drunken kitchen dance

you really can't beat dancing to belle and sebastian in yer kitchen at 1 in the morning while drunk and waiting for coffee to brew, can ye now?

loads of new music these past few days..

smallfish, the evil buggers, had far too many good releases in yesterday, on vinyl as well, to compound the insult! I couldnt leave empty handed with so many vinyl wares on offer. I only went in for one 7" - the latest Various Productions single. What did i come out with? The Rythmn and Sound 'See Mi Yah' 7" boxset, #3 of the Sleeparchive 12"s, the new Planet Mu 12" by Pinch, oh and what i went in for, the Various Productions 7".

What shall i say about them? They are all astounding - with quite a grime feel as well - definitelt the Pinch 12 is a dubstep or sublo or something similar, and the new Various Productions, especially side B with the vocals is very Grime-like. Rythmn and Sound are Rhythm and Sound, you know what you are getting, and you know its the shit. Sleeparchive - shit.. its like, i quote, early Richie Hawtin/Plastic man, minimal analog techno, hats, drums and snares with some samples and squelches - its impossible to describe well, like you describe the sounds, and you think, *yawn!*, but theres something about it that catches that naive innocent 90's feel. really damn good.

lots of other new stuff like new Wasteland album 'All Versus All', new B. Fleischman and Earth, but havent had a chance to have a thorough listen yet..

i dont go into much detail do i? well, f*ck it! too stoned, going to bed!!

weekender

Just back from seeing Fuck-off Machete play at Silver Rocket. pretty fucking ace set, i really enjoyed it. I caughttwo other bands beforehand - Silent Front and October All Over. Silent Front were just too screamo for my liking, nary a melody in site, just by the numbers straightfaced noiserock. October All Over were a bit more varied and at times sounding like a nice noised up Superchunk, but overall still not delivering. But yeah, Machete played a good set, very confident and enjoying themselves onstage. Paul has really got a lot more confident in his stage presence and playing, while Natasha and Cal just do their stuff amazingly well. Check out a track at : http://www.highpointlowlife.com/downloads/fuckoffmachete_copperandleadfight.mp3.

too much new music of late as well, especially the past few days. Yesterday i had a melody stuck in my head, seriously took me like 5 hours to work out what it was ... boopidoo doo doo - boopidoo doo doo - then by some weird jungian connection linking i worked it back to being Dr. Dre's Xxplosive. I ended up downloading it from the itunes store, my first legal mp3 purchase. I got the bug and joined emusic for the 25 free download trial period. Damn, i got hooked, upgraded my account today and already i'm out of credit for the month. I downloaded..

Beat Happening - Jamboree
Oval - 94 Diskont
Beulah - Handsome Western States
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Lusine - Serial Hodgepodge

all of them are so good in their own way, its excellent. Oval and Beat Happening i've both previously owned, the Beulah album is the only one of theirs i didnt have, and the Lusine and Madvillain are both new to me. Ah, the Dre track has just come on my itunes, and i gotta go shake my ass before hitting the sack, westcoast shit, nigga, dont tease bitch, guatamala, bitch nigga, more of a bitch than a bitch, punk bitch, all the true gangstas know etc....

hausmusic

Still aching after the fact, but the deed is done, i'm moved into my new pad, all my furniture is build up and my music desk, speakers and mixer are nicely laid out. My adsl and wireless is all connected up. Woo! wireless - new thing for me, just got my Airport Express card last week before moving in, so i was all ready. I got the adsl from Wanadoo, so the router they give you is also a wireless base station plus VoIP device which you can just plug a regular touch-tone phone into and use. Actually, kudos to Wanadoo, the whole setup was pretty painless and straightforward, apart from requiring the use of a Windows PC for the initial setup, but that was fine as one of my new housemates has a PC we used.
I still found time to go out on friday night to the De-sonis Kranky Records special. Me, Mat and Keung all went down, and had an amazing time. Great performances by Rameses III, Boduf Songs, and then headlining was Greg Kowalsky, whose recent 'Through The Cardial Window' album i have been really enjoying. I would like to write more about it, but i'm knackered and hitting the sack. Anyhoo, check the De-sonis site at http://www.no-signal.net/desonis/

I have also found myself returning quite continually to the Nathan Fake album "Drowning In A Sea Of Love" after initially being quite dissapointed in it. I still dont love it, at least consciously, but it must have something, cos i keep craving to listen to it. Maybe he used MSG.

ouch!

wow, that had to be the most painful gig i have ever played, that was really really bad!
it must have been a pretty bad gig just to attend also. ooh, where should i start. Ah, i shall report on the friday evening first..

Fonal record showcase at St Giles Church - wow, my friend Eric does put on exceedingly good shows. I guess Fonal fall under the 'freak folk' banner. Three artists - Es, Islaja, Kiila, and an audience of 300 silent reverent gig-goers. We got balcony seats which was great. Opening with Kiila, a band of around 5 or 6 people, lovely meandering sounds, i sat back on my pue and lost myself in my latest Murakami book 'Hard-boiled Waonderland and The End Of The World'. splendid atmosphere. Second band, Islaja, were to my mind the most captivating, the girls voice was soo so beautiful. Lastly was Es, which i wasnt so into, it was still rather lovely but a bit too traditional sounding for me.

After that, me, Simon and Keung went along to do our Smallpieces show on Resonance Fm which went really well, and then up early today to rehearse our Fisk Industries set for this evening - getting back to the point of this post - yeah..

you ever read From Hell by Alan Moore? Theres a church in it which plays quite a high profile role, Christchurch Spitalfields, supposedly one of five points of a pentagram made up of Masonic churches, and plays some part in the Jack The Ripper drama. Well, thats where our gig was tonite, in the crypt. So much potential, it was such an excellent venue, but alas, there were like 20 people in the audience, and in fact that estimate is overly optimistic; it was basically an audience of the bands, and as they each finished, most left to go home leaving a dimished audience for each consecutive act. No monitors, no soundcheck, no audience, and well, dunno if you could or should blame it on that, but for all our rehearsals which have been going really well, me and mat played a shit gig, it all felt out of sync and not timed correctly. Argh, it was cringeworthy, so perhaps it was fortunate there werent any people there! Eddie/Bovaflux still managed to pull off an excellent set as did a few of the other performers, but overall, it was a really wasted opportunity, the venue and location could have made it a great night, but i'm pretty sure most people went home a little dissapointed.

caught the sunlight

ah, i know i'm being overly optimistic, but spring is almost here. what a feeling with that sunshine on my face, music in my ears, spring in my step, sitting frontseat atop a number 243 red double-decker!
When i was moving to london a few years ago, i wasnt super excited about it, but i remember reading a discussion about people visiting london on a mailing list i was on, and one guy was saying how his favorite part about london was sitting upstairs on the front seat of a doubledecker, feet up, looking out the large windows all around. I totally agree with whoever said that, definitely one of the highlights.
This morning the sun was streaming through the windows and the heat on my face felt so warm and lovely and the music in my ears (The Lucksmitsh - A Little Distraction) was the perfect accompaniment, and zooming through traffic, the way london bus drivers do, the upstairs sways a lot, which with a little imagination, you can imagine yourself on a sea-vessel, sailing the streets of London.

Hmm, sea-vessel, reminds me of my favorite ever journey to work..

While I was living over in San Francisco, i had a job at one point in Sausalito, which is just north of San Francisco, with the quickest way between the two being a ferry from the piers. I was only in the job six months, from spring through autumn, so the weather was always excellent. I'd cycle the 10 minute ride to the ferry stop, just enough excercise to wake up, pick up a coffee and a bagel en route. The ferry wasnt a particularily well funded one, the facilities and staff reminded me a little of British Rail before it was privatised. The ferry ride was 30 minutes, passing out in the bay past alcatraz, usually starting out in fog around san francisco, which would gradually lift as you got closer to sausalito, quite often with dolphins visable in the water around you. I'd stand up on deck, enjoying the feel of the spray against my face, drinking in the beautiful sunlight and the sway of the vessel. Evenings coming home could be even better, a glass of wine or beer in hand from the onboard bar, sun setting on the horizon, cutie tourist girls. ah, good times!

changes, chi-chi-chi-changes..

I'm feeling quite fedup these days, due to one thing or another, but lots of changes on the horizon, so just trying to hang in there for them..

Been offered (and accepted) a new job over at Last.fm which i'm exceptionally stoked about. I should be starting in about a months time.

Moving out from this current house which is a mixed feeling. I need to move on from here, as its slowly killing me, tho i sorta wish it wasnt so. Sometimes you dont got a choice. Excited about the new place i'm going to, which is actually my old house, from before i moved in here. Excellent big house with lovely garden and perfect for the summertime.

Got a gig coming up this saturday also, playing as part of Fisk Industries, at Bleepfest

Music and bookwise are sorta related for a change: just read my first Haruki Murakami book, and for some reason i chose Norwegian Wood. It was absolutely stunning i thought, and when i asked Mike from Smallfish where i should go from there (as he is a Murakami fan and had previously told me how good he was), he asked if i was reading that because of RF's 'Views Of Distant Towns' which he said was based on Norwegian Wood. I wanted to find out a bit more about the inspiration and after some googling i found a site that verified the inspiration, however on looking in the CD liner notes, it says the CD is based on another Murakami book 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle', which i havent read yet. Looking at the track titles they could almost be based on Norwegian Wood anyhow! ( More info here ) Other google searches turned up lots of info about Norwegian Wood which left me wanting to read more. Evidently Norwegian Wood was the writers first take on a more normal romantic novel, a heartachingly tragic romance, but none-the-less absolutely beautiful. But yeah, from what i read, Norwegian Wood was the most straight out of anything he had written and the rest of his material is quite far out there. Well i finished Norwegian Wood on friday morning (bought on monday afternoon), and immediately went back to the bookstore for another one. 'Kafka On The Shore' stood out, probably as it was the next largest novel - i like to get my moneys worth! - and I'm about 175 pages in so far.. Even more absolute genius!! Strange mass hypnosis, people who can converse with cats, 15 year old runaways livings in libraries, its all amazing so far! Highly recommended.

it's all gone shoegaze, innit?

right, disclaimers first - i is drunk, and rather than make some phonecall or txt that i will regret in the morning, i will just slur about music on here.

I'm jus home from the Fortdax instore at Smallfish. Pretty good, i'm not convinced of his stuff, but it was pretty good, especially the last two tracks. I bought the most recent two track xmas single on Static Caravan and wasnt too impressed by that, and thats kind of how the set started out tonight. The beats are what get me, just too pre-set, so it doesnt stand out as an electronic record; the melody however isnt super strong either and seems so simply structured, that it doesnt carry it. Towards the end of the set it started to feel a lot more organic and the melodies didnt feel so staid, and by the end of the set the last track was ace. Also, once his set was finished, and most people were just milling around, he went back on played some more, just messing around, and that actually sounded really good also, so it may have been nerves earlier also. Either way, still holds my curiosity and i would go see again.

Musical purchases..
that damn smallfish, taking all money all the time, and all i get are these shitty amazing records that i couldn't live without. *more shaking of fist!*

RF - Interno ( Osc )
RF - Views Of Distant Towns ( Plop )
Very very lovely indie-electronics. Inferno being an older album has a slightly more naive sound, well at least to modern ears first hearing it, but thinking about it, must have been quite ahead of its time. 'Views Of Distant Towns' fits almost more in the shoegazy electronic camp, and way more pop than all the other (amazing) Plop releases to date.

Belong - October Language ( Carpark )
Damn, why i didnt i release this record?? its amazing!!! This is way more gritty shoegaze sounding, lots of static in a wave of reverb and delay, with such beautiful little melodies surfing atop the noise, joyously ecstatic in their own beauty, sticking a tongue out to My Bloody Valentine and Bowery Electric. aye, most excellent.

Achrid - Achrid. (Benbecula)
Congrats to Benbecula and Michael for getting together and releasing something a little bit more special than your usual. This Minerals series of CDR pressing limited runs have been amazing. The 10 in the box set make for great exploration, and this most recent one fits so well with the benbecula sound, an organic blend of experimental electronics hanging out with his acoustic folk buddies on acid. wonderful, wonderful.

Nautilus - the new 3" one on Cactus Island.
Bugger doesnt fit into my powerbook so i cant play it while typing, but as i recall, its some excellent cut-up crazy hip-hop influenced electronics. Another CDR run, in some fine packaging.

Dub Tractor - Hideout ( City Centre Offices )
one of my favorite labels, and an absolutely top release, another one i wish i was releasing!! Really sounding a whole lot more dub than i recall the previous records, but still in the indie-electronic pop vein, and really infectious pop at that.

Oh yeah, also i did a new mp3 mix of new stuff we're releasing and listening to, at:
http://highpointlowlife.com/downloads/hpll_almostapodcast5.mp3
or html link at:
http://highpointlowlife.com/podcast.html

Tracklisting is:
Mandelbrot Set - Seismic Waves
Matthew Rozeik - Aerial Attack On Insect Hive
Tigrics - Premiere My Marmite Sound
Mole Harness - A Pattern Just Out Of Reach
Miwon - When Angels Travel
randomNumber - Thoughts So Loud You Can Hear Them
Belong - October Language
Mark Clifford / Simon Kealoha - february 02_02_1
Tuned To A Dead Channel - i tried for something better
Mokira - This Total Age
RF - Down
Sebastian Roux - The Guitar And Drum Song

total time: 51:42 mins

aii-ght, i is done. time to roll another!