Oh my fucking sweary word. The classic 80's touring line up. The friendliest mosh pit I've ever partaken in (partook of?). I thought it was going to be back-catalogue-by-numbers, but they actually seemed to be enjoying it. I got a hug off Paul Leary at the end. I was too hoarse from yelling 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!' at him after every song to pull him up about Lonesome Bulldog. Opportunity missed.
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Friday, 18 July 2008
Fluxion - Vibrant Forms II (2 x cd)
Chain Reaction CRD11. 2000More (much more) of the same. Still pleasant.
Fluxion - Vibrant Forms
Chain Reaction CRD07. 1999
Pleasant melllow minimalist dub techno(?). I wouldn't know what to call it, as I'm over 30. Nice background.
Foo Fighters - The Colour And The Shape
RCA. 1997Not even the 60mg of codeine currently alleviating the pain in my back can help this.
Only the chart-friendly Monkey Wrench and Everlong would tempt me to pick it from the shelf again.
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters
RCA. 1995Worthy debut.
I was at the soundcheck of Nirvana's first ever UK gig, Newcastle Riverside. Dave Grohl was doing the usual drum soundcheck thing, banging one at a time. I told him his kit sounded flat as a fart. He laughed and didn't kill me.
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
The Flaming Lips - In A Priest Driven Ambulance
Restless. 1990Thus begins the psychedelia. Jonathan Donahue's input almost slaps you in the face, with so much Mercury Rev-ness present. Five Stop Mother Superior Rain could have been straight off Yerself Is Steam.
The second-bestest FL album. After Transmissions. Did I mention that?
The Flaming Lips - Telepathic Surgery
Enigma/Restless CDENV523. 1989More straight-up scuzz rock than psychedelic twiddling, but with the odd quirky touch to suggest their future direction.
I'm pleased to say I bought this in '89, on FK's recommendation.
Highlights: Drug Machine In Heaven, the 23-minute noise epic Hell's Angel's Cracker Factory (their apostrophes, not mine).
The Flaming Lips - Hit To Death In The Future Head
Warner Bros. 1992Not as good as Transmissions (by a long way), but the sound is heading that way.
Still better than everything after Transmissions.
Shall I just keep typing Transmissions, and use that album as a benchmark for everything else?
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Warner Bros. 1999I can't remember if I bought this for my darlin' dearest or vice versa.
Regardless, this is their Pioughd.
YAWN!
The Flaming Lips - Bad Days (Single - Ltd Squidgy Pack)
Warner Bros. 19952 of these as well. Jase?
Actually, you can have both. This is shit.
The Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly (Single)
Warner Bros. 19932nd track is just the main riff from title track over and over again with a few twiddles added, but it works.
Track 3 is a bluegrass version of Turn It On (first track from Transmissions...), with Paul Leary and King Coffey and Jeff Pinkus from Butthole Surfers. Proppa mint, but only if you're a fanboy.
The Flaming Lips - This Here Giraffe (Single)
Warner Bros. 1996Two copies here - is one of these yours Jase?
Title track - yawn. Two Peel session tracks - ok. Quite a nice verion of Life On Mars, but not a million miles away from the Bowie version really. Would have been nice to put a FL slant on it.
The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
Warner Bros. 1995Not bad, but nothing really stands out as essential.
Could easily do without this.
The Flaming Lips - Transmissions From The Satellite Heart
Warner Bros. 1993One of the greatest albums ever recorded. Simple fact.
Joyous, drug-addled, rich and varied. Never a dull moment, Not a single weak track.
I love it. You should too.
Outstanding moments of greatness: the brain melting, unfeasibly massive riff in Slow Nerve Action, one of the best song titles ever: Oh My Pregnant Head (Labia In The Sunlight).
I will never, not ever, get sick of playing this. It's been 15 years so far and every time is as great as the first.
She don't use butter, she don't use cheese, she don't use jelly or any of these - she uses vaa-aa-aaaaaaa-saline
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Warner Bros. 2002Flaming Lips for your mamma. With the exception of the beautiful Do You Realise?? I could gladly put this in the bin.
I liked them before they were a famous comedy cabaret band, so there.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Fridge - Happiness
Text Records TEXT002LP. 2001This is one of those records that any of us, with access to some basic sampling and sequencing software, a few basic instruments, a modicum of musical ability and a smattering of ideas could have made.
But we didn't. They did. And it's lovely. Every track is crafted from the simplest of elements, looped and layered to sickeningly luscious effect.
I'll even forgive them the inclusion of a small child's drivelling input on track 5. Why do people do that? Yes, you love your kid and isn't it cute. Listen, they're trying to say daddy. Well, yes, you find it cute but everyone else wants you to come back when they can actually say daddy. And get their round in. I get my fill of people struggling to form words between 10pm-midnight most Saturdays, and I don't often have to wipe their arses. I'll tolerate kid shit when necessary (The Kids by Lou Reed - ok, I see why we need it here. Carry on. I won't mention Pink Floyd's The Wall as that's just shit).
For future reference, in case you need it, this album is the exact length for making a soya mince-based veggie chilli and doing Sunday and Monday's washing up (excluding cleaning the hob - I've had enough).
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Warner Bros. 1977Just fuck off, right. It's one of the best albums ever. If this isn't in Top Gear's top ten driving albums they can fuck off too. This always goes with me if it's a long haul. Even back before iPods.
I was always intrigued as a kid as to what lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff referred to. I'm still not sure. Is he having a poo? A wank? Shagging?
I was gutted to find out a couple of years ago that Lindsey Buckingham double tracked the guitar finger-picking loveliness on Never Going Back Again.
It doesn't get much better than Go Your Own Way.
LEAVE IT!
Eat Static - Epsylon EP
Ultimate Records / Planet Dog BARK009CDS. 1995Seemed better at the time. I think I bought this for track 2, the breakbeat-laden Dionysiac. I must have heard it somewhere while in the mood for this kind of thing.
Fine if you're full of psychedelics and dancing in a field or warehouse. In the mid-nineties. With dreads.
Embrace - One Big Family EP
Hut CD86. 1997I think they're alright now and again.
Title track is canny mammoth. No. 2 gets all slow and sloppy. Back into big guitars and a bit Stonesy on track 3, 4=moreslop.
Alright.
FM Einheit - Fruehlingserwachen (Single)
Some Bizzare SBZ12001CD. 1990Not entirely shite commercialish techno fayre. FM goes Adamski.
Spring Awakening though? Fucking hippy.
FM Einheit - Stein
Some Bizzare SBZCD006. 1990The Neubauten monkey goes all solo industrial electronic. Not particularly successfully as far as I'm concerned.
Fairly pedestrian stuff with the odd clanging quirk to remind you who's behind it.
I hope that was his girlfriend singing on the first track. If he got someone in specially to do that shite he wants a kick in the arse.
Track 10, Anna, has a nice close-up recording of a cat purring. He was copying me - I did the same with the aforemetioned Chester at around the same time.
Einstürzende Neubauten - Heiner Müller: Die Hamletmaschine
Rough Trade. 1991Blixa Bargeld plays Hamlet. Neubauten do the soundtrack.
Very good, though I'm not sure it's possible to do Hamlet properly in 32 mins.
Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit - Radio Inferno
Rough Trade/Our Choice EGO203. 1993Essentially a Neubauten-ish verson of Dante's Inferno for radio. With appearances by John Peel and the ever-present feedback guitar of Caspar Brötzmann.
Impossible to follow, as it's mostly in German, but an aural treat. The antidote to Tabula Rasa of the same year.
Einstürzende Neubauten - Tabula Rasa
Mute/Our Choice/Rough Trade Beton106cd. 1993I was almost as disappointed with this as I was when Butthole Surfers shat on my face with Pioughd.
I'm not against progress and evolution, but this was a step back as far as I'm concerned. Could have eased up on the compressor on the bass.
We're offered respite from the tedium with the last track, Headcleaner, which comes across like older EN in bed with Godflesh. For 15 minutes.
How much is laser tattoo removal?
Einstürzende Neubauten - Malediction (Single)
Mute/Our Choice/Rough Trade Beton206cd. 1993This is about the time I lost interest in EN, or at least stopped being obsessive. They're banging on about flowers. Bits of this go into Cocteau Twins-ish clangy reverb guitar twaddle.
I like my EN bangin'.
Ubique Media Daemon sounds like the forerunner to Vindaloo.
I suppose you can only twat around with lumps of metal and cut through so many concrete blocks before it gets tiresome. Fair enough.
Einstürzende Neubauten - Strategies Against Architecture II (2 x CD)
Some Bizarre/Mute. 1991Can I really do an objective overview of early Neubauten? My one and only tattoo is their little fella on my shoulder, and I had a cat called Central Nervous System (Chester for short), after their track Z.N.S.
That'll be a no.
Not everyday listening, mind you. Luckily I was kind of in the mood.
I wish I'd had the tattoo done like it is on this sleeve, rather than just black.
Friday, 11 July 2008
Ektroverde - Ukkossalama
EKTRO-014. 2003Take the mellower side of Circle, chuck in a dollop of Can, dig out a sax and stir well.
Brilliant.
Ektroverde - FUTURO A new stance for tomorrow
EKTRO-005CD. 1998Soundtrack to the film of the same name. I picked this up in Aquarious Records in San Fran, as it was filed under Circle (rightfully so, being an offshoot of those mad Fins).
It's an analogue delight. Off-kilter, retro, but thoroughly modern.
I wouldn't be without it, and I've been trying to talk myself into buying the book, but I'm too tight.
Nocturnal Emmissions and Expose Your Eyes - Morroco
FIEND CD03. 1998A match made in hell.
Squeaks, bleeps and feedback. Chimes and clicks. Mad rhythms. A right old racket. Lovely.
Who'd have thought you'd ever find Nigel Ayres and breakbeat samples on the same recording?
Could have done with more zealous use of a compressor on bits of it though - the speakers had a hard time.
I think this has been reissued with 1,000,006 extra tracks, as this was ltd to 100 copies.
Duke Ellington - Money Jungle
Blue Note. 1987 (1962)with Charlie Mingus and Max Roach? Come on! What more can one ask for. Probably my favourite jazz trio CD.
I was gutted when I realised, having owned it for a while, that it wasn't called Monkey Jungle after all.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Elbow - Cast of Thousands
V2 VVR1021812. 2003I saw them by chance on some late night TV thing, possibly Jools Holland, playing Fallen Angel. That was that. I'd heard the name before that, as Joel Veitch used their version of Independent Woman for one of his kitten things.
Laid back, delicious and sublime. I can't fault this.
"Keep it in the bottom draw, where you hide your sex tools."
Mark Eitzel - Songs for Courage and Confidence
New West Records NW6038. 2002I didn't think there could be any situation where I wished I was listening to Culture Club. Already sickened by the simpering, easy-listening lounge shite of the first two tracks, including the worst ever version of Ain't no sunshine, and my sensibilities are attacked by an abomination of an attempt at Do you really want to hurt me.
Lights off. Goodnight. But wait! There are still seven tracks to go. I'll spare the details, suffice to say this guy sucks. At least there are people to reign him in when he's in American Music Club guise (are they still going? Don't care enough to even look it up). Who the fuck choses to cover More More More (How do you like it?)???????? And make it sound WORSE!
Fuck you Eitzel. You smug piece of piss. I'm glad you're bald and your stupid little straw hat isn't fooling anyone.
Egg - Egg
Deram P25L 25058. 1970Japanese issue, bought from NF during one of his clear-outs.
Not sure why, as it's quite nasty prog.
That was one horrible 40:32 chore.
Richard Bartz - Escape - Kurbel Compilation 1
Kurbel KUR004CD. 1996A comp of his first three EPs, Style Wars, Ghettoblaster and Saug 27.
Banging German techno. Good enough to give anything from Detroit a run for its 808.
I'm all repetitive-beated out now. The room's spinning. All that government propaganda was true!
Experimental Audio Research - The Köner Experiment
Mille Plateaux CD36. 1997More twiddling, but this time produced and mixed by Thomas Köner, who adds repetitive pulses to the whole shebang. What a difference it makes. This is incredibly hypnotic.
Everything is filtered and delayed to the same rate as the pulse, so it's almost like listening to the last record through a vibrato effect set on full depth.
Kevin Shields plays treated guitar on this one, so it gets my thumbs up just for that.
Engaging. Keep it for cold winter nights.
Experimental Audio Research - Phenomena 256
Space Age Recordings ORBIT005CD. 1996Sonic Boom ditches the guitar and fuzz pedals in favour of a VCS3 and a shit load of digital delay. It starts of promising enough, with repetitive trippy swirls and wooshes. By track 4 it's reduced to Kevin Martin (The Bug) parping his sax through a delay, which sounds exactly as you'd expect. It gets slightly back on track after that, but nothing particularly engaging. Never mind.
I feel obliged to include the image from inside the booklet.
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Brian Eno / John Cale - One Word (single)
Land Records LANDHO4. 1991Two behemoths of musical mastery, three sorry-ass tracks. It defies reason.
I'm going to have to play the new Melvins album to make up for this rubbish.
Brian Eno - Another Green World
EG CD21. 1975Out come the instruments for another crack at some songs. Not a patch on Here come the warm jets, but not bad. It just feels a bit safe after its predecessor.
Title track was used as the theme music for BBC's Arena.
Careful, Phil Collins plays drums on a few tracks.
Brian Eno - Apollo (Atmopheres and Soundtracks)
EG CD53. 1983Delicious electronic lunar soundscapes. You want ambient? I'll give you ambient.
You may recognise such delights as An Ending (Descent), used extensively on the Chris Morris' series Jam. and Deep Blue Day, Eno's interpretation of Flying by The Beatles (or so I assume - it sounds an awful lot like it if not), used in the recovering suppositories from manky toilet scene in Trainspotting.
Loveliness in circular plastic form.
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
EG EEGCD23. 1975To be played very quietly while dining or falling asleep. Consists of two musical phrases chucked through a tape loop system for 30 minutes. Very nice it is too.
This CD reissue is padded out with Three Variations on The Cannon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel. Some experimental orchestral overlaying conducted by Gavin Bryars, recorded shortly after Discreet. Also canny.
Brian Eno and David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
EG CD48. 1981I used to love this. I now, disappointingly, find it quite tiresome, even silly in places.
Not silly, not 23Skidoo-ish funk, highlights: Mea Culpa, Mountain of Needles.
Monday, 7 July 2008
An apology....
...to dead motherfucker James Brown (see vitriolic entries here and here).
While doing the social thing in a local bar over the weekend, DR the dj played a track that sounded vaguely familiar and quite groovy. It turned out to be The Grunt by James Brown and the J.Bs. It wasn't shit.
Sorry JB, I guess you weren't 100% waste of space after all. Just 99.9%. Anyway, you're dead.
A brief hiatus....
... well, a whole month actually. Moved into a new office space, so spending less time at home during day, so less time to do this. Will continue sporadically. Carry on as you were.
The end of a 17 year quest, and now there's a gaping emptiness that yearns to be filled (oo-oer!)
Following on from the Pampidoo - Synthesizer Voice entry, I can at last report on the closure of a personal quest that has dogged my sleep for many years.
The trilogy of mystery Dancehall tracks is at last complete. That long lost cassette of delights, first plied by PF in 1991, has finally been decoded.
The first was easy - Big Belly Man by Admiral Bailey. Yes, we all know that one. See the Pampidoo post for number 2. Slightly harder (it did take about 14 years longer to find than the Belly beats).
But what of number 3? The track who's lyrics, when Googled, revealed no more than frustration. The elusive track, my cack-mouthed rendition of which fell on deaf ears of every reggae enthusiast in my circle of associates. Step up to the (dub)plate, Mr IC, the genial host of House of Reggae podcast. I'd been enjoying his selections while wasting my time at the gym for a few weeks when the lightbulb flashed above my sweating bonce. He seemed to know his stuff, and I had nothing to lose. An email, a day of hand-wringing in anticipation, and POW! An answer. But that was only the start. No amount of Googling or Limewiring threw up an mp3 to check the authenticity of my distant memory. Bullet-bitten, my hard earned (yes, ok, stop laughing all those who know and love my lazy ways) cash went bleeping down a copper wire to a seller on GEMM.com. One of only three copies of the 12" I could find worldwide. A week and several email prods later, no record. Just a refund. Bugger. OK. Don't panic. There's still that slightly knackered copy in Belgium. But wait! S&EH are taking a long haul jaunt from LA to Toon in a few weeks. SH owes me big time (you know why, mofo). There's a copy in Florida available on ebay. NEAR MINT! The deed was done. All there was to do was wait. And wait. Here they are. Hugs. Drinks. Record? Lost luggage. BAAAAAAAH!
What's another 24 hours in 17 years? Next eve, while being all grown up and social without being in the pub, there was the square envelope of delights. I was nervous, perspiring like a swine and not entirely sure I wanted to play the contents, for fear the quest was not over and the tunes thereon didn't correspond to my mind's recollection.
Dibi Dibi Girl by Bruce Lee and Lideay, on Yammie Records, 1986.
Oh yes.
Thank you IC@HOR. Thank you everyone who has been kind enough to keep their hands from my neck as I bang on and on again about this bloody record I can't find over the years.
And thank YOU Bruce Lee, wherever you are.
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