Ladies of the Week #2: Broadcast

Broadcast were a lady-fronted band from Birmingham, whose sound is absolutely up my street: ghostly vocals over fuzzy guitars and songtitles which mention cats. 

I don't really know much about them, other than that singer Trish Keenan died last year of pneumonia, which is incredibly sad as the sound and content of her vocals is both intriguing and beautiful.
All you need to know is that the 2005 album 'Tender Buttons' is a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon soundtrack, full of hazy and whimsical electro-pop ditties that back seemingly stream-of-consciousness vocals. It's hard to talk about the songs individually as this is a perfect example of an album that should be listened to as a whole. So, here's one of the shorter songs, 'Tears in the Typing Pool'.
PS. Be careful because there's some awful sappy big-haired 80's-looking band called Broadcast too, and they are absolutely NOT GOOD.

Ladies of the Week #1: Electrelane

I am by no means a staunch feminist, but it was brought to my attention some days ago that I listen to a LOT of female singers. I hadn't really noticed but it is entirely true, at least at the moment, and so I am going to start writing every week about some totally rad ladies, partly because it'll soothe my writing itch and partly because this blog has been largely neglected since pretty much about 2 months after I started it. So...

Electrelane are an all-lady band from Brighton, who I first heard when I was about 19 when one of the boys in my university halls was listening to No Shouts, No Calls (2007) in his room. There are albums and there are albums, if you know what I mean, and this is one of the latter. From the quiet-tinkle-into-organ-burst of The Greater Times to the mad head-bopping cascade of The Lighthouse, this is a wonderful wonderful piece of work. 

I'm not quite as familiar with the other albums, mainly because they were never the latter 'album' for me, so I'll  just mention some stand-out songs from the other releases (minus Axes which I have yet to listen to properly).

One such of these songs is Film Music, from Rock It To The Moon (2001) which has something of a James Bond swag to it and is perfect for daydreaming to, i.e. imagining yourself as the protagonist in a 70's spy flick as you make your way to work. Yeah, it's awesome - listen to it here.

The next song is altogether entirely different from anything else of their's. The Valleys from The Power Out (2004) always makes me think of Wales (yes, the country) and the Sound of Music and it is both wonderfully bizarre and absolutely awesome. About 3:45mins in it goes incredibly epic and choral and it's breathtaking - listen here.

I think the main appeal of Electrelane for me is their diversity. I don't think that one album sounds the same and it is a risky business to change your sound so, because the fans might hate it. On the other hand it's incredibly dull when an artist sounds the same the whole time, and even if I weren't to enjoy a new release from them I would still hold them in high esteem because they had the balls and the imagination to create something entirely different from previous work. And in any case, I don't think they've missed the mark yet so Electrelane, I salute you.

GOOD TIT: Keisuke Yamada

Anyone who makes sculptures out of bananas is a dude in my eyes. He eats them too. I'm sure I could go on some pretentious drivel about edible art that only exists for about 30 minutes but really, the guy carves bananas. Ace.

(the site I stole this from and also more demonstrations of his carvings)

GOOD TUNE #7: Forest Fire's Fortune Teller

"Tonight, I'm gonna melt some faces with gattling-gun social skills". 

Flippin' wonderful in a scruffy, slightly unnerving, back-water rock'n'roll kinda way. And the lyrics are pretty rad too.

LISTEN ON YOUTUBE

(Just read something on the Guardian comparing them to Fleet Foxes. Well I can't say I've listened to much of their other stuff so I can't comment really, but going on this that is absolute balls: THIS IS WAY BETTER!)

GOOD GUY: Don Kenn

Don Kenn, aka John Kenn Mortenson, from Denmark, was brought to my attention by a lovely friend some months ago, and I was reminded of him upon seeing a guy wearing a t-shirt with a design that had some similarities to his style last week (though by no means as good). His creepy drawings are all done on post-it notes and are the stuff of nightmares, in an absolutely wonderful way. I wish I lived in a world where monsters were real and the landscapes were all decrepit buildings and lakes and bare trees! Sigh. Here's a link to his blog.

GOOD TUNE #6: Open Rhythms by Bodies of Water

 Entirely hypnotic from the very first note, it makes me feel as though I'm lying in long grass in the late afternoon of a hot day. It's very rare I enjoy anything quite so much as this: lazy riffs, daydreamy vocals, strings et al. If music were food, this would be absolutely delicious.
LISTEN ON YOUTUBE

GOOD LADY: Heather Mattoon

I think I love her. Her collection of paintings of cats in clothes, all of which are depicted in outfits reflecting their personalities, is totally awesome. And, if you have a spare $500, you can have your own cat painted too (if I could afford it, I definitely would). This cat is Morris, by the way.

Heather Mattoon's web & more cats in clothes

(It probably says rather a lot about me that I have just spent the last 2 hours in Madrid's Museo del Prado, and although there was some very impressive stuff there, nothing got me nearly as excited as these did)

GOOD FUN: Mari Kasurinen's My Little Ponies

I just think these are wonderful. And hilarious.

http://www.marikasurinen.com/

GOOD TUNE #5: Grauzone's 'Eisbär'

'Eisbär' (polar bear) is short-lived Swiss band Grauzone's 1981 single. Apart from the dubious sax burst at the end, every part of this song is Bang On.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTuTc_liKS4

GOOD SMOKE: Cigarettes

It's almost a shame that tobacco advertising is banned.

GOOD POSTER: Awesome Dog

Also just yesterday I walked past an out-of-use bus stop and someone had scribbled on it "buses are awesome" which amused me a little (although the type of person who would actually go to the effort to do that I'm not sure is quite so awesome - probably describes themselves as wacky or something equally distasteful). This poster is about a gazillion times better anyway.

GOOD TUNE #4: The The "This is the Day"

"well you never got up this morning cos you never went to bed, you've been watching the whites of your eyes turn red" - excellent 80's post-punk.

have a listen

VERY GOOD: GY!BE comeback

I'm sure that everyone who cares is already well aware that Godspeed You! Black Emperor have ended their lengthy hiatus and are curating All Tomorrow's Parties' december festival, Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm also sure that some people who are aware of this couldn't give two hoots. Indeed, when I initially found out, I was a little surprised but mostly indifferent.
In my teens I completely fell in love with post-rock, but after a Mogwai gig which was, to say the least, Absolutely Fucking Rubbish, my feelings for the genre faded and now all I have to show for it is a few dusty records and a tiny tattoo. But Godspeed are different to other bands.

Upon a recent listen, I remember what I said to a friend when I first heard Lift Your Skinny Fists: it was along the lines of "I can't imagine listening to anything else ever again". Their songs are long and sweeping and beautiful: it is like they know some secret about humanity, but they can't tell us, so give us gut wrenching swathes of music to contend with instead, to fathom it out for ourselves. This, combined with a sense of mystery fostered through a rejection of mainstream culture, means that, to some at least, Godspeed are deities.

And this is why their return is so very, very good.

GOOD LORD: Shrunken Heads

Found this photo from when I was in Ecuador at a museum (or rather pretend traditional 'settlement' on the Equator). Can't remember how many stages there are to preparing a shrunken head, but the first 6 were definitely the most visually arresting.
Click on the photo to see the whole thing.

Eeeeeeeyyyuck!

GOOD COMMUNICATION: Collection of Telephone Wire Art

I did my A-level art project on "communication", and, although I never completed it (I tried to do it on my year out, but getting drunk and going travelling became far more important), I did do a painting or two inspired by some art that I found on the internet. These aren't mine but I think they're awesome.
Kim Sobat's 'A Perfect Murder':

Jenny Bowers:

Martin Middleton:

Anyway. I dig telegraph pole art. It's also a massive shame that I've completely forgotten who the first artist was that I saw her paintings and was like "woah", but if I ever dig out my old art project I'll let you know.

PS. Jenny Bowers' work is amazing, WEBWEBWEB

GOOD TUNE #3: Pantha Du Prince's 'Lay in a Shimmer'

There's a twinkly sound on Sigur Ros' 'Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do'  that I have often wished there was more of, mainly because it sort of sounds like fairies having a hoe-down up in the trees. Well, folklore analogies aside, Pantha du Prince's 'Lay in a Shimmer' captures a similar sound - parties at dusk, ripped denim shorts, lots of laughter and spilt beer. Mega chilled, mega happy and mega summery.

Lay in a Shimmer on Youtube - ignore snow, think sun

Good Walk: London

Recently, in order to save money and bring some sort of healthiness back to my alcohol and late-night addled body (ignore the fact that it is currently 2.30am and yes, I have had a few), I have taken to walking almost everywhere. It's been 6 days and I am thoroughly enjoying it, and it is probably largely down to endorphins but I have also been listening to loads of albums that I haven't in ages, and that is also making me feel f****ng awesome.
There are 3 that have been topping my list.
The first is Lack's Saturate Every Atom. This makes my walk more of a swagger, but I do feel dreadfully embarrassed and like a totally knob every time I walk in front of an oncoming car or trip up on the pavement.
Second in Joanna Newsom's The Milk Eyed Mender which makes the walk more like a curious stroll where each corner I turn is stranger and more interesting than the previous.
And the third is Red Sparowes' At the Soundless Dawn. God knows why I thought I would start walking to this, because I haven't listened to them in approx. 3years and my music taste is completely different to what it was then. But the impending doom and end of the world vibe makes for a super-quick/frantic walk and every stumble over the pavement just adds to the drama.
Basically, London is effing great to walk around with good music. Perhaps I have the right imagination, but those drunken walks from Euston to Old Street, or late afternoon strolls through Farringdon have completely made my week.
Hooray!

GOOD SONG: Blonde Redhead's ' 23'

Blonde Redhead are amazing. I've thought they were amazing for ages, but then one day I came across this and it's like they found out exactly what makes my music taste tick, and then distilled it all into one perfect song. It's one of those wowwww-what-was-that-play-it-again gems.
Here is a link to the video if anyone is interested (which you totally should be after such praise). Overwhelmingly beautiful.

GOOD CONDIMENT: Green Tabasco

In my opinion, this is probably the most underrated condiment in the Western World. Seriously. Last year I flirted with the idea of carrying a bottle with me everywhere, and I recently revisited my Green Tabasco love affair after coming across it in the local corner shop, and used the last few pounds of that week's wages to splash out on it (hohoho).

So I thought I'd write a blog, because I'm a massive fan of all things tasty. In my research for this blog, I perused the Tabasco website and discovered something totally amazing which is probably worthy of an entire post itself, but as I am lazy I'm just tacking it onto this one. This amazing thing is the Scoville Scale, invented in 1912 by Wilbur Scoville to measure the piquancy of peppers. The Green Tabasco is rated at approx. 600-1200 Scoville heat units, Red Tabasco 2500-5000 SHU and the hottest ever was recorded at 1,040,000 SHU which would probably kill you. Streuth.

GOOD MAN: John Godfrey Saxe

I came across Saxe whilst investigating 'Flatland' (see earlier blog) on Wikipedia, through a series of rather tedious links. John Godfrey Saxe was a Victorian poet whose use of language amused me enough to Google him and read more of his stuff, but I realised he was an utter legend when, upon reading his rather lovely anthology online, I happened upon his poem 'Early Rising':

Yes; bless the man who first invented sleep

  (I really can't avoid the iteration);

But blast the man, with curses loud and deep,

  Whate'er the rascal's name, or age, or station,

Who first invented, and went round advising,

That artificial cut-off,--Early Rising!

 Suffice to say he's become one of my favourite people ever.
NB: full poem and others available here.