News: Electric Six are out on tour later this month / Early December. The date's are: Nov 27th - Sheffield Leadmill, Nov 28th - Hull University, Nov 29th - Nottingham Rock City, Dec 1st - Manchester MDH Hall, Dec 2nd - Glasgow Barrowlands, Dec 3rd - Norwich UEA, Dec 4th - Bristol Anson Rooms, Dec 6th - London ULU. Tickets are available from: http://www.wayahead.com/
Live: Embrace: Secret Gig 13 - Four songs, a singer nervously looking around for the possible arrival of the police, and about two hundred or so fans holding white balloons on Shepherds Bush green. It was easily one of the best gigs I've ever been too. There's just something about one of the your favourite bands playing an impromptu gig in a public location in the early evening that can't fail to make you smile, especially when they could be arrested for doing so at any moment. All You Good Good People came first, and you just couldn't hear Danny at all, the crowd sang so loudly. But it spent shivers down my spine as everyone, surprisingly in good voice, knew every single word just as well as Danny did. Latest single Gravity was somehow even better live, played in the open it makes even more sense than usual, whilst Wonder proved, if you didn't already know, that they can write a song just as strong and heartbreakingly touching as Mr Martin can. They ended frustratingly soon with the always epic Come Back To What You Know, and disappeared quickly. I could gush on and on, it's so refreshing to see a band make such an effort for the fans, but simply put, life doesn't get much better than this. Ah, if only all bands would do this kind of thing...Related Link: Garbled Photo Diary.
Bo Selecta (Again) - Ah, you know, changing my mind about something is rapidly becomind my favourite hobby. Or perhaps I was just drunk whilst watching the first episode of the new series of Bo Selecta, because now all I do when watching it is cringe and wonder how I ever found it funny. As opening sketch 'Crappy Days' showed, Leigh Francis is more than happy to base three minutes around random swearing, farting and ginger jokes, and no amount of self-deprication makes it any better. The rest of it the show seemed desperate to cause offence (Francis seems to want to carve out a niche for himself as Britain's most homophobic man) instead of actually making us laugh. It's almost the same show week in, week out, and surely can't take more than about five minutes to write. And why Sean Pertwee wanted to guest on it, despite not having anything to plug, will surely confuse the world's greatest minds for years to come. (AF).
www.youwhores.com - A website so good I can't believe that no one's not thought of setting it up before. Basically it's an ad-board where people offer their time for a certain price. Now I know what you're thinking, but no, it's nothing sexual, just people offering bizarre and often plain insane services. Here's a few snippets from some recent ad's so you get the idea: "For £100 sterling plus travel expenses I will push an assortment of garden vegetables through your letterbox"; "For £500 including paint I will come round your house and cover it in graffiti. No Problem. If you live outside London zones 1+2 then I will need travel expenses and a 6 pack of Grolsh to drink on the train journey"; Guilty? Innocent? It's all the same to me. For a fee of 500 pounds a time I will lie to the police about your whereabouts, and for 2000, I will perjure myself in court, and swear a testimony to a fictitious scenario of your choice. Easiest to contact me in advance of crime, and establish the deal. Emergency alibis also available." And these are just a few of the more normal ones. Quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever read on the net. (AF).
Bo Selecta (10.30pm, Fridays, C4) - The adverts had me more than a little concerned. Not being funny and everything. Maybe it was there pg rated content, but it looked like Leigh Francis had gone all average on us. Ah. But thankfully the ads turned out not to be representative of the new series in the slightest. If anything, it's the rudest series yet, with the bear ejaculating over Paul McKenna and Avid getting Emma Bunton in to swearing mode in the first episode, but more importantly, it still feels fresh, unpredictable. Yeah, yeah, at some point soon I can see this getting too familiar, too repetitive, but for the time being it's still easily one of the funniest shows around. (AF).
Live: The Secret Machines - London Barfly - For those of you who’ve heard debut single The Secret Machines debut single ‘Sad and lonely’ forget everything you heard. From the adorable American pronunciation, the cock-pop sucking melody to the slick solo that slimes all over the track. Why? They are prog rock preppies tinged with the ability to devour you a la Sonic Youth. The thunder call drumming of Josh Garza relentlessly beckons a storm, whilst the sporadic, unhinged deliverance of guitarist/vocalist Ben Curtis are at times lost in the vastness of Brandon Curtis spatial keyboard. Unfortunately there are only flashes of Curtis breaking free of the overwhelming dominance of their prog tendencies. When used sparingly they are rich and absorbing, but in these instances they lack impact. Song’s that have a waiting time that Disney Land could be proud of have a lot to live up to, and luckily for the machines in their moments of technicality, Garza’s feverish pulse pummels the machines back into life. (SY).
Live: Elbow - Carling Islington Academy - 22.2.04. They should be prescribing Elbow to cure insomnia, curb violent crime and probably solve world hunger. There is something almost religious as Elbow invite you too release any demons and heal yourself. Where’s the EA to go with AA and NA. Except it wouldn’t be that anonymous now. Elbow are no longer a best kept secret. Guy Garvey has the look of a librarian or your local guidance counsellor. No posturing or pouting, just a peddler of melody and an abundance of northern charm. Look beyond the depressing ‘knives out’ tag and Guy and his musical Samaritans, are the quite the opposite. The reason why nobody dances is because it’s almost impossible to move smoothly. Only try if you have acute arthritis that relapses in the knees, as that seems to be the chosen style tonight. Or just nod. And if you look around there’s people smiling, some at GG’s quips and mid song chatter, others in a state of hypnotic, orgasmic, ecstasy, lost in one of the many melodies or moments. The complexity and texture of the music may have by passed all before but not this time. The reverberating float of ‘Ribcage’ (despite its macabre connotation of pulling your ribs apart), the angel descending finale of ‘Grace under pressure’ and a version of ‘Red’ hinged on a plethora of wistfulness and regret, show that they can still dominate the intimate venues. For a band attached to the stigma of other British guitar bands, it’s commendable that they’ve stuck to their guns so honestly. Epitomising their almost too human nature ‘Bitten by the tailfly’ shows them at their most beatnik and abstract but ‘Newborn’ is perhaps the closest anyone will get to apocalyptic musical beauty. Proof that you don’t have too move too be moved. (SY).
Okay, I've an excuse. I'm out of work right now, and that's why I was watching Countdown. And alas if you've missed it last week, which let's face it is quite likely, than you missed the delight of watching Jimmy Carr in dictionary corner. Yes. Jimmy Carr. Of Distraction and You're Face Or Mine fame. And those who know of him and his deadpan style and penchant for offensiveness might not think it'd be a perfect mix on Countdown. But oh how it has. Whilst the studio audience rarely responded well, it's been hilariously bizarre stuff. From getting Orgasm as a six letter word ''I think I'll have a cigarette now'' to a joke about a lady misunderstanding Charles DeGaulle saying happiness and thinking he said penis...To which Whitely said ''I think we all saw that coming Jimmy.'' And Jimmy's response - ''You saw what coming?'' Ah. I haven't laughed so much this year. Add in the constant bantering between host and guest, and Carr's trademark rudeness in general, and it was a joy to watch. A strange, odd, twisted but damn funny one. (AF).
Live: The Vines - Camden Electric Ballroom - 19.2.04. So what happened to the implosion? Is it better to burn out than to fade away? And just how off kilter is Craig Nicholls these days? Hype less and hopeless? Second album syndrome will soon tell. Despite the questions, and pending Nicholls state of mind, they remain as electric a live act as anyone. With the focus usually on his erratic behaviour it’s easy to overlook Nicholls penchant for a riff and a rhythm. New songs ‘Ride’, ‘Animal Machine’ and ‘Evil town’ all emanate from the same blueprint of 2 minutes of pure adrenaline pumped straight to the veins. Gone is the ‘more spaced out than Neil Armstrong ever was’ psychedelica of ‘Highly Evolved’ replaced by a resurgent steely edge to their sound. But trying to decipher what he’s saying is another story, as he’s still got the coherence of Rab C. Nesbitt. Looking controlled, bar the odd screech and gurn, Nicholls inevitably breaks into a needless rock n roll tantrum. It’s sad that he feels he needs to do this because he doesn’t. Take away the needless falsettos and accents and you have a livewire, unpredictable and magnetic who really perform when he wants to. As ‘Get free’ grinds out it still empowers you with an energy that makes you want to run through walls, and his ability to generate this power remains his greatest asset. If he was an actor, it would be overacting, if it was religion, he’d be a terrorist. But he’s a ‘rock star’. And it’s music. (SY).
America seems to be going through a golden age tv wise at the moment, what with Six Feet Under, 24, CSI, Angel, Nip/Tuck, The Handler and a fair few other quality shows. Which is damn lucky, as Brit tv seems to be safer and more familiarly tedious than ever. Out of this week's schedule, at least comedy and drama wise, only Shameless and Garth Meranghi's Dark Place are worthy of catching. And don't even get me started about the Beeb's 'I could see the ending 213 miles off' Sea of Souls. Yeah, it's borderline fantasy tv, and something we'd normally be pleased to see, but not when it's all done so obviously. We really need to start taking some risks far more often before things become even bleaker. (AF).
Okay, okay, I know I get wound up by manufactured pop music far far too much, and believe me I try and avoid it as much as I can, but alas my other half has hideous taste in music. And thus I've been forced to listen to Busted's Year 3000 too many times to mention. And yep, lyrically this sort of thing is always painful, but the boys here really have taken the biscuit, chewed it up a bit and then spat it back in our faces. I mean the line, '...Year 3000, Not much has changed but we all live underwater'...For Christ's sake, what bigger change can you think off? Why aren't we living on land anymore? What happened to make government's across the world finance huge super city's on the sea bed? And they say not much has changed? For fuck's sake, please, someone shut them up in a permanent shotgun related kind of way. (AF).
Why, oh why did I watch I’m A Celebrity? It’s not that it wasn’t pretty damn funny stuff, with Ant and Dec particularly on top form this series (well, their writers were anyhow). No. It’s ever since my dreams have been insect filled. The worst being one where, alas, I was trapped in a laboratory with a half spider half human creature spitting giant fanged blood splattered spiders at me whilst Jordan looked on and laughed, various insects crawling out of her enormous gob. Yes. Okay. I need help. But don’t even begin to get me started on the horrors of waterspiders. I didn’t realise they existed. And how I wish I still didn’t, as they too haunt my dreams. Thank god the shows over, though now my dreams are now filled with the contestants from Five’s Back To Reality. And I’m still not sure which is worse. Actually, after seeing Maureen pole dance, yes, yes I do. (AF).
Recommended Reading - If you've never picked up any of Douglas Coupland's damn fine novels, do so now. If you ask us [and I know you didn't, but hey, you should of] starting with All Families Are Psychotic is as good a place as any, and his latest, Hey Nostradamus, is a fascinating exploration of life after a high school massacre, and far more involving and interesting than Gus Van Sant's Elephant, which covers kind of similar material. (AF).
Alex Finch, Shereif Younis.
Comments?
Contact Us - About Us - Recommended Links - More Links - Forums - Search This Site