A FEW ROUNDUPS AND A PLANK OR TWO FOR DEBATE

Current mood: WORKMANLIKE
Category: WORKMANLIKE Music

Right, to be perfectly honest i have no idea what this blog is about yet, except i feel i should write one to keep my stats up and to prevent myself from feeling lazy, helpless and redundant...

Ummmmm...

How about a few roundups of CDs I've recieved to review this last month or so?? Yes, that'll be a fucking novelty - I'll review some music..


DJ Tiesto - Elements of Life

What's the big idea with DJs like Tiesto?? I don't mean to belittle anyones job, but DJaying is childs play isn't it?? I mean there are DJs who can create something new and fantastic, that can build and break a room of drugged and sweaty fools into a frenzy of ecstacy and chaos...But these folk are few and far between and I'm not at all sure Tiesto is onesuch.

Yes, I reckon if we're being honest, we have to agree that most Djs just play records one after the other, reflect in the glory of the original tracks and steal all the girls at the end of the night because they've read their minds and then played the songs written therein.....

Devious fucks in other words!

In fact, I'm thinking of starting a campaign for the abolition of DJs just as soon as I've finished my set tonight (5-9pm, The Victoria, Mornington Terrace, London - Be there or be some kind of fucking dumb and lazy idiot)

Anyway, this is Tiesto as producer rather than mixer and about the best I can say for this LP is that it's alright...

You can check the boxes if you like:

Vague, spacey slightly pretentious, poncey title CHECK!

Half decent and (some 3/4 decent) pop dance titles that if they were made by Heavy Metal bands would be called 'I wanna know what love is' of 'November Rain' CHECK!

Reverby keyboard and synth sounds CHECK!

Lyrical Requests such as 'Do you feel it??' CHECK!

Will sell millions and sell out misquilions of stadiums etc CHECK!

If you like this sort of thing, you'll love Tiesto and be partly reponsible for his massive wealth, otherwise you'll consider it to be tea time washing up music at best..


The Said - Divisadero

The Said have been around since 1995 It shows, but I'm not being rude. What I mean is that this is a consumate album. It echos experience and practice of playing smalltime gigs and continuing with the blueprint despite the lack of a major deal or any serious adoration.

I didn't find too much that was remarkable, challenging or new on this LP, but then i never really expected too....

I love the groove on track 3 and i love the vocalist because he sounds like W Axl Rose, but otherwise, as with Tiesto, I reckon your response to this LP is going to depend on what sort of sound you already like - If you're into American whiskey laced, bar room tobacco band white cracked damaed soul music, you'll probably go for it, otherwise most likely not..


Marillion - Somewhere Else

My greatest memory of Marillion form back in the day, was that I once went to a bargain Our Price record shop and tried to buy a Marillion album on cassette but accidently bought an album by tranny pop icon Marilyn.

Now this could have been an early sign of dyslexia, or a subconscious display of desired tranny gayness or just a fucking mistake...All I can remmber is that I was mightily pissed off about it at the time!!!

Anyway...300 years later, Marillion like every other fucking band are still going strong, have failed to accept their time has been and gone, and are knocking out average music in search of the love they need as creative people..

I don't blame them for sticking with it and trying. I mean what else can they do? Go to work at Tescos? Or sell their guitars?

Fuck that!

But the sad truth is that this record sounds like cabaret Muse/Marillion/Radiohead...It does nothing for me at all, and where the hell is Fish anyway??


P:+)G

Currently listening : Somewhere Else By Marillion Release date: By 24 April, 2007

07:45 - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Edi	Ha-haa, their former manager once advised them to get day jobs to make ends meet (blog entry of one week ago, just in case the link doesn't point you directly at). So there you also see Fish is in his Scotland spending quality time and gardening together with his newly moved in fiancee, Mostly Autumn's Heather Findlay. But when he goes on tour, he also takes 4/7 of that band with him, including, of course, his fiancee. And, from the very beginning there, you see I haven't been able to find any review that is favourable after the very first listening of that album. Otherwise, for me, DJ-s are just torturers of LP-s they only scratch while spinning. Posted by Edi on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 15:08 [Remove] [Reply to this]

The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...

Well, you've hit on something important here and that is how many times does one need to play a disc to evaluate it correctly?? I've gone through the Marillion record a couple of times and did find it slightly better the second time than the first, so maybe if i keep going at it I might have to re-review it... One of the problems nowadays tho is that availability of music is such that you don't have to play a record for a week or month and grow into it... I remember when i were a lad (the good old days obviously) if you bought something it was a rare event and you made damn well sure you concentrated on it 5 or 10 times minimum before dismissing it... Now with myspazz you just click when it starts to sound disagreeable, so a record has to have instant punch and grab your balls right away or else!! Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 15:40 [Remove] [Reply to this]

THEY CAME FROM THE STARS ::::: I UNDERSTAND EDITORS LESS BY THE DAY...OR SHOULD THAT BE MORE??

Current mood: ANNOYED
Category: ANNOYED Music

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OK... Here's a review i sent to frinkmusic.com...

I think it's fucking brilliant but they say::

"It's not really quite the style I'd be looking for. If you could put more about the music in that would be great. A first person kind of tone is really great for making reviews more interesting to read but for me this one was more exclusive than inclusive and so didn't really help me know too much about the music. So in this form I won't be putting this one up, sorry."

WHAT DO YOU THINK?? AM I DELUDED OR ARE THEY MISSING THE POINT??

Thursday 29^th March 2007

they came from the stars, I saw them

La Couteau Jaune

Cursor Miner

@ The 333, Shoreditch

The bouncer is straight faced. He says I won't be able to wear my yellow baseball cap inside. He's not joking. What does he think it is a bomb?? Or are bouncers the new policemen of style??

Fuck that anyway, it's the 333. It's Shoreditch: Normal rules of sense don't apply…

What's important is that 'they came form the stars I saw them' are one of the most original, energetic, fun and exciting bands around at this point in time and after a tricky performance a week previously they got proceedings underway at the 333 with consummate skill. The equipment behaved, the stress and tension was nowhere to be seen and the crowd was at it's peak...

So what do the 'stars' sound like? Like electric, gospel disco music, with noise and fireworks, ritual, pop bells, show and visual splendor …

Peachy in other words…Go check theirspace and join the clamour for them to have a residency at the Royal Albert Hall..

If 'they came from the stars I saw them' don't float your boat, I shouldn't bother to engage with La Couteau Jaune. LCJ are as much performance art as music. In fact I barely remember there being sound or if there was, what it was, or how it worked, such was the incredible visual impact of the show….

I do remember snarling Northern Irishman Ian Paisley was a guest vocalist. There was silly string and keyboards crashing to the ground. There was smiling and a big tin foil box with the front man in. It was hardcore, I mean I was catatonically drunk by this point and my memory is scant, but it was hugely visual and fun, but powerful and sharp all the same…

I loved them..

And so to the headliner…

I have an EP of Cursor Miner from maybe 2000 or 2001. I don't remember much about it other than there being one really grinding and blastingly excellent dance track that had the kind of energy most normally found on powerlines. This is what Mr Miner gave the audience for an hour straight.

It was a double loud and bass heavy super techno breaking music to melt you down one way or another. Excellent!!! And as if this weren't enough, Mr Miner owns the best shirt I've seen in some years too

So 3 out of 3 rocked the block off.

100%, Bravo!!!



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Currently listening : Reign in Blood By Slayer Release date: By 19 April, 2007

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	they came from the stars, i saw them	i think your big mistake here was mentioning the phrase "they came from the stars i saw them", as we are pretty certain by now that The Big Boss sent a circular memo around the entire music business with the words "DO NOT TOUCH WITH A FUCKING BARGEPOLE" underlined in red. Of coures, a few brave hearts have broken the rules, but th sort of people who write about YOUR CODE NAME IS: RAZORLIGHT et al are strict pinks, aren't they? fuck 'em! And Yes, We Must Remain The Wild Hearted Outsiders - hj ;o) Posted by they came from the stars, i saw them on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 18:42 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	Ain't this just typical of musicians!! Always trying to take the credit from the music writers who are in fact the real movers and shakers in the music making business. HJ you should be ashamed.... Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 11:47 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Vasco	No, you're not deluded. That was a typical cunt response from a cunt type person. Most likely he was expecting a review for any of those cunt bands which are now popular. After Throbbing Gristle's "Industrial Music for Industrial people", we should have now "Cunt Music for Cunt people". I think the guy's idea of being inclusive would have been if you did that review about the Babyshambles or who the fuck knows... Posted by Vasco on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 19:20 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	I'm interested in this 'cunt music for cunt people' idea... I've been trying to work out what the fuck this arctic monkeys thing is all about and i reckon people have been twisted and turned to such a degree that they now have no idea what's good and they just have to believe...The public has essentially been broken... Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 00:18 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Vasco	P.S: The fact that you were listening to Reign in Blood when writing this piece makes me want to shout: "Raining blood from a lacerated sky/ bleeding its structure/ Now I shall reign in blood!' I got in touch again with my inner metal head... Posted by Vasco on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 19:23 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	I listened to that Lp at double top volume in my headphones the other night and it sounded absolutely fantastic....Slayer produced the sort of intensity that mogwai reckon they do... "FUCKING SLAYER!!!!" Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 00:20 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	stephen	the review's fine, i sense an anti-yellow cap conspiracy though... considering the hard times to be had attempting to enter the establishment, the mere mention of said cap was probably enough to send mr. frink into a spin. fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. Posted by stephen on Saturday, April 28, 2007 at 00:27 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	Personally, I'd like to see bouncers banned from wearing black bomber jackets...I reckon yellow parkers would be far better...Or flowery blouse jackets... Yes, I'd love to see them say 'Take off that yellow cap!' whilst they temselves are wearing a flowery blouse jacket... Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 00:24 [Remove] [Reply to this]

THIS WEEKS FRIGGIN HITS ::: PT 3 EXCLUSIVE FREE DOWNLOADS & HOT CHIP

Current mood: PEPSIED UP
Category: PEPSIED UP Music

LEGAL NOTICE:
(if anyone (artist/record company) wise thinks i'm doing naughtiness by promoting these downloads, please write me a message as to why and how rather than starting a vicious war of which they'll only be one winner...)

OK...

The joyous day has arrived and i woke up badly hungover from drinking cheap beer to find myself attired in my brithday suit...I'll keep this situation naked and stone for one day only and i can only hope Tom doesn't expel for being statuesque and nude. If he does and even if he doesn't there's an archive of all my music blogs that can be found by clicking the banner below...Bookmark it if you like??

Thanks for all your best wishes anyway. In rememberance of this show of love, i have 2 more free tracks to give you and then that'll be that for this year...


So, when I was living in the caravan aroundabout early 2002, I finished off an album of material i recorded under the name of Downsizer...I listened through this LP last night and thought it was fucking fantastic, but it's never been released and it's unlikely to be on account of it being a pretty primitively produced effort...

Anyway given the bird theme of this last week, Here's a free download of a track form that album called Brandname Wigeon

One things for sure, when you spend 9 months amidst nature and nuclear power, you tend to get a good feel for it's harshness and beauty and the longer i stayed in the van on the edge of the woods, the more I planned and was used by it.....

My next music project was to be called C-WALL and to be based around bird soundz. It never happenned because i moved to the city and didn't see anymore friggin birds for a good long while and neither did i do any more music...

However last Novemeber i made a one off remix of Hot Chips The Warning
under this name (I am now almost completely retired from music prodcution). The production on this is properly primitive and includes elements of yesterdays blackcap download, but i like it and here it is for free

OH...and there's a load of new pictures up too...

:+)

Currently listening : The Warning By Hot Chip Release date: By 13 June, 2006

13:30 - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

THIS WEEKS FRIGGIN HITS ::: PT 2 EXCLUSIVE FREE DOWNLOADS

Current mood: SUNNY AND BRIGHT
Category: SUNNY AND BRIGHT Music

Right...

If apocalyptic banging hard rave music or complex pianoforte and joyous singing ain't your bag how about birdsong???

Yes, given that I've spent a lot of time on my balcony sorting the garden out this last week, I've mostly been hearing birds and aeroplanes (with music in the background) and I'm very pleased to report the return of a Blackcap to the shit pipe...

Now, I know this might sound like some kind of wierd sex, but what I'm talking about is the residence of a small warbler called the Blackcap that's once again come to brighten up my days...

It's a strange and stone cold fact that I've seen more different species of birds from my window here on Fish Island than at any previous address I've lived at, which since I've habbited some pretty wild and nessy places and Fish Island is in London is difficult to explain...

But ain't that just life....

Anyway, though it's great to see and hear such a bird in town, this years Fish Island bird list looks to be a step down from last years. Yes boss, last year there were both Whitethroats and Blackcaps singing, but this year I've seen or heard nothing of the Whitethroats at all.

Maybe they're saving their entrance for my birthday tomorrow...

I might struggle with people, but I've always got on well with birds..

When i was working at the nuclear power station I had to cycle for half an hour along the sand dunes to get to work and on my birthday that year I not only heard my first (and only) Grasshopper Warbler but was also delighted that my very first sight of the day was of a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the bird feeder outside the window of the caravan...

Birds aren't stupid anyway, and it's not surprising the Whitethroats have done a runner this year. Half way through the last breeding season the rather gormless and banal Thames Water sent some halfmen to fell all the trees the Whitethroats were using...I considered returning to my tree climbing days or burning down their trucks to exact revenge, but have so far decided against it..

And the shit pipe?? Well my flat here on Fish Island looks down onto one of Londons main sewers (of course this is where i get my bad language from - it leaps out and down my throat as i sleep) and atop this is the Greenway and atop that is where the Blackcap sings...

So...here we go with a free download of not only the song of a Blackcap, but also the Whitethroat and the Grasshopper Warbler, as well as a whole bunch of other Thrushes, Warblers and Flycathers....

Now, I'm gonna pump up the volume on the stereo and confuse the real thing...

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD

Currently listening : Heaven And Hell By Black Sabbath Release date: By 25 October, 1990

17:21 - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Edi	"I've mostly been hearing birds and aeroplanes (with music in the background)" Reminds me of the "Nightingales and Bombers" 1975 album of Manfred Mann's Earthband. Manfred Mann used an archive tape in the fading of the title track. It was done by a WWII ornythologist recording birds (as you did above) while war planes were flying over London, the sound of engines thereof being heard in the background. Certain species in your recording also remind me of recordings used by Pink Floyd for the intro to "Cyrrus Minor" (on "More" 1969) and in "Grantchester Meadows" (on the studio album of the double, partly live, "Ummagumma" 1969). Posted by Edi on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 00:48 [Remove] [Reply to this]

Paul Giovanni

THIS IS THE SORT OF KNOWLEDGE I LIKE TO SEE.... I'm bowled over and need to research... PG:+)xx Posted by Paul Giovanni on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 00:56 [Remove] [Reply to this]

THIS WEEKS FRIGGIN HITS :::: 3 FREE SUPERSTAR DJ MIXES

Current mood: RALLENTANDO
Category: RALLENTANDO Music

LEGAL NOTICE:
(if anyone BBC/artist/record company wise thinks i'm doing naughtiness by promoting these acts AND MIXES, please write me a message as to why and how rather than starting a vicious war of which they'll only be one winner...)

Well Jesus, it's my birthday tomorrow. I'm gonna be 32 which is 23 the wrong way around and i'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, so i'm celebrating by giving away a whole bunch of sound that doesn't belong to me and this garilous generosity starts here with 3 of my favourite DJ mixes...

Of course though genuine, my magnaminousness isn't unboundless and i'm gonna make you read a couple of relative annecdotes before revealing where you can access the merchandise, so strap yourself in, don't cheat and scroll down the page for the links and here we damn well go..

The first mix is one of the nicest, most distinct and biggest ballsy mixes i've ever heard and expect to hear full stop, let alone on UK national radio..

It's by Mr Chilly Gonzales and was originally broadcast back in 2002 on Mary Anne Hobbs Breezeblock.

Now, for the uninitiated, The Breezeblock is a weekly mix slot where experimental electonic/dance types put out a DJ mix on BBC Radio 1. I've found these mixes vary from the predicatable to the mostly predictable. Yes boss, I've heard few suprises on this show and though many are excellent regardless of this lack of a blind side, this one by Mr G is from another planet because it has it..

I won't say much more except to recommend it as essential listening. You may love or hate it. I love it...Download it by clicking HERE and send all your comments and love to Mr G...

Before we get onto number 2, I've got a little annecdote concerning Mr Chilly Gonzales.

Before i went to live in a caravan in the middle of nature, I was living in Prague for a few months and before that I spent 3 years in Norwich at art school...

It was mostly a waste of time, other than that I managed to knock out a fair bit of creative work to absolutely no reception whatsoever...

Anyway, later on, I was living in the caravan and was wondering what the hell to do next. I mean i had everything on a plate: I owned the caravan (well the banks owned it but they didn't know where it or I was) I was surrounded by the UKs finest nature reserves and the sea and my living expenses were more or less irrelevant...

Well, I ended up working in a nuclear power station for 6 weeks, made 2 and a half grand, moved to London, sold the caravan and bankrupted myself properly...

Why? Well i don't honestly know, except that I had a few pals I'd met in Norwich who were living la vida loca in London and i was getting a little bored of heaven. Two of these folk had a pad in Leiscester Square. They were subletting from a man called Murray who together with another called Philip spent all their time gambling and drinking for a living...It sounded like my sort of thing, so i moved in and started working on my own ruin.

Now, I don't see any of these people anymore. A whole bunch of luminaries sharing a kitchen doesn't always work out for the best, but they were all good times and great people none the less and it was through them and that wierd time that i found out about Chilly Gonzales..

Yes, a friend of these firends was at the time working as a stripper and she appeared to be on some kind of mission to marry a rockstar. She suceeded. She's now married to the drummer form Franz Ferdinand, but before this day she sailed past Mr Gonzales in the night...

I remember her talking about him in the kitchen as the mice scurried around the cupboards. She said she'd been to The Eden Project in Cornwall for a gig with him and about how Jarvis Cocker had told Mr G he was good and how she'd reflected in the glory...

Well, i didn't much like the girl in question and I felt certain i wouldn't like Mr Gonzales, but whereas I have very little time for FF I love Chilly G more and more by the day...


OK, the other 2 mixes are pretty much polar opposites to the former.

I've heard a lot about New Rave of late, but at this point in time I see it as little more than some kind of horseshit fake trauma that is selling the kids of today shorter than a dwarf...

I mean, I well understand these youngsters needing to be educated about the power and style of electronic music after suffering that seemingly endless plague of bands called 'The ++++", but New Rave is just Indie Pop fashion shit with no real soul, substance, energy or power..

So, if you, like me, missed Rave the first time around, I'd seriously urge you not to listen to The Klaxons and attend 'raves' in disused (but kind of like used, as in for raves and like but it is legal, so it isn't legal) warehouses in Boreditch. No...Get yourself down to Bangface or listen to mixes like these by DJ Scud...

MIX 1 MIX 2

Sure these are perhaps a touch heavy, dark and a little less euphoric than a 1987 party in a field, but they have more of the energy, power and verve of what i believe to be rave than the NME will ever understand..

OK..

23 32 23 32 23 32 23 2 3 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2232 23 3

Currently listening : Ambush! By DJ Scud Release date: By 08 April, 2003

13:33 - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Hijackalope	i suggest you listen to butthole surfers' 22 going on 23 Posted by Hijackalope on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 17:43 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Giovanni	I'm on it.... Posted by Paul Giovanni on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 18:13 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	stephen	be careful, that butthole surfers shit'll fuck you up. i mean it. i spent much i my youth listening to 'locust abortion technician' and it really will hurt you. you'll have great times, smoke a lot of pot, lose perspective and end up not being able to remember much of it. you have been warned. p.s. the album sounds better now that i'm older and off the devil weed. Posted by stephen on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 01:00 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Giovanni	I've listened to it and am not sure i feel so comfrotable showing myself off now....I've always steered clear of this band..I think they may be dangerous.. Posted by Paul Giovanni on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 01:03 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	stephen	oh, they are. especially everything before 'independent worm saloon' (poop album, as is everything after)... try 'hairway to steven' on for size or 'rembrandt pussyhorse'. btw your new profile pic is eerily reminiscent of the first butthole surfers ep: you butthole surfers Posted by stephen on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 07:12 [Remove] [Reply to this]

Paul Giovanni

Take another look at these two pictures...I think you'll find my little thing is about 1 cm longer.. Posted by Paul Giovanni on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 10:35 [Remove] [Reply to this]