This is the Music archive
October 14, 2007
porcupine or pineapple
I’m a big fan of Brakes ever since I saw them supporting Belle and Sebastian and then started receiving their emails. They’re always playing gigs in people’s living rooms and things. I’ve never won one of those competitions but I did get an email last week about a secret gig at the Water Rats. They came on stage at 7.30 and there were around 20 of us in the room at the time. They played a fantastic short set and revealed that ‘Heard About Your Band’ is about Dominic Masters from The Others (hope they didn’t think that was only OK if it was in front of the 20 of us - well, it crept up to about 50 by the end). Almost as good as a living-room gig. The volume was up to the level for a bigger gig, though, and my ears are still buzzing. It’s going to be a bore when the hearing properly falls apart.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 5:54 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
the new monkeys?
Check out the Mayde Creeks
B-)
Posted by Billy at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2006
civic pride
Ohna’s in France (being interviewed by Liberation about short film-making in Britain, among other things!) so she couldn’t take me up on one of her christmas presents, which was a ticket to see Belle and Sebastian in Cambridge. Robbie came instead. He even got away early so we had time for a pre-gig beer and fish and chips in the Eagle (famous as the place where Crick and Watson came up with the double helix idea and for the names of airmen carved into the ceiling during World War II). Belle and Sebastian were great. As they said, they’ve got a LOAD of songs to choose from now. After one person had yelled ‘We Rule The School!’ all night, they played one line of it and then stopped saying ‘och, we’ll do it tomorrow’. The locals didn’t like all the references to braininess, lectures, etc. The woman next to me said ‘Everybody who comes here goes on about that, even though most of the people here are locals!’
The support were Brakes who were great. Most songs were about a minute long. The final song, was introduced as ‘a short one’. It was called ‘comma comma comma full stop’. I liked it so much I bought the record! (And they covered a Camper van Beethoven song, Dug)*
According to the Belle and Sebastian band site we MAY listen to the album before it comes out if we find it on the web.
B-)
*Dug planted the idea of this in my head but thought he shouldn’t be going to a gig in Cambridge on the day his second kid is due.
Posted by Billy at 6:32 PM | Comments (0)
December 9, 2005
john
BBC Archive Hour: Lennon - The Wenner Tapes
You need to know that you’ve only got one more day to listen again to John Lennon telling us what ‘big bastards’ the Beatles were and stuff.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)
December 3, 2005
take the skinheads bowling
Sorry to be advertising again, but the Festive 15 CD (yet another tribute to John Peel) that comes with the latest Uncut is great. I counted 7 tracks I’ve not listened to for far too long and everything on it is great. My nostalgia module is taking me back to a rainy Reading Festival where the man himself was cheering us up with tracks like ‘take the skinheads bowling’ and to the Forum where Half Man Half Biscuit were a bit less fun to my ears than they were on record.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 3:56 PM | Comments (1)
November 24, 2005
go home
It’s been so long since I posted I’ve been getting concerned messages. Now that I’m ill, I’ve got a minute to post something. I could tell you about Ohna’s mad work, Kiloh’s exams (2 school exams this term so far, a recorder exam coming up on Monday the day before another school exam on Tuesday - she’s asked Ohna and me if we can give her one each next week just to keep her up to speed), Apoa’s drama and her broken guitar (she’s currently using a 3/4 size guitar with a broken body and poor tone and will have to play a concert with it on Saturday and then do an exam with it next Wednesday) or my busy times at work including my trip to Dubai tomorrow, but the really burning issue on my mind right now is Go Home Productions which is full of (free downloadable) treats. There’s lots of brilliance here but I’d maybe start with ‘Strung Out King’ and ‘Marvin’s Not In Love Parts 1 & 2’. Remaining musical, Kim bought me ‘John Peel - A Tribute’ when she was down. I wouldn’t have thought of buying it, but it’s really great and does take you back to 10 o’clock on a weekday evening in the 70’s (in my case).
B-)
Posted by Billy at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
festive fifty
Just received this email:
Dear All
I would be grateful if you would do two things for me to mark one John Peel’s passing:
As in the spirit of the original Festive Fifty, please send me your top three tracks (singles or LP tracks) in order 1 2 3. Please ensure you send both name of track as well as artist/group
Send this email to a bunch of people, asking them to send their top 3 to me at geoff.curran@btinternet.com by midnight 17th December
I will collate the answers and put out a definitive Festive Fifty at www.festivefifty.net on 24th December this year
I know this sounds a little…….but my love of music was fuelled by Peelie and having read the Mick Wall book, it brought it home how much he gave us and I would like to give a little back myself. If you think this is bollocks, then please do not reply but do me a favour, send it on as there are plenty of people who will not feel that way.
Cheers
Geoff
Posted by Billy at 3:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2005
missing the boos
Just read a short interview with DA Pennebaker about No Direction Home. He says he didn’t really notice the negativity of audiences. This is what he said when asked whether he really didn’t hear the booing:
I hadn’t noticed it. It’s hard to tell booing from cheering in a way and I’m up there on stage so there’s a lot of noise - I’m in the middle of The Band. Maybe I heard it and hadn’t thought about it. It just didn’t seem reasonable to me in view of how marvellous that music was.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
cold and far from home
Managed to catch a cold in time for the first day of teaching yesterday. Did a fair bit of dripping, thought I was going to faint a couple of times, and I was definitely a bit fuzzier than usual, but the students were bright and interested.
Meanwhile, I’m thoroughly excited by No Direction Home, Martin Scorcese’s documentary about Bob Dylan (part 1 last night, part 2 tonight). I showed the students Jed’s apostropheless poster yesterday and had to stop myself going on about Dylan too long. I assured them that I’m not a Dylan nerd, but I should have admitted that I am working on it. I enjoyed the opening bit where he spoke about being on an odyssey taking things in on his way home. I’ve added this snippet to tomorrow’s ‘Meaning and Understanding’ handout:
I was born VERY far from where I’m supposed to be and so I’m on my way home
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2005
The Glasgow School
With all the chaos of a new academic year, added to by the effects of having changed campuses, there’s no time for blogging at the moment. Even so, I’m enjoying The Glasgow School so much I’ve got to tell whoever I’m communicating with by typing this. This review has things in it I don’t agree with, but I do think it communicates the excitement of a band who always sound like you’ve just dropped the radio and it’s falling apart as it bounces down the stairs. Hadn’t thought about the lyrical connection with Morrissey but it’s really obvious now.
I have two main memories of Orange Juice. One is crowding round a phone at an appointed time in a record shop in Aberdeen (‘The Other Record Shop’, for those who might remember) because those nice people at Postcard had agreed that they would play us an unobtainable Orange Juice track at that time. The other is seeing them play the day after some nasty incident (was it a mugging?) so that Edwyn was wearing a big eye-patch. Am I remembering right that they had borrowed a guitar for the evening? (‘The bitter comes out better…’)
B-)
Posted by Billy at 7:56 PM | Comments (1)
April 21, 2005
the earlies
I’ve remembered.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)
mystery music
Switched the CD in my walkman this morning (ipod broken) and am now listening to whatever I changed it to. It’s great but I can’t remember who it is.
B-)
(So far I have avoided the validation paperwork with a combo of emails and the work they generated and, rather inventively, sticking stickers on books to make sure they move to our new campus in the summer and don’t end up in a library book sale. Will get down to it in a sec. Honest)
Posted by Billy at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2005
push barman to open old wounds
NME - Belle and Sebastian album of oldies
And I would be buzzing about this, if I didn’t already have most of them.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)
elephant sequel
NME - new White Stripes album recorded
The playgrounds of North London will be buzzing with this news…
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2005
the shocking truth about tabloids
NME - Tory attacks Pete Doherty
Apparently, Michael Howard said:
‘Here you have a man who takes drugs and gets locked up - yet ends up on the front pages’
Does he live in the same country as me?
B-0
Posted by Billy at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2005
an electric storm
Just listening to an electric storm by White Noise, which I’d completely forgotten about until it came 10th in the mojo top 50 most out there! albums of all time.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 9:04 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2004
poguetry in brixton
Went to see the Pogues last night. It was a great night with a lively crowd. Never would have thought Pogues fans would have been into drinking so much ;-)
We were thinking about Babyshambles as we arrived, but their singer is even more dysfunctional than Shane, and about Bob Dylan, but Shane’s voice is in better shape than Bob’s at the moment. They played an hour and a half of classics, including ‘Tuesday Morning’ during one of Shane’s several breaks from the stage. And, of course, Cait duetted with Shane on ‘Fairytale of New York’ during the final encore. The loudest participation moment was when Shane said he could have been someone and about 5,000 people yelled back at him ‘Well so could anyone!’ Crowd participation was loud - I don’t think I could hear Cait at all during ‘I’m a man you don’t meet every day’
I also emptied my pockets into the Justice for Kirsty bucket while I was there.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 8:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2004
rainy morning, hoxton cafe
I had one of those moments this morning when the music perfectly matches the moment. The moment was sitting doing some work in a cafe while the kids were in circus school. The music, provided by the cafe, was Trust by Low which I notice amazon listeners have given 4 stars on CD but 5 stars on vinyl.
Based on one comment on the CD, it looks like I enjoy:
a collection of acoustic ramblings, unfinished ideas, and a poorly recorded ‘jam’ session made in someone’s bedroom on the most rudimentary recording equipment
Sound good to you?
B-)
Posted by Billy at 9:34 PM | Comments (2)
November 11, 2004
remembering zeppelin
I never explicitly listened to them at the time but got curious now, partly under the influence of the white stripes. I’m surprised by two things:
- they’re very folky while I’d only really known that they were bluesy (and ‘rawk’-y of course)
- I was listening to them at the time! As I listen, I’m transported back not just to school corridors where spotty youths in cowboy boots wouldn’t be seen without a zeppelin album under their arm, but also to various venues which they must have been soundtracking unbeknownst to me. Parties, discos and, most strongly, a certain psychedelic ‘quiet room’ (this was pre-chill-outs) where you could leave off the dancing and do some serious sitting, drinking and smoking. I can smell the candles and lava lamps right now. (Who needs madeleines?)
B-)
Posted by Billy at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2004
John Peel
Wrap alert: John Peel dies
26 October 2004
The DJ and radio presenter John Peel has died after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Peru. He was 65.
Guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/)
B-(
Posted by Billy at 2:19 PM | Comments (2)
October 2, 2004
Howard Marks confessional
One cool thing last night was the Howard Marks Confessional - a confession booth where you could confess your sins to Howard Marks and hear his advice on things.
This is a rather vague photo of Howard taken with Gemma’s phone.
Can’t believe it wasn’t mentioned on The Lecture List
B-)
Posted by Billy at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
super furry festival
Daniel and Gemma came down from the Belger to see the
Super Furry Animals - Lightning Fryday last night, which inspired us to go too. Ohna had to come straight from the airport and all those production traumas but she showed impressive stamina.
They had a load of things on in different rooms and began with a mini-acoustic ‘set’ (two songs, ten minutes) to start things off. Then there were acts all night in the ballroom and the Chelsfield Room (a cute little wedding-reception-esque room) upstairs as well as the main Super Furry Animals bit (well, two bits with an intermission) which was great. The sound was much better than last time and the atmosphere was the best I’ve seen at the Royal Festival Hall (they said they’d asked if they could change the name to the People’s Festival Hall but they weren’t allowed to).
I enjoyed the 20 minutes or so of ‘The man don’t give a fuck’ at the end, especially given that around 10 minutes of it was just everyone dancing and singing along to some electronic noises while the band and their mates were backstage changing or having a cup of tea or something.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 11:24 AM | Comments (2)
September 16, 2004
apple versus apple
It’s The Beatles vs iTunes! - NME.COM
Surely this was just waiting to happen….
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:27 AM | Comments (1)
September 14, 2004
rock stars in the museum
Manchester to get rock museum - NME.COM
Hope it does better than the one in Sheffield which I was keen to visit but which had closed down for lack of customers before I could get there.
B-}
Posted by Billy at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2004
when we were melancholy...
I’m enjoying /forwards by The Egg
Their last album, travelator, was not only really good but also added another track to my ‘songs with Billy in them’ list. This album starts off sounding a bit like early New Order, or other things we listened to when we were melancholy students, before getting more playful and more in the mode of the last album.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 1:09 PM | Comments (0)
Which one is your favourite?
Nouvelle Vague is walking out of record shops just now.
Obviously, ‘Too drunk to fuck’ is going to be the popular choice, but I think my favourite is ‘Friday Night, Saturday Morning’. The original was one of my favourites when it came out (on the same 12-inch disc as Ghost Town) and this one has a different take on feeling dismal. They’re now using it on the trailer for the Dispatches programme on drug rape on Monday night.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2004
Shatner strikes again
My web presence is about to go through an overhaul. Just got back from holiday to find that Dug has carried out phase one by moving the blog over to Moveable Type
Things will be changing a bit round here when I get time to play with it all.
In the meantime, I need to tell you all to go to www.shatnerhasbeen.com and listen to previews of the new William Shatner album produced by Ben Folds. Excellent version of Common People in the style he made famous on The Transformed Man.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 12:41 PM | Comments (1)
April 1, 2004
Kurt's choice
I’m enjoying the free CD with the week’s nme
It’s called ‘Kurt’s choice’ and claims to be ‘the 13 tracks that made Nirvana’, but it’s still fun. It’s Iggy Pop’s ‘Louie Louie’ right now and I’m remembering where I was when I heard the news that Kurt had died, driving down from Aberdeen to Edinburgh (just approaching Stonehaven at the time) to catch a Robbie show.
I remember my feelings were an echo of the outrage I’d felt when Sid Vicious died and the mainstream newsfolk were unbelievably callous about it. For Kurt, the issue was not so much that they were being callous about another human being’s death as that they thought the main issue was whether it was OK to like his work or not.
It seems like a long time ago, now, but not as long as the days of the Butthole Surfers. I’m enjoying ‘sweat loaf’ now and looking forward to ‘John Wayne was a Nazi’ by MDC, which will be followed by the Gang of Four doing ‘At Home He Feels Like A Tourist’, which meant everything to me about a quarter of a century ago but which I’ve hardly heard since.
B-)
Posted by Billy at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)