Sunday, April 16, 2017
HALFWAY THROUGH APRIL!
Here we are, midway through the month andd so far I've managed to post something every day. Maybe nothing much but I'm hanging in with the notion of regular bulletins. The progress with the first print edition in close on 20 years is progressing. The list of contents is progressing and I've checked it more than twice I can tell you.
There's been some movement in what goes where but it's going to work out having made a deadline in my noggin for the end of April to go to print. At least that's the idea on this here Easter Sunday.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Friday, April 14, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
RIP BRIAN MATTHEW
After the false alarm a week ago, the world is yet worse
off than it already was.
Another of life’s constants has departed. As much as I
dug listening to his show on a Saturday morning on my own, it was especially great with
house guests. They didn’t mind getting up at 8am because the breakfast
soundtrack was guaranteed to be at least great. The music was like the meal, it
would set you up for the day. When they got home to wherever the heck they came from, I'd often get messages about tuning in.
The finality of his leaving R2 recently
suggested this wasn’t so far away. I’ve been thinking about all those folks who
I turned on to SOTS over the years and it saddens me to think that there
are some of you (one in particular) that I won’t get to share this experience with now.
Such is life at this point in the
proceedings.
Sunday, April 09, 2017
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!
This is an entertaining documentary.
Even if, like me, you think that calling some of it "music" could be considered artistic licence.
Still no sign of the Glasgow instalment... click image to order.
Saturday, April 08, 2017
Friday, April 07, 2017
Thursday, April 06, 2017
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Monday, April 03, 2017
Sunday, April 02, 2017
WRECKLESS ERIC IS HEADING THIS WAY...
April
29 BELFAST Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
30 EDINBURGH Citrus Club
May
01 GLASGOW Glad Cafe tickets on the door
02 DUNDEE Clarks ticket link
04 BARNOLDSWICK Music & Arts Centre ticket link
05 HULL Furley & Co ticket link
06 HULL Furley & Co ticket link
07 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club brudenellsocialclub.co.uk
10 BRIGHTON Prince Albert ticket link
11 LEICESTER The Musician ticket link
12 WORCESTER Marr’s Bar ticket link
13 LONDON 229 Club tickets link
17 LEWES Con Club lewesconclub.com
18 PENZANCE Astro-Park ticket link
19 BIDEFORD Palladium
20 BRISTOL Thunderbolt ticket link
21 BOURNEMOUTH The Winchester ticket link
Saturday, April 01, 2017
FOUR DECADES OF WHATEVER THE HELL THIS IS!
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The last time out proper. 1997... |
As this malarkey turns 40 today, it’s time to (maybe) get
back to some kind of regular service. I’m going to attempt to post something daily, even if it’s
just a link. You’re thinking this is an April Fool but it’s not. Rather it’s statement of intent that has
every chance of falling in close proximity to the first hurdle. This
inclination is taking place in the run up to an actual print edition coming
down the pike. No book or repro, an all-new issue. Details to be circulated when
I figure out what’s going on and when. Right now, here's a reminder of what the last one looked like.
In addition, the label will also putter back into life with
a 45 by The Dahlmanns at the end of May/beginning of June. The Moss Rock City
popmeisters have tackled two brand new Andy Shernoff songs so there could be no
better way to reactivate the imprint than this. To be available wherever great
records are sold!
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The label for one side of the new Dahlmanns 45 |
I’ll see The Rezillos tonight. They’re still operating also.
On April 1st 1977 when NBT launched, The Damned played Stirling
University and somehow all this stuff has lasted even though it likely wasn’t
supposed to.
The image here may end up as the cover for NBT 28 depending upon on the
format I end up going with. There could be a version with 45 and that doesn’t
suit the image that I really want to use. The green light for that may not be
forthcoming anyway so a rethink or three could be on the cards along the way.
There’s a lot rattling around this noggin that sure wasn’t when I set out on this road. What I’m referring to as a rethink here is actually closer to a heid fugue. I used to be indecisive but now I find myself full-on, less than not so sure.
There’s a lot rattling around this noggin that sure wasn’t when I set out on this road. What I’m referring to as a rethink here is actually closer to a heid fugue. I used to be indecisive but now I find myself full-on, less than not so sure.
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| This might be the cover for the "back from the dead (what again?) issue |
Tried to make a font out of my handwriting once, perhaps to
head a subliminal notion of not being able to hold a pen properly off at the
pass? It never worked out. It looked crap and indicated that the nuances of the
letters changing was what perhaps made it engage with the reader in the first
place. As time went on, there was a mix of typewriter then eventually word
processing. I’m not sure how exactly this one might work out in terms of all
that. If my ability to grip a pen doesn’t get me then the selection of
implements I have to write with will nae doubt conspire to cause me problems.
My real rotrings died many moons ago and the concept of
filling them with ink and trying to find a decent surface to work on is frankly
unlikely to happen. So let’s see where this road leads...
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
IT STRIKES ME THAT...
... SOME OF YOU FOLKS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THESE PRINTS?
Available from LA FIAMBRERA in old Madrid! CLICK HERE!
Friday, March 24, 2017
THE NEXT BIG THING STRADDLES SEVERAL GENERATIONS!
I never saw this coming.
While actively trying to get a
print version of NBT together to mark the 40th Anniversary, it occurs that the label will be reactivated too nearly two
decades after the last “release”. With good reason. Better than
good actually. It’s the result of my favourite act from now teaming up with the
guy that set me off on this road.
The Dahlmanns have recorded two
brand new Andy Shernoff songs, “Forever
My Baby” a duet between Line and Andy. It hits like a classic BŐC ballad crossed with a girl group anthem. Flipside, “The Last Time” could, in my opinion, just be the best thing
that the Moss Rock City crew has committed to “tape” thus far.
There’s likely no actual "tape" involved but the way that Chris Frehley realises his own particular wall or sound makes him a power pop bliss Max Martin to my ears.
There’s likely no actual "tape" involved but the way that Chris Frehley realises his own particular wall or sound makes him a power pop bliss Max Martin to my ears.
This could - of course - be construed as "conflict of interest" but I assure you that is humungously not so. All of the folks involved have given me something to believe in. There's a cool full-circle-ness that cements the notion of an amazing small world within a larger one that is seemingly bound for the big burny fire in the proverbial hand basket. I'm bordering on babbling here now so 'tis time to zip it. Excitement can get you like that sometimes.
Vinyl be due May/June time but as of today, hit up Pop Detective for the CDingle edition.
Vinyl be due May/June time but as of today, hit up Pop Detective for the CDingle edition.
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
(SUZY + LOS) QUATTROPHENIA!!!
T'was never going to be easy to follow “Hank” but “Faster
And Louder” takes the snappy high road and delivers 10 nippy little numbers with that enormous Quattro sound. “Radio!
Stereo!” kicks things off as they mean to go on. Punchy and anthemic is the S+LQ default setting.
BB Quattro has a total beat on the frequencies he wants to
negotiate. In terms of “power pop arranging”, this kid knows his onions and is
able to create a cogent, bahookie kicking racket right down the line. That’s
not an easy thing to do. So much of the genre gets abused because some of its
exponents rely on lazy retreads or modular appropriation. The Quattro not so, they take their influences
and recycle them in an entirely ear-friendly way. The Q-kids swing like so many of their contemporaries simply do not and can not.
The Yum-tastic Morten Henriksen weighs in with a co-write on “Here We Go
Again” that pits a Dictators-ish rush against a Distractions wall of pop. A
pretty nifty trick. Rubinoo Tommy Dunbar conspired on the album’s celebration
of Wee “Matilda” Quattro who is likely bashing out a rhythm on the drum kit she
just got from the “wise men” as I tap away on here. I never held much store in “Heart of Glass” by
Blondie but I love the way these kids flirt with that kinda “I Was Made For
Lovin’ You” disco malarkey. Mirrorball mercilessly in synch with the hi-hat! I therefore unreservedly recommend “Faster and Louder” to the house.
Your house, my house, a’body’s house!
BB’s services to the wider
preservation of the craft should not go un-noticed. If it weren't
for him then many of your favourite bands would likely be extinct. Me? I have
much to thank Suzy and Jon for in spiritual terms since I met them in September
2008 but if I didn’t think they’d made an absolutely great record then I’d keep
my trap shut.
As it is, I can blab my fucking brains out because they’ve
come up with a total stonker.
The vinyl is available on Screaming Apple and the CD release
is coming on Rock Indiana. Head over to their bandcamp and take your pick.
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