Silence! The Musical

Andrew told me about it last night. Fucking genius

http://www.silencethemusical.com/index.shtml

"lift yr. skinny fists like antennae to heaven!"

by GYBE is getting better with age, at first I was listening to only the first song (Storm) which is brilliant but the rest of it is good as well. Can never be as good as Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada. Pity it's not on one cd, 4 songs over 2 cds is a bit much.

What else - failed to buy a ticket in time to see PJ Harvey in the Tate Modern in London - don't know if I could have gone but it would be quite a venue.

Really must get some albums in preparation for Glasto - My Morning Jacket, Grannadaddy, new Yo La Tengo, The Kills maybe even The Coral!, Calexico. Flaming Lips, Doves (Doves after Sigur Ros on Sunday - that might be the closer to rival Tindersticks, Mercury Rev,. Mogwai finish in 2000).

And Julian Cope, Zwan, De La Soul etc.

Ok I'm not going to get all of those but a few somehow.....

t.A.T.u robbed (except they weren't)

Did you watch the Eurovision, then? Katharine and Andrew came around (okay, stayed around after watching DVDs), and we saw everything from entry five on. Some of the costume changes were brilliant, and one of the acts had a "DJ" who was playing 3-foot wide records. The UK, it would have to be said, earned every one of it's nul points.

But t.A.T.u., despite excellent gamesmanship beforehand (like one of them stalking the girl from Jemini, and the question from their management as to whether they had to be wearing clothes for the performance), just didn't give it welly on the night.

Queens Of The Stone Age

I think I'm fianlly beginning to get QOTSA (Rated R is what I am listening to). I bought this album on the back of it being number 1 in the NME poll 2001 reasoning it must be all right at the very least but never really got into it. Don't know how to describe it, rock stuff with singing. The tunes are there and that helps. It's also not too overly excited, the songs aren't killed by trying to over rock them, it's a cliche but "it sounds like it could have been made any time in the last 30 years". It reminds me of The White Stripes in that it took me a long while to like them (or think they were more than average blues rock action).

Next week Beard! learns to like little known combo The Strokes.

Oldish albums

Been listening to some albums to see if I can make suggestions for a film soundtrack.

• Pole - 2 Minimal glitch etc. sounds much better and more melodic than I remembered. Maybe it a hedphones thang! Must look out for other albums.
• The For Carnation - Marshmallows Forgetable rubbish, didn't realise I had come to the end of the album. There must have been one good song on it somewhere...
• Daniel Figgis - Skipper A humdinger. New things on it all the time. Don't know if he is trying to make music anymore but it led me to think that's it's prob better just to make 1 classic album in a career rather than 4 average ones.
• The Microphones - Song Islands
The lo finess makes it less likely to be played again and again. Some great songs on it all right. Warm fuzziness
• The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages... I listened to just the last song, the 36 minute cd filler. Is enjoyable enough. Was making notes like 'at 5.30 tones oscillate to a climax before fading'.
• The Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun Great. Must get more Japanese freak out music. And J-Pop. Which is good though? Might get recommended rubbish by the affichinados.

That's it! The Daniel Figgis has the best cover.

The Village is shit

Saw Mogwai on Sat night at the Village (formerly the Mean Fiddler then Mono). Neither of these previous venues were brilliant but they were all right. The latest incarnation is a couple of steps backwards though. The entrance is just to the right of the front of the stage [so you don't disturb the crowds in the pub below I suppose - perviously you entered via a stairwell from the front (there is some part of a stairwell still there - it has been moved a little but now is a fire exit (well the bouncer wasn't letting anyone in or out)] and you have a steady stream of people coming and leaving most of the night through there. The toilets are still behind the stage and you have to elbow your way along the left hand side to get there. The bar has been moved to the other side so now the venue is very long and narrow (3 or 4 times as long as it's wide). No Golden Ratios here as regards length and width. Plus the bloody sound desk takes up half the width of the venue. So when it is crowded as it was at a sold out Mogwai you are perhaps 30 metres from the stage straining to see above the sound desk that is half way between you and the stage. It is just rubbish. Plus 2 drinks cost more than a tenner. Plus you're chucked out at 11 so they can sell the venue all over again (so just 90 minutes of Mogwai). I've never got too annoyed by venues before, the Ambassador is kippish but you can move around and get a decent enough view, the Red Box does get too crowded but again you can at least see. But this was just shit.

Mogwai were great when I wasn't fuming. The new songs sound good. I can't wait to actually enjoy them properly at Glastonbury. It was Stuart's birthday and the crowd sung Happy Birthday to him.

The support was Noaxgt (??), drums, all muscular bass and a viola. Fairly interesting but no huge variation. If the bass playing wasn't always being so angry and purposeful it would perhaps be better.

damn

The Bnnie Prince Billy shows up and down the US midwest have been really good it seems. He has been touring with (amongst others) the drummer from The Oxes and they have rocked up all the songs on Master And Everyone. Reports of people crying at the shows.

damn damn

Rebekah del Rio

Was just looking at the Microphones/Mt Errie website http://www.krecs.com/shows/#MICRO to see if they might have included Glasto on their festival list since then it would be likely that Bonnie Prince Billie would be playing as well. And I saw this show they are playing ilater on in the year:

November 31st- Los Angeles- Club Silencio, 4 a.m., 1$ (with Rebekah del Rio)

Rebekah del Rio sings on the Mullholland Drive soundtrack, her a cappella version of Roy Orbison's "Crying" is amazing. I don't know if that style is Fado, it's what I imagine Fado to be. And what a time and price for a gig!

Smog And Tatu

(Smog) becuase I saw them in Whelans last night. Tatu because I was listening to them later (and reading about them on I Love Music today).

(Smog) was very good, most of it was Supper and a third+ was back catalogue (Dress Sexy, Ex-con etc.). the band were pretty tight even though it was the first night of the tour. I think it's the same woman as sings on the album and that really helps for songs such as Butterflies, Truth Serum etc. I think 15/16 songs in total. Bill Callahan didn't say much more than thanks until he asked for some requests. It is sort of a full circle since this is where he first played in ireland, then at Vicar St, then TBMC. And upstairs wasn't open, so as a crowd puller he is slipping. Pity since the new album is much better than Rain On Lens.

smog4

So Tatu, this is the most infectious pop (or eurotrance or Linkin Park trance pop or whatever) I've heard in a good while. The production may not be super brilliant (it will sound bad in a few years perhaps?) but the vocals are just great (partly it's the accent and pace that is giving them that urgency/excitement/poignancy). I had previously heard some longer dance versions of the Russian originals and they didn't really catch me. I haven't listened to the album in full and it'll prob can't be all that good. But the other aspects of Tatu are depressing/saddening - the bullshit teen lesbo publicity angle, the manager (who controls everything they do/say/wear, who boasted how he created them with underage sex as a selling point), the fact that they have no songwriting credits on the album (I think). What will happen when the get spat out by the big pop machine?