9 months off

Perty much sacked that blogging lark off really, then I got a new job (which has a musical element attached), this always means a surge in energy as you leave the old bullshit behind and start learning new stuff, and I've been getting hold of a bit of new music to boot.


The main reason for this post however is this: muxtape.com

It is truly great. Dunno how log it'll last but its great fun and I likeee, so much so I decided to buy the company. Well, perhaps not - but here is one I made earlier:

http://c90.muxtape.com/

And here is one from a good friend of mine:

http://chicola.muxtape.com/

Mix 'em up, and post yours in the comments please.

Possibly more to follow. In another few months.

Good Pop / Bad Pop

This new Roisin Murphy track is surely the best bit of pop music out for a while yet.

This is quite a turn up from my perspective cause I thought her first solo album was utter nonsense. Pretentious rubbish produced by that berk Herbert. I'll probably discover that he's done this too and have to retract that statement (quick bit of web research - he didn't).

However this is great, total Goldfrapp rip off but its got Luke Vibert-esque acid lines, big words that allude to drugs and sex and a kind of early Depeche Mode synth hook that flicks my electro-pop switch.

I'm sure her new EMI A&R blokes have had their fingers in there, "C'mon Rosy, you had yer chance at that poncey stuff, now lets make a few quid - or you'll be dropped quicker than a hookers knickers and my coke fund takes a hit". Well, if thats what it takes for the masses to encounter groovy acid lines when they are out doing the shopping, its fine by me.

At the other end of the scale is the latest Manic Street Preachers 'song' which is similar in impact to a lump of wet cardboard put on a potters wheel set to slow. Dispose of immediately please, members of the general public.

Daft Punk Are Playing Near My House

The festival season has begun, and this past week I have attended two, admittedly not camping or indeed venturing out of Zone 1 in London town, which has been a cheap and very cheerful option.

Last weekend it was the Wireless festival, four days of themed music in Hyde Park, replicated in Leeds on alternate days. We took it upon ourselves to attend on the Saturday, headlined by Daft Punk, with LCD Soundsystem, CSS, Plan B, Klaxons, and lots of other dancey shenanigans.


This was the first time I have been to a concert in Hyde Park, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. Queues weren't too bad, lager wasn't outrageously priced, and I have to say that the atmosphere was great, and we didn't experience any twats all day - which is unusual at any festival. Only thing that midly annoyed was the lack of really good music between bands on the main stage, which was running some ads, and some daft lass running about interviewing festival goers.

So, we had a couple of drinks, got in there to assess the situation, and promptly went on a bloody fast and stupid fairground ride. I haven't been on one for years and it made me feel a bit weird, which is obviously the point. Once I had gathered my senses Plan B had started things off in the main field, and he was very good, covering Roots Manuva's Witness, and using Nirvana riffs and the like, a good turn. He was followed by CSS, who took it to the next level, jumping about and lifting the spirits of the crowd in a way only Brazilian ladies in shiny catsuits can.

LCD followed CSS, and I was a little disappointed. Good, but with hindsight it was a bit of a funny slot to fill, short at about 45 minutes, and still in bright daylight even though second on the bill (it transpired that Daft Punk finished at about 10.45 - all very convenient for the last tube, but left the punters wanting more). Very good all the same, just not long enough.

And so to Daft Punk. Two French fellers in plastic hats, or house-electro-robo-pioneers. I'll happily admit to not fully getting the appeal of Daft Punk, slightly patchy albums, perhaps a bit too European for my ears. That said, they were cracking live and it all made much more sense than they do on record. Great light show, big neon pyramid thing, and about 20% louder than anything else on the bill, which lifted things up and got the new ravers grooving. Pretty hammered by the end of it all, bumped into some old mates, and all very convenient and easy to get to. And no rain.

Jarvis was hosting the Meltdown festival at the Royal Festival Hall, and this was the second of the festivals I went to. Great line up for Meltdown, and I would have liked to have seen DEVO, and the John Barry suite would have been great to see, but there is only so much one can do, so Iggy and The Stooges it was. And my, what a gig.

Jarvis described them as Rock Royalty before they came on, and the crowd were expectant and excited beforehand, and rightly so. I have never seen anything quite like it. Iggy Pop is one of the most engaging performers I have witnessed, absolutely crackers and utterly involved with the audience, especially when a load of 'em are up on stage dancing with him.


The Asheton's drums and guitars combined to hit with a force akin to being smashed in the face with a brick, and ex-Minute Man Mike Watt had his head shoved in the bass amps, and was just as odd and jerky in his playing as Iggy was with his dancing. Watching a 60 year old bloke dancing to three chord punk like a 7 year old girl full of sugar and e-numbers is one of the most entertaining things I have ever done. Knock 40 years off the bloke and fill him up with drugs, and I can't really imagine what it must have been like. Insanity.

Great stage invasion too, all very pleasantly done, about 40 odd people on there, my favourite being bloke of about 40 in oversized suit trousers waving his shirt round his head, as lost as Iggy in a world of riffs. Unlike Glastonbury, they slightly more polite crowd all happily hopped off stage when asked to, and were happy to be described as "slightly Benny Hill" by Iggy. If you ever get a chance to see this band, do so,

After the gig we milled about having a beer amongst the trendies and the aged rockers, and Don Letts was playing reggae in the bar bit of the RFH whilst everyone kicked these massive blow up pillows about. I love festivals, especially ones that involve a bus home and a comfy bed.

Video Killed the Radio Star

A couple of days off and with no plans other than a few administrative tasks to complete, I spent some time surfing t'internet and reading the paper and finding lots of new ways to piss away time.

First off is another Boards of Canada track on another car advert. This time Mercedes are following in the footsteps of Nissan and BMW who have both had ads directed by Chris Cunningham featuring BOC. The Merc ad is just as effects led (don't know who has directed), the car changing into different forms as it bombs along a winding road. Its not as good as the other ads though (IMHO) and the Merc looks decidedly 80's to me, a bit like one of them taxis in Tenerife with a body kit on it. Car manufacturers obviously like their music technically accomplished, stylish, with a human touch, just the way a quality motor should be marketed.

Can't find the Merc ad on the net yet, but there are loads of BOC fan vids on there, some of which are good, some of which I think miss the point completely. This is my fave below - animated short for Poppy Seed (BOC remix) by Slag Boom Van Loon.




Adam Buxton has a great take on a Nissan car ad on his site:



And to finish on a musical note, I'm off to the Wireless do tomorrow in Hyde Park, London town. There I shall be observing some of the newest and latest dance music acts - including LCD Soundsystem which is the real draw for me. Below is a vid from them. Later in the week I'm seeing The Stooges at the newly refurb'd Festival Hall, much to report on so I'll try to update again soon.

Graffiti

Spotted this today, on a postbox just off Berkeley Square and it made me laugh. Poor old Fat Pete.

Cabbage Patch Hucknall

Sitting here watching Later.... and Simply Red are on. He's not looking any better these days, in fact its pretty frightening. His face looks like its sliding off.

He looks a bit like a bitter aged cabbage patch kid. A discarded doll placed in cupboard for decades with only a bucket of cocaine to sustain it. Only to emerge like some bizarre moth to blight the world with Robert Palmer-esque turgid pop and get on everyones tits.

Mick Hucknall

Kate Nash has just done her turn, and for all the hype surrounding her, it was pretty dull actually, bit like an angry humourless female Mike Skinner. Some song about being pissed off and rowing with your other half at a party. And she looks like one of the girls from school who thought she was great but was just a nob. Back to myspace please.

The Cribs are on too, who I listened to being interviewed the other night on the radio, and looked exactly as I expected. I'm liking em though, the single Mens Needs is good, great hook and poppy. They kind of play a bit jerkily, but not like the hoards of angular bands we see so much of, kind of awkward almost., like they can't quite keep up. Wakefield's White Stripes? Perhaps just cause one of em resembles Jack White. Got my vote though.

Patti Smith is on, acting like some bonkers aunt who crops up at weddings. Interesting but a bit scary.

Quick flick to 4 and Transmission, can't watch this for too long or Laverne will force me to destroy the TV. Still, its the Happy Mondays, and it surprisingly it actually sounds quite good. Noisy and more akin to their first two albums. Surprisingly it would appear they are the best thing on the box this evening. The kids are struggling to dance to it, which must be a good sign.

Next on 4 Rufus Wainwright but I can't be bothered to write about that. Unless he's dead good.
PS - he was pretty good, as it goes.

Football Focus

Footy season is pretty much over now, FA Cup tomorrow heralds the official arrival of summer, at least in my eyes.

I'll miss footy focus which is often a hotbed of musical surprise and inspiration. Just a couple of weeks ago I was lazing about reading the paper and taking in the opinions of Gary et al, and not paying very much attention to a somewhat earnest Tony Adams mulling the state of the England team, and clearly trying to position himself as much more of a thinker than viewers might have previously considered (they'd put him in a nice park and shot him from high angles), when rolling over the top came the dulcet tones of Sarah Cracknell.

Its always good to hear a bit of unexpected wistful pop, especially when provided by Saint Etienne. I believe it was Just a Little Overcome from Sound of Water. Adams' thoughtful contemplation of the state of the national side, accompanied with the dreamy synths really worked, and cheered me up no end. A few years ago when Electronica was in its heyday, they obviously had some spod down there doing the music for Football Focus, and 'last weeks goals' would be flying into the net soundtracked by Plaid and all manner of quality Warp tunes. Worth the licence fee alone, and certainly beats ITV's cliched and irritating use of the likes of U2 for their coverage.

The only other TV moment that has surpassed this in recent times was very special indeed. Vegging on the sofa one Friday eve, pondering the curry options during Hollyoaks, when what comes floating from the televisual device but the maudlin tones of Boards of Canada. Amazing. Such beauty, juxtaposed with such dross. Quite a combination. I think it was used as a backing track for OB walking out after a particularly bad argument with Max. I keep watching but no more BOC yet.