GIG REVIEW :::: DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP : TIM WELLS : THE VENTRILOQUIST : S J ESAU

GIG REVIEW :::: DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP : TIM WELLS : THE VENTRILOQUIST : S J ESAU
Current mood: SCROOBILICIOUS
Category: SCROOBILICIOUS Music

Tim Wells

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

S J Esau

The Ventriloquist

Penned in the Margins

@ The Spitz 15^th March 2007

It's a couple of hours before the gig and as we wait for Dan Le Sac to arrive to soundcheck, Scroobius Pip is telling me the thriving Spoken Word scene in London is about to blow up. This is good news. I've had my head so far up my ass I've not been to a spoken word night for years until a month previous, and I assumed it was still very much a marginal activity.

I mean it's a weird bastard is spoken word. It sits in between and over the tracks of comedy, poetry, hip hop and plain old story telling and the display at The Spitz amply demonstrated this varied diversity in it's full.

First on was Mr Tim Wells. Mr Wells delivers straight up poetry and on this occasion was preceded by a pole dancer gyrating to the more than mellow sounds of his royal highness Lee Scratch Perry. It was a peculiar start after which Wells related stories of the life and times of drunk London. Part anecdotal, part confessional his stuff didn't really grab me by the balls, but then it wasn't bad either.

Next it was Mr Scroobius P I P and Dan,.. Dan,.. Dan,.., Dan DAN!!! DANNN!!!!! DANNN!!!!!!!!!!! Le Sac.

Now, for my money this should have been the main event. Scroob and Le Sac were clearly responsible for pulling a large portion of the crowd and had the material and class to deserve centre stage, but due to their late addition to the bill and the size of the Ventriloquists orchestra this wasn't a go go.

So, unless you've had your head up your arse, you'll probably all know that 'Thou Shalt Always Kill' is one of the most memorable and just plain good pop songs of the year and it was duly delivered together with an excellent set containing punch, conviction and pretty power galore.

Make no mistake, Mr Pip is one hell of an orator and Mr Le Sac one hell of a music producer and together they're bringing us some proper pop music to wash away the pretenders with whom we've been cursed….

The only downside to this brilliance was that it made it a following on a very tough deal indeed for SJ Esau..

He gave it a good stab, playing as a one man electronic guitar loop band, but at times his hoops were almost drowned out by the chitter chatter and the technical problems of one type or another.

It was a weird atmosphere that continued into The Ventriloquists smooth and lounge jazztastic set. The thing was it seemed, once Le sac and Pip had taken their seats the crowd not only thinned, but whoever so remained seemed far more interested in their own spoken words than those of the on stage performers…

And perhaps this is the greatest barrier in the way of spoken word becoming the new rock 'n' roll: Talk is everywhere and talk is cheap. Certainly on this evidence, S W is most definitely evolving good and proper, but how far can it go?? This is the ????????

Currently listening : Pip By Keith John Adams

The 6ft 2in Pianist

Sounds like a familiar scene. I think that spoken word has the potential to 'go off', as long as the general public are able to judge those best to listen to. Scroobius Pip has been helped massively by Dan le Sac's imagination and skill, making the pairing's music impossible to ignore, much less chat through. Great review Posted by The 6ft 2in Pianist on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 01:11 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Thanks... Scroob has a great delivery and you did a very fine job this last Wednesday.. ALL OF YOU BUY THE FUCKIN SINGLE!!!!! Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 01:30 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	they came from the stars, i saw them	i finally heard the scroobius pip and kiss my sac record last night. So THAT is the record that recieved single of the week in nearly every single magazine the same week that Kite was almost totally ignored? Makes me fucking sick. Clever Cynical Shoreditch Cunts. and not even a tune. Wonder why it got so many glowing reviews. Today i want to give up more than ever Posted by they came from the stars, i saw them on Friday, April 13, 2007 at 12:28 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Clever and cynical maybe, but I'm a sucker for clever and cynical pop music - I mean aren't those the two characteristics that define most if not all 'pop' music if you look at it without the rose tints??....If the artists/performer aren't knowingly at it themselves, then the management/publicity/record company certainly are...I'm very hard pushed to think of a Number 1 or even a top ten record that stands free of contrivance and has any kind of innocence or purity... Why didn't your single didn't get more attention?? - I'm at a loss as to understand it, though I'm begining to wonder what the hell your management & record company do all day?? Shouldn't they be sorting this kind of thing out??? I mean if I'd put my heart and soul into something as good as The Unstopable Kite' and nothing happenned, I'd be directing my wrath and disappointment straight down the fucking phone line to them...You done your work..Have they been doing there's?? Giving up ain't gonna solve anything that's for damn sure..... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Friday, April 13, 2007 at 15:28 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	horton jupiter	nah, i totally disagree about this, doc. Great pop music is often Clever, sure, but there has to be a soul for it to be good pop music, and Pip just sounds up himself, making a record for all the wrong reasons. He's just not into music, he's into himself, and it shows. The Beach Boys - just a band, right - i'm all for tearing into our so cool heroes and all that. But someone like Brian Wilson goes to hell and back, kicking and screaming into the centre of the fires of creation and coming back with a bunch of something magical and profound and truthful and beautifully human to share with the world and...and...and all those other things. Then Scroobius Pip and his ilk shout "Bollocks!" really loud in the pub like borish pissed-up student tossers. Brilliant. 11 out of 10. As for the Stars, i don't think it's anyone's fault - Beauty just isn't cool anymore, as pip proves. Posted by horton jupiter on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 02:49 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

Fucking cuntspace!! I had a beautiful hour long crafted retort and it's disappeared.. In brief it was this: Though i can see your point, 'Thou shalt always kill' has always struck me as trying to be light hearted, thought/discussion provoking and clever - I don't see it as cynical.. With reagrds to the 'Kite' I remain unconvinced by your record company and management. I don't think the quality of their work is matching yours. Maybe they're great people, but are they good gurerilla businessmen who get great records the response and adulation they deserve?? What's their track record? What's their ambition? Beauty is always in, but having beauty doesn't mean success...Plenty of beauty is never seen at all....To get your beauty seen requires good promotion, luck and timing.. The main thing I've taken from The KLF was the way they married guerilla business with great art. People like 'Plugger' Scott Piering were crucial to their success. One has to engage with capitalism, play it at it's rules and give it a sound thrashing or else be happy with no money obcsurity.. Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 11:10 [Remove] [Reply to this]

GIG REVIEW ::: THEY CAME FROM THE STARS : EUGENE MACHINE : THE SHARMILLS : BB GUNN

Current mood: ENLIGHTENED
Category: ENLIGHTENED Dreams and the Supernatural

BB Gun

The Sharmills

Eugene Machine

They Came From the Stars I Saw Them

@Gingliks 22^nd March 2007

Gingliks is the sort of place where men used to go to find other men. I'm not talking about a Working Mens Club. No, Gingliks is a converted public toilet in the aptly named Shepherds Bush.

Weird that.

Not the Shepherds Bush bit, but the whole toilet cruising business. I mean I know being gay wasn't easily done in years gone by, but why public toilets? Why not art galleries or museums or somewhere else a little less dark and unhaunted by the smell of industrial strength cleaning chemicals??

Well, weirdness is about the only thing this gig had in common with the buildings former use. You see this night ended strangely, but let's not get ahead of ourselves…

Everything started as you might expect. BB Gun was first on and he delivered a selection of songs that whistled along much like the wind. No shit. They gently gusted, ebbing and flowing and I liked them a lot….

The Sharmills were next. It's a week later as I write this up and I'm still not sure what I make of them. They've got a kind of PJ Harvey meets Kate Bush at the rock opera thing going on. I mean, the songs didn't really grab me but they sounded pretty original and the front woman looked stunning. I really want to like them, yet I remain even now not totally convinced.

The strangely named Eugene Machine, hosts and organisers, followed on. Here we're talking a funk robotic electro thing and boy did they execute it well. The sound was double bass loud heavy, and dead funky phat with it. The tunes themselves were competent and strong and everything was just smart down the line. This lot are a class act, go and take a look next time they're in town…

And so to the headliners…

For my money 'they came from the stars I saw them' are one of, if not the most interesting band of the moment.

You see you've got everything with the 'stars' There's no guitars other than a bass, there's a mountain of electronic bliss from Jupiter, a clarinet, a saxophone, gay masters, white robes and cacaphonic glory reigning from the speakers like the holy Jesus spirit minus the dogma.

Yes boss, it was them I'd gone to Shepherds Bush to see and I assumed that would be the case with most of the crowd. So, you can imagine my surprise and disgust when I noticed half had gone home to beddy byes before the 'stars' had even strummed their first electropic chord.

Now, if there's one thing that annoys me on this lonely and dear little planet we live on it's people leaving events early. Whether it be football matches or gigs this whole 'Oh, I've got to home to my boring shitty life rather than risk oversleeping tomorrow' is pure catshit and I'd like to take this welcome opportunity to publicly admonish all of you who practice it.

I mean what's the fucking point? You've paid to get in and something special could happen and you'd rather get the last friggin tube home so you're up bright and fresh for you're damn work….

I shouldn't get so upset, but I honestly think that people who leave gigs early should be beheaded on their way out, especially when the headliner is the 'stars'.

So, the gig???

Well, I won't lie and say the 'stars' set went as smoothly as planned. There was tension and there was equipment with it's own agenda and by the impromptu end there can't have been more than 10 clever people left in the room.

Horton Jupiter said it was one of the worst times he'd ever spent on a stage and when Sculpture threw his bass on the floor as the final act of frustration, it seemed that the sky had maybe just fallen in a little on the stars..

But despite the myths and the stories, the sky never really falls in on anyone and the 'stars' still sparkled with the kind of energy and ideas that most bands are too simple to even imagine, let alone perform live on stage.

One thing is sure, you can't keep a good band down for long and despite the problems it was a blinding set of the sort of musical chaos that makes this band so very special.

So, if you weren't one of the ten and you weren't at the 333 last night you've missed out on this particular feast twice in a week and you should be thoroughly ashamed.

Make sure it doesn't keep happening....

Currently listening : What Are We Doing Here? By They Came from the Stars I Saw Them Release date: By 01 July, 2003

Currently listening : What Are We Doing Here? By They Came from the Stars I Saw Them Release date: By 01 July, 2003

16:14 - 4 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	they came from the stars, i saw them	wow! thankyou very much mister. although the bad time on the stage wasn't the result of people leaving, it was my godawful personal life! People leaving did exacerbate the situation a little, but you can't hold it agin them too much - you're right, the school night excuse is a load of toss, but i don't think it's that so much as the fact that missing the last tube would mean most of the crowd would have to get TWO NIGHT BUSES to get home, and how Boring is that? Uncle Boring and his Boring Wife, i'd say... Posted by they came from the stars, i saw them on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 14:35 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Oh fuck, I love nightbuses...Full of nutters and drunks...Brilliant...Give me nightbuses and a walkman and the 'stars' ahead of the Tube anyday of the damn week... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 14:43 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	horton jupiter	i love nightbuses too, and sometimes am the nutter myself. but you gotta admit that TWO nightbuses is bollocks on account of the not knowing WHEN, and TWICE. Christ it's painful! Having said that we should take your mate Michelle on some sort of night bus hell tour when she rolls up. that'll learn her. Posted by horton jupiter on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 02:53 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

Yeah, I know what you're saying, but I can't let practicalities enter my thoughts when pursuing good art...Everyone should go and see 'the stars' regardless of the consequences - Shit if the nightbusses are the problem camp on the firggin green or pull someone who lives more local or pay for a taxi or use a bike... Good idea with Michelle - If she ever makes it over here we should give her a bus pass and tell her bus parties are where it's at. It'll be a novelty, I don't think they have busses in Hollywood.... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 10:46 [Remove] [Reply to this]

ALBUM REVIEW: LOUIE AUSTEN - IGUANA

Would Frank Sinatra be making electro disco dance records if he were still on planet earth?? A collaboration with Mark Ronson perhaps? Or maybe the Neptunes? Come to think of it, it’s a surprise Franks record company haven’t tried eeking out a little post mortem payola courtesy of a superstar DJ mix or two, or if not them, then some bedroom bootlegging DJ splicing his dads Frank with Kraftwerk…

Well maybe it’s all been done and I’ve just not heard it, but whether it has or hasn’t, the results of such a mix might well sound something like Iguana by Louie Austen…

Formerly a club crooner from the same old school as Frank, Louie Austen is an experienced hand in the music game. His uncompromising approach to his trade has shown him occasional bumpy times along the way, but these peaks and troughs haven’t affected Louies self belief, his passion or his longevity. Yes boss, Louie is now 60 years old, and he’s not only still going strong, he’s opening up new and younger audiences for himself and this is what I like to call impressive class…

So how does a good old crooner doing electro disco work exactly?

Well, Iguana features the work of 4 different producers though you wouldn’t necessarily know it as the sound is pretty constant and consistent, centering around electro, disco and house with occasional nods to the easy listening sounds of James Last and the like.

Lyrically, Louie shares his passion for life and the history of music as he remembers it and his delivery is, as you'd expect, liquid smooth and composed. In fact, taken all around, Iguana is a profoundly easy listening LP and if this album were a drive, it'd be a pleasant Sunday afternoon one in some kind of cabriolet...

Yes, it’s late spring or early summer. You’re in a white Volkswagen Bettle Convertible with the top down. You’re wearing a cream suit and a Panama and you’re cruising around old English country lanes thinking you might never go back to work, normal life etc. You’re playing Iguana by Louie Austen and you are living!

So is the LP any good? Well, is a drive in the country in a cabriolet in late spring any good? Of course it is…

On the odd occasion, I felt a little short changed by the production. I mean sometimes the sounds are a little too formulaic and unadventurous, suggesting that if they were standing without the voice and the concept they might not work out too well.

There's also the occasional failure in the fit between the vocal and the strict programming of sequenced dance music. In his autobiography Bill Drummond formerly of The KLF waxes about the problems Jimmy Cauty had trying to fit Tammy Wynettes intuitive vocal onto the strict electronic sequences in the KLFs bumper smash Justified and Ancient. I reckon this same difficulty surfaces occasionally here.

But these are small problems and I still say dust down your cream suit, get the top down on that VW and vote Louie. Better still get along and see him play live, I reckon you’ll get the best of him in the club.

See you there....

THIS WEEKS HITS – WEEK ALMOST ENDING 28TH MARCH 2007

Current mood: REGULAR GOOD
Category: REGULAR GOOD Music

Blimey there's a mountain of work chansing me, so this is gonna have to be double quick which'll be hard because this week there are many many hits...


FRESHERS

Let's start with The Hand. This is some kind of folk electornica cross over. Both genres hare having a renaissance just now and thank the blue sky for that. I particularly like the way The Hand utilises that juddery jumpy effect that seems to be all the rage just now. This is a good blend all round, pour yourself a mug...

Terry Toe is another citizen of electronica utopia. Mr Toe's trick is brass which reminds me of being young and naive and I like him for that and for many other reasons. Brasstronica anyone??

Bible College have also pitched a tent in the fertile floodplains of electronica utopia. There's only one track up at the moment but it's a good one. Go listen and don't forget to read the good book every night b4 bedtime...I saw this on the way to my medical trial...Fear culture or what?!

Laura Burhenn has come up with some sublime acoustica and if the track Just for the Night's splendid mix of acoustic and electronic doesn't open you up then you might well not be human

Metamoderne takes this weeks prize for originality. I have no idea what you call this, they call it Experimental/Tropical/Gospel. Whatever it is it's good..

Lastly here's a special mention for Hijackalope who's suffered the indignity of having most of his gear nicked this last week. The song about chipmunks on your player is depraved Mr 'Lope. The CIA have probably stolen your gear either them or animal rights people...


STAPLES

There's not much in the way of staples this week. I've been mostly sorting through the archive to make it easier to DJ which has meant I've been listening to beginings and ends, so I think i'll just leave this blank....


LIVE

For a review of the Eugene Machine / they came from the stars I saw them gig at Gingliks watch this space - a full review is in the pipeline..

As is a full review of last nights Scroobius Pip and 6ft 2" Pianist gig at The Strongroom...It was a blinder. Mr Pip is a fine fine orator. Get along and see him quick before Elton John starts wanting to work with him..

The second Pull Up A Chair was a little sparsely attended, but was a decent way to spend the dregs of the weekend. There was some shit hot DJ playing a mixture of electronica, reggae and easy listening. He was called Paul Giovanvandriver - something like that anyway


MIXES

My favourite this week has been a mix by Mr Mike Paradinas aka U-ziq. It's called Ammunition and it's on the Planet Mu label.. It's a quick bang crash wallop mix with some lighter moments. It's pretty new, but old enough not to be infected by the rancid plague that is dubstep....

OK, that's it. I'm off to get drunk and watch some more bands..Last night was the first drinks in 3 weeks. It ended badly. Tonight I will do better..

PG:+)

Currently listening : Surrender By The Chemical Brothers Release date: By 22 June, 1999

03:55 - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	T-toe	Cheers for the words, dude. Look out for a live show! CD on its way soon. Posted by T-toe on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 20:41 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

Looking forward to the live show and the disc..PG Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 11:34 [Remove] [Reply to this]

THIS WEEKS HITS – WEEK MIDDLING 21ST MARCH 2007

HOKA HEY!!!

I've escaped from the lab after a new two days of dosing on the finest asthma cures and I've a whole bunch of good shit to recommend to your more than capable ears..


HOT NEW TODDIES

I'm pretty sure i've heard some Daedelus before - In fact I reckon they've recorded something for Mike Paradinas label Planet Mu.. The 4 tracks on the Myspace player are a good introduction anyway. There's a bit of lounge electronica, a tribute to rave and some ambient electrolysis going on.

Where Everything Falls Out is beautiful, vocal, proper soothing soundscape scenes..Turn your telly down to the pictures only, and listen to this as a soundtrack. I have to do this all the time - the telly's broken. Earlier on, I had London Tonight for pictures and Ivor Cutler for sounds, it was good...

Anyway...

Die Del Amor - Horror Hard Hop anyone?? Much like Bishi on last weeks list, I'm not sure if I like this lot myself, but I reckon they're alright and at the very least, worth a go..


STAPLES

IVOR CUTLER - To get started on your Cutlercation check out a bootleg album called 107 recordings. You'll find it on emule or something similar. Highlights include Blind Date, A Romantic Man, A Real Man and the outstanding Get Away From the Wall

THE ORB - (Once the Orb were huge and then everyone turned against them - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld is however a classic record)

SCROOBIUS PIP - No Commercial Breaks LP (I got my copy from Mr Pips fair hand. I'm not sure about it's availability...Go ask him)

GLOBAL GOON - (Swimming melodic electronics)

TOM MIDDLETON - (Deeply house smooth)

MARCELO RADULOVICH - This gentleman sent me three LPs for review and I'll be doing just that shortly. For now I'll say Bass booty tastic and proper muso skill..Radulovich can blend like no other..


LIVE

I took a Saturday night at The Fly on New Oxford Street and saw 2 and a half of the 4 bands.

The first didn't sound that interesting on any level and I don't even remember their name.

The headliners The Natives sounded like 3001 other turgid '4 boys in an indie band'. Proper lads music and I'm not a lad I'm a small boy....

Only MissOddKids crudely contagious rhymnes had any class. The crowd weren't interested, but the crowd was indie kids looking for a new Oasis...Miss OK can be a pop sensation - Go check her out


NO MIXES THIS WEEK BUT INSTEAD A...

MYSPACE MASH UP:

A Myspace Mashup is when you're svivvering and swaying through myspace trying to lure as many people as possible to be your friend and you get yourself a load of open profiles and 3 or 4 or 10 profile tracks all playing at once.

This is of course most normally a complete pain in the arse horrible noise mess, especially when you're computer won't let you shut any of it down...

But occasionally you hear a good combination and you start to get ideas that maybe your musical career isn't quite over. This happenned to me not 2 hours ago. I had Psure (electro techno type thing) Mark of the Muze (dreamy ambient thing) and Acid Burp Music all going at once. It didn't work all of the time, but i reckon you could mix bits of these together and come up with something pretty interesting..

So that's about it for this weeks roundup..They'll be plenty of new stuff up here just as soon as I finish with the drugs, including:

Album reviews of Marcelo Radulovich, Yila, Scroobius Pip, Louie Austen.

A LIVE review of They Came From The Stars I Saw Them

And some screeching features to bleed for..


OVER AND OUT....
:+) PG

Marcelo Radulovich	"Bass booty tastic and proper muso skill..." Wonderful, I'd been looking for a new headline for my page, hope you don't mind my borrowing your words! Cheers Posted by Marcelo Radulovich on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 18:59 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

Yes, fillllll your boots...The reviews should be ready by the end of next week or maybe sooner...PG Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 19:50 [Remove] [Reply to this]

THIS WEEKS HITS – WEEK ENDING 16TH MARCH 2007

Blimey...

This year started quick and it's getting quicker and no matter what's happening there's plenty...So here we go with this weeks (late) hits.


NEW STUFF

Only two new acts have marked my card this week...This isn't through a lack of listening, so much as a lack of finding any good new acts. What I mean is Myspace is always hit and miss and this week has mostly been misses with the excpetion of....

I like Bishi simply because I've heard nothing quite like it and even though i'm not even sure I'm a fan, it's stayed in my head. It's a kind of sitar electronic pop music. It's neat, very well put together and I recommend you check it out and see what you think...

Tim Fite is a different kettle altogether. The thing that grabbed me here was that the man can rap and sing in the same song without it sounding crap. This is a feat - I mean how many people have done that? You get different people doing the both in the same song but never the same person doing both...My favourite track here is I've Been Shot


STAPLES

It's been a good week for staples. I spent 36 hours in a laboratory being experimented on by the UN of doctors....It's nothing to worry about, just a little medical research into drugs that open up the broncioles: I get paid a vast sum of money for lying around listening to music and the Glaxo get a new drug to sell at vastly inflated prices to hospitals, professional sportsmen etc...

Anyway, 36 hours away from the winternet meant I had to survive on my laptop and the tracks on it haven't been updated for about a year...

So what do I listen to when you are being made ill by doctors to see if other people can get better? Well, I found electronica to be the best medicine. The last thing I wanted to hear in such a scenario was peoples voices swooning on about love or anything like that, it would have made me jump out of a window and scream at God. No, just the the splitter splatter of beats and rankor noises was good enough for me.

So, things like:

Chris Clark (now known as Clark)
Aphex Twin - Druqks (they went down very well)
Tipper (me hat)
Electric Company (keep bothering me about the bill


LIVE

I attended two spoken word nights this week.

The first was Pull Up A Chair hosted at The Victoria in Mornington Crescent. This is a brand new night hosted in a wonderful upstairs of a splendid pub. The performances were all spoken word interspersed with a few annimations by a company called Slinky (who I've since noticed were responsible for some of the animations on the wonderful Nathan Barley)
The fact there wasn't a huge turnout didn't spoil it for me. The acts were all good as were the films. Get yourself along to the next one on the 25th of this month...

The second night was more musical and should have been headlined by the mighty Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip. As it turned out they were on at about 9pm. I can understand the schedule being the way it was because of the physical size of the bands, but for my money the Pipsters should have been headlining because they were clearly the biggest draw..A full review of the gig is gonna be about some time later tonight.


LABELS

Hefty looks like an interesting set up. I've only had a chance to listen to the 4 tracks on the myspace player, but i had at least some regard for each of them, particularly the one by RADICALFASHION. It's an electonica label and is worth looking at if you like that sort of thing...A full report will follow..


MIXES

I've two to recommend. The first is the very same one I was gushing about last week. It's by Kid Twist, it's called 'The Nights are Cold' is available from his myspace page and it almost made me cry. I was getting all emotional and worked up about things (probablly due to having all my day to daily drugs (caffeine, alcohol, fun) taken away by Glaxo). Regardless, it was the perfect soundtrack for an emotional moment and what more can you want from a mix than that??

The other is a DJ Scud mix. I have no idea what it's called or where you can donwload it from, but I'll work on that and post the details shortly...What's more, if i can't find a good source, I'll upload it myself somewhere and risk the wrath of 'The Scud'.

As for it's content, I'll say nothing more than it's the finest and most quick and beastly energetic mix I've ever heard. It also sounds like my brain when things get busy...

Have a good week..
pg :@)

REVIEW :::: HOT CHIP - THE WARNING

This is a warning – Hot Chip will break your legs!

A few weeks ago, I had this very strong idea I was working as a top level operative in a complicated limb factory. My specific job was to move the limbs from one area of the warehouse to another by means of a series of intricate and highly sensitive pulleys.

It was a tricky proposition, and it was just as I was feeling I’d got the principles of the job down to a fine art, that I awoke and realised I wasn’t in a factory at all, but was in fact in bed, trying to sleep through a bewildering and all together rather frightening stomach bug fever…..

Now to be perfectly honest, I was initially a little disappointed by this realisation. Indeed, not only did I feel like warmed up shit for the rest of the week, but despite it’s complexity and apparent idiocy, I was really rather enjoying the pulley work, and felt it possible I had a bright future in the world of limb transportation….

My disappointment was however quickly overridden, when later that same morning, I stumbled through the fog of swirling bad sensations and farting onto E4s early morning music program, where I found Hot Chip and their splendid new album The Warning.

Now, one naughty download, and more than a straight and healthy month later, during which time I’ve played The Warning countless times in countless different mental states, I can honestly and certainly say that unlike the limb factory, The Warning isn’t any kind of dream or delusion – it’s a complete fucking gem!

So what’s the big idea??

Well the first great thing about The Warning is that though originality is a nonsense of the puritan, and we all know everything’s been done 10 times before, it’s still possible for one band in every 2000 to weave a web of influences into something pretty unique and this is exactly what Hot Chip have done.

I mean, sure, this record has hints of John Foxx, Ultravox, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Aphex Twin, Brian Eno - perhaps even a little Air or Suicide, but no one track on The Warning sounds like any of the above in it’s entirety. Indeed The Warning sounds so fresh and new, it’s closer to the invention of water than the latest washing powder.

Yes, Hot Chip are that rarest of bands – one that achieves crisp and fresh newness without becoming so obscure and contrived that one needs an interest in the noises of a broken and rusting pumping station and several high jazz friends to be able to get it.

Tracks like Colours, Boy From School and Warning are tight, catchy, light and bright. They’re warm and natural and are - unlike so much electronic music - very, very human.

HC also do a cracking and catchy chorus – So catchy in fact, I often find myself singing them joyously as if they mean something, even though I’m far form sure they all do….

Which brings us to the question of lyrics…

Broadly speaking, the lyrics on this LP can be split into 2 camps: There are those that are clear as bells and make perfect sense and those that give a very good sense of something just out of reach of the conscious mind – Things and feelings and images that make you smile, think and wonder what the fuck the song is all about….

For example: “I tried doing my best to regulate you at the risk of absurdity – There’s nothing less between us than a state of emergency” (Arrest Yourself) would be a fine example of the former. Then you’ve got “Over and over and over and over, like a monkey with a miniature cymbal” (or is it symbol???) I mean, what the fuck does that mean? Is it poetry? Is it nonsense? Quite frankly, I don’t care – The fact is it works.

On top of this, HC have that rarest of commodities in a band - A sense of humour that gets out of the tour bus, onto the lyric sheet and into the performance and lyrics in one piece. There’s a sense of the absurd and a sense of fun, alongside some heart and soul and this is all very excellent to see.

So, exactly how have these wonderful young men managed this grand and special mix and just how far can they go with it?

Well, a big part of the winning brew would seem to be that Hot Chip play electronic instruments like a regular band play guitars, bass and drums - I.e. without over reliance on sequencers, computers, or any other technology that makes the live and recorded performance and general structure of most electronic music sound so mechanical, stiff and arranged.

This is no mean feat, indeed, in the space of just two homemade albums, Hot Chip have apparently succeeded where so many others have failed – They’ve thrown the old format of ‘the band’ (guitar, bass, drums, singer) to the wall and frankly, good Paul McCartney riddance to it…

For me though, the best thing here is that this record is pure and proper quality pop music. It’s not Shane Ward contrived dull pop or nothing better available at the time pop, but pop in the way Jimi Hendrix was pop. Pop like Kraftwerks, The Model. Pop like The KLFs, 3am Eternal - Classic, quality vivacious pop, with some kind of meaning and depth that suggests longevity, as well as that essential short-term beauty.

So,.., Good melodies, originality, redefinition of the band, complete lack of guitar lad wank nonsense, poptastic genius, fine lyrics and good clean fun all round….

Hot Chips The Warning is pure and solid gold…Buy it!

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

22:51 - 4 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Blogger Frog Promotions + Reviews	i really love your style. i have a lot to learn. im almost too objective. need to jump outta that box. Posted by Blogger Frog Promotions + Reviews on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 23:00 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Appreciate the comment, thanks... Having your own style is really important, but you'll be hated for it as much as loved - particularly by magazines and the like. Do it anyway tho... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 23:05 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Emily	Agreed. Hot Chip are like no one else. I wish there were more bands like them! Posted by Emily on Saturday, March 17, 2007 at 02:07 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

Yes, I reckon they might lead a charge of electronic pop...Electric guitars will soon be in museums along with lutes.. Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Monday, March 19, 2007 at 18:53

RROAAAOWWWWRRWW!!!!!!

Right...

Sorry for the delay on this weeks pick of the week. I've been double busy out and about sourcing new stories, seeing gigs and spending 36 hours in a laboratory in Harlesdon in the name of science...

I'm doing the picks now and they'll be up later today together with a couple of other new pieces including a review of last nights Scroobius Pip vs Dan Le Sac gig...

Whilst you wait, here's the new Abgott video. I worked on this as a Production Runner and Assistant to the Art Department. It was all blood and snow and screaming nails in the head and RROAAAAOWWRRWWOOORRWW!!!!!!!!!!!

MOG	That video cracked me up! some dandy effects but the make up? oh dear! Posted by MOG on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 15:46 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

Yes, it's not a ground breaking new take on death metal so much as the same old same old cliches etc...Watching them play it live did however serve as a reminder of how technical a discipline death/thrash metal is... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 16:00 [Remove] [Reply to this]

ALBUM REVIEW: DYKEHOUSE – MIDRANGE

Current mood: RIOTOUS
Category: RIOTOUS Music

Finding out I loved Midrange by Dykehouse was an arduous process.

After hearing a bleepy and melodic track called The Unbearable Phatness of Being on The Sacred Symbols of Mu collection, I got Midrange and was expecting to hear more or less anything but a 14 track blast of retro shoegaze action. No, I was looking for chiming melody and sweet light. Soothing percussion and the rampant layering of succulent bleeps only made possible by technology made post 1993.

I was massively disappointed. Indeed half way though that very first listen, I almost deleted the whole LP on general principle that drone shoegaze rock was 15 years old and was – even at it's best - nothing more than a bad comedown and the very last thing one needs to maintain a cheery outlook...

But for once my stubbornness found a prcatical use, I played it again and again and I'm glad I did, because after about the 8^th listen I realised that Midrange is a modern day pop masterpiece.

So what's it all about?

Well, Greg Dykehouses 'Mission Statement' with Midrange was to achieve what Kevin Shields never managed to - a worthy follow up to My Bloody Valentines Loveless.

Mr Dykehouse himself isn't sure as to what degree he's succeeded. I'd say he's overachieved.

Midrange has the intensely beautiful musical layering of Loveless, but a keener lighter and more commercial pop edge. It has better melodies and is uplifting. Each time a fresh track starts I find myself thinking 'What's next? Ah that one!!!'

You see, it's the detail that got me and when it did, I couldn't stop playing Midrange. Sounds like the Guiro like stroking sound on Lost Holiday and the pure pop bliss of titles like Lost Holiday. The fact that first track is called From the Cradle and the last To The Grave. That Midrange has pomp and complete bluster throughout. That it seethes magnificence and SIZE from every pore. That it makes you want to throw your doors open and broadcast it to absolutely everyone..

And let's not forget this has been pieced together by one man and not a band.

Yes boss, there's no doubt in my mind that had Midrange been made by a Mancunian recluse and released on Creation in 1993, it'd have been the making of a legend. In 2007 Mr Dykehouse would either be whopping it up producing The White Stripes in Monte Carlo or in bed recovering..

As it happenings it came out in 2004 – Don't hold that against it! And whatever you do, make sure you listen to it…

http://www.myspace.com/dykehousemusic

Blogger Frog Promotions + Reviews

Soothing percussion and the rampant layering of succulent bleeps

lovely turn of phrase

Posted by Blogger Frog Promotions + Reviews on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 01:08
[Remove] [Reply to this]

OH, AND THIS WEEKS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD GOES TO..

APHRODITE..

I've loved Aphrodite's bombastic, yet simple and effective Drum N Bass for some years now and I was especially pleased to find hispace was happy to donate 4 tracks to the Giovanni archive.

How many established artists let you download all 4 of their tracks from the myspace player?? Very few, at least very few that I've found and none have dished out a remix of Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Good on you Aphrodite! Have a lifetime achievement award and keep that floor bashing bass coming..

Currently listening : Aphrodite By Aphrodite Release date: By 26 October, 1999

23:01 - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	DJ Aphrodite	Easy. Ha, cheers mate! Hope you contine to enjoy. Working on the next tracks right now. Posted by DJ Aphrodite on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 23:42 [Remove] [Reply to this]

PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR

Ladies and Gentlemen This ^^^^^^^^^ is pure class! Posted by PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR on Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 00:10 [Remove] [Reply to this]

THIS WEEKS HITS – WEEK MIDDLING 7th MARCH 2007

On Monday, I was wondering quite what to put on this weeks list. And then I came across a whole host of new and old things more than worthy of the nod...


NEW STUFF

Sparks have apparently been around for years, but i knew nothing of them until 3 days ago. Check out their blinding, BBC banned (free country my arse!) single Dick Around. Three cheers for Sparks and a punch in the face for me for being slow to catch on..

Playing in something approaching the same ballpark, Louie Austen is a right smooth mover on a down tempo lounge house tip. What's more he looks like Geoffrey Boycott!

Meanwhile Senor Coconut is worthy of a mention here even though he's more of a staple than a new thing on the Giovanni deck of late. Think Afro Latin Electronic House...Smooth and groovylicious!

Marcelo Radulovich is a quite different bag altogether.Part garage rock, part ambient, part found sound, part electronica and part drone, all of which are seamlessly bleneded into a very pleasing mix indeed ..If you can pigeonhole this you've got very strange pigeons..Highly Recomended!


LABELS

Brainlove Records have a whole bunch of fresh sounds. Go see what they have and subscribe to this blog for future full features, live reviews and interviews on their many delights...

My other fave this week is PMP Records Given that much electronica has got terribly serious of late, mixing the blips and bloops with squeaks of laughter is something long overdue. My personal favourite here is himguysounds What's yours??


STAPLES

The Trojan Box Sets. In particular: Soulful Reggae& Skinhead Reggae (Trojan must have more classic tracks in it's archives than all the worlds railways museums)
Of Montreal (Top Drawer)
Herbie Hancock (Genius)
Various Aphex Twin (Evreythign all ovre teh plcae)
Octave One (Glorious deep thumpingly good techno)
Now 10 (A period when pop still had some fluster and pomp)
P J Harvey (Grity, angry, driving girl balls rock)


LIVE

I caught up with Junk planet 2 last week in a rather astonishing rooftop bar in Camden. The bar is basically a huge marquee on a roof. It contains a number of life size plastic horses and a load of blown up front pages of The Sun. Junk planet 2, will feature on this blog again soon, together with their spritiual and actual home Brainlove records (see above)...


MIXES

One of the many reaons I love broadband is because you can donwload full mixes in minutes. This week I found 2 gems..

The first is a rather wonderful electronica one composed by Solariumface and can be downloaded from his myspace page

The second is almost impossible to categorise and is by Kid Twist
It's called Nights are Cold and can also be downloaded from his myspace page

OK. So, that's it for now...have a good week
:+)

Currently listening : Trojan Soulful Reggae By Various Artists Release date: By 25 June, 2002

19:07 - 6 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Marcelo Radulovich	Flattered by your words my friend... glad you like the sum of all parts! Lots more to come. Cheers Posted by Marcelo Radulovich on Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 00:09 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR	Looking forward to hearing this...Appreciate the subscription. Keep me posted on what's new..PG Posted by PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR on Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 00:14 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	John Brainlove.	I'd just like to say yes, Junkplanet 2 are wonderful in my opinion everyone should definitely check them out ;) Posted by John Brainlove. on Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 16:32 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR	You heard the man...Go take a look.... Posted by PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR on Thursday, March 08, 2007 at 18:10 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	PMP Records	woohoo! we would give you a million kudos's' if we could. and himguy's sounds do indeed rule. thanks. Posted by PMP Records on Friday, March 09, 2007 at 01:21 [Remove] [Reply to this]

Kid Twist

Thanks Paul, Glad you liked the mix. Cheers, Kid. Posted by Kid Twist on Friday, March 09, 2007 at 12:49 [Remove] [Reply to this]

CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW :::::: APHEX TWIN - RICHARD D JAMES

Current mood: WOO BAD
Category: WOO BAD Music

This is madness, I cried, regretting ever turning the radio on This isn't fucking music! This is just stu- and then from complete chaos of whips and bangs, the essence of it broke clean. Cornbib made sense. And from that point on I've never thought about music in quite the same way again...

I'm talking about the first time I heard a track from The Aphex Twins – Richard D James LP.

Before this fine day, I'd heard a lot about the Aphex Twin: I'd heard he was some kind of bearded freak from the West Country who made interesting Rave music. That he owned a tank. That he made his own instruments – at least these were the rumours curried by the NME and at the time the NME was about the only paper tool available to expand ones musical horizons.

Yes boss, it's hard to believe, but it's not so long ago (as all us old gits know) that the internet didn't exist in any meaningful way. In fact in 1997 in an old fort on the very edge of a cliff on the south western most tip of Wales, it didn't exist at all...

There was no myspace, emule, itunes, internet radio or youtube. To hear new stuff you relied on John Peel, Steve Lamaq, the NME and well educated friends.

So, that particular night I was listening to Steve Lamaqs Evening Session and fascinated as I was by what I'd heard, I repaired to London a few weeks later, bought the album and was soon entranced....

Richard D James is a ground breaking LP in many different ways.

For a start, it's one of the first 'dance' records that didn't rely on sequencers. indeed, up until then, with few exceptions, electronic music (short of the real abstract end of things) was regimented and religiously rhythmic - It was all 4/4 straight beats. It was Orbital and Underworld and 101 hands in the air imitations.

Richard D James on the other hand is grating, jagged, but melodic and sublimely beautiful. It's casual yet religiously strict and clever. It has feel and liquidity, but liquidity that swings between crystal clean melodic and raw sewage effluent baad! It's not a cakewalk: Parts are difficult and aggressive, random and disjointed. But it's a piece of competent and groundbreaking music that has been copied so many times since, it's more or less formed it's own genre..

So influential has this LP been that since it's release, people like Thom Yorke have gone on about Aphex Twin and Autechre defining this last musical epoch far better than Radiohead ever did. Yorke goes as far to say that LPs like OK Computer are irrelevant, that it won't be remembered, but Richard D will. (Hence Kid A and those other albums where Thom and the boys tried to get a piece of the Warp action)

Well for once, I agree with the Oxford miserablists 100%. Like the Velvet Undergrounds first album, Richard D James will be referred to time and time again. And in 40 years, people will laugh at how the idiots of the day didn't buy it, about how it peaked at number whatever in the charts, about how obvious it was that it was great from day 1.

So if you've not heard it, don't be caught in numpty land, go find it and be there now!

Currently listening : Richard D. James Album By Aphex Twin Release date: By 28 January, 1997

05:14 - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	stephen	bravo. it is probably aphex twin's most accessible album, and i mean that to be in no way condescending. it is the sound of an artist at the top of their game effortlessly creating a modern masterpiece. yes, it has some difficult (at first listen) parts, but as one becomes, shall we say, educated in this genre(?) it is apparent that this is beautiful chaos, something found par excellence on 'girl/boy song'. you are bang on in stating its importance in doing away with the 4/4 elements of dance music, but more than that this album is an emotional listening experience; comparable with the feelings stirred when listening to the classics (and i don't mean that in a nevermind/led zeppelin III/sgt pepper sense). it is soul-stirring stuff. Posted by stephen on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 08:27 [Remove] [Reply to this]

PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR

Yep agree with everything you say. It definately has soul alongside it's clever randominity...It also sounds so effortless - like you say: A man at the top of his game... Posted by PAUL GIOVANNI 3RD : AKA : PIOUS THE UNPOPULAR on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 08:37 [Remove] [Reply to this]

REVIEW :::: OF MONTREAL - ALDHIL'S ARBORETUM

Current mood: bouncy
Category: Music

The other week I was hanging around Lauren Laverne (the former frontwoman of Kenicke, now UKTV and XFM radio presenter) like a bad smell…

I'm not a stalker and it's nothing sexual, or maybe,..,why would I mention it if -?.., shit, no..

No, no, no! definitely not! It's just that I've seen her on quite a few occasions at the Culture Show recordings and in such a scenario you feel you have some degree of familiarity with a person because you recognise them. It's like someone who gets the same bus as you everyday, your eyes say Hello and I know you and What the fuck are you looking at? But you've never spoken. There is of course no reason to speak unless one has something to say, but the thing is you're familiar, but you're not actually familiar at all, you just recognise the face. In this case, she presents and I sit in the background looking stupid. I'm a piece of furniture and she's the main event..it's weird and wholly wrong…

Anyway, I'd come to the decision that I should say hello or something just for the hell of it. So there I was ear wigging on her conversation, trying to find something of great and groundbreaking importance to say and Lauren was talking about how great a band Of Montreal were, and I thought fuck me I've heard of that band, but I have no idea how or who or why or what they sound like…

Well all this is irrelevant as the first half of my reviews often are, but I'll now get onto the meat of the thing, and that is I've since listened to Of Montreals 2002 LP Adhils Arboretum and found it to be quite fantastic…

The first thing that's excellent is that Of Montreal sound like The Beatles, but are nothing like The Beatles. Yes boss, I never thought I'd be promoting a band that sound like The Beatles, but what Of Montreal have done that a bunch of monkeys like Oasis haven't done is to develop and improve on that Beatles blueprint. The harmonies are similar, the popness is similar, but everything else is different: the sounds, the lyrics, the look, the feel…

The second great thing with Of M is the lyrics. Basically, the lyrics are the best I've heard since I got to grips with Hot Chip.

For example, from Nothings Happening: "Nothing. We're doing nothing, sitting and wondering why nothings happening" (Repeat in some combination for the rest of the song) Perfect.

Or how about this from Isn't it nice: "One thing I've learned is to be cautious of the deer - they don't care if they die. It's a long and winding road to our house, so, if you come to see us take it slow, take it slow." Fantastic

Better than this, Of Montreal don't feel the need to tap the very dry well of being a fucked up Rock N Roll junkie/alcoholic to sell records. They just write simple songs about day-to-day life, let the music do any extra talking that might be required and keep their boozing and drugs to themselves...

So how come this band isn't huge?

http://www.myspace.com/ofmontreal

HOLY STING

OK..

So I have a good Sting story.

Basically, on another occasion in which I was earwigging Lauren Laverne, she was saying that he did an acoustic set for The Culture Show, much like the others I've witnessed and reported on in my amidst these very pages.

So, being the new age kind of guy that he is, Sting had to get the right and indulgent gear to perform this song, and in this case the right and indulgent gear was deemed to be a Lute.

For those of you who might not have come across a Lute before, it's basically a small guitar like instrument as used in 'ye olde england'. Imagine, Monty Pythons The Holy Grail, think of the minstrels that accompany Brave Sir Robin - one was most likely clasping and gently plucking a Lute...

Now, this in itself is pretty far off the mark. Rock stars and Lutes shouldn't really mix...Folk stars maybe, but not rock stars NO!..I mean Bob Dylan could maybe get away with it, but no-one else and certainly not Sting..

Anyway, Laverne said she was doing the intro with him and there was a delay because the cameraman wasn't happy or the lights were wrong. She turned to see what the problem was and by the time she'd turned back to Sting, he 'd hoisted his leg up in the air above his head like some kind of yogic god!

Now I've nothing against Lutes or Yogic Positions, but just imagine this: A studio full of people, and at the focus of it is Sting - Lute in one hand and this fucking extended leg in the other, toes pointed skywards as if he were divining for rain...

What a picture!

The bidding war the tabloids would have indulged in for a slice of it, would have been epic and extremely lucrative...Too bad no-one had a camera handy...

CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW :::: AIR - MOON SAFARI

One of the many things that makes music great, at least in the mind of the individual, is the time and place of it's finding and the memories it evokes of that time and place.

For me, Air's Moon Safari is resplendent with such memories: It reminds me of a whole bunch of people. It was one of the first albums I copied onto a CDR, then again onto mp3. It reminds me of the time I left a ring on the cooker on for 4 days and returned to find that the house hadn't burnt down….

But this LP being the key to memory cab files isn't the reason I rate it so highly. I rate it so highly because it's a very, very good record.

Moon Safari is a tranquil sea of peace and harmony the like of which Bono might be able to install on Planet Earth if only he took his sunglasses off. Tracks like Remember & La Femme D'Argent are pure dreamtime bliss rooted in the soil. They're both steady and reliable. In fact they sound almost agricultural, but beautifully human. There's melancholy, heartbreak, stomp, pop and feeling and you can't see the seems…

So many ambient records try oh so hard to define some kind of state of electronic bliss, yet they nearly all fail miserably. Sure they're full of gentle synth washes, blurpy blips and smooth vocals drenched in reverb, but few conjure up much other than chill out rooms in nightclubs or the strange world of a lazy robot party..

Much like The KLFs Chill Out, Moon Safari goes for the jugular without thinking about drugs or nightclubs. Moon Safari is like true and proper ambience; like a summer Sunday dreaming in the garden with acoustic instruments and a radio and birds and…

It's a classic and since emerging from the Brit Pop drenched late 1990s Moon Safari has lounged alone on Tranquillity Island. And since then no leaky ships have even come close…

ALBUM REVIEW DOUBLE BILL ::: JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD & NICKY WIRE SOLO LPS

It’s difficult to be nasty about a band who’ve introduced you to a whole host of thinkers, writers and misfits. I’ve therefore always felt duty bound to speak well of The Manic Street Preachers - period. This unbridled and rather foolish loyalty doesn’t however include solo projects….

According to Nicky Wire – He Killed the Zeitgeist…I’m not so sure he did, and neither am I sure this LP is any good.

Upon pressing play, the first noticeable aspect here is the vocals – To be blunt, they’re duff. Like Christina Aguilera, Nicky Wire seems unable to hold onto one note and this together with the general tunelessness of the voice makes this LP become tedious very quickly.

If the music behind was better, this could be forgivable, but the tunes on Zeitgeist are also stripped down and unsophisticated - The sound is clangy, jagged and not particularly innovative or well done.

Call me conservative, but unless it’s brilliantly executed, such as is The Manics The Holy Bible, music has to offer some kind of hope and/or joy to get my vote and this record offers neither. More accurately, the whole tone of the project makes me think of the Sid Vicious solo record: a rather negative and pointless affair, especially when in this case, it comes from a middle aged man living in a wealthy retirement ghetto in the countryside...

So, if you’re feeling fucked up and bad about the world and like it that way get yourself a copy straight away, otherwise don’t bother.

Unlike I Killed The Zeitgeist, The Great Western by Manics demure, yet hugely talented and undervalued front man James Dean Bradfield has the same epic, thick musical warmth that defined the Manics finest stadium moments. So much so, that if it this LP said Manic Street Preachers on the cover you wouldn’t feel like you’d been ripped off.

Though at times this love of the string ‘whoosh’ and the big symphonic chorus makes the record sound a little like a collection of car adverts, when executed well (That’s no way to tell a lie and Bad Boys and Painkillers being just 2 examples) such music is grand, and just the sort of thing to sing whilst marching around the house of a morning trying to get oneself into an upbeat and indefatigueable mood with which to tackle the day….

Perhaps the biggest surprise with The Great Western is that lyrically it’s also very good. In fact, I’d say it’s a good deal better than Wires offerings, which is odd because lyrics were always said to be Nicky and Richeys domain.

So, to conclude, James DB is (for once) a lofty head and shoulders above Wire here. Indeed, hearing these two solo projects, side by side, makes one realise just how fucked the Manics would have been without James Dean Bradfields musical ability.

Clever political lyrics are one thing, but without Bradfields musical nouse and love of ELO, The Manics would have been a whole different proposition…

Currently listening : Great Western By James Dean Bradfield Release date: By 27 July, 2006

14:41 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Tommy

I think you're spot on-whilst Nicky & Richey were always putting the revlon in rhetoric and spraying some pretty profound graffiti along the way; a massive chunk of the Manics sucsess rested on the understated but riffola heavy jukebox charm of James. His sorrow-filled sweet soul voice never gets the credit it deserves either.I always saw him as the musical glue that held the whole thing together-look how clumsily some of those lyrics juxtapose with his musical melodies...without him the Manics undoubtably would have been the next Birdland.. The trouble with solo projects is in the inherent chemistry that works within the group dynamic. If you remove one piece, something is lost. Look at the recent(ish) solo offerings from messers Barat & Doherty-Dirty Pretty Things are tight, professional and occasionally profound-but there's a flatness & workmanlike element that stunts it from a place in your heart. Babyshambles 'Down In Albion' on the other hand had heartfelt Pentonville-fuelled poetry abound, but never came within a country mile of a decent tune.(NME likened it to a masterpiece that had been dropped,shattered and then pieced back together-I think maybe they were referring to Pete) This is certainly true in these Manics 'side projects' (from the group that said they'd never stoop to such a rockstar-ish vanity )-on one hand you have James DB's love of classic rock,Goal of the Month backing, Coca Cola ad soundtracks, and on the other we have Nicky's sub C86 Bedroom punk .The two together have been awesome, but apart neither really work for me. James's offering is polished but bland,whilst Nicky's is woefully amatuerish-fine and dandy if you're a teenage leopard print amphetamine Gazelle, but a little sad if you're an educated,paunched middle aged millionaire. Returning to the scene of ones greatest triumphs shorn of the hardship & naivety that fuelled them is always a recipe for disaster and I have to say that I found Nicky's effort cringeworthy ( the low being the bit when he leers, in some half cocked ejaculation 'ooooh baby!') All of this is really sad when, like your good self, hold the Manics responisble for opening my eyes to a whole sylabus of writers,music,artists & thinkers-and making some damn fine pop music along the way. Generation Terrorists taught me more than five wasted,shit kicking years at high school ever did..maybe new group effort 'Banish The Tigers' can pull things round, but my expectations are low... Posted by Tommy on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 11:09 [Remove] [Reply to this]

REVIEW: BRYAN FERRY AND MAXIMO PARK @ THE CULTURE SHOW

After taking 2 weeks away working on other projects, I returned to the audience of the Culture Show to see Bryan Ferry and Maximo Park play one song apiece...

I didn't and still don't know anything much about either.

Obviously Ferry was and is now back in Roxy Music and he almost married Jerry Hall, but his and Roxys music has never come my way previously. Meanwhile, Maximo Park have always struck me as band to avoid – In short and rather mean terms, a nothing band that will be as forgotten in 30 years time as will be the MS Napoli running adrift on the shores of Dorset and shedding it's cargo…

Ferry was first on and he was pretty much as I expected: aloof and distant, yet polite and composed. He wandered around with his head in the clouds, in his world,

thinking……

He performed his piece well 3 times for the cameras and then wandered off with his head still in the clouds, not really connecting with anyone much as far as I could make out - at least on any kind of emotional level. Regardless I felt I liked him and the tune he did was decently performed, though most interesting for the guitar work and the lyrics, written by Bob Dylan.

Maximo Park were much as I expected: Lovely boys, playing to their honest best but producing absolutely nothing remarkable or exciting. I'm willing to bet that they have lots of friends and a canny sense of humour, but they didn't touch me at all.

So, there we go: One of the briefest and certainly one of the more dour reviews I've done thus far..

To do your own, watch the BBC 2s The Culture Show this Saturday