Many moons ago, a popular beat combo coined the phrase once you get The Cramps you can’t get rid of them. Old times will remember that. Well last night I got excruciating cramp in my left leg. It caused me more pain that looking at the cover of “Fiends of Dope Island”. Haven’t experienced anything quite like it in quite some time. It seemed like a logical extension though of everything else that went down last night.

Although there was no apparent reason for the way everything went to shit, it did cross my mind that some miscreant might be sticking pins into an effigy of me and twisting them. Of course, as always – this stuff is relative. I’m aware that I have it relatively easy and that I’m my own worst enemy. Couple things coming up on the horizon then...

Ms Brijitte West at The Gaff next Tuesday, go there and score a copy of her latest album if you haven't already.

It's GO-GO! time again... this Saturday (7th August) DJs Tall Paul & Big Gus playing top 60s tunes til 5am with Guest DJ Lenny Helsing (The THANES) playing garage and psych.

Doors 11pm. free entry up til 11.30pm£5/4 after.

Upstairs @ Studio 24, Calton Road, Edinburgh. (Next date... Sat 4th September).

RIP - Bobby Hebb

Do you think that TV placement of songs actually helps a band anymore? I mean, how does anybody find out what something is? With a movie, you get the closing credits but on a TV show – do they all have websites with soundtrack info? I should check that but I don’t have time right now. My reason for asking is that I heard Frightened Rabbit’s “Swim” on Chuck last night and it sounded pretty good as that "music bed" or whatever they call that stuff.

I wondered if it got a spike in downloads when that aired? Of course, no-one watches the same things at the same time anymore so maybe it was or is gradual as opposed to steep. It made me think what a great job it would be to be able to score a soundtrack. I really think that I could do that. In addition, I’d like to do that and there’s not much I can say that about.

Anyway, I came home full of good intentions tonight and have been worn down with this and that. Equal measures of both to be honest. That hasn't happened too often lately so I'm hoping it's a blip. What's the adage? These things are sent to try us?? It's not wrong. If I can rassle myself outta this tangle then I might be back later, if not - I'll sleepin' with the TV on.

OUT NOW! Third issue in eight months!!

I'm not sure how Nick and Co. do it either but do it they do.

Buy, subscribe, maybe even both.

Jings, I forgot all about this... good shout discos Brutusound via facebook!

Iain sent me a message about this, finger must have been to the left of the pulse on this one...

TUESDAY - August 3rd 2010

Tracer Trails present
Calvin Johnson
& Muscles of Joy
at Hyndland Community Hall, Glasgow
(Hyndland Road / Novar Drive, G12 9JE)
8PM BYOB ALL AGES

Tickets £6 + b.f. from Monorail (still £6 on the door)













Wednesday August 4th 2010

Tracer Trails present
Calvin Johnson
Ben Butler & Mousepad
& eagleowl
at Pilrig St Paul’s, Edinburgh
(Leith Walk / Pilrig Street, EH6 5AH)
8PM BYOB ALL AGES

Tickets £6 + b.f. from Avalanche (still £6 on the door)


Thanks to Emily at Tracer Trails for the poster art.

Saw four films at the weekend, three at the cinema and one here in the bunker. Toy Story 3 on Saturday afternoon… I think it’s one thing for kids under say, 5, to watch a dvd at home on whatever size of TV their parents have but another thing entirely to expect them to sit through something in a cinema. This screening wasn’t that bad but there were a few as young as maybe 3. So you can imagine the kvetching and the launching of popcorn from buckets that are almost as big as they are.

The film itself is pretty good, with characters that bear (no pun intended if you’ve seen it) some investment. Indicating more soul than many modern actors that thrash about amid blue screens and cgi. That evening, I watched the DVD of Edgeplay, Vicki Blue’s Runaways doc and it bummed me out. This is a prime example of why it’s maybe best not to know about what went on in the background with regard to a band that you gave a hoot about.

Managed to drag my tuchus out of the house on Sunday to catch a double bill of “Please Give” and “Friends with Money” both by a filmmaker - Nicole Holofcener, that I never heard of prior to this. In a coincidence with the title, “Friends” includes Jennifer Aniston and you get to listen to her cursing. It’s OK and closes with a great Ricki Lee Jones track that I never heard before. “Please Give” is a kind of "Crossing Delancey" type, New York based semi-black comedy with a good heart. Genuinely funny and touching with a great ensemble cast. Best film I’ve seen since "Cigarette Girl", no question about it. I was going to post the trailer but it gives too much away, best just to see it fresh. It's around UK cinemas now so if it's anywhere near you, treat yourself.

I seem to be having messages returned around 24 hours after I sent them out. Is the interweb gubbed again or is just me? Being paranoid I’m pretty sure it’s the latter but are any of the rest of you, particularly of the blueyonder persuasion experiencing anything similar?

RIP - Derf Scratch

27 Forever! - Eight of the fourteen songs on The Riverdales “Tarantula” clock in well under two minutes. A prime example of quality over quantity and as concise a burst of pure punk rock abandon as you’ll ever encounter. The guitar on “Infection” sounds like Tony Iommi doing a John Cummings and the closest this combo may ever have come to “a solo”. Continuing exactly where Invasion USA left off, there’s not one gram of flab. They’ve got that crunch down pat by now and by time that the hopped up, almost Bo Diddlified “Girls Town” closes side one you have the exact time that it takes to flip it over to catch your breath.

“Soultaker” is a ballad of “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” proportions and I could have imagined Joey singing this one. There are even bells and at that point, if there was any composure left, then you’ll be toast. The doo-wop commotion of “Crash of the Moons” is equally potent. By the advent of “Time Chaser” you should be checking the listings to see if they’re playing anywhere near you tonight.

If you don’t get a charge out of The Riverdales then I really don’t know what to say. They’re shaking up a can of the very dna of everything I hold dear and true when it comes to life-affirming rock’n’roll. "Tarantula" is coming at you via San Pedro’s Recess Records in several formats. I recommend the footlong.

I don't recall who posted a link to this on fb yesterday but it's a brammer.

If you're within attending distance, don't forget the Rev. Richard Mazda's Alex Chilton tribute at The Secret Theatre in Long Island City this evening...

It’s been a reasonable week by my standards. One spent almost entirely in what I can only figure must be a good mood but there are creaking signs this morning. At first I thought the stats had gone but it seems to have been a glitsch. I still have no patience irrespective of demeanour and always plump for the worst case scenario. Call it a character trait.

I figured I’d give Jesus H Foxx a listen on myspace. Just to see what their recordings sound like and besides, I guess it wasn’t their fault that they were mismatched with a punk rock band. The verdict? There’s a semblance of a sound that wasn’t evident in the bowels of CV but they’re no Eagleowl. They mention Pavement too so that’s a sure sign of the generation chasm right there. But then Yo La Tengo too so maybe I was too hard on them. They’re only wee and I’d seen Moon Duo the night before.

Checked out Tiny Robots page too and find that they’re called My Tiny Robots. I never cared for the Postcard sound first time out and cross-pollenating this with the fence collective going all talking heids does little to cajole me but hey, I’m too sodding old for all this anyway.

And on that note, the chores are calling. I am ironing man. Cue Beavis, cue Butthead.

It’s symptomatic of the finest pop clobber that a song can just wash over you. Cleansing the ear palate to stand out as anything but the fodder that we’re constantly bombarded with. “Fredrik” has all the hallmarks of the former. It’s a reactively low key introduction to “Facit” but it bodes well in an understated almost subliminal shimmer. Nobody does it quite like Annika (Norlin) and her crew in Säkert!

Difficult to imagine that any visitor to this ‘hood is unaware of who and what this amounts to but there’s always a possibility that someone isn’t paying attention or might be a newbie. The campaign to spread the word never ceases hereabouts. Visitors to the bunker always go away pledging to buy and wondering just why they haven't heard this phenomenal talent.

It’s still to be established what form the version of the upcoming album with English lyrics will take. My wish is that it finally cements the plain as the neb on your fizzog reality that the world would be a better place if it embraced the works of this young lady who is currently being misrepresented in the Swedish press.

Everything seems possible on a Friday morning. It’s a point where some degree of optimism and expectation converge to provide some kind of rush based on the simple premise that it’s the preamble to 2.5 days off. This morning I was thinking to myself that I could judge the time by the light. Having consigned the alarm clock to OFF, I glanced at yon device only to find that maybe my skill wasn’t as honed as I thought. Ergo I lost nearly an hour of that aforementioned end of the week buzz.

Hoo-ever, no point in boo-hooing over that now. I’m home. I plan on spinning The Riverdales at warp volume sometime after I get to the bottom of the ongoing Car Insurance finagle. Ever get the feeling you’re being systematically shaken down? However, I have a (pipe)dream that’s keeping me afloat. I don’t want to say it out loud yet for fear that it’ll come down around my ears.

A lot of music and a couple or three movies is what figures most in the upcoming hours. It would have been cool to have made it to Southern Fried but you can’t always get what you want as that rubber-lipped fella once said.

Several things have happened recently that lead me to believe that perhaps there is some kind of higher power. Somebody even had the audacity to call me “chirpy”. No Sally Carr references please. Don’t despair, I’m sure that I’ll come crashing back to earth soon enough.

One of these was getting a finished copy of “Two-Way family Favourites” following Amy and Eric’s triumphant recent US tour. Yes I’m biased, and it’s been trailed here several times but it’s been on heavy rotation this week and shows no signs of wanting to leave the CD player.

A collection of songs that weren’t written by the artists in question then, and an undoubted treasure that brings together an assortment that only these two could get away with. Go to one of the upcoming shows or get it direct from the source. Actually, you need to do both but I’ll leave the logistics up to you. To paraphrase the song by Mr Tom Petty (and his Heartbreakers), some (albums) are diamonds and some (albums) are rocks but this one belongs firmly in the upper echelons of the carat method of measure.

Meanwhile, my plans for Perth have been scuppered due to one thing and another. Mainly having to re-new my flippin’ car insurance. My bubble has not been burst, it just has a slow puncture. So. I may not possess a pot to piddle in but I tend to measure wealth in other ways. On top of receiving “Two-Way” this week, the new Säkert! “single” "Fredrick" and also Iain just delivered The Riverdales “Tarantula” an hour or so ago. If Rita Redshoes turns up too then technically – that lot could just about see me oot.

Cool music has been making like the corporation bus, nowt for a while and then a whole bunch come along together. I’m not complaining – just telling you.

A recap from yesterday… the band that opened for Moon Duo was Mugstar. Didn’t one of Busted start a band called something like that?

Two school nights out on the trot… feeling the burn but not in a bad way, it seems almost like I have a life but now I’m back in the box. Rolled into Cabaret Voltaire around 8 and the first of the three band bill was on. I’m about to use some bad language now so if that kind of thing offends you then look away now. Said group, Tiny Robots (maybe Nanobots could take out an injunction?) sound like M*mford and Son. Or is it Sons? I don’t know but I do know that I get the dry boke when I hear them. That was bad enough but then Jesus H Foxx came on. They make a sound like overhearing someone playing haircut 100 on their iPod (would have been a walkman before)several seats down the train. I’m sure they’re nice kids, just keep them the fox away from me.

Neither of these groups complimented the headliners and nor did the horrible 80’s crap that was played during the breaks. I like Dum Dum Girls recent Sub Pop album a lot since hearing it between Trembling Bells and Wooden Shjips at Stereo earlier this year. Missed their Glasgow appearance at the same venue because of the Suicide stramash down south (I think). So here we are finally. A Tuesday night in Auld Reekie, right doon the front in direct proximity to the girlie action.

Under the old (music) business model, DDG would have presented a marketing potential on a Kiss scale. Toys, cartoons, all manner of merch could easily be associated with these girls. I’ve heard gripes and ho hums directed at them that seem to be utterly groundless. The songs are good, they look bloody scrumdiddeleyumptious and they can deliver live. What’s not to dig?

Whereas the record sounds very authentic to the C86 ethic, the live thing is faster and louder. It benefits greatly from the drums not sounding like a rhythm machine. The Richard Gottehrer production reminded me to look out The Prissteens “Scandal, Controversy and Romance” which was the classic girl group concept applied to yer more basic NY rock attack. If you don’t know that album then you’re missing a real brammer. DDG rattled though their set from a brooding slow burn “Play With Fire” and much of the “I Will Be” material. Under any justice system “Jail La La” should be a hit. The band is opening for MGMT on their UK tour in September.

I’m wondering if the three or more band bill should constitute festival status. In real terms these things do nobody any good. If an act has an hour’s worth of material then sure, have an opener but treat it like a cool double bill at the pictures.

I’m aware that it’s muchly about breaking even but let’s inject some decorum shall we. Let’s take the rather fabulous Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby franchise as an example. They don’t need no opening act. They could play anybody off the park in the world cup of outright entertainment. Like a two person E-street band. Having anyone else involved impedes what they do. Call me old-fashioned, and I am, but that travesty last night was the straw that broke this particular camel’s humph. No wonder every fucker is in various stages of ADD. It's about quality, not quantity and the former has sod all to do with being able to cajole all your herbert pals along.

Annika Norlin is NOT retiring from music

Some rumours, based on an interview in Swedish magazine Filter, is saying Annika Norlin (Hello Saferide, Säkert!) is giving up on music. This is not at all true.

However:
- I started studying as well, I think it balances up nicely with writing songs. I used to work with other stuff alongside music, I have no idea why this has caused such a storm, says Annika.

- I get really annoyed with how media always portrays female musicians like some kind of super women, so I told Filter a bit about the hard parts about the job as well. This has later on been interpreted by other media like I am lying shaking on the floor and never want to do music again, which is completely untrue.

Thank you to every concerned listener who has been in touch.

The next Säkert! album, Facit, will be released on September 15.

(Thanks Martina)

And the bloody press wonder why the arse is falling out of their business... sheesh.

Go Bambi's!

Time for a wee catch up...

On Sunday, I took in a double bill of “A Prophet” and “The Beat My Heart Skipped”. It was between that and "Toy Story 3" but I figured that the latter is going to be around for a while. I didn’t want to be reduced to seeing “A Prophet” on DVD. As it was, TS3 might have suited my mood better but ye cannae unscramble eggs. I’d had 4 pints of Guinness the previous evening over a relatively short space of time in the company of a very dear old friend, That’s more than I’ve had to quaff, I thought in this country but there was London in May... I should qualify that by saying someone that I’ve known for a long time rather than the fact that said individual is old. The number 38 rings a bell. Anyway, long and short of it is that I’m a lightweight in the drinking stakes these days. Always was if truth be told, especially since the tequila incident. So there was a bit of a woozy fug going on and my attention was apt to wander here and there.

Anyways, I’d heard raves about “A Prophet” and it’s a very good film with one drawback for me, the bad guy in it looks like that pillock TV chef Anthony Worrall Thompson (sp?). It would be a little like that equally heinous twat Gordon Ramsay being a Bond villain. No disrespect to actual twats intended. In spite of all this though, it’s all fairly unpleasant and something of a visual roughing up. The brutality that permeates both films would seem to suggest that that this is Jacques Audiard speciality. “Beat” has some lighter moments and an actress (Aure Atika) that I was very taken with but it’s still pretty oppressive. Never reckoned much to The Kills but dug “Monkey 23” from the soundtrack. Electrocute are in there too. Apparently this is based on a movie called “Fingers” that I’ve never seen. Must check that out.

I would never advocate DVD over cinema viewing but both of these would work equally well on the small(er) screen. To be honest, it was all a bit too much over 5 hours. I’d rather have seen them individually in retrospect but hey, the price was right.

So here we are, the bast part of the way through Tuesday and I’m heading out the door shortly to attend the Dum Dum Girls recital in Edinburgh with The Iain Shaw. Just time to do a quick resume of the past wee while. I’ve been spending some time away from the bunker and, while my planned schlep up to Perth this weekend has been iced, it brings into sharp focus the adage of “ye cannae dae it a’”.

The Moon Duo show lived up to all expectations and those were pretty lofty y’know. This bijou combo makes a big, big noise proving once again that size isn’t everything. There was a bright full moon hanging out over the weej last night perhaps providing solar energy to the relentless groovenotic pulsebeat. With a drum machine set on “Nick Knox” and some blazing guitar that channelled early Gilmour via Ronnie Montrose – they oozed and throbbed just the way we like it. A solid hour of pummelling even included their interpretation of The Scientists “Set It On Fire”. Who the heck could ask for anything more?

Sanae Yamada and Erik “Ripley” Johnson cast excellent shadows below the oscillating light show. They look amazing as the volume gets pumped and frequencies conspire to disorientate. This is an undertow that will sweep you all the way out to sea if you let it. Delivered at a volume you could never recreate at home. Seeing them will enhance the listening experience when you next break out the albums. DO NOT MISS THIS COMBO!

It was a reasonable turnout in the end however, a pox on those who attended Public Image up the road a bit at the expense of this. I imagine that those individuals getting the feeling they were cheated right about now. Oh, wait… that was John’s other group. Rod Stewart was also holding the town to ransom last night but I guess that was no direct competition.

Openers Mudstar (?) made a reasonable racket that would work better using the less is more approach. It all got to be a bit lumpy bordering on grungey. Not in a good way. Other sections were thick and hearty like loud soup. Memo to one of the guitar players, waving your guitar about and dangling it off the stage didn’t seem to kick up any additional sound tingles. You might want to refrain – if not completely then at least some.

OK time to eat something and run. No time for links. Maybe later. Cheerie.