This was sadly uttered by a friend of my father, when Charles Haughey was forced to resign as Taoiseach of my country.
He also mentioned how Mr Haughey would often shake hands with people in his constituency as they came out of Mass on a sunday, "and he gave a fifty pound note to everyone he shook hands with".
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
Not all theatre is good: "The Bacchae"
Maybe you are familiar with this play by popular Athenian playwright Euripides? Like most Greek tragedies, it is about the terrible consequences that ensue when you defy the will of the Gods. In this one, Dionysius disguises himself as one of his priests, and arrives in Thebes with a gang of mad drunken women (the titular Bacchae) to bring the city his cult and the gift of the vine. The King of Thebes rejects the cult, and then suffers an awful fate.
In this Abbey Theatre production, the setting was moved to contemporary Baghdad, and they attempted to present Euripides’ drama as being somehow relevant to current events in Iraq. Unfortunately, the play does not really have any points of reference readily applicable to the War on Terror stuff, so any attempts to create them seemed very forced. There was a great “for fuck’s sake” moment when some dude was brought on stage in an orange jumpsuit and a hood, and the Theban King’s being presented as a US general seemed very meh.
Beyond the fundamentally misjudged attempt to add contemporary relevance to this piece, the production just wasn’t really up to much. The actors generally seemed a bit ploddy, delivering the kind of over-acty performances you get when Greek tragedy goes wrong. This might be a feature of their demoralisation at the attempt to shoehorn the plot into modern Iraq. Or perhaps the lumpen script sucked the life out of them. The last time I had seen a Greek tragedy in the Abbey, it was a wonderful adaptation of Sophocles’ “Antigone”. That time they had got Nobel prize laureate Seamus Heaney in to write a modern English verse text for them, but with “The Bacchae”, the director just did it himself. Maybe this is something you are better off leaving to the experts.
There was more than no good stuff in the production, nevertheless. The Bacchae themselves had the sense of wild abandon that the followers of Dionysius should evoke, and Andrea Irvine did the lion’s head bit in a manner that does justice to one of the most powerful scenes in the history of western theatre.
In this Abbey Theatre production, the setting was moved to contemporary Baghdad, and they attempted to present Euripides’ drama as being somehow relevant to current events in Iraq. Unfortunately, the play does not really have any points of reference readily applicable to the War on Terror stuff, so any attempts to create them seemed very forced. There was a great “for fuck’s sake” moment when some dude was brought on stage in an orange jumpsuit and a hood, and the Theban King’s being presented as a US general seemed very meh.
Beyond the fundamentally misjudged attempt to add contemporary relevance to this piece, the production just wasn’t really up to much. The actors generally seemed a bit ploddy, delivering the kind of over-acty performances you get when Greek tragedy goes wrong. This might be a feature of their demoralisation at the attempt to shoehorn the plot into modern Iraq. Or perhaps the lumpen script sucked the life out of them. The last time I had seen a Greek tragedy in the Abbey, it was a wonderful adaptation of Sophocles’ “Antigone”. That time they had got Nobel prize laureate Seamus Heaney in to write a modern English verse text for them, but with “The Bacchae”, the director just did it himself. Maybe this is something you are better off leaving to the experts.
There was more than no good stuff in the production, nevertheless. The Bacchae themselves had the sense of wild abandon that the followers of Dionysius should evoke, and Andrea Irvine did the lion’s head bit in a manner that does justice to one of the most powerful scenes in the history of western theatre.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
B&S Jump The Shark?
Rather than expect you to read another long post here, I could just post a link to the Sinister mailing list archive, where the following formed the bulk of two posts I submitted. Unfortunately, the Sinister archive is down, and looks like remaining so.
Belle & Sebastian released a new album, back in... February? A couple of days before that they played a gig in Dublin. I lived the dream, not merely going to it, but meeting with some other B&S fans beforehand for a walk in the Botanic Gardens before visiting a pubbe for some booze. The Botanic Gardens were great crack… we got to stroll around the green houses and then outside we saw the poison garden and the world’s tartiest squirrels. We were also amused by a sign in the greenhouse beside the venus flytraps, warning that triggering the traps for amusement could result in death.
Down at the concert we arrived to find that support band The Brakes were already onstage. I found myself thinking that their riffy guitary sounds were just what I needed in my several beers in state, but others thought that they were a bit on the lame side. They are meant to feature some of British Sea Power, a band that in retrospect I reckon were not up to that much.
B&S themselves played a stormer… I have mentioned previously that I had become a bit sick of seeing them live. Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the gap had left me much better able to appreciate their live skills and rapport with each other and their audience.
They played a fair amount of songs I did not then recognise, presumably from the new album. One particularly epic unfamiliar track was introduced to me as ‘Your Cover’s Blown’… apparently it was a b-side to ‘Wrapped Up In Books’, a single from the last album. Looks like I may have to start collecting B&S singles again. I was also amused to learn that Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant”is now considered an old Belle & Sebastian album. They did however play more than no genuinely old songs, and hearing ‘Electronic Renaissance’ live means that I can now die in peace.
I could not resist acquiring the album shortly afterward when it became available. You know that “Guardian” newspaper? This fellow called Alexis Petridis wrote a review in it where he warned of how B&S fans are scary people who respond in threatening fashion to any criticism of the band. Well might he know – he is apparently a former subscriber to the Sinister mailing list. Ironically, Mr Petridis then went on in his article to reproduce the party-line position of old-school Sinister subbers, which is that B&S stopped being any good once people other than Stuart Murdoch started writing songs or singing. I’ve realty had it with this lazy line, which neglects to point out the pleasures that derive from listening to a record and hearing several voices singing. Also, the Sinister Position conveniently forgets the many clunkers Stuart himself has written.
I showed my disapproval of Mr Petridis’ article by mailing him a human ear.
Anyway, back to the album. For this one, the band went to America and worked with some producer guy who is apparently relatively well-known, but not so well known as Trevor Horn (producer of last album, keep up!). However, the album is to some extent of a piece with “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”, being heavily produced in a way that previous B&S outings were not. It’s just maybe not as good. Actually, it’s definitely not as good – where DCW was a career highlight, this is the kind of record where you start to wonder whether you can finally give up on your favourite band.
Or so it does on a first listen. Subsequently it goes ever better on the ear, and it is very possible that by the time you read this I will have concluded that The Life Pursuit is the greatest work of art the human race will ever produce.
But what does it sound like? Like I said, it sounds produced. The songs, particularly towards the beginning of the record, have the kind of jauntiness you get from people who listen to a lot of disco and Northern Soul (without actually sounding that like disco or Northern Soul). Later tracks are mostly a bit less engaging or a bit subtler, with ‘Dress Up In You’ sounding the most like something from one of their pre-DCW albums. Some of the others seem a bit unformed, with ‘We Are The Sleepyheads’ being particularly guilty here. And having two down-tempo whingers to finish off the album was probably a major contributor to my initial impression that this record was a bit duff.
I wrote the above some time ago. Since then my opinions have changed. Basically, I now feel that The Life Pursuit is not that good a record. Some tracks are likeable, notably 'Sukie In The Graveyard', a dancefloor classic, but over all it's a bit gloopy. As most of the songs (and all of the duffers) appear to be written by Stuart Murdoch, maybe he should consider letting the others write even more of the tunes.
The packaging of the new records is nevertheless impeccable.
Belle & Sebastian released a new album, back in... February? A couple of days before that they played a gig in Dublin. I lived the dream, not merely going to it, but meeting with some other B&S fans beforehand for a walk in the Botanic Gardens before visiting a pubbe for some booze. The Botanic Gardens were great crack… we got to stroll around the green houses and then outside we saw the poison garden and the world’s tartiest squirrels. We were also amused by a sign in the greenhouse beside the venus flytraps, warning that triggering the traps for amusement could result in death.
Down at the concert we arrived to find that support band The Brakes were already onstage. I found myself thinking that their riffy guitary sounds were just what I needed in my several beers in state, but others thought that they were a bit on the lame side. They are meant to feature some of British Sea Power, a band that in retrospect I reckon were not up to that much.
B&S themselves played a stormer… I have mentioned previously that I had become a bit sick of seeing them live. Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the gap had left me much better able to appreciate their live skills and rapport with each other and their audience.
They played a fair amount of songs I did not then recognise, presumably from the new album. One particularly epic unfamiliar track was introduced to me as ‘Your Cover’s Blown’… apparently it was a b-side to ‘Wrapped Up In Books’, a single from the last album. Looks like I may have to start collecting B&S singles again. I was also amused to learn that Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant”is now considered an old Belle & Sebastian album. They did however play more than no genuinely old songs, and hearing ‘Electronic Renaissance’ live means that I can now die in peace.
I could not resist acquiring the album shortly afterward when it became available. You know that “Guardian” newspaper? This fellow called Alexis Petridis wrote a review in it where he warned of how B&S fans are scary people who respond in threatening fashion to any criticism of the band. Well might he know – he is apparently a former subscriber to the Sinister mailing list. Ironically, Mr Petridis then went on in his article to reproduce the party-line position of old-school Sinister subbers, which is that B&S stopped being any good once people other than Stuart Murdoch started writing songs or singing. I’ve realty had it with this lazy line, which neglects to point out the pleasures that derive from listening to a record and hearing several voices singing. Also, the Sinister Position conveniently forgets the many clunkers Stuart himself has written.
I showed my disapproval of Mr Petridis’ article by mailing him a human ear.
Anyway, back to the album. For this one, the band went to America and worked with some producer guy who is apparently relatively well-known, but not so well known as Trevor Horn (producer of last album, keep up!). However, the album is to some extent of a piece with “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”, being heavily produced in a way that previous B&S outings were not. It’s just maybe not as good. Actually, it’s definitely not as good – where DCW was a career highlight, this is the kind of record where you start to wonder whether you can finally give up on your favourite band.
Or so it does on a first listen. Subsequently it goes ever better on the ear, and it is very possible that by the time you read this I will have concluded that The Life Pursuit is the greatest work of art the human race will ever produce.
But what does it sound like? Like I said, it sounds produced. The songs, particularly towards the beginning of the record, have the kind of jauntiness you get from people who listen to a lot of disco and Northern Soul (without actually sounding that like disco or Northern Soul). Later tracks are mostly a bit less engaging or a bit subtler, with ‘Dress Up In You’ sounding the most like something from one of their pre-DCW albums. Some of the others seem a bit unformed, with ‘We Are The Sleepyheads’ being particularly guilty here. And having two down-tempo whingers to finish off the album was probably a major contributor to my initial impression that this record was a bit duff.
I wrote the above some time ago. Since then my opinions have changed. Basically, I now feel that The Life Pursuit is not that good a record. Some tracks are likeable, notably 'Sukie In The Graveyard', a dancefloor classic, but over all it's a bit gloopy. As most of the songs (and all of the duffers) appear to be written by Stuart Murdoch, maybe he should consider letting the others write even more of the tunes.
The packaging of the new records is nevertheless impeccable.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
My Dog Was Lost But Now He Is Found: TEH FIERY FURNACES
So I went to see THE FIERY FURNACES, the sibling spouse combo from America. I’ve only ever seen this lot live – on record they are nothing to me. They were playing in Whelans, which is near where I live. They had a support act. At first I thought the support act were local, and I was thinking “these chaps seem a cut above the usual loser outfits who infect this town, maybe I should offer to become their manager”. I went into a long mental reverie about how I’d have to say to them something like “Kids, your music is great. What you need is a manager, and I’m the man to take you on. However I have some essays to write for spy school, so I won’t be able to start for a week or two. How about it?”.
It turned out they were foreign, and did a neat line in mumbling their name incomprehensibly. They had a pretty tight rhythm section and a young lad on keyboards with a great line in nerd-chic. He seemed to be evolving towards doing funny dances when he wasn’t playing on tracks. The band's overall sound suggested post-punk influences, electronically tinged. After they finished, I asked them their name, and learned that they are called Scissors For Lefty. So now you know. I wish them every success in their endeavours.
The Fiery Furnaces have gone all rock… big riffola action from the siblings of doom. Boy FF seems like a well-adjusted fellow, belting out his very fiddly sounding guitar lines, while Girl FF delivers her vocals with an hair of studious neuroticism. I recognised one of the song from ATP – something about not wanting to be late – and they also did a song about how Girl FF had lost her dog (but don’t worry… he was lost, but now he is found). Other songs had lyrics about different subjects.
I don’t know much about music, so I wouldn’t understand any of that talk about unusual time sequences, but I see what people mean when they talk of the band’s impressive but unusual playing style and tendency to stop and start in a strange manner, coupled with the singer’s oddly direct yet detached vocal style, and her lyrics about odd subjects. Like that one where the whole song lyrics seemed to be about how she had gone to bed he night before without changing out of her clothes and now her hair was all matted. Mad stuff, especially as the song’s contemporary component was all about how she did NOT want to brush her hair. People are weird.
Talking to people afterwards suggested that the Fiery Furnaces on record typically are rather electronic, but the recent album has gone down a much more hard-core riff action route. With this tour they have apparently re-engineered their old electronicy tracks to make them sound all riffy. Riffs are great.
It turned out they were foreign, and did a neat line in mumbling their name incomprehensibly. They had a pretty tight rhythm section and a young lad on keyboards with a great line in nerd-chic. He seemed to be evolving towards doing funny dances when he wasn’t playing on tracks. The band's overall sound suggested post-punk influences, electronically tinged. After they finished, I asked them their name, and learned that they are called Scissors For Lefty. So now you know. I wish them every success in their endeavours.
The Fiery Furnaces have gone all rock… big riffola action from the siblings of doom. Boy FF seems like a well-adjusted fellow, belting out his very fiddly sounding guitar lines, while Girl FF delivers her vocals with an hair of studious neuroticism. I recognised one of the song from ATP – something about not wanting to be late – and they also did a song about how Girl FF had lost her dog (but don’t worry… he was lost, but now he is found). Other songs had lyrics about different subjects.
I don’t know much about music, so I wouldn’t understand any of that talk about unusual time sequences, but I see what people mean when they talk of the band’s impressive but unusual playing style and tendency to stop and start in a strange manner, coupled with the singer’s oddly direct yet detached vocal style, and her lyrics about odd subjects. Like that one where the whole song lyrics seemed to be about how she had gone to bed he night before without changing out of her clothes and now her hair was all matted. Mad stuff, especially as the song’s contemporary component was all about how she did NOT want to brush her hair. People are weird.
Talking to people afterwards suggested that the Fiery Furnaces on record typically are rather electronic, but the recent album has gone down a much more hard-core riff action route. With this tour they have apparently re-engineered their old electronicy tracks to make them sound all riffy. Riffs are great.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The magic of live music: LOW in the Temple Bar Music Centre
You know what Low sound like, hein? If you don’t like them I’ll hardly persuade you. This gig rocked, anyway, with the ever-fascinating Mr & Mrs Low dynamics being a source of great amusement. As a visual presence, Mrs Low is incredible, like some uncool 1970s housewife who got rhythm (eh, this is a compliment). I hope she never cuts her hair. Mr Low remains an engaging fellow. They’ve had to change the other guy. He seems to do the job. It’s a shame they didn’t introduce him.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Comics Roundup 5/6/2006
Oh yeah, wasn't I going to do a weekly round up of comics acquired? Perhaps so. This week I picked up two things.
Local #5, by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly, is set in Halifax, Nova Scotia. That's why I bought it, as I have a friend who has moved there. I figured that if it was rubbish I could post it to her and she might get mild amusement out of seeing her town in pictorial form. It turns out that the story is about a disturbed woman who moves to Halifax. She seems to have problems with the truth, and behaves in an increasingly erratic manner in the arthouse cinema in which she works, before skipping the town. The story is quite affecting. Since then, I read a bit more about this Local comic. It seems like the creators have designed it such that each issue tells a self-contained story, even though the issues together form an ongoing narrative. I am sufficiently interested by this title that I will probably go and look for other issues of it, possibly today.
My Inner Bimbo #1 of 5 is by Sam Keith. Keith is a fairly cultish comics figure, despite being the co-creator of the massively popular Sandman book. His cultishness comes from his art style, which does not readily lend itself to depiction of guys in spandex twatting each other (for all that he is currently drawing a Batman title). His preferred subject matter seems a bit extreme too, often being about women in scarily abusive situations. Maybe you have read his Four Women comic, which is both brilliant and unflinching in its narrative exploitation of a WOMEN IN PERIL storyline. Anyway, This title does not seem to be driven by an abused women theme, but its sexual politics are still a bit weird. The main character is this porn-obsessed old guy in the midst of some kind of breakdown. The pornographic images he looks at have started talking to him (and not in a good way), and now his subconscious has produced a fantasy lady for him, and made her (subjectively) real. It's all pretty bizarre and somewhat heavy going, but at this stage of the game I have to say that I like it.
Other comic things - if you have not jumped aboard The Exterminators yet, then you should do so. This is a comic by Simon Oliver and Tony Moore about down at heel pest exterminators in Los Angeles, and gets a lot of its mileage from how horrible roaches are. Amazingly, the title managed to survive the early extermination of the most amusing character, and continues to go from strength to strength.
I'm also interested to hear that DC are talking about doing another series of Seaguy, the comic by Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart that was bought by almost no one but is among the very best things they've ever published. The story thus far ended on such a miserably downbeat note that it would be really nice to see it continued.
One more thing: There was an interesting discussion on I Love Comics about the Women In Refrigerators trope, this being the tendency in comics for Really Bad Things to happen to female characters.
Local #5, by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly, is set in Halifax, Nova Scotia. That's why I bought it, as I have a friend who has moved there. I figured that if it was rubbish I could post it to her and she might get mild amusement out of seeing her town in pictorial form. It turns out that the story is about a disturbed woman who moves to Halifax. She seems to have problems with the truth, and behaves in an increasingly erratic manner in the arthouse cinema in which she works, before skipping the town. The story is quite affecting. Since then, I read a bit more about this Local comic. It seems like the creators have designed it such that each issue tells a self-contained story, even though the issues together form an ongoing narrative. I am sufficiently interested by this title that I will probably go and look for other issues of it, possibly today.
My Inner Bimbo #1 of 5 is by Sam Keith. Keith is a fairly cultish comics figure, despite being the co-creator of the massively popular Sandman book. His cultishness comes from his art style, which does not readily lend itself to depiction of guys in spandex twatting each other (for all that he is currently drawing a Batman title). His preferred subject matter seems a bit extreme too, often being about women in scarily abusive situations. Maybe you have read his Four Women comic, which is both brilliant and unflinching in its narrative exploitation of a WOMEN IN PERIL storyline. Anyway, This title does not seem to be driven by an abused women theme, but its sexual politics are still a bit weird. The main character is this porn-obsessed old guy in the midst of some kind of breakdown. The pornographic images he looks at have started talking to him (and not in a good way), and now his subconscious has produced a fantasy lady for him, and made her (subjectively) real. It's all pretty bizarre and somewhat heavy going, but at this stage of the game I have to say that I like it.
Other comic things - if you have not jumped aboard The Exterminators yet, then you should do so. This is a comic by Simon Oliver and Tony Moore about down at heel pest exterminators in Los Angeles, and gets a lot of its mileage from how horrible roaches are. Amazingly, the title managed to survive the early extermination of the most amusing character, and continues to go from strength to strength.
I'm also interested to hear that DC are talking about doing another series of Seaguy, the comic by Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart that was bought by almost no one but is among the very best things they've ever published. The story thus far ended on such a miserably downbeat note that it would be really nice to see it continued.
One more thing: There was an interesting discussion on I Love Comics about the Women In Refrigerators trope, this being the tendency in comics for Really Bad Things to happen to female characters.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
iPod Top Ten (as of 4/5/2006)
I've done this previously. Then my iPod crashed and I got a new computer. Now I am doing it again.
1. Philip Glass & The Kronos Quartet ‘Journey to Inn’ (from Glass: Dracula) – 7 times (last played 19/4/2006)
2. A-Musik ‘Aktuelle Kamera’ (from Das Beste Aus Der DDR) – 7 times (last played 29/3/2006)
3. Electrelane ‘The Partisan’ (from Axes) – 6 times (last played 15/4/2006)
4. M.I.A. ‘Pull Up The People’ (from Arular) – 6 times (last played 3/5/2006)
5. Popol Vuh ‘Aguirre I (Lacrime Di Rei)’ (from Aguirre (orig. soundtrack)) – 6 times (last played 19/4/2006)
6. Joe Meek ‘I Hear A New World (I hear a new world (I head a new world))’ (from I Hear A New World) – 5 times (last played 4/5/2006)
7. The Doors ‘Break On Through’ (from the untitled first album by The Doors) – 5 times (last played 4/5/2006)
8. Oktoberklub ‘Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst’ (from Das Beste aus der DDR) – 5 times (last played 29/4/2006)
9. Tangerine Dream ‘Birth Of Liquid Pleijades’ (from Zeit) – 5 times (last played 22/4/2006)
10. Electrelane ‘One, Two, Three, Lots’ (from Axes) – 5 times (last played 18/4/2006)
11. Oktoberklub ‘Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst’ (from Das Beste von Oktoberklub) – 5 times (last played 15/4/2006)
12. Electrelane ‘Atom’s Tomb’ (from Axes) – 5 times (last played 13/4/2006)
13. Electrelane ‘Gone Darker’ (from Axes) – 5 times (last played 8/4/2006)
So what can we say about this? Obviously, I have been feeling the Electrelane love since I got Axes. Poor Oktoberklub suffer from having their song on two different albums. I typically listen to DDR music while on my way to German class, hence the frequent appearance to this folk-pop masterpiece. ‘Aktuelle Kamera’ is more the introduction to the East German news than actual music, and shows up here for similar reasons. M.I.A. is both brilliant and favoured by randomness, and the Glass, Popul Vuh, and Tangerine Dream tracks are there as soundtracks to scary roleplaying games. The one big surprise has to be the Doors track… not that it is anything other than brilliant, I’m just surprised I’ve listened to it so much. I think it must be having it on the same playlist of my favourite tunes that the Joe Meek track is on that does it, yes yes.
It's interesting to see the East German news music and 'Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst' have stormed back into the charts, while others have dropped out. Much of this is down to my not having ripped all the same stuff onto the new computer (or copied over the stuff from the old one). Time will tell whether Shakira reclaims her rightful place.
1. Philip Glass & The Kronos Quartet ‘Journey to Inn’ (from Glass: Dracula) – 7 times (last played 19/4/2006)
2. A-Musik ‘Aktuelle Kamera’ (from Das Beste Aus Der DDR) – 7 times (last played 29/3/2006)
3. Electrelane ‘The Partisan’ (from Axes) – 6 times (last played 15/4/2006)
4. M.I.A. ‘Pull Up The People’ (from Arular) – 6 times (last played 3/5/2006)
5. Popol Vuh ‘Aguirre I (Lacrime Di Rei)’ (from Aguirre (orig. soundtrack)) – 6 times (last played 19/4/2006)
6. Joe Meek ‘I Hear A New World (I hear a new world (I head a new world))’ (from I Hear A New World) – 5 times (last played 4/5/2006)
7. The Doors ‘Break On Through’ (from the untitled first album by The Doors) – 5 times (last played 4/5/2006)
8. Oktoberklub ‘Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst’ (from Das Beste aus der DDR) – 5 times (last played 29/4/2006)
9. Tangerine Dream ‘Birth Of Liquid Pleijades’ (from Zeit) – 5 times (last played 22/4/2006)
10. Electrelane ‘One, Two, Three, Lots’ (from Axes) – 5 times (last played 18/4/2006)
11. Oktoberklub ‘Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst’ (from Das Beste von Oktoberklub) – 5 times (last played 15/4/2006)
12. Electrelane ‘Atom’s Tomb’ (from Axes) – 5 times (last played 13/4/2006)
13. Electrelane ‘Gone Darker’ (from Axes) – 5 times (last played 8/4/2006)
So what can we say about this? Obviously, I have been feeling the Electrelane love since I got Axes. Poor Oktoberklub suffer from having their song on two different albums. I typically listen to DDR music while on my way to German class, hence the frequent appearance to this folk-pop masterpiece. ‘Aktuelle Kamera’ is more the introduction to the East German news than actual music, and shows up here for similar reasons. M.I.A. is both brilliant and favoured by randomness, and the Glass, Popul Vuh, and Tangerine Dream tracks are there as soundtracks to scary roleplaying games. The one big surprise has to be the Doors track… not that it is anything other than brilliant, I’m just surprised I’ve listened to it so much. I think it must be having it on the same playlist of my favourite tunes that the Joe Meek track is on that does it, yes yes.
It's interesting to see the East German news music and 'Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst' have stormed back into the charts, while others have dropped out. Much of this is down to my not having ripped all the same stuff onto the new computer (or copied over the stuff from the old one). Time will tell whether Shakira reclaims her rightful place.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
CARGO CULTE - considerable return
Talking of which, here is a recycled piece about a concert I was at recently. On stage were United Bible Studies, Slomatic, and CIRCLE. I have already mentioned this concert.
Some of my friends are more broadminded than others. The other day I was talking to some folk about music, when the subject of Estel, United Bible Studies, & the Dublin improv scene generally came up, a somewhat odd juxtaposition as Estel have never seemed that improv based. Anyway, it was asserted most assuredly by come of my associates that the Dublin improv scene generally is mostly rubbish, and that Estel & United Bible Studies are the two worst bands in Dublin EVER. My beloved suggested that our conversants were working to an old-school rockist pre-punk perspective where only virtuoso musicians are allowed make music. I largely bit my tongue (ow), as at that point I was unfamiliar with United Bible Studies and know next to nothing about the Dublin improv scene; Estel, meanwhile, are probably the most impressive live band I have seen in Dublin in recent years, at least prior to their split.
Anyway, it was with some amusement a few weeks later that I found myself at a gig being promoted by one of the post-Estel factions and featuring United Bible Studies on the bill. It turns out that some of the UBS know one of my other friends (let's call him "Mark"), so without realising it I was sitting at a table with them before they played. Good job I didn’t say “I am really looking forward to seeing United Bible Studies, I hear they are the worst band in Dublin EVER”.
UBS were the first band on the bill. What did I think of them? Well, they are not the worst band in Dublin EVER. And they are a game of two halves, with their sound being an odd dialectic between nicey folk-tinged stuff and weirdo improv madness. They tended to flit from one to the other in a devil-may-care style. And there were loads of them onstage, always a good thing. At one point they reminded me a bit of Avarus, only they’re not *that* good. There was also a bit where the singey bloke was going on a bout Jesus in a repetitive manner, and it did strike me as being a bit derivative of that ‘Mary Mary’ track by Can, but not so much that I’ll be reporting them to the Central Improv Plagiarism Court. And you know, having influences is not crime. So yeah, United Bible Studies, they’re grand, and I do not understand the loathing their name excites in certain quarters. I dunno… | think one thing people tend to forget with improv is how funny it all is. I got great mileage out of watching the band arse around with finger symbols and ash-trays and then looking at all the po-faced punters in the audience.
Slomatic were up next. These fellows were from up North, and are one of those heavy metal bands. It’s great that someone is still making this kind of music, and so loudly. They must have found the experience a bit weird, though, as the audience was mainly composed of Dublin scenesters, not people known for their love of early Metallica. That said, they weren’t obviously carried out of town on a rail, so maybe metal is where it’s at with today’s hipsters. Slomatic come from the loud, slow, (almost) no-vocals school of metal, though they still have drums and play music which would sound terrifyingly fast compared to the likes of ((((SUNN))))). I enjoyed them a lot, and certainly had my tiredness swept away by their military onslaught.
The last band were called CIRCLE, and they were the one people were here to see. Maybe you have heard of them? They are from Finland, and they’ve been going since the early 1991. People had recommended them highly to me, hence my presence. There seemed to be four of them – a drummer wearing a mask over his eyes, a hairy rocker on bass, a topless catamite on guitar, and Jimi Tenor’s heavy metal brother on keyboards and vocals.
CIRCLE cooked up a bit of a racket. At first I thought maybe they sounded a bit like some kind of Hawkwind tribute act – not a problem, certainly, but not exactly the future of music. Their own sound became clearer to me as the gig developed. I don’t know if this was because they played more unique tunes or if I became more discerning, but either way they sucked me into a new dimension of sound. For all that some people were describing them as being somewhat metallic, this seemed more trancey and rhythmic than that adjective would suggest, and the whole thing was a bit more art-rocky. The chap’s singing in foreign obviously helped, with the crazy sounds of Finnish making him sound like he was blessed with glossolalia or speaking in tongues or some such.
"Mark" got a bit relaxed and danced like a loon at the front. I was a bit *tired* and hogged the seats. Part of the fun with the gig was playing spot the hipster… there were so many of them here, with every second person being someone from a band, someone from a club night, one of those people you see at every gig, or me.
Deadly buzz, basically. Go and see CIRCLE if they come to party your town.
On the way home we noticed that STRING-FELL-OWS is still open.
I always skip the long, dull posts on other people's blogs, so I apologise for inflicting this on you.
Some of my friends are more broadminded than others. The other day I was talking to some folk about music, when the subject of Estel, United Bible Studies, & the Dublin improv scene generally came up, a somewhat odd juxtaposition as Estel have never seemed that improv based. Anyway, it was asserted most assuredly by come of my associates that the Dublin improv scene generally is mostly rubbish, and that Estel & United Bible Studies are the two worst bands in Dublin EVER. My beloved suggested that our conversants were working to an old-school rockist pre-punk perspective where only virtuoso musicians are allowed make music. I largely bit my tongue (ow), as at that point I was unfamiliar with United Bible Studies and know next to nothing about the Dublin improv scene; Estel, meanwhile, are probably the most impressive live band I have seen in Dublin in recent years, at least prior to their split.
Anyway, it was with some amusement a few weeks later that I found myself at a gig being promoted by one of the post-Estel factions and featuring United Bible Studies on the bill. It turns out that some of the UBS know one of my other friends (let's call him "Mark"), so without realising it I was sitting at a table with them before they played. Good job I didn’t say “I am really looking forward to seeing United Bible Studies, I hear they are the worst band in Dublin EVER”.
UBS were the first band on the bill. What did I think of them? Well, they are not the worst band in Dublin EVER. And they are a game of two halves, with their sound being an odd dialectic between nicey folk-tinged stuff and weirdo improv madness. They tended to flit from one to the other in a devil-may-care style. And there were loads of them onstage, always a good thing. At one point they reminded me a bit of Avarus, only they’re not *that* good. There was also a bit where the singey bloke was going on a bout Jesus in a repetitive manner, and it did strike me as being a bit derivative of that ‘Mary Mary’ track by Can, but not so much that I’ll be reporting them to the Central Improv Plagiarism Court. And you know, having influences is not crime. So yeah, United Bible Studies, they’re grand, and I do not understand the loathing their name excites in certain quarters. I dunno… | think one thing people tend to forget with improv is how funny it all is. I got great mileage out of watching the band arse around with finger symbols and ash-trays and then looking at all the po-faced punters in the audience.
Slomatic were up next. These fellows were from up North, and are one of those heavy metal bands. It’s great that someone is still making this kind of music, and so loudly. They must have found the experience a bit weird, though, as the audience was mainly composed of Dublin scenesters, not people known for their love of early Metallica. That said, they weren’t obviously carried out of town on a rail, so maybe metal is where it’s at with today’s hipsters. Slomatic come from the loud, slow, (almost) no-vocals school of metal, though they still have drums and play music which would sound terrifyingly fast compared to the likes of ((((SUNN))))). I enjoyed them a lot, and certainly had my tiredness swept away by their military onslaught.
The last band were called CIRCLE, and they were the one people were here to see. Maybe you have heard of them? They are from Finland, and they’ve been going since the early 1991. People had recommended them highly to me, hence my presence. There seemed to be four of them – a drummer wearing a mask over his eyes, a hairy rocker on bass, a topless catamite on guitar, and Jimi Tenor’s heavy metal brother on keyboards and vocals.
CIRCLE cooked up a bit of a racket. At first I thought maybe they sounded a bit like some kind of Hawkwind tribute act – not a problem, certainly, but not exactly the future of music. Their own sound became clearer to me as the gig developed. I don’t know if this was because they played more unique tunes or if I became more discerning, but either way they sucked me into a new dimension of sound. For all that some people were describing them as being somewhat metallic, this seemed more trancey and rhythmic than that adjective would suggest, and the whole thing was a bit more art-rocky. The chap’s singing in foreign obviously helped, with the crazy sounds of Finnish making him sound like he was blessed with glossolalia or speaking in tongues or some such.
"Mark" got a bit relaxed and danced like a loon at the front. I was a bit *tired* and hogged the seats. Part of the fun with the gig was playing spot the hipster… there were so many of them here, with every second person being someone from a band, someone from a club night, one of those people you see at every gig, or me.
Deadly buzz, basically. Go and see CIRCLE if they come to party your town.
On the way home we noticed that STRING-FELL-OWS is still open.
I always skip the long, dull posts on other people's blogs, so I apologise for inflicting this on you.
Gestetner Love
So this evening I nipped down to Anthology Books, to briefly stick my nose in at some kind of grand opening they were having for some zine-related exhibition they were having. The place was pretty rammed so I made my excuses and left, resolving to return and peruse the stuff they have later.
Nevertheless, I picked up the flyer-zine for the exhibition. It was of interest, but I was struck by how focussed it was on a world of zines separate to that with which I have been involved. Part of this might be to do with the zine definition they offered, which seemed somewhat tendentiously to offer a distinction between "zines" and "fanzines", with the latter cast as an immature version of what flowered into the kind of zines the exhibition is interested in. On the other hand, the world of zines with which I have been involved - gaming zines and amateur press associations - are so intrinsically cultish that it's not surprising that no one outside their immediate circle is even aware of their existence.
Anyway, to set the record straight, here are my three greatest ever Irish zines:
THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMIDS: Published by an endlessly changing troupe of people, this Diplomacy and FRP zine's finest hour was perhaps Ken's report on an attempt to test the mystical powers of scale replicas of the Great Pyramid of Cheops: "I was unable to ascertain whether meat left in a scale replica of the pyramid remains fresh indefinitely, as unfortunately our dog smelled the bacon and ate it".
Now Eat The Rabbit: Published by my old friend and quaffing partner William Whyte, this was also notionally a Diplomacy and general postal gaming zine, NERTZ's greatness lay in William's general writing about stuff and its letter page. While I have since explored the by-ways of the Internet, electronic media has nothing on this for range of discussion.
Frank's APA (Irish in so far as it has been published from Ireland for much of its existence and has a plurality of Irish writers): Oh you know, people write about music and stuff. Much of what appears on this blog is recycled pieces for Frank's APA, but you probably know this already.
Nevertheless, I picked up the flyer-zine for the exhibition. It was of interest, but I was struck by how focussed it was on a world of zines separate to that with which I have been involved. Part of this might be to do with the zine definition they offered, which seemed somewhat tendentiously to offer a distinction between "zines" and "fanzines", with the latter cast as an immature version of what flowered into the kind of zines the exhibition is interested in. On the other hand, the world of zines with which I have been involved - gaming zines and amateur press associations - are so intrinsically cultish that it's not surprising that no one outside their immediate circle is even aware of their existence.
Anyway, to set the record straight, here are my three greatest ever Irish zines:
THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMIDS: Published by an endlessly changing troupe of people, this Diplomacy and FRP zine's finest hour was perhaps Ken's report on an attempt to test the mystical powers of scale replicas of the Great Pyramid of Cheops: "I was unable to ascertain whether meat left in a scale replica of the pyramid remains fresh indefinitely, as unfortunately our dog smelled the bacon and ate it".
Now Eat The Rabbit: Published by my old friend and quaffing partner William Whyte, this was also notionally a Diplomacy and general postal gaming zine, NERTZ's greatness lay in William's general writing about stuff and its letter page. While I have since explored the by-ways of the Internet, electronic media has nothing on this for range of discussion.
Frank's APA (Irish in so far as it has been published from Ireland for much of its existence and has a plurality of Irish writers): Oh you know, people write about music and stuff. Much of what appears on this blog is recycled pieces for Frank's APA, but you probably know this already.
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