An absence of reporting does not represent an absence of news

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We’ve been really busy recently, and I haven’t really had the time to post any news or rants to the site in a week or so.

I’ve a new job, starting in a week and a half, writing reviews of mobile software and other IT news stories. Enter the Geek! (just kidding, in case my new bosses read this).

Adam and Raquel have moved into Cerdanyola, helping to establish the fledgling English enclave here.

Spring has sprung into summer, as temperatures soared to over 32 degrees!
And here are some pictures to prove it:






Max Carlish in Pete in Kate on Channel 4

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Stalking Pete Doherty, Channel 4’s 10 pm documentary last night was one of the oddest and most disturbing TV shows I’ve ever seen.Opinion on Popbitch and the C4 messageboard is surprisingly fairly united: Carlish is obviously seriously ill, and even ‘junkie scum’, grubby handed Kate Moss marrying rock singer Pete Doherty deserves some sympathy for the relentless pursual and harrassment he suffered at the lens of Carlish.

The film was essentially a documentary about the failed documentary that media studies teacher Carlish wanted to make about the Libertines’ ex-singer. It focused more on Carlish and his own increasingly disturbing quest to “have [his] moment of fame” than it did on the heavy drug use and erratic behaviour of Doherty. I was pretty shcoked to see footage of Carlish filming himself (this was actually about 50% of the film), shouting his love for Pete – over and over again, having a tantrum when he wasn’t allowed backstage with some students he’d brought along, crying and sobbing, dancing in his bedroom at his mum’s house to Electric Dreams, asking Pete how it felt to be “more loved than Kurt Cobain” – a highly questionable claim… the man is relentless after the sense of car-crash TV humour died off (about two minutes in), the uneasiness crept in.

I have to say that in retrospect, Carlish obviously needs care and attention, and that in some ways the film should not have been broadcast. Hearing him scream “I know Pete a million times better than you!” at one of Doherty’s friends, or doing his “Max – on Pete – in Kate; Max inside Kate – on top of Pete” bit wasn’t funny, it was pretty embarrassing and made me feel like I was at a freakshow, and should have known better.

Update: Comments closed on this post. While amusing, they were clearly off topic. Feel free to contact me if you feel you’ve got something relevant to add to this. Cheers.

Record companies bitching about money (again)

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Today’s MediaGuradian carries yet another story about how the UK record industry continues to blame P2P filesharing for poor results and falling record sales. A ‘research’ firm has spent ages working how much money would have been spent by British people if they weren’t busy stealing music instead.

What might have been a more suitable topic for research is: How much more money would British people have spent buying records if the UK record industry spent any money at all on a realistic and genuine effort to pursue new music?

What seems to have happened is that the record company execs looked at the unpredictability of 1990s pop music (first it’s acid house, then Nirvana, then Oasis then Kylie) and thought they’d like a period of stability. Hence, funding went to Coldplay, U2 and their clones… but these new AOR/MOR bands were marketed as ROCK. Which, of course, ain’t the truth. And yeah there was loads of shit around in the 90’s (drum & bass; trance; Dodgy et al) but the same culture that gave birth to (and nurtured) the Red Hot Chili Peppers, also gave birth to Royal Trux.

What I’m trying to say is that I can take all the crap music, if there’s something else being sold which I believe is genuinely ‘independent’, ‘avant-garde’ or just ‘good’. At the moment, the UK record industry is promoting almost no really good music. I’m only 24 so this isn’t an age thing… and i know that there are loads of tiny indie labels out there… but it’s not just independence in terms of money. The UK record industry decided not to gamble on new music… and the UK record buying public has responded in kind. Wake up, BPI: we’ll invest in you when you invest in music.

Wire: Stay glued To Your TV Set

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It must be the good weather rolling in, but after a lull of two months where I practically only listened to ‘Cats And Dogs’, ‘Elliott Smith’ and ‘Let’s Dance’ oh and ‘Bad Behaviour’ by the Super Furries, I am suddenly revelling in the dusty contents of my iPod and the CDs that slipped to the back of a pile.

Recently rediscovered albums:
Wire: Pink Flag
Spiritualized: Ladies and Gentlemen…
Stuff by Quasi. Other things including stuff I don’t know the name of.

All-Night Fox reviews

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The day I received Neil Michael Hagerty’s last album: The Howling Hex, I immediately got on to “my people” at amazon.co.uk (much cheaper/faster than buying from Drag City, at least for me), to order All-Night Fox, the new album from his new band The Howling Hex. OK so his band is called the same as his last album… it must be some kind of trick? Or is it MagicScience?

Yes and now I have the album. It’s good. HH is good because it has some great songs on it. ANF is good because it’s concept without being unlistenable. I’m not going to wax all lyrical here because frankly I can’t get most of the lyrics. But then I’ve only listened to it about 3 times. I just dig the rock music.

There are some silly/wordy reviews around spouting blabbering-crap as per usual. Don’t try and get revisionist on us, Billy Fields, cause you ain’t the bee’s knees. Any punk who starts a “hey the Trux sucked” sort of piece ought to be careful he isn’t getting a little too big for his boots. Billy Boy. In fact, after re-reading his tripe, I must say it’s good. Check out his other reviews cos this boy don’t know shit, but he can write just like anybody else!

The Howling Hex

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Just got the seemingly ancient Neil Michael Hagerty album The Howling Hex. Oh believe the hype, boys and girls. It’s great. Even the wacky violin tracks. EVEN the bit that sounds a tiny amount like Manu Chao. This is an album I can enjoy summer to. So this morning, I only went and placed an order for the apparently even better All-Night Fox.

I feel all the anti-Transmaniacon emotion now. Cos while Jennifer has come up with some passably decent spoof-metal songs, and she has the skulls to prove it, The Howling Hex continues The Royal Trux better than anything Jennifer has come up with. I guess I could put on Transmaniacon and we’d sit round and sort of giggle at the OTT guitar and autotuning… the killer riffs and the ripped-off lyrics (from two great Trux songs, Shockwave rider and Sweet Sixteen no less). Maybe it’s got to do with the way I only really listen to Cats and Dogs these days, but the Howling Hex manage to continue the jazzy, rock’n’roll free music feel, the lyrics are good, and sadly I don’t even miss Jenn’s singing. Maybe her next work will be a bit more honest and less posture. She said all this shit recently in an interview about listening to the Rocky IV soundtrack for two months or something. “I like winners” she said. Well the Howling Hex is a fuck’s sight better than RTX.

So summer evenings aren’t far away… they get into your blood and lift up your soul. Girls in skirts, warm mornings, sultry evenings, beers on the terrace, tending my roses, late night sessions at Plaça Reial and the chiringuitos… Here we go……….

Rocking the Soul train

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Oh yes on holiday I’ve had much opportunity to consider things… Like what music do I like, and why do I like it?

I can safely say that I like:
ROYAL TRUX
ROLLING STONES
DAVID BOWIE
ELLIOTT SMITH
DAFT PUNK
THE FALL
FLAMING LIPS
RAMONES
and numerous other groups whose music is similar to these artists.

I can’t really find any reason why I like these bands and not others. I would like to claim it’s to do with SOUL, like oh they don’t sell themselves to ad merhants, but they do (Bowie and the Stones do anyway). Or being genuine, but the Trux are a curious blend of the genuine and the not-so, and Bowie ripped off everyone. And what does genuine mean?

So now I’ve decided it’s just attitude and cool. I can’t deny it, it’s utterly superficial, but I like all of these artists because of something to do with their attitude. The whiney or groany vocals, the sweet instrumentation, the rhythm section, the endless addictions! The not giving a fuck but really giving a fuck at the same time.

I can never dig U2 or the Coldplay clones because they’re so relentlessly dull. Say what you like, and maybe Witch’s Tit ain’t the most meaningful song in the world, but the truth lies in The Spectre, Second Skin, Pol Pot Pie, Needle in the Hay, Independence Day, Brainville, Heroes, C.R.E.E.P, Judy is a Punk. Not in ELEfuckingVATION.

/rant paused (will no doubt continue)…

R’n’B, Exile, Pirates and the Trux

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My iPod has been playing Exile on Main Street pretty much on repeat for the last week… this is my third phase of Exile in the last year; each wave more powerful than the last.

There is something purely life affirming and heavenly about this record. The songs are wonderful (especially Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, Loving Cup, Soul Survivor), the lyrics cool (“I’m drifting through the days at lightning speed”), the music eclectic (gospel, R’n’B, soul, rock’n’roll, boogie woogie, country) … all make this album a work of real mastery.

But above all, the instrumentation and Keith’s voice in the background – except in Happy where he leads – lend this album something unexpressably great. The sheer work that went in to producing the laziest, easiest sound you’ll ever hear is evident when you listen to Sweet Black Angel. On first listen, the song sounds like a messy pile of old blues and dischordant voices, complete with percussion. As you listen and listen, the complexity of the sound comes out – the layers, the tones, the rhythm. This might be the best non electric song ever recorded by a rock and roll band, whatever that means. And then the shudder as the harmonica shakes off a chord.

The key to why I like Exile above all else must be the Trux connection. I can hear Neil singing but it’s Keith. I can see Jennifer arranging and perfecting, but it’s Keith again. It’s widely recognised (well, as widely as anything like this could be) that Neil Hagerty was the driving force behind Pussy Galore‘s cover of the Exile album (something I’m still trying to lay my hands on). You can feel the influence in Trux records – and there’s nothing wrong with being influenced by the best. It’s rhythm and blues – the real thing. Let’s reclaim that genre for decent music. I hate this utter trash that masquerades as RnB.

Oh you can see Cocksucker Blues while you listen to this – the band standing, their entourage consumed by addiction and decadence. The core stable. This is the best album ever recorded by anyone. It’s that simple. And I swear an oath that I’ve never said that about any other album, whatever Gemma might have you think. And it beats Sticky Fingers hands down. Over produced those fingers, and all structured.

Keith will next be seen playing Capt. Jack Sparrow’s father in Pirates of the Caribbean… out next year (I think).