++++++SLAM++++++

A bit of a change this, from my last post on Belle & Sebastian.

On a night out about a month ago, chatting - as you do - to a drum'n'bass fantatic, I was bemoaning the fact that i'd only heard one decent drum'n'bass record in the last few years. ('LK' by DJ Marky & XRS since you ask)

'Listen up'

He might have said

'There is a new act in town. Their name is Pendulum. Search and Destroy'

So I hunted down what I was reliably informed was their big hit... 'Slam'. And lo', it destroyed. And I enjoyed.

And now it seems to be blowing up big time. During the last week, every time I've turned on the radio on my way home, there it is, blasting out of the speakers like a cartoon earthquake. I shake my head to the beat and do as much leaping about as is possible when strapped into a car seat... and I am reminded that drum'n'bass is NOT a waste.

Then Zane Lowe starts speaking and I quickly put a CD on before he starts telling me that some dreary indie band is 'The HOTTEST band / track / album blah blah blah in THE WORLD right now'. Where do they find these tossers?



I'm still not totally convinced by D'n'B right now, but I can certainly handle the occasional massive tune. And Pendulum have come up with another in this remix of The Prodigy's 'Voodoo People'. It's out as a 12" promo - which I presume is in the same series as the Audio Bullys mix I posted a few weeks ago. I guess there may be a remix album coming out, although i've not heard anything about it.

This sounds nasty enough coming out of my tiny computer headphones. I can't imagine the devastastion it might cause at Fabric.


THE PRODIGY - VOODOO PEOPLE (PENDULUM REMIX)

TRACK REMOVED AFTER FAILING RIGOROUS QUALITY CONTROL TESTING

I've not heard it yet myself, but by all accounts the Pendulum album 'Hold Your Colour' is massive. If you like this these you should check it out.



sssh... here's slam as well in case you've not heard it yet.

You ain't seen me.


Right.

I told you so...

According to this lot, you're soon gonna be getting mighty sick of hearing about Arctic Monkeys..... (if you're not already tired of me raving about them that is!)


Thanks for the comments the last couple of days. Comments make me happy.

The tale of the curious boy

'So I gave myself to God. There was a pregnant pause before He said... OK'

Believe it or not, despite being the proprietor of such a wildly successful mp3 blog (!!!) I very rarely get sent anything in the post (or by email for that matter.... although I must apologise if you have sent me something recently & not been thanked - my inbox has got outta control. Something i'm attempting to sort out at the moment.)

Well a few of weeks ago I did get one delicious treat through my letterbox... a copy of the Belle and Sebastian biography 'Just a Modern Rock Story'. Now despite not being a particular fan of the band, i'm always interested in music biographies.. and the book, like any good bio, made me hungry to hear the material that author Paul Whitelaw so lovingly describes.



And, well, the more I hear of Belle and Sebastian the more i'm starting to wonder how I overlooked them for so long. Eight years to be precise! In fact I don't think I actually (properly) heard a song by them until last year's terrifyingly good Avalanches mix of 'I'm a Cuckoo'. And I kind of put that down to The Avalanches rather than B&S.

I then had a B&S epiphany earlier this year, when you may recall I was stunned to hear the track 'Your Cover's Blown', and to find that it was one of the best songs i'd ever heard!

And now, as a result of reading the book, I picked up debut album 'Tigermilk' at the weekend. And it's amazing! They don't just rule the school, but the playground and the chippy too! Obviously the lyrics are incredible, but they're a lot grittier and funnier than the band's rather wistful reputation would suggest. I also wouldn't have expected a song that starts off sounding like Orbital in the middle of the album ('Electronic Renaissance'), or in fact music that grabs your attention so much, rather than, as I was expecting, simply acts as an accompaniment to a dripping tap in a bedsit.

Damn, another band with an extensive back catalogue I need to catch up on! What album do I need to listen to next?

BELLE & SEBASTIAN - EXPECTATIONS

'And the rumour is you never go with boys and you are tight,
so they jab you with a fork.
You drop the tray and go berserk,
and while you're cleaning up the mess the teacher's looking up your skirt'



Do something pretty while you can.



I've not finished it yet, but so far the book's great as well.. did I mention that?

Put some music. To your troubles.

Three years ago, DK7 brought out their debut single 'The Difference' - an original and thrilling mix of acidic 303's and leather-scented rock'n'roll. It's still a big hit chez headphonesex, and gets regular outings on my decks. It was also single of the month in the sadly extinct Jockey Slut magazine (which was about as high a commendation as you could get).

The duo - prolific Swede Jasper Dahlback partnered with Mark O'Sullivan - are now on their third single for Output - 'Where's The Fun' - and after what was in my eyes a slightly disappointing second record this is right back up there with 'The Difference'.

It follows a similar aciiied-laced rock template - squelchy 303 action overlaid with a languid vocal. I love the clash between the acid freak-out music and the despondant lyrics.

'Where's The Fun In All This??'

DK7 - WHERE'S THE FUN

Now I think of it, the track is quite reminiscent of 'Tribulations' by LCD Soundsystem (try replacing the vocals in your head with James Murphy's... they'd certainly mix well together anyway).


I'm not familiar with too much else of Dahlbeck's work, but you can find releases by him on F-comm, Poker Flat, Kanzleramt, Drumcode, Turbo Recordings, Missile, Intec, Yoshi Toshi and 2020 vision - as well as about 3o records on Svek! He's a busy chap...

No News is Good News

TOUR NEWS

Courtesy of the Goldfrapp mailing list:

Wed 1 Feb CARDIFF Great Hall
Thurs 2 Feb SOUTHAMPTON Guildhall
Sat 4 Feb CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange
Sun 5 Feb READING Hexagon
Thurs 9 Feb LONDON Brixton Carling Academy
Fri 10 Feb LONDON Brixton Carling Academy
Sat 18 Feb MANCHESTER Apollo
Tues 21 Feb LIVERPOOL University
Thurs 23 Feb SHEFFIELD Octagon
Fri 24 Feb BIRMINGHAM Carling Academy
Sun 26 Feb BELFAST Ulster Hall
Mon 27 Feb DUBLIN Olympia

On sale on Friday 30th September @ 9.00 am and are available via www.gigsandtours.com, except Belfast and Dublin www.ticketmaster.ie.

Yes they've decided once again to bury their finely crafted sound in the acoustic hell-hole that is Brixton Academy. Which means i'll reluctantly be giving this a miss. PLAY A DECENT VENUE WILL YA..!

MORE TOUR NEWS

Arctic Monkeys have moved next week's show from the nice Mean Fiddler to the not-so-nice Astoria. The bastards. Anyhow, that does mean that additional tickets are on sale... exclusively from this link.


SHOPPING NEWS

You know you want a Super Furry Animals snow dome.

You don't? Well I do... and christmas is coming up ,-)

Free tickets for tonight!

Does anyone live in or near Oxford? I bought 2 tickets for the gig at the Zodiac tonight, but i've decided to go to the football instead.

The Rakes are headlining, with support from the hotly tipped Louis XIV and Five O'Clock Heroes.

The Filthy Dukes, who got me rather excited a few weeks ago, are DJing.


Yours for a comment or email.



If you just want one, I could be tempted to come & join you after the football... especially if we're top of the league!

Seven Inches of Fun

I bought some interesting 7 inches yesterday as part of my weekly mission to make sure my bank account never turns black for more than a few days a month.

First up i'm loving this new single from 'Battle', which has apparently been getting some people (Zane Lowe, XFM etc) very excited. On giving it a listen in Rough Trade I didn't feel it was giving me too much I hadn't heard by a thousand other indie bands, but once I got it home I was well pleased with the purchase. Like Arctic Monkeys, it's probably the lyrics rather than the music that keep you interested, but having said that I have been humming this most of the day. Not sure what the rest of their material is like, but this is an extremely promising debut.

'HA HA HA'

BATTLE - DEMONS

Boomkat have been raving about a mysterious act called Various Production on their weekly mailout, so when I saw a 7 inch by them in Record & Tape Exchange for 10p I snapped it up immediately. And i'm very taken by it. A-side 'Queen Bee' sounds like a crackly and slightly discordant recording of a fifties crooner, whereas B-side Cognac is like a slowed down and fucked up UK Garage (sorry, Garridge) track. Delicate and Eerie. According to Boomkat, this collective (?) are being chased by Warp, Planet Mu & Leaf... I can see why.

VARIOUS PRODUCTION - COGNAC

EDIT: Thanks to Gigabyte Picnic for pointing me in the direction of this Tigersushi link... seems as though this track may be by Warp artist Milanese.

You may remember me mentioning a wedding I went to in Sweden a couple of months ago? Well at the wedding I was recommended a band called "Little Barrie", who - I was told - were the best thing since The Stones. Or The Clash. I can't remember which. Anyway, this single, 'Free Salute' sounds kind of like Lenny Kravitz. Yes I know. It sounds horrendous. But it's not. This is bluesy, raw sounding rock 'n' roll. And I like it.

Strangely the band share a label with old skool Hip-Hop revivalist DJ Format, and Detroit Jazz licker Amp Fiddler.

LITTLE BARRIE - FREE SALUTE

If you're still visiting Andrew, thanks for the tip!

The last 7 inch was the first release on the now defunkt (?) City Rockers' 7 inch label "City 7's" in 2003. This is raw & dirty garage music - in the Ramones sense rather than the Artful Dodger sense. And although (or because) the singer sounds rather like Vic Reeves doing his 'club singer' impression on Shooting Stars, this would sound great in a proper sawdust-coated London boozer.

If the track sounds familiar, it's probably 'cos it closed off CD1 on City Rockers' fantastic 'Futurism 2' mix.

KID & KHAN - GOO GOO MUCK


There's quite a smorgasbord there.. you should be able to find something you enjoy!



While I have them in front of me, and just to give you a taste of my ever expanding fire hazard of a record collection, this is what I bought yesterday.

• Kitsune Maison 2x12" Promo (This album just gets better and better the more I listen to it. Check out the Interpol mix of VHS or Beta's 'Night on Fire'. Or 'Not on The Guestlist' by Marco dos Santos. Just fantastic)
  
• Linda Lamb - Hot Room 12" (International Deejay Gigolos classic)
• DJ's are Not Rockstars - Pop Your Pussy 12" (The Vitalic vs Princess Superstar bootleg I posted a few months ago.. now seems to have been brought out on vinyl. Wicked.)
• Piano Overlord - Torture EP (Beautifully packaged new 12" by Scott Herren (Prefuse 73))
• Maximo Park - The Coast is Always Changing CD (500-only original issue.. second-hand bargain!)
• The Freestylers - FSUK2 2xCD (Superb breaks mix album. I sold my copy on ebay (for a tidy sum) a while back and couldn't resist buying it again! Another bargain...)
• Gimmik - Load Error CD (Re-issue of first Toytronic release)
• Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk LP (No... not the original unfortuntately)
• Max de Wardener - Where I Am Today CD (Beautifully packaged but fairly uninspiring ambient sounds on Matthew Herberts's Accidental label)
• OOO - Upon Circles (Again, fairly uninspiring IDM on Planet Mu. Just about worth the £2 I paid..)
• City Rockers - Futurism 2xCD (About time I had an original copy of this. One of the best mix albums ever. And beautifully designed to boot...)

And finally the four 7 inchers featured above:

• Kid & Khan - Goo Goo Muck
• Various Production - Queen Bee
• Little Barrie - Free Salute
• Battle - Demons 7"

Course I also picked up a couple of things off the web last week... Aphex Twin's Joyrex J9 EP (One of the few releases by him I was missing), and Global Communication's classic '76:14' album (which has just been re-released in an expanded double-CD edition)

I have to cure this addiction. That's an average week's shopping. Most of it was second-hand, but still.. my overdraft and floorboards can't continue like this......



By the way.. i'm going to try & post more of my own photos up here. This week will be featuring some snaps from Dublin's Botanical Gardens last weekend. Some are quite nice.

Bloody Your Hands

Sorry to bore y'all with my diversion into football. Have to get these things off my chest occasionally... hope you understand.



Which makes it about time for a 'hot new jam' as Westwood would probably call it. Then again he's a twat. So i'll just call it a 'jolly nice new tune'.

After reading an interesting article on Rio Baile Funk in Sunday's Observer, I've been listening a lot to Diplo's Favela mixes to get a taste of this strange new sound. Diplo has been the main man in getting these tunes out of Brazil and into the mainstream - and in particular his production on girlfriend M.I.A.'s 'Bucky Done Gone' is an homage (or, some might say, a rip off) of that sound.

I'm not going to post a Baile track up here though - as I managed to pick up another Diplo production this week - a mash-up 12" called Hollertronix Vol. 2. It contains 5 superb bootleg mixes such as TV on The Radio vs Afrika Bambaata and Mike Jones (? whoever he is) over Britney's 'Toxic'. Pick of the bunch though is this excellent mash-up of Snoop Dogg and The Cure. A must hear.

DIPLO - SNOOP DOGG vs THE CURE

It's sold out at Boomkat already, but Piccadilly Records seem to have copies left. Don't hang about....

3 - 8 (EIGHT)

My beloved Wycombe Wanderers took a right hammering last night in a game that could for once rightly be described as 'a game of two halves'.

The first 45 minutes saw us destroy Aston Villa - 61 places above us in the league pyramid - with a form of devastating attacking football that left their millionaire stars wondering what on earth they'd walked into. We hit them with pace, guile, movement, skill and passion. And they couldn't take it. It was magnificent. Villa were lucky to be only 3-1 behind at the break.

The second half, as you may have heard, was a slightly different story. Our manager, John Gorman, is not one to rest on his laurels. Death or Glory. Is the only story. Even 3-1 up against premiership giants, not a thought of defending the lead entered his head. We came out in the second half like 11 Hamas bombers, with no concept of danger or our own mortality. Villa got a goal back 5 minutes into the second half. Time to hold out for a draw and put 10 men behind the ball for 40 minutes? Not a bit of it. We piled forward with even more urgency. The equaliser came soon after and we responded by charging back at them.. hitting the post and the crossbar. Then disaster struck. Our top scorer Tyson limped off injured. Soon after came a freakish own-goal, a massively deflected shot and a penalty that (clearly) never was. Somehow we found ourselves 6-3 down rather than 3-1 up. 'You'd won, but you fucked it up' sang the Villa fans. We didn't care. We have trancended merely winning or losing football matches. John Gorman's blue revolution rises above such trivialities. It's not about where you go but how you get there. And we get there in style. As if to prove it, Sergio Torres and Tommy Mooney exchanged a backheeled 1-2 leaving a Villa player sprawled on the turf. The terrace purred with delight.

Two more goals went in. 8-3! Insane! 'We're Going to win 9-8' The Valley sang. And even at this hopeless juncture nobody left. Nobody moaned. For 50 minutes we'd played the best football we'd ever seen, and then got mugged. Simple.

At a time when the tedious Premiership is seemingly in crisis from falling crowds, ridiculous ticket prices and negative football, watching Wycombe at the moment is a flashback to a utopian past of 2-4-4 formations, goals galore and a corinthian spirit. We have realised that despite what we're continually told, it's not the winning that's important, but how you conduct yourself. And it's better to lose with your dignity in tact than to win at all costs.

Strangely I feel better after last night's tonking than after many a routine 2-0 victory. Some people of course were furious at the defensive negligence, and embarrassed to have conceded 8 goals. They are wrong. For the first time in years I am looking forward to every game. Sometimes everything will come off and we'll win 5-0... other times we'll get thrashed. Although I still expect us to win League 2, I have now realised that this is not the important thing. After all, if we get promoted we'll just play some slightly less rubbish teams for a few years until we get relegated again. No, the important thing is for the players to enjoy playing and the punters to enjoy watching. And I am certainly enjoying watching this season.

Report from The Times

This is how deranged Wycombe blog SMBU documents the idealogical revolution...

Feeling Gravity's Pull

It was a tough night for Principled John as he saw his dreams of a moustachioed nation shattered in the second half as Aston Villa ran riot to a monstrous extent, reacting as if Rodney King had been beaten to death outside the Vere Suite by the WWST.

Seven Villa goals in the second half gave the game a gloss so thick for the midlanders that it could have resisted the payload of Enola Gay. Meat Clinic spies located at deep locations inside the ground report that Honest John made sure that his bloodied troops stayed true to their principles even as the ceiling fell in on their skulls.

The most important legacy from last night's game is that it has split the supporters into two ideologically fundamental camps.

Camp 7: Purists, artistes and showmen. They are enjoying the romp and pomp, the slick moves and Gorman's rare Detroit groove. Last night was a heroic loss, a charge of the light brigade into the Hughenden Valley. Fireworks light their dreams, Bonfire Night is their Easter Sunday.

Camp 66: Gripe-water enthusiasts. These stern folk found last night torture, each Villa goal akin to a Serbian hitman breaking into their house punching their wife. Proud John is a villain on a par with Norris McWhirter and the sooner he is incarcerated in Long Crendon prison the better.


Now the Meat Clinic has always been above such petty disputes, seeing as we are the ideological enemies of the pathetic Drone Army and their curious ways. Nevertheless, Camp 7 seems to be the home for us for the near future. The world of football is awash with grey at the present and a moribund functionality that makes new-born children staple their own eyelids shut.

Twinkling John may be more flawed than Wellington but he is committed to going down with his troops, firing the cannons of beauty as all aorund cling to their lazily bobbing dour dinghys. We will face the future with salt water in mouths but with our joyous hearts bursting. When we go, we're going the Viking way.

Push me out to sea, push me out to sea.

JACKSON & HIS COMPUTER BAND - UTOPIA

No I don't feel alright

Christ i need a rest. I was in Ireland at the weekend for a big family wedding, then the Mew gig last night & Wycombe against Aston Villa tonight. Bleurgh.

Unfortunately Mew last night were a slight disappointment. It was partly my own fault for getting there a late (i.e. after they'd started) and thus missing the support act & the mounting excitement.... partly due to the hugely overpacked venue (you couldn't have squeezed five more people in the main room).... and partly because, i'm sad to say, Mew's new material isn't up to the standard of their 2003 album 'Frengers'.



That's not to say 'And The Glass Handed Kites' isn't good though. I've been listening to it pretty much non-stop for 4 days, and the good songs are really really good... it's just that 'Frengers' is a hell of an album to follow, and nothing on the new album quite reaches the heights of '156', 'Am I Wry?', 'She Came Home for Christmas' or of course, 'Comforting Sounds'.

Probably the best song on 'ATGHK' is 'The Zookeeper's Boy', and this was accompanied last night by Mew's usual stunning imagery. The monkeys from the Basement Jaxx video were recreated as a whole menagerie of singing tigers, ostriches and other creatures. Mew seem to live in a dark fairytale world more in common with the Brothers Grimm than their compatriot Hans Christian Anderson. They should make a film with Tim Burton.

Just in time for the second encore - 'Comforting Sounds' - we managed to discover an almost deserted upstairs bar with a great view over the stage.. and for one song at least I was in heaven. What a record that is.





This track is another of my favourites off the new album. It's probably the nearest thing to the epic feel of Comforting Sounds, and really shows off Jonas' incredible voice.

MEW - WHITE LIPS KISSED

Despite my lukewarm review, it's only as they didn't quite match the glory of the last time I saw them at ULU. If you've not seen them and you live anywhere near London I would strongly recommend checking 'em out at this intimate gig at 93 Feet East. Tickets won't be around much longer... and it's a great venue.


Sorry if the all of the above is written in gibberglish.. . I have a football match to go to and no time for proof reading!

Chords wash over me

Lying in bed last night I listened for the first time in a while to Morr Music's 2002 album 'Blue Skied an' Clear' - a tribute to shoegazers Slowdive by a sparkling array of electronic talent.



I bought it really for the two exclusive (and excellent) Ulrich Schnauss songs, however the double CD also features tracks from amongst others B.Fleischmann, Styrofoam, Isan, Mum, Solvent and Lali Puna. The first disc consists of cover versions, and the second of compositions influenced by Slowdive - a group I have a real soft spot for since they were the first band I ever saw live. I loved all those shoegazer bands... I may have to dust off a few old records & post them up here...

Listening to Blue Skied an' Clear last night, one track really jumped out at me - Isan's haunting version of 'Waves' - from Slowdive's debut album 'Just for a Day'. The original is a great record, however I'm sure if Slowdive had started out 10 years later than they did they would have sounded like this. The lush electronics really bring out the emotion in the song, and put you right there on the windswept beach.



ISAN - WAVES

I also love the Lali Puna track that immediately follows it ('40 Days')... check it out.

Gigabyte Picnic is also on a shoegazer tip today. Must be to do with the end of summer. This is music to watch leaves turn brown by.


BTW, does anyone have a copy of the new album by Mew? I'm going to see them on Monday & wouldn't mind giving their new stuff a listen beforehand....

Eclectic People

The Kitsune label is becoming a badge of quality as reliable as Danish Bacon or a Paul Smith shirt... and the fourth label compilation - Kitsune Maison - is a worthy successor to its superlative predecessors 'Love', 'Midnight' and 'X'.



Considering the compilations are are composed almost entirely of new material by unknown artists, they seem to be able to mine a remarkable calibre of talent. Tom Vek, Hot Chip and VHS or Beta appear here, and are all well known - but Ruede Hagelstein? Digitalism? Well both are new to me, and both deliver fantastic tunes.

Digitalism's opener is a proper electro-house 'banger', and if you're the sort who enjoys getting sweaty and waving your arms in the air, you'll like this. I am and I do.

It sounds remarkably well produced for a first track - I wonder if the title is a clue that it may be Cassius in disguise? The build up to the breakdown is beautifully done, and when it goes off you get the full blast of a bowel-threatening bassline. I'll be taking this on my next DJ assignment... (in 9 months then!)

DIGITALISM - ZDARLIGHT

The Ruede Hagelstein track, although sonically a different kettle of fish, is composed with a similar structure. Starting off like Whitey crossed with James Brown, the dirty funk is eventually joined by some beautiful Garnier style synths as the song reaches a mindbending apogee. I'd love an extended mix of this, as after teasing you with this peak, making you yearn to hear it a second time round, the song just peters out without delivering its expected second payload. Great song though.

RUEDE HAGELSTEIN - ECLECTIC PEOPLE


Other highlights on the album are a new track from Headphone Sex faves Hot Chip; 'Texas' by Benjamin Thaves - another big 'club hit' that's been getting a lot of radio play - and in particular a great interpol-esque remix of VHS or Beta by Carlos D (of...err.. Interpol) and 'Not on the Guest list' by Marco Dos Santos, which I guess thanks to Matthew we can call Fluxpop.

Back to the Future

If you cast your mind all the way back to last week... to a distant time when Australia still held The Ashes (!)... you may recall me posting a fantastic track by Sebastien Tellier. Well the cover of that record sent me straight into the depths of my vinyl until I emerged clutching this fantastic album by Giorgio Moroder - who is clearly a style icon for Monsieur Tellier. And why not. Surely this is the coolest man alive? I covet that 'tasch above all others. (Mind you, thinking about it I don't covet any others...)



He looks even more badass on the back:



Although Moroder is most famous for his Donna Summer productions (principally 'I Feel Love' of course), along with 'Midnight Express' theme 'The Chase', and iconic '80s classic 'Together in Electric Dreams' (one of my all time favourite records!), this 1978 album 'From Here to Eternity' stands tall next to all these.

Listening to this, and hearing the likes of Derrick May dropping 'I Feel Love' into his techno sets, it's amazing that Moroder isn't given more credit as an influence on house and techno. Like other more far out disco productions of the time like Black Devil's 'Disco Club', this is futuristic electronic dance music that hasn't dated in the slightest. To be honest it still sounds more futuristic than almost anything produced today...

When robots dance, they'll dance to Moroder.

This must surely also have been the first 'DJ Mix'? The 5 tracks on side 1 are seamlessly segued into a euphoria enducing whole.

'Lost Angeles' and 'Utopia' are paricularly great tracks.. but side 1 as a whole is glorious - and is presented to you here in its magnificent ripped-from-vinyl-15-minute-entirety.

GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (SIDE 1) [18MB]

1: From Here to Eternity
2. Faster Than The Speed Of Love
3. Lost Angeles
4. Utopia Me Giorgio
5. From Here To Eternity (Reprise)

..

No more cricket... I promise!

Soak it Up!

When I get invited to Downing Street, i'll make sure I stagger in straight off an all night bender as well!:

A Nation Rejoices....

I realise the vast majority of people reading this won't give a flying fuck... but YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE'VE DONE IT AT LAST!!!!!! 18 years of disappointment finally overturned with a magnificent draw in the final game. We win the series 2-1 and BRING THE ASHES HOME!!!!!!

I was trying to update the site earlier, but I think 56 million nervous Englanders sitting at work hitting 'refresh' crashed the internet. I managed to get home for the denouement, and have since been contentedly glugging a nice red wine, skipping around the lounge, dancing around whilst doing the washing up, and generally grinning from ear to ear.



This has been 7 weeks of the most incredible drama and excitement you could imagine... until even at lunchtime today there was no way of knowing who was taking home the miniature urn. Shane Warne was at his imperious best, and only a truly unbelievable innings by Kevin Pieterson meant safety for England. 7 sixes!? In an innings that important? How magnificent. Oh to have been there. Ashley Giles once again the unsung hero - hanging in there when wickets were falling - as he did at Trent Bridge in the Fourth Test. What a man! King of Sp(a)in? King of Fucking Europe!!!



The Aussies did their best to ruin the victory for us, by actually proving to be not only ferocious competitors, but gallant and dignified losers. What happened there? That's not the Australian cricket team I know and 'love'.

Shane Warne is surely some kind of mutant superbeing. To get his best ever Ashes figures in his last time in England? Amazing. Considering how much he has tormented us these last 15 years, the ovation he received at the end was astonishing. The man is a genius. 'The Heroic Brett Lee' (as he will henceforth be known), firing in his most ferocious deliveries of the series even once the game was lost? Battling through what must have been crushing disappointment. Gilchrist's incredible catch.

But this was England's day. And month. Cricket fever is everywhere. This series has opened people's eyes to the possiblities of sport. Statues of both teams should be erected in Trafalgar Square forthwith, with Freddie Flintoff replacing Nelson on the column. We have ourselves some new Lions.

I can't believe it's all over. What are we going to do with ourselves now? Other than record the series highlights on Saturday and watch them again and again...

...and listen to this for the 50th time today!!!!!

LOUIE BEGA - MAMBO #5


Oh shit, I'm dancing again......

He might be South African but.....

Century for Pieterson!

His first ton for England... and could there have been a more important innings in recent (or even distant!) memory?

It's taken this long for him to come up with an important knock, but what a time to do it. Headphone Sex told you the boy was good!

As every over goes by we're getting closer. My nails are disappearing fast and my nerves are shredded.

Hopefully this guy is right...

Someone tell me

How the hell i'm supposed to work with this going on.

Crickey...

127 for 5 at lunch. Warne turning the ball an incredible amount, Lee bowling ferociously... this is just too much to take.

Getting very tempted to take the afternoon off work...


Listen in to the drama here

A Rush and a Push and the Ashes are Ours

There's only one thing in mind today and it's got nothing to do with music.

Come on lads. We can do this.



How many times has this man destroyed our hopes though....




The Aussies coming out wearing sunglasses yesterday was the funniest thing i've ever seen in sport. Good on 'em! Really indicative of the great spirit the series has been played in. If you didn't see it, the England team went off for bad light - a draw being good enough for the Ashes and most Englishmen doing rain dances all week. The England supporters were joyously waving umbrellas in the air, while the Aussie supporters were all stripping to the waist and rubbing on sun cream. The Aussie players then returned to the pitch all wearing sunglasses, bent double with laughter. Great stuff.

It was also marvellous to see Regents Park yesterday filled with people playing cricket. I've never seen anything like it. It brought joy to my heart I can tell you....

My mate just picked up a ticket outside for £150. Bargain. I'm gutted i didn't bunk off work with him...

Sky calls the shots.....

I had something excellent lined up for you today, but my computer crashed late last night converting the .wav file to .mp3. So you'll have to wait.... !

You're an Embarassment

What a humiliation.

The players clearly believe their own hype too much. There's no way this bunch of Prima Donnas will lift the World Cup.. to be honest I'm not even sure I want them to. These smug playboys are insufferable enough as it is... can you imagine 40 years of Rio Ferdinand bragging about how he won us the cup?


Congratulations to Lawrie Sanchez though, to whom I will forever be indebted for taking us to the FA Cup Semi Final as Wycombe manager. The quarter-final victory at Leicester was one of the greatest days of my life. Thinking about it still puts a smile on my face.....

To be honest though, after this evening's abject defeat I need more than memories of glories past to pick me up. Fortunatelly this French fella called Sebastien Tellier has written a song that takes me back to the happy place every time (despite reminding me of Glenn Medeiros when the vocals start - ' Nothing's gonna change my love for you... !')



It's out as a single on September 26th... it deserves to be as big as his sunglasses.

SEBASTIEN TELLIER - LA RITOURNELLE

I heartily recommend you pop over to Gigabyte Picnic for a magical remix...



I guess we're relying on our cricketing heroes to save the day now. Unfortunately having lived through a lifetime of sporting disappointment, I fully expect the Aussies to pull an unlikely victory out of the bag & keep The Ashes.

Let's hope not though, eh!

COME ON ENGLAND!

Another poisonous liquid....

Well done to Antony & The Johnsons for winning the Mercury Prize last night.



I've not listened to it all that much, and my impression was that it's a couple of songs short of being a truly great album... however it's startlingly original, and as such a worthy winner. I remember being stunned by his performance on the Jools Holland show a few months ago... his voice is remarkable.

It seemed bizarre to me that the Kaiser Chiefs were such hot favourites. It's a great album but since the award is supposed to recognise originality it was never going to win. My money was on a surprise prize for either the Magic Numbers or The Go! Team... although strangely the album i've probably listened to most this year is... Maximo Park!

It was depressing listening to Chris Moyles on the radio yesterday morning, only to discover that he'd never heard of 'The Go! Team', 'M.I.A.' or 'Antony & The Johnsons'. No wonder you never hear any decent music on the radio.

Mind you listening to that twat is a depressing experience at the best of times. Why do I find myself tuning in to him and his half-wit cronies on the way to work? I guess it's the intellectual equivalent of going shopping in Asda to make yourself feel beautiful.

Walk towards the Campfire

Oh Happy Day!

At last we have some new Boards of Canada to sink our teeth into...

First of all, 'Oscar See Through Red Eye' is available from today as a high-quality download single from bleep.com. If you don't feel like you want to splash out the 99p on purchasing the track (it will appear on the album after all), you can, as usual on bleep, listen to it in 30 second pieces anyway. Which is kind of bearable as long as you hovver over the play button for the duration of the track.

I was also thrilled to find in my inbox this track from the forthcoming album!!!! :-D (Thank You!)

BOARDS OF CANADA - SATELLITE ANTHEM ICARUS

Both tracks tick all the right BOC-ses for me, with crunching beats, head-spinning melodies, the sounds of nature, and beautiful organic synths - all put together with incredible attention to detail. Out of the two i'm liking 'Satellite Anthem Icarus' most. I love the reverberating strings on that acoustic guitar, which sounds particularly beautiful combined with the water washing over it.

I do tend to prefer their more vocal tracks (like Aquarius, 1969, In A Beautiful Place in The Country etc...), and since these are both entirely instrumental it will be interesting to see what surprises the album has in store.... these two tasters have certainly tightened my excitement levels up a notch!

Hopefully there will be one or two numbers as magnificent as this recent remix of Beck, which has become one of my favourite tracks by the duo:

BECK - BROKEN DRUM (BOARDS OF CANADA REMIX)

And the sheep say 'Mu'

What purports to be a new KLF album is available to download from this site. (Click through the images, and click on the flashing speaker cone to download.)

I have no idea if it's authentic or not... where the KLF are involved there is often no way of separating truth from myth... however it seems unlikely that they would renege on their promise to retire from the music industry until world peace is established. Bill Drummond is nothing if not stubborn.

The facts are that it sounds exactly like a follow-up to the classic 'Chill Out', it's packed with familiar KLF samples, and the site has three new pictures of unmistakable KLF imagery. The album has supposedly been given the catalog number JAMSCD8, and the site states that it contains 'scenes from the forthcoming documentary 'The Sound of Mu(Sic)''

It lacks a couple of the truly magical moments that lit up 'Chill Out'... such as Elvis' 'In The Ghetto' drifting in over the top of the slide guitars.... however even if this is the doing of some fakers / fans it's a worthwhile piece of work. I've been listening to it a lot.






I also just found out that Bill Drummond & Mark Manning (Zodiac Mindwarp) have published the second part of their 'Bad Wisdom' trilogy. I have my copy of the first book signed by both after a strange encounter in a teepee in the middle of Virgin Megastore. They were dispensing 'Bad Wisdom' like a couple of transvestite gypsy acid casualties. I can't remember what they prescribed me, but true to their word it wasn't a lot of help!

'Bad Wisdom' was a very strange book, with the authors writing alternate chapters recounting a journey to place an icon of Elvis on the North Pole. Bill's would be written in his usual sardonic and amusing style, before handing over to Zodiac Mindwarp (Z), who would describe the same scene with the addition of huge doses of surrealism, sadism and sexual deviancy. Shit, Midgets and Whips would feature in the tamer episodes. The more depraved chapters made 'American Psycho' seem like Beatrix Potter. You can read what I presume is one of Z's chapters from the new book here. It generally becomes more bizarre when you have Bill Drummond's version of what is probably a ferry journey to Calais to compare it with!

Apparently this second volume follows a similar style to the first, except this time following a dangerous mission to Zaire to track down loony-bin president Mobutu, on the grounds that he is Earth's closest equivalent to Satan, and Bill & Z want to con him into returning their souls (which they carelessly lost in the 80's).

I love Bill Drummond's writing, and I love everything he does. I will have to order this forthwith. If you've not read it, his semi-autobiographical '45' is essential reading, and comes highly recommended. You can find out what he's been up to for the past 10 years here and here. The Penkiln Burn site is a bit of a nightmare to navigate, but you'll find something in there to entertain or enthrall you... I like his offer to come round and make soup for anyone living on a line between Nottingham and Belfast.... or of course his stunt to sell 10,000 pieces of a Richard Long photograph for $1 each, as described in his book 'How to Be An Artist'.

'Scream it like you hate that bitch'

I am filled with the joy of music at the moment. What a week it's been... and Wednesday night was the best of the lot.

I must admit when I left work the last thing I wanted to do was travel right across London to my old manor of Wood Green... it's a good 2 hour journey for me... and even during the support act The Futureheads I didn't feel like I entirely wanted to be there. I don't rate them much anyway and their set didn't inspire me to change my mind...



As soon as The Pixies arrived on stage though, I was a man transformed. The primal screams emitting from Black Francis' throat, the wall of noise, the frenzied reaction of the audience, just the sight of Kim Deal (although sadly on the other side of the stage from me). All my misgivings about the band's seemingly endless cash-in reunion tour (just how many double live CDs does one band actually need? There must have been well over 100 produced since they reformed by my reckoning) vanished in an instant. I was 'In Heaven'.



It's the third time i've seen The Pixies.. the first was at Crystal Palace Bowl (with Ride, Cud and the Boo Radleys) in 1991, when I was just out of short trousers. I couldn't get tickets for the reunion shows in Brixton last year, but instead went over to Barcelona to the Primavera festival. Unfortunately the Catalans seemed to have more interest in standing around making sure their hair looked good then worshipping the return of one of the world's greatest bands. I was a one-man mosh pit.

Last night though, oh last night. Well if the overuse of words such as amazing, incredible, brilliant, fantastic, excellent and superb on this site gets under your skin, i'm afraid you're going to have to grit your teeth & ride through it, as it was all those things and more.






The set was hugely geared towards their early albums - I can only remember 'Is She Weird' and 'Planet of Sound' from their last two records, and I'm sure they played every track bar Tony's Theme from 'Surfer Rosa', and pretty much everything from 'Come on Pilgrim' and 'Doolittle' also. In short, the kind of set you would want if you wanted to see the band at their best. 'U-Mass' and 'Velouria' were probably the only things they could have played to improve it.

It's still hard to see Black Francis / Frank Black / Charles Michael Kitteridge Thompson IV as a rock star. Certainly in a line-up with Iggy Pop, Axl Rose, Slash and even Jon Bon Jovi he would be fingered 999 times out of 1000 as the odd one out.. Even screaming out tales of incest, drowning, murder and slicing up eyeballs he looks like he's taken the wrong turn on the way to the bakery.. but my god that voice is one of the most remarkable in rock music.. and those songs. Wow. It was unrelenting delerium for the entire hour and a half. No pause for breath or pleasantries in between...





I'd like to write more, but i'm off to watch Wycombe (hopefully) beat Northampton, and i'm late. Suffice to say it was a wonderful, sweaty, breathless, exhausting, magical night.

Have a fun weekend

More TDK Photos....

The Earlies:





Richard X:


Kano:




Four Tet:


Mr Scruff:



After Goldfrapp I did have a struggle for a while finding any music I wanted to listen to. I just wanted to jump around and have a laugh, and the choices of tedious electro-house or the intricacies of Four Tet's laptop wizardry weren't really doing it for me.

That was until we stumbled upon these two loons playing Queen (Don't Stop Me Now), The Kinks, The Prodigy and the like to general delerium. Sadly we only had twenty minutes of madness before they finished. Gah!

Does anyone know who they are? They were great. I think it was in the 'Eat Your Own Ears' room if that provides any clues...











This is the track they finished with, which led to lots of idiotic leaping around. I bought it last week & wasn't immediately taken with it, however pumped out of a proper loud system at 4 in the morning it sounds bloody fantastic.

THE PRODIGY - OUT OF SPACE (AUDIO BULLYS REMIX)