The above picture comes from Tim Burton's 'The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories'. I love the dark humour of Tim Burton ('The Nightmare Before Christmas' is simply one of my favourite films...so inventive) and have long been a fan of his stories and animation. I am here to talk about a simply gorgeous website dedicated to the book. The site was created by an Irish guy called Wayne and is absolutely beautiful and faithful to Burton's work, which contains such entries as 'The Boy with Nails in his Eyes', 'The Girl Who Turned into a Bed', 'Brie Boy' and 'Jimmy, The Hideous Penguin Boy'. You can buy the book, and read reviews at Amazon. And, just to treat you, here's Mr Burton's short animation 'Vincent':
You can also check out Burton's six part series 'Stainboy' on Atom Films...he is an unusual kind of superhero (all links below open in a new window). Keep an eye out for characters from 'Oyster Boy'!:
I have just ordered this turntable watch (my nickname here is because I love vinyl records so much)...will I be the coolest kid on the block or what? Oh, and whilst I'm on a design tip, check out this great website...free flat pack toys for you to print off and build! How ace is that? I just wish I had a printer...harumph!
People.com are offering 14 free downloads by new country music stars in honour of the Country Music Awards 2007. For each artist there is the facility to stream the song on the website before deciding if you would like to download the track. I have dutifully listened to each of them and will give you a quick low-down on my personal hits and misses.
The list of available downloads is as follows:
1. Luke Bryan - We Rode In Trucks
2. Rissi Palmer - Country Girl
3. Jack Ingram - Great Divide
4. Jennifer Hanson - 73
5. Eric Church - Sinners Like Me
6. Katie Armiger - Make Me Believe
7. Trent Willmon - There Is A God
8. Sunny Sweeney - Ten Years Past
9. Danielle Peck - Kiss You On The Mouth
10. Lady Antebellum - Love Don't Live Here
11. Ashton Shepherd - I Ain't Dead Yet
12. Laura Bryna - Make A Wish
13. David Nail - Missouri
14. Miko Marks - The Son My Daddy Never Had
My favourite of the lot were Ashton Shepherd and Miko Marks, and I also downloaded Jennifer Hanson and Rissi Palmer (although I think I might wind up finding this one a bit annoying - too 'pop').
Most of them are really pretty good, just not all to my taste (country-pop doesn't generally do a lot for me). For the record (ha!), I would say the ones to unequivocally avoid are Trent Willmon and Laura Bryna (truly dreadful...three and a half minutes of my life that I can never get back!)...not keen on David Nail either (and I spent the whole song thinking he was singing 'misery' until I checked the title!).
So I would say that there are at least a good five out of fourteen worth a download...which isn't bad for zilch!
I have neglected, thus far, to mention my ABSOLUTE favourite...but that is only because I am already a big fan, and the others were new to me. The hands down winner, in my book, is Sunny Sweeney!! This woman is fantastic! Buy her album...you won't regret it! The only reason I didn't download this one is because I already have a SIGNED album. In fact it was she who tipped me off to these free downloads...nice one Sunny, ta duck! :o)
If you like country music, some other great recent acts that are seriously worth checking out are Sam Baker, Adam Hood, Old Crow Medicine Show and blacktopGYPSY (samples of these artists' music available at lonestarmusic.com). That should keep you going for now...
Wow! This film is amazing! I have had it on dvd for a while now, and kind of knew I'd love it, but have only just got around to watching it.
Before I start, I shall say that I deliberately wrote this blog before reading anything that other people had to say, as I wanted to make up my own mind, have my own ideas, and form my own theories (this film begs consideration of its symbolism and the societal issues it seems to be focusing on). But I will be heading across to the IMDB message boards after this to have a look at other peoples' theories!
And so, to the blog proper...
"Fuck you. Don't you understand?
Your future is metal."
Shot entirely in black and white, the dark and grainy look of this film is juxtaposed with strange and jarring sounds, punctilious attention to detail (almost like a haunting, but oddly beautiful, montage of still photographs), shocking imagery and stop-motion animation. The 'look' of the whole thing brings to mind the work of artist H. R. Giger, and his explorations of the interaction between / fusion of man and machine and depictions of dark, threatening, biomechanical landscapes.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is very industrial in appearance. It can be extremely confusing and difficult to follow, but the plot, broadly, is that a character simply titled Fetishist (a metal fetishist...we see him, very early in the film – a shocking image – purposefully inserting a metal rod into his own thigh. He then notices that the wound is riddled with maggots and runs, screaming, out into the street) is hit by a car. The driver of this car winds up with a metal plate stuck in his head and is told that to remove it would kill him. Thereafter he gradually morphs into the titular Iron Man, the metal assimilating into his body, growing and using his flesh like a parasite to propagate itself. The beauty of the camera shots and the fact it is in black and white make the contrast with the lurid, turn your stomach, imagery even greater.
Anyone who has arrived here via a Google search for Ted Hughes may well be disappointed!
This film is disorientating (but definitely disturbing) and can seem desultory and fitful, but the whole thing is visually mesmerising and, using only a very small budget, very precisely brought into being (the director, Shinya Tsukamoto, is also credited for screenplay and art direction, lighting direction, editing, special effects and co-photography – as well as starring in the film as the Fetishist). There is obvious attention to detail in every shot, exciting (and exacting) camera work and editing...this is like a short film that is 67 minutes in length. In places it looks like an expertly choreographed ballet. In other scenes it is some kind of pop music video (I'm sure Michael Jackson has taken some inspiration from this, only with a much larger budget...and I'm not even going to get into the whole 'transformation' side of the debate!) or, with help from the soundtrack created by musician Chu Ishikawa (click here to download the soundtrack...just click on the 'free' column), an industrial metal (metal...ha! How appropriate!) or dark electronica video (think Aphex Twin). It might even remind you of (and therefore may have influenced) The Terminator (admittedly, fucked-up Japanese style!), except inverted – here the metal is on the outside, the man trapped inside and engulfed.
Special effects-wise, this looks like Videodrome, or even Re-Animator or Peter Jackson's Braindead. And the gradual transformation of the Salaryman (Tomorah Taguchi) is every bit as memorable and, in my opinion, successful as the metamorphosis in An American Werewolf in London. It does not (indeed could not) rely on CGI or massive budgets, as do more recent films. The images here are urban-industrial-futuristic and the film, despite being dark in atmosphere, look and tone, is frenetic in pace. The anime influence in terms of the story and the violence is also clear to see.
Here are some of my own theories about the issues it might be addressing, the questions the film might be asking etc:
Might it be about the advance of technology, our relationship with it, and the way it is encroaching into our lives? A warning about relying on technology or letting it take over (CCTV, 1984's 'telescreens' - “Big Brother is watching you”, or perhaps even controlling you...from the inside! Not to mention more recent discourse over microchips, ID cards and general governmental surveillance)? Or could it be about the machine, or other emblems of technological advance, as status symbol and, beyond functionality, the anthropomorphism and sexualisation of the inanimate, e.g. cars and motorcycles? It could equally be a comment on our hidden sexual desires, our id suppressed and concealed from society. Tetsuo is certainly very much about the sexual being – at times bordering on some kind of mechano-porn or cyberotica (even the relatively comedic / light relief elements of this film come in the form of a giant, spinning, motorised penis - “You want a taste of my sewage pipe?”)! Is it a nod to the fact that we never really know what is beneath the surface of the 'normal' man? We could be seeing the Salaryman's hidden core forcing itself to the surface; his darkest desires, his yearning for some sort of power and recognition. Is it, therefore, about the monster within each of us (the high-school shooter who 'flips' and those closest to him could never foresee that he was capable of such acts)?
Which leads me to thinking about the film's possible observations on society itself. Are we being lead to reflect upon the factory-line conveyor-belt of workers expected to look, dress and behave in the same way, i.e. the mechanisation of an individual in a conformist and regimented society? If so, surely it is relevant that none of the characters in this film are given names and that this all happens to a workaday, business-suited, 'average' man. Or perhaps it references the alienation people feel, our disenchanted / disengaged / desensitised / phlegmatic / anaesthetised / delete as appropriate* youth; part of a society where the constant onslaught of media imagery, video games and casual violence and sex (both on and off screen – consider the recent 'trend' for filming assaults on mobile phones) has narcotised them. Discursively, then, it could be about individuality and acknowledgment of peoples' different aspirations and expectations – for the Salaryman this is dystopia, for the Fetishist the achievement of nirvana.
As for the need to be recognised as an individual, it could even be seen as alluding to our relationship with our own bodies – we often feel as if betrayed, that we are not in control (Salaryman's transformation could even be an analogy for the ageing process, thrust upon us against our will). Is it questioning modern trends for plastic surgery and body modification (piercing, tattoos, implants, branding, scarification etc.) and asking where this will all end?
I don't know the answers to any of the above questions, but I definitely don't remember the last time a film made me think and hypothesise so much! Ultimately, we don't even know for sure whether this film is showing us dreadful nightmares or startling 'realities'.
Ok, so finally to some reasons you might not like this film: it is gruesome and shocking in parts; it is low budget and you will have seen technically better special effects (but that's so not the point); it can be confusing and disorientating; it doesn't hand you all the answers; there is barely any dialogue at all – it is mostly an abundance of raucous, angular industrial sounds and loud music; the scenes where the camera is chasing through Japan are at head-fuck speed (and totally look like they were inspiration for the Madonna video for Ray Of Light!). It's going straight on my list of great films! I would LOVE to hear what you think of the film, what it made you think about and, indeed, if you thought it was a complete waste-of-time-piece-of-rubbish! Does anyone know if Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is also worth seeing? File under: Horror, sci-fi, cyber-porn!
Can you see yourself in the Oval Office? Want to control the US budget and, er, send Abraham Lincoln's credentials to a dating agency? Then this is the game for you!
On November 5th, Telltale Games announced that they were releasing Sam and Max Episode 4 for free download. Season 2 of the game is just about to be released, so this is presumably to stump up some publicity...and it's working, because it's not something I had ever heard of before (I found this courtesy of Jay Is Games).
As I have said, this game is completely free...and it kept me entertained for a good few hours...even though I am an impatient soul and sourced for myself a walkthrough (really not in the spirit of things, I know, but my attention span is short! I'm sure I missed some good bits in doing so). This game looks great; the graphics are really nice and the interaction very easy and natural (it's all just point and click, so you only even need one finger!). It is really quite clever in parts and sports a healthy dose of cynicism (N.B. At times this could offend some, and is not suitable for young children).
My favourite bits: Self-loathing Weekly magazine on sale in the shop; the suggestion of putting a parking garage in George Washington's forehead at Mount Rushmore; the US flag with one extra star stuck randomly on the top for 'West Dakota'; 'Urine Shrimp' Buy One, Get One; and...the song! I won't spoil that part...it's very Team America.
Ok, so (I think) we've established that this is worth having a shufty at, given that it is free, but there are also bad points to note.
The loading times between areas on this game can seem interminable...it can make it pretty tiresome moving between scenes to try things out. Be prepared to spend a lot of time clicking on things that don't help you progress (but which can still be quite amusing)...there's a lot of trial and error in this, unless you are a bit fat cheater like me! You will seriously need some patience and time on your hands. The little rabbit, Max, can also get somewhat annoying (I got particularly sick of him saying "Where we goin', Sam?" and that's not to mention his 'wise' cracks!).
Saying all of this, you are able to save progress at any point, so when your clicking finger gets RSI and your eyes turn square, you can leave your computer and have a bit of a break...no, really!
You can download it here (and for you other party poopers out there, here is the walkthrough that I resorted to).
So what are your favourite bits?
P.s. I have just discovered StumbleUpon!!! How did I miss this wonder before? Exactly how addictive? Why not come and befriend me at http://divinyl.stumbleupon.com/ ?
Apologies for the gap between postings (I am full of cold and can't seem to concentrate enough to put in the effort I usually put into my blogs...and I don't want to just post tosh for the sake of it!)...I shall return with one of my more customary, longer blogs soon.
Today, however, I am just stopping by to tell you about the above album. I've been having a bit of a mooch round MP3.com, which really is a great website...tonnes of free downloads, free album streamings, reviews etc. etc. (No, I don't work for them!). On my travels I came across Alice Smith, who I have never heard of before.
This album is excellent. Admittedly I have only listened to it in full once so far, but it held my attention, whereas most of the others I would click away from after half a song. Her voice is kind of India Arie/Jill Scott/Erykah Badu-ish, but this isn't just bog standard modern R&B (which often fails to move me at all). The tracks are really varied and all of a high standard. I shall definitely be listening again, and will even consider making a purchase (which, after all, is the reason they offer us a listen for free eh?).
Rather than just rehashing the MP3.com information to tell you more about her, I'll just link across there in order that you can peruse for yourselves >>> Alice Smith.
Let me know what you think and, if you already know about her/like her/despise her, perhaps you could share that in the comments...as I say, my knowledge of her is currently limited to the small amount of information on that one website...although I may well investigate further.
Edit: I've subsequently found out that this album is only available from 12/11/07 (i.e. Monday).
I haven't had chance to listen to them all yet, but thought I would let you guys know that Nine Inch Nails are offering 21 free to download tracks on their website. These tracks are all remixes of their songs submitted by fans, and the 21 offered are the winners out of almost 200 entries.
You can download individual tracks, download the lot as an album via Torrent, or stream it in an MP3 player...and the tracks are completely open source, so are free to share as you wish.
Weeds is an American television show about the life of a suburban 'mom' who, following the death of her husband, tries to bring in some extra money for her family as a marijuana dealer. The main character, Nancy Botwin, is played by Mary-Louise Parker (Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistlestop Cafe, Boys On The Side, Angels In America, The West Wing), and it has guest starred others such as Carrie Fisher, Mary-Kate Olsen and Snoop Dogg. It all takes places in a fictional suburb of Los Angeles, known as Agrestic (meaning rural, pertaining to fields or the country, and also lacking in sophistication, unpolished, uncouth - Dictionary.com). The show, now on its third season, was first aired in 2005 and won Best Performance By A TV Actress In A Musical Or Comedy at the Golden Globe awards in 2006.
But I am not really here to talk about the show itself...I am here to talk about its title music. The song is Little Boxes, which was written by folk singer-songwriter and political activist Malvina Reynolds in 1962. Inspired by the houses in Daly City, California, the song is all about tell-them-apart-if-you-can, chocolate box house, suburban living and its values and expectations of conformity. The song is best known through the performance by Pete Seeger.
In the first series of the show, the original song (video above) aired as the title music for each episode; however, by series' two and three, a different artist or band was being used for each separate episode. Apparently the impetus behind this was because series producers were initially unsure as to whether they would be able to use the original, and therefore had several artists record the song before deciding which one to use. It has now got to the stage where performers are requesting to be included...and the role-call holds some very big names!
There has been an orchestral and instrumental version (by Maestro Charles Barnett - Season 2, Episode 5), a Spanish version with a disco feel (Kinky - Season 3, Episode 3), a rap version (The Individuals - Season 3, Episode 7), and even one sung partly in Russian (Persephone's Bees - Season 3, Episode 12).
Here are my top five in order of appearance (the clickable links are to the video for each on YouTube):
Death Cab For Cutie are Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Jason McGerr and Chris Walla. They were formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997 and took their name from a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song, which appeared on their 1967 album Gorilla and in The Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour. Their best known track is probably Transatlanticism, from the album of the same name - this song was used in the HBO show Six Feet Under, and several more have featured in The OC.
This version of Little Boxes is a pretty straightforward reading with a male vocal. The backing is catchy guitar-based, indie band pop, with some nice drumming. It feels very upbeat.
The McGarrigle sisters, who are of Canadian and Irish origin, hail from the town of Saint Sauveur desMonts (where I had a pen pal as a child!) in Quebec. They record in both French and English and their songs are based around folky vocal harmonies and often unusual timings.
This version of the song is in French and is quite a sedate affair filled with their trademark harmonies and minimal, mostly string-based, backing instrumentation. You can find the whole song (3 minutes 38 seconds) on The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 2 - If I Had A Song.
Can this woman do no wrong? Born in Moscow, Russia, moving to The Bronx, New York aged nine, Regina Spektor studied classical piano from an early age. She now makes quirky (typified by relatively unusual techniques such as the glottal stop) folk-influenced music, claiming to have written over 700 songs...although neglecting to write them all down!
You can listen to full songs at her website...go to http://www.reginaspektor.com/, select 'music' and then 'launch radio player'. She is also, if you get the chance, excellent live.
This cover is very Regina...it is kooky and not simply a note-for-note copy. The timing is individual and has a different personality to many of the other versions used, incorporating some changes to a minor key and, of course, Spektor's very pretty voice.
Kidjo was born in Ouidah, Benin and grew up in the port village of Cotonou. In her early 20s she moved to Paris, due to the political conflicts in her home country, where she began performing. She is fluent in Fon, French, Yoruba and English (I haven't even heard of all of these languages!) and often uses traditional African vocal styles, such as the zilin technique of her native Benin, alongside jazzy stylings.
This episode's Little Boxes is possibly my favourite of the lot. The African influences are there for all to see, with Kidjo being backed by a group of singers making sounds more than singing the words of the song. Initially a capella, about half way through some backing music kicks in, which is very Caribbean-feeling, carnival-type music. Seriously, this sounds really good!
I'm sure Joan Baez needs little introduction...what a coup, getting her to sign up to this! Just in case...Baez is a Mexican-American folk singer and songwriter who, due to her father's job, grew up all over the US, Europe and Middle East (she was born on Staten Island). She is a soprano with a three octave vocal range and performed at 1969's Woodstock Festival. Baez is well known for singing songs with political and protest-based lyrics. On her live CD Ring Them Bells, reissued this year as a collectors edition, she is joined by many other big names, including Kate and Anna McGarrigle, who also appear in this Top 5.
This one is again fairly straightforward, but unmistakably Joan Baez. There is acoustic guitar backing and great use of the snare drum.
Also worth a listen (in my rather humble opinion) are:
Elvis Costello (The Man!) - Season 2, Episode 1
The Submarines - Season 2, Episode 8 (nice backing to this one)
Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice - Season 2, Episode 11
Randy Newman - Season 3, Episode 1
Man Man - Season 3, Episode 8
And I haven't even mentioned that others have included:
"The Passenger and those he leaves behind, connected for a time by a long unwinding ribbon. A streamer cast and caught with joy."
Patti Smith - The Coral Sea (1996)
Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith met in New York in 1967. First communing over a mutual love of William Blake, they became lovers, despite Mapplethorpe living the majority of his adult life as a homosexual. They lived together for around five years in all, a key time being their period at The Chelsea Hotel (after a brief stay at a loft on Delancey Street and then The Allerton Hotel). During this time Smith inspired Mapplethorpe, then a sculptor, to experiment with photography; he, in turn, encouraged Smith to perform her poetry live. He was also responsible for financing her first single - a cover of Hey Joe, with the B-side Piss Factory, in 1974.
Smith was the first person that Mapplethorpe photographed and became something of a muse to him. The most iconic of the resulting pictures is that used for the cover of Smith's debut album Horses in 1975. This photograph is multi-faceted, to my eyes showing Smith as strong yet vulnerable, androgynous yet undeniably brimming with female sexuality. The rapport between photographer and subject is tangible, and there is no pretence - exemplified by Smith's direct look at the camera (and therefore viewer/audience). Mapplethorpe described taking photographs of Patti Smith as "like taking drugs; you're in an abstract place and it's perfect."
In 1978 they made a short (13 minutes) black and white film together, entitled Still Moving. The film had its premiere at The Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Mapplethorpe is said to have wanted to capture Smith's "presence" on film and record her poetry and love of literature. Prior to this, in 1971, they had also been captured on film together in Sandy Daley's Robert Having His Nipple Pierced.
Smith and Mapplethorpe were close friends and inspiration to each other ("my friend, my compeer, my beloved adventure", Patti Smith) for 22 years, right up until his untimely AIDS-related death, aged just 42, on March 9th 1989. Smith was devastated by his death (and suffered three further significant bereavements over the course of the next five years). She spoke at his memorial service in New York and, in 1996, wrote The Coral Sea - a book of poetry about Mapplethorpe, and in his memory. All royalties from this were donated to The Robert Mapplethorpe Laboratory For AIDS Research at New England Deaconess Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Smith has been photographed by many over the years, with notables including Annie Leibovitz, yet it is the pictures by Mapplethorpe, her close friend, that really seem to capture some truth, some "presence" (as Mapplethorpe himself put it) that is far greater than any picture by another photographer. Through Mapplethorpe we as viewers/listeners/audience/fans are gifted a small window into Patti Smith's soul.
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE November 4th 1946-March 9th 1989
I booked tickets yesterday to go and see The Imagined Village at The Sage. Somehow I've missed out on hearing about this ensemble before getting an e-mail about it from The Sage, but it looks awesome! Billy Bragg, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Simon Emmerson (of Afro Celt Sound System) and others all appearing on stage together! I can't wait!
Whilst we are on a trad folk bent, I shall return again to Kate Rusby (who, if you have been reading for a while / have looked back in the archive, you will know that I have blogged about before). She is another folkie with an amusing and endearing repartee...and surely what simply must be the best voice in the business! She is so good that I can't really find the words (and that's saying something!).
I found a great video, whilst browsing YouTube, of her song My Young Man. Elfman101 is, I think, responsible for the photo montage that accompanies it, which is just stunning.
Coal mining (the subject of the song) was a massively important industry in the region in which I live; it was the backbone of local communities, from which the heart was ripped when then pits were closed, resulting in massive unemployment and economic depression, not to mention the toll it had taken on miners' health. It's something I wrote a poem about (a very quickly-written poem, I hasten to add) on 27/01/05...The Day The Last Pit Closed:
The day the last pit closed -
Like prisoners released
into the big, wide world.
Blinking and unable to adjust,
the freedom too much to bear.
So unnatural.
60 years passed since the Holocaust.
Harold Shipman's inquest.
They hardly get a look-in,
this community torn to shreds.
This industry.
Our industry.
Deceased.
And only on the local news.
Kate Rusby puts it, ahem, somewhat better!
Here's the song...and thanks for the brilliant video Elfman101:
Last night I went to see Vin Garbutt at The Sage, Gateshead. It cost me the princely sum of £3.50! Not bad to see two acts (support came in the form of Jez Lowe) in a beautiful venue methinks. This was the third time I have seen Vin live - my first as a child dragged along by my mother (I think she had a spare ticket or something) - and he never fails to impress.
The title of this blog is a line he came out with during this recent gig, and a prime example of his inter-song witticisms. This, unbeknownst to me beforehand, was his 60th birthday concert and so, as he took to the stage, he was greeted by most of the audience singing Happy Birthday.
So, I hear most of you ask, who on earth is Vin Garbutt? Well, he is a folk singer from Middlesbrough. Born in South Bank (still Middlesbrough, not London!), he became a professional musician aged 21 and has been slogging away ever since. He tours the world each year and sells out gigs across the globe...the one last night included.
Yet most people never seem to have even heard his name. Unless they are particularly into folk music...Vin is a big name, probably one of the biggest, on the British folk scene. He even won the Best Live Act at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2001. And he is a proper shaggy-haired, penny whistle-playing folkster; this is trad folk (yet not just trad songs...most of the songs are written by Mr Garbutt himself). These are songs about real people's lives and hardships, which tackle the big issues out there, such as asylum-seeking, working for pennies, nature (and its destruction), and coal and potash mining.
The lyrics are intelligent and thought-provoking, as well as humorous in places. My favourites on this occasion were from Land Of Three Rivers ("In the land of three rivers I'm longing to be/Where the Tyne, Wear and Tees meet the North's rolling sea") and Punjabi Girl ("I never thought I'd fall for someone from another world/Until I met and fell in love with a dark Punjabi girl").
As someone who comes from my home town (which, although recently voted the worst place in Britain by Location, Location, Location, I am very fond of and nostalgic about. It does have its merits - beautiful countryside and seaside towns nearby, friendly people etc. But I digress...this is not the intended topic of this blog post!) and sings about it proudly, I always find the 'local' lyrical references particularly poignant. The first of the above quoted lyrics exemplifies the pride people feel in this region...their region; affinity with it really means something to people of the North East (despite what the otherwise lovely Kirstie Allsopp might have to say). It is a region that is truly in our hearts.
Punjabi Girl I found really quite touching as, despite being lovely, warm people, the folk of Middlesbrough are not a people I consider to be (obviously I generalise hugely) especially open-minded in their cultural beliefs. This song, therefore, evoked for me the sentiment of someone overcoming the preconceptions he had previously held...sadly, in the song, their families were not able to do this, but love still reigned :o) I seriously struggled not to cry on several occasions during the gig.
I laughed too. As I said previously, Vin is a very witty and likeable man. The one that made me laugh the most was:
"...my current cd. I'm one of very few artists to sell flavoured cds"
This obviously works best aloud due to the homonyms, but I'm sure you can imagine.
There was also a great cover of the song Teesbay by Bob Fortune, which evokes an image of a city on the sea, made up of boats and liners...a city that is always in flux, but always alive with sparkling lights.
He's an excellent live act and I will definitely go to see him again in the future (and hope that he sings my favourite song of his, If I Had A Son, which he didn't on this occasion). Perhaps, however, as a friend I bumped into observed, this was not the best venue for him. The Sage is absolutely stunning, but there just isn't that proper folk club sing-along atmosphere...it feels too formal.
Try to catch him and see what you think...I seriously doubt you'll come away unimpressed (or even without a cd in your hand - I never seem to! This time it was his latest Persona...Grata). And no excuses about where you live...this man has played everywhere!
One of my very favourite sub-scenes of music is the interweaving family tree that includes The Pixies, Throwing Muses, The Breeders and Belly. I could write endlessly about any of these bands, even about individual songs, so I am going to try to strictly limit myself to a very potted history and include a few example videos by each band, as well as a diagram that explains a great deal more (well, that's if you can read it...it's sharp as a pin on my computer, but the quality doesn't seem to be so great in Blogger). The diagram, too, could be endless, and there is much that is not incuded...but that should inform a healthy comments debate of additions eh?
Recording during the late 1980s and the 1990s, I believe that these artists, and in particular The Pixies, really added something new to the musical landscape; and they have certainly been very influential on other musicians.
I shall start with The Pixies, as they are probably the best known of the bunch, and are really the 'daddy' of this scene (although Throwing Muses were around before The Pixies formed). Headed by Charles Michael Kitridge Thompson IV (!) under the pseudonym Black Francis, they were formed in Boston in 1986. Their full-length debut, Surfer Rosa, recorded by Steve Albini, was released in 1988 (following the release of EP Come On Pilgrim), and was quietly successful, particularly in the UK (more so than in their native US), and won both Melody Maker and Sounds' Album Of The Year title. They supported fellow Bostonians Throwing Muses on tour early on in their career, which introduced them to industry professionals and the wider public.
I would describe their sound as alternative, guitar-based surf punk. Their albums displayed a wide range of song styles and The Pixies seemed to have a really novel, original and unique way of doing things. Strange sound collages crash against surreal imagery on subjects as diverse as UFOs, Mose Allison, incest and biblical references, and the albums are peppered by lyrics in Spanish as well as in English. These lyrics are often 'spacey' or violent, yet it is clear that their author is eloquent and articulate. Their use of volume and dynamics is also of note, with quiet, lazy, restrained sections contrasting with loud hell-for-leather, beat-the-crap-out-of-your-guitar choruses, and gutteral growlings interspersed with sweet, almost falsetto, tunefulness. They were of particular influence on the grunge music scene of the early 1990s (Nirvana claimed, in interview, to have been trying to emulate their sound with Smells Like Teen Spirit), and have been cited by many, including David Bowie, U2 and Radiohead, as one of their favourite bands.
Black Francis, now rechristened Frank Black, has since been prolific, both solo and with his band Frank Black And The Catholics.
And so, before we move on, here are a couple of interesting tidbits for you...
The song Debaser (from the album Doolittle - which was provisionally titled Whore) was inspired by the film Un Chien Andalou, by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali...anyone that has seen this film will remember the eyeball-slicing scene vividly! The song Ana (from Bossanova) is an acrostic - the first letters of each of its six lines spelling out S-U-R-F-E-R.
Divinyl's tip for best introductory album = Doolittle.
Video for Debaser (The Pixies):
Video of a live 1989 performance of Gigantic (The Pixies):
Throwing Muses were formed in 1983 by Kristin Hersh and her step-sister Tanya Donelly. They self-released a set of demos (The Doghouse Cassette) in 1984, also releasing a self-titled EP later that year. Their debut album proper (again eponymous) was released in 1986. Muses were the first American act to be signed to British record label 4AD, which has housed all of these key bands, as well as lots of other great artists. 4AD is also responsible for one of my favourite compilation albums, which came free with the magazine Uncut in 1998 and features Lush, His Name Is Alive, Dead Can Dance, Lisa Germano, Mojave 3, Red House Painters and others. (Check out their website for a fuller overview of their artists/releases.)
Hersh has an extremely distinctive vocal style and the lyrics are quirky, sung over tempo shifts and catchy guitar hooks. This is still somewhat anguished 'alternative rock' (e.g. lots of references to mental illness in their lyrics - Hersh suffers from bipolar disorder and is compelled to write by auditory hallucinations which 'force' songs upon her), but it is tuneful, poppy and accessible. Hersh continues to record solo today - a more acoustic sound and stunning songwriting - and also, in 2003, formed the power rock trio 50 Foot Wave. She has been kind enough to share free-to-download mp3s from her solo career, as well as songs from Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave at her website Throwing Music.
Divinyl's tip for best introductory album = Limbo.
Best introductory Kristin Hersh album = Hips And Makers (which was co-produced by Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye). Here is a sample song from that - the beautiful, touching and spectral Your Ghost (the harmonies are Michael Stipe of REM):
Kim Deal of The Pixies formed The Breeders (taking the name from the teenage band of she and twin sister Kelley, also in this incarnation - the word being one which homosexuals use to refer to heterosexual people) with Throwing Muses' (with whom they had been on tour) guitarist Tanya Donelly and bassist Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster. Formed in 1989 and releasing their first full album, Pod, in 1990, this was a much more girl-based sound, where angular guitar-playing and feedback are complemented by the melodic singing voices of both Deal and Donelly (don't get me wrong, these women can howl too!). They were signed to 4AD after Ivo Watts-Russell heard their demo, and their debut was recorded (again by Steve Albini, with whom Deal had worked when she was in The Pixies) in only one week. And so to a fact, before we leave The Breeders - with their album Title TK (2002), they heralded the "all wave" philosophy of recording analogue instruments and vocals and eschewing computer technology and digital recording techniques.
Divinyl's tip for best introductory album = Last Splash.
Video for Cannonball (The Breeders):
Video for Divine Hammer (The Breeders):
Whilst The Breeders are still going (or at least haven't officially split - the last album they released was Title TK), Tanya Donelly (the most 'capped' in this pantheon) left in 1991 to form...
Belly. Who were a much more chart- and MTV-friendly band who fit nicely into the division of early 90s indie rock that also included groups such as Lush, Echobelly and Dubstar. Belly are, in my opinion, under-appreciated. Their first EP, Slow Dust, was released in 1992 and reached number one on the British indie chart. There followed two albums - Star in 1993 and King in 1995. And that was it (but it was enough to garner Grammy nominations)...unless you count a (great) album mixing 'best of'/B-sides and rareties not released until 2002. Their sound was much more 'pop' than their sibling bands, at times dreamy, at times thrashy, the lyrics still replete with weird, haunting and surreal imagery. They had their biggest success with the single Feed The Tree.
Donelly continues to work as a solo artist and has made some lovely songs; however, in my opinion, her solo efforts have varied widely in quality - it's all a bit hit-and-miss. You can visit her website, where there are free downloadable demos from Belly's album Star and also from her solo catalogue.
Divinyl's tip for best introductory album - Star. And by Tanya Donelly as a solo artist - Whiskey Tango Ghosts.
In short, things have not been great for me lately, but today my day was brightened by receiving a couple of unexpected packages through my door. I opened them to find that some wonderful friends had sent me a chocolate brownie and some dolly mixtures to cheer me up a bit...and I felt very loved indeed!
The website that they were ordered from is lovely, straightforward and easy to use...it allows you to choose a gift card to go along with your purchase (all of which are very pretty and in very good taste) and add a short message to be typed into it.
I can say, from personal experience, that this is a lovely gift to receive and a sweet (pun intended) way to show someone you care.
Hop to it! P.s. I have already scoffed the brownie (whilst typing this in fact) and can affirm that it was delicious! ;o)
I am stoked to have found this! A site where you can listen to the whole album The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn by CocoRosie for FREE! Oh yay!
I have, and love, their two previous albums, La Maison de Mon Reveand Noah's Ark, but have not yet got around to purchasing their third. And it's a treat!
You can have a listen for yourselves here (mp3.com).
I have also managed to find a track from one of their earlier albums that you can download right here:
Download Free MP3 - CocoRosie, By Your Side (from La Maison de Mon Reve)
They are something of an acquired taste...a bit like Marmite, you will either love them or hate them! I fell immediately for their curious and intriguing sounds...something so original and so artistic. This is completely uncompromising, but astonishingly beautiful...layered, considered and personal.
To read more about them, visit their Wikipedia page. (Their own website is gorgeous looking, but takes forever and ever and ever to load!).
I found these on my travellings about the internet recently. I am most impressed! We have had many an amusing (we thought) conversation at work about making tea/coffee for others..."I'll have mine American Tan" etc. Now you can get it spot on!
You can buy these beauties at Suck UK, which also has the inspired mugs below...for when you've been unlucky on the hot beverages round and have an igloo's chance in hell of remembering everyone's order!
Witty and useful design...I like it. There are also many other pleasing items there for your perusal, so check the website out...off you go!
Jolie Holland holds the accolade of playing one of the best and one of the worst gigs I have ever been to.
Hailing from Houston, Texas, Ms Holland made her name with (and was a founding member of) The Be Good Tanyas, before releasing her first solo effort, Catalpa, in 2003. Catalpa was recorded in a home studio and was never intended for release. The sound quality is appalling, but the songs are beautiful and Holland's languid voice beguiling. The opening line, on the song Alley Flowers, is the wonderful "Some people say I got a psychadelic presence/Shining in the park with a bioluminescence".
2004 brought Escondida, a much more polished studio consignment, and one which brought her to the attention of the music press in a big way. Holland's strange, almost eerie intonation and phrasing were captivating, sounding like nothing that had been heard before, whilst somehow still managing to sound like old-time music from decades past. Her jazzy-bluesy voice (of, almost unbelievably, a woman then aged only 29) ambled its way through folk-tinged, country-styled numbers...this was rootsy, yet somehow fresh.
It was shortly after the release of Escondida that I first saw Holland playing live. The venue was the Live Theatre in Newcastle, a small and charming place for which I have always had something of a soft spot (and which, following a regeneration, has very recently reopened). She came on stage, in a rather odd and mismatched outfit, every bit the small town gal. She was as humble as she was mesmerising. The band was astoundingly good...these people were true musicians, and this included Holland, who turned her hand to guitar and ukelele (and, as I remember, fiddle too). Her natural talent was obvious and she seemed sweet and shy as she introduced each song in a drawl so thick you couldn't help but warm to her. I really felt, on this night, that I had been let in on some very special secret. I even got a hug from the woman herself at the end of the gig and came away feeling high and happy, like my soul had grown a little.
In addition to songs from the two albums she had released, she played us a new song that she had been working on, called Moonshiner, which we were later to hear on her 2006 album Springtime Can Kill You. For me, this release was somewhat disappointing; and from someone I had thought could do no wrong. The captivating voice was still there, and it still sounded pleasant, but the songs just did not engage me and etch themselves into my consciousness as those on the previous two albums. I would be hard pressed, even now, to hum any of them for you, or to name any beyond the title track and the aforementioned Moonshiner.
But when I found out Holland was going to be touring again I was keen to get in on the action, having enjoyed my evening so much previously. Gutted was I, then, to find that she wouldn't be coming to the UK. And ecstatic when I realised that she was to be playing in San Francisco during the time some friends and I were going to be there! As soon as they went on sale, I booked three tickets over the internet (how jet-setting am I booking tickets for a concert on another continent?!).
So, having seriously 'bigged her up' to my friends, who had never heard of her, we spent that day pootling up through Chinatown, past the Transamerica Pyramid, calling in at the infamous City Lights book store, before taking in Lombard Street and North Beach. Our destination was Bimbo's 365, where Ms Holland would be playing.
After waiting in line outside for eons we finally got in, only to find out that almost every seat in the house had been reserved in advance (which, as 'auslanders' we could not have known). We took some seats right near the back and decided to get a drink...which was extortionate, particularly if, as expected, you took advantage of the table service. The venue itself was capacious, yet somehow still quite dingy and, however many miles it was that we were from the stage, our vantage point was disappointing. But not to worry - she would be so excellent that it would be as if warm honey had been poured into my friends' virgin ears and this wouldn't matter a jot!
Sadly, I was mistaken.
She took to the stage looking somewhat bewildered and lackadaisical, demanding that someone bring her bag, which she had left backstage, to her. Then followed an entire evening's worth of dull meanderings, reworkings of every song so that they became tuneless, pointless and, frankly, boring. I was so disappointed...and embarrassed to have sung her praises so highly when this had been my friends' introduction to her music! We even considered getting out our pack of cards to keep us entertained, but general Britishness prevented this!
Every single song was completely immemorable and Ms Holland appeared to have picked up quite an attitude somewhere along the way. No longer the charming, unassuming woman sitting in front of us, this was someone who told a girl at the front of the audience to be quiet (fair enough) whilst she was on stage, addressing her as "Baby doll" (patronising, quite rude and not fair enough!). When the evening finally wound to a close my friends were so infused with ennui that they didn't even feel like going on elsewhere for a post-gig drink.
There is a lesson in here somewhere I am sure. Perhaps it is about not putting people on a pedestal, perhaps it is about taking each individual experience for what it is and not expecting to be able to recreate it. Perhaps it is simply that one should keep one's expectations low? Below are a couple of free-to-download MP3s I found on the internet (I am ever so proud of myself for understanding source code enough to post them on here!). They are worth a listen, despite the negative tone of the second half of the article itself. To me they sound quite bewitching, and only slightly sullied by my disappointment in the way Jolie Holland has gone! I would still thoroughly recommended the first two albums, particularly Escondida...definitely worth an investment.
As, it would seem from an advertisment during a recent evening's televisual viewing, are Sylvanian Families (which was something I desperately wanted as a child!).
This, apparently, is the Wildwood Family grandparents!
Bananarama were on This Morning the other day (without Siobhan, who was always the best one), and Facebook is heaving with '80s kids' tv' quizzes.
Next week I shall mostly be wearing a flourescent skirt over my cycling shorts...and moaning about Margaret Thatcher!
E-mail the author of this blog if you have questions, suggestions or requests...or with music you would like me to check out and (possibly) write about.
If I have hosted an mp3 that you would like me to take down, please let me know and I will do so immediately.
*Please do not hotlink my files - I have to pay for my hosting and bandwidth. By all means direct your readers to this site if there is a song that you would like them to hear, but embedding my mp3 links on your site is not cool. Thank you*
