...Dude! Calm down!



Calm down on the drinking that is, I've been wandering around today looking like a fucking heroin addict because of some nasty bruises and cuts on the inside of my right arm - I got these from apparently diving over the fence in front of my house last night, like some sort of drunken super man. It's starting to bother me a bit, it's only a matter of time before I do something worse, hence the desire to calm down a bit... Hmm, we shall see.



So, those 4 pictures at the top of the post - what are they all about eh? Well, they are 4 new CDs I acquired on a shopping trip to London today.



First on the left Beehives by Broken Social Scene, it's a b-sides and outtakes compilation which obviously doesn't bode well, but it doesn't look like they are going to release anything before 2005 so it will have to do.



The Second CD is from a band called Sunburned Hand of The Man, they've released over a dozen albums, but pretty much all on CDRs (apparently one of which was packaged in a case involving a piece of wood and some perspex) - this is the first album to be released through a 'proper' label, that is a label which may end up actually distributing the CD in shops. It's fucking weird, sort of a psychedelic improvisational rock folk thing.



The third one is from Stone Sour, the lead singer of Slipknot's other band. After hearing the frankly extrordinary new album from the knot I was curious about this CD - frankly I'm not convinced yet...



Finally, a cheerful little number from Swans consisting of two albums Children of God and World Of Skin, basically it seems to be old testament style fire and brimstone from Michael Gira with nice melodic work from his partner in crime Jarboe.



It's not just been CD shopping today, I've acquired a new jacket which I'm not sure when I'm brave enough to wear, it's a suit jacket with a print refering to taking hallucinogenic drugs on the back...



I also made a bit of a pigramage to the Saatchi Gallery to pay me respects to the art work thats was lost in last weeks warehouse fire. Personal favourites were Damien Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living which is really impressive when seen in real life; Tracey Emin's My Bed which struck me as being a moving and poignant snapshot of her life at time it was created - there was also a really funny self portrait she did where she's photographed stuffing money up her (and I'm quoting from the card next to the picture here) wazoo. I also liked the sculpture's by Duane Hanson, a collection of hyperrealistic mannequins dotted around the gallery - they seemed more real than many of the people actually wandering around the gallery. Anyway, all good stuff - I just think it's a damn shame so many related pieces of artwork have been lost...



Speaking of works of art, here's some pictures I took from last night - some of them are sort of arty

I've been in London today for a pretty soul destroying training course (sharepoint... it bores the fuck out of me, like 99% of all business software), this also meant I had to deal with a commute on one of the new non-smoking South West trains with all the other cattle - still I suppose it gave me chance to practice my glaring at people in suits whilst listening to Slipknot...



Anyhoo - when I got home the new Infinite Livez CD was waiting for me, and by jove I do believe it's doing a mighty fine job of cheering me up - especially 'The Adventures of the Lactating Man' which wins my vote for 'summer hip-hop anthem'.



If your feeling brave you can watch the vaguely homo-erotic video here.



Oh, and you can watch his one eyed puppet friend Barry Convex sing Hit Me Baby One More Time here.

eMessenger



...web based MSN client. Could be handy.

The wireless pill camera



...I think this may be a gadget too far, even for me.

Why Don't You Corner:



Try sending a text message to a land line, I would start off with your own before moving on to bothering stranges, for maximum amusement make sure the text message is full of as many swear words as you can find...

Here's some thoughts on the last batch of CDs I've purchased.



Looking back at my last few posts I have a feeling I may be getting a bit (more) boring by going on about music all the time, so to make amends here are some non-music related links:



Wulffmorgenthaler is a daily online comic strip (which I'm sure I've linked to before), like the best humour it's slightly surreal, a bit tragic, and features lots of nudity. Personal favourite strips include this, this and this... and maybe this too.



Die Puny Humans is a firm favourite in my RSS Reader. Comic Book author, Warren Ellis's research weblog - well worth a visit or two.



And this message board seems to be quite popular...

suppose I better update this...



Faust vs Dalek - Derbe Respect, Alder

Faust are a German band, the phrase associated with them most is 'kraut rock', a pretty silly description really which applied to several hip German bands which have nothing in common other than there country of origin. I don't know much about Faust other than I knew a girl at University who had inherited several vinyl copies of there early work which she used to play on one of those old portable record players, I can't say they did much for me at the time (the band, not the girl). Dalek (there should be one of those umlaut things over the 'a' but I can't be arsed to find it; so it's pronnounced more like 'Dialect') are a band I do know about, they've worked with Kid606 and Techno Animal so there noise credentials are in place. In there own time they produce some pretty bleak experimental hip hop. On this CD Faust's rhythmn section provide some harsh industrial beat-scapes for dalek's MC and DJ to fight through - the whole collaboration is very much worthy of the 'vs' tag; it's harsh, slightly violent, not easy to listen to - but that's kind of the point. Rewarding if you have the patience.



Wire Tapper 11

Free CD from The Wire magazine, so full of pretensious nonsense! Some good stuff though: To Rocco Rot do a fine two step number, Jah Wobble pumps out some quality ambient dub, but it's the Arthur Russell track that stands out to me. He was a cello player who produced ambient and some disco music in the eighties - sadly he died in relative obscurity of AIDS in 1992, however it seems that he left quite a back catalogue behind. The track here has a sort of New Order vibe, with heavily processed cello, a basic electro beat and strange mournful lyrics about a skylight. I really really must start listening to him properly.



Pan Sonic - Kesto (234.48:4)

See those numbers after the title? That means that this album is 234 minutes 48 seconds long, spread over 4 discs. There in lies the problem - it's way too long! The first two CDs are fair enough, some pretty interesting Finnish electronica, disc 3 starts OK with this weird ultra-sonic bass sample that does some weird physological things if you have it loud enough, but then it goes all ambient... and dull. The 4th CD is one single 60 minute long drone track (ie no melody, no beats) - my god, it's not easy to listen to. Frankly this could have been a mighty fine electronica album if they'd stuck to the first couple of CDs, as it is, it's too long!



Slipknot - Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses

Blimey, I don't think the maggot's (proper Slipknot fans who dress up in boiler suits and bring dead animals to there concerts) will like this. They've gone soft! Well sort of, there are plenty of typical 'vomit your lungs up' numbers to listen to whilst thinking bad thoughts - but there are 3 songs that, well, in my book count as ballads. Circle could happily be played by a bunch of sad cowboys round a campfire, Vermillion, Pt 2 is shockingly personal, dare I say it quite beautiful with it's gently strummed guitar, simple piano line and is that a cello I can here? And harmonys? It's a love song for gods sake! And the last song sort of reminds me of a Sophia B-side. Let me be clear, it's not all introspection and sad songs, there are some nasty (in a good way) songs here - but it's nice to see them experimenting with there softer cudlier side. A great album.



Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands

I bought this album because of a few reasons: Michael Gira of Swans and Angels of Light fame has kind of taken Devendra under his wing, I felt that I needed something to offset the Slipknot CD, and I've seen some good reviews of it. It's pretty timeless stuff, just Devendra with his odd warbly voice, his amazing guitar picking skills, and a few extra bits of subtle instrumentation - it's basically folk music, it sounds like it could have been recorded anytime after about 1920. A nice album, which I have a feeling will become a very popular Sunday morning CD.