Explanations please..

I’ve been in Paris which is why I’ve not posted in a wee while. Saw many things while I was there but one has perplexed me no end and I hope someone can sort out the riddle for me.

I was in Disneyland on Sunday (I know what you’re thinking, don’t be too jealous) and while I was queueing up to get on the Aerosmith Rock’n'Roller Coaster (cheesy theme but fucking excellent) there was a whole host of memorabilia dotted about.

SO.

Can someone please explain to me why this jacket here had a Radiohead card infront of it? I don’t think it’s really Johnny Greenwood’s colour. Did Thom Yorke have an Elton John phase that noone told me about? Very strange.

 

Get Well Soon, Martin

Mogwai’s drummer Martin Bulloch has had some problems with his pacemaker (sounds nasty) and as a result the band have had to cancel the remaining dates on their USA/Canadian tour. Read about it here and while you’re at it, read the rest of their tour blogs, which are a riot.

One last thing, if our single “Batcat” fails to reach the Top 10 in the UK, we will proceed to release one home address per week of a Glasgow Rangers football player. Nacho was the warning shot, wait till we get round to your first team players. Put a Donk on it.

Apparently the people over at Ibrox didn’t like it, Barry explains..

We joked that we’d release Rangers player’s addresses if Batcat doesn’t go top 10. Apparently Rangers Football Club are “actively investigating” the matter. This perhaps explains why we’ve noticed dodgy looking folk in our audiences attending the last few shows wearing bowler hats, dignified brown brogues and orange sashes. They didn’t look like Mogwai fans to us and we’ve just found a hidden camera in the Mogwai portable tour chapel, which we feel may be the property of a certain humourless football club in Glasgow.

Brilliant stuff!

Anyway get well soon!

 

Breathe

I had an interview for my absolute dream job and now I have the privelage of sitting tight until Monday to hear whether or not I am a loser or one of life’s winners. It’s killing me, and my brain is racing in a fight between reality and blind hope over the possible outcome.

If it had a sound track it’d probably sound like this

 

F*cking Little Bastards

I was running late for work this afternoon (backshift, whiiiiit) and in my haste to get out the door, I forgot to take my hand out of it and shut it full force on my fingers. I think they went in to a bit of shock ‘cos I never felt anything for a minute, had enough time for Arab Strap – Fucking Little Bastards to come on my ipod (which I had just found, yaas) then get to the end of my driveway before The Pain kicked in.

This song was the absolute best soundtrack for this moment, as it is basically such a hate filled rant that it beautifully summed up my feelings to the world at that moment. Click here for a preview of the track, here for the lyrics, or here to buy Mondays at the Hug and Pint, the album it’s off of.

There’s now a nice blood bruise under my nail so everyone can see how brave I am and how much pain I triumphed through. Ya dancer!

 

Sweet Jesus

That Caleb Followill is an absolutely massive tease.

22 seconds in.

 

This week..

Can’t stop secretly wanting to be in Los Campesinos

Stamping on your fingers as you’re clinging on to the abyss!

 

Fuck Buttons

Fuck Buttons are supporting Mogwai in the UK on their upcoming tour. Their sound is devastatingly impressive, creating minimal noise then droning feedback that holds you in the palm of their hands till you think you can’t bear it any longer, before giving you a little bit more proper distorting, instrumental slow dancing.

In Sweet Love for Planet Earth they are a duo completely in control of the power between the twidly pedal things (I presume to be) producing the noise, building the momentum that keeps you on your toes. I so wish I was going to see them on this tour, I am catching Mogwai but that’s in Paris where the equally impressive Twilight Sad are billed to support, so it’s no consolation prize.

Their debut, Street Horrsing is up there on my ‘to buy/beg/borrow/steal’ list as their Myspace has just the two songs on it. I really want to see how controlled the rest of their albums is, because that’s what appeals to me about them – most electronic/instrumental music I hear always heads toward some sort of climax or tends to ‘kick in’ at some point. Refreshing change from the band you’re (I am) least likely to tell your (my) parent’s you (I) like.

 

dEUS

I’ve only been to Belgium once but I loved it. It was my boyfriend at the time’s birthday and we went away for a suprise weekend and spent it all drunk, wandering around taking pictures of pretty buildings and eating waffles. Seemed like such a wholesome place. One night we had escaped from some basement pub just off the Grand Place in Brussels at kicking out time, hiding our fresh pints under our coats. We ran into the street to continue drinking with the same air of anarchy as kid rebels smoking behind the PE block at school.

The glasses we took seemed so cool we tried hiding them in a bush to come back for them the next day. You know drunken ideas – properly sensible and well meaning at the time. It was round about then that we were herded downstairs in a bit of a whirl into the world’s dingiest and dodgiest strip club. It was then that my entire image of nice-neutral Belgium had been wrecked. I thought it was above sex!

Then I started listening to dEUS and realised that I’d been deluding myself all along. There’s something distinctly filthy about them, the groaning moaning low guitars growl in your face (I recommend Bad Timing for Exhibit A of this) and maybe its something to do with them singing in English but it’s all a bit ‘come hither’. Anyway, enough of this rambling go have a nosy. They’re playing their wee hearts out round about Europe this autumn (although not Glasgow, boo). I recon they’d be a band to see live.

 

It’s Love

Blur? My dad likes Blur.

“Download this, bitch”. Correct response!

 

Joe Cocker

Some stuff.

I found this clip a couple of years ago and was actually so transfixed by it. It really amazed me that despite his quite obviously altered mental state that he still hits every note, and not just that but with such control and power etc.

In this day and age we also let people take drugs and go on stage, unfortunately they sound and look like this