November 30, 2009
Words are clues we leave ourselves. Signposts to shared understandings. Yesterday I watched a woman on the underground trying to give directions to another woman who didn’t speak English. She kindly ended up walking up to and touching the appropriate sign on wall. This is what you should look for, follow this.
Sometimes signposts can hinder, not help though. I have always had a problem putting music in a box. A label is cold, evoking nothing of the intangible emotion contained within. I’m with Paul Morley in his excellent end of year anti-list when he says it says such means of classification get “in the way of the life and mystery of music before it has a chance to live and mystify”. Or even worse, they can act as a barrier.
As a teenager growing up in Leicestershire and then at university in Leeds, house music was love. There was nothing that couldn’t be solved by a night of healing dancing at Back to Basics. Equally massive on the late ’90s Leeds music scene was drum and bass. Aggressive, dark and insular, I found it impossible to dance to – or relate to. It seemed to be for quiet and moody boys in dark clothing: baggy jeans and hooded padded jackets done up to their chins, even in hot and sweaty clubs. I wanted to smile at people on dancefloors, not scowl. I had to have house music, all night long.
That was 10 years ago. I still love house music and a whole heap of other stuff too. Maybe you noticed. But my initial experiences of drum and bass have never left me. I’m always a bit like, hmmm, no, not really. So when I saw a myspace friend request from a drum and bass guy called Mindstorm earlier today, I very nearly pressed delete on autopilot. What a dick, eh? I didn’t though. I had a listen and guess what, it’s really bloody good. ‘Midnight Rush’ has a beautifully simple, cascading melody coiled round that ever-familiar rolling drum beat. He’s probably really famous in drum and bass circles or at least I hope he is because today he reminded me not to be so ruddy narrow-minded.
November 7, 2009
It’s 6pm on a Saturday and I am still in my pajamas. I am not hungover. I didn’t get to bed (that) late. I am just revelling in doing a lot of nothing. I’ve made a kind of den on my bed. I have tea at close hand, half-read books by my feet and a big old baked potato in the oven. Plus lots and lots of music but especially Azari & III and PHASEONE.
These two bits of thinking particularly resonated today:
“Who are we, who is each one of us, if not a combination of experiences, information, books we have read, things imagined? Each life is an encyclopedia, a library, an inventory of objects, a series of styles, and everything can be constantly shuffled and reordered in every way conceivable.” Italo Calvino
“It’s not a career, it’s a way of life. It’s not product, it’s art. Capturing the moment is more important that having one eye on posterity. The focus group is the root of all evil. The bit players can tell you more than the big stars. Freedom of expression is all important. DO IT YOURSELF.” Jon Savage
November 7, 2009
This week felt very transitional. I find that a polite way of saying it sucked. But that’s not entirely fair. Some VERY EXCITING THINGS broke up the general dismay at grey weather, delicate mental state and bureaucratic frustration.
1) The very lovely Alex Bean (she of 679, 50 Bones and Lost In Paris) asked me to make a Spotify playlist for the 679 blog. If it should take your fancy, you can listen to some of my favourite things/songs here. [If they were on Spotify, it would also have had Egyptian Hip Hop, Othello Woolf and The Units 'High Pressure Days' (Rory Phillips remix) on it.]
2) Cycling in late autumn is a good thing. It keeps you warm. You get ruddy red cheeks, thus projecting some semblance of health. And it don’t cost a thing. I realised all of this on the way to interview Friendly Fires for Dummy. We talked clubbing memories, dancing politics and being back in the studio. They were very lovely and a lot of fun. I’m a big fan of their debut album. Strobe makes my heart skip.
3) I went to a listening of the new Gil Scott-Heron album ‘I’m New Here’ with Charlie from Dummy. It was at the XL offices in Notting Hill. Everyone crowded in to a cushion strewn room and…listened. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Like we’d all climbed inside the film rolling inside Scott-Heron’s head. It’s incredibly personal and purposeful, it felt like last words in a way. ‘Me And The Devil’ and ‘New York Is Killing Me’ were my two standouts. But the whole album hangs together as one story, a whole – epic, moving and heavy with meaning. It’s out next year. I will definitely be buying it.
4) It rained a lot yesterday, didn’t it? In that rain, Alice, Alice, Charlotte and I made a dash from Wembley Central to that famous stadium. 20 minutes and fours pairs of very soggy feet later, we were in our seats and waiting impatiently for Fleetwood Mac to warm us up. Ah man, they were glorious. I’d been a little worried after mixed feedback. Maybe they’d upped the ante for this last night of the tour but very honestly, they were tremendous. Stevie Nicks is a goddess. And Lindsey Buckingham’s electric guitar playing short-circuited my brain. Loved the classics but it was actually the jamming that really awed me. I surprised myself by getting quite lost in it. Can’t say I’ll be rushing back to Wembley – not my kind of venue at all – but over the moon to have seen Nicks/Buckingham. Really special.
October 21, 2009
I went to two very good gigs recently – Othello Woolf (listen/read Dummy interview) at Notting Hill Arts Club and Miranda Holly (listen/read Dummy interview) at the Social. They are both fantastically talented in very different ways and put their all into their live performances. So what am I grumbling about? Well, it frustrated and saddened me that some members of the audience insisted on talking through their entire sets. Why come to a live gig if what you really want to be doing is chatting? Sit in your living room and talk over a CD instead. At the very least go and stand at the bar, for fucks sake. Don’t stand down the front and shout your mouth off. It’s just plain rude. That’s it. Grumble over.
October 11, 2009
So it’s been a pretty up and down week out there in the big bad world: Obama bagged the Nobel Peace Prize / the Tories look set to move into No.10 next year. Sigh.
Meanwhile in other less significant news, I went to four gigs. Yes, four. That is a lot for me. I am not a young and crazy thing any more. I get tired and grumpy. Well, that’s not entirely true. Mostly I just get very drunk and red in the face. Annnnnnyway, back to the four gigs. These are they:
Django Django / Egyptian Hip Hop / Hounds of Hate
This Is Music warehouse party
We arrived just as Hounds of Hate were sending everyone into a trance (in a good way) with their slo-mo psychedelic fuzziness. Louie and Leveret from Egyptian Hip Hop greeted me with a big hug. Later Louie told me he only hugged me because he mistook me for family friend. Some kind of great aunt probably. Alex and Nick EHH were very excited because ‘a Klaxon’ had been spotted at the party. The four young Mancunians were up next. There was a mild ruckus mid-set (a falling out with the DJ over the sound). Eventually they got back to it, showcasing tons of new awesome new songs. They’ve got the melodic grunge thing down. I’m expecting big things from theses dudes. Django Django headlined, in as much as you can headline a living-room-sized warehouse. They sounded tighter than ever. Really exciting stuff. Then there was lots of sambuca drinking, dancing and a weird French guy who wanted to know if we had any ‘eroin. Er, no. Download Egyptian Hip Hop ‘Rad Pit’ and Django Django ‘Love’s Dart’ free from Dummy Mag. Interviews via the links too.
Dexy & The Hand Me Downs
The Willmill
This was very much a last minute thing – the Windmill is just down the road from me – and I know these guys from a few years back. Dexy makes really very good country punk. Or punk country. He gives it his goddamn all on stage. And he plays the harmonica. Heartfelt, soulful, energising stuff. Have a listen on Dexy’s myspace.
First Aid Kit
Bush Hall
The lovely people at Radar Maker put me on to the two phenomenal Swedish sisters that make up First Aid Kit. I really like their very recent single ‘Hard Believer’ but seeing them perform their folk/protest/blues songs live is something else altogether. ‘Wise beyond their years’ is an overused description but it’s hard to believe (sorry) that Klara & Johanna Söderberg are 18 and 16 respectively. So much self-possession, so much power – not just in their heart-stopping vocal delivery but in their message. They are very right on. I would like to be as right on when I grow up. Listen to ‘Hard Believer’ and more on First Aid Kit’s myspace. Check out some awesome photos from the gig here.
Clock Opera / Gaggle
Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
I’m a big fan of Clock Opera’s sliced n diced melodies. Their songs are anthemic and spine-tingling, full of positivity and possibility without even the slightest hint of twee or cheese. It’s feel-good and radio-friendly without resorting to type. They sounded big live. Get a free Clock Opera download and read the interview on Dummy. Heading up the night, though, were Gaggle. There has been a lot of noise about this 22-piece all female rave choir. They’re a truly exciting prospect and there’s lots to get your teeth into on Gaggle’s myspace page but, for me, they just didn’t cut it live. Maybe it was sound issues but I can’t help but feel they’ve been hyped before they’ve had the chance to fully develop their live act. Which is a bit of a missed trick for such a visually arresting group.
October 1, 2009
It’s a small world. Or a big world shrunk-wrapped by miles of intertwining cables, pulling us all together. I never really thought about it before but we must breathe internet signal these days, our lungs full of transmissions. I’m thinking these things because I have been plugged into my laptop days, listening. Mostly to Mon Khmer, a band from New York who have got me in a trance. Just posted an interview with on them on Dummy Mag, including a free download of their track ‘Birthplace’. Read my Mon Khmer piece here.
