I've been trying to decide what tune to post from the new 13 & God CD I've had in my possession for the past few days. Assuming tomorrow is sunny I think the song I've posted over here may do. It kind of reminds my of lazy G-Funk that used to be popular back in the day. However I've been watching some fantastic video clips of mainly Japanese noise artists tonight (thanks to this page), so my judgement may be a little off.

13 & God
This is a collaboration between two bands from each side of the Atlantic Ocean. In one corner we have Themselves who are a 'hip-hop' (I use that term very very loosely) group from Anticon, in the opposing corner is The Notwist - a German group who I really don't much about, I gather they make gentle indie music. Together they've come up with a blinding bit of music; it has the dreamy quality of some of Dose-One's other projects (cLOUDDEAD and Subtle), but it seems to have slightly more in terms of melody thanks to the more song orientated Notwist I guess. It took a couple of listens to settle in, but it seems to be one of the albums that I'm enjoying more and more as I listen to it.

MP3: Afterclap

Apparently there was some sort of Football match tonight, frankly I couldn't give two tugs of a dead dogs cock about it (I really must use that phrase more often in polite conversation), Darth Phil has been to RAAAWK!

Tonight I went to see Isis & Jesu at The Mean Fiddler; got there nice and early to be confronted by the mother of all queues. It spread around several charming back alleys near Tottenham Court Road, one of which was round the back of a Sex Shop - Yay! Anyway after about 40 minutes of fun standing in a line I eventually got into the venue. Before the two main bands there was a support band, frankly they were one of the oddest bands I've ever seen: think really really slow jazz, bit like something out of Twin Peaks, to emphasize the music they played with all the lights in the venue turned off, only using three torches on the stage suspended above the three main musicians. Basically you could see fuck all except for a saxophone that occasionally strayed into view of one of the torches... An odd start to put it mildly.

Jesu were next, I saw them a few months ago where they played as a duo with a laptop providing the rhythm section, this time they bought along a drummer. It made such a difference, besides a few dodgy vocal effects they were absolutely blinding. I think my main source of tinitus tonight is from there set.

Isis were pretty good, they can be strange to watch - during the loud bits where the singer was shouting it was like watching a death metal band, but during the quiet bits it was like watching Mogwai. Got a bit samey in the end, but I've seen worse.

Anyway I had fun, although for some reason I have a shooting pain down the side of my left leg, I wonder how that happened...

I have an allofmp3 account and I'm not afraid to use it, OK they are a bit dodgy but I refuse to download songs crippled by DRM (stand up iTunes I'm talking to you, and MSN music can stop smirking over there) and besides Bleep they seem to be the only ones that offer pure unsullied mp3s.

This is what I've downloaded so far:

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I'm getting a hankering in my old age for gentle country-esque music, as long as it comes with a slight experimental edge. This fits the bill nicely, very nicely indeed in fact - plus it got a 10.0 on pitchfork

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
Another 10.0 on pitchfork, whenever I'm in a normal record shop with the urge to buy this it never seems to be in stock.

Swans - The Great Annhilator
They have the Swans? Wow!

If anyone has any recommendations that would be handy...

/phil wanders off to pillage the old US hardcore sections, D.R.I.? Circle Jerks? Yes!

"Your Jedi mind tricks won't work on me, around here I'm the emporer, this is my galaxy and in my galaxy I need product!"

...must buy new phone.

This is the stupid amount of unfinished games that normally sits in the corner of my living room:

Help!

This weekend I've mainly been playing Lego Star Wars on my XBox, it recreates the new prequel trilogy in Lego form - obviously to a geek like me it is almost pornographically good. OK, I finished the game in a space of a few hours, but its full of so much love and respect for both franchises that you can't help be sucked in by it - unless you are one of those joyless types with no soul or sense of fun.

Anyway, enough about games, here's some pictures from St Georges Day celebrations, we commemorated the events in the traditional English way: binge drinking. Jolly good fun, although I am keen to have a go at a social event which doesn't involve drinking one day - mainly just to reassure myself I'm not a complete alcoholic.

I've got absolutely nothing of interest to say.

Of course some would argue that is always the case, it's slightly depressing, meh... Anyway, here's the new Nine Inch Nails single, here's some odd pictures left on my phone, and... well that's it.

I need a hobby - and no games don't count, those are just a way to keep my potential obsessive compulsive disorder in check.

first fruits...

Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
First single from the new NIN album 'with teeth', any self-respecting obsessive fan would have heard it by now so I don't fear too much for my bandwidth by posting it here, quite a catchy little tune all in all ;-) . Comes with two Photek mixes which are nothing like I was expecting, I was expecting some good old fashioned dark drum and bass, instead he's done some full on, banging, four to the floor remixes - kind of reminds me of what people like Front 242 or Meat Beat Manifesto were doing back in the day. And he manages to make it noisier than the original version.

MP3: The Hand That Feeds

Got the new Autechre CD yesterday, trouble is it doesn't stand a hope in hell of being listened to properly as the new NIN album leaked yesterday. It really is rather good, definitely going to have to get me a proper copy when it comes out.

odd...

Autechre - Untilted
It took me weeks to notice the joke in the title for this album. Anyway, let me say a few words about Autechre. They are a duo who make electronic 'music', I admire what they do and I own several of there albums and EPs, trouble is I'm not entirely sure I like them. They don't trouble themselves with recognisable rythmns and melodies instead creating sounds that I'm sure make sense in there world, just not in anyone elses, basically completely alien music. Check out this mp3 to see what I mean.

MP3: LCC

One mini series and 13 episodes later and I've finished watching the new version of Battlestar Galatica. It is one of the finest bits of television I've watched IMHO.

I've been trawling around a few fan sites and it is especially pleasing that it seems to have irritated the crap out of fans of the original series. Changing the Cylons to having been created by man seems to be one problem, making them obsessed by sex and religion seems to have really annoyed people, and making Boomer and Starbuck girls seems to have really pissed them off. I think it's great!

New series starts in Summer apparently...

The new Nine Inch Nails album continues to leak in the strangest way I've seen an album leak - that being one track every couple of weeks. I'm beginning to think either there are some really incompetent pirates out there or someone is doing some very clever marketing. New song is called Right where it belongs, and is just downright lovely - it has this clever way of making the vocals sound suddenly clear about halfway through the song without out you realising they were softened in the first place. Trouble is it really makes me want to smoke... and stare ceilings whilst wondering where exactly I screwed up.... *slap!*

Seriously though, as a connoisseur of slightly cheesy sad little songs, it's one of the finest I've heard, and yes I do know I'm essentially talking to myself here... *pfft*

OK, got the new Tony Hawks game for my PSP which is just scary. Not because of the way they have defied the rules of the universe by cramming so much into such a small machine (witchcraft I tell thee!), but for the 'create-a-skater' mode. You can use photographs stored on the PSP and a bit of fiddling around to create an avatar in the game that is essentially you. Have you any idea how disconcerting I find this?

And finally a tip, when cooking Lemon Grass Risotto with Lime Leaf Tapenade don't leave the jug of stock on another cooker ring, especially if said jug is plastic and said cooker ring is 'on'. This combination gets messy, very very messy.

Darth Phil's credit card bill is spiralling out of control, I suspect this is mainly due to Japanese game consoles... The Bastards! But it may also have something to do with the vast amount of CDs that I buy - like these ones.

Monday Morning Music...

Old Man Gloom - Seminar II - The Holy Rites of Primitivism Regressionism
Companion piece to the other Old Man Gloom Seminar CD I got a while a go, slightly less daunting as this one splits the tracks into 16 rather than one massive piece. Same sort of music though, basically a mixture of sort of ambient mystical drones with full on balls out metal. Jolly good it is too.

MP3: Meditations in B Parts V and VI.mp3

Akron/Family
One of those bands that could be absolutely massive given the right opportunites, they kind of remind me of a more folky Radiohead, not so much for the style of music but for the way that they have a very liberal attitude to instrumentalisation. It's all plucked banjos one minute, then suddenly it goes all electronic and weird, and thats before you get to the four part vocal harmonies parts. A very good, nope strike that, excellent CD.

MP3: Afford

Book recommendation time...

This is Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. He's written many books which I've enjoyed, my favourites being Microserfs and Hey Nostradamus! I maintain to this day that Microserfs should be read by any one in the I.T. industry before they get too jaded and bitter, and Hey Nostradmus! somehow manages to be an incredibly uplifting account of a high school shooting incident in America.

What I like about his writing is his honest and non-cynical approach to writing characters, even if sometimes his narrative flow goes a bit off. Case in point this book: it's about a lonely 40-something woman who lives by herself, who has never been married or even been in love for that matter and who is suddenly contacted by her adult son who she gave up when she was a teenager only to find he has muliple sclerosis. Not the most fun-filled premise, but somehow it's not a depressing read even if it's one of those books where nothing really happens...

Easier to read than this bloody H.P. Lovecraft book I'm also reading, honestly there is only so much wailing and moaning I can handle, even in short doses like the stories in this book.

Next on the reading list (well next book that isn't a comic book): If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell.

Questions...

This is a joke isn't it?

And why does my head still hurt? This is punishment by Karma for drinking too much yesterday and waking up on my lounge floor isn't it?

I seem to have tickets to go and see Nine Inch Nails again, gives me something to look forward to for July I guess...

A couple more tunes are over here; one weird, and not so weird. Is anyone listening to this stuff? I'm just curious as to how my plan to subvert people into listening to the same music that I do is going... Not very well it would seem.

notapathetic.com
I've always voted Labour, but I won't be voting for them in the next election - I've completely lost faith in a government that has to be shamed into feeding school kids decently by a celebrity chef, and the other parties are either too horribly racist/fascist or just completely useless to contemplate voting for. And do not get me started on the whole mess in Iraq.

this weeks new stuff

Mark Sandman - Sandbox
Mark Sandman was most known for being the frontman for the drums, 2 string slide bass, sax trio that was Morphine. They were fantastic, sort of bluesy I guess but not really, I think Mark Sandman described the stuff he did as 'Low Rock'. He knew that the bass could be used as a lead instrument, that the more interesting side of the piano keyboard was the left hand side, and he wrote lyrics that could contain these brilliant mini naratives that would keep you enthralled. He was also very prolific writing and performing in many other groups such as Treat Her Write and Either/Orchestra. Sadly he had a heart attack on stage in 1999, this double CD and DVD set collects some of his unreleased work from all of the bands he was in, I think it makes a fitting tribute to his work...

MP3: Cocoon

Fantamos - Suspended Animation
Another CD from Mike Patton - The Wire had a big interview with him this month, hence the sudden interest in his work. If you know of the Naked City album that was released on Earache (I can't remember the name of it, but it had the best song titles ever - Jazz Snob Eat Shit springs to mind) you'll love this: it's a thirty track tribute to April which basically mixes thrash metal with incidental cartoon music. It also comes with a wonderfully illustrated one month calendar, today is Motherhood and Beauty Day in Armenia apparently!

MP3: 04/07/05 Thursday

Yay! Lara's back...

With normal sized boobs... and really, really big calves.

Moments of PSP zen part 1

• About 2 minutes into the first level of Lumines when the space station starts strobing, the world turns orange and the music hits this absolutely perfect crescendo - someone please release that soundtrack!


• Getting online in the middle of Waterloo


• The feeling of perfect freedom from shouting 'you cunt' to the world in general in a crowded train carriage as one of the computer opponents in Wipeout pips you to first place.


• Seeing someone else with a PSP at Woking station and being sorely tempted to challenge a perfect stranger to a game of Ridge Racers (all PSP owners have the game, it's the law!)

It's these little moments that keep me going sometimes, don't worry I'm sure I'll stop going on about my new toy soon - probably once one of my non-imaginary friends gets one.

One more day left of working in London, hopefully. I hate commuting, it's my fellow travellers that get me more than anything. When I'm not glued to a games console you can probably see clouds of contempt steaming off me if you looked hard enough. Whether it's my fellow herd members rushing to dull soul-destroying jobs far too quickly, the tourists walking far too slowly or the student-traveller types getting there annoyingly smug back packs in my way - I HATE YOU ALL!

I so miss nicotine...

Still it's not all hate and bile - I got pointed to an awesome grime (or maybe not grime - it gets very confusing sometimes) track by Lady Sovereign, it's on the 27th March post on Boom Selection...

J-Lo's got a batty bit well you can't see mine cos I where my trousers baggy

100% class I tell you! Her website is here if you are interested, I can quite easily see her doing a Mike Skinner on us and get very very big - she's already had a profile on Pitchfork so the indie cred side of things is already sorted out.

Once again the nagging feeling that I've just wasted another weekend has returned, the plans that I had to do something constructive (going to the gym and sorting out highly illeagal tyres on my car amongst other things) didn't happen, instead I sat on my arse playing games or went to the pub...

Of course this mood could just be the lack of nicotine speaking. *Grumble* *Curse* *Swear*

I did get some new CDs on Friday though, they are a little bit odd. SunnO))) and General Patton vs The X-ecutioners, enjoy!

hip-hop and sludge

General Patton vs the X-Ecutioners
General Patton is Mike Patton, you may remember him from Faith No More. Nowadays he makes records as Fantamos, runs Ipecac records and does strange records with Bjork. The X-Ecutioners are a group of turntablists who make instrumental hip-hop music. This collaboration is more cohesive than I was expecting, Mike Patton is very much at the forefront of experimentalisation as far as vocalists go, quite often he acts more like a turntable than a singer. Probably best if you listen to the posted track to see what I mean. A thoroughly fascinating CD.

MP3: ¡Vaqueros y Indios! (Joint Special Operations Task Force)

SunnO))) - White 2
How the hell to descibe this? Try to imagine heavy metal stripped of all it's unnecessary parts - strip out the drums, the vocals, just leave 'the riff'. Now slow that down to the point where the difference between notes is so far apart that any sort of melody is removed. Now add a sprinkling of mysticism and shamanism into the mix and your almost there. Awesome CD

MP3: HELL-O)))-WEEN

funniest/most worrying forum post evaaah!

What a fantatsic day! The sun is shining and I have Wipeout Pure for my PSP - it may very well be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.