Silent Words Speak Loudest

2012-01-31T13:58:00.001Z

Feel good hits of the 31st January

1. 'Heart Paper Lover' - Marissa Nadler
2. 'Skin Of The Night' - M83
3. 'Red Star' - EMA
4. 'Hello Sadness' - Los Campesinos!
5. 'You Still Believe In Me' - Beach Boys
6. 'Dominican Fade' - Battles
7. 'Helplessness Blues' - Fleet Foxes
8. 'Jump In The Fire' - The Night Marchers
9. 'Skippin' Town' - The Drums
10. 'The Shakes' - Atlas Sound

Notes:

1. What a voice. That is all.

2. A highlight of M83's Saturdays = Youth, to which I've come late, and of their largely disappointing Oxford gig last week.

3. Has the likes of 'Red Star' helped Past Life Martyred Saints worm its way into my Top Ten for 2011? Not sure yet...

4. Are Los Campesinos! tortured souls? Well, in the video for the title track of their latest album they're certainly tortured...

5. Pet Sounds was the soundtrack to a Sunday of hungover DIY, proving its magical properties by somehow making it all bearable.

9. Do I go and see The Drums at the end of February? I don't have the latest album, think the first is a bit lightweight and am worried I was only temporarily infatuated with them around the time of the first EP.

2012-01-31T11:48:00.000Z

Know Your Enemy

"Maybe David is party to a formula for popularity, despite the fact that no art of any real value, including all Hollywood films of the past 30 years, has ever been made by pursuing one. Good artists do what they believe in and don't merely court public approval. In these respects they are the opposite of politicians. Zing!"

Stewart Lee takes Tory economic rationalism to task, David Cameron having ventured that the UK film industry should make a greater effort to back "more commercially viable pictures".

2012-01-31T09:24:00.000Z

Two things that are "literally" worth a look

Pedantic grammar Nazi point #1: using quotation marks for emphasis actually has the opposite effect.

Pedantic grammar Nazi point #2: don't confuse "literally" with "figuratively". Yes, I'm looking at you, Jamie Redknapp.

(Thanks to Zoe and Rich respectively for the links.)

2012-01-27T10:07:00.003Z

Fun?

That's the title of the Candyskins' second album, and for much of Anyone Can Play Guitar, an independent documentary about the Oxford music scene of which they were a part, it (including the question mark) is apposite. Being in a band, a succession of talking heads suggest, is all about sudden success, crashing falls and the middle ground too - grinding grimly along.

Film maker Jon Spira did well to round up such a range of people. The city's biggest musical exports are all represented: Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood of Radiohead; Gaz Coombes of Supergrass; Andy Bell, originally from Ride, then Hurricane #1 and Oasis. But it's significant that supposedly lesser lights are also given attention and the opportunity to speak.

And those interviewed aren't just musicians. Spira also spoke to members of the all-important support network: producers (most prominently Sam Williams), promoters, managers, record label founders, the editor of the listings mag to which I semi-regularly contribute. All are essential components for any scene, particularly one in a relatively small city like Oxford.

In this respect, the history of the Zodiac is revealing, founded as it was when various musicians and non-musicians clubbed together and dipped into their own pockets to buy a venue, collectively recognising the value in having a good-sized forum in which local bands could showcase their music and which fledgling outfits could aspire to play. The sale of the dilapidated building to the Academy Music Group in 2007 is the source of some disagreement - those who benefited understandably defensive, but others critical of the fact it's now in the hands of a national (multinational) business with no special ties to or interest in Oxford.* Sadly, with the closure of the Regal, it's left as the only decent-sized venue in the city.

The strapline - "The story of the small town music scene that changed the world" - struck me as somewhat hyperbolic so I began watching in a sceptical frame of mind, but it's true that Oxford bands did regularly blaze a path or at least prefigure a subsequent trend. Here Comes Everybody, for instance, were C86 before the term was coined, and Foals were at the vanguard of the vogue for taut, trebly post-punk-disco.

The stratospheric ascents of Radiohead, Ride and Supergrass are of course covered, but given more weight is the tale of the aforementioned Candyskins, whose career was one long catalogue of horrendous misfortune. Repeatedly on the verge of making the big breakthrough, they found themselves sabotaged by circumstance: labels imploding; having a single called 'Car Crash' lined up for release when Princess Diana died; the bosses of both their UK and US labels falling ill with cancer at the same time; getting gazumped by Geffen, who having dropped them re-released Fun? to capitalise on newfound success just before their new independently released album was about to drop. I can't say their music does much for me at all, but the succession of hard luck stories can't help but leave you feeling sorry for their plight. Unlike the Brian Jonestown Massacre in DiG!, their misfortune was never of their own making.

While Spira, like most of his interviewees, is clearly of the opinion that the scene and network is supportive and nurturing, there are indications that it's not always that way. There are evident competitive rivalries, jostling and bristling at the relative success of others; tales of friendships soured slightly by business dealings; hints that the scene can be stifling and sometimes clings on and refuses to let go when a band are ready to venture out from Oxford into the wider world.

Most critical are the Young Knives, who initially refused to take part in the film but then, when they were the subject of several negative comments (and outright animosity from members of Rock Of Travolta and Smilex), agreed to a separate interview, which is included as a bonus feature. Having stuck in a pin in the map and moved to Oxford to try and make it as a band, they found it cliquey and hard to break into, though they do at least acknowledge the scene and some of its key players as a formative influence on the band.

As for the film itself, it has its flaws: the narrative, supplied by former Oxford student Stewart Lee, is patchy; the opening segment about superbly named punk band The No is pointlessly brief; a couple of interviewees (Jamie Stuart of Dustball/Dive Dive and Tara Milton of Five Thirty/The Nubiles) come across as pricks and are overindulged (the former particularly in the bonus feature on Dive Dive). Nevertheless, it gives an admirably comprehensive insight into the scene and one which has helped me value that bit more what's gone on (and continuing to go on) on my doorstep.

* You may have noticed that in gig reviews I've always refused to refer to the "Oxford Academy", preferring the "Oxford Zodiac" instead. Well-meaning if rather pointless stubbornness - or so I thought. One thing that Anyone Can Play Guitar made clear is that the Zodiac very definitely no longer exists, even if parts of it physically survive - and it now feels like I'm doing the old place (which I never went to, I should add) a disservice by continuing to refer to the new £4-a-pint-of-pisswater venue by the same name. So I'm dropping it from now on.

Link:

Another perspective on the film from Lanterne Rouge of football blog The Two Unfortunates

2012-01-26T20:52:00.000Z

Dishonourable mentions

Interesting, isn't it, that the list of those who've refused honours from the Queen seems to consist almost exclusively of figures from the arts: Alfred Hitchcock, John Lennon, Aldous Huxley, L S Lowry, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, J G Ballard, Roald Dahl... By contrast, dissenters from the fields of politics and business are conspicuous by their almost complete absence. Yay royalty!

2012-01-24T19:54:00.000Z

Back from beyond the grave

So, reports of Truck's death - here as well as elsewhere - have proven somewhat premature. Like some kind of zombie festival, buried amid much wailing (from those who would miss it) and gnashing of teeth (from those left out of pocket by its bankruptcy) only to arise and walk the earth once more, Oxfordshire's premier summer shindig lives on, set to take place at its Hill Farm home on 20th and 21st July.

The event's founders the Bennett brothers have wisely decided to step down from organisational duties, noting that the team taking on the challenge of reanimating the corpse, Y-Not Festivals, are set to adopt "a back to basics approach". Scaling it back in terms of size and duration makes good sense - it was last year's overambitious expansion of both that caused many of the problems.

Time will tell if the festival can retain (or recreate) the village fete vibe of Trucks of yore, or if it can rebuild its credibility with music fans and potential creditors alike. But it's certainly encouraging to learn that it hasn't gone for good.

2012-01-24T14:46:00.000Z

Charmless man

What on earth was Alex James thinking? As bad decisions go, writing a bizarre gushing advertorial for McDonalds, Greggs and KFC in the Sun when you claim to be a supporter of "real food" is right up there with being involved in both Blur's 'Country House' video and Fat Les. Ill-judged doesn't come close. Maybe he's been nibbling at his own cheese too long?

Anyway, here's a YouTuber's entertaining animated response to the article.

(Thanks to Darryl for the link.)

2012-01-24T10:58:00.003Z

"Monkey Tennis?"

Fancy a job as a commissioner of lowest common denominator trash TV? Welcome to the BBC Three Show Generator. One click and you're away: Inbred, Rich And Possessed; Bald, Pregnant And House-Hunting; The Worst Place To Be Sexy; Autistic, Widowed And Lapdancing...

A couple of suggestions wouldn't even have met the BBC Three commissioners' standards, though. Teenage And In School - nothing unusual in that, surely. And My Virgin Mother - frankly implausible, unless the child in question was Jesus...

(Thanks to Alanna for the link.)

2012-01-23T18:21:00.000Z

Tedious tales

Did I Ever Tell You About The Time...: "Did you meet a pop star once? Is it a dull story? Stand up straight and tell the rest of the class."

Personally speaking, I'm sure there are a few anecdotes that would fit the bill, but all that comes to mind immediately are instances when I've made an arse of myself. Such as asking Tom Los Campesinos! what he was planning on doing after finishing university. Or (most recently) enthusiastically thanking Stuart Braithwaite for helping to get Codeine to reform, rather than for any of his own band's musical output over the years.

Actually, there you go - I once shared a urinal with the wee man before the 'Gwai's set at Supersonic in 2007, and wished him well for the show before he left. It turned out to be the most disappointing Mogwai performance I've seen to date.

And then there was the time a few of us spent half an hour in a club explaining Ross Noble's concept of Lansburyitis (essentially, the condition in which any song you try to hum inexplicably mutates into the Murder, She Wrote theme tune) to the keyboard player from Six By Seven.

Stop me now, I could go on all night...

(Thanks to Del for the link.)

2012-01-23T13:45:00.001Z

Know Your Enemy

"What Bill Murray means to America is the acceptance and celebration of an ultimate apathy. He is a weak man, a murderer of lambs, a despicable hedonist who waves the white flag welcoming the end of American moral and economic primacy. He is a harbinger of our death as a culture, the death of that preëminent philosophy of faith married to capitalism that has saved the world countless times from repression and annihilation."

From "The 10 Most Dangerous 'Comedians' Destroying America" on Christwire - essentially The Onion vs the US Christian Right.

(Thanks to Dave for the link.)

2012-01-23T10:47:00.001Z

Red Letterman day

Congratulations to Los Campesinos! - from upstairs at Dempsey's in Cardiff to The Late Show With David Letterman. Quite a journey.

(Thoughts on their latest offering Hello Sadness coming soon, as part of the run-down of my favourite releases of 2011.)

2012-01-23T08:04:00.000Z

Wonderful wallpaper

Bookshelf Porn: for those of us who get all excited poring over row upon row of spines.

(Thanks to Maria for the link.)

2012-01-20T01:53:00.001Z

SWSL Top 30 Live Performances Of 2010

(So it's January 2012 and, with the final gig of 2010 written up, I'm finally in a position to do the run-down...)

"I really can't see 2010 turning out to be quite such a glut of gigs and festivals", I declared with some certainty at the end of the 2009 list. How wrong I was - thanks to the small matter of seven festivals (Glastonbury, Green Man, two ATPs, the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch, a day of Truck and Audioscope). Needless to say, such a bumper year of live action demands that the countdown again begins at 30 rather than the original 20.

30. tUnE-yArDs, Glastonbury, 25th June

29. THE DRUMS, Oxford Zodiac, 23rd February

28. ISLET, Green Man, 21st August
(Also seen at Truck)

27. ROLO TOMASSI, the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch, 24th July

26. MARISSA NADLER, ATP curated by Godspeed!, 5th December

25. BEACH HOUSE, Glastonbury, 26th June

24. PULLED APART BY HORSES, Truck, 25th July
(Also seen at Glastonbury)

23. THE NATIONAL, Glastonbury, 26th June

22. THE PRE NEW, the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch, 24th July

21. THE EX, ATP curated by Godspeed!, 4th December

20. JAPANDROIDS, Oxford Jericho Tavern, 18th May

19. BILLY MAHONIE, Audioscope, 6th November

18. SPARROW AND THE WORKSHOP, Oxford Zodiac, 14th October
(Also seen at Green Man)

17. FUTURE OF THE LEFT, Truck, 25th July

16. FIELD MUSIC, Glastonbury, 26th June
(Also seen at Green Man)

15. GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, ATP curated by Godspeed!, 3rd December
(Also seen the next day)

14. THE DRONES, ATP curated by Pavement, 15th May

13. ATLAS SOUND, ATP curated by Pavement, 15th May

12. EFTERKLANG, Green Man, 22nd August
(Also seen at Oxford Zodiac)

11. THE BESNARD LAKES, Green Man, 21st August
(Also seen at Bristol Arnolfini)

10. BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, ATP curated by Pavement, 14th May
(Also seen at Glastonbury)

9. FUCKED UP, Truck, 25th July
(Also seen at the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)

8. FUCK BUTTONS, Green Man, 20th August

7. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, Glastonbury, 27th June

6. THOM YORKE & JONNY GREENWOOD, Glastonbury, 25th June

5. PAVEMENT, ATP curated by Pavement, 15th May

4. THE FLAMING LIPS, Glastonbury, 25th June
(Also seen at Green Man)

3. THE ANTLERS, Oxford Zodiac, 4th March

2. SONIC YOUTH, Manchester Academy, 30th December

1. LOW, Coventry St John the Baptist Church, 17th November

There were a lot of stunning performances, but even then nothing really came close to that Low gig. A more perfect marriage of band and setting you could hardly imagine.

An A-Z of every other band / artist I enjoyed (or, in some cases, endured) in 2010 - every single one reviewed somewhere in the sidebar:

The 3Ds (ATP curated by Pavement)
A Grave With No Name (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
A Silent Film (Truck)
Action Beat (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
The Archie Bronson Outfit (Glastonbury)
Avi Buffalo (Green Man)
Awesome Tapes From Africa (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Bardo Pond (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
The Berg Sans Nipple (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
The Big Pink (Glastonbury)
Black Dice (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Black Mountain (Oxford Zodiac)
Blood Red Shoes (Glastonbury)
Bo Ningen (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Borderville (Truck)
Boris (ATP curated by Pavement Saturday and Sunday)
Broken Bells (Glastonbury)
Brontide (Truck)
Calexico (ATP curated by Pavement)
Chad Valley (Oxford Zodiac)
Chali 2na with Breakestra and Afrodyete (Glastonbury)
Chapel Club (Truck)
The Clean (ATP curated by Pavement)
Comanechi (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Country Teasers (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Cymbals Eat Guitars (Glastonbury)
Ray Davies (Glastonbury)
The Dead C (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Dead Jerichos (Truck)
Deerhoof (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Detroit Social Club (Glastonbury)
DJ Cheeba (Green Man)
DJ Rupture (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
DJ Yoda (Green Man)
The Dodos (ATP curated by Pavement)
Dog Is Dead (Truck)
Doves (Green Man)
Enablers (ATP curated by Pavement)
Endless Boogie (ATP curated by Pavement)
Erland & The Carnival (Bristol Arnolfini and Green Man)
Errors (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
The Fall (ATP curated by Pavement)
Fanfarlo (Glastonbury and Green Man)
Fiery Furnaces (ATP curated by Pavement)
Flower/Corsano Duo (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Foals (Oxford Zodiac)
Frightened Rabbit (Glastonbury)
From Here We Run (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Funeral Party (Oxford Zodiac)
Gang Of Four (Glastonbury)
Girls (Green Man)
Vic Godard & Subway Sect (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Half Naked (Oxford Zodiac)
Hangedup (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Rolf Harris (Glastonbury)
Here We Go Magic (Glastonbury)
Hexstatic (Green Man)
The Hold Steady (Glastonbury)
Holy Fuck (Glastonbury)
Peter Hook (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Hot Club De Paris (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
The Hundred In The Hands (Green Man)
Invasion (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Je Suis Animal (Green Man)
The Jim Jones Revue (Oxford Zodiac)
Joker's Daughter (Green Man)
Jonny Dare (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Jonquil (Oxford Zodiac)
Keyboard Choir (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Femi Kuti (Glastonbury)
Little Fish (Truck)
Lone Wolf (Green Man)
Maria & The Mirrors (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Mariachi El Bronx (Glastonbury)
Steve Mason (Green Man)
Mephisto Grande (Audioscope)
Message To Bears (Green Man)
Metronomy (Green Man)
Mission Of Burma (ATP curated by Pavement)
Dieter Moebius (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Morning Parade (Oxford Zodiac)
Muse (Glastonbury)
Necro Deathmort (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Neurosis (ATP curated by Godspeed! Saturday and Sunday)
Scout Niblett (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Nomeansno (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Nought (Audioscope)
O Children (Green Man)
Thee Oh Sees (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Oneida (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
The Oscillation (Audioscope)
Phantom Theory (Oxford Jericho Tavern and Truck)
Pet Shop Boys (Glastonbury)
Plank (Green Man)
The Pop Group (Manchester Academy)
Prizes (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Race Horses (Green Man)
The Raincoats (ATP curated by Pavement)
Rangda (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
The Rock Of Travolta (Audioscope)
Rodrigo Y Gabriela (Glastonbury)
Rome Pays Off (Audioscope)
Saccharine Trust (ATP curated by Pavement)
Paul Thomas Saunders (Coventry St John the Baptist Church)
S.C.U.M. (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Sennen (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Sharks (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Silver Columns (Glastonbury)
The Silver Machine (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Sketches (Oxford Zodiac)
Sleepy Sun (Green Man)
So So Modern (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Sound Of Guns (Truck)
Spencer McGarry Season (Green Man)
Spiral Stairs (ATP curated by Pavement)
Stornoway (Glastonbury)
Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element (Audioscope)
Surfer Blood (ATP curated by Pavement)
Teenage Fanclub (Truck)
These New Puritans (Green Man)
This Town Needs Guns (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Tindersticks (Green Man and ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Tubelord (Glastonbury)
Vampire Weekend (Glastonbury)
Vivian Girls (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Voice Of The Seven Thunders (Green Man)
Von Haze (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
The Walkmen (ATP curated by Pavement)
Mike Watt (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
The Wave Pictures (Green Man)
Wavves (the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch)
Weird Al Yankovic (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Wild Beasts (Glastonbury and Green Man)
Wild Nothing (Truck)
Matt Winkworth (Oxford Jericho Tavern)
Wolf People (Oxford Zodiac)
Wolves In The Throne Room (ATP curated by Godspeed!)
Stevie Wonder (Glastonbury)
Wooden Shjips (ATP curated by Pavement)
Heather Woods Broughton (Oxford Zodiac)
The XX (Glastonbury Friday and Saturday)

(With apologies to the latter, whose Saturday performance would have seen them nestled comfortably well within the Top 30 if that horrid harpy Florence Welch hadn't appeared at the end to royally wreck everything...)

So now that's done it's onwards and upwards, with more live reviews from 2011 to come. I might actually be back to the present day at some point...

2012-01-17T13:21:00.000Z

Know Your Enemy

"At least the Americans wait until their political turds are dead before trying to polish them."

Commenter Magpieview, in response to this article on Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, which is unsurprisingly struggling to attract audiences in the north.

2012-01-17T11:49:00.000Z

Quote of the day

"Massachusetts moderate Mitt Romney - he'll say anything to win. Anything. And just like John Kerry he speaks French, too."

Wow, I'm so glad you pointed that out, Newt. Heaven forbid Americans might unwittingly vote for a presidential candidate who's a covert cheese-eating surrender monkey...

2012-01-17T10:18:00.000Z

Looking on the bright side

So, yesterday was Blue Monday. Except there's no such thing. Credit to Ben Goldacre for (as usual) cutting through the crap and skewering lazy churnalism.

2012-01-13T13:54:00.001Z

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part II

(If you're wondering what this is all about, click here.)

So, it's back, after a hiatus of well over three years. In that time, it's fair to say that previous subjects of this feature haven't exactly prospered: the QI Building closed down, the Big Bang was shut down to make way for property development and the Kite got rid of its TV licence and went downhill.

I'd certainly hope the same fate won't befall the next in the series - unlikely, given that it's been in operation since 1952 and the building's a lot older than that...

#8 - The Unicorn Theatre

Part of the Abingdon Abbey Buildings, the Chequer Hall was a mere shell of a gallery/barn transformed by the vision of one man, Alan Kitching. For the last sixty years, it's been a thriving little theatre, all stonework and timber beams and the sort of character you'd be hard-pushed to find in your average arts centre.

The Unicorn is run by the people (the Friends of Abingdon) for the people, and demonstrates that very often the best form of conservation isn't to wrap a place or building up in cotton wool but to keep it in regular use. And regularly used it certainly is, with Abingdon boasting an impressive clutch of different amateur dramatics societies for a small provincial town. Few months pass by without a performance of some kind of another.

We last went along to see Breakaleg Productions' version of P G Woodhouse and Guy Bolton's Come On Jeeves, in which the valet, on loan from Wooster, is forced into helping another upper-class twit, the Earl of Towcester (pronounced "Toaster"), out of a pickle. As is the way with these things, the quality of the acting was uneven - some a bit ropey (Lord Carmoyle, the Earl of Towcester himself) and some worthy of note (particularly the foolishly romantic American Mrs Spottsworth) - but it was an enjoyable enough romp all the same.

And the setting certainly added to the experience. It felt rather Midsomer Murders - we were half expecting Joyce Barnaby to be somehow involved in the production and for one of the thesps to be accidentally-on-purpose given "wine" laced with arsenic, stabbed with a supposedly fake knife or crushed by a falling lighting rig...

2012-01-13T12:50:00.000Z

If you go down to Badger's Drift today...

... beware of a big surprise e.g. being beaten over the head with a cricket bat or strangled with a pair of tights. Here's a handy way of keeping tabs on all those Midsomer murders.

(Thanks to Dave for the link.)

2012-01-11T12:48:00.003Z

Keeping it real

I'd consider myself moderately cultured, but if there's anything almost guaranteed to make me feel like a philistine, it's conceptual art. So, in hindsight, taking a trip to see the 2011 Turner Prize exhibition over Christmas might not have been the best idea. But, y'know, it's here (the first time it's been held outside London in its history), it's free and it's been years since I've been to the Baltic.

It's the persistent disjunction between the verbose, frequently intriguing accompanying text and the hugely disappointing reality of the artworks themselves that particularly grates.

First up is Martin Boyce, by the time we visit already crowned as the prizewinner. His blurb suggests his work warps conceptions of time, among other such grandiloquent claims, and yet all I see is some uninteresting plastic sculpture and a wooden slab which would seem to have been engraved with graffiti by bored schoolchildren were it not for the absence of spurting cocks (Do Words Have Voices).

Then it's Hilary Lloyd's meditations on "the constructed act of viewing": a number of projectors and screens, showing flickering cut-and-shut/partial images. Interviewed on a video screened on another floor, Lloyd makes the confession that she doesn't even know herself what her work's trying to say and gives up, handing responsibility to her interlocutor. Lame.

And then on to Karla Black, and excited prose referencing Melanie Klein, primal urges and the pre-linguistic stage of early childhood. We round the corner and are confronted with massive papery piles reaching up to the ceiling, supposedly meticulously and intricately arranged, and coloured with pastel bath bombs.

So there I am, aggrieved at finding myself in broad agreement with the Daily Fucking Mail, when along comes George Shaw and makes it all worthwhile.

The relief is palpable among those wandering through the galleries: at last, an artist unafraid of more direct representation. Shaw's pictures - verging on the hyper-realist and painted, unusually, using the Humbrol enamel paints most often used by Airfix model enthusiasts - are subtle snapshots of inbetween outdoor spaces, unimportant and quotidian places. Figures are conspicuous by their absence, the lack of life lending the pictures an unnerving sense of desolation.

There may be nothing happening in Shaw's paintings, but that's not to say there's no narrative. Take The Assumption, for instance, in which the bent railings and the obscured road marking - "KEEP CLEAR", presumably, but perhaps "KEEP OUT" - suggest a transgressive act, either a breaking in or a breaking out.

The exhibition is largely a portrait of a dank, stagnant Britain (more specifically, Tile Hill near Coventry, where Shaw grew up). The tone is partly indifferent (just telling it like it is) but also partly nostalgic and occasionally indignant. The Age Of Bullshit depicts the pub of his youth fenced off, unroofed and doomed to stand waiting for demolition. This, Shaw seems to be saying bitterly, is what we call progress.

Leaving Shaw's affecting paintings behind, we explore what else the Baltic currently has to offer. Pakistani artist Bani Abidi's images of intercom units and barrier types don't do much for me, though her film The Distance From Here is more affecting, depicting a Kafkaesque bureaucratic dystopia in which paperwork and people are processed for no apparent reason.

Better is the collaborative installation A Voyage Of Growth And Discovery on the top floor, the work of Mike Kelley and Michael Smith. Video screens playing just out of sync with each other show Baby IKKI - performance artist Smith dressed in a bonnet, nappy and shades - bumbling around Burning Man in Nevada (the US equivalent of Glastonbury). The footage, the colour and the booming speakers help to recreate the festival's atmosphere in the gallery space, but the fact that none of the revellers seems to pay any attention to Baby IKKI - he effectively blends in unnoticed - suggests the artists are charging the festival with being infantile nonsense. The exhibition's title is an ironic swipe at those festival-goers who claim to be embarking on such a voyage only to return to the normality of 9-5 once the party's over.

Kelley's contributions to the exhibition are several large metal tent-frame constructions, a wrecked camper van and an enormous mock-effigy of Baby IKKI made out of scrap metal. Admirers of the artwork for Sonic Youth's Dirty won't be surprised to find one of the tents paved with soft toys, while the van contains a throne made out of (or at least upholstered with) them. The implication, you feel, dovetails neatly with that of the video installation: namely, that Burning Man is a fantasy, make-believe world - a temporary regression rather than a permanent paradise.

Link:

Photos from the Turner Prize exhibition

2012-01-11T09:11:00.000Z

Surviving to tell the tale

In your face Yuri Gagarin! You may have been the first person in space, but I've now outlived you by a few days.

Try Dead At Your Age out for yourself.

(Thanks to Tim for the link.)

2012-01-10T14:08:00.000Z

Quote of the day

"The original wartime Keep Calm and Carry On poster, rediscovered more than 10 years ago by the owner of Alnwick's Barter Books and digitally touched up by Chris Donald, erstwhile editor of Viz, is an amusing yet poignant instant design classic. It belongs on a poster, or a mug, or a tea towel sold by Barter Books. But not on a packet of condoms or a soft drink. Or a cushion. Or engraved on your baby's face."

Hurrah, as ever, for Charlie Brooker, using his position of authority and an otherwise frivolous article to mount a stout defence of the nation's finest bookshop. Plus he goes on to rubbish cupcakes, something of which I also very much approve.

2012-01-10T13:17:00.000Z

From rags to riches - with any luck

The Finder: an amusing new blog by a friend of mine detailing his attempts to channel the spirit of bemulleted wheeler-dealer Lovejoy and make his fortune through antiques dealing. He's started with a kitty of just £100 and the help of his mum, whose advice includes "Don't be afraid to haggle a motherfucker up"...

2012-01-09T23:57:00.001Z

This station is now operational

Get excited, fans of big hair and impossibly wordy song titles! Beware, chairs provided to Robbie Williams on the set of Later... with Jools Holland! For At The Drive-In are back, all differences presumably patched up. I didn't have Cedric Bixler-Zavala down as the contrite type, but it seems he's been busy building bridges burned more than a decade ago.

Two questions:

1. What are the odds on them appearing at an All Tomorrow's Parties in December?

2. Will Cedric's steaming hot beverage technician be in tow?

Anyway (and you may have guessed this was coming), it's an excuse to post a link to this again. I'm nothing if not predictable...

2012-01-09T23:46:00.000Z

In Auntie we trust

The BBC submission to Ofcom media plurality review makes for fascinating reading. 59% of respondents to a MORI survey claimed the BBC is the one news source they trust the most - the next highest being 7% for ITV News and "Other". Equally revealingly, only Observer readers rated their news source of choice as more trustworthy than the Beeb. Daily Heil readers, I'm sorely disappointed in you for siding with the evil, left-wing Beeb over your own esteemed organ...

(Thanks to Simon for the link.)

2012-01-09T23:34:00.001Z

Fly me to ~~the moon~~ Harborne

It's official (according to the New York Times, at least): Birmingham is more of a must-see than space. Also featuring in the list are a few recent tourist destinations of ours: Dubrovnik, Halong Bay and, er, Wales (all of it).

(Thanks to Vicky for the link.)

2012-01-06T01:53:00.000Z

Goodbye, ~~20th century~~ 2010

SONIC YOUTH / THE POP GROUP, 30TH DECEMBER 2010, MANCHESTER ACADEMY

You know that quiet period, that lull between Christmas and New Year? Nope, me neither. It's New Year's Eve Eve, and yet those generous folks at ATP are still playing Santa, delivering a belated Christmas present in the form of the finest band on the planet.

First, though, a nice little stocking-filler. Tomorrow night, London will be even more fortunate, getting Shellac and Factory Floor too. (Hmm, that or Jools' Annual Hootenanny - the agony of choice, eh, Londoners?) Those of us in Manchester will just have to make do with the other support act, The Pop Group. The cheeky so-and-sos - pop is just about the only thing they aren't. Clanging, bitter, misanthropic post-punk (appropriate given they're on Joy Division's home turf) - yes. Fierce Gang Of Four funk - yes. Echoey dub - yes. Even a bit of free jazz. But not pop. Cowell would cack himself.

Not for nothing did Nick Cave declare them and their classic single 'We Are All Prostitutes' (pull some punches, why don't you?) to be "violent, paranoid music for violent, paranoid times". The times in question were the very early 80s, but, let's face it, not much has changed and their politically charged racket sounds both strikingly contemporary and necessary. Credit to ATP for, as ever, being unable to resist the temptation to assist in the resurrection/rehabilitation of a cult band.

"It's been a long time", says Kim Gordon, in that customary too-cool-for-school drawl which is by now as familiar and reassuring as the enormous rack of individually and uniquely tuned guitars stage left. She's bedazzling in gold, stealing attention from three of her bandmates: Lee Ranaldo, who later appears to be pioneering the use of a guitar as a power drill; Steve Shelley, still baby-faced and keeping everything ticking along smartly; and Mark Ibold, a man whose grin betrays the knowledge that he can die happy, having been a member of not one but two iconic rock bands.

But even Gordon can't avert our eyes from her husband. With his check shirt and shaggy hair (where does he get it cut?!), Thurston Moore is the Peter Pan of rock, playfully swinging his guitar lead like a lassoo to coax out bleeps of feedback and indulging in vigorous amp frottage as if possessed with the lusty loins of a horny teenager. "What's everyone doing tomorrow?", he asks, teasing those of us who would kill to be doing this again, a couple of hundred miles away in the capital, but can't.

Sonic Youth may no longer be sonic youth (Gordon's now 57 and even the youngest members, Shelley and Ibold, are pushing the half-century), but they're definitely radical adults intent on licking it godhead-style. The quintet's most recent album, 2009's The Eternal, may find them at their most accessible (perhaps perversely as soon as they've left a major label for Matador), but it's also great to hear them taking delight in sonically revisiting the late 80s when they were last on independents. Sod synths and shoulder pads - this is an 80s revival I CAN get with. The material seriously impressed at the MBV-curated ATP Nightmare Before Christmas a year ago, and tonight the trio of 'Poisoned Arrow', 'Anti-Orgasm' and 'Antenna' (the latter of which Moore dedicates to the late Ari Up) is superb.

There are oldies, too, of course - songs greeted like old friends about which I've learned much more from David Browne's excellent portrait of the band, Goodbye 20th Century. Evol opener 'Tom Violence', for instance, which I take huge pleasure in witnessing live for the first time, was named as a pun on Television's Tom Verlaine, while Gordon's spoken-word lyrics from Daydream Nation classic 'The Sprawl' - "Are you for sale? / Fuck you / Does fuck you sound simple enough?" - are direct transcriptions of exchanges between prostitutes and punters overheard arguing beneath the window of her and Moore's New York apartment. What emerges most strongly from Browne's book, perhaps, is Sonic Youth's ability to absorb, reflect and refract both mainstream and underground culture in a way that is (and has been for so many) inspirational rather than merely parasitic.

'Death Valley '69', which closes the second encore, inevitably steals the show - those two gargantuan chords battering down on our heads like the meaty fists of a vengeful giant. But very welcome indeed is the apparent rediscovery of Sister, some 23 years since its release, and both 'Stereo Sanctity' and 'White Cross' are wonderful. '(I've Got A) Catholic Block' is fantastic too - at the third attempt, the band having fucked it up twice. Turns out they're human after all.

Set-list: 'No Way' / 'Sacred Trickster' / 'Calming The Snake' / 'Tom Violence' / 'Walkin' Blue' / 'Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)' / 'Poisoned Arrow' / 'Anti-Orgasm' / 'Antenna' / '(I've Got A) Catholic Block' / 'Stereo Sanctity' / 'What We Know' / 'Massage The History' // 'The Sprawl' / 'Cross The Breeze' // 'White Cross' / 'Death Valley '69'

2012-01-05T22:59:00.000Z

Quote of the day

"A police patrol car was taken from outside the station at Morpeth, Northumberland in May 2008."

Clearly, even the criminals my home town produces are a cut above the rest.

(Thanks to Jen for the link.)

2012-01-05T22:20:00.000Z

Light entertainment

Nice to see that urban explorers sometimes take a break from investigating old mental asylums and factories and instead opt for a mooch around an abandoned Mr Blobby-themed amusement park. Spare a thought for the massive, duosyllabic, pink and yellow oaf, presumably cast out onto the streets and given the cold shoulder by former pal Noel Edmonds, who's now far too busy getting excited about people opening boxes and winning money at random.

(Thanks to Matt for the link.)

2012-01-03T17:36:00.000Z

2011, you've been framed

The last set of best-of-2011 photos I linked to had a distinct US-centric flavour, so to correct the balance here's an even better set as selected by the Guardian. New Year's Resolution #1: buy a better camera and take photography a bit more seriously.

2012-01-03T11:45:00.000Z

Read all about not a lot, really

Talk about a tough job - trying to find enough to fill the Pitcairn Miscellany, the monthly "national" newspaper of the Pitcairn Islands, the least populous jurisdiction in the world (population as of 2011: 67). They must be used to slow news days. And that's not the editor's only job - they also double up as Pitcairn's lone schoolteacher.

2012-01-03T10:39:00.000Z

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

... or, alternatively, makes you wonder where the hell I've disappeared to (though perhaps I flatter myself). As you may have guessed, the Christmas and New Year break conspired to cause an unforeseen blogging hiatus, but I'm back in action now and resolving (as I do every year, admittedly) to post more often and more voluminously. The backlog of posts is shamefully large - gig reviews, end-of-year lists, holiday musings, maybe even some book reviews - but here's to making inroads early this year.

2011-12-22T13:40:00.000Z

Game over

While I've been posting some of my favourite tracks of 2011 elsewhere by way of building up to the annual album countdown on here, the Guardian have revealed their critics' list. It says a lot about my listening habits these days that I'd never even heard their top pick, Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games', and neither it nor Alexis Petridis' gushing justification managed to convince me that it's better than (for instance) anything on the Cat's Eyes or Lykke Li records. (Perhaps I've been spoiled by listening to a bit of Marissa Nadler recently, too.)

Far superior is Azealia Banks' '212', which I've also just listened to for the first time - smart and smutty. Don't think much of her cover of Interpol's 'Slow Hands', mind.

The paper has also printed the same critics' run-down of the year's best albums. No prizes for guessing what ended up in the top spot - but here's Kitty Empire's spot-on assessment of an astounding record.

2011-12-22T12:06:00.001Z

Saville row

"Call for Sir Jimmy brick to be removed from sex shop": the sort of story that local news reporters must pray for. What's not mentioned is the fact that Councillor Ken Lynch (and he really does look like a Councillor Ken Lynch, doesn't he?) must have been very carefully scrutinising the walls of this sex shop to have spotted the brick. "Research", no doubt.

2011-12-22T11:09:00.000Z

Quote of the day

"In keeping with the great lady's legacy, Margaret Thatcher's state funeral should be funded and managed by the private sector to offer the best value and choice for end users and other stakeholders. The undersigned believe that the legacy of the former PM deserves nothing less and that offering this unique opportunity is an ideal way to cut government expense and further prove the merits of liberalised economics Baroness Thatcher spearheaded."

Sign up here if you agree.

(Thanks to Darryl for the link.)

2011-12-20T14:15:00.000Z

Kim Jong's more than just a bit il

So now that Kim Jong-il is no longer of this earth, he'll no longer be able to look at things - but thankfully the creator of the Kim Jong-il Looking At Things blog plans to continue the site in memory of the great leader.

The news of his death prompted the Guardian to announce that 2011 has been a particularly bad year to be a dictator - and to throw together a quiz on the topic. Loving the fact that the Guiding Star of the 21st Century never needed to have a piss - just one of his many wonderful features.

2011-12-20T12:31:00.001Z

Know Your Enemy

"But nothing in the kingdom of nature is quite so unfathomable as a Mail reporter. They look human. They have opposable thumbs and are capable of catching buses. But they don't have the capacity for reason. You can tell them what happened. You can prove it. But it will make no difference."

Incredibly, this is Clarkson, writing in the Sunday Times. As the first commenter succinctly puts it: "Jeremy Clarkson versus the Daily Mail? Can it be a fight to the death please?"

Incidentally, the Daily Heil is also the subject of mockery in the Guardian, having been awarded two of the Media Monkey's festive gongs.

2011-12-20T11:35:00.000Z

Freeze framed

Possibly as scarring as the Krankies link is this collection of Christmas family portraits. Bad knitwear and goofy expressions I was expecting, but the amount of adult onesies and nudity I wasn't...

(Thanks to Louise for the link.)

2011-12-20T11:18:00.000Z

Not so fan'dabi'dozi

Mental image you didn't want: the Krankies having an "anywhere, anytime" attitude to sex and a brief penchant for swinging.

Mental image you did want, but which won't erase that last one: a drunken Ian Krankie clobbering Paul Daniels. "I was a bit punchy when I was in my 30s", he's confessed.

(Thanks - or should that be "Thanks"? - to Rich for the link.)

2011-12-17T11:51:00.001Z

Snowball fight

How predictable. The British tabloid press, wounded by the Leveson inquiry and looking to lash out and relieve some of the pressure, have picked on that increasingly familiar punchbag, the BBC. Not for alleged bias in their reporting of news events, nor for apparently ungrounded or libellous claims made in their documentaries, nor even for the purportedly offensive antics or careless comments of their presenters or their guests. No - for supposedly misleading viewers over a scene from Frozen Planet of some polar bear cubs.

Quite apart from the triviality of the issue and the attempt to smear one of the year's finest programmes, how dare the Mirror (and others) feel in any kind of position to criticise anyone else for perceived unethical practices. As the Leveson inquiry is proving, they don't have a moral high horse to straddle any more - they don't even have a moral Shetland pony.

Rather than lying down and taking the flak - or even whipping themselves masochistically, as is often their wont - it was good to see the BBC fighting back. Appearing before the inquiry, director general Mark Thompson explained and justified the footage editorially and ethically before pointedly intimating that polar bears might not actually be what has so irked the press. Fair comment.

2011-12-17T00:32:00.000Z

Nightmare Before Christmas: the stuff dreams are made of

So, about this time last week I was at ATP, somewhat worse for wear, just finishing getting blown away by No Age and gearing up for Hot Snakes. Even by the very high standards of previous festivals, this was an especially good one - thanks for that go to ATP and to the three curators Les Savy Fav, Battles and Caribou, who lent each day a slightly different flavour and who picked a pretty damn near perfect selection of favourites (No Age and Oxes chief among them) and unknown pleasures (Pharoah Sanders on Sunday in particular).

There'll be a report on here at some point (expect tales of free jazz freakouts, mindblowing Japkrautrock, more saxophonists than you can shake a stick at, purple shellsuits, riot-instigating DJ sets, Phil Collins' cover of 'You Can't Hurry Love' and a fat man in ladies' clothing drinking out of a kettle) but in the meantime you'll have to make do with the official Flickr page and the following special installment of Feel Good Hits...

1. 'Everybody's Down' - No Age
2. 'Ice Cream' - Battles (video NSFW)
3. 'Kaz Hayashi '01' - Oxes
4. 'Mirrorball' - Nissenenmondai
5. 'Sun' - Caribou
6. 'The Creator Has A Master Plan' - Pharoah Sanders
7. 'Plenty For All' - Hot Snakes
8. 'Beat On The Brat' - The Ramones
9. 'Jump' - Van Halen
10. 'Nothing Left' - Marnie Stern

2011-12-16T23:28:00.000Z

Quote of the day

""Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases that's where it should stay."

Christopher Hitchens, who's died after a battle with cancer that saw him reflect "I burned the candle at both ends and it often gave a lovely light".

Here's a initial eulogy from his brother Peter, the Daily Heil columnist with whom he (understandably) had a somewhat "complex relationship" - remarkable for the fact that it finds Hitchens Jr not fulminating away like the priggish, anachronistic prophet of doom he usually is.

2011-12-16T22:47:00.000Z

Now where have I read that before?

Churnalism: the scourge of lazy hacks, papers and news agencies everywhere.

2011-12-15T13:10:00.000Z

Grim grub

With the economic situation pretty grim, desperate times call for desperate measures and all that - but I'm afraid I can't bring myself to start eating nothing but the value-range food products which are consumed and reviewed (generally with stomach-turning descriptive detail) on Shite Food. Wonder if the author's ever tried Iceland's chicken tikka lasagne? Quite a dish, that.

(Thanks to Cat for the link.)

2011-12-15T08:16:00.000Z

Punks rocked

So, by shaving their hair off and removing their body piercings the authorities in Aceh, Indonesia, hope to set youthful punks back on the path to moral, religious and spiritual virtue, do they? Have they never heard of hardcore?

(Thanks to Ben for the link.)

2011-12-09T11:58:00.000Z

Feel good hits of the 9th December

1. 'I'm Not Stupid' - Cat's Eyes
2. 'Rolled Together' - The Antlers
3. 'Spazz' - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
4. 'Alabaster Queen' - Marissa Nadler
5. 'Red Star' - EMA
6. 'The Gravedigger's Song' - The Mark Lanegan Band
7. 'By Your Hand' - Los Campesinos!
8. 'Plenty For All' - Hot Snakes
9. 'Boeing 737' - The Low Anthem
10. 'Lucky' - Holy Fuck

Notes:

1. I've not heard Skying, but I'd be prepared to bet a lot of money that Cat's Eyes is by some distance the best thing that Faris Badwan's been involved in this year.

4. Off to ATP tomorrow, so it's shameful that I'm only now following up on discoveries made at last year's bash. You don't really need to watch the video - it's exactly as the song would have you believe it might be.

6. The first track from forthcoming album Blues Funeral, due to be released in February. Do mine ears deceive me or just might that be Josh Homme playing guitar?

7. So I bowed to old loyalties and bought Hello Sadness, despite having never really got on with Romance Is Boring. And you know what? On first listen it's pretty darned decent and this lead single, which didn't appeal much when I first heard it, has definitely won me round.

2011-12-08T13:23:00.000Z

Crop failure

November brought news of another Oxfordshire summer festival which has left debt and angry creditors in its wake. Like Truck, Harvest promoters Big Wheel Promotions have gone to the wall, with Blur's Alex James quick to lash out in what seems like methinks-he-doth-protest-too-much self-defence: "I am appalled by Big Wheel's financial management of the festival held at my farm, which has left many out of pocket. Please be aware that I have no relationship with Big Wheel, beyond allowing them to stage the Harvest Festival at my farm and - regrettably - to use my name to stage the event. At no stage was there ever any indication that they would be unable to meet their costs. The news has come as a complete bolt from the blue."

Among the punters at the bash, you might remember, was none other than local MP and Our Beloved Leader David Cameron. It seems he just can't help associating himself with things that leave loads of ordinary people skint and angry...

In other festival-related matters, my annual December trip to Minehead is nigh so it was good to read explanations from Caribou and Les Savy Fav of their line-up choices for the Nightmare Before Christmas. Less welcome, however, was the news that the Pavilion won't be used as a performance space - instead, all of the action will be restricted to the Centre Stage, Reds and the Crazy Horse, with the odd bit of late-night DJing in the Irish Bar. Which - for someone like me, keen to dip in and out of things and see as much as possible - is very bad news, because the Pavilion has a huge capacity and precious set time is likely to be wasted queuing to get into the smaller venues.

In other ATP event news, they've had to announce the withdrawal of Guided By Voices from next summer's I'll Be Your Mirror on the grounds that they've split, but at least the blow has been softened (or, for me, rendered completely insignificant) by the fact that a reformed Afghan Whigs will now be headlining the Sunday night instead. An opportunity for Greg Dulli to show what he's really capable of, given the relative dullness of both Twilight Singers and his collaboration with Mark Lanegan as The Gutter Twins.

Speaking of Lanegan, and as a big fan of Sweet Oblivion and Dust, how has it taken me a few months to find out that a "new" Screaming Trees album has been released? Last Words is a collection of recordings the band made post-Dust before splitting up - though, truth be told, the Pitchfork review doesn't make me want to rush out and buy it...

2011-12-08T00:40:00.002Z

Quote of the day

"I'm both a right-brain and left-brain man, given that I'm both an investment manager and a philosopher/writer. That's a unique characteristic; most people aren't like that. I've never been as disappointed and sad about having difficulty about getting a second date as I am with you ... If you don't want to go out again, in my opinion, you would be making a big mistake, perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in your life."

Most people, given the post-first-date silent treatment, would have taken the hint, shrugged their shoulders and moved on. Not Mike.

(Thanks to Abbie for the link.)

2011-12-07T15:24:00.000Z

Realising the imaginary

Ever wondered what might happen if a child's imagination met an adult artist's talent? Here are the results.

(Thanks to Dave for the link.)

2011-12-07T13:32:00.001Z

Snap unhappy

If you can overlook the American bias (and the unpleasantly propagandist final image), this set of photos from the past year is worth a look. As is the way of these things, most capture death, destruction, violence and misery...

(Thanks to Matt for the link.)

2011-12-05T10:39:00.000Z

"Every band runs its course"

Well, yes, Lee - but please don't say definitively that that applies to Sonic Youth too.

Lee Ranaldo's rather vague statement that the band are "ending for a while" isn't exactly surprising given the recent news of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's split. Still, the hiatus may yet be temporary rather than the "indefinite" but actually increasingly definite one Fugazi have been on since 2001's excellent The Argument.

Ranaldo's comments have prompted the Guardian into asking which is their best album. So many superb albums to choose from (including the most recent), but my vote would be for Dirty - punchily produced, sharp and crunchy, packed with classics, the gateway drug that got me hooked on their whole oeuvre.

2011-12-05T09:53:00.000Z

Seek and ye shall find (web notoriety)

"Is brunch real?" "Are ravens all the same?" "Were Hitler's parents nice?" This may be rather cruel, but it is at least very funny and evidence of an enquiring if elderly mind.

(Thanks to Cat for the link.)

2011-12-05T08:22:00.000Z

Know Your Enemy

A bit behind the times, but...

"I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families."

Jeremy Clarkson takes a typically diplomatic and sympathetic line on last week's public sector strikes. Let's just hope that he manages to injure himself attempting some daft stunt for the Top Gear cameras and finds himself at the mercy of NHS doctors and nurses in A&E...

2011-12-01T01:52:00.000Z

Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark: ATP curated by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

(First and second installments here and here.)

Sunday 5th December

Well, now - this is embarrassing. Not only is the 2011 Nightmare Before Christmas just over a week away, making last year's bash a whole 51 weeks ago, but I must confess to having mislaid my notes. All of which means that the write-up of an extraordinarily eclectic final day which follows is necessarily brief, patchy and cobbled together from increasingly vague memory...

12.30pm
MARISSA NADLER (Reds) has been described as having the voice of a Siren - and indeed she does, one which intertwines with her hypnotic, tranquillising strumming to drown the listener in literally unfathomable depths of watery woe. And we stand open-mouthed, not struggling, resigned to our fate at the hands of a folk-gothic goddess, an alabaster queen. Haunting doesn't even come close.

2pm
Will it be second time lucky for Chris Corsano? Might he succeed with RANGDA (Centre Stage) where he failed with Flower/Corsano Duo yesterday, and stumble upon something musically memorable? Well, this time the improv's an improvement, in the company of two guitarists - one of whom is Ben Chasny, psych-rock lynchpin of Six Organs Of Admittance and Comets On Fire - but it's still not much to write home about, even if I was to want to send my mother a postcard detailing goings-on at a leftfield music festival held in Butlins at Minehead in December.

4pm
After the England v Germany debacle that blighted the Sunday at Glastonbury, I vowed "never again will football come between me and music at a festival". So why exactly is it that I'm sat in the sports bar allowing a Newcastle display so inept that it will bring an end to our manager's tenure to distract me from the business at hand? (Namely Godspeed!'s matinee set, later reported to be their best of the weekend.)

5.30pm
Has time mellowed and soothed COUNTRY TEASERS (Reds), the rambunctious, obnoxious, barely musically literate, art-punk provocateurs I saw supporting Sebadoh in 1999, who claim to be peddling a new sound, the "Boston toe-toe rush"? No. Which would be fine if the real deal, The Fall, weren't still active and indeed in rude good health.

7.30pm
Ah, the Centre Stage proves a refuge for those of us looking for a semblance of order and coherence, even if NEUROSIS's malevolent sludge threatens to pop your skull like a cheap balloon. To these uninitiated ears the Californians' second set of the weekend seems much the same as the first, brutal in its intensity and unforgiving in its volume, but with the addition of what I later learn is 'Through Silver In Blood' at the end, complete with skin-bludgeoning so fierce it might waken the dead.

9.30pm
And so to the weekend's real curveball. Not content with showing they HAVE got a sense of humour, actually, with that joke bio in the programme, Godspeed! have only gone and invited WEIRD AL YANKOVIC (Pavilion) to the party. It's a fair bet that ATP hasn't previously witnessed a man who one minute is in a Michael Jackson fat suit and the next is dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi and performing a pair of songs about Star Wars. The poodle-haired pop satirist is nowhere near as revered this side of the Atlantic, perhaps best known for his parody of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and its inarticulate rage, but 'White And Nerdy' and 'Amish Paradise' are slick spoofs and the cleverly edited mock interviews with Celine Dion and Jessica Simpson (or should that be Jessica Sampson?) have even po-faced beard-strokers hooting with laughter.

12midnight
The witching hour, and it's almost as if Weird Al and his Segway were never even here. Summoning up the hounds of hell as effortlessly as if they're ringing for a pizza are WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM (Centre Stage), decidedly not a feminist punk or indiepop band of the sort for which Olympia, Washington is renowned. The stage is in almost complete darkness, but the music is black - very black indeed.

1.30am
With the lights back on, DEERHOOF (Centre Stage) see us out, but what could have been a joyous conclusion falls rather flat. Perhaps it's the lateness of the hour, the tiredness and relative sparseness of the crowd or the somewhat underwhelming new material, but they're unusually disappointing. The forthcoming album will be called Deerhoof vs Evil - tonight at least, they've lost that particular battle.

3am
What do we want? Songs with lyrics and structures (preferably verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus) of about three to four minutes in length! When do we want them? Now! But Godspeed! and ATP know us better than we know ourselves, and what we actually want, it turns out, is a nerdy Brooklyn blogger playing us musical souvenirs from his travels. If Brian Shimkovitz aka AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA (Crazy Horse) finds himself in trouble any time soon, it certainly won't be with the Trades Descriptions Act.

4am
Last weekend the outdoor 5-a-side pitch was graced by Pat Nevin, the ex-Everton winger and TV pundit having been invited along by Belle & Sebastian in his moonlighting capacity as an indiepop DJ. Tonight it's host to a bunch of Scandinavians so incapacitated by booze that walking is a challenge, let alone making connection with a football...

2011-11-29T10:07:00.000Z

Quote of the day

"'Wake 'em up' was generally his watchword, and it was certainly true that you could seldom go to sleep in a Russell film. If you did, you had nightmares."

Derek Malcolm of the Guardian on Ken Russell, who died yesterday.

As someone with a PhD in D H Lawrence, I find it telling that many if not most people's first thought when the author's name is mentioned is not a particular book but the infamous naked fireside wrestling scene between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates in Russell's film adaptation of Women in Love.

I should add that Russell's The Devils - a striking portrayal of lust and corruption and another literary adaptation, this time of Aldous Huxley's The Devils Of Loudon - was one of the first films I reviewed on this blog, almost nine years ago to the day.

2011-11-27T22:24:00.000Z

Gender is not genre

"What's it like to be a girl in a band? / I don't quite understand", sang Kim Gordon on 'Sacred Trickster', the opening track of Sonic Youth's last album The Eternal. Well, it seems to involve being unfairly and crudely pigeon-holed, if this Pitchfork article is to be believed. And I think it probably is. The article's message being: gender is not genre.

It's an easy trap to fall into, though. Music writers (myself included) are fond of casting around for comparisons and touchstones, and the paucity of women in indie/rock (compared to pop or R&B, for instance) means there are fewer reference points. How often are the names of PJ Harvey, Kate Bush, Bjork and Sleater-Kinney invoked with genuine justification? Not very, is the answer. And have I been guilty of making such spurious comparisons myself? In all probability, yes...

On a tangential note, Kate Bush granted Radio 4's Front Row a rare interview in which she echoed my own view of the album as an art form and the pernicious influence on it of download/iPod culture. We might both be dinosaurs, but that's just the way it is.

2011-11-27T21:07:00.000Z

A religious conversion

So the Regal - arguably Oxford's most distinctive and impressive live music venue - is no more, now converted into Christian Life Centre. Wonder what they'll make of the "unrighteous lifestyles" of those who frequent Cowley Road...

2011-11-27T20:21:00.002Z

Know Your Enemy

"Hurting their feelings may be the only way in which they can be made to realise how preposterous they are and so I think that Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry and Damien Hirst and Anish Kapor and whoever else, um, really deserve every cruelty because it's the only way. They are so accustomed to being told how wonderful they are and somehow it's impossible to get through the complacency that is engendered by that."

Evening Standard art critic Brian Sewell gives those darned MBAs both barrels.

2011-11-23T09:03:00.000Z

Quotes of the day

"I need punk rock. It's the medicine for me, but it's bitter and sickening. I feel like if you don't need it - if you're happy and healthy - run toward that. [Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt] is very happy now, and his life has changed a lot. I'm 100% sincerely happy for him that he doesn't need punk anymore."

Bradford Cox, speaking as he prepares to release his third Atlas Sound record, Parallax.

"It reminds you of why you're a punk, or why punk changed your life. Sometimes you look around and a lot of music is happening, but punk is there, and has stayed there for a reason. Sometimes you need a band like OFF! to come back around and make you think, 'Fuckin' A, man. This is why we're all doing what we're doing'."

No Age's Randy Randall on OFF's First Four EPs.

Both were talking to Pitchfork, the latter as part of an article to celebrate the useful source of musical guidance/sneering, pretentious, fickle website (delete as appropriate) turning 15. Also invited to the birthday party to talk about the albums that have most affected them over that period are Devendra Banhart, Fiery Furnaces' Eleanor Friedberger, Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew (in Part One) and Bat For Lashes aka Natasha Khan, Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor, Gareth Los Campesinos!, Battles' John Stanier, Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Les Savy Fav's Tim Harrington, Tortoise's John McEntire (in Part Two).

2011-11-23T08:32:00.001Z

Bread basket(cases)

Not upper crust? Short of dough? Only here in the UK could a toast sandwich be considered a reasonable meal.

2011-11-18T12:27:00.000Z

Magic Mirror

Well done ATP for pulling another cracker out of the bag with the 2012 instalment of I'll Be Your Mirror. The follow-up to this year's inaugural Portishead-curated event has expanded to a three-day festival. Slayer will headline the first night, performing Reign In Blood in its entirety, with Sleep and Melvins in support. Mogwai curate the Saturday, with Mudhoney and strong personal favourites of mine Codeine (reformed for the occasion) already on the bill, while Sunday's bill currently consists of headliners Guided By Voices and Yuck. I need to check my diary but am hopeful of going to at least the Saturday...

Also on the subject of ATP news, it's been announced that Sleepy Sun are working towards a third album. I'm not sure what to expect of the successor to Fever, but must admit I'm prepared for it to be a disappointment given that key asset Rachel Fannan has since left the band. However the record turns out, though, I'd expect it to be better than the collaboration between Lou Reed and Metallica, Lulu, which has been most entertainingly panned by Pitchfork scribe Stuart Berman.

2011-11-16T13:08:00.002Z

Quote of the day

"It's not as good as I remembered."

Go Faster Stripe take a leaf out of Stewart Lee's book by advertising one of their new DVDs with a mildly negative critical response, which just happens to be from Mr Lee himself. The DVD in question? Only the long-awaited first series of Fist Of Fun, the rights to which GFS, Lee and Richard Herring clubbed together to buy from the BBC. I've been skimming YouTube for clips and it's safe to say it's just as superb as I recall - so you can ignore Lee's opinion this once.

Eager for the second series too? You want the moon on a stick. (But you're in luck - plans are already afoot to release that too.)

On a related note, Herring recently took issue with Ricky Gervais' use of the word "mong" and found himself subjected to a torrent of abuse from Gervais apologists. He tells the tale here. Notably, Gervais' own Extras co-star Francesca Martinez has supported Herring's stance. With a new series Life's Too Short just starting, Gervais may be thinking that any publicity is good publicity but it'll be interesting to see if it does any lasting damage to his reputation within the comedy world (not that he's likely to care much).

And, on another related note, Lee's announced a new tour for March, Carpet Remnant World. His website currently reels through a whole litany of barbed and negative online comments (deliberately, of course) - everything from him being unfunny to being "an evil, evil man" who should be locked up in a mental institution.

2011-11-12T13:55:00.000Z

Simon says

Enjoy the tricks Tim plays on Gareth in The Office (or Jim on Dwayne in the US version)? Then you'll enjoy reading about some of the pranks David Thorne pulled to prompt co-worker Simon into submitting formal complaints. And if you ever find yourself feeling even a modicum of sympathy for poor victimised Simon, just remember he's a Nickelback fan so deserves all he gets.

(Thanks to Del for the link.)

2011-11-08T11:39:00.000Z

Ill communication

Fry's Planet Word, then. Another of those moderately worthy, moderately weighty documentary series which can get away with appearing on terrestrial TV by virtue of being scheduled on Sunday evenings and being presented by a national treasure; which is understandably superficial in its coverage and scope but which nevertheless proves engaging viewing.

Of course, much of it came across as an extended love letter to language from Fry, but that's no bad thing given his unbridled enthusiasm and adoration. When he was speaking about the joy of libraries, you genuinely did get the sense they give him a quasi-sexual, quasi-sensual thrill.

If I had to pick one specific disappointment, it was that Fry spoke (rightly) about the folly of trying to control and police language but was far too soft on the ostriches of the Academie Francaise, burying their heads in the sand behind closed doors and pompously pronouncing what should and what shouldn't be allowed through the hallowed gates and into the French language. It's the linguistic equivalent of trying to hold back the tide with a fishing net. Pontificating about the need to protect French from the oppressive and insidious influence of English, the old blazered duffers completely missed the irony in simultaneously insisting on the importance of controlling and suppressing dialects to ensure the uniformity of language throughout the Francophone world. In short, their "true" French is as much of a bullying linguistic brute as English.

While Fry clearly disagrees, he didn't really press the point, preferring to spend the rest of that programme revelling in and celebrating the richness and diversity of languages and dialects around the world. Anyone whose interest was piqued by that particular programme and who would like to dig deeper would be encouraged to investigate Spoken Here. Mark Abley's book covers the ecological argument endorsed by Fry (namely, that linguistic diversity is something worth preserving, just as environmental conservation is seen as an inherently good thing) and explores the distinction between protecting a living language as an act of rebellion, to keep the flame alive, and preserving it as a dead tongue out of xenophobic conservatism.

2011-11-06T13:12:00.000Z

Feel good hits of the 6th November

1. 'Senator' - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
2. 'You're Blessed' - Iceage
3. 'The Best Person I Know' - Cat's Eyes
4. 'Oh My Lord' - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5. 'Disconnection Notice' - Sonic Youth
6. 'Ohio' - The Low Anthem
7. 'Girls Of Valour' - The Delgados
8. 'Pink Sabbath' - Dananananaykroyd
9. 'The Ballad Of Phoebe Henderson' - Dallas Don't
10. 'Bittersweet Melodies' - Feist

Notes:

1. Mirror Traffic's a very good album indeed, if not quite up with predecessor Real Emotional Trash in my view - a bit of a retreat from the freewheeling stoned jams of that album and back to the eccentric indie rock of his first three solo efforts. Damn that Pavement reunion for delaying its release...

2. Fascists or not, this is tremendous - No Age scrapping with early Futureheads.

3. I don't think I'm ever going to really get The Horrors, but Cat's Eyes is a little gem.

4. Not sure what possessed me to dig out No More Shall We Part, but suffice to say I've been reminded just why it's still my favourite Nick Cave LP.

5. Y'know, just because.

6. Neither Oh My God Charlie Darwin nor Smart Flesh really matches up to how good The Low Anthem were at Glastonbury - still, worth having all the same.

8. Fare thee well, Dananananaykroyd - nice knowing you (not very well and not for very long).

10. Just about the only decent thing on the only instalment of Later... that I've seen in this series. Also on: Mastodon (plodding metal guff), Bon Iver (nope, still don't get it) and Ben L'Oncle Soul doing unspeakable things to 'Seven Nation Army'.

2011-11-02T08:31:00.000Z

Let's get together

So they've done the sci-fi film, they've done the collaboration with Lightning Bolt, they've done a six-hour charity song, they're now working on Yoshimi: The Musical and releasing "a 24-hour track, embedded ina real human skull". What could possibly be next for the Flaming Lips? Well, how's about the small matter of collaborations with Nick Cave, No Age, Deerhoof and Lykke Li, amongst others? The mooted album is shaping up to be quite something...

Certainly, the prospect of hearing the fruits of those hook-ups fills me with rather more joy than of enduring whatever Jack White and the Insane Clown Posse can muster, especially when its German title 'Leck Mich im Arsch' translates as 'Lick My Ass'. Shouldn't they be working on a protest song directed against the FBI's criminalisation of Juggalos or something?

2011-10-27T10:28:00.000+01:00

White riot

You know how it goes: you come across a new favourite band, one who somehow manage to combine classic hardcore punk with No Agey noise, Gang Of Four, Joy Division and goth; you enthuse about them in writing and also in person to all of your friends; and then you discover that they may be fascists.

This blog post accusing teenage Danes Iceage (not to be mistaken for Ice Age) of "chic racism" seems to have stirred up a lot of interest and comments for both the prosecution and the defence. It's even got to the point where one of their mothers has waded in (despite appreciating it's "not cool" to do so), to stand up for her offspring and his bandmates: "Iceage bandmembers from when they were 12, 13 years of age have been teargassed and beaten by the police while defending the 'Youth Cultural House' – and that battle included young people of all colors."

So what does the evidence against them amount to? Some potentially dodgy imagery of the sort favoured by Scandinavian white supremacists and far-right metal bands; videos featuring lots of people in Ku Klux Klan-style outfits; a professed admiration for Absurd, a neo-Nazi black metal band. While it's not enough to condemn them, you have to say that, even at that tender age, they should know better than to be playing with fire.

Of course, there is a tradition of bands without far-right beliefs appropriating far-right imagery and iconography. The aforementioned Joy Division, for example, took their name from the concentration camp brothels and suffered accusations of being neo-Nazis themselves. The Sex Pistols before them used the swastika to provocative effect, while Lemmy of Motorhead is an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia.

So in a way what Iceage are doing - and the accusations they're facing - aren't really anything new. But even if it's only cheap posturing to be provocative rather than anything more serious (which I hope is the case, naturally), recent Scandinavian political and musical history would suggest that it's a very risky business to assume that that's how it'll be interpreted and understood.

2011-10-22T12:49:00.001+01:00

Always look on the bright side

Having a bad day? Just face it: Things Could Be Worse...

(Thanks to Ben for the link.)

2011-10-20T13:31:00.000+01:00

Alan attack

A book shop reading in Norwich, an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show and now an article in the Guardian. Alan Gordon Partridge, you really are putting in a serious shift promoting your new autobiography I, Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan, sequel to Bouncing Back, unsold copies of which ended up as "word porridge".

Take a look at the book's page on Amazon, though - the legions of five-star reviews are doing the promotional work for him...

2011-10-20T10:33:00.000+01:00

Mangum moved

Hot on the heels of the out-of-the-blue Thurston-Kim split comes more unexpected and bewildering news: the postponement of the Jeff Mangum-curated ATP. It had been scheduled for December, the week before the Les Savy Fav/Battles/Caribou event that I'm going to, but will now take place in March - inevitably with a slightly different line-up.

ATP initially claimed the postponement is "due to a set of extremely unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances" and have since confirmed that it wasn't at Mangum's request but that they're unable to go into any more detail. Like most people, I can't imagine what the reasons might be (or why they're not able to divulge them), but feel for those who've already made travel plans and who really deserve a proper explanation.

Still, the new slot does mean that there's a chance I might now be able to go myself. Every cloud...

2011-10-19T17:46:00.000+01:00

Par for the course

We've just booked travel insurance with these guys for our forthcoming honeymoon, and, reading the small print, it has to be said it's very much swings and roundabouts. While on the one hand we're not covered if we're hijacked and are found to have been enticing the hijacker (whatever that means), we are however "covered up to the amount specified on your policy schedule in respect of customary bar expenses incurred by you as a result of, and immediately subsequent to, achieving a hole-in-one during a competition round" (terms and conditions apply). Reassuring to know, I suppose.

2011-10-19T13:27:00.000+01:00

Quote of the day

"Music's changed in that way. People still listen to it, but it's not as central, it's more like a scented candle. It sets the mood. Also, because people like to multitask, in a way if you've got a bit of music on in the background and the lyrical content is making you want to listen to it, then that would probably put you off the texting you wanted to do. I think people like things that just make that right kind of noise, but leave your brain free to do something else."

Jarvis Cocker on the modern disengagement from music - surely a frustrating trend for a musician? I'd presume the concept of Cardiff's Real Record Club would appeal.

2011-10-19T12:51:00.000+01:00

Hipster hipster hooray

At last, just what you've been waiting for: Dalston and MTV's answer to The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea. Amusing, yes - but might I venture to suggest that Vice ridiculing the concept and the hopefuls is a case of pot meeting kettle?

(Thanks to Stuart for the link.)

2011-10-18T22:57:00.002+01:00

Divine injustice

Further proof that there is no god: just as Sonic Youth's future looks bleak, those artless chancers the Stone Roses announce they're reuniting.

The announcement was made complete with all of the usual accompanying bollocks - just listen to Mani: "Something magical happens when us four are in the room together, you can't put your finger on it. It's just beautiful to capture it again. I've missed it". Found your stash again, have you?

Ian Brown's comment is more telling: "We'll ride it as long as we can". Rough translation: "We were short of cash and happened to catch that documentary about Steps..."

2011-10-16T19:22:00.003+01:00

Disconnection notice

Well, I didn't see this coming. The title of their last album, The Eternal, and its final track, 'Massage The History', did give the sense of an ending - but if the split does indeed spell the end of Sonic Youth (and the Matador statement's reference to an "uncertain" future suggests that that's a distinct possibility), then it'll be doubly tragic.

Excuse me while I chuck on some old albums and wallow. Turns out that, whatever your age, the (potential) demise of your favourite band instantly turns you into a teenager.

2011-10-16T19:07:00.003+01:00

Quote of the day

"They will tell you that you are dreaming, but the true dreamers are those who think that things can go on indefinitely they way they are, just with some cosmetic changes. We are not dreamers, we are the awakening from a dream which is turning into a nightmare. We are not destroying anything, we are merely witness how the system is gradually destroying itself."

Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek addresses the Occupy Wall St protesters.

(Thanks to Phil for the link.)

2011-10-16T13:18:00.000+01:00

How does your garden grow?

I could be wrong, but somehow I suspect that the "vegetation" grown by Snoop Dogg is rather different to that produced by 68-year-old world record swede grower Ian Neale. Somewhere, Alan Titchmarsh is probably busy burning his Snoop albums in protest at not being approached for his tips.

(Thanks to Alex for the link.)

2011-10-14T12:36:00.001+01:00

Easily Led

EMPTY VESSELS / DALLAS DON'T / FULANGCHANGANDI, 24TH SEPTEMBER 2011, OXFORD WHEATSHEAF

Watching Fulangchangandi is akin to being a peeping Tom peering in through the window at two post-rockers engaged in tantric foreplay. Chords and drones ring out as the duo, seemingly oblivious of their audience, gaze across the stage and into each other's eyes. We're kept at a distance, lamenting the absence of a drummer or drum machine, waiting for a climax that - some rough guitar-on-amp frottage aside - never really comes.

Forget guns - 'This Town Needs Us' is the bold title of Dallas Don't's second song, and on this evidence it's hard to disagree. While all around them Oxford's indie rock royalty strenuously and pretentiously strive to deny their indie-rockness, this quartet are sufficiently self-assured to just embrace it. The Twilight Sad - equal parts noisy and gloomily romantic - are the touchstone, not least because lyrically dextrous frontman Niall Slater hails from north of the border.

After a Scottish geography lesson in song, Dallas Don't present us with two alternative futures: one in which they lighten up and harness the power of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's jangle ('Fife For Life') and one in which they beef up and trade blows with Future Of The Left ('The Ballad Of Phoebe Henderson'). It'll be fascinating to watch which they choose.

And from an unashamedly indie rock band to an unashamedly hard rock band. "I need a change back to the way things were", exclaims Empty Vessels vocalist Matt Greenham, possessor of a prodigious set of pipes. It's not exactly news, though - you could guess as much from his band's hyperretro songs, which strut and swagger like Tom Jones fronting Led Zeppelin. Indeed, so red-blooded, tight-trousered and testosterone-fuelled are they that they're probably capable of impregnating blushing ladies at fifty paces. You've heard of cock rock? Well, Empty Vessels' modus operandi is to make everyone else sound like erectile dysfunction rock. Job done.

2011-10-12T15:37:00.000+01:00

The but of the joke

Frost On Satire turned out to have a rather narrower focus than the title suggested - namely, political satire on television. So, no consideration of The Onion, for instance, and instead veneration of Saturday Night Live, Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You. As engaging as parts of the programme were (not least in illustrating Frost's own status as a forefather of modern satire), I couldn't forgive some of the omissions. How a British programme could ignore Yes Minister and Armando Iannucci's modern-day equivalent, The Thick Of It, as well as the likes of Chris Morris' masterpieces The Day Today and Brass Eye, is beyond me.

As with most of these things, there would be plenty of scope for a full series rather than just a one-off hour-long programme - lots more time to cover more source material, explore the historical context (That Was The Week That Was didn't spring out of a vacuum, and there was a rich tradition of satire long before the invention of television) and consider satire in other media. It ended up feeling like a bit of a rushed job, a wasted opportunity.

The crux of the programme was an exploration of political satire's power - the conclusion being that while it never actually changes the world directly, it can at least help to shape or change perceptions. Most of those interviewed were modest and sober about satire's capacity to topple its targets. What Frost didn't draw out was the fact that they continue to plug away in spite of this, which suggests that satirists nevertheless refuse to accept their efforts might be futile, instead retaining an permanently optimistic belief that their work might make a difference, even if that's rarely borne out by the immediate reality.

Consideration of The Day Today would have provided rich material for this debate, in the sense that the show presaged many of the subsequent developments in television news - it's arguably become less satirical and more documentary since it was first screened. The programme might not have changed the world, but it saw the ridiculousness of the direction in which it was heading.

2011-10-12T12:40:00.000+01:00

Quote of the day

"Today, the meaning of this photograph has nothing to do with judging individuals. It has become a picture about history, and about memory. As an image of a cataclysmic historical moment it captures something that is true of all historical moments: life does not stop dead because a battle or an act of terror is happening nearby."

The Guardian's Jonathan Jones on Thomas Hoepker's controversial 9/11 photo. Over-egged perhaps, but nevertheless the article contains some interesting reflections on why the image shocked (and continues to shock) and what it might signify. Callous insouciance or an almost propagandist image indicating that the West remains unshaken even by the most devastating of terrorist atrocities so close to home?

2011-10-12T11:23:00.000+01:00

Parklife

The High Line: just another reason I want to go back to New York.

2011-10-11T13:08:00.000+01:00

Primals not all fine and Dandy

"We wanna be free. We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. And we wanna get loaded". Well, Primal Scream must have been pretty darned loaded to mistake the Dandy Warhols' 'Bohemian Like You' for one of their own songs when it was aired at the recent Tory party conference. Still, nice to know they're still capable of mustering some passion - sadly lacking in any of their endeavours since the Exterminator period, when they briefly threatened to become a decent band.

2011-10-11T11:46:00.000+01:00

Bad reception

"Paul McCartney wedding reception sparks noise complaint", reads the headline. Volume, apparently - but you'd have been forgiven for wondering whether the drunken groom had decided to entertain guests with late-night renditions of 'Mull Of Kintyre' and 'The Frog Chorus'...

2011-10-10T13:25:00.000+01:00

Quote of the day

"I don't think the United States is a country that is capable of doing nation building".

A surprisingly frank admission from former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but perhaps something he and Dubya should have considered before thoughtlessly setting about nation destroying.

According to Rumsfeld, nation building is best left to "the people of a nation" themselves. That's nice - we'll smash it to smithereens and leave you to pick up the pieces. With the assistance of Halliburton, of course.

In the same interview, with Al Jazeera, Rumsfeld did at least have the guts to equate Christian extremism with Islamic extremism with respect to the dangers they pose. I doubt that will have washed too well with Dubya or many of a Republican persuasion.

2011-10-10T12:24:00.000+01:00

Know Your Enemy

"If you’re one of these gig-going idiots: watch the band and shut up. If you’re not prepared to, don’t go at all. Thanks."

Nick takes gigging chatterboxes to task. Hear hear. Here's to the crusade against the selfish fuckwits - who's with us?

2011-10-10T11:21:00.000+01:00

Deeply dippy about dip

"Peanut butter, pizza and chocolate mousse flavoured hummus"? Not likely to be found on the shelves in Waitrose any time soon, I hope.

2011-10-10T09:46:00.000+01:00

Sneaky peeks

I was unaware of the concept of photobombing until Friday, when I received this most entertaining education courtesy of our canine and feline cousins.

(Thanks to Jo for the link.)

2011-10-06T09:41:00.000+01:00

Spotlight on Spotlight Kid - and others

Congratulations to Mike Troubled Diva, whose thoughts on the emergence of a dynamic, mutually supportive and thriving music scene in Nottingham have been broadcast by the Guardian. Personally I find it a bit mystifying that Spotlight Kid are being portrayed as, well, a new kid on the block, but I guess they're new to most people. Inevitably, many of the reactions to the article have been along the lines of "How dare you have omitted to mention Band X or Artist Y!" but for the most part they overlook Mike's focus, which is on my old haunt's potential for producing acts capable of making chart breakthroughs.

2011-10-05T14:42:00.000+01:00

Guilty as charged

I don't suppose anything should surprise me about the Daily Heil any more, but I'll confess that this did. Preparing an alternative report in order to be able to meet quick deadlines is one thing - but including quotes either given before the event or simply made up and, even more critically, fabricating a fictional account of the courtroom reaction to the supposed guilty verdict is quite another. It's only thanks to a staffer's blunder following something getting lost in translation that the story's come to light. Typically, the paper's been unapologetic.

2011-10-05T13:32:00.000+01:00

Making the irresistible resistible

Oh my. Don't get me wrong, I love Nothing's Shocking and especially Ritual De Lo Habitual - but Jane's Addiction's latest comeback single 'Irresistible Force' (and its video) is pretty darned awful. Certainly no 'Just Because'. I don't hear any Radiohead in there, Perry, and Muse only in the facile bombast. The indications are that it'll have taken a superhuman effort from current bassist, Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio, to turn forthcoming album The Great Escape Artist into something half-decent.

2011-10-05T09:17:00.000+01:00

It's not what you say, it's the way that you say it

The Cracked.com Guide To Fonts: sage advice indeed, particularly as regards Comic Sans...

2011-10-05T09:12:00.000+01:00

Quote of the day

"Proctoheliosis/helioproctosis - a condition where people believe the sun shines from their backsides."

Arguably 'Jackspeak's finest contribution to the English language. "Putting the Queen to bed sounds like a euphemism...

(Thanks to Grant for the link.)

2011-09-30T13:33:00.000+01:00

Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark: ATP curated by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

(First installment here.)

Saturday 4th December

11am
Time to hit the pool! What a refreshing start to the day - just what's called for when you're patently still drunk and in need of something to fend off the looming hangover.

11.30am
The late start for today's music means the pool's seriously busy - mainly with the sort of people who look as though in day-to-day life they're phobic of water or indeed the very possibility of being clean. It's like we've stumbled upon a convention for blokes with bedraggled beards who want to show off their tattoos.

11.45am
Sod clashing stage times, the day's first big conundrum is which flume to choose. There's the Black Hole (seriously dark, maaaan), the Master Blaster (a rollercoaster-type dinghy ride which goes uphill as well as down) and the Space Bowl (which allows you to imagine what it must be like going down a giant's plughole). There's also the Lazy River for those who just want to go with the flow. Perhaps trying to avoid the agony of choice, fellow Nightshift scribe Sam Shepherd is spotted swimming lengths in the proper pool. Exercise, health and fitness at a music festival - whatever next?

12.15pm
The bloke in the next-door chalet is leaning out of the window feeding a mince pie to a seagull with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other. I've heard of swans breaking people's arms, but this aggressive feathered glutton is coming close to chomping off the chap's fingers. I avoid the inevitable bloodshed by retreating back inside to slump in front of an oversaturated Bollywood musical film. Is the fact that the subtitles keep cutting out the result of ATP gremlins monkeying about? Hard to tell.

1pm
Butlins Minehead: the only Pizza Hut where your dining experience is likely to be enhanced by the soothing sounds of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Portishead and Sonic Youth's 'Antenna'.

1.45pm
A first inglorious air hockey defeat of the weekend, to Gareth. Head duly hung in shame.

2pm
Here to, er, ease us into the day's programme with some virtuoso improv are FLOWER/CORSANO DUO (Reds). Sorry to take exception to your moniker, chaps, but it's the wrong way around. While Michael Flower coaxes curious drones and rhythms out of an odd instrument that's apparently a Japanese banjo, Chris Corsano is the real star, a drummer beloved of Thurston Moore and Bjork as well as the improv community whose octopoid playing is more engrossing than their actual musical output.

2.30pm
I bump into Brummie blogging acquaintance Phill, whose arrival at the festival has been delayed by a day due to train trouble in the second city. Not that he seems miffed - far from it, he's his usual excitable and enthusiastic self, claiming he's made it his weekend's mission to play various artists at different games. Shellac aren't here so there's no chance of taking on Steve Albini at poker, but he's determined to challenge Weird Al Yankovic to a round of crazy golf instead.

3pm
BARDO POND (Centre Stage), formerly of ATP's label, are what the mirror will reflect back at Sleepy Sun in fifteen years' time: a bunch of hallucinogen-munching shoe/stargazing free lovers whose only reason for getting up each afternoon is to drench pastoral psychedelia in rumbling amp-treacle. Every now and again something sharp is perceptible through the dense fug - usually Isobel Sollenberger's vocals or flute. Listening to their music, you feel yourself turning into The Fast Show's Denzil Dexter: "Jim Morrison, The Doors, Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead - oh Dave, come see, it's beautiful maaaan..." Needless to say, they're great - how could a band with a song called 'Tantric Porno' not be?

3.45pm
After that dose of heavy sedatives, we're gagging for a mid-afternoon caffeine pick-me-up. Where Pizza Hut led, it seems Costa Coffee is following - we're treated to Sonic Youth's 'The Diamond Sea' in its full twenty-minute-plus glory, followed by 'Fairies Wear Boots' by Black Sabbath.

4.15pm
Back up on the Centre Stage, THE DEAD C are busy waging war on tunefulness. Robbie Yeats manfully keeps the beat for the Kiwis, while one of the other members - not sure if it's Michael Morley or Bruce Russell - spends his whole time waving his guitar around nearer and further away from the speaker. The long-standing trio might be influential, but their racket proves punishing rather than punishingly pleasurable.

4.45pm
A good time to nip over to the Crazy Horse, then, and dip into ONEIDA's Ocropolis live installation, complete with ceiling hangings and a thin gauze behind which the band are playing. During the course of the performance, a series of special guests will be lending a hand: Deerhoof, The Dead C, Chris Corsano. Just our luck, then, to drop in on a dreamy but rather directionless instrumental - though I suppose that even a supercharged garage-psych outfit will have inevitably have a few lulls when they're playing for ten hours straight...

5.15pm
"Rock opera": two words to strike terror into the heart. Hyphenated-Man is apparently MIKE WATT's third, an attempt to come to terms with reaching the ripe old age of 52 - though, according to a bemused Brian, "All of the songs seem to be about a mouse". Backed by the similarly plaid-shirted Missingmen on the Pavilion Stage, Watt rattles through a multi-part string of songs which bring some funk to the punk, but it's hard not to feel that he's rather trading on his reputation and former glories as an integral part of the Minutemen, Porno For Pyros, Mascis' The Fog and most recently the reformed Stooges.

5.45pm
Nepotism is ingrained in the very nature of ATP, but that's no bad thing when it means HANGEDUP (Reds), labelmates of our curators, get to come back to the UK - something about which they're delighted. Little wonder the Montreal duo found a home on Constellation - their tapestries of viola, loops, drones and percussion, played with a punk zeal and a telepathic understanding, like 'No More Bad Future' are electrifying in the flesh. No hang-ups in joining Godspeed! and endorsing them.

6.15pm
Ever diminishing returns on the 2p coin pusher machines. Is there anything sadder than gradually watching your stash dwindle away?

7pm
If there's one thing I learn about SCOUT NIBLETT (Pavilion Stage) tonight, it's that you just can't second-guess her. I'd been expecting something quirky and acoustic - her live show is the former but certainly not the latter. Several songs lurch into aggressive riffs that betray a first love for Mudhoney and Nirvana, but these are juxtaposed with 'Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death', which finds her singing whimsically "We're all gonna die" accompanied only by her own rudimentary drumming. It's not downbeat, though - "This is awesome!", she squeals in her high-visibility jacket, before instigating a Q&A session which suggests that her producer Steve Albini isn't the only member of Shellac to have influenced her: "What's my favourite cheese? Gouda!"

8.15pm
Get on your black clothes and boots, furrow your brow and, whatever else you do, don't you dare attempt any flash photography. Be warned: NEUROSIS (Centre Stage) are not the sort of band to fuck with - or, for that matter, the sort to make idle chit-chat. "Talkative guys", says Suresh with a wry smile as another song-segue passes in stony silence. If looks could kill, this lot would be mass murderers. The sextet might hail from the Californian hotbed of thrash, but they're most commonly characterised as post-metal - which, roughly translated, means they're a metal band who've absorbed Dark Side Of The Moon. It's no mean feat managing to be both the most bone-crushingly heavy and, perversely, arguably the most uncomplicatedly accessible band on today's bill thus far. Kudos to the fan who refuses to let the fact that he's wearing a neck brace spoil his headbanging fun.

9pm
After Scout Niblett, Nottingham continues to hold sway over a disappointingly sparse Pavilion Stage crowd courtesy of TINDERSTICKS. Their set is as exquisitely crafted as their songs - so rich with the romance of the barroom bard and memories of long, dark nights of the soul that you can't help but start to feel lovelorn and drunk. It's like Murder Ballads era Nick Cave appearing at your bedroom window with a rose between his teeth and blood on his hands.

9.45pm
The mood is, er, soiled somewhat by a conversation overheard in the toilet, which begins with one chap enquiring of those present: "Have you ever had a shit in a urinal?" When a Scottish bloke replies in the affirmative and recounts the sordid tale, he's asked: "Did you turn around and look at it? Did you feel sorry for the cleaner?" "No, I wanted him to think 'That boy eats a lot of fibre'", comes the response.

10.30pm
One chomp on a spicy chicken and chorizo pasty that is both surprisingly tasty and staggeringly hot is enough to take the roof of my mouth off. Ouch.

11pm
Phill joins us back at the chalet for Match Of The Day, and jaws collectively drop at not one but two displays of outrageous skill by Arsenal's Samir Nasri.

12midnight
It's the witching hour, and for the second time this weekend our hosts have shuffled onto the Centre Stage. We're inside after a short queue and catch a different set to last night. The sound is now spot on, capturing both the pindrop poignancy of the quieter moments and the raging fury of the apocalyptic passages, and 'East Hastings' is a tremendous finale - but, disappointingly if perhaps not surprisingly, they remain static and seated even while trying to stir up the passions and there's nary a hint of engagement or interaction with those assembled.

12.45am
In contrast to those punk bands who've reformed in the pursuit of nothing more than a fast buck, NOMEANSNO (Centre Stage) prove that grey hair is no impediment to playing both fast and tight, and do their legacy justice with a barrage of taut basslines, rat-a-tat snare and nods to prog-jazz that you just wouldn't get from your average Fat Wreck Chords band. There's no faking the smiles which bear out their proclaimed delight at having been invited to play to so many.

1.45am
Pushing the punk envelope even further are THE EX (Centre Stage). Formed in the Netherlands in 1979, they're now down to just one founder member, guitarist Terrie Hessels, whose red T-shirt (identical to those worn by the two members flanking him) is unforgiving in its tightness around the stomach. The anarcho-punks of yore (they've collaborated with Chumbawamba, but let's not hold that against them) morphed via Fall-esque clanging post-punk into aficionados of African rhythms long before Vampire Weekend et al made it fashionable, and tonight they encore, somewhat improbably, with their take on a traditional Hungarian folk song. As a sweat-drenched Hessels and Arnold de Boer engage in a guitar duel, I find myself declaring them the discovery of the weekend so far - and trying hard to conceive how the collaboration with sober musical technicians Tortoise for the In The Fishtank series could possibly have worked.

2.30am
I'd been relishing THEE OH SEES (Centre Stage) in the late-night slot, but their thunder has rather been half-inched by The Ex and sadly there's not a lot that John Dwyer and his merry bunch of tattoo-heavy psych-garage-toting compadres can do about it. Mention of the forthcoming London show suggests their minds are already elsewhere too.

3am
Not for the first time at an ATP, I'm accosted and grilled about my Spillers T-shirt. All I can seem to gather from my new acquaintance is that he thinks there's some connection to an armed robbery at Spar on Clifton Street in Splott. I believe he may have been drinking. But then so have I.

3.30am
With Oneida's endurance set long finished (I feel bad - we should have been there to see them wrap up), the Crazy Horse is host to a DJ playing what my scrawled notes later venture is "hardcore jumpy stuff, fist-pumping". (No, I'm none the wiser.)

4am
A bad case of ATP Envy, as a Nomeansno fan recounts memories of his six previous festivals, including a couple I would have given my kidneys to be at. But at least we have the common ground of both having been to the first event to bear the name, Mogwai's bash at Camber Sands in 2000. ...Trail Of Dead's stage-trashing, Sigur Ros' UK debut and Sonic Youth's audience-enraging drone-fest - happy days, mon ami, happy days.

2011-09-29T13:27:00.000+01:00

A brew = good for you

"Women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day are less likely to get depressed, research suggests." Yes, yes, yes, boffins, that's all very well - just get on with confirming it's good for men too, will you? And once you've done that, get to work proving the life-enhancing benefits of crisps, pizza, pork pies and red wine.

2011-09-27T20:08:00.000+01:00

Feel good hits of the 27th September

1. 'The Copper Top' - Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat
2. 'What You Know' - Blanck Mass
3. 'Rolled Together' - The Antlers
4. 'Skippin' Town' - The Drums
5. 'All Arounder' - Oneida
6. 'Get To France' - Mogwai
7. 'Precarious Stair' - Crystal Stilts
8. 'My Machines' - Battles
9. 'Red Star' - EMA
10. 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' - Vampire Weekend

Notes:

1. Arguably the most poignant track of a brilliantly poignant album (the utterly filthy 'Glasgow Jubilee' aside), and one whose impact is increased by a great video. Birth, love and death - the only reasons to get dressed up". My two Arab Strap albums aren't enough.

2. Ambient loveliness courtesy of Fuck Buttons' Benjamin John Power.

3. Burst Apart lacks the gripping narrative of Hospice, but there's still plenty to recommend it - not least this gorgeous indie take on Air.

4. I've come to the Drums' debut album late (given that their second, Portamento, is already out) but can't dispute its simple, unadulterated pop thrills.

5. That'd be an Oneida album on the shopping list at long last, then...

6. Sorry to read that the 'Gwai have cancelled their live appearances this week (including a set at the US I'll Be Your Mirror) for medical reasons - hopefully it's nothing too serious.

7. I've worked out what I like so much about In Love With Oblivion - it's basically an album's worth of songs in the mould of Women's 'Black Rice'.

9. Not cracked Past Life Martyred Saints yet, but I'll keep persisting...

2011-09-27T10:23:00.000+01:00

Quote of the day

"I like working on my own if there isn’t anyone fun to work with but can also stand the company of people I hold in contempt and am, in this sense, versatile. I can work incredibly long hours, and will work for very little money. I have ginger hair and for a lot of people this is a talking point. Sometimes I do not feel like I am completely in control of myself and I have to pinch myself very hard. I like the great outdoors. As of the 11th January 2011 I am free from all venereal disease."

A disgruntled jobseeker seeks and finds solace in satire, along the way entertaining and amusing anyone who's had experience as a drudging drone.

2011-09-23T11:44:00.000+01:00

Satanic serenade

So, Foo Fighters v Westboro Baptist Church: the story so far. WBC, described by even the KKK as "hatemongers", announce that they're going to picket the band's gig in Kansas City on account of their homoerotic video promoting the tour. The band respond by donning their redneck garb and performing ode to man-loving 'Keep It Clean' on the back of a flatbed truck for the benefit of the placard-waving protesters...

2011-09-21T13:53:00.000+01:00

The end of the road?

Not surprising, following the various rumblings about the health (or otherwise) of the British festival, that there should be an article asking "Has the bubble burst? Justifiably, I think, it points towards various reasons for the fact that several events have been cancelled or gone bust this summer - the economic downturn, market saturation, the lack of novelty in line-ups - before mentioning some of the success stories and concluding that for festival-lovers all hope need certainly not be lost. The comments which follow make for interesting reading, even if there are far too many from cynical old moaners and those who've clearly rarely if ever been to a festival but nevertheless feel qualified to deliver a sneering judgement (probably on the strength of watching Glastonbury highlights on the telly).

So, here's my take on the situation:

1. The facts about the state of the economy and the saturation of the market are indisputable and so in the circumstances it's inevitable that some festivals will go bust. As harsh as it might be, it's survival of the fittest. Truck's fate was sealed by poor decision making on the part of the organisers, but you'd hope that generally the substandard festivals would be the ones to die off.

2. At the same time, attendances may be down, but the British appetite for festival-going clearly hasn't disappeared overnight. The sheer number of events competing for attention, even discounting those no longer still standing after this summer, is proof of that.

3. There's something to be said for festivals of all shapes and sizes (apart, perhaps, from V...). Glastonbury may not be the counter-cultural shindig it once was, but deriding it as little more than a bloated, corporate, middle-class rite of passage for people who don't like music is pathetic. It's an iconic festival for a reason, and remains as such. The sheer scale, the variety of sights and activities, the richness of the experience - all unsurpassed by any other festival. But, as a veteran of Greenman, Summer Sundae, Truck, ATP and Supersonic, I'm also well aware of the charms and attractions of a smaller event. Glastonbury's continuing appeal looks undiminished, and its future less shaky than Michael Eavis rashly speculated shortly after this year's bash, but it would be a shame if the downturn in attendances heralds the death of the boutique festival.

4. Promoters could admittedly sometimes try a bit harder when it comes to assembling decent line-ups featuring exclusive appearances and negotiating lower artists' fees to enable them to freeze or drop ticket prices - and I suspect they'll feel the pressure to do so more acutely as a result of this summer. But, while much has been made of the steep rise in prices and the cost relative to a "proper" holiday, I'd be among those who maintain that for the level and breadth of entertainment on offer a festival ticket actually remains good value. £12 for an early-bird ticket for Southsea Fest this weekend just gone, or £195 for a Glastonbury ticket - I didn't begrudge paying either. When arena gigs for one act can be £40 minimum, and when the cost of a cinema ticket is £10, it's hard not to feel that festival prices get an unfairly bad press.

I suppose there may come a time when I feel differently, having become jaded and cynical myself - but for the present I remain an incorrigible festival-goer prepared to defend them to the hilt.

2011-09-20T14:12:00.000+01:00

Quote of the day

"In my work, I’ve spent a lot of time dragging other people’s flaws into the light. I did it because I believe that every time you point out that somebody is going wrong, you give them a chance to get it right next time and so reduce the amount of wrongdoing in the world. That’s why, although it has been a really painful process and will surely continue to be for some time, I think in the end I’ll be grateful my flaws have also been dragged into the light in this way. I would like to apologise again to my readers, my colleagues and the people hurt by my actions. I know that some of you have lost faith in my work. I will do everything I can now to regain it. I hope, after a period of retraining, you will give me the chance."

The Independent's Johann Hari comes clean and issues an apology for quote-stealing (and quote-manipulating) and maliciously editing Wikipedia entries. His contrition hasn't been swallowed by everyone, though - the Economist's Bagehot among those suggesting that Hari's crimes against journalistic standards are so severe (and so obviously wrong, regardless of a lack of training) that he should surely be sacked by the paper, rather than waved off for his stint in hack's rehab?

2011-09-18T13:02:00.000+01:00

The joy of six

Are the Flaming Lips on a mission to prove that nothing is too out there for them to try? We've had the album that consists of four different discs to be played simultaneously; we've had the science fiction film which, according to one YouTube commenter, "makes Eraserhead seem like the Carebears movie"; work has begun on Yoshimi: The Musical. And now it's the six-hour-long song, all for charidee. At that length, let's hope it's rather better than their recent collaboration with Lightning Bolt, 'I'm Working At NASA On Acid', which sounds like David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' slowly and painfully running out of oxygen...

In other music news:

* The Guardian are streaming the new Mogwai EP Earth Divisions here - very decent of them. 'Tis good, though not much new.

* Spotlight Kid - formed by former Six By Seven drummer Chris Davis - have been put in the, er, spotlight by the Guardian's Paul Lester. Credit to those commenters who corrected Lester's claim that Disaster Tourist is their debut album - that would be Departure, released way back in 2006. Good to see Nottingham lad Davis getting props, though.

* I'm not yet convinced by the new Los Campesinos! single 'By Your Hand', the first from forthcoming album Hello Sadness, but the video is a neatly appropriate collision of twee and violent.

* Nevermind is twenty years old - hard to believe - and to mark the occasion Everett True has set out to bust a few myths about grunge. Say what you want about latter-day Smashing Pumpkins, Everett, but you ain't going to change the fact that Siamese Dream and good chunks of Gish and Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness are genius.

2011-09-16T13:02:00.000+01:00

Not quite what the doctor ordered

HEALTH / LISTING SHIPS / THE MANACLES OF ACID, 1ST SEPTEMBER 2011, OXFORD JERICHO TAVERN

Knob-twiddling: a term that conjures up images of a greasy recidivist in a long mac lurking in the bushes of your local park and indulging in a game of pocket billiards at the merest glimpse of teenage skin. But thankfully tonight's display of knob-twiddling from The Manacles Of Acid is a great deal more agreeable than that, if not entirely wholesome. Beats and squelching synths mesh neatly, and the symbiosis between man and machines is impressive to behold - if not exactly a feast for the eyes. Given a late-night slot in a darkened Cellar, these Manacles might really grip.

Comprised of veterans of the local scene, Listing Ships haven't taken long to make a big splash. Not for them wearing their influences metaphorically upon their sleeves - no, they prefer to wear them literally on their T-shirts. Bassist Stuart Fowkes' Can T-shirt signposts what's coming, though the quartet perhaps wisely avoid dropping anchor for too long in any particular port. 'All Aboard The Andrea Doria', for instance, calls in on Mogwai, Rodan and (most pleasingly) the bristling, aggressive instrumental funk of Billy Mahonie before setting sail anew. Fowkes introduces one track by saying: "It's about a shipwreck, like all of our songs". We eagerly await their take on Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'.

"You will love each other", reads the slogan on the HEALTH T-shirts at the merch desk. A sunny prediction? A sinister command? Who knows. Equally unsettling is the Californians' music, the sound of Wolf Eyes and Animal Collective taking a power drill to each other's craniums and wallowing around in what issues forth. It's a kaleidoscopic collage of thrash, noise, electronics, tribal drumming, shouting, flailing hair and primary colours. And, by and large, it's thrilling.

And yet, two songs from the end of the main set, they abruptly and somewhat improbably morph into MGMT circa 'Time To Pretend'. The kids love it, sure, but the band suddenly look faintly depressed, as though contractually obliged to play the hits. That they suddenly appear to be caught in the headlights of the mainstream and desperate to escape away back into the shadows is underlined by the single-song encore, a minute of throat-shredding and skin-bashing. "This is the real us", they seem to be saying. Next time, they might hopefully spare us the identity crisis.