everybodystalking

Nick Green 'Where Love Is Found...'

2011-11-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

Nick Green was in a band called The Circle, who went on to become Subjagger after Nick left... He recorded solo, working with Dave Stewart and released one EP called 'Why Do I Need To Know'. Saw him live a few times where he was accompanied by a fellah called Gem Archer - wonder what happened to him ;-)

The few times I met Nick he was a warm and friendly character and hugely talented...

Leave the light on...

2011-06-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

stanleylucasRevolution at The Copper Door, Santa Ana on June 9th 2011.

Euphoria take my hand...

2011-06-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Glasvegas at The Troubadour, June 8th 2011...

Reviving the living dream...

2011-06-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Banksy from the MOCA exhibit 'Art in the streets'...

RIP Chris Sievey

2010-06-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

The comic, whose best know character was Frank Sidebottom, was 54...

RIP Peter Quaife

2010-06-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

The original bass player for The Kinks was 66...

Hey Charles!

2010-06-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Nice viral video for the Indie Peddler book release Thursday at Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa. Music is from the full length version of 'Hey Charles' by stanleylucasRevolution...

RIP Marvin Isley

2010-06-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Isley Brothers bassist was 56...

RIP Stuart Cable

2010-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

The drummer and founder member of The Stereophonics was 40. He was sacked by the band in 2003...

RIP Brian Duffy

2010-06-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

The photographer who shot the iconic 'Aladdin Sane' picture of David Bowie was 76... He also shot Bowie's 'Lodger' cover...

RIP Dennis Hopper

2010-05-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

The legendary American actor was 74... Hopper starred in a plethora of iconic movies including Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet...

RIP Ronnie James Dio

2010-05-16T17:14:00.001-07:00

The rock singer, who had a varied career including stints with Rainbow and Black Sabbath, was 68. He had been suffering from stomach cancer...

The bitterest pil...

2010-05-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

For anyone less than overwhelmed (myself included) with the current PIL reunion, this is how it should have been...

Flower in the desert (Coachella 2010)

2010-04-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Another year, another Coachella... Great music, managable weather and appalling organization.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way, first the wristband fiasco: getting into the carpark was worse than previous years - our usual back route led us past our regular parking spot which seemed to be occupied by a few camper vans and tents. Once we finally parked we waited in line an hour for our three-day wristband. Waiting in a mad scrum is never fun, particular in sweltering heat - indeed a girl next to us collapsed and I'm sure this wasn't an isolated incident. I guess we were lucky to get a wristband at all as Goldenvoice (allegedly) sold 85,000 tickets, which would explain why the wristbands ran out (the capacity is 75,000). Day 2 it took us an hour to get into the carpark due to the incompetence of the fool who was directing traffic. Inside the venue there were noticeably less stewards, and trash/recycling bins, making it impossible by nightfall to walk without stepping on an empty water bottle or worse. Finally, there were the cancellations of some of the UK and European bands (Gary Numan, Bad Lieutenant etc) because of the volcano. At one point there was a rumour Ash was flying over from Iceland... (I'll get my coat...) Oh, and the main stage caught fire during Coheed & Cambria but unfortunately there were no casualties...

As far as the music goes I think this was my best year so far:

The Best:

The Specials - seeing them twice in two days (they played Club Nokia Thursday) was brilliant. Terry was at his deadpan best, with Lynval and especially Neville running around the stage with boundless energy. The music sounded amazing, much better than the sometimes dodgy production on the LP's... Quality...

Grizzly Bear - playing tracks from a complex LP like Veckatimest would be fraught with danger for most bands but Grizzly Bear were more than up to it. Brilliant vocal harmonies from all 5 members and a really dynamic set - I've only seen The Dears match their intensity when they rock out at the end of songs...

Beach House - wonderful set from Grizzly Bear cohort Victoria Legrand (composer Michel Legrand's niece) and band... 'Zebra' and '10 Mile Stereo' were the highlights of their set, the latter building in intensity towards a climactic finale...

Thom Yorke - Atoms of Piece played through the gripping Eraser before Thom came back for a solo acoustic rendition of 'Airbag' and piano version of 'Everything in its right place'.

Gorillaz - really cool set with Damon taking more of a front man role than previous Gorillaz tours, ably backed by a band featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonen. Some great guest appearances by De La Soul, Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon, Bobby Womack and Gruff Rhys; all reprising their parts on Plastic Beach.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - gained momentum as the set went on finishing with a delightful version of her father's 'Couleur Cafe'. Charlotte is the coolest woman in rock and she looks more like Jane Birkin than Serge now, which is probably a good thing...

Charlotte:

Camera Obscura - enjoyable set from the Scottish jangle popsters

Local Natives - I had an open mind about the much hyped LA band but they were really good. A more rocky Fleet Foxes, with appropriately less facial hair...

MGMT - opinions have apparently been divided on the new LP but I liked what I heard. When we saw them live before they had a whiff of Pink Floyd about them but the new stuff is more indie glam, sounding like Of Montreal and even The Auteurs in places.

Echo & the Bunnymen - I only caught the last four songs but McCulloch/Sergant were on fine form. The former was in good spirits, telling some crude Knock Knock jokes, describing 'The Killing Moon' as the best song ever written and 'The Cutter' as the second or thrid best song ever written. The Bunnymen sounded good but when I see them I only hear what's missing rather than what's there...

De La Soul - really got the crowd going at an early time slot... 'Me, Myself and I' was classic but they didn't play 'Three is a magic number' so points deducted for that...

She & Him - actually pretty good. Zooey Deschanel sounds like Nancy Sinatra, which I guess makes M.Ward the new Lee Hazlewood... Anyways, it was poppy and cute...

Pavement - sounded great but overall the crowd just didn't seem that into it. Maybe they had all had their fill at the Fox Theater in Pomona on Thursday night... Anyways, great to have Pavement back on the scene...

The Rest:

PiL - predictably there was a lot of wailing from Mr Lydon and the effected guitar was a little tiring after while. 'Poptones' was brilliant but we were well on the way back to the car when the wind carried us the epic refrain of 'Public Image'...

Hot Chip - the Londoners put on a lively set but to me it sounds like dance music for people that don't like dance music.

Vampire Weekend - it was ok, didn't despise it as much as I wanted to...

The XX - dull x2... The fact that the best thing they've ever done is a Florence & The Machine remix says it all really... Mind you, it is brilliant...

See you in 2011...

RIP Malcolm McLaren

2010-04-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

The legendary manager of the Sex Pistols in their meteoric rise to fame and ultimate implosion was 64. Along with partner Vivienne Westwood and designer Jamie Reid, they nurtured the look and style of the British punk explosion of 1976. After the Sex Pistols McLaren became a performer on his own right - using influences from Africa and the Americas and was a pioneer in popularising hip-hop outside of the USA...

McLaren and the Pistols signing for A&M outside Buckingham Palace...

LA Font at Spaceland

2010-04-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

Kazai Rex! were entertaining. However, much of the stage presence was at the expense of a reasonable standard of musicianship which was at best shoddy, and in the case of the drumming, particularly (sorry Richie) ramshackle...The songs were kind of theatrical, like if The Magic Numbers wrote a bad musical...

Kazai Rex!

Sacha Baron-Cohen wearing a Fez may not be the look Josh Charney is going for, but after a bland opening number the set gathered momentum with the addition of a cool trumpet player, a great jazzy drummer and an ok bass player. After the non-descript opener the set turned jazzy with a touch of 'Riders on the storm' - Charney's keyboard licks right out of Ray Manzarek's repertoir...

Latin Meds

LA Font sounded excellent, Spaceland's sound system highlighting their brilliant rhythmn section. Singer Danny Bobbe was at his surly best, stalking the expanses of the Spaceland stage like a menacing caged lion, all jagged guitar licks and fractious vocals. Great set from one of my favorite bands on the local LA scene...

LA Font

LA Font, David Shane Smith, stanleylucasRevolution and Robert James at Where 3/26/10

2010-03-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

They say a picture paints a thousand words...

Slowly becoming strangers...

2010-03-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

Brookline played their final gig this week at La Cave in Costa Mesa - the Orange County band calling it quits after 6 years... Falling somewhere between Pink Floyd and Radiohead, their melodic rock lacked a contemporary edge and was sometimes over-written and somewhat self-indulgent. Having said that they are all great guys and accomplished musicians who I'm sure will be playing in other bands soon. Indeed, a couple of them have already played bass in the hipster rock band Railroad to Alaska...

At La Cave, they threw in a nice version of 'The Killing Moon' although the sound quality on the video is distorted...

RIP Alex Chilton

2010-03-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Big Star frontman was 59...

Times New Camera

2010-03-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Testing the HDFlip at the LA Font show Monday night... Audio isn't bad considering it was a loud show and I was close to the speakers...

Compare the audio to the distorted audio from the Canon Powershot footage. Shame because I love 'Evening Tea (on the balcony)'...

Toxic Mimics

2010-03-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

Fresh from a stunning LA opening last year Faris McReynolds has a new show at Tim Van Laere Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium...

RIP Mark Linkous

2010-03-06T22:28:00.000-08:00

The Sparklehorse founder, also a producer and champion of outsider artists like Daniel Johnston, took his own life...

Manchester: a Hacienda timewarp?

2010-03-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

Oliver Wilson (Tony Wilson's son) discusses Manchester past, present and future...

stanleylucasRevolution at La Cave

2010-03-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

I got lost behind the Orange curtain last night! The Bermuda triangle has nothing on Costa Mesa if you venture away from West 19th St without a GPS... In a perfect world 17th St would be parallel with 19th St, but as you know kids, this world is far from perfect...

Anyways, I arrived in good time to see SLR, who were on top form. The brassy 'This World' was followed by the metronomic rant of 'Demolition 45' with its hooky "meaningless expression..." refrain. Next was a great new song with a funky guitar loop accompanied by a frenzied vocal, the fast march of 'Spanish Boots' and finally the poignant 'Leave the light on' complete with some Blur-a-like vocal melodies...

SLR also played 'Lost on the way home' with its delightful sea-shanty swing... Unfortunately, I did get lost on the way home...

Here's some of the new song...

Ray of light...

2010-03-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

Nice viral by Rob Ray for the SLR show at La Cave tonight featuring a couple of Stanley songs...

David Shane Smith, 1/1, Ray Argyle at Where...

2010-02-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

David Shane Smith hosted another entertaining evening at Where, started in fine fashion by 1/1. 1/1 is 19 year-old wunderkid Michael Marcel Castro, who plays and mixes on a laptop, sometimes accompanied by random drum hits and live drumming... 1/1's music moved from James Bond type spy themes, through Eno ambience to kind of a Lymbyc Systym vibe with the live drummer... Great stuff...

1/1

David Shane Smith continued the electronic theme through the first half of his set, playing 'Additives', 'Miserablism', 'Tarmac' and a great extended version of 'Creatures of habit'... These were accompanied by some freaky dancing and visuals which gave the set a rave feel - or at very least the chill-out room at a rave. The second half of the set was mostly acoustic, ending on a mellow note...

DSS

I saw a few songs from Ray Argyle and band, who sounded very accomplished. The songs had a vaguely Dylan-esque feel...

Ray Argyle

RIP Larry Cassidy

2010-02-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Larry was bassist/singer in Factory Records stalwarts Section 25...

Famous for 15 seconds...

2010-02-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

I was in a pilot once, but not in the Frankie Howerd sense...

RIP Gena Dry

2010-02-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

It's not often I hear about a death of someone in the music business from my mother, but yesterday she informed me of the unfortunate death of Gena Dry. The news story and a brief bio are here but Gena was originally in the band Colour Noise. Her brother Tim Dry, a well known personality on the 1980's new-romantic scene, was in the music/mime/dance/pop group Shock before becoming half of Tik & Tok and appearing in some Star Wars films!

Anyways, Mum and her sister had become aware of the death as their maiden name was Dry, quite an uncommon last name in the UK... Mum had cousins in Redhill, where apparently Gena and Tim grew up... So possibly they are distant cousins...

Robert James 'Voz Roja'

2010-02-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

On 'Voz Roja', James' folky blues is somewhere between the blues of the OC's Parker Macy and the folkier side of David Shane Smith (who is on engineering and production duties on these recordings...)

The 5 solo acoustic songs are underpinned by some ambient background noise like birds in a forest, a typewriter and people drinking in a bar, and these give the songs a certain pathos when combined with James' pained delivery... The centerpiece of the EP is the excellent 'Ain't No One', with some effective backing vocals and panning which pushes the song into Bon Iver territory.

'Voz Roja' (red voice) is certainly an applicable title for this EP as James' firey delivery is never short of passionate. I've seen people play the blues because they want to, but Robert James plays them because he has to...

DSS, Wartime Blues and LA Font at Mr. T's Bowl

2010-02-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

DSS started off the evening in fine style with a varied set, welcoming a newly repaired acoustic (a cracked head repaired - insert your own punchline here...) and a freshly fixed volume knob, which was apparently repaired by having a blond sit on it (insert your own joke here...) The acoustic in particular sounded quite wonderful and was put to great use on the poignant 'The Beach', 'Liquor Store' and set closer 'Civilians'... Of the electronic songs, it was good to hear a return of the Christian Bale sampling 'Additives' and the staccato clicks, glitches and rapping of the August collaboration 'Friends & Family'...

The 8 piece Wartime Blues were on tour from Montana. They had a big tour bus which probably dated from the 70's, so hopefully they make it home in one piece (or eight piece...) The music was alt-country, and although not the sort of thing I would listen to on a regular basis, it was catchy enough - some nice cello touches giving some of the songs an Arcade Fire feel... On the whole, the vocals lacked a little variation and they could learn some storytelling techniques from a band like Richmond Fontaine, who have less people in the band and probably a smaller bus...

I went from hating LA Font to liking them within the space of a couple of songs. Their MySpace page describes them as antagonistic cowpunk, but this is only part of the story. Their best moments push into Pavement and even Television territory, coupled with an anglophilic punky delivery akin to bands like Los Campesinos... Well worth seeing again...

DSS

RIP Dale Hawkins

2010-02-15T11:11:00.001-08:00

The rock 'n' roller famous for his 1957 hit Suzy-Q was 73...

RIP Doug Fieger

2010-02-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

The Knack frontman, co-writer of 'My Sharona' was 57...

Editors at The Wiltern

2010-02-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

I read that Princeton are from Eagle Rock, so I'm guessing they go (or went) to Occidental College - they're far too clean cut to be part of the hipster community south of Colorado (or SoCo as I like to call it...) They are clearly a distant cousin of Vampire Weekend but without the Paul Simon fixation, which is obviously a good thing. However, naming your band after a university encourages people like me to typecast them as students - not an easy image to shake off when the time comes... They were good though...

Or at least a lot better than the self-indulgent pile of festering crap that is The Antlers... I have to thank them though - I was under some misguided notion that everything coming out of Brooklyn was hip and interesting. The Antlers are neither... Proggy keys, some MBV-lite guitar, a drummer who looks (and plays) like he wants to be in Staind and a vocalist who wishes he was Billy Mackenzie. Every song is 8 minutes long, the final 4 of which is an extended playout of cymbal crashes and guitar fx... Bad...

Some of Editors new electronic material veers dangerously into Depeche Mode territory - Tom Smith's rich baritone a dead ringer for Dave Gahan. The Mode do that kind of thing better, although the Editors bass player probably surpasses Andy Fletcher in cheesy stage moves... The songs from the first LP still sound the best and this doesn't auger too well for the future, but for now Editors are still a great live proposition!

Editors

RIP Alexander McQueen

2010-02-11T08:07:00.000-08:00

The British fashion designer was 40. He was found hanged in his London apartment just a week after the death of his beloved mother...

DSS at Bolt Barbers

2010-02-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

DSS: I'm playing at a barbers shop...
IDM: Did you tell them there was four in the band?

Bolt is a barbers shop at the less than salubrious 5th and Spring intersection of downtown LA... I was offered crack four times between Broadway and Spring - just say no kids...

David played a short set before before threatened off by the compare, who lives in the infamous Rosslyn 'hotel'... Apparently it's not exactly the Ritz, unless the Ritz has turned into a wretched rat infested crack-den... Anyways, I guess it was a comedy night as she slipped into a routine about transients, transients with dogs and being able to hold her breath for 14 floors until she gets to her room in the Rosslyn... I guess you had to be there...

DSS played an all acoustic set which included 'The Beach', 'City of the future', 'Sickness Songs' and the location appropriate 'Liquor Store'...

RIP Sir John Dankworth

2010-02-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

The veteran British jazz saxophonist was 82. He composed TV themes such as The Avengers and Tomorrow's World, and was married to jazz singer Cleo Laine.

stanleylucasRevolution at Ferns...

2010-02-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Despite more floods of biblical proportions there was a good turn out for the SLR show at Ferns cocktails in LBC... Ferns looks like it hasn't changed much in 30 years - a dive bar hosting punk bands...

SLR played a short but impactful five song set, the bulk of which will be included on new album Opus 21...

Demolition 45
Lost on the way home
This world...
Leave the light on
We still love them

ExDetectives at Silverlake Lounge

2010-02-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

The newly shorn ExDetectives sounded excellent last night at Silverlake Lounge. Unlike Samson, who lost his powers after a haircut, ExDetectives seem to have gained theirs, via rejection of all things hursuit. The guitars were playing together rather than against each other, the bass sounded clear and warm, and the drums were as tight as a nut. All these factors in place provided a rock solid background for Faris and Meriah's fragile vocals to work as intended. A great set...

ExDetectives

Deep Sea Diver is Beck and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Jessica Dobsons' band. They sound like a female fronted Grizzly Bear - Dobson's reverb drenched guitar right out of Veckatimest. The vocal is like St Vincent or whoever the preferred muso chanteuse of the day is - in other words nothing to write home about. I found their set a little boring to be honest and lacking any emotion...

Deep Sea Diver

Factory opening...

2010-02-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

In 2008 when visiting Manchester we checked out the old Factory Records offices on the corner of Princes Street and Charles Street. Most of the early Factory work was done from a house on leafy Palatine Road in the suburbs, but in the middle of the 'Madchester' period Factory setup up offices in central Manchester near the BBC building on Charles Street.

Indeed, timing is everything. When we built the Hacienda, it was too soon, when we built the Factory offices it was too late. It did, however, have a zinc roof, which was very cool, although you could only see it from a helicopter. (Anthony H. Wilson)

It also had a hanging table in the board room that cost 30,000 quid... Sean Ryder broke it!

When we saw the building in 2008 it was empty and somewhat neglected - trash and junk mail filling up the area inside the entry gate...

However, in typical Factory style the story doesn't end there. On Friday February 5th 2010, the building re-opens as Factory Manchester - a live music venue brought to you by (amongst others) Peter Hook and Ben Kelly, the architect behind the original design of the offices and The Hacienda... Hooky has put together a band for the occasion which includes Mani from The Stone Roses and Rowetta from the Mondays. They will be playing songs from Hooky's career, so expect a lot of Joy Divsion and New Order and not so much Revenge... Lets hope the club does well and Hooky won't need to write a sequel to 'How not to run a club'...

Toyko Industries have put together an excellent website here - check out the Blog page which features some excellent video diaries...

Tate of the nation...

2010-02-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

Nice little short from our friends at the Tate about Linder Sterling. Sterling is a somewhat legendary and enigmatic fixture in the punk and post-punk Manchester music scene - friend and muse of Morrissey, singer in the band Ludus and designer of some of Buzzcocks most striking images. She also designed a menstrual egg timer for Factory Records which was given its own catalog number - FAC8...

The Hotrats at The Troubadour

2010-01-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey gave their energetic and entertaining take on some of their influences at The Troubadour last night. From psychedelia to glam, from punk to post-punk, they worked through a set of inventive covers. Highlights were great versions of 'Love is the drug' (Roxy Music), Bowie's 'Queen Bitch' and The Kinks 'Big Sky'... The only song that didn't work for me was The Sex Pistols 'EMI', where Steve Jones chunky layered guitars were replaced by an ineffective acoustic that was lost behind Goffey's (Keith) Moon-like assault on the drums... They finished with a little ditty called 'Caught by the fuzz' - now that did sound like the original!

Année érotique

2010-01-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

Trailer for the Serge Gainsbourg biopic, now titled Gainsbourg (Vie Héroïque)... The release has been overshadowed by the death of actress Lucy Gordon which I wrote about here...

Toy Robot and The Fresas at Mr T's Bowl...

2010-01-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

The Antiques were pleasant enough alt-country, however they were neither 'alt' or 'country' enough be memorable... They want to be The Band but doesn't everyone these says? Everest do it better...

I haven't seen The Fresas for a while and I was a little disappointed compared to previous shows - kind of ragged and unrehearsed... However, even on a bad night they have a certain charm and one new song in particular (Veronica) was excellent. The Fresas still have the potential to be an East LA version of The Bangles but do they want it enough? Judging by last night I'm not so sure...

The Fresas

Toy Robot were very good. I didn't get past the first song on their MySpace page which is a limp MGMT facsimile but live they were an altogether more interesting proposition. Some glam guitar - shared boy/girl vocals and tight harmonies presented an enjoyable, if somewhat poppy, set...

Toy Robot

RIP Teddy Pendergrass

2010-01-13T22:23:00.000-08:00

The singer, who found fame as singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes before launching a successful solo career, was 59...

RIP Jay Reatard

2010-01-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

The garage punk musician from Memphis (born Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr) was 29...

The Happy Hollows at The Mint

2010-01-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed support band One Trick Pony, who sounds like what The Dears would sound like if they were into Dexys rather than The Smiths. I like their image - trendy geek (which is a refreshing change from hipsterdom) and singer Randolph Williams III was accordingly dressed as an airline pilot. He has a pleasant chilled demeanor and sounds a little like Sondre Lerche...

The Happy Hollows are currently enjoying 15 call minutes of fame as poster children for Samsung, but proved they weren't stuck inside of mobile with the memphis blues with a storming set. Highlights were TV favorite 'High Wire' and an incendiary closing couplet of 'Lieutenant' and 'Tambourine'. After handing out some vinyl to the kids (oh to be young...) they came back on for the driving 'Delorean'. Great show...

One Trick Pony

The Happy Hollows

The Rhone Occupation at Spaceland

2010-01-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

I think I'm getting to grips with the new camera - I even got a couple of shots of The Rhone Occupation facing the audience which is no mean feat. Apart from a shyness that is criminally vulgar, the pacing of their set left a little to be desired - after a spritely opener things came to a brief stop with the slow Radiohead-esque 'Would It Kill You To Talk This Out' coming far too early in the set... Anyways, TRO picked up the pace and finished strongly. Kevin Bronson seems to like them, but then he likes everyone doesn't he?

Before TRO were the garage rock chics Wet and Reckless, who I didn't hate as much as I was expecting. Their sixties pebbles sound owes a little to the Velvets, but apart from that had few redeeming features. I have to say the drummer is appalling but that's probably the point isn't it? Whatever, at least I have a new pickup line - "are you wet and reckless?"

JUJU cover

2010-01-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

I just finished the artwork for the new JUJU compilation cd... The project spec was 'something with Saturn and a disco-ball'...

Exquisite Corpses...

2010-01-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

Warpaint's 'Elephants'. In other news, Warpaint will be covering 'Ashes to Ashes' for Manimal Vinyl's David Bowie tribute featuring artists such as, ahem, Duran Duran...

RIP Rowland S. Howard

2009-12-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

The Australian guitarist was 50. Starting with The Boys Next Door he went on to form The Birthday Party with Nick Cave, where his feedback was a key element of their sound. He later collaborated with artists such as Lydia Lunch and Nikki Sudden...

Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll

2009-12-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to the Ian Dury biopic starring the excellent Andy Serkis...

RIP Vic Chesnutt

2009-12-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

The Athens, Georgia based singer-songwriter was 45. The wheelchair confined Chesnutt (he was injured in a car accident in 1983) apparently took an overdose of muscle relaxants and was in a coma since earlier this week...

Ladyflash...

2009-12-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

Some of the samples used in The Go! Teams 'Ladyflash':

At 3:15 in Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewoods 'Down from Dover':

At 0:50 in The Soul Searchers 'Ashley's Roachclip':

At 1:49 in Fontella Bass' 'I can't rest':

At 1:36 & 2:00 in the basketball rap section of the movie 'Wild Style':

At 3:38 in Davey DMX 'The DMX Will Rock You':

Put it all together and you end up with The Go! Team's 'Ladyflash' - genius!!

The sam old sung...

2009-12-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Everybodystalking favorites The Happy Hollows - now also poster children for Samsung Mobile... I nearly fell off the bed when I saw this advert during the Laker game!

Decades...

2009-12-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

Wasn't it Depeche Mode who said 'Well I know five years is a long time and that times change'? Well 10 years is twice as long and times have certainly changed for me - I live in a different continent for god's sake... Anyways, here are my 10 favorite LP's of the last decade (in no particular order...)

The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike

Sonic Youth guitars, 70's cop themes, Sesame Street, double-dutch chants and hip-hop - The Go! Team's post-nostalgia mash-up was the freshest sound of the naughties...

The Dears: No Cities Left

Who'd have thought the 'new Morrissey' would be from an ethnic minority - Canadian! Montreal anglophile Murray Lightburn and his excellent band bring previous efforts sharply into focus with an epic set of mellow-dramatic classics...

Radiohead: Kid A

How do you follow 'OK Computer' - the x-generations' 'Dark side of the moon'? You don't... 'Kid A' was an LP Radiohead fans either loved or hated as the band ditched the guitars in favor of chilling, eerie, subliminal electronica.

The Strokes: Is This It

The LP that made indie music hip. The New York press darlings transport us back to CBGB's circa 1977 with a garage rock classic.

Arcade Fire: Funeral

An emotionally wracked masterpiece that jumped seemlessly between chamber pop melodies and angular art-rock.

The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

All the Lips previously ramshackle efforts suddenly focused into one conceptual masterpiece.

Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

Conor Oberst's clearest vision yet - an alt-country classic which gives his brilliant lyrics a sparkling platform...

Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of Bewilderbeast

The many layered award-winning folktronic classic bared repeated listening. He had some good hats too.

Gorillaz: Gorillaz

Hip-hop, pop and cartoons from the Hoxton supergroup. Apparently they were only doing it for the kids - and the kids loved it!

Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes

For me, the only listenable band in this god-forsaken beardy folk revival. A camp-fire classic to be sure...

Also worthy of mention were:

The Streets: Original Pirate Material - increasingly unlistenable output throughout the decade soured Mike Skinner's chances...

Broken Social Scene: You Forgot it in People - the Montreal quota was already used up by The Dears and Arcade Fire...

Portishead: Third - a little too scary for repeated listening...

Who made your Top 10?

Ninja sightings...

2009-12-14T21:36:00.000-08:00

Rinocerose's 'Time Machine' featuring Ninja from The Go! Team:

Simian Mobile Disco's 'It's the beat' featuring Ninja from The Go! Team:

Yumi Yumi with 'I am right' featuring Kaori from The Go! Team:

Warpaint

2009-12-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Great version of 'Elephants' from the Equisite Corpse CD release party at The Echoplex on January 13th 2009...

The Rhone Occupation

2009-12-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

The Rhone Occupation taming the caverous Echo Curio wall of sound with a nice version of 'A Place'...

RIP Derek B.

2009-11-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

The rapper (full name Derek Boland) was a pioneering figure on the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s... He died of a heart attack aged 44...

Four your eyes only...

2009-11-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

BBC Four hit yet another home run with their outstanding documentary 'Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany'... It's 1968; students are rioting throughout Europe and in Germany they struggle to break away from their countries past - forging a new identity through music. Rejecting the rock music of America and the UK and the schlager (cheesy euro-pop) of their own charts, they create an electronic-heavy sound that the British press would inappropriately dub 'Krautrock'...

The documentary features footage from all the major Krautrock groups like Amon Düül, Cluster, Harmonia, Neu!, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Can and Faust. The section on Amon Düül was particularly interesting, not only their close alliances with aspiring German film-makers such as Wim Wenders, Fassbinder and Werner Herzog, but their inadvertent involvement with the terrorist Baader-Meinhof gang...

Amon Düül II:

The Cribs at The Roxy

2009-11-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Support act The Blood Arm were very Sunset Strip - a cheesy bar-band nine parts Meatloaf to one part The Magic Numbers. The singer certainly had the energy and look of Meat (all hair, waistcoat and perspiration) but lacked the charisma; I bet you're thinking two out of three ain't bad but it was. The music was lacking any sort of groove (no bass player) as the piano/organ and lone guitarist tried to keep time with some ramshackle drumming.

The Cribs were much as I remembered - punky northern lad-rock.. However, the inclusion of Johnny Marr has certainly sweetened the sound somewhat and they put on an exciting live show... It remains to be seen how long The Cribs will hold Marr's attention in the long run - they definitely lost my attention within 45 minutes...

ExDetectives at Silverlake Lounge

2009-11-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

Cue the Moon were excellent, taming the oft lousy Silverlake Lounge sound with a great set. They are derivitive of loads of bands; early Muse, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Grizzly Bear and even The Dears in some of the extended soloed outro's... Their saviour could be some neat keyboard effects but whether this is enough to differentiate them from just another group of talented copyists remains to be seen. Will definitely check them out again...

The poorly named Shotgun Showdown were a raw but fun all girl band who reminded me a little of a garage version of The Cranberries. I'm sure there are a load of girl bands playing three chord garage rock at the moment, just don't ask me to name any OK?

ExDetectives played a good set of which 'Won't stop' and 'Closing Bell' were the highlights, although a couple of the newer songs are catching up fast...

Warpaint at Spaceland

2009-11-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Support band Seaspin are average My Bloody Valentine copyists... Anyone looking for some LA synth-assisted goth-pop is better off with Great Northern...

Rough Trade bound Warpaint were on their usual fine form, starting with a loose, slinky instrumental before launching into 'Stars', and blistering versions of 'Elephants' and 'Beetles' - the latter three a triple whammy from their current EP 'Exquisite Corpse'. After the majestic 'Majesty' was a long closing number featuring some psychedelic cello and in a puff of ethereal magic they were gone...

The Happy Hollows at Spaceland

2009-11-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

The Happy Hollows kicked off their November Spaceland residency in chaotic style - mainly because anyone (like myself) showing up after 10pm was greeted with an ever increasing line around the block. The reason Spaceland was full was a surprise last minute appearance by Julian Casablancas and his band. Anyways, as half of LA's hipster community spilled out onto the pavement (either to smoke or return to their dirty bedsits) they started letting those in line get inside at around 11pm...

The Hollows sounded great and the highlight was a frantic version of 'Lieutenant' and a rare live runout for 'Death to Vivek Kemp'... Hopefully I'll make it down to see them again before the month is out...

Smooth trade...

2009-10-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

I hate to say I told you so but I told you so... Rough Trade have just signed LA based quartet Warpaint - tipped for success here since I saw them last year. I was right about Warpaint, I am right about The Happy Hollows and will be right about the others... you read in here (possibly) first... Better than Bat for Lashes I said and I was right!

U2 and Black Eyed Peas at the Rose Bowl

2009-10-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Black Eyed Peas seemed to get a great reception which probably says more about the average concert goer in Los Angeles than it does about their performance, but I guess they were fairly entertaining if you like that sort of thing. The one great moment was a guest appearance by Slash for a version of 'Sweet child of mine' with Fergie doing a passable (despite messing up the words) impression of Axl Rose. Perhaps Fergie is Axl Rose - I've certainly never seem them in the same place at the same time...

I could rant about U2's carbon footprint on this tour but apparently you can offset this by inoculating a few dozens Africans so we're all good. The claw-like stage is certainly an impressive site and the light show excellent. The music sounded good - too many new songs for my liking and I'd assume the majority of the crowd felt the same way. There was genuine excitement for songs like 'Where the street have no name', 'With or Without you', 'Sunday bloody Sunday' and 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' but these were balanced with periods of ennui in songs such as 'Get on your boots' and the uneventful closer
'Moment of Surrender'...

Echo & the Bunnymen at the Nokia Theater

2009-10-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Whereas LALive scored a victory with Club Nokia, I feel they have missed a great opportunity with the Nokia Theater... The theater is a huge, cavernous black box without soul or character, and had the balcony not been closed due to lack of sales we would have been at least 100 yards from the stage. As it was, we were relocated to the left side of the floor where there were many half empty rows...

Anyways, it's been 25 years since 'Ocean Rain' - the Bunnymen's seminal 1984 album, but it remains an important work of art. When the rest of contemporary music was embracing 'synth culture', the Bunnymen bucked the trend and released an LP full of strings and subtle acoustic touches. Indeed, it's difficult to imagine any of The Bunnymen's post-punk peers such as The Sound or Joy Division doing anything remotely similar... The LP has aged remarkably well and thanks to a timeless production, still sounds as fresh and vibrant as it did all those years ago. Live, the sound could have been better allowing the orchestral parts to breathe a little rather than being swamped by guitars, but I guess it was never going to sound as good as the LP. The stage lighting was a little boring - the dark oceanic blue lights only interupted by the occasional blast of strobes but the 'Ocean Rain' part of the show was accompanied by a stunning slide slow of black and white pictures of the early Bunnymen.

After 'Ocean Rain' the second part of the show was a best of collection which included 'The Cutter', 'The Back of Love', 'Zimbo (All my colours)', 'All That Jazz', 'Rescue', 'Villiers Terrace' and the brilliant 'Show of strength'... Only the second encore didn't quite hit the spot featuring a lumpy 'Nothing last forever' (except this song - thanks Sean!) and their biggest US hit 'Lips like sugar'...

Lloyd Cole at The Troubadour

2009-10-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

I thought we'd arrived at a wedding when we walked into The Troubadour last night - the crowd was seated on white plastic chairs. Fortunately, we managed to grab the last couple even though I was sitting next to a guy with tourettes...

It's been 25 years since Cole released his debut LP 'Rattlesnakes' with the Commotions but he looked in good shape - a little heavier and his greying locks gave him a kind, Tony Hart look. He still seems painfully shy (although more chatty than I was expecting) and a little more interaction with the audience would have given the performance a more intimate feel...

Cole played two sets, both just him and a couple of acoustic guitars and he played selections from throughout his career. The voice was unmistakedly still there and the guitar playing was excellent. Highlights were everything he played from 'Rattlesnakes', especially the wonderful 'Are you ready to be heartbroken'... His music (Leonard Cohen meets the lighter side of the Velvets repertoir) has stood the test of time well although the lyricism is a little formulaic - namecheck an actress or writer, have a girls name in the song and get heartbroken. Are you ready?

You (should) have been watching...

2009-10-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

1. Synth Britannia: excellent BBC4 documentary on the rise and fall of electronic music in the UK. Some great footage of Walter (now Wendy) Carlos, whose 1971 soundtrack to 'A Clockwork Orange' is cited as a big inspiration, as were Kraftwerk, who were featured on a episode of sci-fi documentary 'Tomorrows World' in 1975. As electronics became cheaper and the DIY ethics of punk took over, pockets of electronic music were springing up around the UK; from Sheffield (The Human League) to Liverpool (OMD) to Manchester (Cabaret Voltaire) to London (Daniel Miller aka The Normal and founder of Mute.) Also featured from London are Throbbing Gristle and John Foxx whose Shoreditch bases were apparently on plague burial grounds...

Gary Numan bridged the gap between experimentalism and pop, opening the doors for bands such as Depeche Mode and a reformed Human League... As the 80's progressed pop music became dominated by the synth groups, and New Order pushed electronic in the direction of dance music...

Walter Carlos

2. How not to run a club (HMV exclusive DVD to accompany the Peter Hook book): entertaining 30 minute DVD featuring an interview of Peter Hook by Miranda Sawyer. Hook again talks frankly about the life and times of The Haçienda and there are also candid interviews with Fiona Allen (receptionist at the club), designer Ben Kelly and DJ's such as Mike Pickering and Jon DaSilva.

Hooky

3. The Damned United: Michael Sheen gives a brilliant performance as legendary football manager Brian Clough, and the film features an excellent backup cast including Colm Meaney, Timothy Spall and Jim Broadbent. In 'The Queen' and 'Frost/Nixon' Sheen plays Tony Blair and David Frost expertly, but in 'The Damned United' he becomes Brian Clough. Great movie and Sheen deserves at least an Oscar nod...

Sheen/Clough

RIP Liam Maher

2009-10-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Maher was the singer in Flowered Up, supposedly London's answer to The Happy Mondays... They weren't, but 'Weekender' (and the accompanying video) was a classic!

RIP Vic Mizzy

2009-10-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

The composer of The Addams Family theme was 93...

The Primitive Electric by Faris McReynolds

2009-10-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

'The Primitive Electric' is an aptly named new exhibition by Los Angeles based artist Faris McReynolds. McReynolds paintings have two distinct styles; first a brutal, stark, somewhat Francis Bacon-esqe style which dehumanizes its subjects, and second, portraits that seen from a distance look almost like a re-touched photo. The latter, on closer inspection, are quite wonderful - the paintings seem to be melting in translucent impressionist blobs.

On a couple of paintings McReynolds distinct styles morph somewhat; 'Caveperson' is like the portrait style but the subject is caught is a blurred scream, and in 'Potato Eaters 2' the aggressive strokes are toned down, giving the painting more realism but the interesting use of color and placement makes the subjects in the background appear to be closer than those in the foreground...

'The Primitive Electrics' runs at the Roberts and Tilton gallery in Culver City from 17th October to November 14th...

The Haçienda (How not to run a club) by Peter Hook

2009-10-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

The Haçienda (How not to run a club) is Peter Hook's wildly entertaining memoirs of being part owner of The Haçienda - Manchester's famous club. Hook's story weaves through the history of the club through the purchase and design of the club (mainly subsidized by sales of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures), it's opening in 1982 through to it's eventual closure in 1997.

The fact that The Haçienda made it through 15 years is amazing as the club seemed continuously on the point of closure - either through financial difficulties in it's poorly attended early years or the drugs, gangs and violence that came with the acid house movement and 'Madchester'...

Hooky is full of great tales, most of which involved the drugs (of which there were plenty) and the violent Manchester gangs which made running the club on a normal basis impossible - indeed one of the gangs ended up running the door!

RIP Al Martino

2009-10-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Italian-American baritone was 82. The crooner was known for hits such as 'Spanish Eyes', 'Volare' and 'Speak Softly Love' and appeared as a wedding singer in The Godfather.

The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy at The Echo

2009-10-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

Floods of biblical proportions and the (Mr) odd power cut or two didn't prevent me heading over to Echo Park to catch The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy. In 'Southern Mark Smith' Pat Fish sings '...in California everyone's got a swimming pool in their back yard' - well, they do now... Anyway, the night was started in fine fashion by Downy Mildew who apparently have been around for ever - their quirky pop not dissimilar to the JBC but with shared boy/girl vocals with a hint of 10,000 Maniacs and early REM. Need to find out more about them...

Max Eider took the stage first and played 'My Other Life' and 'Kings and Queens' before being joined by Pat Fish and Steve Valentine for great versions of 'Who loves you now...' and 'Drink'. Next Pat did a few solo songs including 'Switzerland' from the Wilson arsenal before being joined by Max for 'La Mer' and then the full band (featuring Kevin Haskins!) steamed into the following:

Partytime
Mr Odd
Sister Death
Southern Mark Smith
Girlfriend
Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present
Zombie Love
-
Angels
Roadrunner

Great set and can only think of 'Just like Betty Page' and 'The Human Jungle' that I would have like to have heard...

Travis at Fargo...

2009-10-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Travis (or rather Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop) put on an entertaining show at Fargo. The acoustic tour, dubbed 'A Chronological Acoustical Journey Through the Travis Back Catalogue: Laugh Out Loud Stories, Scottish Accents, Handsome Scottish Men, Naked Torsos' featured most of Travis' best known songs plus enough obscurities to please the die-hard. Few bands could hold the attention for over 2 hours playing an acoustic set but Healy introduced each number with the story behind the track (complete with slide show) that made the show more like a play or musical, weaving a chronological journey through the story of Travis the band...

Also, interesting (and a great marketing ploy) was Healy and Dunlop returning the run the merch table which I'm sure added good numbers to the sales of T-shirts, CD's etc. This is valuable for a band like Travis, who rejected a continuation of their major label deal in favor of forging their own path. Indeed, this acoustic tour is probably a fund raising exercise to finance the next CD...

RIP Stephen Gately

2009-10-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Boyzone singer died after an evenings drinking in Majorca - he was 33. After Boyzone split in 2000 Gately starred in stage productions like Jospeh and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Boyzone reformed last year for a reunion tour....

RIP Robert Kirby

2009-10-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

The string arranger best known for his work on Nick Drake's 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Layter', has died at the age of 61. Kirby also worked on David Ackles' 'American Gothic', Elvis Costello's 'Almost Blue' and Paul Weller's 'Heliocentric'...

ExDetectives at Silverlake Lounge

2009-10-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed ExDetectives last night - a great set. Not that they had too much to follow - some indie en espanol from a band whose singer sounded amazingly like Enrique Iglesias (flat and Spanish) and a poor man's Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. The latter (Colorada & Belle) murdered Nancy & Lee's 'Did you ever', raped Pink Floyd's 'Breathe' and pillaged The Stones' 'Wild horses', all while dressed as Gene Autry and his wife and doing a 'comedy' routine.

Anyways, ExDetectives played a couple of new songs of which 'Where you turn' sounded particularly strong. The set was well balanced and 'Closing Bell' is a great way to close. My only slight reservation was the turgid 'Return' but at this point only wild horses could drag it out of the set. Perhaps Gene Autry could help...

Thom Yorke at the Orpheum Theater

2009-10-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Thom Yorke and friends put on a great show last night in front of a packed house which included the likes of Toby Kebbell, Rhys Ifans, Charlize Theron and husband Stuart Townsend. I resisted the temptation of approaching Kebbell in the bar and asking "Dead Mans Shoes - what the fuck is all that about?" although a post show "job's a good-un" (from Control) would have been more applicable.

Yorke and Co ran through The Eraser from start to finish and everything sounded amazing especially the title track, 'Black Swan' and 'Harrowdown Hill'... Flea's percussive bass added an extra dimension to the songs, and combined with Nigel Godrich's sparse synths the music had an early Simple Minds or Japan feel. However, the layered percussion throughout was definitely Radiohead flavored.

The encore (Yorke solo for 3 songs and then the full band back for 3 or 4) was a little after the lord mayors show but short of playing some beloved Radiohead songs I don't think they could have bettered The Eraser part of the show...

SLR & Brookline at The Dragonfly

2009-10-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

I'd never been to The Dragonfly before but it's purple outside facade and velvet booths were familar to me - having been the location for the Hinged video for their song 'Crawl'... Hinged of course featured Sean Robertson... The Dragonfly (not unlike close neighbour Unknown Theater) has an unorthodox layout and disproportionately large stage...

SLR sounded good, bringing in 'Is a...' and a live debut for the brilliant 'Leave the light on' which closed the set at the expense of 'Venus de milo'... The sound for Brookline wasn't great but they played up to their usual high standards...

'You're Entitled to an Opinion...' by David Nolan

2009-10-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

'You're Entitled to an Opinion...' (The high times and many lives of Tony Wilson, Factory Records and The Hacienda) is David Nolan's excellent and comprehensive biography of Tony Wilson.

The book covers Wilson's life, or rather his extra-ordinary double-life; by day a TV presenter at Granada Studios, and by night boss of perhaps the most influential record label of modern times in Factory Records, and the most famous UK venue/club in The Hacienda. Apparently The Hacienda only started booking DJ's as they were cheaper than bands and the rest is history! The music side of Wilson's life has been documented elsewhere but it was interesting to read of his sometimes fiery relationships with his Granada TV bosses, his later jobs with Channel 4 and the BBC.

Also covered in depth are his personal relationships, first with Lindsay Reade, then Hilary Wilson, who bore his two children and finally Yvette Livesey. Hilary Wilson was knifed on her doorstep by a crazed fan, which perhaps explains her virtual non-appearance as a character in the movie '24 hour party people'. Yvette Livesey shared Tony's love for music and still runs the 'In the City' music conference.

Wilson contracted kidney cancer in his final years and the disease had spread to his stomach and lungs by the time a prognosis was made. There was hope with a new wonder drug called Sutent, but ironically the drug was not available in Manchester due to it's high cost. Wilson campaigned for it's availability, not just for himself but others who suffered from the disease. Interestingly, the NHS value the cost of one year of life to be 30,000 GBP. Eventually, the drug was purchased anonymously for Wilson but it was too late and Wilson died August 10th 2007.

The last chapter covers the famous FAC catalog numbers, which include FAC61 - A lawsuit brought by Factory Producer Martin Hannett to get the label closed; FAC99 - Dental work for Rob Gretton (Joy Division and New Order manager) and FAC501 - Anthony H. Wilson's funeral and coffin (complete with silver FAC501 plate.)

Cover versions

2009-09-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

So The Charlatans' Tim Burgess just got a new tatoo, choosing to adorn his colar bone with FAC33. FAC33 was of course the catalog number for the debut New Order single 'Ceremony'. Both 'Ceremony' and B-side 'In a lonely place' were Joy Division songs that were never recorded before Ian Curtis died...

If you were to choose a Factory catalog number for a tatoo, I'm sure FAC10 (Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures') would be up there with the most popular. The seminal LP is 30 years old this year and to celebrate you can watch the pulsar wave form morphing away whilst listening to 'UP' here!

Just as good is the purple version I created for The Protagonist! website a couple of years ago:

Manic Street Preachers at The Avalon

2009-09-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the Manics haven't been to LA for 10 years so there was very much an air of anticipation inside the Avalon last night! Indeed, the crowd were not disappointed by a brilliant show right from an impecable 'Motorcycle Emptiness' to an anthemic 'Design for Life'. The set was perfectly paced and included a couple of acoustic songs ('Small Black Flowers' and 'This is yesterday') midset before building to a deafening crescendo. Other stand out songs were 'Faster', 'You love us', 'Everything must go', 'You stole the sun from my heart' and a blistering 'Motown Junk' which was preceeded by a minute or so of The Small Faces' 'All or nothing'... Fantastic show - best gig I've been to for ages!

Happy faces...

2009-09-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

The always entertaining and slightly mad The Happy Hollows featured on Pinpoint playing 'Faces' from the forthcoming debut LP Spells:

The Primitive Electric

2009-09-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Anyone in LA between October 17th and November 14th should check out a new exhibition by the multi-talented artist/musician/hipster Faris McReynolds:

Here is the press release from the Roberts & Tilton gallery:

The Primitive Electric
October 17 - November 14, 2009

Opening reception for the artist: Saturday, October 17th, 6 to 8pm
Roberts & Tilton is pleased to present The Primitive Electric, an exhibition of new paintings by Faris McReynolds.

In his third exhibition at the gallery, Faris McReynolds continues his exploration of imagined space and time, manifesting multiple ideas and ways of seeing through the literal movement of paint on the canvas. This recent work stands as an embodiment of culture, addressing specific themes of alienation, boredom, restlessness, partying and escapism.

There’s a sense of aimlessness about these portraits as each one resists a simple narrative reading, opting instead for a more expansive, albeit more complicated view of the world. McReynolds desires to paint in a primitive manner, yet this “primitivism” derives less from stylistic choice than from the intention to communicate multiple versions of the world at once.

Here the traditional portrait is turned on its ear as figures merge into one another, blurring literal and cultural boundaries, exposing their bodies in weirdly grotesque ways, yet without shame. McReynolds wants nothing more than to allow these paintings to communicate freely on a variety of levels, and each exists as a visual testament not to the artist himself but to the vagaries of a flawed and failed culture.

Born in Dallas Texas, McReynolds has shown both nationally and internationally at Goff & Rosenthal in Berlin, Gallery Min Min in Tokyo, and the Tim Van Laere Gallery in Antwerp.

RIP Arthur Ferrante

2009-09-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

Ferrante, one half of the piano duo Ferrante and Teicher, died age 88 of natural causes. The easy-listening duo recorded many adaptions of movie themes such as The Apartment, Exodus, Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra and Midnight Cowboy in their 150 albums. Teicher died last August age 83...

Happy Mondays & The Psychedelic Furs at Club Nokia

2009-09-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Amusement Parks on Fire started the night off in shoegaze style. Their whimsical vocals bring to mind Mew but the long, guitar driven songs are more MBV-lite. Indeed, they actually sound like Ride!

Happy Mondays sounded really good, although the occasion failed to match the Coachella appearance (complete with Anthony H. Wilson introduction) of 2007. However, Sean Ryder seemed really together and his singing was more confident than a couple of years ago, despite getting his lyrics from a laptop which confined him to center stage. With Ryder static and no Bez (passport problems) Julie E. Gordon took up the slack with an energetic performance and some great vocals. Highlights were the groovy 'Step On' and a feverish 'Reverend Black Grape' but all the old stuff was excellent. The songs from 'Uncle Dysfunktional' sounded ok but in truth only 'Jellybean' approaches vintage Mondays.

The Psychedelic Furs looked and sounded just like they did back in the 80's. Richard Butler has aged amazingly well and is still pencil thin. The problem (now and back then when I had 'Talk Talk Talk') is I can't listen to them for more than 30 minutes - it's all too raspy! With Butler's raspy vocals and heavily featured saxophone in every song it's all a bit samey after a while.... We made a dash for the exit, missing the inevitable pandemonium that I'm sure accompanied 'Pretty in Pink'. By the way, we heard that The Killers wouldn't let The Psychedelic Furs play 'Pretty in Pink' when the Furs supported them a couple of days ago. In fact it's worse than that - The Killers played it, with Richard Butler coming on to guest. Another reason to hate The Killers...

RIP Mary Travers

2009-09-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

Mary Travers of folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary has died aged 72. They had a number 1 Number One hit in 1969 with 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'... The trio disbanded in 1970 to pursue solo careers.

Are you listening Noel?

I'mma Let You Finish

2009-09-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

RIP Colin Sharp

2009-09-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

The author of 'Who Killed Martin Hannett' has died after a short illness. Sharp was also singer with an early incarnation of The Durutti Column.

RIP Bobby Graham

2009-09-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

Legendary session drummer Bobby Graham has passed away, aged 69.

Graham played on an estimated 15,000 records in his lifetime, including Petula Clark's 'Downtown', Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You' and 'Gloria' by Them. Alongside those acts, he also worked with The Kinks, playing drums on both 'You Really Got Me' and 'All Day And All Of The Night'. He was allegedly approached by Brian Epstein to replace Pete Best in The Beatles but turned down the request as The Beatles were at that point unknown...

Glispering Prize!

2009-09-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading everybodystalking for any length of time you may recall that I did some voiceovers and incidental music for a documentary called 'Next tooth one mile' by Los Angeles filmaker Cassi Glisper.

Well, 'Next tooth one mile' just won Best Documentary at the International Film Festival of Ireland. Congratulations Cassi and everyone associated with the documentary!

Cassi with the Mayor of Clonmel at the awards ceremony...

RIP Jim Carroll

2009-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

The New York punk poet, musician and author has died of a heart attack, aged 60. Carroll became a heroine addict aged 13 and documented his teenage years in his book The Basketball Diaries, later made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Guitar heroes...

2009-09-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

In a week when The Beatles legacy was brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century by the release of The Beatles: Rock Band!, it seems not everyone is happy with their digital band-mates being immortalized in a game. Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl just released the following:

This is a statement regarding Nirvana, Guitar Hero and the likeness of the late Kurt Cobain.

We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate – we have no control whatsoever in that area.

While we were aware of Kurt’s image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn’t know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in “re-locking” Kurt’s character so that this won’t continue in the future.

It’s hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists’ music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better.

Cobain - judge for yourself...

Drugstore cowboy...

2009-09-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Interesting story about a bitter feud between Damian Hirst and graffiti artist Cartrain. Cartrain used Hirst's image of a diamond encrusted skull in some of his work and was hit by a barrage of legal letters... Cartrain took revenge by stealing a box of pencils from Hirst's installation piece Pharmacy... Read the full story from the Independent here...

The Pharmacy installation:

If Hirst and Pharmacy sound familiar you may have been to the Notting Hill bar/restaurant called Pharmacy - designed by Hirst and opened in 1997. I went there once or twice and it was a hip place although somewhat sterile and cold... The bar came into dispute with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, which claimed the name, the pill bottles and the medical items on display, could confuse people looking for a real pharmacy. The name itself was breaching the Medicines Act 1968, which restricts the use of the word pharmacy. The bar's name was subsequently changed to Army Chap, an anagram of pharmacy and closed in 2003...

Pharmacy Bar/Restaurant in Notting Hill:

My opinion? Hirst needs to get over himself. For a start he is recycling his own 10 year old ideas for the Pharmacy installation. He should also read what Peter Saville wrote about appropriation/plagiarism:

In this post-modern era, the notion of plagiarism didn't come into it. If Jeff Koons took a photograph of a Nike ad and put it in a gallery, at the time nobody called it plagiarism. He was obviously making a statement about Nike and the art market. To me, it was better to quote Futurism verbatim, for example, than to parody it ineptly. It was a more honest, more intellectual and in a way more artistic approach. It was so literal and so obvious that it never crossed my mind that people would think that I invented this work. But some did. People were shocked because they thought that I had created an original and were disappointed to discover that it was reinterpreting a previous work. I think they were missing the point.

SLR and Railroad to Alaska at Octane Alley

2009-09-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Octane Alley is a sports bar in a strip mall next to a Vons supermarket. Despite this it's actually a pretty cool venue! The band room is separate from the main bar, although the two TV's at the bar and the sports projected onto the walls were an unnecessary distraction, as were the flames painted on the walls behind the stage! However, the PA sounded great...

SLR sounded brilliant as Sean dashed through a short set which featured 'Sunlight into Space', the beloved 'We still love them', 'Spanish Boots' featuring Dana guesting on guitar, 'Venus de Milo' and finally 'Demolition 45' with Justin Suitor joining Sean for the tongue-twisting coda...

Mr Suitor was soon back on stage with Railroad to Alaska who also sounded brilliant. As they were riffing through their set I was thinking this is so not the style of music I listen to! However, the reason it works for me (aside from the brilliant musicianship) is that the band don't look like a rock band - they look like regular indie hipsters! That and Justin Suitor is a star - his transformation from a shy friendly guy into a cross between Jimmy Page and Robert Plant is startling! He also has the best hair in rock, with guitarist Jeff Lyman a close second!

Apologies to Brookline and Free Lions for missing their sets - I wanted to get back and see Laura before she left for Ireland early Sunday...

Wire Train, Translator and Romeo Void at the Knitting Factory

2009-09-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

Three of 415 Records finest embarked on a short California tour starting at LA's The Knitting Factory. Romeo Void (or Debora Iyall and friends as it was billed) started off the evening in spritely fashion and it was great fun. It's easy to see how Iyall's voice (particularly on songs like 'Never say Never') was a massive influence on Britpop's leading ladies like Justine Frischmann (Elastica) and Louise Werner (Sleeper)... The set started out in semi acoustic fashion with Translator's Dave Scheff joining on drums as they worked their way up to a brilliant 'Never say Never'.

I must admit I missed out on Translator in the 80's - they didn't get the exposure in Europe that a number of strong support tours afforded Wire Train. Not dissimilar to early Wire Train, Translator are all chiming jangly guitars and driving basslines - singer Steve Barton an anglophilic cross between Howard Devoto and Terry Hall! Not sure whether Translator play together a lot but they sounded great - everything held together by Scheff's rock-steady drums.

It's been about 5 years since Wire Train last played live - for the pilot of VH1's Bands Reunited. The current reunion (hopefully longer than the three dates on this tour) sounded an all together more planned affair, with the band running through songs from the recently released 'Snug' LP. 'Snug' was rejected by MCA in 1993 for being "too weird" and stayed unreleased for many years. It doesn't sound at all weird now, although you can just imagine the execs at MCA shifting uncomfortably in their chairs when listening to the first track 'Who gives a shit'... The best songs from 'Snug' last night were 'Superstar' and 'Enemy', the latter featuring some fine soloing from Jeff Trott. Aside from 'Snug', WT played songs from all their LP's including the iconic 'Chamber of Hellos' and 'Last Perfect Thing' - their UK hit from the early days of MTV. They finished with one of my favorite tracks '17 spooks'... Great show, and with the tracks from 'Snug' sounding really fresh, this was so much more than an 80's nostalgia trip. Who gives a shit? I certainly do!

RIP Jake Brockman

2009-09-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

The former Echo & the Bunnymen keyboard player has been killed in a motorcycle accident age 53. The crash is a tragic repeat of the 1989 death of Bunnymen drummer, Pete De Freitas.