I bring you FIRE. A really BIG fire.
Today we went on the South Downs Bus Walk Number 7. I love Bus Walks.
Just as we stepped into the countryside, and released the happy sigh of Lemon Jelly fields, a big black cloud filled the sky. It was amazing. Black swirling plumes gathered, dispersed eastwards, and a shadow fell across the land. Pollution can dance. The formation was stunning.
"I love the Bus Walks on this side of town", I said, "It's wonderful to be free from the drone of traffic". Our backs turned from the ominous sky, as the bridle path took us upward. A sheep cried out and, one by one, several fire engines joined the chorus.
Today, the countryside was beautiful and the sun glorious. As my neck gently roasted, a tractor and trailer of hay said goodbye to the world. The fire was in the next valley, and the farm just out of visual range.
While the smoke hailed sailors lost at sea, nearer to home perhaps someone was cursing that dropped cigarette.
I hope everyone at the farm is okay. Thanks for the show.
Fabpants Recommends: It’s definitely a Lemon Jelly weekend, with picnics on Hove Lawns and rather jolly strolls in the English countryside.
Download MP3: Lemon Jelly – Nice Weather for Ducks (courtesy of bass-ackwards.net)
Earlier today, I bought tickets for five gigs. WOO HOO. More on those and some summer gig reviews coming soon. Now, it's time for ice-cream and people watching on the promenade. Wish you were here...
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Gig Reviews and More: Long Time No See
This is a letter from God to Man. Oh damnations, it's not.
The last time I posted a blog was way back in May. I think two people may have noticed my absence, so sorry to you both!
Have you ever found yourself behind in your own life? I've felt like a hamster on a wheel. As much as I run, people keep getting in my cage: poking, prodding and distracting. They stop me from finding the nirvana that breaking the stupid wheel, and finally going somewhere, would bring.
Sod it! I've never liked running anyway and I've always loved distraction.
So here I am. I'm back and still behind. Perhaps, I'm not moving at all. Hello everybody. I love you all, whether I'm moving or not. It's summer! I have been enjoying great loveliness, for this is my time of year. Since we last convened, I have been to Somerset, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Kent. The sun has kissed me, over and over. The rain, for the most part, has let me be.
I'm going to appraise my life from May 'til now, without the tears, the bloodshed and the gun battles. I may have dreamt them anyway. Zombies and gun battles all the way.
Here's Part 1 of the catch up... There will be forgotten experiences, events and big screen dramas, but I have evidence of the following. This did happen:
Deerhunter, at Brighton Concorde2, May 25th 2009
I wish there had been a zombie attack at this gig. Then it might be more memorable. Deerhunter opted for a persistent 'atmospheric' wall-of-sound on reverb kind of set. It went on, and it went on. Such 'oh, so frustrating' masturbatory ventures say nothing to me about my life. With a sofa and a bong, I'm sure it would have been a Freak Brothers kind of wonderful, but Deerhunter are not Mogwai. While Mogwai are in their true element live, from this performance, I'd suggest that Deerhunter are not. I became a bit bored and a coma filled with painful dreams felt close. The support act, The Sian Alice Group impressed me enough to make a mental note to keep an eye on them.
Phosphorescent, at Brighton Engine Rooms, May 27th 2009
I last saw Phosphorescent supporting Viking Moses at the Kilburn Luminaire in 2007. It was an amazing night, and although Phosphorescent played a short set, I thought him wonderful. Seeing him headline in May was proof of this. This time he had full band, with a one-armed drummer (recent bottle opener related injury!). Songs such as Wolves and Cocaine Lights were definite winners. I wasn't one hundred percent sure about the series of Willie Nelson covers, because I wanted to hear Phosphorescent songs, but it made me think I should listen to a bit of Willie to find out whether I've appropriately written him off. I didn't like support act Danny George Wilson. Sorry Danny. You can’t win ‘em all.
A Day at Knockhatch Adventure Park, 30th May 2009
For a friend's birthday, we went to Knockhatch. Knockhatch is an adventure park aimed - I'm guessing - at four to ten year olds. We were - all of us - somewhat older. It was wonderful. We sat on plastic trays and haphazardly flew down a well-watered fake grass hill. We went boating and engaged in an Oxford/Cambridge style boat race that – unintentionally - involved smashing into many other boats. There were lots of goodhearted 'whoopsadaisies', 'eeks' and 'mind your oars'. I do believe that somewhere there is a film of me successfully traversing a set of monkey bars via my weak and scrawny arms. Best of all was go-karting. It was like riding on a lawnmower engine: tremendously crap, but great fun. We should all learn something on a day out to Knockhatch. I learnt that it's really hard to do a forward roll on a bungee tram-am-poline. I almost broke my neck.
King Creosote, at The Duke of Yorks Cinema Brighton, 3rd June 2009
I arrived at King Creosote with a spare ticket. I gave it away and made a friend for the night. My 'one night only' friend was a devotee of Fence Records and the Fence Collective, and made me feel like an interloper on his love affair, but a welcome one. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing King Creosote at Bestival last year. At 11am, or thereabouts, they were delightfully charming. I've decided that I don't like gigs at The Duke of Yorks. It's always lovely to have a nice sit down, I'm not faulting that. It's the fact the doors don't open until 9pm that bothers me. I'd rather be lying down in a soft warm bed by the time the main acts are in full-flow. Perhaps it was the timing, but while I found support act The Pictish Trail to be heartwarmingly lovely, King Creosote did not offer the same magic. By the time, Kenny Anderson urged everyone to get up and dance, I wanted a prize for being awake. It's not as if King Creosote make dance music anyway. People gathered in the isles, and, amongst them, two pregnant women danced. They were probably dying to get out of the restrictive cinema seating.
The Horrors, at Brighton Concorde2, 4th June 2009
I loved this gig. I really loved this gig. The people around me were the 15-19 year old versions of my contemporaries in 1988-1990, with haircuts from 1985. The long sweeping fringe is back, but with hair straightening equipment so commonplace, it now looks good. The Horrors have reincarnated themselves as The Cure on ketamine. I'd like to imagine that The Horrors spent 2008 locked up in a the cellar of an industrial warehouse, with heavy discordant bass sounds pulsating through the ceiling and walls and frying their temporal lobes. The set was wonderfully bass heavy, filled with inventive and intense keyboard sequences and ruled over by the long raised arms of one Farris Rotter. On 4th June, The Horrors proved themselves as highly imaginative and capable musicians. Whether Farris is talented or not, he has very long arms and the hellish howls of a well-bred zombie. Ten out of ten.
A Weekend in St Albans, 6th-7th June 2009
A walk in the woods and a book at bedtime; being an aunty is wonderfully humbling.
Next time... I will tell all about They Joy Formidable, The Lovely Eggs, Mark Thomas and a Wedding at a Castle... I will try to make the time soon.
Fabpants Recommends The Horrors have yet to feature here in MP3 form, so perhaps it's time. Their recent album Primary Colours is regressive, but progressive and worth a pop. Get your teenage angst head on, because here's a taster:
Download MP3: The Horrors – Mirror's Image (courtesy of laxmosthated.com)
Download MP3: The Horrors - Who Can Say (courtesy of laxmosthated.com)
If you like your bleak music to be weathered, The Deep Dark Woods album, Winter Hours, might float your boat. It's the antidote to teenage angst, representing the sweet misery of middle age. It's rather lovely Sunday music and won't cause sudden outbreaks of mania. It might make you want to get out your banjo.
Download MP3: The Deep Dark Woods – The Gallows (courtesy of slowcoustic.com)
The last time I posted a blog was way back in May. I think two people may have noticed my absence, so sorry to you both!
Have you ever found yourself behind in your own life? I've felt like a hamster on a wheel. As much as I run, people keep getting in my cage: poking, prodding and distracting. They stop me from finding the nirvana that breaking the stupid wheel, and finally going somewhere, would bring.
Sod it! I've never liked running anyway and I've always loved distraction.
So here I am. I'm back and still behind. Perhaps, I'm not moving at all. Hello everybody. I love you all, whether I'm moving or not. It's summer! I have been enjoying great loveliness, for this is my time of year. Since we last convened, I have been to Somerset, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Kent. The sun has kissed me, over and over. The rain, for the most part, has let me be.
I'm going to appraise my life from May 'til now, without the tears, the bloodshed and the gun battles. I may have dreamt them anyway. Zombies and gun battles all the way.
Here's Part 1 of the catch up... There will be forgotten experiences, events and big screen dramas, but I have evidence of the following. This did happen:
Deerhunter, at Brighton Concorde2, May 25th 2009
I wish there had been a zombie attack at this gig. Then it might be more memorable. Deerhunter opted for a persistent 'atmospheric' wall-of-sound on reverb kind of set. It went on, and it went on. Such 'oh, so frustrating' masturbatory ventures say nothing to me about my life. With a sofa and a bong, I'm sure it would have been a Freak Brothers kind of wonderful, but Deerhunter are not Mogwai. While Mogwai are in their true element live, from this performance, I'd suggest that Deerhunter are not. I became a bit bored and a coma filled with painful dreams felt close. The support act, The Sian Alice Group impressed me enough to make a mental note to keep an eye on them.
Phosphorescent, at Brighton Engine Rooms, May 27th 2009
I last saw Phosphorescent supporting Viking Moses at the Kilburn Luminaire in 2007. It was an amazing night, and although Phosphorescent played a short set, I thought him wonderful. Seeing him headline in May was proof of this. This time he had full band, with a one-armed drummer (recent bottle opener related injury!). Songs such as Wolves and Cocaine Lights were definite winners. I wasn't one hundred percent sure about the series of Willie Nelson covers, because I wanted to hear Phosphorescent songs, but it made me think I should listen to a bit of Willie to find out whether I've appropriately written him off. I didn't like support act Danny George Wilson. Sorry Danny. You can’t win ‘em all.
A Day at Knockhatch Adventure Park, 30th May 2009
For a friend's birthday, we went to Knockhatch. Knockhatch is an adventure park aimed - I'm guessing - at four to ten year olds. We were - all of us - somewhat older. It was wonderful. We sat on plastic trays and haphazardly flew down a well-watered fake grass hill. We went boating and engaged in an Oxford/Cambridge style boat race that – unintentionally - involved smashing into many other boats. There were lots of goodhearted 'whoopsadaisies', 'eeks' and 'mind your oars'. I do believe that somewhere there is a film of me successfully traversing a set of monkey bars via my weak and scrawny arms. Best of all was go-karting. It was like riding on a lawnmower engine: tremendously crap, but great fun. We should all learn something on a day out to Knockhatch. I learnt that it's really hard to do a forward roll on a bungee tram-am-poline. I almost broke my neck.
King Creosote, at The Duke of Yorks Cinema Brighton, 3rd June 2009
I arrived at King Creosote with a spare ticket. I gave it away and made a friend for the night. My 'one night only' friend was a devotee of Fence Records and the Fence Collective, and made me feel like an interloper on his love affair, but a welcome one. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing King Creosote at Bestival last year. At 11am, or thereabouts, they were delightfully charming. I've decided that I don't like gigs at The Duke of Yorks. It's always lovely to have a nice sit down, I'm not faulting that. It's the fact the doors don't open until 9pm that bothers me. I'd rather be lying down in a soft warm bed by the time the main acts are in full-flow. Perhaps it was the timing, but while I found support act The Pictish Trail to be heartwarmingly lovely, King Creosote did not offer the same magic. By the time, Kenny Anderson urged everyone to get up and dance, I wanted a prize for being awake. It's not as if King Creosote make dance music anyway. People gathered in the isles, and, amongst them, two pregnant women danced. They were probably dying to get out of the restrictive cinema seating.
The Horrors, at Brighton Concorde2, 4th June 2009
I loved this gig. I really loved this gig. The people around me were the 15-19 year old versions of my contemporaries in 1988-1990, with haircuts from 1985. The long sweeping fringe is back, but with hair straightening equipment so commonplace, it now looks good. The Horrors have reincarnated themselves as The Cure on ketamine. I'd like to imagine that The Horrors spent 2008 locked up in a the cellar of an industrial warehouse, with heavy discordant bass sounds pulsating through the ceiling and walls and frying their temporal lobes. The set was wonderfully bass heavy, filled with inventive and intense keyboard sequences and ruled over by the long raised arms of one Farris Rotter. On 4th June, The Horrors proved themselves as highly imaginative and capable musicians. Whether Farris is talented or not, he has very long arms and the hellish howls of a well-bred zombie. Ten out of ten.
A Weekend in St Albans, 6th-7th June 2009
A walk in the woods and a book at bedtime; being an aunty is wonderfully humbling.
Next time... I will tell all about They Joy Formidable, The Lovely Eggs, Mark Thomas and a Wedding at a Castle... I will try to make the time soon.
Fabpants Recommends The Horrors have yet to feature here in MP3 form, so perhaps it's time. Their recent album Primary Colours is regressive, but progressive and worth a pop. Get your teenage angst head on, because here's a taster:
Download MP3: The Horrors – Mirror's Image (courtesy of laxmosthated.com)
Download MP3: The Horrors - Who Can Say (courtesy of laxmosthated.com)
If you like your bleak music to be weathered, The Deep Dark Woods album, Winter Hours, might float your boat. It's the antidote to teenage angst, representing the sweet misery of middle age. It's rather lovely Sunday music and won't cause sudden outbreaks of mania. It might make you want to get out your banjo.
Download MP3: The Deep Dark Woods – The Gallows (courtesy of slowcoustic.com)
