crash

man, what a stressful few days.

my dayjob has been harsh - as a Unix admin, i've been dealing with loads of weird problematic systems lately, but then to top it off, when i got home last night, the system which runs my email and webserver had crashed. The website is for my record label, and with that down, wow, it just feels like the record label has stopped, and my whole life is on hold.

Its weird how ingrained the internet is to things now, the internet has helped independent music so much, in terms of communicating with people, letting them hear stuff, just disseminating information and sound, but more than just augmenting the traditional structure, there are whole online structures built to replace traditional norms - netlabels, message boards, mailing lists, podcasts, digital singles..
it goes on.

i'm just stressed tho, waiting on the site coming back online. In case you're technie - its a Sun Ultra-5 running OpenBSD, and its stuck trying to boot from the net, instead of disk, and even tho we had a console attached via another machine, i was having trouble sending a break to it, as the tip/cu break sequence "~#" is also interpreted by ssh as a command sequence, to list connections. Anyhoo, while trying to send a break to the crashed machine, i actually send it to the bastion host i was logged into, and so now, both machines are sitting at at an ok prompt, and we're waiting for someone to get a chance to go in and physically get to the console.
Argh.

lazy-bone hibernator

Maybe I should turn this into a blog of shows that i never went to. d'oh.

Friday night, i probably had enough excuse for not going to see Hospitals and Hands on Heads - After work i met Mat for a beer at the Foundry, to pick up a midi keyboard from him, for Like A Stuntman to use next week. Wasnt out too long, back home for about 8:30pm. Hospitals show was just up the road, but i would have had to leave quite early as well, as i had the Resonance FM show to do at midnight. Anyhoo, yeah, called up Keung, who came over, we chilled for an hour and then headed down to the Resonance studios. Show went well, we played..

Mokira - Left
Marshall Watson - Invariant
Tape - Sunrefrain
Slowdive - Miranda
The Clientelle - Missing
Fenton - One Upon A Forest
Aen - Film
Cocteau Twins - Feet-Like Fins (mark clifford mixes)
Hulk - Photographs
Rachels - My Snow Globe
Knievel - Evol
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 Shoreline

Last night, saturday, i could have went to see Khanate, but for other reasons, i just stayed home, listening to new musics, and reading..

I had dropped into Smallfish after work on friday before meeting Mat, and was lured into new music by Mike and Jeremy. Some absolute gems..

Mokira - FFT POP. Andreas Tilliander's new project, 40 minutes of beautifully crafted glitch-pop, liquid melodies, ethereal sound, and warm minimalism. Fennesz is an obvious reference point, and this is almost as crossover accessible as Fennesz' Endless Summer i would say. super good stuff.

Tape - Rideau. Stunning album this one, absolutely grand and breathtaking stuff. Based round simple guitar melodies, and minimal electronics, in the same vein as say The Boats, Hulk, Manyfingers - that really organic blend of acoustic and digital.

The Clientelle - The Violet Hour. I had a few mp3s of theres, from compilations, or from their own website, but the mp3s were pretty low bitrate and had never stood out to my ears, so i wasnt absolutely convinced about getting this one, but had a quick listen in the store, which convinced me enough to take it. Really glad i did, it takes a few listens to hit home, but its all wonderfully dreamy and old sounding, soft fading photographs of bygone days, all 60's production, tightly compressed and swirly vocals.

A few good shows this week, thursday night, Eric starts his new monthly event, De Sonis, with Leafcutter John presenting material from his recently completed new album (still unreleased, just finished the music). www.no-signal.net/desonis

That same night, Like A Stuntman arrive, to play a show on friday night upstairs at The Garage, for Silver Rocket, alongside Blood Red Shows and Rainer Maria.
Then saturday night, The Marcia Blaine School For Girls are down to DJ at the next Werk, which i think should be ace...

ambient shoegaze mix for a winters morning..

Mixed in a warm cosy house, prepared for cold winter mornings at the railway station..

tracklisting..

Fenton - Once Upon A Forest
The Village Orchestra - Lame Bytes
Aen - Film
Bowery Electric - Under The Sun
Weschel Garland - Falter
Cocteau Twins - Feet-Like Fins (Mark Clifford mix)
Joshua Torres - RE/Ann
Sawako - Incense Of Voice
Slowdive - Miranda
Hulk - Photographs
Marshall Watson - Continued Fraction
Windy And Carl - Sketch For Flea

Download here

moonlighting..

i've joined in a group blog over at Diskant.net, a site i've been an admirer of for a good few years, since moving back to the UK, so i'm very pleased! The diskant website, and the chemikal underground mailing list over at yahoo, have been my two fav and most informative sources for hearing about good new british music, way more relevant than all the music media rags.

wednesday adventures

Bit of an adventure last night..

It started off with all us London Electrics people meeting up at Smallfish records, to do a photoshoot for Plan B magazine. We got a few shots taken in the shop, then we headed round to the Expanding Studios round the corner to finish the shoot. It was quite weird and funny, i think we were all quite tickled to be getting our picture taken, and it felt a lot like getting your picture taken at School! Anyways, Sarah and Simon who were doing the shoot were really nice, and it all went well.

We went for a drink afterwards across the street, but then me and Mat headed off down to Whitechapel to the Rhythm Factory for an event called Digital Vs. Analog, which had Die Munch Machine (our new favorite band!), Frog Pocket, and Sluts Of Trust.
Was quite empty when we arrived but quickly filled up. I've never been in that venue before and was quite into it, decent size, decent sound and good stage.
Half past nine, Frog Pocket started.. At first me and Mat were both blown away, the first half of his set was so good, from quite intricate and interesting beats, he was layering droney violin over the top, and using half filled beer bottles to blow into, and getting some amazing textures. But then, fsck knows what happened, but he went all a bit Nigel Kennedy mixed with Planet Mu-esque gabba breakcore pish! It was fscking awful! (although other people didnt seem to mind too much).

Die Munch Machine, the reason me and Mat had gone down, were, once again (as i saw them on Sunday at the VF Loud Alldayer), absolutely blindingly great! The pent up energy and sheer Kraut style driving drums battering through the squalls of the Farfisa, melodies and noise just completely mashed together. stunning!!

Headlining were Sluts Of Trust, who opened with "Leave You Wanting More" which is a great track and which they pulled off with great elan, but the second song quickly dissolved into a well rehearsed, but terrible song, which just seemed all over the place, from noise to pale Franz Ferdinand imitation. We hung out for a few more songs, but they didnt get much better. A bit dissapointing, as both of us were quite into them when we'd seen them before..

on another note, when i was in smallfish, Jeremy turned me onto a new Cocteau Twins four disc box set, just out on 4AD containing everything they have ever released, rare singles, eps, and also they're post-4AD output. I havent had time to listen to it yet, but very excited to, and as you'd expect from Vaughn Oliver, beautiful fold out digipack made from tactile, almost rubbery material. Super good!

dedications to flea

I was mooching around the house on saturday afternoon, cold outside, but lovely sunlight coming through the windows. I had already wasted a few hours on emails, working in Ableton Live, recording some guitar on the mini-disk, read some of my book, smoked far too much, and still had a few hours to kill before Lisa called to meet me downtown.

I noticed the new Windy And Carl double album sitting over in my wife's area, she always has a lot of promos from Southern. I had just read a really nice review of it over at Textura.org. The new album is called The Dream House, however what had caught my attention in the review, was the fact that an earlier piece from June of this year, a limited run of 500 copies which had sold out, had been repressed and was also packaged in with this new Dream House album. This earlier CD was a tribute to a dog of theirs that had died recently, and was called Dedications To Flea. Together, both albums are simply beautifully crafted hazy drones, gently evolving in a slow hypnotic and organic way.

I put on Dedications To Flea, cranked the volume up to a room filling volume, not too loud, but loud enough to easily hear details and get lost in it. I lay back on the couch, a fresh *cough* cigarette in hand, and let myself drift, feeling the sun on my face, listening to the winding guitars and sustained feedback slowly filter through the field recordings of Flea being taken for a walk, panting back and forth, claws clicking on the sidewalk, the melodic patterns and sound of wind on the microphone slowly carrying me away to that place halfway between consciousness and dreams.

I love those hours when you can drift off like that, lost in music. A highly recommended double album.

More info at: http://www.brainwashed.com/wc/

shoegazer

Thursday i was down to meet Mat around Old Street for a beer. In smallfish first, Jeremy who always has the ace shoegaze and indie recommendations turned me onto three new re-issues..

All Natural Lemon And Lime Flavors - 'Turning Into Small' and 'Straight Blue Line' and The Orchids - 'Striving For The Lazy Perfection' originally released on Sarah Records.

Both All Natural Lemon And Lime Flavors records are amazing, complete My Bloody Valentine rip-offs, but done soooo well, they're just perfect; Big shimmering hazes of sound, ethereal vocals floating atop, layer upon layer of dense guitar enveloping you in a warm glow akin to Readybrek. I kid you not, standing at the cold railway station at 8 in the morning, with these albums on the ipod, you'd be content to stand there for hours, no matter how late the train, no matter how annoying the digitized female announcer telling you how late your train is, or how bad the weather gets!

Theres a track for download at:
http://www.southern.com/southern/band/LIME0/sounds/in_between_and_after.mp2

I had bought the other Orchids reissue a few months back, 'Lyceum And Single', which i actually wasn't too into, it was just a bit too soft for my own liking. However, Jeremy recommend that i still pick up this 'Striving For The Lazy Perfection', which i think he said was their last album, and he described as the band having moved on from a second rate Felt imitation band, to a more developed almost New Order-ish sound, which still didnt make me too excited, but Jeremy's never given me a bad recommendation yet, so i went for it. I haven't heard too much, as i've been lost in both these All Natural Lemon And Lime Flavors records, but have made it through a few times, and I'm really enjoying it, especially the title track which sounds sorta early ninties cheesy jangly indie ala Soup Dragons or Primal Scream, and the stand-out track that Jeremy pointed me too, called 'Thaumaturgy'.

Can't find any online downloads for The Orchids, but theres a good fan site over at: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/the.orchids.unofficially/

pseudo random seeding operation

Matt/randomNumber was down in London again last night, kicking off his mini-tour with Quip and Hands and Fingers.

Playing the early slot at Multivitamins could have went really badly, or at least quietly, but it actually turned out ok, with a decent sized crowd of between 20 and 30 who had made the effort to come out early.

The sets were all really good, starting with Quip playing some absolutely gorgeous soft electronica, randomNumber kicking it up a notch with some psycho drum programming and hyperactive melodies, and Hands And Fingers doing sorta acoustic strumming and a sorta funked out electronica - funked out in a good way i hasten to add.

We left Multivitamins reasonably early and back up to my house, as they were all crashing over. Grabbed some beers and puffed away till the small hours, which was ace.

Dates for the rest of the shows are posted up http://highpointlowlife.com
and you should check out some mp3s by the above artists at..
http://www.quipmusic.co.uk/
http://www.handsandfingers.info/

I need to get some randomNumber mp3s up on the website as well.

partyliner

Two really good shows the past few evenings...

Jenny Hoyston from Erase Errata has a solo project called Paradise Island. Shes over in Europe at the moment as she was playing at Ladyfest Madrid last week, and now starts on a UK tour.

She was playing two London shows, both at the Underbelly.

Sunday night was the first show, when she was headlining for Club Motherfucker. Two opening support acts were kinda lame i thought, tho not terrible, just not my thing. However when Jenny took to the stage, she was just incredible! The Paradise Island material i had heard before was quite lo-fi electronic experimentalism, basic drum machine and some strange vocals. In Erase Errata, with their crazed angular noise, Jenny's vocals were screams and whelps, and amazing for it..

So, when Jenny broke out into the most beautiful voice, and gorgeous guitar strumming, it was a total surprise, and a million miles from what i was expecting - mournful alt-country ballads and plaintive americana - wow, i thought it was genius! There were still a lot of good twisted electronic experimentalism, but i seriously thought the almost accessible interludes just added so much.

Last night monday, was another Upset The Rhythm show, with Jenny again, SPider And The Webs, and headlining were Partyline.

Spider and The Webs had a few good songs, a few bad ones, a few that sounded like The Pooh Sticks, and a few that sounded like The Rogers Sisters. If they had stuck to sounding like The Pooh Sticks, i woulda loved them!





Partyline.. uh, thats it, that was the most perfect power-pop-punk fun live set, possibly that i have seen this year! Three girls from Washington, DC, clad in thick rimmed glasses, over-the-top clothing, pom-poms, can-can kicks and power-riffage - fscking aceness!!

totally knackered today tho. Watched the last episode of Six Feet Under when i got home late last night, then was woken up by my cat, Velcro, wanting fed at 7am this morning. grrr!

Tonight Matt/randomNumber is playing again, starting off his tour with Quip and Hands And Fingers. Not too sure about how good the venue/club/organisation will be, but I'm sure we'll have a fun night! Oh, and Sarandon are playing at the Buffalo Bar too, so i might try and take Matt and friends along there when their set is finished.

foundry iron

I was out at the Foundry last night, for the last Rehab night there - Due to the new licensing laws the Foundry wont be having any live music or DJs from the 24th of this month, which really sucks.

The Foundry has to be one of the greatest venues in the world, due to its completely open attitude towards music, art, and performance. The venue itself is an old bank, and has a lower basement which was where the vaults were, huge thick and oppresive dark rooms which are perfect for the installations they hold theree. Anyone can, or could before these licensing changes, hold an exhibition or put on a music night. They have a large sign as you walk in, a mission statement of sorts, headed 'I Could Fucking Do Better Than That' which tells you if you want to do something just speak to the bar staff and they'll give you whichever date is open in the diary. They dont have to see it or hear it, its just a completely open policy. That could in theory be a really bad idea, but the crowd that the Foundry brings in are so crazed and eccentric, that it almost always turns out to be something really interesting and worthwhile.

Anyhoo, the installation at the moment is genius, its the bestest, most immersive sound installation i have ever felt. Its called National Grid, and consists of two of these lower vaults in complete darkness, with a set of massive subwoofers amplifying electrical currents from different sources. Its just this loud booming bass, very rhythmic and pulsating. To go into one of the rooms and just sit down in the darkness allowing your eyes to adjust or in fact just closing them, just feeling this massive energy surge in your chest, its a completely physical sensation of raw force. Hmm, wish i was back there now!

The Rehab night itself was really good as well, with some excellent music being spun, lots of Modeselektor dropped in the mix. randomNumber played a live set with loads of tracks from the upcoming album getting aired to really good response. The Foundry, being a bar, always has a high volume of people chatting during shows, yet randomNumber's expertly crafted beats and melodies easily penetrated the noise and caught peoples attention. Ace set!

Afterwards i headed up to the Wrong Music/Adaadat/ Little Big event at Electrowerk, but i was lame, and faded pretty early, slinking off quietly about 2am with a bad dose of hiccups which were annoying the hell out of me.

Saturday afternoons...

Really good Village Orchestra review over at The Milk Factory ..
http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/reviews/tvo_arcadia.htm