Category: Music
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The Song Sometimes Remains The Same
OK, now I know my iPod is screwing with me. I have it on ‘shuffle everything’ mode, and it just played All I Really Want To Do by Bob Dylan (from the 1968 album Another Side Of Bob Dylan), immediately followed by World Party’s version of the same song (from the 1986 album Private Revolution). [Out of interest, Dylan does it better…] Now, I know there is a 1-in-7,807 chance of this happening – small but plausible – so I could accept it, but yesterday it played The Mission’s version of Like A Hurricane (from The First Chapter, 1987) followed… Read more
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Live fast, live long, as a rough-looking corpse
I’m not one for simply quoting from other internet resources (go do your own searching!) but this, from the Guardian Online is just too funny to let pass. Last week the Rolling Stones played a huge, free concert in Rio de Janeiro (apparently so Mick Jagger’s last (known) lovechild could “see what daddy does for a living” – here’s a newsflash, kid: he struts around in a leotard pretending he’s 40 years younger than he is). The Guardian covered the event (nice work if you can get it), interviewing several locals about the concert. One of those they spoke to… Read more
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Godlike Genius #1: Steve Albini
A few years back I heard Motherfucker=Redeemer (Part 1) by Godspeed! You Black Emperor on 3wk.com. I – no doubt like everyone who hears this for the first time – was blown away by the sheer intensity of it. I bought the album it was taken from (Yanqui U.X.O.) and scoured the liner notes for some clue as to the people behind it (can’t do that with a download!). G!YBE turns out to be a relatively-anonymous Canadian collective (the same ones behind the equally-absurdly-monickered Silver Mount Zion – billed on one release as The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra &… Read more
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Phased by the Big Note
A couple of weeks ago I received a pre-release copy of the eponymously-titled debut album by new band Dead Heart Bloom. I’ve had it on heavy-rotation ever since, and a mighty fine album it is, too. Dead Heart Bloom is the latest musical vehicle for the implausibly-talented Boris Skalsky. This is the same Skalsky who was one of the leading lights in Phaser, the DC-based band who released one great album (Sway) before unfortunately imploding under the combined weights of commercial and artistic pressures. Phaser are usually categorized as ‘post-shoegazing’ (you tell me…) whereas Dead Heart Bloom are effectively uncategorizable,… Read more
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The Traditional Year-End Top 10
It is traditional at the start of the year to list your ‘Top 10’ albums/movies/whatever of the preceding year. I’m just as lazy as the next music hack, so here’s my list. But in a slight twist, I’m going to list the top 10 albums I wish I’d never bought. To be fair, several of these weren’t released in 2005, but that’s when I bought them, so it still counts. Actually, a couple of these weren’t even bought in 2005, but it still burns my ass that they are taking up space on my ipod, so I thought I’d include… Read more