Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Damn! And I was about to get broadband too!

Right...where were we? Another lenghty absence so let's check the highlight reel.

Saturday - Posted a few more DIS reviews, cleaned house, went to Brixton to watch...THE ROOTS! Fantastic and easily one of the best gigs of the year (and one of the best Hip Hop gigs I've ever been at). ?uestlove on fire all night. Martin Luther's sweet solo spot. Hub's pounding bass sol spot. Hell, everyone's solo spot! Seamless playing with songs merging into each other all night, riffs and motiffs introduced, taken away, then brought back again. Great vibe too....

Sunday -
Well, knew it would happen. Both Blackthought and ?uestlove came into work although I only clocked BT (missed Amir....damn!)....

Monday - Ah...you ain't missed much...

Tuesday - Had a gorgeous veggie moussaka made by my ex-flatmate's fiance. Finished that off with a few glasses of merlot...mmmmm. Slept alright for the first time in a week.

Wednesday - Ah...you ain't missed much....

Up to speed? Cool. Went into 55DSL after work today and the stereo was playing Gangstarr's 'Ownerz'....quality album. Forgotten how good an album that is. Hell, even make's Fat Joe sound good! Have to purchaaaase it before jetting home (perfect flight music...'Skillz' is where it's at)

Oh....looks like they're clamping down on KaZaA users back home too. Check the title link...

Friday, November 26, 2004

250 issues of sonic debauchery...

Splitting headache at the moment. Probably due to lack of sleep, stressful day and arriving home three hours after I left work. Secret Machines and De La Soul to keep me company on the way (check out Ghostface on 'He Comes'...quality Toney).

The new Wire Tapper double CD is fantastic, especially the new Fall track.

Packing life in to boxes for the next week. This will be my 13th move in the space of almost 25 years. Not bad going really...just over one every two years.

Roots tomorrow. Illadelph in full effect (oooh yeah...)


Thursday, November 25, 2004

Hood - Four Tet meets Anticon

Door bell rang this afternoon, rudely interupting my afternoon nap. Turns out it was a dodgy leather sofa salesman doing some 'door-to-door' trade. 'You want leather sofa? Half-price?' Haven't slammed the door as quick since the regular mormon visits in my last flat. Come to think of it, the mormons weren't as pushy....

Heard the new Hood EP today.....nice....


Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Check these guys out, especially 'Hollywood Bowl'

So.....where was I?

Saturday...
Interpol were blinding. One of the year's best gigs. Bloc Party were quite good. Silent League out of place. Annoyed Secret Machines weren't going to play. Oh well. Decided not to 'ave it large' as they say, and instead bypassed Camden drinking sessions to go home and sleep...

Sunday....
Wrote up review of previous night's gig. Went to work at 5.oopm for mad U2 launch that night. Crazed fans the lot of them. Drank a bit of free beer on the way home at 3.00am....fell asleep on nightbus (as usual)

Monday...
Gig review got flaming from annoyed Bloc Party fans (surprising? no). Saw Fleeing New York at Marquee after work.....fantastic, esp the cute bass player (she sings like PJ, rocks like Joan Jett. Really, what's not to love?). More free beer....turning into an alchoholic...hic...hic

Tuesday...
Nothin much...more flaming on Interpol review (f**k off NME kids)...pub....beer....home

Wednesday...
Long day...little caffeine made matters worse....have to start packing up house now to prepare for leaving the flat. Australia in 10 days.....warm summer sun, swimming, beer, chilling, walking the dog...it's all good..Big Day Out tix confirmed. Le Tigre and JSBX...rrrrrrock!

Oh dear. Cranberries on stereo at net cafe. Saw them a year ago as a laugh as myself and ex-gf had free tix from work. Dolores is a twat. Aqualung supported. All v twee really....

Saturday, November 20, 2004

New Years with Tenacious D!

Lazy day today.....Breakfast while watching School of Rock. Not as good the second time, but still a.o.k. MTV documentary about Jack Black was very funny though. Checked the Tenacious D website and they're playing a New Years show in Melbourne when I'm over in Australia.....ace...

Wrote a Drowned In Sound piece, started making my x-mas mixtapes....pure gold....

Interpol/Secret Machines tonight.....I think it could get messy!

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Bright Eyes...burning like fire...

Saw Mr Conor O at ULU last night. Fan-fucking-tastic.....when he's not sozzed, he's much more focused (obviously), and just him and a guitar works well. ULU bar still shit though...missed first two songs as I was desperate for a beer and had already been in queue for 20 mins. Dammit...

Pizza Express tonight...bechemal sauce on dough is rather tasty...who'da thunk it?

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

C is for Cookie

Funniest track of the year....MF Doom just keeps on keepin on. First 'Madvillainary', then 'Mm Food'. Going to have to update my albums of the year list methinks....

Conor Oberst 2morrow....feel the pain.

Oh, thanks to California soft porn 90210, Death Cab have gone major. Yup. Shooooould have put that 50 quid bet in....damn.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/04-11/16.shtml

Sunday, November 14, 2004

RIP ODB....Shimmy Shimmy Ya

Goddamn....first Peel, now Ol' Dirt McGirt. As one of my workmates said to me today, 'he was like an Old Dirty Father to me' (still, wasn't exactly surprising the way it happened).

I`m no joker! Play me as a joker
Be on you like a house on fire! Smoke ya!
Crews be actin like they gangs, anyway
Be like, "Warriors! Come out and playiyay!"
Burn me, I get into shit, I let it out like diarrhea
Got burnt once, but that was only gonorrhea

RIP Cyrus/Big Baby Jesus/Dirt McGirt/Ol' Dirty Bastard

It's enought to make an indie boy dance...I said dance, not shuffle

The University of Liverpool are advertising on Friendster. Must be their 'getting down with the kids' ad policy. Righty-ho....

Warp have signed their first indie band, Maximo Park. Single out 22 Nov. Quite nifty, with echoes of Futureheads and Franz, but with a higher danceability qoutient (yup, that's the only time I'll ever use the word 'qoutient' here. Honest). Warp? Yup, that Warp.

Friday, November 12, 2004

Yee-ha!

Picked up the new Bright Eyes singles today. 'Take It Easy (Love Nothing)' is ace, surely his most ....wait for it kids...commercial (meaning hit!) offering yet outside of Desperacidos, while 'Lua' is a mellower sad-yet sweet typical Conor joint. The B-sides are cool too. 'Burn Rubber' (back o' Take It Easy') has a crunching drive to it, backed by banjos, while 'Well Whiskey' sounds like an Uncle Tupelo out-take. If I had to go for one, it'd be Take It Easy/Burn Rubber double header. Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm.

A good day all round really. Soup for lunch. Hair chopped. Promos galore from DIS. Found nice shirt at Box Fresh. Laughed out loud while reading new Vice on bus home and made complete fool of myself. Happy days....oh, Mercury Rev playing new songs on Jools tonight. Ker-ching!

Conor Oberst is taking over the world....

Getting locks shorn today in Covent Garden (yep, Fairy). Drowned in Sound hook-up afterwards, with some 2nd hand clothes shopping in between. Need more t-shirts...don't we all?

In unrelated news got free tix for 8-ball gig at Elbow room in Islington (no, not everybody's fav heavyweight rapper....every album cover is him sitting on a car...poor car) . Cheap booze, new bands, all good. Kentish town on Sat for Mark's bro's gig. Interpol next week. Roots week after. Shoot, a bit busy really...... better pick up the Bright Eyes singles today as well. Help lil' Conor out. The Willy Mason album is rather swell too. Check him out below...

www.team-love.com (without the dash, it's a good ol' hardcore porn site! Bet the emo kids get nightmares if they type it in wrong!)

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Care Bears be frontin....

Bears with gangsta style...word.

I want one that says 'I'm Rick James bitch!'

Figures....

Trivia tidbit: 'A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours' is the only Smiths song not to feature a single guitar note.

Strangeways
You are Strangeways, Here We Come, The Smiths'
final studio album. It has an apparent theme of
death and ending, and contains the songs A Rush
and a Push and the Land is Ours, Paint a Vulgar
Picture, Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody
Loved Me, and I Won't Share You

What Smiths album are you?

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Umm...they're Like Mogwai, but not?

Damn! Got the new copy of Comes With A Smile mag today and 'twas listening to the free CD with it when....bang! Like a 'shot to the heart' (and no, you're not to blame), I think I've got a new favourite band. They're called 65daysofstatic and they do an alty-Mogwai-gutar-noodly-electro thang that stopped me cold. Had to play the track again once it finished (called 'Massive Star At The End Of Its Burning Cycle').....they're playing London in Jan, but I'll be in Australia then....oh fuckstix.

Just read the David Cross interview in the aforementioned mag too...watch Arrested Devlopment tonight on BBC 2 at 10pm (and next weeks episode immediately after on BBC 4)....so I've got a new favourite band, a new favourite show...shawnuff good!

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Simmons vs Simins

Majorleaguer is today brought to you by the word....Moog.

Was walking home last night and suddenly the word Moog popped into my head, and it reminded me of the ill-fated, yet equally ill Grand Royal magazine. Y'know, the one run by the Beasties label that only lasted about 4 issues (and I think the gap between issue 1 &2 was well over a year). Try and snatch 'em all if you can, especially the Moog tribute issue, and Mike D's mullet trip to LA. One of my favourite aritcles was the interview between Def Jam head honcho Russell Simmons and his near-namesake, JSBX drumming god Russell Simins. Pure gold.

I've got more hits than Sadaharu Oh....

Monday, November 08, 2004

Spear Britney

So...update time.

Dears last night at ICA. Twas good, but some songs don't need to be buried in walls of feedback, shouting and sonics. Murray Lightburn was kinda cool, and def not the megalomaniac I envisioned him to be. And enough said about two female keyboardists in minis and high boots ok? I bet there's Fleetwood Mac stories in that band....

Support bands were so so...

..New Rhodes...well, we don't need another Television.

...Pure Reason Revolution...not bad, and any MBV style band is always worth a listen. Although one of the guitarists looked like he had turned up for the non-existent Kings of Leon auditions the ICA was holding that night

...Hann Premium. Arrr...if that swarvy brew were a beer, I would marry thee....arrrr...

Next morning. Awoke with little sleep. Raging headache, not enough coffee. Britney Spears and U2 on stereo all day ('Hey Edge, wanna make Beautiful Day Mk II?' 'Um, all right. Anything to get you in a studio instead of hanging with the Dalai Lama'). Slave 4 U still class all the way. Had many a discussion on the future of Brit re: trailer trash lifestyle. It's all down hill from here kids.....whee.........

Couldn't buy the Bright Eyes singles as I had no money. Sniff....apparently the new albums are themed. First one's about a boy who moves from the city to the country, the second is about the reverse. WARNING! WARNING! Concept catastrophe at 18oo HOURS! Ah Connor....bless him.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you...don't you? Don't you?

Ah....Carly Simon overhead in the net cafe. Ah....poor Warren. Still love Bulworth though. Halfway between pubs at the moment. Leaving drinks for one of the guys at work. Bless his lil' socks. He's going off to travel the world with his girlfriend and stopping off in Rio along the way (tres cool).

....Oh fuck...now it's Ebony and Ivory overhead....crimes against music #427 - Paul McCartney really should have known better (add to that Girl Is Mine and Say Say Say with Jacko, and of course that bloody Frog Chorus). Stevie, Stevie....well, I guess you can make excuses for the poor bloke. But Macca, sheesh....

Tomorrow brings more work, then The Dears gig at ICA, which I'm giving up on Ani DiFranco tix to go see....yeah, one day I'll regret it...second thoughts, nah...songs about ex's, politics and hugging. Dears it is.

Friday, November 05, 2004

Hey...Americans aren't all that bad!

This just made my day. Absolutely priceless. About the only time this site's gonna get political as well. That is, until Busted play the next Tory party conference (Scary stuff. Bet McFly will try to get cabinet positions if Blair loses next year).

Fancy a cup of tea guvner?

Tom's blog is quite handy really. I like mine Earl Grey with a smidge of milk (the really creamy Gold stuff)....ahhhhh.

All the leaves are brown

Had a swell walk along Green Lanes today via a few parks. Pavement and Secret Machines on the walkman, falling leaves around me. Ahhh....

Seeing The Dears on Sunday night at the ICA. Borrowed a few of their earlier records from a mate this week and you can definitely tell Blur influenced them heavily...their website is text only though, which is a tad disappointing. Don't let it put you off 'em though. Gorgeous!

http://www.thedears.org/


Tuesday, November 02, 2004

This is for covering 'Heroes' on the Godzilla OST...POW!

OK....was walking home from the chippy last night when I saw a car heading my way with only one headlight on. Then I remembered in my depraved state that 'One Headlight' was the name of that shite song from Jakob Dylan's band, The Wallflowers. That made me think...hmmm...funny how talent can sometimes skip a generation...

Monday, November 01, 2004

A tribute to Destiny's Child, Rather Good style

Yeah, I know. An oldie but a goodie. In honour of the three gals invading my workplace, strutting their stuff, and then getting writer's cramp after two hours, here's a classic from the home of rockin' kittens - RatherGood.com. If you're also wondering where that annoying/charming Maestro ad comes from, yup, it's from the RatherGood stable too. Joel Veitch is the fiend responsible so check out the link below for more info on his wizardy. Bird marriages, really...

www.guardian.co.uk/online/talktime/story/0,13274,1229854,00.html