB&K is cursed (possibly with a rare type of curse that causes it to be full of twats, but more on that later), which is just as well, given how much I dislike the area. This gig was actually postponed from the day of snow, which adds further credence to my theory.

So what went wrong this time, I hear you ask. Well the first time I was due to go on the gig I had been put on the guestlist so I could review it for thisisoffset, another fine website I am proud to write for. So this time the guestlist place was set up again (albeit under one of the editor's names) and thus at gigtime I strolled up to the front desk only to find that they had no record of said name on the guestlist, the girl at the front door was extremely rude, and the promoter had no idea who offset were. This despite someone from the promoters asking if Selfish Cunt and a load of other bands could play at the offset festival in the original email.

I won't go into too much detail about what the girls said: suffice to say they accused me of trying to blag my way in and were generally rude and uncooperative. It was my first experience being on a guestlist and whilst I was maybe a bit naive they made me feel stupid and small, and I really didn't appreciate that. I sent an email to the editor and I hope he understands, but he hasn't replied yet and I'm worried he'll be mad at me for whatever reason, which would just be fucking perfect. I did consider finding an internet cafe, printing off the email exhange, and then going back to wave it under their noses at least to salvage my pride. But we couldn't find one and the evening was already sullied by this point.

So yeah that put me in a bit of a grump for the rest of the evening (and I'm still a bit moody about it now), and the grump wasn't much alleviated by a visit to the usually excellent Cellar Door on The Strand. Although the cocktails were good the cabaret was simply dreadful, consisiting, as it did, of drunken city types singing along to poorly done "mashups". I don't know which was worse, the awfully-dressed guy shouting along to "Wild Thing" when it was clear that the title was the only lyric he knew, or the cockernee knees-up version of "My Way", which was basically Bill Bailey but much less funny.

So yeah, I've had better evenings.

More reviews!

So my writer's block has mostly passed and to celebrate you can all have some reviews:

Live Review! Dinosaur Pile-Up at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen http://www.musosguide.com/?p=3302 (the most negative review I've written so far, but well deserved)
Crystal Antlers - EP http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/reviews/9693
Japanther - Bumpin' Rap Tapes http://www.musosguide.com/?p=3164

Will tell the epic tale of my inability to get in to see The Irrepressibles soon, but that's your lot for now.

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

The excellent Muso's Guide, who are lucky enough to count yours truly among their contributors, are apparently doing a feature on their favourite ever albums. This, naturally, got me thinking so I thought I'd compile a loose list of my favourite albums, as I've been meaning to do this for a while.

Just to be awkward, though, I decided to divide them up into three categories (yes I am that indecisive): definite favourites, probable favourites, and possible favourites. Think of it like this - if I was asked to name my 100 favourite albums the first group would be make up the albums from 1-33, the second 34-66, and the third 67-100, or something like that. It made sense to me, ok?

Anyway, enough of my tiresome rambling. Let's get this show on the road (until I comment, with albums I've forgotten about).

The Definites

At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command (possibly my favourite album ever)
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour/This Nation's Saving Grace
The Brian Eno-produced Talking Heads albums (More Songs About Buildings & Food, Fear of Music, Remain in Light)
Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians (assuming this counts)
Trans Am - Red Line
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Madonna
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs

The Probables

Oneida - The Wedding
Melvins - Houdini
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
The Fall - Perverted By Language (I really do love The Fall)
Life Without Buildings - Any Other City
Killing Joke - Killing Joke
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Animal Collective - Feels
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
The Hidden Cameras - The Smell of Our Own
Fugazi - The Argument
The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime
Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley
Weezer - The Blue Album/Pinkerton

The Possibles

OMD - Architecture and Morality
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (standard hipster choice)
The Futureheads - The Futureheads
Mastodon - Leviathan
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Wire - Pink Flag
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Parts & Labor - Mapmaker
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

Phew! I think that's everything. What does it say about me that I can think of roughly 40 albums more or less off the top of my head that I would consider my "favourites"?

Reviews, News, Stews and Montagues.

I've not being doing a whole load of reviewing lately, due to being in a bit of a grump, but a couple of things have been uploaded of late.

Borderville - Short Sharp Shock http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2826

Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2401 (First one on the page. I wrote this ages ago and didn't think it would get published but I'm quite pleased with it).

Excellently, the guy from Borderville found the review and contacted me to say thanks, ask if they could use it, and if I would like to review the album when it came out. This pleased me muchly, as he said I got what the band were all about, and I feel like I'm doing something good for Oxford music, albeit from afar.

In other news I am going to alternative music festival ATP, which has an excellent line-up (here). I also get 5 choice for another band to play, and I am fretting about not wasting my votes.

Aah, ATP is best fesitval. There's nothing quite like seeing an experimental noise band in a bingo hall at a holiday camp.

Another Recent Purchases!

I felt I had not bought enough CDs recently so I splurged out (stop laughing at the back) over the last few days, buying of 5 CDs for a shade under £30. Not too shabby, eh?

From Fopp on Friday

Various Artists - Dark Was The Night. AIDS-charity benefit compilation, starring pretty much all the brightest stars of North American Indie. Has some exclusive new tracks from Arcade Fire, Decemberists etc. and also features that David Byrne/Dirty Projectors collaboration I was honking on about earlier.

The Fall - I Am Kurious, Oranj. My 10th Fall studio album. Not a classic of theirs, but it was only a £5, and I am weak. Still seems a decent enough album - like the vaguely ska title track, the muscular "Wrong Place, Right Time", and the springy "Cab It Up!".

Melvins - Stag. I'm a big fan of Melvins, and this is the third of their albums on Atlantic Records (after Houdini and Stoner Witch). Again, not one of their best but has some excellent riffing all the same.


From Oxfam Music, Today.


Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse. My 10th Sonic Youth album, no less. It's a pretty good one, with long and jam-y songs (which I can get behind).

Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse. Almost certainly won't be as good as the magnificent "Emperor Tomato Ketchup", but seems decent enough all the same. Wanted to own something by them, and it's all for charity, right?

I suspect the number of people who read this will be less than the total number of CDs I bought. Prove me wrong.

New Band Smell

Soooo I had my second practice/jam thing with the guy from Reading last night (Thursday).

All in all, I'd say it went very well. We were mainly working on two particular songs that he had sent me and by the end we'd got both of them pretty much worked out, and I think I came up with some pretty good ideas. He even said that I sounded more confident this time and seemed genuinely pleased with what I was playing. Best of all, it was actually fun playing, and I got to that excellent point where you feel the music, rather than consciously think about it.

On the way back to Reading station he told me that he had met about 10-15 potential bassists, but had only jammed with 3 people (myself included). He said (and I appreciated his honesty) that we were all good bassists and nice people, and that he genuinely had no idea who he would pick for the band. He did promise we'd have another practice at some point, though.

In a way I wouldn't mind too much if I don't get picked. To know that I was one of the most promising people he'd met is very pleasing, and the whole thing has been pretty confidence-boosting. I'd also feel reasonably content that I could get a pretty good project of my own going. Having said that, I think I would definitely enjoy being in the band a lot. We shall see.

Business As Usual

Oh wow, that last post was my 50th one. Hooray?

In other news, I have another band practice tonight. I say "band practice", it'll just be me jamming with the lead singer/guitarist again. But, I'm feeling more positive about this one, and I'm determined to throw myself into it more. It doesn't hurt that I seem to be drowning in band-joining opportunities and so should be able to play music a few times a week. I'm also, hopefully for real this time, going to try and practise every day, and actually structure the practising usefully. I do want to get my guitar skillz back to the days when I was playing nothing but Metallica songs (and hopefully a fair bit better than that, too).

Also, have another glut of reviews:

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Century of Self http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2842
Magik Markers - Balf Quarry http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2974
Mi Ami - Watersports http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/reviews/8902

Run Run Run

In other news, I have started going to the gym, so I can feel virtuous. Well done me, etc.

More interestingly, I have been asked to make a Mix CD to put on while everyone works out, as an alternative to all the terrible trance they have on usually. Now, while I love making Mix CDs, I may need some help with this one, as there are a number of restrictions. Firstly, it has to have a good beat (obviously). Secondly, it has to err very much on the side of accessible. Thirdly, and I really cannot stress this enough, the songs have to be good. I can be a bit of an opinionated prick at times, but I will try not to send too much opinionated prickery your way when you suggest things.

I've only got a couple of ideas so far ("Tiny Sticks" by ESG and "Why Are People Grudgeful?" by The Fall), but apart from those, and a vague temptation to stick some Slayer in, I'm struggling. So people of the internet, I need YOU! Help me get fitter and stronger* whilst also listening to good songs.

*Ooh Daft Punk might be a good idea.

My newest favourite band

Is Cardiacs (not "The Cardiacs", I'd like to make that very clear), who are often described as "prog-punk", even though that's clearly stupid, and who have been headed since 1976 by singer/all round talent Tim Smith.

Now the guy who introduced me to them said they were the type of band one could get obsessed over, and I can definitely feel the first tugs of obsession, so I am going to try to infect someone else with Cardiacs-love. Now, have some videos.



"Dog-Like Sparky" off the album Sing To God. Something fairly accessible and catchy to start you off. And, at the opposite end of the spectrum, an amazing rehearsal of the song "Gibber and Twitch", as heard on The Special Garage Concerts, Vol I. Prog-nuttery ahoy!



Don't say I didn't warn you. Obsession awaits.

Update Live From Oxford Town

Myself and Seb have spent a good few hours this evening messing around on instruments. I did a wacky keyboard solo over an excellent mutant disco bassline he made up. Then followed rather a lot of silly jazz.

Suffice to say I feel much btter about my musical abilities now. Hurrah!

Another Possibly Obvious Post

Well it's not even the end of February and I've already heard two excellent albums (Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavillion" and Dan Deacon's "Bromst" - review here http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2530), one very good album (Mi Ami's "Watersports" - reviewing forthcoming) and one quite good album (Trail of Dead's "The Century of Self"). Man, being a music reviewer is pretty sweet. I think I'm finally becoming a proper muso, just like I always wanted.

Some other things due for release this year that I am looking forward to:

Mastodon - Crack The Skye (I hear very good things about it)
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (should be interesting at least)
Oneida - Rated O (as my interview should have shown)
The Russian Futurists - The Weight's On The Wheels
New Sonic Youth album (last 2 have been rather good)

I'm thinking 2009 might just be a good year, though it tends to be the bands you've never heard of that end of making a lot of the best albums.

So what have you enjoyed so far this year? What are you looking forward to in 2009? Why do I think anyone will answer these questions?

Angst Angst Angst

So I had a little preliminary jam with the main guy from a band I'm looking to join, and I'm really not sure how to feel about it.

On one hand it was pretty good. The songs are beautiful and well constructed, I didn't fuck up too badly (though I did feel a bit bumbling at times) and we did it in a practice space he has above his garage, which is big and nicely done up. I also really like what the band are trying to do, in terms of mixing electronics in with a standard-ish indie sound, and having the commendable goal of trying to be on the experimental end of the accessible. It's ambitious stuff.

On the other hand I felt a bit sad when I got back last night, and I can't quite work out why. I'm having a bit of a crisis of confidence, with me feeling like I'm not really good enough for the band. It all seems quite professional, and I don't think I have the talent or the feel for the music. I'm slightly conflicted in a couple of ways too: I don't know if this is exactly what I want to do musically, and yet I don't think I could do that well enough, and I don't feel I'd have much creative involvement but, again, I don't think I want any because I'm going through a dry spell at present. However, how much of that is psychological I don't know. I just don't know how to feel.

Phew that was a bit morose. I'm lucky this is being crossposted to my livejournal.

Spamming the media outlets

Didn't think I'd update without a bit of shameless self-promotion did you? I have been keeping busy with all the reviewing lately, so here all the latest fruits of my musical womb*

Parts & Labor at Cargo: http://thisisoffset.co.uk/?p=1457#more-1457
Black Lips - Short Fuse: http://www.audioscribbler.co.uk/reviews/8731
Bob Log III - My Shit Is Perfect (2nd one on the page): http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2549

Now feed my massive ego.

*I promise never to use this metaphor again.

Part 2 of Recent Listenings (I guess)

I have been playing Chrono Trigger for the DS a lot recently and my god, I forgot just how good the music for the game is. I'd even go so far as to say that it's one of the only games I've really paid attention to/actively noticed the music. It's just so atmospheric and adds to the game so well.

So here are some of my favourite cuts from the game (it's actually astounding how many different pieces of music there are, once you start listening for them):

First the battle music, a good staple of any RPG. The bassline is excellent and I want to write a song based around it (shh!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ClGL7kZ28

Next up, Lucca's theme. So very uplifting and inspiring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BYxC7uEC_0

Some more epic stuff, "Courage and Pride". This music plays in a castle and is awesome and makes you want to be heroic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiMn6Ud3egU&feature=related

Boss Battle Music. Only just behind Final Fantasy VII boss battle music in terms of quality, and has a great organ part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phVwKSjz0cc

And finally (so I don't overwhelm you too much), possibly my favourite track, "Wind Scene". It's just so plaintive and haunting, which is fair enough for travelling back 400 years to medieval times when the kingdom is embroiled in war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YahK0kMq-_U

I've also elected not to link to Robo's theme, which sounds an awful lot like a certain song that has become popular on the internet of late, perhaps a little too much so. But it's all good.

What Luck!

There's a french fry stuck in my beard!*

In other news one of my reviews has been uploaded (I'm waiting on two others) so I can link to that instead of doing a proper update, can't I?

Frightened Rabbit - Liver! Lung! FR!

Forthcoming reviews by yours truly: Dan Deacon, Bob Log III, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Black Lips, Parts & Labor (live). You lucky, lucky people.


Horatio
x

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH1PJTY9AVA

Technology funs

As of just now I've worked out how to get all my posts on here RSS-ed onto facebook. Once I find out how to do the same on livejournal I'll be the ruler of (the very small part of) the (internet) world! Mwa-ha-ha!

Note to all: anonymous commenting is still allowed!

Listen To This Y'all

Seriously, I have listened to it at least 5 times today, and probably another 10+ times in the last week:

"Knotty Pine" by The Dirty Projectors feat. David Byrne

I wasn't a massive fan of The Dirty Projectors' Rise Above (apparently an attempt to write a Black Flag album from memory) but this is incredible. Listen to the vocal interplay! The tinkly keyboard part! The understated guest appearance from David Byrne!

It's taken from indie-supergroup charity album Dark Was The Night, out soon and is probably my favourite track I've heard so far this year.

More substantial post soon. Toodles!

Recent Listenings

Part 1 of at least 2 (but possibly 1).

The first months of the year for me are often spent catching up on the albums from the previous year I didn't manage to listen to first time around. With that in mind today I listened to the new Squarepusher album, Just A Souvenir.

I'm not quite sure what to think about it. It's certainly a bizarre enough, in an unsettling, hellish jazz-fusion manner. I'm not quite sure what I think of Squarepusher generally (apart from it is good that he is an astounding bassist, but bad that he is so much better than me), but I think I like this.

What really interests me about it, though, is the batshit insane "story" behind the album (see here for a longer version, that sheds no light at all). It's almost as good an idea as the one for the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, essentially a hallucination bought on by Simon Jeffes having eaten some bad fish.

It's exactly the kind of nonsense I would and do make up and I've gotta admire Squarepusher for going through with it. Man I wish I had the chops to pursue one of my ridiculous ideas through like that.

(For the word "chops" substitute one of the following: musical talent, energy, ambition)

Hopefully some more of my reviews will be up soon, so I can link to those instead of struggling to come up with content.

Playing them guitars.

I played some music yesterday, which was nice, as I've been somewhat lax in practising of late. Chris and I had some fun pretending to be an acoustic Cure: I was Simon Gallup, he was a ruddier Robert Smith.

I also got to try out an Ebow, which is a disntictly odd experience. For those not in the know, an Ebow creates an electromagnetic field, which allows notes to be sustained indefinitely and sound like they're being played by, well, a bow. It creates instant ambience, guy!

Some bad news, though: my guitar playing skills have decayed to a bitter husk of what they once were, like a decaying obelisk in an abandoned town, promising only hints of the greatness that it was once built to represent.

Yes, anyway. This is slightly concerning since I have now been contacted by TWO bands, and the inevitable new band fear is starting up again (see here)

God this "update" was boring. I guess something is better than nothing, right?

How was 2008 for you? (Part II)

As promised, let's have a look at all the other albums I heard in 2008 that didn't make my top 10. I can hardly wait! First up, let's have a look at some honourable mentions:

Deerhunter - Microcastle

Would have liked to put this in my top but it was just edged out. The band describe themselves as "ambient punk" which is somewhere approaching the truth but I'd prefer to describe it as intelligent, atmospheric, imaginative guitar music. The jam on the end of "Nothing Ever Happened" is one of the most sublime things I heard all year.

Brian Eno and David Byrne - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

The fact that this album even came to be released was cause for celebration enough. Of course, it wasn't as groundbreaking as My Life In The Bush of Ghosts but the pair's folk-gospel-electronica was wonderfully human and clearly showed them both relishing being able to display their considerable songwriting powers.

Torche - Meantherthal

Thunder pop? Doom pop? Whichever slightly-awkward hybrid phrase you use to describe this, Meanderthal was a mighty refreshing album. Heavy as anything and yet so very soaring and catchy. Sounds like it shouldn't have worked, but it did. Very well.

Oneida - Preteen Weaponry

Now I love Oneida, as anyone who read my interview with them will be able to tell. Preteen Weaponry, the first part in a planned trilogy, is definitely the most unconventional album I've discussed. A 40 minute instrumental composition, split into three parts, that was by turns hypnotic and enthralling. Not one for the faint hearted, but a very worthwhile and enormously rewarding listen.

And now, some miscellaneous awards:

The "Could Do Better Award"

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion. About 3 really great tracks and a lot of okayish ones. C'mon Stephin Merritt, you can do better than this!

Most Disappointing

Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning - Something For All Of Us. "Spirit If..." was excellent. This was very ordinary by comparison. Let Kevin Drew go back to writing all the songs, ok?

The "Hooray for Gloomy Indie-Pop" Award

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight. Those crazy Scots and their lovestruck gloom.

Best Reissue

Wooden Shjips - Wooden Shjips Vol 1. Mmm, fuzzy psychedelia. Also includes some tape experiments. Excellent stuff.

The "You Clearly Just Made That Genre Up" Award

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton. Tropical punk? Come on. Actually the tag kinda makes sense when you hear it. Some very fine calypso rhythms and fiddly guitar lines from the West Coast boys, named after the not-dead actor.

Phew! Hope you enjoyed that. There were loads of other albums I could've mentioned as well. Man, I clearly listen to too much music (note - this is almost certainly not true).

Obvious Post Time

Right, to get me back into the habit of writing for this thing I'm going to do something very obvious and write my top records of 2008. It's still early enough in the year to do this, right?

10. Why? - Alopecia
9. Melvins - Nude With Boots*
8. Hercules & Love Affair - s/t
7. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
6. Nice Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
5. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
4. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
3. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
2. No Age - Nouns
1. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull

Check out my livejournal post here for some more detail on why I like these albums. Man, I'm just full of links recently, aren't I? But, because I'm nice like that, you can actually have some new content! Yes, the review part 2 teasingly implied by that livejournal. Expect it next, y'all.

* Also winner of my "Obligatory Metal Award" for 2008.

(I expect a comment from Speednik saying he has heard none of these albums)

Been a long time comin'

Howdy folks,

Yes, that's that right, I'm starting this old thing up again. Mainly because I'm doing a fair amount of musicy stuff at the moment, but also because I'm slightly less of a whiny, attention-desiring bitch now. Slightly.

Anyway, until I think of anything better to post, here are links to some reviews and stuff I have done (plug plug plug)

http://www.musosguide.com/?p=1978
http://www.musosguide.com/?p=2025
http://thisisoffset.co.uk/?p=1240 (interview with Oneida. I am VERY pleased with this)

Love and kisses,

Horatio