Merry Christmas dickheads.............

x x x x x x x



It Malcolm Middleton by the way. The song is called "We Are All Going To Die"

I hate Christmas.

Remember A Legend

Just over a year ago today.






















Ike "Wister" Turner 1931 - 2007

RIP

WHAT OLIVER RECKONED WOZ GOOD THIS YEAR..........

After a very lengthy 5 minutes or so of hard..HARD thinking. I have decided that these are probally the most listened to albums and liked by myself and anyone else forced to listen to them on visits to my house of this year.

Cursed - III: Architects Of Troubled Sleep
Yes, yes yes and yes. Like most people I heard this on the unmastered rip that got leaked onto the net a few months before its release..but fuck me..even then it was viscous. Cursed have always ruled, every album being a step on from the previous. III was no exception at all. Expanding on all the elements they displayed on I and II but pushing them ina more extreme direction. Compelte, aggro, pissed of hardcore with intelligence and vision. Still gutted they split up.

Aquila - Demo 08
A recent find in the last month but one which I am more than happy to add to this list as it demonstrates the capabilities of a simple setup ( bass + drums + voice) and shows what can be done with it. Moving away from the noisier end of power trios and drawing on melody and alternative rock. Its a really well crafted set of songs that incorporate effects, noise, melody and harmony's to great effect. Also there chicks. So it wins on that score as well.

Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics
They did it, they produced a album, more out there and intelligent than the EP with media and press attention all over them. Seriously, some of the most talented kids I have ever had the pleasure of watching and spending time with. "Hysterics" has some of the most technical, well written, abstract music on it that you will hear all year or the next. This completly restored my faith in the youth of today for about 10 mins before I had to leave the house. But an awesome album.

Woven Hand - Ten Stones
If you don't know Woven Hand then I am not going to describe them for you, this album is awesome. Simple as.

Desalvo - Mood Poisoner
A band I had overlooked quite a lot until I was sent this album. Featuring a frontman with a David Yow thing going on and some screechy vocals and sharing a guitarist with indie muppets Idlewild. Desalvo are so good. Angry, angular noise rock with some nice metal touches. It all depends on if you like the sound of Norma Jean crossed with The Jesus Lizard and Today is The Day. I do, so thats why this is so good.

Trap Them - Siezures In Barren Praise
They came, they ruled, they carried on ruling. I thought "Seance Prime" was good, but "Siezures..." smashed that away. I have heard them descrived as "Entombed, for people that missed Entombed first time around" which is a fair point but they deserve a lot more credit. How can a band that features ex-members of Backstabbers Inc, December Wolves and The Red Chord be bad at all? Thats right, it can't!
Mega filthy, crusty, dis-influenced hardcore that destroys everything. Just wait for the final track " Mission Convincers" to kick in and you will understand.

Enslaved - Vertebrae
I was pretty late getting into Enslaved, only a few years ago really. So I then worked back, and then forwards through there back catalogue. "Vertebrae" is the pinnacle of there career, the perfect, progressive, black metal influenced, modern, extreme metal album. Any band that reminds me of Rush on the opening track is a winner, and you can't fail to be won over by the chorus of "New Dawn" when it kicks in. Most highest recommended.

There you go...what Oliver reckons he likes...it will more than likely change..but thats cool, your all dicks. Nothing you do will ever be as good as this....

Not at all.

Best Music Video...Just Because.....

...at this point in time it is....Watch.


How much fun is it to be a kid?
The band is Fang Island ( i believe they share a member with Daughters), this is pretty much what they sound like. This is from a Corleone Records DVD I got sent a while back.

Buy Corleone DVD NOW!


It a worthwhile investment.

Dracula's Soul Brother..............

...I wish. Blackula, good work. Anyhow after the ATP visit at the weekend something dawned on me that I thought I might rant about. My lack of stamina/drive/interest at watching live music. Over the years I have gradually become quite cold to a lot of live music. It seems that only bands I really, really like or know get watched by me. Even then I find it hard work at times and my attention wanders. Is it because the bands are shit? No, some of them are blindingly amazing. i havn't really been able to put my finger on what it is. The common sense tells me the numerous tours and lengths of time spending every single night for 2 months in a row watching local (and not always very good) bands may have something to do with it.
Its really when watching Mastodon and Melvins at ATP. 2 bands that I really love but I found it so hard for it to hold my attention any length of time, even tho they both played well despite Mastodon being minus a guitar player.
So will it get worse over time? Or be a passing phase? I really don't know. I still enjoy playing in my bands and being onstage, its the watching of other bands that I struggle with. maybe I need to see something that will inspire me again, a band that will kick my teeth out and make me realise how awesome live music is.
Any suggestions?

Well as far as Oliver's musical pick is on this posting...do you like Conan The Barbarian? Do you like power violence? Do you like stolen rock riffs and shouting?
Well you will love Crom. This album is most defo my favourite. Full of stolen riffs, sludge, tons of Conan and metal samples and enough wierdness to get your head scratching. It features some of the best artwork ever ( where else can you witness a FF style airbrushed painting of a barbarian snorting lines of coke of the ice?)
and did at one point feature a certain Greg Anderson if rumours permits.
Anyhow dickheads..enjoy...

Crom - The Cocaine Wars 1974 - 1989

YES!

ATP residue...........

Well, my first ever experience of All Tommorows Parties more than lived upto my expectations. The party was brought and abused by everyone, and even strangers.
Despite a long drive down on Friday morning after work ( and a 4:30AM start) I did get to enjoy Big Business and catch up with some folk before Torche played. This band destroys live, perfect sound, awesome performance, good spot to watch from and they played every song I would want them to.
Fantomas played, and palyed an entire set of "The Directors Cut" material, minus Dave Lombardo and replaced by a spot on, note for note Dale Crower. My friend saw Terry Bozzio (session player extrodanaire) playing for Fantomas in london this year and said Dale wiped the floor with him. Melvins played 3 whole sets that spanned there entire career, Joe Lally did his folk/solo stuff, Isis bored me. You know that scene in "Repo Man" where Emilio Estevez is watching The Circle Jerks as that lounge band in the bar and remarks how he can't believe he used to like them? Well that was me watching (very, very, very briefly) Isis, not bad but I don't know where the band I liked went to. Farmers Market, Meat Puppets, Butthole Surfers and Rahzeal all played. Good good stuff indeed. Its seriously one of the best run, well organised festivals ever, arcades, golf, booze, food, music and tons of dickheads to annoy. Can't be beaten. I do have some pictures that will make it up at somepoint. For now just use your feeble imaginations.
So in celebration of this event I have some music for you...thanks to the fine Lo Res Viscera blog...current personel favourites...
Trash Talk - S/T - awesome modern powerviolence/fastcore played with honesty.
Coalesce - Live Set, Philly 05 - One of my most favourite bands ever and this set just destroys. You need Coalesce in your life. There's bands before them, there's bands after them but no one else is Coalesce.

DBM aggro smash up

Those days where everything annoys you, and doesn't really help when added to the problems you always carry around. Its one of those days.
So in honour of this triumph in despair and bleakness I have posted up some music that is equal parts aggro and bleak.
People bang on about tuff guy hardcore these days, the amount of kids who think its cool to pretend to be tough when a strong wind would blow them over is ridiculous at times. Fuck em all. Haymaker will always triumph.

Haymaker where another band in the long line of quality Canadian hardcore. They where tough, so tough in fact that they only played a few shows a year as venues where constantly smashed, fights happenned all the time and fireworks and actual fire happenned on more than one occasion. So Tough that they couldn't play outside of Canada because of certain members criminal convictions ( hence the Fuck America 7" ) and so tough that no promoter would touch them and so tough that they featured members of Cursed.
Well here is the first 12" they released in 2002. They released a load of other 7" and splits but this is where its at....

Haymaker - S/T 12"

Secondly is a recent discovery by myself. Forgotten Tombs are a depressive BM project from Italy. Sorta closer to very old Katatonia ( not the shit band fronted by that Welsh bint) with more melancholy and self hatred coursing through there veins. The cover art wins everytime...Naked girl + blood + bath tub + cable ties.

Nothing really else to add. Very dark and moody, slightly better production than most DBM but that only helps the dark melody of it all.

Forgotten Tombs - Songs To Leave

Thats it......

The Vultures Are Circling

Well, I finally got around to updating this thing. Like that song LL Cool J wrote for the shark travesty of film that is Deep Blue Sea, about a fucking SHARK! That plays over the end credits and spoils what was already a shite film, and makes it even worse.
Anyhow, I have returned from tour...bossanova. Satori and Nadja where gentlemen ( and gentleladies) to us and we got treated like the kings we think we are. Despite the usual tour happennings of fucked vans, horrible weather and London parking/traffic it was a success. Satori are mesmerising in the live setting with the visuals they incorporate and Nadja transcend a lot of regular guitar/noise stuff with the sheer crushing melody and fragile atmosphere they create, Aiden and Leah are superb.
Edingburgh was a success. Top gig, Russel Black Sun and Polish neo-nazis made an appearance. I also met William Bennet of Whitehouse fame, really nice guy, nothing like you would expect. He ( according to the promoter Nick ) loves Guitar Hero and is a master at it. Speaking of Nick, he introduced me to the awesome dirge of Drunks With Guns, search the info out..immense, ahead of there time and aggro as fuck. I uploaded the lbum for you dicks here.....

DRUNKS WITH GUNS - Second Verses

Anyhow...the tour carried on and despite the biggest travesty I have ever heard of ( Mogwai Djing at a venue we played at to be paid 1500 rips and only playing 2 records!) was superb. We sold tons of merch and sounded louder than most people could ever understand. Matt got immensly hammered, so did I, abused people, played loud, fell over, got into arguments, abused the AA ( karma ) and stole stuff.
But there should be a video up on Youtube from the Coventry gig shortly, it involved us using Satori's projector and DVD player to show Kieth Lemmon on the wall next to us while we played in our underwear. At the time it was funny. Also this footage from the London Underworld gig.....bossanova.


The Ergon Carousel have begun booking gigs for the New Year and we did a photoshoot with my good friend Macky on Sunday, as magazines are banging on about some kind of pictures. Look out for them shortly.
Road trip to ATP on Friday. Plus 3 whole sets from the Melvins over the weekend spanning there entire career. Fuck your god dickheads.
Great Success.

Princes Of The Universe

First of...the bad news. And I was pretty gutted to hear about this recently. My good friends, label mates and partners in trouble D-Rail have split. I know most people won't have heard of them or think its very important but this was a band that seemed bulletproof. The epitome of a hard-working, DIY band. 8 years of countless gigging and tours. They played with American Nightmare back when they where called American nightmare for fucks sake! How many of your shit hardcore bands can say that? They have seen and done more than any other band in this country. Its a crying shame.
So thats pretty shit....there new album was a blinder.
Well onto good things...Telephone box sex cards...look....

Classic.
I bought Highlander on DVD for 4 sterlings the other week, and even tho its a good film. It hasn't aged well at all. It did spawn some shite sequels ( and what ever people say about Highlander 3 being the proper sequel to the original it is still shite) and a abysmal TV series. But the Queen soundtrack is still outstanding. Outstanding indeed. I did download said soundtrack recently....and it is making an appearance on the ATP road trip ina few weeks and also tour ina few days.....
I love touring. Cannot be beaten. Even tho sitting in a dark van for upto 7 or 8 hours can be a bit mind numbing its still always fun to hang out with your friends and see new places, new people and abuse locals.
So this is the tour.....

Don't be a dick.

Death & Taxes

The only 2 certainties in life. Depressing but a true fact. Bit of a gap since the last post. Well, for the very, very, very small amount of people that actually read this. ( which is me and Macky on occasion when he is bored )The Doomriders show was top notch. Doomriders where good, really good in fact. But SSS stole it with some hilarious stage banter and some awesome crossover tuneage. Freezing Fog and Tortuga where pretty sweet also.
I did beat the illness after all ( fuck you!) and survived a messy Halloween weekend of debauchery. My skeleton costume did not quite work out really. But i did see a very convincing Mask costume, the Dark Horse / Jim Carrey character, not Eric Stolz in a prosphetic head one. Much wine, brandy, rum and beer was consumed and much hilarity was had. It sort of, alongside this other blog I came across, inspired me to put a little lsit of stuff together. To coincide with me and Macky's trip to ATP in December. Anyone that knows us, knows we love 80's music and most importantly tracks of films and soundtracks...so we are compiling a few mixes for the journey...so far...my favourite highlights have been....

Awesome tune, awesome band and a cool film from when i as a kid. Queen had it all. Tunes, image and skill. But this film was awesome as well. Let down by inferior sequels. And Clancy Brown who plays the Kurgen is Mr Crabs from Spongebobs voice...true fact.

Rocky did really put the montage sequence in the film technique manual. And Rocky 4 was no exception. Forget "Eye of The Tiger", the fourth film had so many good montage sequences with good tuneage. I chose this one because I like the bassline that starts it, very, very 80's processed sound. Probally played ona Hamer bass I reckon, that was dusky pink or maybe purple.

Known by most people for supplying the main track for the Back To The Future films, Huey Lewis has been ploughing his trade for a long time, and achieved some good pretty good accolades and written some tunes. This is my personel Huey favourite..taken from the album "Fore". Forget BTTF and get into Huey. Infact, in the original novel version of American psycho, there is a whole chapter about Patrick Batemans love for Huey Lewis & The News, and it makes it into a few lines in the movie. Also if you ever listen to " I Want A New Drug" by Huey and then Ray parker Jr's theme to The Ghostbusters, there is a slight similarity. More coincidence really. but it didn't stop Huey taking Ray to court for copyright infringment back in 1985. Go on huey.

Certitude

Illness. I hate it. I can guarantee that every year before Xmas I will be ill, really cold, bed ridden ill. For the last 7 years its been a clockwork operation tog et stuff done/not booked/out of the way because I will be incapable of doing stuff for the last week before Christmas day. So out comes every kind of medication I can get. This has always been my preffered choice of dealing with illness. Bombarb my body with every kind of medicine I can find. Then let them fight over my insides to rid me of whatever has taken up residence in my constantly deteriorating body. I did once crack a full pack of those Beechams pouches about 4 years ago. Staff do that night and I came down with illness that afternoon. Those things helped me through the whole ordeal. i could drink, I could enjoy myself. That said the last train home was a nightmare. I more than likely looked like a smack head coming down. All white and sweating, teeth chattering and shivering.
Not that I actually like Christmas, I don't want to give you taht impression. Not beena fan of it for about 12 years now. Last year was the best, I had the house to myself and just got pissed at home. played Guitar Hero, listened to some records and watched some DVD's. it was the perfect day.
Besides my illness I have been greatly excited to recieve the final mixed and mastered version of the Atavist track "Certitude". This is going on our 3-way split with Nadja and Sotari to coincide with the tour in November as well. Super sweet sounding and monstrous as is to be expected.
So as I was scanning the internet between bouts of boredom and crippling illness I came across some pretty good stuff. First off some nice downloads for you....not my work but the work of Dawn Of The Dead blog....
Gridlink - Amber Grey
Jon Chang is back...I love Discordance Axis so I love this. Its that simple. Fast, harsh grind with screaming vocals. password : xdotdx
Luddite Clone - The Arsonist And The Architect
Very overlooked in Relapses catalogue. They only did this EP and splits with Esoteric and Burnt By The Sun. But was quite an eye opener for me when I first heard them. They sounded heavy as fuck and just had this aggro vibe to them. It was basically grind but with huge grooves and enough DM influence to make the Job For a Bobboys and Despised Irons of this world take note. Fans of Human Remains would not be dissapointed. Members have gone onto Kiss The Cynic. but LC where what it was about. Oliver recommends highly.
so I need to shake this evil from inside me tonight, or at least keep it at bay tommorow as Doomriders / SSS / Tortuga ? The Freezing Fog are playing Manchester tommorow night. Me and Macky will be in attendance. So should you.

Smells Like Rain

in continuing ( 9 years so far) effort to renovate the house. ir eturned home from work this afternoon after spending 2 hours of driving around the North West blasting NWA ( YES!) to find that the proposed sand-blasting of the front of our house had worked but for some mysterious reason, had left the kitchen and front room, replete with a layer of dust/sand over everything. Including, my COFFEE MACHINE. Absolute bollocks. Cowboy builders or what.
This wwek's highlights have been the recieving of a B/O by Foreigner and the suprise re-issue of "Breed The Killers" by Earth Crisis. Now, I know some people bum "Firestorm" and "Destroy The Machines", both good albums in there own right. But "Breed..." Just kicked it in the cock for me. Unqeustionably there most cohesive album, in terms of song writing and playing. Fuck off if you can't see that fact.
My money worries still annoy me but have been sidetracked by the discovery of Cherubs. This awesome, skronky, noise-rock band from Austin TX. Just pure dirt and filthy riffage. The album "Heroin man" is so so so so good. They split in 95 I think it was and this album came out in 94. Track it down. Or alternativly just follow this link below.. from the awesome Lo Res Viscera blog. Worth checking out.

Cherubs - "Heroin man"

This alongside Breach, Diamanda Galas, Unbroken and NWA have made this week, that bit more worth waking up for. Its more things that shouldn't bother me, and i tell them they don't bother, really do. Ah..such is life. Roll on death and that. This coming weekend should hopefully be fun. Still on the look out for a girl who likes dirty music and boozing. I have a vacancy that needs filling by those skills. Anyhoo.... I ahve the new Coffins to lsiten to so am going to sharply exit to achieve that feat.....I will leave you with.....THIS!

One of many laugh-out-loud scenes from the awesome Darkplace series. Get into it.

My Firstborn Will Surely Be Born Blind

Geeky music bit now. But I was lsitening to this album today. One of my most favourite albums ever. its been with me since I was 17, and I still find have the same feeling towards it and it still stirs the same emotions up inside me today, as it did then. " What is this magical album then Oliver?" I hear you ask. The legendary Kiss It Goodbye! and "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not".
They where the band that ex-Deadguy vocalist Tim Singer and guitarist Keith Huckins formed in Seattle after there move north from New Jersey. They had a demo circulating for a while but Revelation put them in the studio with Billy Anderson and this is the result. A powerfull, emotional, cathartic, vitriolic wall of sound. That is equal parts aggro, twisted and fragile. That sounds really pretentious, but it works so well. This album accompanied me on so many train journeys to gigs. I had a very worn tape of it, that played on rotation in the days when no one could drive and you always travelled to Leeds or Birmingham ona train to watch some bands and then ended up staying in the train station until the morning for your next train home. It was these journeys that sunk the album into my brain. every little drum fill, every shard of discordance, every twisted riff. But Tim Singer's vocals are what make this album stand up. Catharsis doesn't describe it at all. One of my friends always used to say it is the sound of one man having a complete breakdown, and they recorded it. Dramatic, tearfull, aggro, emotionally barren etc etc... I have tried for years to find some information on what the his songs are about, you can make out phrases and line shere and there but the booklet never gave it away and over the years I have pieced together some info, mostly revolving around some issue with heroin and family. Thats my best lead so far.
I would have liked to have uploaded this for the very few people that read this blog but I can't really be bothered. Other than that you should really pick this up if you ahve any interst in emotional music or jsut want to spend an hour with a twisted, fearfull, chaotic mess. then this is the album you NEED to hear. I think Revelation mailorder still have copies of it.

Other news, my new car is now named...The Whipmaster. After one of the best Bill Murray sketches on Saturday Night Live. Watch


Plus I have put up links to 2 of my favourite blogs. The Dying Machine and Lo Res Viscera. both full of tons of amazing stuff, and you don't have to feel guilty about downloading as nearly all the stuff is very rare out of print vinyl only...more bonus.
While your there check out my good friend Macky's photography blog. He is an artist of the camera. Amazing work.

On another note, get into Dead Raven Choir. " My Firstborn Will Surely Be Born blind" is so good. Alongside " The Sporting Life" by Diamanda Galas and John Paul Jones have been an inspiration this week.

Fuck you all.

Flinch Of The North Star

What a waste of 1 hour 32 minutes. Well, actually just an hour, as I skipped through certain sections. Whats he talking about you wonder?.... The '95, live action, American production of Fist Of The North Star. Absolutly gutted. What a massive opurtunity wasted.
You see, I was always a fan of the original, Japanese OAV from '85. When Manga Video released it over here in the early 90's it was one of my most favourtie anime's. I then worked back to the original Anime series and the Manga collections. What was not to like? Fighting, cool martial arts, tons of gore, post-apocalyptic setting. Just awesome. The original OAV condensed the long running series into a 90 minute animated movie. Which was well done.
Now I remember hearing about this movie while it was in production. And at the time thought, cool! I look forward to seeing that.

GOOD
If only I knew then what I know now. The film is a complete turkey. First of Gary Daniels, as Kenshiro. He might look the part somewhat, but his sub- ( and I mean Hunt For Red October sub) man -with-no-name routine is terrible. The actual fighting is somewhat well done. But ina world where he can make peoples heads and bodies fly apart and explode, the live-action working of this technique looks so comical. Just some prosphetic/mechanical bulge on the enemies body then you don't see the actual death. Whats more horrible is the actual enviroment. it all takes place on sound stages, in studio's. So the nuclear-ravaged landscape looks like a Dr Who set.

BAD
The acting is worse than the voice acting in the original dub. Lots of liberties taken with characters and the enviroment. Jagi is now Jackel, and played by Chris Penn, in a completly hammed up way. But worse of all is Malcolm Macdowell. As Ryuken. What a waste of talent. He also acts as narrator so you don't have to think about anything really. Tracey Walters and Melvin Van Peebles also die on there arse. Absolutly gutted.
Despite wasting my time watching that, I did go to the car auction and am now the proud owner of some new wheels. ROCK ON! A 8 year old, Rover. 2.5 litre, Turbo Diesel. Go's like the clappers and looks sweet. Lets see how long this lasts us eh?
So what has been rocking Olivers stereo.........Nowt really.
Except the lovely sounds of Warning, Harkonen and Asva.
All I need now is the love of a good ( or just any) women and I am set to go.

WHY I HATE MOTORING...............

THIS CAR............not this one but that model. You see I recently..oh about 4 months ago purchased one froma auction. Fair price, low mileage, 1.8 TDI. Top stuff I thought.
A few little things to alter here and there but not bad.
Then about a week ago it completely gave up on the way to work, black clouds on the horizons, spilling from the bonnet, the stench of over burnt diesel fuel. It wasn't good. A later diagnostic by my friend, a mechanic, revealed the fact that the turbo injection was no more, in fact it had never been there in the first place. this in mind, the engine had decided to blow its head gasket and corrode the front part of the exhaust. Gutted, I have been sweating about what to do. Until today. When it has been put up for a quick sale. Either as scrap or whatever. it cost me 450 rips and will cost another 800 to get it fixed. it ain't worth it at all.
My luck with cars has enver been to good. My previous car..forever known as Jerusalem..a Nissan Micra, fell to pieces, or rather the clutch did. Then the oil blew in the engine.
Prior to taht a Rover Metro I owned decided to have an oil leak and not tell me until the engine blew and froze on my during the worst snow this country ahd seen in years. Meaning a very expensive rescue and 4 hours spent stood on a motorway embankment in the cold. Grimm and kvlt in equally depressing measures. Its enough to make you want to stop driving.
What a shit eh? Being in the position of financially broke ( indeed, I have about £2.00 to my name) this means no transport whatsoever. A visit to another auction today brought the hoplesness of the situation ever closer.
Anyhow, despite everything being shit, the Ergon EP is selling okay, and we have had some nice feedback from it, I have re-discovered the joys of Envy ( the Japanese band, not the sin) thanks to free copy of there recent DVD by General Naughton, top stuff and been flirting like a bastard with people to cheer myself up.
So as a little ray of sunshine in your world...here is a download link for a band I discovered thanks to the awesome Cosmic Hearse blog site.
A under-rated classic, long forgotten and that slipped under the radar. ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ashbury....

Garage metal and 70's rock-terrific.

Thats all for now.

The Ugliest Smile In Rock'n'Roll

How do you spend a obscene amount of money in a week? Well I some how have managed to do that. Dickhead me. As far as I can recall it was on some pretty good stuff and things so I shouldn't really grumble. I think it was mainly booze really. But what fun it was spending.
Between battling broken cars and financial loss I have been whoring my bands EP out to people. It officially came out on Monday. The Ergon Carousel is loose. Get it from Holy Roar Records Big Cartel page.
My other band Atavist have the Nadja colaaboration out on Profound Lore Records as well. As well as a 3-way split CD to coincide with the Nadja/Atavist/Sotari tour next month. Sweet.
A good friend of mine recently made a group of us sit through a compilation of 80's music vids, which he makes a point of listening/watching before we always go out. These are a memory of that DVD. And I have never seen them before.
First off....

Its so funny how creepy he is about this girl, sniffing her hair and everything. And gone are the days when the videos speech ran over the music. What a shame.
Then there is this...gotta love Chevy Chase. And the obvious bass break on this song. With phase and everything courtesy of the great Bakhiti Kumalo, which despite popular rumour is actually played ona 6-string bass, but the second half is the first half reversed in pre-production. Geeky fact.

You should try and track down Chevy Chase's album he released back in the 80's. A trend amongst actors at the time.

Mixing Genocide up with food reviews

Gutted to do that eh? I was passed on this link to a great/cringeworthy radio interview that is ACTUALLY real! If like me you are a fan of Partridge then you can not fail to notice how like Steve Coogans creation this is. Les Ross, BBC West Midlands DJ completly alienates his guest and that hole he is digging keeps getting deeper no matter what he says. Awesome or embaressing depending on your opinion.
THE REAL PARTRIDGE!
Its a business post....
You also may want to go and purchase ( via pre-order) my bands EP. We have a 6 track, debut EP available on October 6th...THE ERGON CAROUSEL. Our good friends at Holy Roar are releaseing it for us as a very limited edition, black CD-r with handmade, printed artwork. Limited to 100 physical copies and then I-tunes downloads after that. For the price of 3.99 it can be yours. Get invovled.
My other band Atavist have our collaboration with Canada's Nadja available via Profound Lore Records as well. This will be on sale during the November UK tour we are doing together alongside a Nadja/Atavist/Satori Split CD featuring all the bands on the tour.

other than that you should all listen to The Jesus Lizard more. It makes sense.

To Crawl Under One's Skin

This is what I ahve been enjoying in a recent surge of rediscovered classics. Mr Bungle where my most favourite bands when i was younger and responsible for influencing my bass playing style as well. Wanky musical fact. Oft imitated, never bettered. All 3 of the major albums where amazing.
Life is a bout taking gambles, and I am going to have a good ole gamble shortly on something that will either work out or not.
Either way, it won't change much but it will be a nice distraction from general life.
Off ona tour with Nadja soon so thats all good. And the Ergon EP is going fast.
Yay.

Silver Needle, Golden Nail

Once more I am resigned to doing nothing. Again. I still ain't been able to draw anything, which is mega shit and makes me feel even worse. I am missing a lot of people right now, but who isn't.
One thing I did notice today is the complete lack of common sense people display while driving. its different when your the driver but some people really don't deserve to have a car. The amount of people that have no clue about safe speeds ( ie: too slow) or lane positioning is pretty ridiculous.
Despite all this life is a pretty shit state of affairs, only really lightened by music. Of which I have something good for anyone that likes Godspeed, big riffs, screaming vocals and post rock....
CRAWL BACK IN
There vocalist used to sing for my old band Narcosis. And used to be in fine UK hardcore bands Hard To Swallow and Underclass. Peet is a legend. And since his move over to Sweden has been working with some friends of ours on this project. Mega huge riffs and intense buildups. They have the whole 3 track CD available for donwload free from there page so you deserve it to hear something truely awesome at the moment.
Awesome stuff indeed.

To close....

I miss a lot of people.

My kidneys are hurting again.

I recently purchased a new pad and pencil set, in the vain hope of starting drawing again. You see I spent nearly 6 years in higher education pursuing art and similar themes. And realising that I wanted to start up again ( and seeing how my collection of art supplies was thrown out in a general spring tidy by parties unnamed) I purchased a drawing pad and pricey box of pencils last pay day. Since then I have tried on numerous occasions to start something but my mind goes completly blank as soon as I look at the paper. I have a idea of what I want to draw but no way of physically doing it. I ahve listened to so much music to try and inspire me, I ahve been for some nice walks, watched many films and programs. Its evading me. Despite the added level of misery prevailent in my lfie at recent times it still seems unimspiring.
Of course this is all just whining at the end of the day but there is a serious lack of inspiration around now. Especially in my life. But you notice it in other people as well. At least I have.
This weekend I tried on many occasions to try and start some kind of drawing or piece of "art", but was sidelined by booze on the way. So much that I still struggle to remember what I actually did, no bodies have turned up yet so its all good. But I only realised today that I spent far more on getting mangled than I thought I did or could actually afford. Which means I am up slack alley for the next few weeks. The pile of CD's has been dwindled down and new favourites have been found in Crawl Back In, Dead Raven Choir and Comadre.
The only real ray of hope recentlty has been the release of one of my bands debut EP's.
The link is over on the left anyway but The Ergon Carousel pre-orders went up today so am pretty chuffed with that.
But as my Dad has said on umerous occasions over the years I have known him...roll on death.
Or whatever comes next.

Sorry for the lack of sunshine in this post.....so lets finish with something that always cheers me up.......
The Polyphonic Spree.....

Go on Poly.

So it starts.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a blog for quite some time now. Finally a very long boring night listening to Striborg, Liferuiner and some booze swung it for me. So I have decided to join the trillions of others that write there rants and raves down on the internet. Don't expect it to be any different, whoever can be bothered reading this.
So as it stands this is the first of more than likely, many posts expressing my disdain and general annoyance at life in general. I ain't going to bang on about my personal life or any of that rubbish either. No one is interested. Just generally what has gotten to me recently, and what I have found to make it tolerable. Also expect quite a bit of bad spelling as well. (I can't really help it).

SO....

Well, these past few weeks I have been spending a lot of time listening to the backlog of CD's and music I have collected recently. I don't get chance to give a lot of it any depth of listening when ir ecieve it. Due to having not much time at home ( until recently), and new car with no CD player.
So its been pretty good working my way through this selection of music. Good and bad.
Good as in I have discovered some awesome new stuff that passed me by first time around, namely Justice, California Love, M.I.A., Ashbury, Gentle Giant and Striborg. Bad as in its made me realise why i don't really have much of a clue about what is classed as "new" and "exciting". What is termed good nowadays just seems so forced. With a few notable exceptions of recent years I am not really interested in any "new" music whatsoever. I'm still playing catch up on stuff I missed years ago.
Which in turn led me onto the train of thought that I have not ahd a decent conversation about music with anyone for ages. With the exceptions of a few close friends I really miss being able to have in-depth talks over drinks and other things about all the music I like and being able to slag off the music I don't agree with. There is a serious lack of people with a clue about music these days. or a clue about what constitutes "good" music.
Which led me into thinking about something that has stuck with me for years. There are only two types of music in this world...Good and bad. Its worked out to be pretty much true.





Playlist

Ink & Dagger - Drive This 7" Wooden Stake Through My Philadelphia Heart
Striborg - Autumnal Melancholy
Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman
Sun City Girls - Grotto Of Miracles
Liferuiner - No Saints ( I really don't know why. it just seems good at the moment!)
Lifelover - Pulver