Braille Porn

Well now there’s a relatively new topic to rival that and its: “If you were on Dragons Den what would your idea be?”
I’ve been asked what my idea would be a coupe f times. On the first occasion I had nothing but on the second I came up with what I thought was a pretty good idea. Braille porn.
Porn is so easily available, boot up your computer, click, click, click and its all there. Soft, medium hardcore or just plain weird porn. The choice is yours.
But if you’re blind its just you and your imagination and that’s just way too much effort. -Even more so if you’ve been blind since birth. How would you know what sex even attracts you if you’ve never seen a man or woman? Maybe it’s the smell and touch? But if so then you can’t go around smelling and touching people when you reach puberty. Its instinct I guess, but still, it must be confusing. Especially if your not sure what sex you like.

But it turns out that someone has already come up with Braille porn. Never mind.

The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

Even though they formed and released an album before most of the other well known punk rock bands, Australia’s The Saints get overlooked as one of the genre’s formative bands. They are still going (albeit through many line up changes) but the only alum that I would recommend is the 1977 debut (I’m) Stranded which features the excellent song on the same name.
I made the mistake of buying a three CD box set of some of their later stuff which has a smoother mid tempo pop-rock sound. I’ve only heard it a couple of times.
What I want to listen to is the early up-tempo raw buzz saw guitar type stuff that’s like the Australian Ramones.



Follow link to download The Saints - (I’m) Stranded

Jim White - Christmas Day

“Amazing grace, how sweet the
smile upon the face I never thought I'd see you again...especially here in this Greyhound station...on Christmas Day...in 1998.”

Its that happy time off year, right? Yeah but what is the worst thing about Christmas? Well the shopping for presents is a bit of a headache. So are the Christmas songs. I don’t mean the Christmas carols I mean the same songs that get churned out every year. You know the ones. There’s no escape from them.
Shopping for presents in a crowded shopping centre that has the heating on fall blast and the same songs played over and over in every shop. That’s the worst part of Christmas.
But a seasonal song that I will be playing is the Jim White’s Christmas Day. Its not the most festive of songs festive songs and I certainly wouldn’t like to be stuck at a bus stop on Christmas day, but one of the great things about it is that there isn’t a sleigh bell to be heard anywhere.

Premier Passions

With Steve Bruce out of the Sunderland job it looks like we have seen the last of the old school generation of football managers that retired from playing in the early nineties, went into management and failed to move with the times.
For example Sunderland gave Bruce an iPad to do tactics and statistics on, but he claimed that he didn’t do much tactics. Also he said like a badge of honour that he has email but doesn’t know how to log on.
I can’t see Bruce getting another job at a Premier League club, no more than say Brian Robson, Terry Butcher or Peter Reid.

If you don’t know who Peter Reid is, well when Diego Maradona scored that great solo goal against England in the 1986 world cup, Reid is the first player who chases after him and finally gives up as Maradona reaches the penalty area.
He was actually a very decent player in his day but his stock as a manager has gone. I’m singling him out because I’ve just watched an episode of Premier Passions on Google video. It’s a five part documentary series that follows Sunderland in the 1996-1997 season when Peter Reid was the manager. With access to the dressing room you get to see pre match and half time team talks which basically consists of “Don’t fucking hesitate out there, get fucking right in their fucking faces and don’t fucking let them fucking settle. Lets fucking get them fucking tackles in.”

I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that even the manager of my school football team gave us a more insightful team talk. And a whole lot less unnecessary swearing.

Great Cover #11 The Be Good Tanyas - Waiting 'Round To Die

“Now I'm out of prison, I got me a friend at last. He don't steal or cheat or drink or lie. His name's codeine, he's the nicest thing I've seen. Together we're gonna wait around and die."

Waiting ‘Round To Die is of course the classic Townes Van Vandt song about a man that goes from place to place to escape his troubles and finds some more on the way. It’s a stand out classic that many artists have covered. And the best cover of the song that I’ve heard has to be from The Be Good Tanyas which appeared on their second album Chinatown.
Okay so it may not come close to the version that Townes Van Vandt performs on the documentary Heartworn Highways [which is even better than the recorded version] but that could never happen.



Follow link to download: The Be Good Tanyas - Waiting 'Round To Die

Cam Butler - I Surrender

Cam Butler is an Australian guitarist and composer who’s music I’ve just began getting into. From what I’ve heard of the guitar work it atmospheric, dark and melodic. Though I’ve not yet heard much of the string stuff yet (the next album that’s soon to be released has been recorded with a23 piece string orchestra) the song that I first heard from him and made me want to hear some more is a song called I Surrender that has a big band jazz feel to it. It sounds like a piece of John Barry music and really wouldn’t sound out of place alongside those big classic James Bond theme tunes.



Follow the link to download Cam Butler - I Surrender

Adam's House Cat - Town Burned Down

Adam’s House Cat was the band that Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley played in before they went on to perform the Drive-By Truckers.
They recorded one album that never saw the light of day. This week I’ve managed to get hold of a download of the album Town Burned Down, its ragged and raw cow punk and the sound is a bit thin but its still a good listen.
They last song it an acoustic version of the song Nine Bullets that’s on the Drive-By Truckers second album Pizza Deliverance and is still a live favourite.

Follow this link to download: Adam’s House Cat - Nine Bullets

Lost Children Net Label

A great place to find some really good post-rock, experimental, ambient, drone, electronic, math-rock type stuff is from the Lost Children Net Label. And it’s a place where you can download the music for free as they care more about good music being heard than making a profit (and anyway do any record labels make much of a profit nowadays?).
There is over seventy albums available so if you don’t know where to start then I would suggest starting at The Silent Ballet compilations from which I’ve found many things to get further into such as French Teen Idol, Amberhaze, Orange Crush and Ben Frost to name a few.

Gary Speed

Gary Speed topping himself was a bit of a random one. One minute on Football Focus, few hours later he’s in the garage looking for a sturdy piece of rope.
Why did he do it? Who knows, maybe some reason will come out after a period of mourning for the family and friends he left behind. Maybe we will never know.

In the meantime tributes have been pouring in from the world of football. Rightly so, he was one of them footballers that fans respected even if you didn’t support the team he was playing for. That certainly can’t be said about Joey Barton who sent a few tweets with his condolences. But then his twitter tourettes manifested itself and he went on so say:
'Suicide is a mix of the most tragic, most selfish, most terrible (and I want to believe preventable) acts out there.'

This comment has caused a bit of a storm and Barton has refused to apologise.
And why should he? Sure I think that Barton is a dick and his reinvention of himself as the thinking mans footballer doesn’t convince me -oh but wait he’s tweeted quotes from Nietzsche don’t you know? Really, well how hard is it to type out something that someone else quoted many years ago? It isn’t his words its Nietzsche- but he’s right in saying that its tragic, terrible and yes also selfish.
Though its just as sad as someone killing themselves who has nobody close to them, when you leave a family behind then you’ve passed problems onto them.
But from what I know about deep depression is that it reaches a moment when loved ones don’t come into consideration. The only person that matters is yourself, and that person doesn’t want to go on anymore. They believe its then only way.

So yes Joey Barton has a valid point. But the timing wasn’t so great. Is my timing better? No, but them I know that my opinion won’t be in the paper the next day.

Dirty Beaches - Badlands

Dirty Beaches is the guise that that Taiwanese born Zhang Hungtai goes under. Earlier on this year the official debut album Badlands was released on Zoo Records. I’ve recently came across it and its been on heavy rotation. Its minimalist and lo-fi and dare I say that there is even a Goth feel to it.
This song Sweet 17 is what first grabbed my attention, it sounds like Nick Cave collaborating with Suicide that’s been recorded on Guided By Voices 4-track.



Follow link to download: Dirty Beaches - Sweet 17

The Jesus & Mary Chain - Cracking Up

The Jesus & Mary Chain just might well be one of my favourite bands (as in somewhere in the top twenty) without me ever noticing that they are. I won’t listen to them for months and months and then I can here one song and will have to dig through every album they made.
For me they didn’t do much wrong, whether it be the squawking feedback of Psychocandy, which still sounds as abrasive all these years later, or the clean sounding Stoned & Dethroned.
This time I’ve been giving some more attention to their final album Munki. Its not their but still has some cracking songs on it. Like Cracking up which was one of the best singles of 1998.



Click on link to download: The Jesus & Mary Chain - Cracking Up

Spoon - Crap Name Great Band

To name your band after a piece of cutlery is not the best idea. Has it got drug connotations what with cooking up on a spoon? No idea. But anyway, crap name but a great band.
I first become aware of the band some time around the beginning of the last decade when I heard bought the album Kill The Moonlight after hearing a song of theirs on some compilation CD. And nowadays I seem to take them for granted as they’re so consistently good.
No matter how many instruments are in the mix there’s always so much room in their songs, and a groove too. Like on this song from the album Gimme Fiction called I Turn My Camera On.

Click on here to download: Spoon - I Turn My Camera On.

Some Ways To Tell That A Band Is Crap Before Hearing A Note

What’s the music equivalent of the saying don’t judge a book by its cover? I guess it’s the same as its not exclusively meant for books. Stupid me.
Anyway, when I’ve been out at live music venues around London (the type of places where the bands have to get as many mates down as possible so they will be allowed to play at the venue again, and maybe make twenty quid between them) I’ve often made up my mind that the band is crap before they even play a note. And almost always they are.
You can also see a picture of a band or read an interview with them and make a judgement, for instance I new that The Darkness were a big pile of dog shit just by looking at a picture of the singer in a cat suit. And guess what, they were. Though for a while there were people who new this but still bought their records.
So here’s some ways to tell if a band is crap before even hearing a note:

The bass player straps on his bass just below his neck
Usually in funk rock, the bassist will throw in a bit of slap to show what an accomplished musician he is and will usually move his head back and fourth like a pigeon.

The Drummer has a gong
This is more likely to be seen in a prog rock documentary on BBC 4 than at the Hope & Anchor on a Tuesday night but the band in that documentary won’t be too good.

The keyboard player wears a cape
Same sort of band as the drummer with the gong.

The guitarist has an ugly pointy guitar
These guitars sometimes have a pointless handle built into the body. They were popular with hair metal bands in the mid 80s. If you see a guitar player strapping one on then he will no doubt play fiddle solos that don’t impress anyone but himself.

When asked in an interview what their new album is like they say “Its got something for everyone.”
It hasn’t, they are just widening their net and catching nothing.

Noel Gallagher says that they are his new favourite band

Don’t listen to him.

Tom Waits - Blood Money

What with the new Tom Waits album out I like many are in a in a Tom Waits world. The new album is of course very good indeed but I’ve also been going through his back catalogue (something that I do about once a year).
For the moment I can’t get enough of Blood Money. Its Waits at his ram shackled best. With song titles such as Misery Is the River of the World, Everything Goes to Hell, God's Away on Business, Knife Chase and Starving in the Belly of a Whale you get the picture.

Oasis - (It’s Good) To Be Free

So on the first week of release Noel Gallagher and his Flying Birds perched on the top of the album charts. I have no idea what the album is like as I have no interest in it whatsoever. Maybe he’s actually put some real effort into the album. If he has then its about time as he’s been cruising on autopilot for years. Oasis finished a couple of years ago but the foot was off the gas long before that.
They never came anywhere close to their debut Defiantly Maybe. What about the second album What’s The Story Morning Glory? Give over, it had a few good songs but it doesn’t compare.
The second best Oasis album is The Masterplan which is a collection of early b-sides. The b-sides are better than anything on the third album Be Here Now. Which is when they really went off the boil.
My favourite song has to be (It’s Good) To Be Free which just edges over the Liam and Noel duet Acquiesce.

Lou Reed With Metallica

So this blog is mainly about songs that I like, but after tuning into Later With Jools Holland the on Tuesday night I feel as if I just have to write about something that I really don’t like. And that’s Lou Reed playing with Mettalica.
For the record I really love a lot of Lou Reed’s solo albums as well as all four Velvet Underground albums. As for Metallica, well there was a period in my teenage tears when I thought they were a great band but that’s about it.
I’ve not heard all of the album but what I have heard is sounds pretty ropey, but I didn’t think that it would be as bad as what I heard the other night on Later With Jools Holland.
The first song sounded as if they were all playing a completely different song that they all started at different times. Fucking awful.
Then at the end the play The Velvet Underground song White Light/White Heat. Fucking awful don’t come close.

Come Dine With Me Menu

Four, maybe five years back I hardly had anything in the cupboard or fridge to eat. I wasn’t a poor student or on the dole at the time, I was just too lazy to go to the supermarket and supply’s were very low.
In this sort of situation you have to improvise. So I cooked up some pasta and added some dried herbs to it. It needed something more, so I grabbed a handful of Twiglets, crushed them up and added it to the pasta. You know, to give it that crunchy marmite taste that it was lacking. Yes I know that its not exactly authentic Italian as such but I had to make the best of what I had.
I thought nothing of it, then a mate of mine knocks on the door, so I let him in and go back to my food. He asks me what I’m eating so I tell him and he looks at me like I’ve committed the worst culinary sin know to man. “Pasta and Twiglets! Pasta and fucking Twiglets! What is wrong with you?”

So he ends up telling people and now if I say to a mate something like “I’ve got to go home and eat then I’ll be up the pub later,” the reply is usually “What are you having, pasta and Twiglits?”
So now I have a reputation as a crap cook. I’m actually alright, but sometimes I do like to fuse things together. Such as my a meal that mixes Italy and Mexican cuisine that I call pasta con carnie.
And my latest concoctions is a combination of breakfast and desert that can be eaten anytime of the day. Its basically just some desert like apple pie or chocolate cake mixed in with a bowl of cereal. I could eat it all day.
If I went on Come Dine With Me I have the main course and desert sorted. I’ve just got to work on a starter.

Richmond Fontaine - The High Country

Knowing that it would be a concept album I was a bit apprehensive about the latest album from Alt-country legends (in my eyes they are anyway) Richmond Fontaine. Singer songwriter Willy Vlautin is also a novelist and mixing that with the songs I wasn’t so sure about. Yes his songs are in themselves short story’s about drunks down on their luck but a whole album with a story continuation might just be a bit too straight on the nose.
And on first listen of The High Country it was, but only because of some spoken word pieces that have some of the worst acting that I’ve ever heard. The rest of the album has some good spoken word and quiet instrumental songs as well as some rocking ones where the band are in top form.
The album is growing on my with each listen. Especially now that I always skip the two bad spoken word songs.

Great Cover #10 M. Ward - Rave On

Rave on is a song that wasn’t written by Buddy Holly but his recording made it as good as his. With good reason.
M. Ward recorded the song on his brilliant 2009 album Hold Time. His version is more laid back and has a nice riff on the acoustic guitar but it’s the overall sound that he gets that makes it a great cover version. It sounds fresh but also retains some of that old time recording feel that M. Ward is an avid student of.

Download: M. Ward - Rave On

Spititualized - Think I'm In Love (The Chemical Brothers Remix)

The single song download has killed the CD single. The only reason that I used to buy singles was for the B-sides. Bands would usually chuck their left over’s from the recording sessions on a B-side but sometimes some interesting stuff would be on it too. Like a reworked or stripped down version of a song, or an interesting remix.
Such as the B-side to I Think I’m In Love by Spiritualized that has a remix by the Chemical Brothers. They give it their full treatment to great affect. As if they took the song stripped it back to the vocals and then pressed a button that says Block Rockin’ Beats.

Download: Spiritualized - Think I’m In Love (The Chemical Brothers Remix)

Another Ghost Story

What with it almost being Halloween I would just like to say that I’ve never seen a ghost. I’ve felt some kind of presence and been scared and then seen faces in the curtain and unknown noises. But I have an explanation for that, I was young and thought there might be a ghost in the room so my senses were heightened. There weren’t any faces in the curtain, it was my mind playing tricks on me.

Not all people come to this conclusion. There are some who claim to see ghosts regularly. The kind of people who don’t know the meaning of the word coincidence and claim to ‘be a bit psychic’.
Then there are others that are reasonably well adjusted people but have claimed to have seen a ghost. I know some of these people kind and when they explain the story they never say that it could have been a ghost, but that it defiantly was. And they get annoyed when I show scepticism. “Why would I l lie?” they say. I tell them that its not that they’re lying but that it could’ve been some other explanation. Or that maybe it’s the caretaker like in Scooby Do.

Why is it that only really old houses are supposed to be haunted? Why are there never any modern ghosts?
Because one thing that remains constant in the stories that I’ve herd is that the ghost is always dressed like it’s from the eighteenth century. Why does no-one claim to see ghosts from different periods in history?
Billions of people have died before then and billions after so why no ghosts from the 70s with long hair, dressed in flares with a big collared shirt and a tank top?

Lanterns on the Lake - Gracious Tide, Take Me Home

I don’t listen to a great deal of English bands. The reason being that there’s not many good ones. If you listen to XFM all day and are therefore into landfill indie then you’ll no doubt think otherwise. But I’m not.
There’s plenty of good music coming north of the border but I’ve not heard anything much good of late on the other side.
That is until I heard the debut album from a band on Bella Union called Lanterns on the Lake who hail from England’s most northern county Northumberland.
Gracious Tide, Take Me Home is folk music that often soars to an epic landscape.
Certainly the best album from an English band that I’ve heard this year.

Download: Lanterns on the Lake - Keep On Trying

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel

In the area where I live there used to be an Elvis Presley themed restaurant. It was like a much more tackier Hard Rock Café where you can eat hamburger’s and fries while a Las Vegas period Elvis impersonator croons away in the corner. The place was thriving in the late 80s and early 90s but has long shut down as that sort of place is as dated as stone washed jeans and white linen suits with the sleeves rolled up.

Almost all Elvis impersonators do the fat jumpsuit period. Its easier than doing the lean sharp suited acoustic guitar swinging 50s Elvis.
In that period he was untouchable as a performer and had the songs to match. Like his first big hit Heartbreak Hotel.
Everything about the song is spot on. Elvis’ vocal range and phrasing, the double bass and brushed drums. Plus coming in at 1:22 is one of the finest guitar breaks in rock n’ roll, and it only last ten seconds. Then there’s the lyrics that are based on the suicide of a man who jumped out of a hotel window, with that and the songs haunting echo it’s kind of a Goth prototype.



Download Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel by clicking on this link.

ZXYZXY - Subclass of the Dead

I’ve mentioned the work of Greg Pappas who goes under the name ZXYZXY before. Everything he puts out is very diverse, whether it be post-rock, ambient or one song that’s a forty five minute drone.
I’ve spent some time with the latest release Subclass of the Dead (available to buy here) and each listen I get more drawn in to its multi-layered world.
And clocking in at ninety minutes it’s a big world to get drawn to and lost in.
The guitars take a back seat on this outing. Instead there’s more electronic, chillwave and some outright weird stuff that phases in and out of tune.
Every listen I find something new and its on the way to being my favourite output from ZXYZXY yet.

Download: ZXYZXY - Rainbow Dash mp3

Twitter Tourette's

True to form it took me a while to come around to the benefits of the social network phenomenon that is Twitter. I joined Myspace just as everyone was jumping ship and joining Facebook. I eventually followed them onto Facebook which I was happy to do as Myspace was and advertising board from which you would receive constant spam from. No I don’t want to see your band play tonight as I live on the other side of the world to Wellington New Zealand.

Then Twitter came along and celebrity’s were doing this thing called tweeting, which consisted of minute by minute updates about being stuck in a lift or something. So naturally I held back for a while.
Then I joined up and realised that its great to get up to date news and opinions about stuff I’m into. That and I don’t get status updates from someone that I hardly new at school about what their kid is doing.

So I’m a convert but I’ve had to have a massive cull of people who spam too much or have tweet tourettes.
So now I don’t follow any comedians. You would think they would be good to follow but it seems like they don’t have anything to do all day apart from tweet every ten minutes and self publicise. Following Ricky Gervais was the tipping point.
It should be140 characters, not 640 characters split over ten tweets.

Howlin Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

I’m keeping on with my blues trip at the moment, so here’s a classic from Howlin’ Wolf, the man with one of the best (if not the best then definitely the grittiest) voices ever put to record.
Smokestack Lighting doesn’t follow the usual blues chord structure. What it does instead is locks into a riff and stays put.
It’s a song that’s been interoperated in ways before and after Howlin’ Wolf did it. But surely none better.

Download: Howlin’ Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

Elmore James - Dust My Broom

A recent purchase from the downstairs section in hmv is a two CD collection of blues man Elmore James. To my recollection I hadn’t heard any of his work before, but its old blues music from Mississippi so of course I had a pretty good idea. Its not going to be happy hardcore is it. And at six quid its worth a go.
Well its been on heavy rotation for the last couple of weeks. It starts off with the overdriven acoustic slide of Dust My Broom (with a riff that makes a regular appearance throughout) but some songs slip into jazz and swing with the piano or saxophone leading the way.
It was six quid more than well spent. And I can’t get that riff out of my head.

Crap Lyrics From Records I Own #1

Whenever I go to visit my parents out in Essex I always have to go and have a rummage through my boxes of CDs and cassette tapes that are stored in the garage.
I always come across something that I’ve not heard in years and give it a play or take it back home to put onto my hard-drive.

On my most recent visit one of the lucky albums to be chosen was Soul Asylum’s early nineties big seller Grave Dancers Union. Back then I really loved this album and must have been played over a hundred times.
So after giving it a listen for the first time in about seventeen years does stand up to being as good as I remembered it? Well no. Its okay in places but mainly it just sounds like second rate early nineties rock.
I knew it would be as good as I remembered it after the first verse which contains one of the worst metaphors that I’ve ever heard.

‘Grandfather watches the grandfather clock, and the phone hasn't rang for so long.
And the time flies by like a vulture in the sky, suddenly he breaks into song.’

Time flies by like a vulture in the sky? Makes no sense at all. Its not clever its just thinking of words to fit around rhyming by and sky. Never in my life have I heard anyone say something like: ‘Yeah I had a really good time last night. The time just flew by. Yeah it flew by like a vulture in the sky.’

Sure a song doesn’t always need to have good lyrics or lyrics that make sense. But when its as bad as this then the chorus - which is still pretty good - still can’t quite redeem it.

Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum

For a while now Mark Lanegan has become Mr voice for hire. Queens of the Stone Age, The Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, Unkle, Isobel Campbell and various others have required his services. It seems like the only creative output that he’s done of late is with Greg Dulli under the name The Gutter Twins. Need a rich baritone growl of a voive? Then give Mark a call.
All of this work is fine but he hasn’t released a solo album since Bubblegum in 2004. Which for me is the finest piece of work that Lanegan has ever put his name to. Including The Screaming Trees.
Its so sparse and yet so dirty with deep throbbing bass lines that compliment Lanegan’s voice so well.
So come on, make another solo album will ya.



Download Mark Lanegan Band - Wedding Dress from this link.

Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan (Live)

The days of multi platinum albums are albums almost gone, but what is extinct and has been for some time is the big selling live album.
I have a few live albums but I seldom give them a listen as the studio versions of the songs are always superior. Songs that took weeks or in the studio to get right are put onto an album that is often badly recorded.

The exception is Mogwai. Who‘s live recordings are on par with the studio versions. Like on Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 which contains a mammoth eighteen minute version of Like Herod and a superior version of New Paths To Helicon Pt I.
And the version of Mogwai Fear Satan on the recent live album Special Moves is just stunning.
As good as the live recordings are, seeing Mogwai play live is something else.



Download Mogwai- Mogwai Fear Satan (live) from this link.

Quadrophenia - The Real Me

When I was in my late teens I had a VHS tape of the film Quadrophenia that I watched many times. Back then it was one of my favourite films and I used to think that the main character Jimmy was so cool. I’ve watched it recently and although I still think it’s a good film I’ve realised that Jimmy was a bit of a twat.
After watching the film I listened to the soundtrack by The Who for the first time in a few years and it sounded just as good as the last time I heard it. Its maybe the best album they did.
And one of the best tracks on the album has to be The Real Me. As good a drummer as Keith Moon was sometimes he tended to overdo it with constant drum fills and symbol crashes. On The Real Me all of that is still going on but its played around a driving rhythm and it lets John Entwistle’s bass guitar go off in a virtuoso world of its own. But to great effect.

Work Drugs - Swimmer Girl

To get a sample of the new album from The War On Drugs I was searching around a few blogs to download an mp3. When I played it I thought ‘this is a new sound for them, smooth indie dream pop, but fair enough, sounds pretty good'.
When I played it again I realised that iTunes was wasn’t playing The War On Drugs but I had downloaded some band called Work Drugs (similar sort of name, so that’s where I went wrong).
I’d never heard of them but it turns out that they’re a duo from Philadelphia (also like The War On Drugs) who according to their website make music specifically for boating, sexting, dancing, yachting, and living.
I don’t know what that means but to mean its decent indie dream pop.



Download an mp3 of Work Drugs - Swimmer Girl from this link.

Great Cover #9 Nirvana - Here She Comes Now

The Velvet Underground have had their songs covered many times but I’ve never heard one version that is a match to the original version. That is apart from the Nirvana recording of Here She Comes Now that was originally on a split single with the Melvins but ended up on the With The Lights Out box-set.
The original is a short and gentle song from the otherwise abrasive and avant-garde second album White Light/White Heat. But Nirvana give it their full treatment and considerably boost it up in volume and length.
I would say that its actually better than the original.

Download Nirvana - Here She Comes Now from this link.

Great Opener #3 Massive Attack - Angel

Angel is the opening track from the Massive Attacks third and best album Mezzanine (Blue Lines comes a close second).
It fades in with a brewing bassline that can only be out looking for trouble. When Horace Andy’s vocals come in they’re more understated than on his previous tracks with the band but it only adds to the tension that’s building underneath.
Something has to give and after two and a half minutes boiling point is reached when some rock is added to Massive Attack’s trip-hop sound with a distorted guitar riff and beefed up drums.
I can’t separate Angel and the cover art to Mezzanine they both represent the album well, as in dark.



Get an mp3 of Massive Attack - Angel by clicking onto this link.

Michael Owen Hates Films, Loves A Jigsaw Though

So what does the former England international and now happy to be a reserve at Manchester United Michael Owen get up to in his spare time?
Well a recent tweet of his puts watching films out of the question:

Can't stand films but watched the Inbetweeners series so got to give it a go. Watched about 8 films in my life and 5 of them were Rocky!!!

He went on to tweet again:

Other films I've watched: Jurassic Park, Ghost, Heat, Cool Running. Think that's it!

I can’t imagine footballs mister boring doing anything apart from watching horse racing. Maybe he’s so boring that he puts together a 1000 piece horse racing themed jigsaw puzzle.
Oh wait he does, it was reported in the metro that he spent two hours doing just that.
But after two hours he gave up on the idea and turned on the radio to hear his horse Electric Qatar race at York.
Fucking hell what a bore.

If this video is anything to go by he's a bit of a dick as well. Laughing and celebrating as he puts the ball past a kid in goal. Neville Southall clearly thinks he's a dick as he says to Owen "Well done, he's thirteen."
Owen turns around and says to himself "Game set and match Owen."
Game set and match dick.

60 FT. Dolls - The Big 3

For me one of the best albums of the 90s and one that I still regularly listen to is by the Welsh rock trio 60 Ft. Dolls. After a string of great singles starting with 1994s Happy Shopper their debut album The Big 3 came out in 1996 (1997 in The States where they got picked up by Geffen Records) and there isn’t a dud song on it. Straight up tuneful rock songs.
The second album Joya Magica from 1998 saw them expanding their pallet with some piano, strings and horns. There’s a couple of acoustic songs and some in a more Brit-Pop style (one with a bouncy rhythm, Shed Seven type horns and lyrics about the summer. All the worse traits of Brit-Pop.) that don’t hit the mark. The best songs on the album are when they do what they do best, which is play tuneful rock songs.
The band soon split and another Welsh rock trio came on the scene to have a lot more success. But the Stereophonics have never made an album as good as The Big 3.

Download an mp3 of 60 Ft. Dolls - Happy Shopper from this link.

Howe Gelb - Felonious

“The piano’s stealing Lou Reed licks, licks that he probably stole."
Whether it be with Giant Sand, solo or various side projects such as The Band of Blacky Ranchette, Arizona Amp and Alternator or OP8, Howe Gelb’s musical output has been nothing short of prolific. There’s also many official bootlegs to go with the many official albums.
Out of all of them one of my favorite is 2003’s solo album The Listener. There’s the usual sound of Gelb’s picking at scabs acoustic guitar style, but it also features a lot of laid back piano and sparse string arrangements. Such as the second song Felonious with its brushes drums and Gelb’s close to the mic dusty tones in which he pays a homage to Lou Reed.
“The piano’s still stealing Lou Reed licks, licks he probably stole."

Download an mp3 of Howe Gelb - Felonious by clicking on this link.

Rugger Boys Jagerbomb

What with it being played in New Zealand, therefore the matches kicking off in the morning, you might not have noticed that the rugby world cup has begun. If you’ve missed the start then don’t worry as it goes on for a whole seven weeks.
Many times I’ve given it a go, but I just can’t get into egg chasing. Mainly because there’s a huge flaw in the game.
Yes there’s constant scrums that are tedious and stop the flow of play, but my main issue is that when there’s an offense the other team then gets a chance to kick for three points (if its within the kickers range which is usually just in front of halfway). Too many games are decided by who committed the least amount of innocuous fouls.
Rugby league got rid of this flaw and the constant scrums and so in my opinion makes it a better sport than rugby union.

The other crap thing about rugby is rugger boys. Sure go out for a few drinks after the game but do you really have to challenge each other to a press up competition after a couple of pints?
Do you have to call each other by your nicknames all the time?
Do you have to put your arms around each others shoulders, sing Oasis songs and then throw up in the gutter?
Do you have to down Jagerbombs and cheer when you slam the glass down on the bar?

That brings me on to the latest drink craze that is Jaggerboms. It’s a not very strong single shot in half a glass of a bad smelling energy drink which you have to wait around for an eternity while the bartender lines them up to do a Jager-train.
If you are a rugger boy and want to act the big man then have a shot of whiskey will ya.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Slow Down (Take A Look)

Been going through my hard rive and giving it a good cleanout. Mainly been deleting music files. Tracks that I have no intention of ever listening to, such as bad filler tracks on albums that only have a couple of good songs. Out! Live versions from bands who’s studio versions I rarely play. Out! Downloaded tracks that I was testing out but I never liked. Out!
Its tedious work, but I did come across some really good songs that I forgot I had.
Like the song Slow Down (Take A Look)from the Sonic's Rendezvous Band that I got from CD that came with a music magazine. I’d never heard of the band, but after looking into them it turns out that Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5 and Scott Ashton from The Stooges are in the band.
That makes sense as their raw garage rock sound is unmistakably from the Detroit Michigan area.

Download Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Slow Down (Take A Look) by clicking on this link.

Sigur Rós - Inni

There has been no action from Sigur Rós since 2008. Then last month their website revealed a trailer for Inni which is a DVD and double CD of the band's live performances at London’s Alexandra Palace.
I was at one of them gigs, and in truth it was a bit of a disappointment. Mainly because the main proportion of the show featured songs the recently released album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust which I didn’t get on too well with as their ethereal soundscape and sawing strings were replaced with playful up-tempo songs or ones with only singer Jonsi and a piano.

Another reason why I didn’t enjoy the gig as much as I thought I might is that Alexandra Palace is not a good place to see a band. Its not meant for rock music, also to get a drink you had to buy tokens and then go to another line to order the drink. So I spent way too much time in the venue queuing up.
But I’m sure that that won’t come across on the live CD, and as the songs are taken from two nights the track listing will hopeful span over their five albums.

No Doubt the song Svefn-g-englar that first grabbed my attention to the band will be on it. An old flatmate of mine came into my room when I was playing it and said "What is this poncy whale music shit?"
Yes it might sound like that but its a great piece of music.

Download Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar by left clicking on this link.

I Heard Her Call My Name

I recently went to visit my parents, and while in their garage going through boxes of C.D.s and cassettes I found a recording of me playing my first electric guitar. Saying that I was playing it is me being very generous to myself. At the time I knew a few chords but didn’t know any scales, though that didn’t put me off doing guitar solo’s where I played random notes up and down the fretboard. It didn’t help that the guitar was terribly out of tune either.
Its awful but not much more than Lou Reed’s erratic guitar solo’s on The Velvet Underground song I Heard Her Call Me Name. It sounds similar. It’s out of tune, abrasive, high pitched, metallic and sounds like it played with the same Yamaha guitar and cheep Peavey amp that I used.
Technically it’s the worst guitar solo put to record, but I find it endearing and its all part of one of my favourite Velvet Underground songs.

Hank Williams - The hmv Downstairs Section

Whenever I walk into the flagship hmv store on Oxford Street a nauseous feeling rapidly consumes me. After a very quick browse at what they have in the ‘new biggest ever sale’ I soon make my way downstairs to the blues/country/world/classical/soundtrack/ musical/folk/jazz/comedy section to get away from the crowd and the new Rhiannon or Kaiser Chiefs release that’s getting blasted out from the sound system.
I know this sounds like I’m old before my time but downstairs is just an all round better shopping experience. Okay so maybe not if you don’t like any of the music they have but even if I did want the new offering from Rhiannon or the Kaiser Chiefs I would still go down there to pay as the queue is almost non-existent.
Luckily I do like a lot of the music in the downstairs section and its where I bought my best ever value for money music purchase that is Hank Williams Greatest Hits. A two CD album with forty great songs for the price of six quid.

Get an mp3 of Hank Williams - Lost Highway by left clicking on this link.

Hotels

The first thing that I do in when I get into a hotel room is turn on the TV and see what channels they have. Can’t beat sitting on the bed with a beer and becoming accustomed to TV channels in a language you don’t understand. I really think that I could live in one, for a while at least. For a start I would get the room cleaned and towels changed every day or two. Plus I won’t ever run out of toilet roll or soap.
This autumn I’m looking to go away for a few days. Somewhere in England as I feel that although I’ve been to quite a few countries around the world I’ve not been to many places in the country that I’m from.

When looking on the internet at some places to stay (well my girlfriend has and I've said ‘yeah that one looks good’) it just so happened that The Hotel Inspector on Channel 5 was on. Its like Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares but with a hotel instead of a restaurant and a lot less playing up to the camera.
Along with giving the place a good scrub The ‘inspector’ was telling the owner of the hotel to get rid of the clutter in the rooms. “What and take away all the character!” the reluctant to take advice owner said in reply.
I’m on the inspectors side, The more sterile and characterless the hotel room the better. I don’t care for quirky inertia with a theme and fancy lampshades. I don’t want ornaments and plastic flowers on the dressing table. You bring your own character to the room. As in the wallet, loose change, beer bottles, snacks, cigarette packet and lighter on the table. Reading material scattered around. Bottle of water beside the bed. Last nights clothes on floor. Bag in one corner of the room and pile of dirty underpants in the other.

Great Cover #8 (kind of) Beck - Burro

This is a great cover of the Beck song Jack-Ass by err… Beck. It first appeared as a B-side to the single but has since appeared on the deluxe edition of Odelay. Okay so it’s a re-working of the song but it sounds like a cover as its done in a full on mariachi style, complete with Beck singing in Spanish.
One of the main components of Jack-Ass is the sample of Van Morison’s old band Them performing Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.
So Burro is sort of like a cover of a song that’s based on a cover of another song.
There’s another version called Strange Invitation which is stripped down to an acoustic guitar and strings. Its good but Burro stands out because it’s so different from the original.

Download an mp3 of Beck - Burro from this link.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

When Bon Iver’s first album For Emma, Forever Ago came out three years ago the story of the album - After the break up of his band and a relationship Justin Vernon went back to Wisconsin where he recuperated in his fathers isolated cabin out in the woods - along with rave reviews was a great selling point, and I soon bought it without even hearing a note. In the main it lived up to what I hoped it would be, especially with the songs Skinny Love, For Emma and Flume.
So where did Bon Iver go with the recently released follow up? Well in some parts he's gone back to the 80s with bad sounding synth and keyboard. On the last song there’s even some cheesy 80s saxophone. Also the vocals are in a falsetto that has as much range as a water pistol.
It’s a huge let down. Especially after the in-between EP Blood Bank. With the title tracks slightly distorted chords, varied vocal range and well written lyrics its with out doubt my favourite Bon Iver track.
Shame that on the second album he decided to sound like fucking Enya.

Download an mp3 of Bon Iver - Blood Bank from this link.

The Jim Jones Revue - High Horse

There’s not too much subtlety from the London five piece band The Jim Jones Revue. Everything is full on and raucous as they play old time fifties rock ’n’ roll in a garage style that sounds like Jerry-Lee Lewis playing with The Sonics.
I’m a recent convert and what with them being from London I’ll soon get around to seeing them play live. I imagine it to be bordering on shambolic, with a feeling that the wheels could come off at any minute. The way this type of music should sound live.
Only thing is that the next time they play in London its at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Not one of my favoured venues. If only I got into this band earlier then I could have caught them in a in a small sweaty place that skinks of stale beer. That’s this type of music’s natural home.



Download an mp3 of The Jim Jones Revue - High Horse from this link.

Racist Undertone Buiscuits

I saw these Oreo type biscuits in a Turkish supermarket called Negro. Now I know that the Spanish word for black is negro but in Turkish it’s siyah (yes I did just look the up on Google translate as my Turkish isn’t so great) so why the name? To have them in England does seem a bit off, but they do taste good.

Great Cover #7 Pelican - Geometry of Murder

My teenage metal phase was brief. But for while there I only listened to Megadeath, Metallica, Slayer and Pantera. I don’t listen to any of them bands anymore but I still put on a metal record every so often. I would be into the genre a whole lot more if it wasn’t for the vocals. Many times I’ve liked the heavy distorted riffing, pounding drums and throbbing bass and then the growling cookie monster vocals come in and ruin it. I just don‘t understand why they pretend to be some kind of evil devil from hell, its childish pantomime. And I can’t stand the high pitched Brice Dickinson type vocals either.
That’s why I like the instrumental post-metal of Chicago band Pelican. None of that growling of operatic screaming with them. Its heavy grooves that don’t let vocals get in the way.
Here is really good cover of an Earth song. A band who don’t need vocals either.



Download Pelican - Geometry of Murder from here.

The Redlands Palomino Company

The Redlands Palomino Company are one of the best UK Alt-Country type bands around. Okay so on the surface there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of competition for that crown, but there’s a few knocking about. They’re a band that know their sound and don’t fret about wearing their influences on there sleeve. But what really sets them apart are the vocals. Some songs have slightly ragged voice of Alex Elton-Wall, some the smooth voice of Hannah Elton-Wall and sometimes they alternate like on the opening song Call Me Up from their recently released third album Don’t Fade. Its their first album in four years and sees them continue with what they do best. The Redlands Palomino Company don’t throw any curveballs into the mix, its ten straight up country rock songs with guitars, bass, drums and pedal steel. And it sounds great.

Download an mp3 of Call Me Up by The Redlands Palomino Company from here.

Best Bad Covers on YouTube

When I have a day off work I always have a slight hang over. Usually just a tinge of a headache but enough to make me not want to do too much in the morning apart from make tea and coffee and watch stuff on my laptop. Sometime’s I might watch a film or a documentary but most of the time I’m more likely to skip around YouTube. Usually I won’t even watch a whole video, its like my fragile hung over brain has the attention span of a child who’s just scoffed back a bag of Haribo.
Today’s skip around was bad cover versions. Its an old favourite of mine.
Here are some of the best bad covers:

Sweet Child O’Mine from a young shirtless band in a rehearsal room.
The song starts with an out of tune interpretation of the well known Slash riff but for some reason the drummer feels the need to count him in. Then the drums and bass enter the song in the wrong place and all three of them manage to play the whole song a bar or two ahead of each other.



Comfortably Numb by a band on a stage at a small town benefit show or something.
You don’t expect a young teenage band who’ve only been playing their instruments for a few weeks to have it together but this band are not young at all. Maybe the band is just a bit of a laugh, but they don’t seem to be having a lot of fun up there.



Smells Like Teen Spirit at a school assembly. Another drummer counts in when the song starts on its own. I love the mangled solo on this and the ending of the song when amp stops working and the singer is giving it her all as she rolls around on the floor.



Why play one song badly when in three minutes you can ruin a handful of songs with A Metal Medley. The band that consists of a drummer, bassist, two singers and a mosh pit that’s playing to a disinterested audience. One of the singers gives a pre song speech that ends with her saying “With metal anything is possible.”
Then near the end for some reason one of the moshers starts doing a Russian Kozak dance.

Guided By Voices - Glad Girls

There’s nothing more smug than an indie rock fan who says “I was into (insert name of band) before they became well known.” And if the band in question is Guided By Voices then that would take smugness to a whole new level.
I’m not one of them people myself as I only got into them when they released a best of compilation called Human Amusements At Hourly Rates. By then main man Bob Pollard had broke the band up. So unfortunately I never got to see them live or could look forward to new releases. But its okay as its never too late to get into a band, and Guided By Voices can easily become one of your favourites. I go through spells when they're the only band that I want to listen to.
Some of their songs are Lo-fi, some just a verse snippet that comes and goes before you know it. Then there's indie rock anthems like this:



Download Guided By Voices - Glad Girls mp3 from here.