RIP steven wells

Was saddened to read today that former NME writer Steven "Swells" Wells passed away after a battle with cancer. He's written about it brilliantly here (first bout) and here (the return) for Philidelphia Weekly. There's no self-pity, no pseudo-spiritualism, just the brutal reality of being a Brit receiving cancer treatment in the American healthcare system.

Everyone thinks that "their era" of the NME was the best. I started reading it a couple of weeks into secondary school, in August 1994, and until my mum sold her house I still had every issue I'd bought in my school years. While the 1994-2000 era was probably not golden by any stretch of the imagination, I feel that writers like Wells and Johnny Cigarettes at least gave the paper some level of personality, unlike the dull "youth lifestyle mag" it seems to want to be now (even if Mark Beaumant is still trying his hardest). I may not have agreed with everything Wells wrote, in fact it was often my favourite bands that he was destroying in print, but there was at least passion and humour in what he was doing...once you got past the CAPS LOCK and swearing. He may have tried too hard at times, but was never dull.

It's a bit weird paying tribute to someone that you never met, but it's a shame he's gone.

Here's one for the road...I like the record, but it still made me laugh!

bad behaviour / idlewild - 'post electric blues'

After (almost) being a saint last month, I've fallen off the wagon in a big way when it comes to the CDs/records this month... I'm not really prepared to write full reviews of everything though!

Idlewild, having found themselves out of contract, have taken a direct route to releasing their latest album 'Post Electric Blues'. The record was funded by a pre-order offer for fans, where for an upfront payment of £15, 3,000+ fans were promised an exclusive advance CD of the new record before its commercial release, as well as bonuses such as their name in the artwork, downloads of live recordings from some of the retrospective album shows at King Tuts, and some competitions.

The finished CD of 'Post Electric Blues' finally arrived on Thursday, after some delays at the pressing plant. The package contains a poster with all the subscribers names listed, and there's an exclusive bonus track on the album. Musically, I'd say it's somewhere between 'Warnings/Promises' and 'The Remote Part' - specifically the songs of the former and the production of the latter - with hints of Roddy Woomble's first solo album, 'My Secret Is My Silence'. Overall it's a pretty solid record, the opening three songs are particularly strong, but it's unlikely to become my favourite. I can see "Readers & Writers" doing well on Radio 2 when the album gets its full commercial release later in the year.

The new Phoenix album, 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' is fantastic. It's a big, bright, summer pop record that takes all the best bits of the first three records and rolls them into one. I never thought they'd be able to better "Too Young" and "If I Ever Feel Better" from their debut album 'United', but with "1901" and "Lisztomania" they run close. Listen to them on Spotify from the links.

The ongoing clearance sale at Head in Dundee (formerly Zavvi, formerly Virgin Megastore) continues to throw up the odd item of interest, even if I really can't face going through all those boxes of CDs yet again! They've now got a few boxes of vinyl singles, and in amongst the 12"s I found a still-sealed copy of the double-vinyl of Stereolab's 'Margerine Eclipse'. I already have the CD, but at £1 I could hardly pass it by! I'm a big fan of their artwork/packaging, so it will look good on the wall. I got a few other things, but nothing as exciting to me. It's actually pretty sad to see a shop I was so fond of (worked for Virgin Megastores for three years) reduced to little more than a clearance outlet/"pound shop".

The Zoey Van Goey album ('The Cage Was Unlocked All Along') is pretty good based on a couple of listens. Particularly enjoying the opening track "The Best Treasure Stays Buried" and the former single "Foxtrot Vandals".

Finally, I guess I'll give honourable mentions to Grouchos 3-for-£3 specials 'Mission Control' by The Whigs and 'Invitation Songs' by The Cave Singers. The former is no frills Buffalo Tom-style college rock, the latter more of the weird-American-folk of the Fleet Foxes/Devandra Banhart variety. Musically it's lovely, but the singing takes a little getting used to.

in place of real insight

For want of anything proper to write about, I'm pretty much at the halfway mark of my month of abstention, and in that time have not purchased any CDs, downloads, vinyl, cassettes or any other form of sound carrier. I did lend Katie the money for a Lisa Knapp CD at the James Yorkston/Lisa Knapp show at the Rep last night, but it was for her so ther rules aren't broken. Anyway, the massive pile of CD singles surrounding me is giving me plenty of "new" old stuff to listen to. Some gems, some crap.

Year 2 of my Cineworld Unlimited card was finally kicked off today, only 6 weeks in. Went to see 'Fighting', not for any particular reason other than that it seemed the least poor option - hadn't heard of it before looking at the board. Nothing particularly remarkable about it, to be honest. It just trundles along for a couple of hours to a fairly obvious conclusion. Click the link for the IMDB page, if you've any curiosity. I think I'll try and catch up on my moneys worth so far then cancel the card, can't help but thinking that joining the DCA is a better idea - all the films I've actually wanted to see lately have been on there. 'In The Loop' was hilarious, and 'Let The Right One In' is absolutely brilliant. I think if I tried to describe it, I couldn't do any justice. For a vampire film, it's surprisingly sweet, and also really nicely shot. I honestly can't see any need for the Hollywood remake currently in production, it's hardly heavy on the dialogue so the subtitles really shouldn't be a challenge for anyone.

no (new) music may

I've decided to make May a month of "no new music" - I'm going to try my hardest not to buy any CDs, vinyl or downloads or any other form of sound carrier for the whole month. I'm using up my remaining eMusic credits as we speak so they don't go to waste (new Casiotone For The Painfully Alone album and "The Golden Band" by American Analog Set, for reference). Exceptions can be made for anything already ordered before midnight tonight, i.e. the new Idlewild album.

The reason for this is that it's only just sunk in quite how much music I already have - lost count of artist CD albums, but probably somewhere in excess of 3,000 as a conservative estimate, with singles, MP3s and a little bit of vinyl on top of that - and the total is ever growing. New purchases don't always get time to sink in and old stuff languishes. A month isn't going to make much of a dent on things, but hopefully I'll make some rediscoveries.

Over the last few months I've started a stupid-boy-project to get all my CDs onto the computer. When I was growing up I always wanted a jukebox, and this is my way to have it. I reckon I'm maybe about a third of my way through the albums, but have taken a break to do the singles to let me pack them away properly. To be honest this is making me question the point of the whole thing - should i, as planned, do everything to make it complete, or cherry-pick and have to go back later. At the moment I'm ripping stuff that I may never get around to listening to again!

The sheer volume of music is pretty staggering. Going back to that earlier estimate of 3,000 CD albums and assuming that there's an average of 12 tracks on each, then that gives 36,000 tracks. Rounding down my current last.fm daily plays of 54 to 50, then it would take 720 (nearly 2 years!) of normal listening to get through the whole lot just once. And that's a conservative estimate. I doubt pausing for a month will make much difference.

All the same, I know that my excitement for music is waning slightly at the moment. The excitement of having a new CD is long gone, mainly because I buy too many out of curiosity because they're cheap. Add on to that all the other music floating out there on the internet for free (and I just mean the legal stuff), then it just gets ridiculous, the notion of trying to keep up with everything new. I never thought I'd be someone who'd stop following discovering new music, but I really think I need a break! I just have no enthusiasm for checking things out on myspace or blogs, and to be honest maybe feel it's best that way, if only to retain my sanity.

Anyway, bit of a formless ramble but I'm done now. I'll report back on how I get on with things over the coming month, and we'll see if it helps any. There may yet be need for "Silent September"...

religilous [2008]

Just been to see Bill Maher's new movie "Religilous" at the DCA on a bit of a whim, and it was well worth it. For most of my life I've wavered between Atheism and Agnosticism (or Cosmic Bet-Hedging), a few visits to church in my first year of University only serving to encourage these beliefs. With this in mind, the film was already preaching to the converted. However, there was still plenty that was new to me as I've never been particularly active in my disbelief - I don't scour religious texts for discrepancies, I just can't bring myself to actually believe any of it. On the off chance that I do find myself in front of St Peter, I've always thought I'll just take my chances.

The movie itself takes the major religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Mormon and Scientology for the most part) and pokes at their beliefs with simple questioning and humour. While it's unlikely yo change the mind of anyone who fully believes, it's still interesting to see him challenging the various groups - the bulk of the time is probably dedicated to Christianity. Interestingly, he gets the most sense out of two Catholic interviewees - a Vatican priest and the former chief astronomer of the Vatican. The latter makes the point regarding Creationism that there cannot be any science in the scriptures if they were written between 2,000BC and 200AD, and what we regard as Modern Science has only really been developing over the last 2-300 years - there's a pretty big gap in the timeline right there.

Maher ends with a call to all of the non-believers (13% of the US population, according to a survey) to speak out against all religion. With many Christians believing that we're in end times, and portions of Islam following an equally destructive path, it is indeed a scary thought that we could be wiped out all because of some daft superstitions.

It might be anti-religion-for-beginners for quite a few, but I thought "Religilous" was both entertaining and thought provoking.

animal collective / la roux / skint & demoralised

Over the last few years, I've become a lot more relaxed about music. I like to think that I've shed the skin of the youthful indie snob, and instead defined myself more by what I like that what I don't. I don't really pay attention Pop Idol, or Britain's Got Talent, and I'm not upset by "manufactured pop" - at the very least it's honest about what it really is in a way that most landfill indie acts could never comprehend. Predictably, I am very fond of Girls Aloud, occasionally admiring of Sugababes, end even warming to the Saturdays - well, thery're better than the Kooks, aren't they?

In fact, the only two records that have really irked me this year have come from "credible" quarters. First was Animal Collective's Emperor's-New-Clothes magnum opus 'Merriweather Post Pavillion' - sheer, abject boredom given a sound. I like repetition, I like Steve Reich and I like the idea of what Animal Collective might sound like based on much of what's been written about them. I just can't get any enjoyment out of the reality.

All of which brings me on to the start of the post, La Roux. Widely hailed as part of the Female Electro Pop Class of 2009 in all the start of year round ups, La Roux (Elly Jackson) is about to unleash her first full single release, "In For The Kill", on Polydor after an introductory release last year on trendy French electro label Kitsune. I've not yet explored Microsoft's Songsmith software, but can only assume that Jackson has and quickly found the "techno" setting and bashed forward. Vocally, it sounds like she's well above her natural range, and the phrasing is awkward - though I don't think the lyrics help with that. The whole thing is just completely unappealing, and no matter how good any of the rest of her material is (reportedly consisting of another 5 completed songs!), it just doesn't seem good enough to justify any of the hype. The Skream remix is a slight improvement though, even if it doesn't really go anywhere until right at the end.

I'm still undecided on Skint & Demoralised. For starters, it's a pretty awful name for a band, and the spoken word vocals don't always work. I heard their debut single "The Thrill of Thirty Seconds" a few times on BBC 6music and was fairly unimpressed, sounding as it did like a polished demo by a bunch of Arctic Monkeys loving kids who had missed their mark and ended up somewhere around One Night Only. Second single "This Song Is Definitely Not About You" is a vast improvement, coming on like a laddish take on Spearmint, with touches of The Boy Least Likely To. The fact that the album was recorded with The Dap Kings at least bodes well. Reserving judgement until I've heard that, at least.

I think that's enough negativity for one night.


[Stream] Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (via Spotify)
[Video] La Roux - "In For The Kill" (while it lasts!)
[MP3] La Roux - "In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix)"
[Video] Skint & Demoralised - "This Song Is Definitely Not About You" (while it lasts!)

general round up

Not much activity for a week, but there have been a few things I've intended to write about. Unfortunately, they can be crammed into a few sentences...

Have now seen both Frost/Nixon and Milk. Won't bore anyone with attempts at reviews, but will say that both films are good and worth seeing. If you only have time for one, make it Milk. It's wonderful.

I've finished reading Join Me by Danny Wallace - since seeing Yes Man a month or so ago, I've read all three of his books. None of them are particularly hard going, but they are all good - enthusiastic, funny and touching in places. Or, in places, touching. Nothing dodgy. I'm not sure reading the book was enough to make me want to become a Joinee though, I think I'd find doing a random act of kindness every Friday a bit tricky - anyway, I try to be kind all the time!

My step-dad gave me his old 35mm SLR, went to Camperdown to play about with it. I took a couple of rolls, which you can see pretty much all of here. I'm a little disappointed that some of them didn't come out as I'd expected (many of them a lot darker than I'd anticipated), but looking at them now I think there's some good first efforts there. Anyway, the point of getting a film-based SLR was to force myself to think more when setting up the shot, so it's all a learning experience. Excuse some of the dodgy scans...

Kaput played at Fat Sams on Friday night with the Hazey Janes. The Hazeys were fantastic, probably the best I've ever seen them, and we all enjoyed playing our set. It was the first time in nearly 11 years of playing gigs that my sister had got to see one of my bands. She said she enjoyed it. The whole set was filmed, will get that uploaded once I've actually seen it!

I'm beginning to think that writing a little about every record/CD I buy this year may be harder than anticipated, after an unexpected trip to Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago found me in Fopp, and then on Saturday morning I got the chance to rake through all the new promos in Grouchos...my wallet has taken a beating. It makes me sad that there's a generation of "music lovers" who will never really experience the joy of spending a chunk of your Saturday raking through random CDs, hoping to strike gold, and getting a bit of banter and recommendations while you do it. Sure, there's a social element to Last.fm or some torrent clients, but it's impersonal, nowhere near the same as actually speaking to other people in person about music. I just hope that it's not something that's completely lost too soon, especially in smaller cities/towns. I'll try and write a January round-up when I get off night shifts.

That's pretty much all for now, I'm off to watch A Room For Romeo Brass.

purpose

I have to admit I'm sometimes not sure why I'm writing this blog, or what to write about. I'm torn between trying to alter it to have some kind of specific theme, or just continuing to write about random things that take my fancy. If the blog has any purpose, it's to get me to write about things on a regular basis in an attempt to keep my brain working and expand my vocabulary a little. As for reviews, I'm just wanting to try and be able to actually explain why I like things, rather than just saying "it's good". I'm pretty bad for that. I'm constantly thinking about music/films/whatever in my head, but I can never articulate those thoughts very well. I would like to get good at it. I'm not expecting there to be an audience, this is a fairly solitary pursuit. All the same, I have no intention of writing about my life. It's just not interesting.

I'm feeling pretty inspired though by Tom Suttcliffe's piece on The Wrestler, from Friday's Independent. I agree with the points he made, some similar interpretations had been swimming about the murky depths waters of my mind, unable to break for surface. It's all practice though, I'm not expecting to get to pro-standard, but would like to be able to write well.

I'm toying with trying to write at least a few lines about every record I buy this year, but don't know how workable that will be, we'll see. Digging through my CD collection while I rip it all on to my PC has thrown up a few interesting things as well, something may come of that.

Off to see Frost/Nixon now.

"yes man" (2008) / cineworld unlimited

Went to see the new Jim Carrey / Zooey Deschanel film "Yes Man", based on the Danny Wallace book of the same name, tonight. The premise of the story is that Carrey playes Carl Allen, whose life is going nowhere until he attends a seminar and agrees to say "yes" to everything and start living his life - something Wallace actually spent six months doing in real life.

It's definitely a feel-good film, pretty much everything he says yes to has positive consequences, other than the necessary "plot-twist" near the end. I found it quite enjoyable, but it really didn't require any thought. My main reservation is the casting of Jim Carrey in the lead role - although he's not overly zany, there's still a little too much of his trademark mugging for my liking, especially as the film does not call for it in the slightest - in fact it probably turns the viewer against his character a little. I think someone like Steve Carell may have been a better choice. Zooey Deschanel is lovely as Allison, and some of the songs by her in-film band Munchausen by Proxy are quite amusing.

All the same, it's a reasonable distraction for a couple of hours. What an in-depth review.

Trailer is here.

---
I've been going to see as many films as possible lately using my Cineworld Unlimited card. I got it as a way of filling in time when I'm not on shift, but it was starting to look like a bad deicision when there was barely anything I wanted to see all summer. Think I'm beginning to break even on it now. For my own reference, here is a list of the films I've been to see using it (they've not all been classics, I have to say):

01. Hancock
02. Tropic Thunder
03. Step Brothers
04. Taken
05. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
06. Burn After Reading
07. The Rocker
08. Quantum of Solace
09. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
10. Four Christmasses
11. Body of Lies
12. What Just Happened?
13. Yes Man

I don't think I've forgotten any.