A Plugged In State Of Mind

Bought a new book today. Looking at the albums it features is a bit like the old Panini sticker swap game...

"Got, got, got....not got....got".

Short and Curlies - At The Dance

Short & Curlies? One of the first things that sprang to mind when I heard the name was long forgotten dance duo Phats and Small (it's just the way my mind works sometimes), and I imagined the album being a Welsh tribute to their sound and many hits (Turn Around and, err, probably some others). Fortunately this wasn't the case - maybe for the next album eh? - and it turns out not to be a duo but a band featuring Euros Childs along with other such luminaries as Laura J Martin, R. Seiliog, Stephen Black, Megan Childs and Huw Evans.

 

Chart smashing hits aren't high on the band's agenda as, to quote Euros, "the album is completely instrumental, doesn't have verses and choruses and can't really be classified as pop music. So if you like your music with choruses, words and singing this might not be the album for you".

A monophonic recording, side one is definately the side that is "at the dance" or, as appears to be the case, is at least within earshot of a dance. Two minutes of abstract sounds give way to four different takes on the sort of music your grandparents used to dance to - to these ears they're almost Gorkys-esque instrumentals from the 1940s. Side two is an entirely different kettle of fish and the comedown from the almost party you've just had - heavy on Euros' keyboards and summertime drones with the "serene" trilogy taking you a faraway place, it's borders on being unnerving and quite lovely.

Some of the delightful song titles...

It's a vinyl only release (or you can download a version from Euros' website) but the first 120 copies include a promo CD version of the album. Oh, and mine also had a lovely personalized message from Euros.

 

Neu!

I'd been planning to write something about Neu! and how they are increasingly becoming one of the most important bands ever but, when it came down to it, I couldn't think of what to say. So, instead, here's a list of some of the songs and artists that that have worn their Neu! hearts on their sleeves...

Pet's Super Pet

Stereolab
Public Service Broadcasting
Ultravox (!)
New Style
David Bowie
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Primary 1
Paul Weller's lat career revival
Oasis and The Shock of the Lightning
What'll it take
Death in Vegas
Primal Scream
Sonic Youth
Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening to Neu!
Fujiya and Miyagi
4 Neu
Sealand
The Black Neon
Harmonia
Scott 4
The Warm Digits
Toy
The Horrors
The Sex Pistols and PIL
Lindstrom and Prins Thomas
Simple Minds
La Dusseldorf
The Phantom Band
Blur
Super Furry Animals
The Emperor Machine
LCD Soundsystem
Iggy Pop
Electrelane
Radiohead
Queens of the Stone Age

Oh/Ex/Oh - Extant

Ambient music eh? For many it's nothing more than aural wallpaper - functional music designed to be played as part of the background to your life. 

Give the music a rhythm track and you've got yourself countless chill out compilations for your dinner parties.

But there is another side to ambient music, the sort of music that places you in it's own self-defined ambient world. Julian Cope talked about this in his book, Krautrocksampler, when reviewing Tangerine Dream's incredible Zeit (an album that feels devoid of all time) - describing it as music that "takes over the room and permeates the whole house....anyone calling in the middle of its playing will never see that room in the same light ever again". In parts, Extant is very much in that camp. 

Things that I thought of whilst listening to Extant:

• Eno's On Land album
• Being in the desert in the middle of the night.
• An, as yet, unmade sci-fi horror movie
• Richard D James talking about lucid dreams and the word "lush"
• How can some people make music that is both familiar and yet totally alien? And do it so well.
• Selected Ambient Works Volume 2
• Oneohtrix Point Never
• Drones and melodies
• How can some people make music that is both uplifting and mournful? And do it so well.
• How I wish I had more time in my life to immerse myself in this music.

Oh, and on The Holy Fallout, there's a voice proclaiming “May the blessings of the bomb almighty and the fellowship of the holy fallout descend upon us all. This day and forever more”.

The artworks pretty tasty too - a nice fold out sleeve, as you can see from my dodgy photo. Really, the photos are probably better if you go to their record label, The Geography Trip's website

Record Store Day 2013

So, true to my word last year, but without remembering that I'd said so, I managed to get to Piccadilly Records for 6am only to find that, of course, I was even further back in the queue than previous years (I've finally made it onto Tib Street!). Oh well, at least I found myself with some great company either side of me, making the 4 1/2 hour queue time pretty enjoyable and part of the whole RSD experience. One good thing that has come out of Record Store Day is bringing back the social aspect of buying music - I'm sure the conversations we had about music whilst queuing up cost me another £30 in items I decided to buy.

So, what did I get? This...

Calexico - Spritoso (white vinyl) Live LP
Brian Eno/Grizzly Bear Nicolas Jaar Remix 12"
Lloyd Cole & Hans-Joachim Roedelius - NNNEONLLLLIGHTS (white vinyl) 12"
The Ukranians - Pisni iz the Smiths 12"
The Velvet Underground - The Scepter Sessions LP
OMD - The Future is Silent (picture disc) 10" EP
Royksopp - Ice Machine (red vinyl) 10"
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Animal X (picture disc) 7"
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - Signal 30 (orange vinyl) 7"
Mogwai/Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - split remix single (white vinyl) 7"
Side by Side secret 7" (which turned out to be 3 versions of Iko Iko by the Grateful Dead, Dr John and the Dixie Cups) - on lovely paint splattered red/blue vinyl

I decided to give the FGTH 7" picture disc a miss because it was...err... £18. Are you sure about that guys?!

So, that's it for another year - threats of not going next year had pretty much subsided by the time I reached the counter, probably helped by the company and also the fact that some items didn't seem to sell out as quickly as previous years (did they get more stock in?).

Oh, and coffee was provided by Tim Burgess's Tim Peaks Coffee Company, so everyone who bought one got this wonderful Pete Fowler designed cup...

Here's what I said previous years:
2012
2011

OMD - English Electric in a Tin

Look what arrived in the post today - English Electric, the new album by OMD, as a stunning box set and vinyl package.

So, here's what I got:

• An OMD embossed tin
• The album on CD
• A CD of demos
• A DVD
• A foldout cover to hold the above 3 items
• Three cards with artwork
• Three cards with photos of the band 'in concert'
• A blue vinyl 7" single with an exclusive b-side ('Frontline')
• A booklet with lyrics and photos
• A signed card - I think they call it a 'certificate of authenticity'
• Some foam packaging to keep the above safe in the tin
• The album on vinyl in a die cut sleeve, so you can rotate the inner sleeve to make different versions of the artwork (it's just like the OMD/Architecture and Morality/Dazzle Ships albums covers all over again, which kept me entertained as a child)

 

Oh, and there were two metallic badges as well, which I think were extras thrown in to the parcel as it was a pre-order and might not be part of the boxset.

 

Here's the vinyl "die cut" sleeve - see how I've radically changed the artwork.

And here's the tin... I know, taking photos of tins is possibly an all time low for me.

This Will Destroy You - Which Colour?

I got TWDY's towering 2nd album for my birthday and a couple of things confused me.

Firstly, why the different album sleeves? The CD appears to come in a slightly Gothic post rock-esque black sleeve with silver design, whereas the vinyl is housed in a couldn't-be-more-different wolf/tiger/eagle/snow/lightning drawing sleeve. At first I thought I'd be given the wrong album.

The second thing was the... err... colour of the vinyl. I had to check online to get some answers but I'm still not 100% sure what colour my records are supposed to be.

You see, the label, Magic Bullet, take pride in their vinyl issues and have made sure that each repressing of the album comes on different coloured vinyl. A quick search online reveals that the album appears to have been released in the following versions:

First Pressing:
Red vinyl
White vinyl
Blue vinyl
Blue/Red vinyl

Second Pressing:
Black/Green vinyl

Third pressing:
Grey/Grey Marble vinyl
Aquamarine/Grey Marble vinyl
Post-Rock Puke/Grey Marble vinyl

Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Pressing:
Mixed vinyl

Seventh Pressing:
Grey/Pink vinyl
Grape Taffy/French Mustard vinyl
Cherry Taffy/French Mustard vinyl

Eighth Pressing:
Aqua/Pink vinyl
Green/Yellow vinyl
Purple/THC vinyl

A nightmare for any collector of their records.

I'm guessing that mine is....err...any ideas?

TWDY on Discogs

TWDY on Magic Bullet Records