This wannabe recluse has been hardwired to Cain & Abel, his trustee selfless machines for the past couple of weeks as I prepared visuals for the
ELECTRIC PICNIC. So as a sneak preview of what to expect, I give you
STEP TOGETHER -THE VIDEO.
ps. No primates were harmed during the making of this film.

Happy Mondays, The Charlatans y Nada Surf encabezan la cuarta edición de B-SIDE FEST. Un trío de lujo para un festival de lujo que como cada año cierra la temporada de festivales. Y es que tras el caluroso verano nada mejor que disfrutar de B-Side Fest, un soplo de aire fresco ante los númerosos eventos masificados que han poblado el verano español.

Por primera vez el festival cuenta con ZONA DE ACAMPADA LIBRE en un paraje junto al recinto del festival. Al igual que año pasado se trata del Estadio de Fútbol Sánchez Cánovas, de cesped natural.

HAPPY MONDAYS, "los locos de Manchester" llegan hasta B-SIDE FEST como cabezas de cartel de esta cuarta edición. Con ellos llega ese punto mágico que tanto caracteriza al festival. Están en activo desde los primeros años 80 y llegan hasta aquí en plena forma y paseando su último trabajo “Uncle Dysfunktional” (2007) por los grandes escenarios de todo el mundo. Los chicos que un día descubrío Tony Wilson (Factory Records/Hacienda Club) son hoy unos veteranos de la escena que no han perdido un ápice de lo que les hacía y les sigue haciendo tan especiales. Son mucho más que una banda de pop. Sobre el escenario de B-Side podremos disfrutar de un verdadero show de música. Mucho más, sin duda. Happy Mondays son posiblemente el referente más importante de todas y cada una de las ban das de pop que han salido de Reino Unido en los últimos veinte años. Un ejemplo claro es la banda de los Gallagher, que reconocen a Happy Mondays como su principal influencia. Y es que hasta uno de sus temas puso título a la película sobre la vida de su descubridor: 24 Hour Party People.

THE CHARLATANS llegan también desde Reino Unido. Sin duda son una de las bandas más importantes de la afamada década de los noventa y que llegan hasta nuestros días con una salud musical envidiable y formando parte de los principales festivales europeos. La banda de Tim Burgess regresa con "You Cross My Path", un disco que hace unos meses se pudo descargar de forma gratuita a través de la web de la radio inglesa XFM, y que ahora se puede adquir sólo en tiendas de Internet. Una iniciativa parecida o al menos como forma de ir contra la ind ustria musical, al menos en España, llegó el nuevo disco de NADA SURF a nuestro país. Ellos estaran en B-Side Fest. Son el primer grupo que repite ya que estuvieron en la primera edición del festival. Este año tenian que estar y así lo harán. Publicaron "Lucky" en febrero y lo regalaron en la mini gira que hicieron en nuestro país con la entrada a sus conciertos. Esa mini gira y la siguiente en abril se cerró con llenos absolutos en ciudades como Madrid, Barcelona, Vigo, Bilbao, Valencia... Nada Surf goza en España de un cariño especial por parte del público. Sus conciertos son verdaderas explosiones de buenas vibraciones musicales. Lo demostrarán y lo veremos. Losde Nueva York están de vuelta tras triunfar en el Festival de Benicassim.

FACTO DELAFÉ Y LAS FLORES AZULES son el grupo revelación de la escena pop nacional. Aunque lo suyo es mucho más que pop. Es una deliciosa mezcla de hip hop y música pop, soul, electrónica... Oríginales como pocos, un soplo de aire fresco a la música nacional. Han conquistado a público y crítica por igual. NIÑOS MUTANTES será otra de las apuestas nacionales. Los de Granada se encuentran en su mejor momento con su disco "Todo es el momento" con producción de FINO OYONARTE.

::MENTES-INQUIETAS::

Bon et bien me voilà sur wordpress. Enfin bref je ne vais pas en faire un plat. Je dois avouer que j'écris cette article en regardant à moitié Veronica Mars, l'autre moitié étant dévoué à msn, en gros cet article ne contiendra pas comme à mon habitude habituelle (oui j'ai osé faire cet euphémisme et j'en suis consciente). Oh et puis si, hier il y avait les Shades et Pete & The pirates à Paris Plage, bon il y avait aussi Quidam, mais cela ne servirait pas à grand chose : répéter encore une fois que les Quidam c'est du rock français comme je ne l'aime pas avec un chanteur qui pense que les cheveux gras ça donne le suffixe "roll" à rock, (oui là je suis méchante).
Mais à vrai dire le rock français des Shades ne m'a pas non plus satisfait. Je ne sais pas trop quoi, c'est l'effet que me donne toujours les groupes de cette scéne française, il y a un truc qui mé dérange : les Shades jouent bien, leurs paroles sont jolies, mais quelque chose me fait sentir que c'est un "guilty pleasure". Et en plus le plaisir n'y était pas totalement. Peut être que cela vient de l'ambiance, trop de wayfarers tue la Wayfarer.
(oh véronica Mars elle écoute la BO de Virgin Suicides)
Et puis cela dépend aussi la façon dont on porte la Wayfarer. Car le chanteur de Pete & The Pirates portait ces lunettes de la façon que j'aime les voir porter avec un tshirt jolie. L'un des guitariste porte des lunettes marrante jaunes et vertes et un tshirt Animal Collective et le bassiste un tshirt Vinyl (je mets le lien au cas où mon future boyfriend lisait cet article et se demandait comment il pourrait se vétir pour crier sa flamme à ma fenêtre.). Le batteur est tout mignon et il parait tout jeune. Ce concert est très bien vraiment du rock anglais comme on l'aime, bien que c'est plus pop que rock, je veux dire pas de ces groupes dont l'égaux surdimmensionné se sent jusqu'au sommet de l'himalaya. Enfin bref ils mériteraient d'être plus connu ces pirates là.

Drew Mcconnell et mes lunettes

L'autre fois alors que je traversais une sécousse de vide intercidéral, car oui je souffre de trous noirs : mes amies me demandent "mais Carlota qu'est-ce que tu fais de tes vacances ? " je reste bouche bée et muette. Donc l'autre fois je vois le dvd de 24 hour Party People qui me fait de l'oeil du haut de ma commode, je fais alors l'effort de tendre le bras et d'introduire le dvd dans mon ordinateur sans grande conviction, et en fait ce film tourné comme un documentaire sur Tony Wilson est génialissime, déjà parce qu'il y a du Joy Division, d'ailleurs on a là un autre point devue sur le suicide de Ian Curtis, ce qui reste très intéressant par rapport à Control. Et puis il y a aussi New Order et les Happy Mondays, ce qui est original c'est que l'on voit que Tony Wilson en étant celui qui a révélé tous ces groupes et bien il continuait à tourner des reportages stupides pour Granada TV. 24 Hour Party People de Micheal Winterbottom devient un de mes films musicaux cultes (oui je m'emballe vite mais bon).

Et puis sinon je passe mon temps ou mes trous noirs à écouter l'album de Metronomy, que j'écoute d'un coup comme on mange un pot de Ben & Jerry. Les Late Of The Pier aussi, cependant je dois dire que ma cuillére musicale à tendance à vouloir plutot dans les pépites, les tubes Broken, Heartbeat et le cultissime Bathroom Gurgle. En parlant de Metronomy, j'ai découvert grace au NME, que j'ai acheté exceptionnellement parce que les Kings Of Leon étaient en couverture (oh c'est la première fois que je parle des kol sur ce blog, j'avoue que j'en suis perturbée) il y avait TheCocknBuillkid, qui est produite par ces Metronomy, j'ai pas trouvé de très bon mp3s, j'en suis désolée et mes oreilles m'en veulent beaucoup. Et hier est sorti l'album V de Van She, la première écoute ne m'a pas satisfaite alors bon j'en reparlais.

TheCocknBullkid.On My Own
Metronomy.The end Of you too
Late Of The Pier.Broken
The Whip.Divebomb
Santogold.Say aha (tepr remix)
Happy Mondays.24 Hour Party People
Pete & The Pirates.Mr Understanding
Pete & The Pirates.Knots

Divebomb la chanson qui comble les trous noirs...

Fujiya & Miyagi, ao contrário do que se possa pensar, não é uma dupla japonesa, mas um trio de Brighton, constituído por Steve Lewis (Fujiya), David Best (Miyagi) e mais recentemente por Matt Hainsby.

Estes esforçam-se por parecerem japoneses a fazerem música urbana do Ocidente, no entanto, trata-se de uma ironia e até de uma provocação – aliás, Miyagi não é outro senão a personagem do filme “Karate Kid”, e Fujiya não passa de uma marca de toca-discos. Independentemente do humor britânico a combinação entre Can, Neu!, Talking Heads e Happy Mondays, que encontramos em “Transparent Things”, (título roubado a um romance de Vladimir Nabokov) é, de fato, algo que poderia surgir com rótulo Made in Japan – foram eles que se notabilizaram a produzir este tipo de híbridos, afinal, a música que tocam é meio rock setentista e meio eletrônica.

Quer ouvir Fujiya & Miyagi?

Clique em: http://www.myspace.com/fujiyaandmiyagi

En el anecdotario se dice que Peter Hook dijo que a New Order le hubiera ido bastante mejor económicamente si hubieran mandado a casa con diez libras en el bolsillo a cada uno de los jóvenes que en algún momento acudieron al club de Wilson.

Pero este periodista de profesión, heraldo de la “gente de fiesta las 24 horas” (la película del año 2002 24 Hour Party People es un documento de gran relevancia en esta historia y bastante recomendable), es un testimonio agudo del estilo de vida de un incansable promotor cultural de la filosofía Do It Yourself (DIY), y visionario de los nuevos tiempos que ya empiezan a ser viejos.

Wilson murió a los 57 por un paro cardiaco, después de varios años de lucha contra el cáncer de riñón, y deja detrás varios veranos del amor.

Puedes encontrar aquí algunos artículos en la prensa británica y los obituarios más destacados que recuerdan el legado de Wilson y su aportación para poner a Manchester en el mapa de las culturas contemporáneas:

The Guardian, The Times y Manchester Evening news

Un humilde homenaje MP3 a esos tiempos de la escena "Madchester", y próximamente un recuento de los años gloriosos del acid house y los veranos del amor, que marcaron ya al menos a dos generaciones de jóvenes amantes de la música electrónica para bailar:

Joy Division - "Ceremony"

Happy Mondays - "24 hour party people"

New Order – "Temptation (Secret Machines remix full length)"

A few people have forwarded this story to me, recently, about the death of arena rock. Apparently, the days of Bruce Springsteen or The Who filling huge outdoor theaters every other year are behind us. There won't be another band who can fill an arena for 30 years straight. This, apparently, means that gone is the sensation of being part of a large crowd all singing along together with the artist.

As is often the case, the journalists are looking at a static situation and deciding it either is or it isn't. What they're failing to consider is that it might just be evolving.

In 1990, when I spent my junior year of college in Coventry, England, one of the things I noticed is the incredible number of music festivals that happen every summer. On the back pages of Q and NME, you could see the massive lineup for any one of what seemed like 20 different festivals, and all the names on the page were huge - Paul Weller, Elvis Costello, Blur, Happy Mondays, etc.

So, fast forward to 2008 and what do we have here in the United States? Coachella, South by Southwest (SXSW), Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza... and that's just a few. This past weekend's Lollapalooza drew over 225,000 people. I watched some woman do sign language for Radiohead with over 70,000 others.

What this article laments is the fact that no one band is going to be able to fill an arena for 30 years straight. This may or may not be true. But the onset of successful music festivals is simply the evolution of that model. Who cares whether one band or 70 bands draw a huge crowd to a huge venue.

The more important question, to me, is are the masses still involved and engaged in music, and I think the answer is a loud and resounding "absolutely."

in the same way that i had trouble waiting for the sex and the city movie, i'm impatiently awaiting the second series of ashes to ashes. january 2009, i'm assuming.....aaaaargh!

now, opinion is divided on whether there should be a 90s version. i'm going to weigh in on that particular debate - HELL YES. gene hunt grappling with loved up cheesy quavers on the early 90s rave scene? genius. if it has to be named after a david bowie song...loving the alien? i have never heard it by the way, i just had a look at a list of his singles.

the railway arms is a great place to discuss all things mars and ashes related. if i'm feeling brave i might post the following theory about a2a series 2...

alex didn't return to 1981 to save her parents, she returned to find her brother/sister who was the child of caroline price and evan. or even gene, there was definitely some tension there...her brother/sister , will be grown up, but stuck in the past, like she is.

the reason it is so important, aside from the fact that she has a sibling she was unaware of as she grew up - the sibling was responsible for the death of molly's father, in 1995. if alex can change his/her fate then she can save him.

there.

and here's a soundtrack for that third series, set in 1990...

download here

adventures of stevie v - dirty cash

bassomatic- fascinating rhythm

deee-lite - power of love

electronic - getting away with it

en vogue - you don't have to worry

family stand - ghetto heaven

happy mondays - step on

ll cool j - around the way girl

m&m and rachael wallace - i feel this way

maxi priest - close to you

neneh cherry-  heart

propaganda - heaven give me words

Rules:

1. Entire library of 3,695 songs are fair game for the shuffle.
2. We must listen to each song (no matter how dorky, or embarrassing it is to me).
3. We comment.

Commence!

Song 1

"Sugar Lee" by Donny Hathaway

Holden: This song always puts me in a good mood.

Jack: I liked it. I can see why it puts you in a good mood.

Song 2

"Rocks Off" by the Rolling Stones

Holden: Makes me think of summer in Chicago.

Jack: That album [Exile on Main Street] is one of the greatest albums ever made. And it makes me think of creating a Top Five list of Bands I Wish I Could Have Seen. What year is that album from, do you know?

Holden: 1972

Jack: I like this. This is fun.

Song 3

"We Have All The Time in the World" by Louis Armstrong

Holden: I think it's funny I have this song because the album it's on is called "The Best of James Bond".

Jack: This isn't such a "James Bond" song, is it? Especially that riff. The trumpet riff, that is.

Holden: Well I like this song because it reminds me to slow down.

Jack lights Holden's cigarette

Holden: It's very 70s.

Song 4

"Five on the Five" by The Raconteurs

Holden: This song makes me want to rock out. And there's a cowbell!

Jack: More cowbell. Sorry for the obvious but it was necessary.

Holden kisses Jack on the cheek

Jack: I love breakdowns. I love breakdowns. I do love breakdowns.

Holden: Would you consider this song "rock n roll"?

Jack: Yes of course. It's uptempo, it's got a poppy drumbeat not poppy, the drums lift it up and the guitar smashes it down.

Holden: That's a very professional-sounding assertion.

Jack: I wrote music reviews once. Maybe I'll show 'em to you. Did you know that about me?

Holden: I was not aware of that.

Song 5

"12 Variations pour piano en do majeur KV 265" Mozart

Jack: Is that French for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star?

Holden: This song reminds me of ballet class.

Jack: Mozart or Beethoven?

Holden: Mozart, no question. You?

Jack: I don't know. But one of my favorite classical songs is Beethoven? From a "Band of Brothers" episode.

Jack relights his pipe

Jack: I think there's nothing more satisfying than a perfect score to a movie.

Holden: What movie do you think has a perfect score?

Jack: Rushmore. Any of the Wes Anderson films. Who is that guy, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo?

Holden: Yes.

Jack: And you?

Holden: The Red Shoes.

Jack: What about Amelie?

Holden: That's a damn good score.

Jack: Is that the same cigarette? It went out?

Holden: Yeah, they do that because they don't have gunpowder in them.

Jack: I love gunpowder. That's one of my favorite green teas. But don't oversteep it, it gets bitter.

Holden: This is a fun game.

They have decided to do 10 songs instead of just five.

Jack: You know I was in Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart.

Holden: Oh, rlly. This song is kind-of a review of lots of songs put into one. Where are your glasses?

Jack: In my backpack.

Holden puts on her reading glasses

Jack: Yeah, you're the one who's supposed to wear them when you're on the computer.

Jack leaves, opens the fridge and finds ice cream.

Jack: Yesss.

Jack feeds Holden a spoonful. She feels special. They are fourteen minutes into the song, briefly discuss breaking rule #2 but decide to follow the rules "this time". Holden is happy. She lights another cigarette. Jack begins having a discussion with her dog. He gets more ice cream and continues feeding Holden by the spoonful.

Song 6

"halfworld" by Splashdown

Holden: If it wasn't for those damn rules I made, I would have skipped this song.

Jack: Skip it.

Song 7

"Guinnivere" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Holden: This song reminds me of when I went through my hippie phase in high school.

Jack: Did your dad listen to CSN&Y? Mine did.

Holden: Yeah...but I think this record was my mom's.

Jack: My mom hated Neil Young. I never understood.

Holden: I never knew there was a...what do you call that "magic" shit with the pentagrams?

Jack: Black Magic? Wiccan? Free Masonry?

Holden: Are there pentagrams involved in Free Masonry?

Jack: That's a good question. The Order of the Eastern Star, their main symbol is a pentagram? The Catholic Church tried to associate Free Masonry with devil worship, which of course is false.

Holden: I'm kinna done with this song.

Jack: Skip it, baby.

Song 8

"Loose Fit (12" Oakenfold/Osborne remix)" by the Happy Mondays

Holden: This can't be good. Ew, this is terrible. Why do I have this?

Jack: Don't ask me.

Holden: We're skipping. And I'm deleting this. It's taking up hard-drive space.

Song 9

"In This Home on Ice" by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Jack: How appropriate.

Holden: Why is it appropriate?

Jack: I listened to this album over and over and over when I was in Austria, and thought of you every time.

Holden blushes

Jack: There are some great lyrics in this song. Like that. "All that we have salvaged from the fire was a waste of time". See this is opposite of a breakdown?

Holden: It's a build-up?

Jack: No, it's a...what do they call it--

Holden: A crescendo?

Jack: No.

Jack plays air-drums

Holden: This is a great song.

Jack: Such a good song. It just keeps going and gets better. I love how he pulls a "David Byrne" and his voice becomes an instrument.

Holden: I love David Byrne.

Jack: I'm really happy that song played.

Song 10

"You're My Best Friend" by Queen

Holden: Damn, what was I just thinking? This is a great love song.

Jack: It makes me think of [REDACTED].

Holden: {REDACTED]?

Jack: Yeah, I went to high school with him. And it's my 15-year reunion right now! I wonder if he's there! Right now it's happening! (laughs)

Holden: I don't think I will go to any reunions. My generation has Facebook. My curiosities have been satisfied already.

Jack: What, I'm not in your generation?

Holden: Well, you are, but you're too old for Facebook, kind-of. That's the end of the game!

Jack: Too bad though! Come on! It's Wesley Willis!

Holden: Okay, this is the bonus round.

Song 11

"Harmony Joy Bus Ride" by Wesley Willis

Jack: What are you favorite Wesley Willis lyrics?

Holden: Hmm. Maybe "Take this job and shove it!"

Jack: Mine is "I whopped Batman's ass. I knocked him to the ground! He got up and knocked me to the ground!" Is that a Casio "sitar"?

Holden: I think so.

Jack: In the breakdown! What's the sign-off gonna be in this song, I can't remember.

Holden: I'm putting my money on Meineke.

Jack: I'm putting my money on "McDonalds! Breakfast of champions!"

Wesley Willis: "Ford!" something unitelligible

Jack: Well that was anticlimactic.

Long list of library borrows (in no particular order):

The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

The Orignals - Dave Gibbons

Sin City: Family Values - Frank Miller

Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets - Frank Miller

Divine Right: Book One - Jim Lee & Scott Williams

100 Bullets: Samurai - Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso

100 Bullets: Six Feet Under - Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso

DMZ: On the Ground - Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli

Supreme Powers: High Command -J. Michael Stracynski & Garry Frank

Deadman: Deadman Walking - Bruce Jones & John Watkiss

The Highwaymen - Marc Bernardin, Adam Freeman, & Lee Garbett

Criminal: Coward - Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips

X-Men: Pheonix Endsong - Grek Pak & Greg Land

Black Sunday - Director: John Frankenheimer; Screenplay: Ernest Lehman, Kenneth Ross, & Ivan Moffat

Prime Suspect 6: the Last Suspect - Director: Tom Hooper; Writer: Peter Berry

Snatch - Director & Writer: Guy Ritchie

Purple Rain - Director: Albert Magnoli; Writers: Albert Magnoli & William Blinn

A very excellent cover version of Bjork's Army of Me by Liars has been on repeat for around an hour.

Somewhere I read a description of Martin Hannett's production on the Happy Monday's album Bummed as clausterphobic and I finally realized the sensation I'd been experiencing all these years.

Featuring:

COME TOGETHER - THE BEATLES
STEP ON - HAPPY MONDAYS
LOADED - PRIMAL SCREAM

This track is my contribution to WHA?!'s SUMMER OF LOVE 2008 Album. Have a listen, hope yer Madferrit!,  'tis proper ear candy for the mind! See below for details...

[audio http://philretrospector.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/phil-retrospector-steptogether.mp3]

Phil RetroSpector-Step Together

Del disco Untrue, una preciosura de ritmo en 2-step y vocales etéreas. De lo mejor del 2007, con ustedes Burial. Detrás de este misterioso grupo británico está la mezcla de soul oscuro, R&B, estructuras rítmicas de UK garage (2-step) con un trabajo impresionante con las vocales. Lee una de las pocas entrevistas, muy reveladora, de noviembre de 2007, en el blog de Hyperdub records (aunque está en inglés), curiosamente un blog que parece haber sido creado únicamente para publicar esta entrevista.

"Untrue" / "Near dark" / "Raver"

The Breeders, del disco Mountain battles de 2008, después de ¡seis años! de silencio, una producción que remite a los mejores momentos del sonido atmosférico-melancólico de este grupo de oscuro divertimento que se prepara ya para una gira de apoyo al disco: "Bang on"

"We’re gonna rise"

"Mountain battles"
She Wants Revenge del disco This is forever de 2007. Una especie de vigoroso renacimiento del sonido Joy Division-New Order trepado en la ola indie, que generó muchos buenos comentarios con su anterior y disco debut el homónimo She Wants Revenge (2006), del cual parece una secuela interesante que pone en deleitable suspenso qué seguirá...

"This is the end"

"Pretend that World has ended"

"Written in blood"

En total contraste Waldeck presenta el disco Ballroom stories de 2007, que plasma con bastante fortuna las ambiciones eclécticas del un sofisticado new lounge. Para algunos delicioso para otros empalagoso, pero en cualquier caso muy bien logrado. "Dope noir"

"Our day will come"

"Addicted"

Para trepar de nuevo el tono y el ritmo, pero sobre todo la actitud, The Blows con su primer disco Upskirts de 2008, algo de lo más nuevo, con estos españoles que parecen tener la potencia suficiente para navegar en un océano indie sobrepoblado. A ver cómo les va.

"Missing you"

"Damn 80’s hooker"

"Girls in leather"

Del álbum We create, de 2007, Maps presenta un disco de fuerte acento británico, en el prestigiado sello Mute. James Chapman, de Northampton, busca reunir bajo el espíritu indie una fusión de pop, psicodelia y electrónica. Este disco debut es tan ambicioso como suena en estos 3 de los 16 temas.

"So low so high"

"Liquid sugar"

"Lost my soul"

Battles presenta Mirrored, de la Warp records en 2007 y es considerado como uno de los puntales de las tendencias para terminar la primera década de este siglo.

"Ddiamondd"

"Demons"

"Race in"

José González, argentino residente en Suecia, ha sido aclamado por el poderío de su lírica; cuando el pop parecía herido de muerte, le da una última oportunidad al sentido de la canción y una guitarra. En 2007 consolida su talento para seducir a los públicos comerciales y del indie pop con el álbum In our nature.

"Killing for love"

"In our nature"

"Teardrop"

Apostle of Hustle lanzó este 2007 National anthem of Nowhere, que siguió a Folkloric feel del mismo año, al parecer tenían suficiente material para dos discos de magistral factura que confirman que el eclecticismo puede ser una forma estética en música y no sólo un estilo o tendencia. El ensamble encabezado por Andrew Whiteman, mejor conocido como "el guitarrista de Broken Social Scene" que lo mismo entona un poema de Lorca, desgrana florituras en un órgano y ambientes y ritmos de kitsch analógico al estilo Stereolab o rasga con cabalgante destreza una pieza española con fuertes tintes latinos. Cada pieza es una exploración muy distinta.

"The naked & alone"

"Chances are"

"Fast pony for Victor Jara"

Otro afortunado regreso es el de Happy Mondays con su disco Uncle Dysfunktional (2007), aunque no conserva a todos sus integrantes, actualiza ese groove irreverente y hedonista, con letras explícitas y provocadoras, como siempre: souvenirs orgullosos de los años dorados en el mítico club británico The Factory.

"Jellybean"

"Angels & whores"

"Anti Warhole on the dancefloor"

Para cerrar esta lista dos bonos del nuevo EP de Holy Fuck, que derrama psicodelia y divertsión rockera. "Lovely Allen"

"Super Inuit (Studio)"

I am feeling chilled out

I have been feeling chilled out now

For quite some time

Cabbaged, we used to say

I can't seem to remember

What time is love?

I can't seem to remember my name...

You're in the home, dear

You're in the rest home

The Shaun Ryder Memorial Rest Home

For Aging Ravers

I was at Shoom, you know!

Yes, yes

We know

We know you were

I was the Mister Big

Behind Acid House

I was down with the posse

We were havin' it

We were mental

We were wicked

Somewhere, a pair of thin, pursed lips

Come together to whistle

The opening bars of 'Voodoo Ray'

And for a few seconds

The whole room is patting its legs

And swaying from side to side

And remembering another room

With thousands of arms raised in celebration

When the lights were flashing

And the bass was pumping

And everyone looked so beautiful

But just as it had started

The tune falters

And they find they can't remember

Quite how it goes

And whatever did happen to

That nice young man

Called Gerald?

Is that it, then?

Was it all just pints of lager

And badly rolled joints?

Did we measure out our lives

In little white pills?

Oh and tell me

Is there still a Cream?

And will there still be Disco Biscuits for tea?

And does Carl Cox still play

Does he play the old tunes

The tunes we used to know?

There was a girl once

I'm sure

A brown skinned angel

With a smile like the stars

What happened to her?

What happened? I was caned

I was

Wasted...

There, there

Drink up your Lucozade

Nurse will be here soon

To turn over your tape

But what happened?

What happened to the night?

We painted it dayglo

We were burning so bright

And it all seems

So long

So very long ago

I'm nearly thirty, you know

Yes, dear

Yes

Of  course you are

Of course you are

Shack up by A Certain Ratio

Singles reviewed by James Brown. Taken from the N.M.E. 23rd March 1991.

Came across this after talking about Loaded in a previous post.

For those that don't know, before James Brown became "the creator of Loaded, instigator of laddism, award-winning editor and the man who revolutionised men's magazines..." he used to work at N.M.E. However, the above quote goes on to say "....has parted company with GQ after a serious lapse in taste and some disappointing sales figures."

The serious lapse of taste in question being his glorification of Rommel and the Nazis. His prodigious and out of control coke habit didn't help matters either. Read the full story about him getting fired in this piece from The Independent 1999.

Disappointingly it turned out to be just a small set-back as he went on to form his own publishing company, which he then sold in 2003 for £6.4m. "Good work fella!" as he himself might have put it at one time.

Presumably Alex James now invites him over to his country house, where, over an organic cheese plate, they both reminese about the follies of their youth, whilst smuggly patting themselves on the back for behaving like class-A cocks yet still managing to come away from it all smelling of roses.

i have bad taste for miles. is that 'music' in inverted commas?

download here

britney spears - you drive me crazy

less gothic sounding than baby one more time. god i can't believe this is nearly ten years old...shit...although i can when i see a pic of britney now.

deeelite - groove is in the heart

i'm not saying deee-lite are shit. i love them but this song is all most people know and its played out. but you have to have it there. i don't have to have 'love shack' though, i will so survive...

divinyls - i touch myself

i probably only like this cos its rude, since its a style of music i usually don't care for. yeah that must be it.

emf - unbelievable

emf are one of the worst examples of early 90s madchester, baggy, whatever you want to call it...at the time though, there may not have been a distinguishable difference between them and the happy mondays.

5ive - slam dunk da funk

5ive were your archetypal wannabe r&b boy band who were more chesterfield than atlanta. so, they were fab in a way only a british boy band can get away with.

four tops - loco in acapulco

the four tops were way past their prime when this was recorded and it was included on the soundtrack to phil collin's buster, a terrible movie. it's summer 1988 in three and half minutes, however.

inner circle - sweat

top class cheesy summer reggae. no doubt a purist's nightmare, but hey, i'm no purist.

joey lawrence - nothin' my love can't fix

yes that's joey from blossom. the one who had a mullet well into the 90s and was endearing for being thick, like so many other joeys before and since. uk people of a certain age - 'joey!' hands up who didn't even know the origin of that insult when they used it?

kylie minogue - better the devil you know

this was covered by steps, and i'm not quite tragic enough to have them on my ipod. kylie is definitely better than steps...i think. yeah, lisa scott-lee is in steps and she's the epitome of desperation. agreed.

nkotb - step by step

the main reason i love this is the bit in the middle: 'step one! we can have lots of fun.' wait - was that sung by a donkey? well, danny wood was a donkey, horse, camel, depending on who you asked. this was obviously before jay-z and just about the same time as tony adams, so any of the titles were up for grabs.

pulp - disco 2000

i should hate jarvis cocker for so many reasons. he's dandy - i don't get that, i really don't get the russell brand thing. oh and he should really have given us another ten years - this was only released in 1995, five years before we were supposed to be fully grown. fat chance, i'm not even there yet.

wiley - wearing my rolex

my only real objection to this song, as with countless other bassline tracks, is that i love it. hear me out. i'm getting on, i did speed garage (for that it what this is, kids) the first time round in my uni days. you're making me feel old...

A history of my one woman campaign for people to listen to what the hell they want:

once i admitted to having bad taste..

...i then found myself unable to stop

...and ended up sharing too much...

then tv made guilty pleasure ok again

Madchester was a late 80's and early 90's phenomenon that gripped Manchester, England and changed the music landscape up til present day. Rising out of the acid fueled rave clubs from London to the Northwest, it not only took it a step further beyond the dance music of the 80's. It combined it with the sounds of psychadelic pop American bands of the 60's and funk groups from the 70's. Bands such as The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays, and many others that took dance and pop music to the threshhold while still maintaining creativity and underground status. Eventually as the middle of the 90's grew near, the genre soon faded and gave rise to what is now known as Britpop which houses such names as Oasis and Blur as the heavyweights that continued til the end of the 90's.

The Stone Roses - Waterfall

Happy Mondays - Stinkin' Thinkin'

Just been listening to the Tony Wilson Experience, a 24-hour long conversation celebrating the late, great music Tony Wilson, musical Svengali and proud Mancunian. Wilson died of cancer last year and today would have been his 58th birthday. Loads of good people on the bill: John Cooper Clarke, Clint Boon, Irvine Welsh, Paul Morley, Peter Hook et al. You can tune in to the live stream over here.

...

Update: I've been enjoying a curmudgeonly Kevin Cummins bemoan the fate of the rock photographer. Cummings thinks that user-generated content is just a way for newspapers to "get a load of free content". He's dismissive of the generation of photographers coming out of sites like Flickr. He said: the newspapers "don't care about quality. It's quantity that they want." He also said that blogs were mostly "just middle class letters pages."

...

Even later: It is nearly 1PM and it's getting really belligerent. The Manc poet John Cooper Clarke is on stage. He just recited his famous haiku:

To convey one's mood,
in seventeen syllables,
is very diffic...

...

The intelligence finally ran out about 3am. The Happy Mondays were on a panel and someone in the audience mentioned Stella Grundy, who I assume is Shaun Ryder's ex-partner from the way he reacted. The guy in the audience was being provocative, but the reaction of the Monday's, particularly Bez, was somewhat stereotypical. The guy was threatened from the stage ("you are fucking dead", was the precise quote and worst was said after that) and for a moment I thought that it was all about to kick off. And then, the security intervened and started escorting the bloke out of the venue. Brilliantly, the Mondays then changed their tune and started berating the bouncers to let the man stay in the building. It was all rather touching and probably what Tony would have wanted.

...

Thankfully, after a sleep, I awake to find the conversation has got much more intelligent again. This is much more like a more belligerent (I keep using that word) version of Radio 4. For the final conversation we've got Steven Morris, Peter Saville and physicist Brian Cox discussing the secrets of the universe. He reminded us how important Manchester has been to our understanding of the universe, and that the atomic nucleus had been discovered up on Oxford Road by Ernest Rutherford.

...

That's it. The poet Mike Garry has just read his poem Saint Anthony, and there's talk of another one next year. I hope so. It was really good an pretty intelligent all the way through.

Όσον αναφορά εμένα, ενδιαφέρομαι ιδιαίτερα για το Synch του 2008, καθώς μου δίνει την μοναδική ευκαιρία να δώ τους αδερφούς Ryder με τον Bez από κοντά. Ταυτόχρονα (κυριολεκτικά) θα παίζουν λίγο πιο δίπλα, σε διαφορετική σκηνή οι Holy Fuck, που αν και δεν με συγκινούν ιδιαίτερα δεν θα είχα κανένα πρόβλημα να τους δω. Για τις υπόλοιπες μπάντες που θα παίξουν στις 3 μέρες του Synch δεν μπορώ να εκφέρω γνώμη, και honestly, i couldn't care less.

Παράπονο (Μεγάλο) : Χθές δεν πήγα στον Cave γιατί τα 50 ευρώ μου φάνηκαν πολυ τσιμπημένα. Στο Synch, που γίνεται στην Τεχνόπολη και όχι στον Λυκαβηττό, για να δω ή Happy Mondays ή Holy Fuck(δεν γίνεται και τους δυο) πρέπει να δώσω 45. Εντάξει οι τιμές και των δύο είναι εξοργιστικές, την στιγμή που στο εξωτερικό κόσμος με 80 δολλάρια πάει σε τριήμερα φεστιβάλ με τρείς σκηνές να παίζουν ταυτόχρονα, και το προσωπικό μου αγαπημένο, στα 80 δολλάρια συμπεριλαμβάνεται όλο το Αλκοόλ που θα καταναλώσεις... Δεν θα βγάλω διαβατήριο? Wacken σου έρχομαι!

Synch Festival 2008

This is all the skateboard culture I will ever need for the rest of my youth:

New records from the Fall aren't really needed, but I have a blast listening to their new shits on the regular. Imperial Wax Solvent probably just came out, it's alright, I mean I kind of treat the Fall and everything MESmith like a college/collage radio show, threads of currents, uber, under, upper, and generally unoffensive (to my ears) and good for a listen.

Catagorize this for me, "baggy" darlings Inspiral Carpets* with Mark E Smith himself:

I think I found ecstasy on the street last night, another chapter in a good night. Will not test it. Will not keep it. Will photograph it for CSI sake.

*yeah, I know I'm all about the Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, but I can't get into them, "baggy" is a lame genre name, cool Noel roadied and sung some backups, I don't care about you Inspiral Carpets.

Today has been a weird sort of day, I feel as though I talked to no one all day, well I must have done, I just can't remember who or even what about.  You know when you just want to write, but can't think of anything to say- I'm having one of those days.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, much better. On the downside I have a headache, plus-side I've finished most of my coursework, just to be given more. :)

My image for today is of course:

So, all in all, Monday was sh*t, well not overly so, just not great either.

Bye.