Musings on the byways of popular culture
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@kid-dynamite is starting to post up tracklistings for the sets where all reviews have been posted. Top set have already finished their work. So this is a non-too gentle reminder for those of you/us still scribbling away furiously to: Post your reviews of fellow setters efforts Post your tracklistings to @kid-dynamite
22 April will be the final, final deadline when tracklistings for all will start to be posted so get going!
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Simple post-it thread. Songs with lots of lyrics, lots of verses. Occasioned by the 14-minute Gillian Welch epic I dream a Highway which has 11 verses (plus of course lots of choruses) over its 14 minutes. Another very famous multi- verser in the comments (19 verses probably, in this version). Line and verse counts welcome. And if you’ve not heard this you’re in for a treat.
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moseleymoles on In which Mr Moles muses on his life through objects
Recent changes chez Moles have thrown more focus onto the shelves, racks and piles of stuff that we – chiefly I – have filled our des res with over the years. The re-organisation of the Front Room has led Ms Moles to make what she would like to think is a ‘full and final settlement’ of the space allocated for CDs/vinyl/books/comics/DVDs. That settlement in full:
The DVDs not to exceed their allocated shelving. Roughly 650 DVDs worth.
The fiction shelving not to exceed their allocated shelving. Approximately 800-900 including overflow onto the floor below and behind the sofa.
Non-fiction and vinyl not to exceed their allocated shelving. Vinyl is one area Ms Moles does chip in with approx. a third of the total. And no, we may have been together 30 odd years and produced two offspring but those collections remain unmerged.
New shelving to be provided in the front room as part of its redecoration for the CDs – I would reckon between 1500-2000 (maybe 300 Ms Moles). And for the comics – around 2500 (er…all mine, 90% 2000AD).
Though I instinctively bridle, I know that » Continue Reading.
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New album in the works and gigs in Cardiff, Plymouth, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, London, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin. 02 holders can do the presale, everyone else its 10am tomorrow. See you at the Brum gig.
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Short UK tour in Nov in (for them) pretty intimate venues. Am going to Academy Birmingham on Mon 11 Nov. Dates in Manchester, Edinburgh and London.
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It’s time for the reviews no? We’ve reached the point in the CD swap where it’s time to spill the beans to your group on the music you’re received, for the amusement and edification of us all. This is a gentle hurry-up to those still unposted, while those wondering if track 6 on a received CD is the White Stripes or Great Whit,e then give it another spin and get writing. Each group gets their handles in a comment, so post all reviews and sub-comments under that comment. Should be clear.
Post reviews here and not the original swap post, as that already has 100 comments and review posts have in the past gone well past that. We’ll remind everyone with a deadline before the track reveals so post your track listings and any liner notes to @kid-dynamite and myself. Let the reviewening begin!
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Discogs if nothing else has meant that I can give up vinyl that scores ‘149 from sale from 0.50p’ to Oxfam with a clear conscience that they’re not getting say the value of a first pressing of Surrealistic Pillow. Now if only there was such a site for comics, as the space squeeze chez Moles (more later) means that I am trying to slim down the comic collection. It’s clear that my Sandman no 1 is worth a lot, Hellblazer no 1 quite a bit. But is Cheval Noir nos 1-4 (no 1 currently listed on sale on ebay for £21) worth that or in fact 50p. I have no Golden Age or Silver Age superhero stuff but mainly indie/Vertigo style titles from the 80s. Any suggestions as to how I can get the stuff valued including with a dealer I’m happy to sell too. Can’t see anyone in Brum in terms of shops you could like walk into and ask them for an opinion.
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What does it sound like?:
Ten weeks in and the first essential album of 2019 has arrived, I would contend. UK rap has in Dave a bona fide superstar, and Psychodrama is a staggeringly complete achievement. Like all the best rap, it feels like a communication from the last ten minutes. Psychodrama covers growing up in S London (Streatham), love (Purple Hearts), London (screwface capital) and two tracks that will stop you in your tracks. Black, the subject of some controversy before release, is a witty and impassioned critique of what being black means: prejudice, heritage, pride, confusion, .. then comes and a ten-minute story of an abusive relationship (Lesley) that recalls nothing so much as the shattering Boiler from the Special AKA.
The music scape is a world away from the clattering beats and jittery rhythms of grime. The music is sparse, downbeat and introspective. Piano is the most prominent instrument, and if you can think of the gauzy moodiness of Burial, crossed with the pop sensibilities and drops of The Weeknd you’re halfway there. Without any of The Weeknd’s appalling misogyny. It’s a compelling listen from start to finish.
What does it all *mean*?
It doesn’t sound » Continue Reading.
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Year: 2046 Director: Hans Petter Moland
Every family has a film thing yes? Some shared collection of actors, genres and in-jokes that bind you all together in front of the screen out of all proportion to the quality of the actual films involved. I’m not talking Bergman or Roma, but an unaccountable affinity for the Police Academies, Eddie Murphy films, all the Die Hards or in our case perplexingly the Liam Limp Revengers. The Commuter, Non-Stop,Taken 1 and 2 (even younger moles will agree 3 is unwatchable), Unknown (slightly out of genre), Run All Night. These by no stretch of the imagination are good movies. But they bind the two siblings together and I’m happy to ride along, Ms Moles slightly less so and in fact they form a sub-category of ‘When she’s away’ watches along with Battlestar Galactica, the Die Hards etc.
So we all trooped along to the multiplex to watch the latest entrant, Hard Powder, sorry Cold Pursuit, sorry the Film that Liam was Meant To Be Talking About when he went Wierdly Racist on Us. Perhaps the furore has overshadowed this, as we saw it in the company of about 20 people in a cinema » Continue Reading.
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Venue:
The Institute, Birmingham
Date: 27/02/2019
And so to the Institute in Birmingham to see Long Island’s finest, in the company of Daughter Moles and a friend of hers, BOC being friend’s second ever gig. Appearing at the Institute. Birmingham’s approximately fourth biggest venue marks a little bit of how the Cult’s appeal has become more selective. Let’s dispose of the support, Temperance Movement, who are the exact centre of a triangle featuring Free, AC/DC and Bad Company. The singer fulfils the rule that if the singer plays no instrument in a band they are always the most annoying member.
Dead on 9pm the Cult are on to the sounds of the Game of Thrones theme. Time has wrought its ravages on founder due Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma in subtly different ways. Eric appears freeze dried. There’s not a lot of movement or facial expression going on from Eric, a an vibe enhanced by the permanent shades. Buck however has comfortably spread, appearing now a bit like a seventies Elvis if he worked in IT. They’re flanked by rock-steady bassist Danny and newbies Jules on drums and Richie on guitar. Oh Richie. Eric and Buck don’t move around » Continue Reading.
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Dull-as-ditchwater but usually on the money consumer periodical Which has branched out from fridge-freezers and broadband providers to consider the vinly revival. It, perhaps unsurprisingly sits on the fence when it comes to vinyl vs CD vis mp3, as rather sagely it offers this view:
Music has never been just about the sound itself. Music is about a sense of occasion. It involves rituals such as moseying around record shops or pulling a vinyl record out of its sleeve and setting it to play. Careful handling and respect is required – which appeals to purists – and that;s one reason many choose manual turntables. The very inconvenience of adjusting turntables means you tend to listen to and absorb an entire album…and when it comes to digital formats you can lose the enjoyment of admiring a cover or looking fondly at your carefully curated collection.
Amen, brother, amen.
Best buys and ones to avoid in the comments.
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What’s your image of right-wing politics in music? EC being a tool, Oi and skinheads, country and western rednecks, Bowie doing that interview and gesture, New Order/Joy Division and the uneasy imagery of industrial music. The Quietus has a fairly jaw-dropping set of articles on the continuing and evolving influence of far-right and fascist politics in ‘alternative’ music. The one in this post is the introductory article, which surveys most of the above and sets the scene for the real eye-openers which occur in the second article, posted in the comments. They are not easy, and at the end you’ll know who the Order of Nine Angles are, which is actually a thing rather than a Dennis Wheatley invention. I will be fascinated to hear what you make of it all. I would maybe not click the links at work, as the politics is NSFW.
https://thequietus.com/articles/25682-fascism-underground-music-racism-industrial-black-metal-noise
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Friday saw the re-emergence of pepperoni pizza and scrambled egg chez Moles after all four of us managed 31 days of veganism. We have all got very acquainted with Naked bars, W Indian Veg Patties and the suchlike. The revelation was how quickly you can adjust to the 1000 forms of Alpro instead of milk in tea and coffee etc. The Oat is the best all-rounder, the almond good in porridge and they all make the base soya seem a bit gruel-like. Though we all like a little cheese, and eggs, I think I’m going to stick with trying to reduce milk consumption, as so much of it is unthinking and automatic, in tea, coffee, porridge etc. How was your January effort at reform then?
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Listening to Love and Money’s excellent ….All You Need is Love and Money debut album yesterday, alongside better-known tracks Candybar Express and River of People is Love and Money. By Love and Money. On …all you need is Love and Money. Going the extra mile on the eponymiser. So, who else liked their name so much they put it on an album, and a track on that album. If only the Beatles had a track called The Beatles. Instrumentals allowed, though more points for a track not just called Love and Money on Love and Money by Love and Money, but with love and money in the lyrics. You get the idea. One incredibly famous not the Beatles example in the comments to clear that one up. No youtube clip for Love and Money though.
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What better day than #bluemonday to swing the doors open to the CDswap salon for the first meet of 2019. For our new members we come to you from the wonderful world of the nineties, before Spotify playlists, when CD burning was a thing. It’s still a thing everyone! The idea is fiendishly simple: choose twelve tracks around a theme and pop them on a CD. Post them to a couple of other people, listen to theirs, then review online. As ever @kid-dynamite and your good self are your hosts.
So what’s the theme this time? We are going into colour people. Or rather in homage to a certain reissue we are going White. Get your musical mojo working on all matters white, colourless and pale. Artists called white, tracks with white, lyrics about pale riders, er…white albums…even an album you’ve got on white vinyl. Schedule, full details etc in the comments, where all you need to do is post a comment and you are in.
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I’m not enough of a jazz aficionado to post a proper review but after last year’s discovery of the lost Coltrane tapes there’s another massive find from the vaults out there. In 1972 Charles Mingus broke a years-long musical silence, including concerts in Detroit with a quintet. Recordings from the run via a radio broadcast have emerged – clocking in at four hours of Mingus magic including interviews and announcements, from a short-lived artists space called Strata Gallery.
I don’t quite have the language to really describe these recordings but they sound absolutely brilliant. The tracks are long, long takes on Mingus classics and jazz standards. The quintet all sound at the top of their games, and it hits that spot where there’s improvisation going to the outer limits without ever losing sense of the tune at the base of it all.
Here’s the Pitchfork review which has lots of clever language and gets it right.
Charles Mingus: Jazz In Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden is on Spotify and emusic. Have a listen. It’s great.
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Year: 1900 Director: Alfonso Cuaron
It’s weird how films can happen now. Time was when your local cinema got Star Wars six months after you read the reviews, and three months after the city centre Odeon. Then in the eighties films started to be in every single cinema in the world the day after the reviews came out, or the day before in the case of Steven Seagal movies. Now we’re back to the throttling of supply once more, only instead of your local fleapit being at the back of the queue, it’s anyone who doesn’t have Netflix. Roma, one of the foreign language releases of the year, by A-lister Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Children of Men, some Harry Potters) was in a few cinemas for a couple of week to get it into the Oscar listings. Then – bang- straight back behind the Netflix paywall to be a footsoldier in the streaming wars. Take that Prime.
Which is how I watched this film, on a friend’s reasonably large telly this Sunday. And if there’s a film I would go straight to the cinema to see it on a proper film screen it’s this. To the film’s overall tone of nostalgia » Continue Reading.
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As we head off into 2019 let’s pause for a second to count up the achievements of last year. While happiness can’t be quantified, plenty of other things can. I did this a year ago and there seems enough reason to run it again if anyone’s interested. 2018 was for me…
12,734 scrobbles on last FM (up from 12270 in 2017) 75 books on goodreads (up from 67) 84 films on letterboxd (up from 70)
And 591k of running on Strava, up from 503.
Your Spotify wrapped, your Nike +, stepcounters etc are all welcome in the interests of our curiosities.
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TLFC hitmakers will be touring in April coming to a snug venue near you. Got our tickets for the Hare and Hounds – tickets I am guessing will sell out fast.
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Paging @leicester-bangs @kid-dynamite @deviant808 @kaisfatdad and anyone else who’s interested in electronica. The Guardian have a list of the ten best mixes of 2018 up now and most of them are currently downloadable from soundcloud, straight from the link. As we say round here fill yer boots! Not a clue if Ziur, Forest Drive West or Leif are triumphs or tragedies but that’s some good headphone listening over the hols sorted.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/19/the-best-dj-mixes-of-2018
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It can be exhausting round here sometimes. B-sides, demos, remasters and early years. So much stuff, so little time. So occasionally, very occasionally, I’m happy to Listen Like A Civilian. Isley Brothers? Early years, motown era. I’m sure it’s all great but right now I’m perfectly content with a bog standard Epic Greatest Hits covering the seventies era of Summer Breeze, Harvest for the World and a surprisingly good going-disco track called, er it’s A Disco Night. No real desire to find those deep cuts or anything else really. Same (shockingly) with Dr Feelgood. Happy with the UA Singles. So, lay it on the line. What Greatest Hits/singles comp is the only album you own by an artist.
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What does it sound like?:
So while having as of two years never knowingly listened to any Metallica (Enter Sandman aside) I have now spent a number of weeks closeted first with master of puppets and now …And Justice For All. It’s 147 songs in the Deluxe Box Set.
This is the senior Moles review, Daughter Moles in the comments. Hers is about ten times longer…you have been warned.
Firstly, the album itself. Daughter Moles will be riffing on the intricacies of this track played on that tour and stuff like that. The riffs are still pieces of granite, the drums thud, the guitars occasionally wail and there’s growly vocals. The songs are a bit longer than on For Whom… and in the case of To Live is to Die there are slow sections that contrast nicely with the full on sludgerama that is their default sound. On this track, there’s perhaps a whiff of a new genre emerging, thrash prog. Mmm. The slow bits could be lifted from late-70s Rush. Elsewhere, as on opener Blackened it is all thrash all the time.
Interesting that they went for a more recognisable heavy metal sound next on the » Continue Reading.
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This was my favourite news from the past week. MIT (of course) boffins have invented a plane that flies with no moving parts at all. It creates ‘ionic wind’ with lots of ion particles pushed from a powerful electrical field, these then hit air molecules, push those back and voila thrust.
The video is absolutely spooky. Just a silent machine gliding through the air.
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Late entry from…..The Ting Tings! Marmite band as ever but I’m liking their garage-pop vibe on this.
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What does it sound like?:
Ah The Fall. At the last count there have been approximately 286 compilations all with the same basic premise: where do you start if you haven’t started?
Part One: Me and The Fall I go back a bit with The Fall. I saw them at least three or four times: from memory at Oxford Poly, at a WOMAD, at Finsbury Park and lastly about ten years ago in Leamingon Spa. They were a ‘Peel band’ shared with sixth form friends, and I acquired copies of most of their albums working backwards from Slates. They’re all worth significant amounts of money now. They were one of ‘our bands’ to break through to Top of the Pops and magazine covers in an era when indie was still just that. Like many, I lost touch with them in the early nineties – a combination of immersion in dance culture, careers and families. They’re one of the bands that me and Ms Moles agree on, which helps.Mp3s and streaming have allowed me to explore I can find lots to like in their work after Middle Class Revolt, but it’s individual tracks rather than albums. Before that it’s » Continue Reading.
