Quiet here, recently

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Yes, it has been sunny. I’ve been studiously ignoring the news here too. The only thing really worrying me is the current water crisis, which has us on a hosepipe ban already, even though we’re at the beginning of April.

Our great friends Mary and Ben came to visit, which gave us the opportunity to visit the Castell de Remei winery in Lleida province. It has a pretty good restaurant and my wild boar cooked in the local wine was absolutely delicious. We also picked up a few bottles of ‘Gotim Bru’ (about €6) as well as the delicious ‘1780’.

The next day, we took a stroll in the Collserolla park, which is just a ten minute walk from our front door. Not as wild as the Prepirineu but pleasant all the same.

We’ve also been lucky enough to really start enjoying our terrace, which at this time of year becomes an additional kitchen, dining room and salon, and gives us a bit more room to stretch out (the interior of the flat is only 50m2).

More photos at Flickr.

What is Royal Trux? Pt.1

Music

Friends and well-wishers may well know that my favourite rock band is the Royal Trux, a Washington DC/Chicago/San Francisco outfit from the 1990s. Combining a Keith Richards-heroin-blues-boogie-woogie aesthetic with Captain Beefheart craziness and the musical theories of Ornette Coleman, Royal Trux rocked on a different level. The band consisted of Neil Hagerty on guitar and vocals and Jennifer Herrema on lead vocals. Most of their records were released on Drag City until, following the huge popularity of grunge rock (a scene they weren’t really remotely connected to), Virgin Records offered them a huge 3 album deal. When Virgin realised that they hadn’t signed the next Nirvana, they panicked and paid Royal Trux off after only two of the three albums had been recorded. The Trux went back to Drag City. They split in 2001 after Jennifer Herrema ‘was caught with an alcoholic beverage in her hand’ (they’d been clean for years).

Well, if that hasn’t done enough to pique your interest, have a look at this promotional video, filmed for the album Thank You by Virgin Records. It should make things much clearer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErxStEwMIks[/youtube]

Primavera Sound 2008 lineup

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Primavera Sound 2008There will probably be a few more additions but this is pretty much the lineup for Primavera Sound 2008. The festival runs from the 29th to the 31st of May and is now the traditional ‘first party of the summer’. My picks highlighted in bold:

808 State, A Place To Bury Strangers, Alan Braxe, Animal Collective, Apparat Band, Dj Assault, Atlas Sound, Autolux, Awesome Color, Bill Callahan, Bishop Allen, Bob Mould Band, Bon Iver, Boris, Buffalo Tom, Caribou, Cat Power, Clipse, The Cribs, De La Soul, Deerhunter, Digital Mystikz, Dinosaur Jr., Dirty Projectors, Dr. Octagon aka Kool Keith + Kutmasta Kurt, Edan & MC Dagha, El Guincho, Ellen Allien, Enon, Eric’s Trip, Fanfarlo, The Felice Brothers, Fuck Buttons, Dj Funk, Gentle Music Men, The Go! Team, Grande-Marlaska, Health, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, It’s Not Not, Kavinsky, Kinski, Les Savy Fav, Lightspeed Champion, Madee, Man Man, The Mary Onettes, Mary Weiss, The Marzipan Man, Menomena, Messer Chups, Midnight Juggernauts, Mission Of Burma, Mixmaster Mike, Model 500, MV & EE with The Golden Road, Nick Lowe, No Age, The Notwist, Okkervil River, Om, Para One, Pissed Jeans, Polvo, Port O’Brien, Portishead, Prinzhorn Dance School, Public Enemy performing It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Robert Hood, Rufus Wainwright, The Rumble Strips, Scout Niblett, Sebadoh, Shipping News, Silver Jews, Simian Mobile Disco, Six Organs Of Admittance, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Strange Death Of Liberal England, Subterranean Kids, Supermayer, Surkin, The Swell Season, Tachenko, Tarántula, Throbbing Gristle, Tiefschwarz, Tindersticks, Träd Gräs och Stenar, Vampire Weekend, Vórtice, Voxtrot, White Williams, Why?, Young Marble Giants.

I’m particularly glad to see several Drag City acts playing, as well as the massive Public Enemy performing a truly classic album. What’s her name from the Raveonettes said that they want to play the festival as well. Also, what are the chances of Stephen Malkmus getting up on stage with Silver Jews? It’s all to play for.

Primavera Sound organisers – now you have my picks, please try to organise the stages so that they all play simultaneously. I love it when you do that.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The World’s Greatest

Music

OK so this isn’t much of a video, but the music is excellent. It’s a cover of a popular R Kelly song about Mohammed Ali and is performed without any hint of irony or sarcasm. In fact, this is a loving cover of what is really a great American song. The R Kelly version lacks authenticity and feeling – and feels custom built for the adverts it adorned.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTrgF7Dakvw[/youtube]

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…and here’s the original R Kelly version

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o50BFpR7m6o[/youtube]

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney – I Gave You

Music

This is another beautiful song from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, this time in collaboration with Matt Sweeney (who adds something of an electric blues edge to things). Gemma and I were lucky enough to see the dynamic duo touring the album ‘Superwolf’ and enjoyed a truly magical concert, featuring many tracks from the album as well as some classics. When, pray, will Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy be back in Barcelona?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4sCuYiK2Eg[/youtube]

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Horses

Music

An homage to truckers (but not in the way Mark E. Smith would have done it), Horses isn’t my favourite Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy song, but it’s as good a place as any to start.

Music geek note: the video starts with the Domino Records logo. BPB is actually on Drag City Records (my all time favourite gang). Domino are the UK label.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnhKUm4HitU[/youtube]

Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror – Jeffrey Lewis

Music

I’m a big fan of Will Oldham, a singer-songwriter who has worked under various monikers including Palace, Palace Music and the most recent: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. I’m going to post a few YouTube videos over the next few days which will highlight his genius and beard.

This is a song by Jeffrey Lewis, another singer-songwriter who is described as being ‘anti-folk’, whatever the hell that might mean. It’s something of a classic, being a tribute to Will Oldham and featuring a Will Oldham look-alike.

[youtube]ZwGhPnsCjDg[/youtube]

These New Puritans – Not The Fall

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It takes a lot of balls to name your band with a reference to The Fall. These New Puritans (apparently abbreviated to TNPS, though I prefer the simpler ‘Turnips’) have done just that and after they were featured in the Guardian the other day, I thought I’d check them out. You know, see whether they live up to their name.

The answer is: no, they don’t. They’re basically a mixture of Franz Ferdinand and The Klaxons – and not the best bits of either band, for that matter. I’ve been intrigued by several newspapers and websites referring to them as actually sounding like The Fall. I figure this was more lazy journalism than impossible fantasy: These New Puritans have nothing of Mark E. Smith’s vitriolic wit or poetry, let alone a proper-sounding jangly guitar. In Numbers, the lyrics go “What’s your favourite number? / What does it mean? / Number 1: the individual / Number 2: duality / Number 3: …numerology is all shit”. Talking about the song, lead singer Jack Barnett says, “It’s our attempt to recreate numerology in a song. It’s a pop song with a dubby beat. But I say “numerology is all shit”, so it’s all deconstructed immediately”. Hmmm.

Anyway, here’s Elvis, another of their songs.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzHwRcOsDNw[/youtube]