2,2,2,2,then 5. I'm starting from an initial test of only two, and I didn't think I'd even be able to do 13 today already.
hi, i've been slacking with online stuff (work is crazed and killing me), but...
went to Madrid and Seville in March--pics here
And these are just wonderful--love them!-- Jorge Bispo's pics--
VESTIDO DE NOIVA
Great track - cheap, nasty video.
Well this weekend we found ourselves at a loose end so I managed to find last minute tickets for the legendary Sonics. Wow!
Firstly the compere (why do they have comperes at gigs?) came out and informed us that, sadly, Pete Doherty would not be appearing tonight. The audience let out a huge cheer. We laughed in relief that the talentless troll wouldn't be there. Anyway, the DJ was playing some great 60s tunes so we were quite happy to hear that instead.
Eventually The Horrors strolled out on stage. They're so thin I imagine that when they're on tour they post themselves from one venue to the next. They make an incredible noise, and constantly threaten to fall apart without ever quite losing it. I saw them over a year and a half ago and I think they've got better - although they are quite exhausting to watch.
One of the more disturbing things while watching the band was there was a chap in a flat cap standing next to us who was constantly farting. It was eye watering.
The Sonics took a little while to start their set - probably due to some minor technical issues that continued through the set. It has to be said, while the sound is nowhere near as raw as their sixties heyday, they still rocked. A few tunes sounded a bit too comfortable, a bit too, umm, Butlins and yet they could still do a tremendous Louie Louie. And if you can make that old warhorse sound fresh then you must have something special.
As always, someone has posted clips to YouTube. They're actually pretty good quality.
This is curently on heavy rotation in my head. It's a great piece of psychedelic pop.
I grew up watching this and yet strangely I don't wake up in the night screaming. Go figure.
It's a cover. It's prom the post-Dion Belmonts era, after their legendary leader left for a solo career. Bass vocalist Carlo Mastrangelo had taken the helm He penned this song, a nifty number in the Italian-American 'Greaser Soul' doo-wop style that the Belmonts epitomized. Mastrangelo's deep voice was often the Belmonts' secret weapon (check out his work on 'I Wonder Why') but without Dion's swaggering presence, the record feels more like a nice rough sketch than anything else.
Joan jett fills in that rough sketch perfectly. Her version of 'I Need Someone,' is near perfect example of a rock and roll single. It definetely contains the Belmonts' influence in the Blackhearts 'duh duh-duh duh-duh' background chant on the chorus, but there's also the Stonesy grit of the rhythm section, the Ramones-style guitars, the high, breathy Beach Boys harmony on the verses, the punk-rock growl of Joan's lead vocal, some organ that comes right out of Del Shannon's playbook and spoken word bridge where Joanie seems to be channeling James Brown. If you know what to listen for, this tune is a little history lesson/pastiche of what's good in rock and roll, and even if you don't it's a great record on it's own terms for the sweet sound and the full-bore passion with which all those ingredients are mixed. Joan Jett will probably never again scale the commercial heights she did with 'I Love Rock & Roll,' but I'm sure as hell glad she's still out their doing her thing. Here's to the ultimate rocker chick.
I got tagged by Saffer, who I kind of regard as my commanding officer, so here goes.
Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:
- 1987-1990: Working after school and weekend in Harris Printers, Porthcawl. I nagged the guy who ran it for a job and got one - folding stuff, stapling, sweeping up at the end of the day. It progressed through learning to set type and help run the letterpress, help make plates and run a litho through to installing and running their first Mac set-up. An SE30 with an A3 black-and-white radius screen and a LaserWriter+ that cost a small fortune.
- 1992-93: Gregg's the Bakers, Cardiff. While in college - I had a job that involved sweeping and mopping the floor of the bakery shop and serving customers. You got to take home quiches and sausage rolls, so I thought it was a pretty sweet deal.
- 1993-94: Architectural Assistant, Welsh Health Common Services Authority, NHS Wales For my year out working I stayed in Cardiff and had a hell of a year working in the NHS, drawing ceiling and landscaping details by-and-large but towards the end of my tenure there I got to do the early concepts for a few schemes such as a respite ward for cancer patients which had some interesting passive-solar features, and a medium-secure unit for violent mental patients, which probably wouldn't pass the Sarah Connor test, but did have nice 45 degree corners in corridors so patients could give staff nasty surprises. I also developed a nice moonlighting role getting paid cash-in-hand to do concept sketch work for one of the qualified architects over the weekend, which he would then pass off as his... This also sticks in my mind as being the one place I have worked where myself and three colleagues successfully managed to speak only using song titles for an entire day.
- 1995: Assistant Producer, Camden Lock / Delphi: My first job out of architecture school, and into the WWW, courtesy of Mr. Phil Barrett. In a Camden basement where I met Stef, Yoz, Mick, Pouneh, Obi, Emyr, Alex, Pete, Graham, Stuart and others, mucked around with Emacs and Video Cameras; and fully fell in love with the Web.
Four TV Shows I DVR (I don't have a DVR, but let's say... time-shifted time-based media originally produced for television... ahem):
- The Wire: I've just finished Season 2, so no spoilers. Also this is something I watch on planes, trains, buses - anywhere I'm on my own. Foe is not so into it to say the least. I, however, am totally hooked.
- Lost: Season 4 and it is back on, as far as I'm concerned. Like the Alias Rambaldi Arc, I like my J.J.A stories weird and byzantine. The more DHARMA the better.
- Sarah Connor Chronicles: It gets a bit emo now and again, but Cromatie is awesome. Also, I guess it's a sign of age that I fancy Lena Heady way more than Summer Glau.
- Primeval: This is UK-pulp family scifi served straight-up and dumb, without any of the shameless Whedonising of RTD's Doctor. I love it.
Four places I've been:
- Adelaide: Beautiful, and the central market is not to be missed - especially the lamingtons...
- Shanghai: crazy corpuscular, muscular hypercapitalism. maximum city, reached by maglev. Maglev!
- Aberdeen: grey stone in sunshine. A majestic market town and a little bit post-peak oil.
- Sienna: The archetypal Italian hill town, and a wonderful place to passeggiata through the contrada...
Four music artists I'm listening to right now:
- Saffer beat me to British Sea Power," Do You Like Rock Music?", but 'Atom' is magnificent.
- School of Language "Sea from shore": very Jim O'Rourke, but this is not a bad thing.
- Nick Cave and Warren Ellis "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" OST
- Deerhoof "The Perfect Me": which seems to sum up a lot of the other, odd things I'm listening to - poppy math rock with wierd vocals seems to do it for me right now.
Now, I'm afraid I have to tag people don't I.
Chris Heathcote, Matt Webb, Flo Heiss and Iain Tait, come on down!
