the comfort of data

Last night at home

2006-03-19T23:09:00.000+01:00

On Friday I was preparing to go back to the mother country (France). Instead of packing, I started to record one of those podcast things. Well there was so many songs that I wanted to share as they've been on my walkman throughout winter. The program is pretty moody and melancholic, which is sometimes how I feel the night before going home or rather, the place one calls home as in where you've grown up. For me it's always the change of culture that makes me reflective. It's like switching from one identity to another, not that it' unpleasant but my first reflex is to reach for a constant. Music helps greatly to get back to a moment where, whatever happens, you'll feel the same way about something, the sounds would stir familiar feelings. The program is split in two, so you can listen to one part while you download the other.

Last night at home pt1
Last night at home pt2

In part 1 you'll find:
Vera November - flourish (music for These Horses)
Make Up - watch it with that thing
Wet Dog - steal a car
The Knife - heartbeats (session)
Black Lips - hippy hippy hoorah
I'm Being Good - sixteen children's eyes
Bonga - venda poro
Vera November - our last night together

In part 2 you'll find:
Dirty Three w/ Catpower - great waves
Sprills of Ore - hidden away
Failed Rockets - maybe I
excerpt from Jean Vigo's L'Atalante
Ray Rumours - looking for you
Frànçois - I'm so glad I met you
Tuenayo - polie snay
Jenny Wilson - a hesitating cloud of despair
Charlottefield - how long
Electrelane - oh sombra (session)
Las Pulpas - vaya momento

I remember....

2006-03-07T20:04:00.000+01:00

Wow, how long has it been since my last post? Sorry if you've been lurking around here during a bored moment and didn't find anything to occupy your mind. In the meantime, I've been doing stuff like...working (mmm) and playing music (ahhhh). In fact, I played my first gig with Failed Rockets, we had a blast! Even more as were supporting Falling Boy, Dreamer and Leopard Leg!! I'm just posting this one quickly, I had a dream that Failed Rockets could be a reincarnation of The Orchids (pictured). I mean, we don't really do vocal harmonies (yet) but I reckon I look like the middle one. The Orchids were three 14 to 16 year old girls from Coventry, they released a handful of singles in the early to mid sixties.

The Orchids - don't make me mad

And I'm obsessed with the following song. Does that make me gay?

Jackie DeShannon - I remember the boy

FELIX LAJKO (ES ZENEKARA)

2006-01-18T16:54:00.000+01:00

Felix Lajko is a Serbian born violin and zither player. I might as well give you the virtuoso warning right here. Lajko is largely self taught and was kicked out of a prestigious music school due to the uncompromising instinct of his craft. The rigid classical music gentry has since learned that they must love him or die of shame, the guy is amazing. From his origins, you can guess that Lajko's music is largely influenced by Gypsy and Klezmer, sounds and rhythms typic of the Balkans with accents at the same time uplifting and celebratory but deeply melancholic. The tracks that him and his orchestra (zenekara) play together blend genres not to play on modernity but to expand the scope of emotions of their music, leaving room for improvisation and the freedom for the members to reach emotional peaks. So, classical and popular but not in the pop sense more in a way that music can sometimes tell people's history. The tradition of popular orchestras in the "ex" Yougoslavia is inherent to the cultural history of the country and yet so alive compared to how "folklore" is considered in other countries. The passion of Lajko's music is best fulfilled there, where the audiences match what he gives out with their own energy but that probably doesn't happen in concert halls when you're likely to see him play across the rest of Europe.
Please try these, even if classical's not your bag! The tracks are from a now deleted 1998 self titled album and they'll take your breath away.

Felix Lajko Es Zenekara - el cavillo
Felix Lajko Es Zenekara - hosszu

Copyrighted MP3s, moi!?

2006-01-16T23:49:00.000+01:00

"Well sir, your account was temporarily stopped due to copyrighted MP3s being hosted on it." Oops, of course you think, everybody's doing MP3 blogs these days, they're actually a great way for artists to be promoted. Well Kate Bush for example does not need me to be talked about, and easyspace know that (well me too). Easyspace wanted to see a paper from EMI saying I had the authorisation to post these songs. I did try to explain to them that 4/5 songs were not actually copyrighted by EMI but it was a tough one to prove. However, if you're a Kate Bush fan, look here. The songs I had posted along with the whole of the pre "kick inside" sessions were available on the net even before I grabbed the bread from Kate Bush's mouth (french expression, may not make sense). Oh well maybe it was something to expect, they have no problems with people who "aren't signed" though. I mean yeah, what is it like being signed these days? Untouchable sound? Anyway, I'm just going to be a little wiser, juggle with providers and make the songs available for a limited time only (10 days sounds about right).

As Lesbo Pig are not signed (EMI begged and begged though) but are DIY goddesses, the songs are still available on the related post here.
Also I'm going to repost some of the previous tracks that appeared on here bit by bit. For the moment, please listen to the songs from the excellent Billy Childish and Holly Golightly album here and check out Lizzy Mercier Descloux under her Rosa Yemen disguise here.
The Electrelane video is still available on this post.

This is it

2006-01-12T12:58:00.000+01:00

Wow so long without an update.....laziness, noooooooooo. I'm doing more music of my own now with my friends Rinser Boy (Dan) and Slag Bite (Jamie). Hell, we even have a name: Failed Rockets; and a My Space page where people can listen to the improvs we recorded last week end. I'm a bit shy about it and about these particular songs being online as they are complete improvs and we haven't been playing together for that long but we thought what the heck, we were having fun while doing it! This will kinda be like a work in progress and we'll probably share our sessions through the My Space thingy. I'm very excited about this at the moment, it's ace to play music with your friends and to share it with people.
So no time for 2005 retrospectives! Who cares, the best from 2005 will remain the best in 2006. I'm looking forward to post songs by Shoplifting (whose album I'm waiting for with sheer excitement), Neptune, Gang Gang Dance, Bonga Kwenda and Felix Lajko very soon but for now, an overdue Christmas presents for all Electrelane fans out there.
I can't stress enough how much I like what Verity, Emma, Ros and Mia have achieved as a musical unit, especially with the 2005 album Axes. It's actually very hard to talk about a band you like so much... I'll have several attempts as there will definitely be other posts about Electrelane with more rare footage and live cuts (in agreement with the main protagonists of course).
In October 2003, Brighton saw its first Brighton live week, an event which was then organised in association with BBC Radio 1 live, a radio promoted annual festival always taking place in a different city in England. One of the highlights was the Electrelane gig at the Old Market, a Peel Session where the band played tracks from their yet unreleased album "The Power Out". To date, this is the only live performance of the song The Valleys, a wonderful choir based song with a Jazz feel. 6 men and 6 women joined the ladies on stage to peform it (but you couldn't see the boys very well due to lack of space on stage). Ros was not in the band yet for this performance, Rachel Dalley was then handling the bass lines. Here is a video of the track filmed with my trusty (but now broken) DV cam (I'm not a pro, sorry about the shakes). This goes out to all the people from the Electrelane forum. Enjoy!
WARNING: it is a large file and will take a while to download (if you have a dial-up connection, I would suggest that you ask one of your friends with Broadband to download it for you). PC users can play this video in Windows Media Player (to save, right click and choose save target as). Mac users may not be able to play this in Quicktime (I'm not so sure, you can try anyway but save it by doing a control click, I know that much!). A tip: if you have Windows Media Player for Mac it should be fine. If not, please proceed and download the Mac OS X version of VLC PLayer from VideoLan, it's a very safe and useful media player, you can play absolutely everything with it.

Electrelane - The Valleys

This was that

2005-12-31T17:15:00.000+01:00

Goodbye 2005, you were a shit year! Well I had a good year so can't complain. I'm not so sure it was the case for people on other parts of the globe where war is still going on. Equally not sure about 2006 improving things... Here in the Western middle classes with rebellious tendencies, we'll be partying for sure, what is there to do otherwise? I won't make a fuss about new year, ok maybe just a little bit. The best NYE party is happening in Brighton tonite, it's at Jack's house and Tall One Behind, Rope, Falling Boy and Charlottefield are playing. In the meantime, here's some stuff I've listened to lots this year:

Jenny Wilson - let my shoes lead me forward
that's the lady in the picture. I never thought I could listen to that much pop music anymore, how stupid really. It took this Swedish lady to put the pop world back on the right tracks. Her album "Love and Youth" was released this year and this song is the first that I heard from it. I remember the exact moment, the night was memorable already. I was in a van with friends having a night time drive through Brighton, Jenny Wilson's song pumping through the stereo, the song definitely made sense then.

Afrirampo - afrirampo
This is from the Japanese's duo previous album, the girls' Afrirampo theme tune. They were great at Ladyfest Brighton and I'm looking forward to see them again.

The Magik Markers - I trust my guitar, etc...
Mayhem on their LP of the same name. 2 girls, 1 boy, dangerous fun, free to fuck it up (whatever it is).

More tomorrow...

KATE

2005-12-26T00:48:00.000+01:00

So who got Kate Bush's new album Aerial for christmas? Actually not me, I got it when it came out. I remember putting it in my cd player with a mixture of excitement and fear. You never know, Kate is Kate but it was still 12 years since the last one... I probably would get the old cliche out and say she's one of those artists who you either love or hate. People make a point of having an opinion about her and opinions I'd say aren't really based on proper thoughts. I'd love to see Kate Bush escape the frame of pop and rock chit chat since what she does has been so oblivious of the whole structure that the music industry (her own record label EMI included for sure) has built since the sixties. She's never played the game in the same way than other recording artists of her stature are meant to. Therefore, people think she's weird, abnormal, depressed or a recluse. And she's probably laughing.
A few years back, I got hold of a bootleg cd of songs which she had recorded as demos, just her and a piano. That was before the release of her first album, she must have been 15 or 16. I'm very fond of this collection, the recording sounds old (the cd I have was ripped from a vinyl), the songwriting is naive, pure and just lovely. And yet what a maturity, in the voice as in her piano skills. It's almost like you get to have her come play her piano in your bedroom, intimacy with Kate? Wow! The tracks are a bit like a lo-fi version of her first two albums and strangely very relevant now especially since people like Catpower have demonstrated brilliantly that sometimes less is more. Don't get me wrong, the lady has put so much of herself into shaping a sound which cannot be mistaken for anything but her own, she diserves most credits for that. The crazy arrangements and sampling madness of Kate's "The Dreaming" LP are amongst my favourite Bush moments.
So on this post, you get a bit of both, 4 songs from the demos and 1 song from the dreaming era, a cover version of Donovan's Lord of the Reedy River where la Bush just takes you to that place with sound effects and eerie harmonies. This was the B side of the Sat in your Lap 7". The demos are 4 of my favourites, they're all songs which never appeared on albums apart from Oh to be in Love which was on "the Kick Inside" in a very different version.

Kate Bush - oh to be in love
Kate Bush - on fire inside a snowball
Kate Bush - where are the lionhearts
Kate Bush - frightened eyes

Kate Bush - lord of the reedy river

Frosty, fairytale, drummer boy and general fucking about

2005-12-22T01:16:00.000+01:00

In case you haven't noticed, we're approaching the end of a frenetic month of "christmas is coming" being shoved down everybody's throat. No, I didn't write any christmas cards...sorry. Anyway christmas and end of years are generally pretty cool if a little depressing. You have a great excuse to get drunk and spend time with people you love but it still does not make up for the sheer consumerism side of it. My friend told me at the week end that father christmas as we know him today was a coca cola invention. Yes, the white bearded granpa in a big red coat only had one intention from the start: to get little kids hooked on caffeine. If I ever have kids, I've always wondered if I could sustain the lie. I don't know what the Cocteau Twins said to their kids about santa but if they hadn't had them kids, they would never have done the below version of frosty the snowman, so I've read somewhere. It's pretty cute, almost funny as it could be a parody of the cocteaus singing that song, like more cocteau than cocteau.
Also, here's the Dandy Warhols version of that xmas classic little drummer boy. Tipically, that song is a all about some poor young kid offering gifts to baby Jesus although he's got nothing. And what did Jesus give back I 'm asking? Nothing but trouble that Jesus really... prophets, can't live with them, can't live without them (although you wish). Next is the British and I suppose the Irish's favourite christmas song (it's all about drunks and lowlives), The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's fairytale of New York. I love that song, it's a really sad one behind it's humour and drunken joy. Favourite bit, when Kirsty sings "you scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot. Happy christmas your arse, I pray God it's our last!" You've probably heard that song lots already if you live in the UK, mostly in shopping centers if they haven't banned it from their playlist yet. One that won't be played in Brighton's Churchill square shopping center is Shawn Lee's I'll be fucking you this christmas. Shawn's almost being slimy on that one, he's good lad though, does funky folky stuff. I mean sometimes christmas can be so boring, I wish you all the sex you can get. To aggravate things, listen to the Firmturds' Oh well Noel from the Ho Ho Homocrime xmas compilation. The homocrimers go at it straight for the ass of that poor Noel, I hope they release a follow up where Noel actually gets it in the end, or where our friend gets Noel, depending which way you look at it. Ethical World View closes our selection, singing about what's on our minds during christmas. Do they know it's christmas is not a cover and also appears on the Ho Ho Homocrime compilation. This is a homocrime band aid including members of Lesbo Pig and Humousexual. The song is half dead serious and half piss take of charity records, recorded as it was played: on the spot.
As it's a time for presents, there should be quite a few during the coming days. Lots of love to you people!

Cocteau Twins - frosty the snowman
Dandy Warhols - little drummer boy
The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl - fairytale of new york
Shawn Lee - I'll be fucking you this christmas
The Firmturds - oh well, noel
Ethical World View - do they know it's christmas?

COCTEAU TWINS

2005-12-14T02:25:00.000+01:00

Or something like that since the single Peppermint Pig is a bit of an oddity in the Cocteau's catalogue. Let's be frank, the band hates that single. Well, it may not have sounded quite like what they had in mind but sod it, Peppermint Pig is a beautiful piece of New Wave/Cold Wave music (from 1983) and one of my favourite tracks. The early Cocteau Twins catalogue is generally what I like most about the band. From the "Garlands" LP to the fantastic "Head Over Heels", it's obvious that the Cocteaus had not found the sound that would be their trademark in the second half of the eighties and early nineties. The etherial Cocteau sound is present on this track but the guitars and drum machine have taken a large dose of amphetamine, in fact they're overdosing somehow. This exageration works perfectly since Peppermint Pig sounds like a bit of a come down nightmare in new wave pop land.

Cocteau Twins - peppermint pig

LESBO PIG

2005-12-11T12:51:00.000+01:00

At last, a classy post on the most magnificent female trio of all time, forget the Supremes, ban Bananarama, slaughter Atomic Kitten (if not done already), here's Lesbo Pig! First, let's see about the rumours surrounding this mythic band. Yes, a third of Lesbo Pig was born in the snow. Yes, Madonna wanted them to produce an album but she couldn't handle working on Minidisc (she thought the sound was worked for hours in the studio to sound authentic, it never occured to her that it was actually just...recorded in a room with people, acoustic instruments and microphones). Yes, Lesbo (aka Les Beau aka Irene) has troubles singing Up Yr Arse on stage because it's rude, she was recovering from Tourette Syndrome just as the band started recording their unique and "unique" album "At Home With Lesbo Pig". No, Pig (aka Ros) was never the heiress to the Murray Mints multinational, but she is the secret half sister of Kiefer Sutherland. Yes, Piglet (aka Anna) was stalked by the closeted Princess Victoria of Sweden, which is the main reason why she escaped to England for a while.
The identity and politics of Lesbo Pig are received like the Eucharist on a Sunday, they stick to the roof and taste a bit bittersweet. How many times did I end up in a gay bar and the lyrics of the anthemic "Up Yr Arse" suddenly popped in my head and through my mouth, wanting to burst out in a liberating chant for freedom (no not because I fancied someone there and wanted to engage in anal sex, listen to the song please). Lesbo Pig and their queer piggy army come to the rescue as gradually the gay and lesbian scenes become more gentrified and intolerant, all in the name of the pink pound (or euro or dollar, whatever). Also, she (as Lesbo Pig is an entity itself) manages to diss and criticize with light heartedness and total cuteness. Don't miss out, listen up, here are 4 of their short songs, if you want more e-mail them why don't you! lesbopig@hotmail.com

Lesbo Pig - up yr arse
Lesbo Pig - shaving pubic hair and stuff
Lesbo Pig - seahound
Lesbo Pig - sexual deviant (an Avocado Baby cover)

Quel genre de garçon???

2005-12-09T12:34:00.000+01:00

Argh I'm still thinking of the Quintron and Ms Pussycat dance party, it was so great!!!! Do yourself a favour and go check'em out as soon as they hit your town!! Just a small post to say that we were lacking a bit of electro shit around here (unlike on Chut Up Cherita where your eurocrunk wet dreams may just come true). I've been listening to this Noblesse Oblige song a lot as a) it's good, b) it's kinda gay and c) it's fun (I don't need much do I). Don't know much about the band, I think they're German somehow. Would be intrigued to check them out live, see if thet're worth the attention.

Noblesse Oblige - quel genre de garcon

Mind your P's and Q's

2005-12-05T22:20:00.000+01:00

Your Pussycat and Quintron are coming to Brighton with puppets too apparently (just an example on the left here). I can't wait for that show! Been listening and wiggling to the "Swamp Tech" album for the last month, to the point of having the Swamp Buggy Baddass song popping in my head when I'm out in town. But it ain't the one I'm posting, you gotta get the album guys, maybe from them directly. Instead, the Pussycat sung (shouted) Love is like a Blob is here below. I'll get on to definitions of love again, even after my pitiful attempt interpreting stuff from The Symposium. So Pussycat's version stays in line with Socrates (the philosopher, not the cat from My Space), love is something that catches you and eats you up. Examples: "oh baby yeah baby oh baby now babyyy" Miss Pussycat; "I must ask you to protect me, Agathon; for the passion of this man has grown quite a serious matter to me" Socrates, well Plato really. (oh yeah they were so gay back then in Greece.)
Anyways, I also wanted to post this wickedly stupid song with lyrics about loving shit, as it stays in line with our love theme. Teddy and the Frat Girls (aka Sheer Smegma) were a Florida punk band from the 80s, they only released a couple of singles, one of which was posted by Fatty Jubbo on his great blog Cake and Polka Parade, in links here. That song, Alophen Baby, is just so rude, really basic toilet humour quite literaly but I reckon it would tear the dancefloor in any decent indie club. This is also as a message to Crystal to say I need more US punkrock girl bands stuff in my ears please!!!

Quintron & Miss Pussycat - love is like a blob

Teddy and the Frat Girls - alophen baby

ROSA YEMEN

2005-12-02T22:44:00.000+01:00

Hey, some arty NY no wave stuff, just what the doctor ordered! Ha wait a minute, I dug out Lizzy Mercier Descloux's 1979 "Press Color" album on ZE records which was re-released in 2003 (she died last year unfortunately). I found out I still preferred this EP which was put on the CD as a bonus. "Press Color" and Lizzy's sounds are generally more funky affairs but the Rosa Yemen EP, released in 78, is a more stripped down angsty version of what her sound was to be. 2 guitars, a voice, some field recording, percussions (and Antonin Artaud's voice somewhere apparently). Lizzy's singing is more around spoken word, almost poetry but the French or English words are only used for their rhythmic qualities to add to the two guitars rushing into 1min30s of twangy pirouettes. The effect is great, it sounds like they've taken a few drugs, like they're having a beatnick style arty freakout but it completely works for me musically. That's mostly due to the fact that, unlike other arty crap, the result is emotionally rich and strangely connected to my moods this week (insane?).

Rosa Yemen - rosa vertov
Rosa Yemen - decryptated
Rosa Yemen - herpes simplex

UNREST

2005-12-01T15:49:00.000+01:00

mmmm No time for much blogging these days. I'm helping the lovely Maya to master a Leopard Leg recording. Yes people, Leopard Leg are releasing a record! One of their last gigs at the Freebutt will be out in the shops next year and it's going to be good (in a scary satanic way)!
But for now, here's some Unrest songs! I looove Unrest (which you could've guessed from my nickname). Mark Robinson, the boss of seminal Washington DC pre-grunge label TeenBeat, and Phil Krauth started the band in 1985 with a friend on bass duties. But it wasn't until the early 90's that Unrest found its unique sound mostly thanks to bassist Bridget Cross. I love them for their fun pop sound and also their experimentations. When listening to the excellent album "Imperial ffrr", you just never know what's gonna come next. A sugary power pop song, a downtempo etherial track, a jam excerpt, abstract experimentations, this album's got it all and is a total pleasure to listen to from beginning to end. Mostly, the band always sound like they're having fun playing together and don't take it all too seriously which I guess is what makes room for their experimentation antics which have little boundaries in music genres, rare in an indie band I reckon. Here we've got Deaf from a 7" Sub-Pop Singles Club release which consists entirely of cover songs that were originally released by Factory Records. The one here was by ephemeral band Crispy Ambulance. Some say it was Bridget's first record with the band others say not at all but it's good so thought I'd put it here. Next, two of the most experimental tracks from "Imperial ffrr", Champion Nines and Sugarshack, both great and very different. Last is a B-Side from the "Cath Carroll EP" called Vibe Out with Bridget on vocals, it's a bit of a psyche epic that one. Enjoy!

Unrest - Deaf
Unrest - Champion Nines
Unrest - Sugarshack
Unrest - Vibe Out

IN BLOOD

2005-11-27T13:52:00.000+01:00

This one's for the lovers. Billy Childish and Holly Golightly released the album "In Blood" in 1999. Hard to introduce that man without mentionning the hundreds of records he's released from the mid 70's until now (and the books and the paintings) but also his unique path into our hearts and ears. Billy Childish was never one to accept the many dodgy ways in which his talent could be absorbed and redigested by the media. So he only reached my ears recently and when you get the Childish bug, it never lets go. The garage blues rock sound that both Childish and Golightly are famous for sounds like it's coming from way back when. In their seemingly naive simplicity and stripped down songwriting, the pair concentrates on the feel of the music especially on this album.
One Chord! One Song! One Sound! The album is not a duet and does not have harmonies in the singing. Instead, it's a ride down a rhythm n blues tunnel of love where the two sing in unison about burning desires, love in its raw primal form and, well, ecstatic sex! Liberating? Well yeah, love is the word in the English language (or any language) that has the most bullshit attached to it, and not only in songs. What is love anyway? If you have a definition that isn't from a dictionary, thanks to comment. Or alternatively we can always get back to Plato's Symposium, but not Aristophane's stories on how we're missing that "other half" of ourselves, that's kinda too desperate (see Hedwig and the angry inch's total adherence to that fucked up concept). Socrates' concept is better and, thousands of years later, can be summed up like "you fucking drive me around the bend you little shit but that thing you do when you do this or look like that, that really gets to me."
Back to Billy and Holly anyways...
Upside Mine
I Believe
Let Me Know You

GOXXIP

2005-11-24T13:22:00.000+01:00

Hey! They came, they were tired but they conquered! Beth, Brace and Hannah (aka The Gossip or Goxxip or Goxxip-youth or the motherfucking magnificent) played Brighton's (horrible) Ocean Rooms and it was great! Hannah, the new drummer who's also in Shoplifting, is wicked, she can do the loud garagy bits and then flip to the newer punky funky aspect that the band has taken without missing a beat. Brace's guitar playing is amazing, he sometimes sounds like he's playing guitar and bass lines at the same time (V pointed out). And Beth of course, not in the best mood but ready to give it her all with that wonderful voice of hers. The new material is much more elaborate than the garage gospel stuff from their previous albums but manages to retain that feel and when you see them do it live, it all makes sense because they really can pull it off!

The rest of the nite swirled into a lot of alcohol to celebrate V's birthday. Ladies and Dobermen, I'm now completely barred from Brighton's candy bar! My guess is that it happened because I did not take any shit from their coke head bar manager during the Ladyfest nite we had there (I'm not easily winded up but man did she know how to make me mad). This nite of the 23/10/05 famously ended up in the booby incident, a game where the coke head had to try and make every woman she had offended cover up their bare chests for fear of losing her license. OK this reflects on two things, one: licensing laws in England are becoming so fucking tight it's untrue, boys can show their tits in clubs whenever they want, why not girls and especially in a place like this? Second: we were so wrong to think Ladyfest could work in the candy, part of the girls who came dislike the venue and what it represents and the management are just up for taking our cash thinking they were doing us a favour by allowing Ladyfest there, fuck you we're giving you money, we want some respect! A girl was arrested on that nite for reasons as shady as Slim. OK the girl is fine now, it's all in the past and shit but obviously not for me! As we got in the club, the security lady asked to talk to me and told me to leave as she said I gave her a hard time last Friday, being aggressive and shit. Only problem is, I wasn't there last Friday (and I'm never ever violent). So what? Was she really mistaking me for somebody else or was it due to a walkie talkie com from Ms coke head 2005 (who was at the opposite end of the bar and probably spotted me)? Who knows, who cares. We ended up in Revenge and carried on drinking (that's the South's premier gay club, we had to reach a high degree of drunkeness to cope with the fact that we were there).

But that's yesterday's news yeah! And that was the song the Gossip performed as an encore on that nite. I LOVE that song. When they came back on stage, I asked Beth if they were taking requests, she said not now and that she'll explain why later. Boy she didn't need to, she introduced the song as being a homosexual song and that it was one she thought was quite important. When Brace launched into the first bar of Yesterday's News, I just went nuts. We all were nuts for that song as the crowd was singing along. Here it is in a September 2003 Peel Session recording (with Kathy Mendonca on drums for this one).

The Gossip - Yesterday's News (Peel Session)

HER NOISE

2005-11-22T01:03:00.000+01:00

That's where I was on Saturday night after going to Her Noise at the South London Gallery. East Croydon train station is where my life (ok my evening) took the wrong turn. After, I ended up stranded at Gatwick Airport for a few hours. Ghost busses, costa coffee and spending money that you don't have to finally get home were on the cards. Fuck British Rail, fuck them right up the eye! Thankfully, I had a friend with me so it wasn't that bad.
Her Noise was good, and the gig was even better, I'll get back to it as soon as I've fixed a coupla things with the recording of that evening. Farewell to Partyline and Spider and the Webs, after seeing them in Brighton and Madrid, I kinda got used to them being around! For the moment, let's just say that their finale involved insane laughs and tremendous hip shakin. The South London gallery will never be the same again.
For this post, I'm coming out as a French and as a complete idiot since I think that other people than my friends read this. Here's 3 French tracks, one's for Verity whose birthday is today. It's Jeanne Moreau's Le Tourbillon from the film "Jules et Jim"! Another is for Hianta and Cecile, we should cover this Diabologum track and call it Freebutt Rock. Diabologum are awesome by the way, more of that soon. Les Calamites goes out to The Bakery ladies, thanks for a really cool evening!
Jeanne Moreau - le tourbillon
Diabologum - Palladium Rock
Les Calamites - toutes les nuits

KILLING MOON (THE)

2005-11-19T02:40:00.000+01:00

Well tonite was the I'm Being Good album launch gig at Brighton's Freebutt. They had some technical problems so couldn't play for as long as they wanted to but they were amazing nevertheless! Got the album. Ack Ack Ack were playing too and that was a treat as I had yet to hear their new line-up with Charlottefield's Ashley Marlowe on drums, that guy IS the best drummer in England and the most inventive with a drum kit. And Dan Yelp of sords boy screamed his heart out and broke most strings on his guitar or like he calls it, "commited suicide on stage". Was gonna go to The Do after (which I'm starting to call Le Do) but felt a bit funny so came back home instead after hanging out with the French crew in some kebab shop. OK, this is so Doogie Howser, MD right now. Let's just say I feel like this:

Pavement - The Killing Moon

QUICKSPACE

2005-11-18T03:43:00.000+01:00

After some time trying to figure out how to host files, I couldn't wait to get to post about Quickspace. Amazing band to me! Born from the ashes of Th'Faith Healers (early 90's UK rock band on Too Pure), Quickspace was Tom Cullinan and Sean Newsham's baby. After a few singles in 94 and 95 under the name of Quickspace Supersport, a major line-up change defined the band in its most known and prolific form: Tom, Sean, Nina Pascale on vocals, Paul Chilton on keyboards and Chin on drums. from 96 to 2001, Quickspace released 3 albums, a compilation and lots of singles then they kinda disappeared after their album "the death of Quickspace" (with drumer Steve Denton on drums for this one), so premonition or what!?

Quickspace is still alive somewhere in London. They gigged a couple of times last year (with only Tom from the original line-up) and released a single on Domino. Although the band have always been reluctant to promote themselves and released records on their own label (only allowing distribution by other independent labels), I'm one of the many fans to wait for a possible new album sometime, that'll be sweet, even if it's going to be hard to top the fantastic stuff that's on "Precious Falling" or "the death of...".

So why the whole culty thing for me? Well, first respect to them for their tenacity at remaining in control of their output, even if it sounds like underground and all dude, it does take shit loads of effort to keep that sort of things running properly. But yeah musically, it's the biscuit, the Mr whippy and the Ben & Jerry all at the same time. Think psychedelic synths over distorted guitars, shuffled energetic drums and vocals so peculiar by the fragile Nina and Tom who sometimes just sings like he's doing that for the first time, constantly pushing his voice out and rediscovering it. Although Tom and Sean wrote all the stuff, you still feel the band having a blast at experimenting with their music and just playing together, so warm feel indeed coming across on the recordings (produced by Tom C.). actually, I think it was said most these albums were recorded in a their personal converted barn out in England's South Downs. On "The death of...", you sometimes hear birds singing on the background (accidental or voluntary, hopefully a bit of both). Pastoral then? OK but just listen, Quickspace are nothing like hippies and do not take themselves seriously at all. The music has many aspects to it, in the themes and how they make the emotions come together, pessimistic but nevertheless dreamers, just listen to Rise!

Well judge for yourself anyways! It's the first post so it's a treat. Happy Song #1 with the old line up and a Peel Session recording from October 95 with that. The beautiful Rise (a single). A Johnny Cash cover from a November 98 Peel Session If I Were a Carpenter. And They shoot Horses Don't They from "the death of Quickspace", with the best chorus of "don't you want my dirty love in your arms". (Sorry for the quality of the sessions, they were probably recorded on tape from the radio, a million thanks to whoever created the files.)

Quickspace Happy Song #1
Rise
If I Were a Carpenter
They Shoot Horses Don't They

And muy especially, a track from the Dougal Reed album Rumours, that's Tom, Sean and Nina covering the whole of the Fleetwood Mac album of the same name. It was released after "the death of...", complete genius homage/piss take! Here's the well known Go Your Own Way which they just take to that other level!

Go Your Own Way

HEY HO, LET'S GO!

2005-11-16T12:55:00.000+01:00

I'm currently reading Amy Spencer's wonderful book "DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture". The book deals with fanzine publishing and also the newer online publishing revolution. It illustrates the alternative ways of making onself heard, from the little world of your isolated bedroom to bigger "movements" like punk or Riot Grrrl. Through fanzines, political ideas were conveyed, personal obsessions or alternative matters as well as cultural information often based around music. The research behind the book is thorough and its emphasis on the use of lo-fi culture to build alternative communities underlines the necessity of it all. Get Amy's book from her publisher Marion Boyars Publishers

Soooo, inspired by Amy's stories of independent publishing and a few weeks of (very inspiring) Ladyfest Brighton madness which is now over (might get back to it here though), I'm finally up for doing this blog business because: I like to talk about music (maybe I'll actually have a couple of interesting things to write, who knows) and because I don't have as much time to make compilation CDs for my friends anymore.

You can expect the usual opinionated blog stuff, some MP3s (as much as I can put on there without getting told off) and stuff about the Brighton music scene that I like. Enjoy!