unpopular

Today was meant to be a day of getting out of the house, of getting the mail posted and collected, of perhaps having lunch in town. But it’s pissing down and showing no sign of stopping anytime soon. I know there are umbrellas and coats, but that doesn’t make is much less miserable. Pah. The irony is of course that this weather is ideal for yesterday’s activity, which mainly revolved around sitting on the sofa in front of the telly watching seven or so hours of Simon Schama’s History Of Britain which was showing on one of the documentary channels.

In fact much of the past four days has been spent doing very little except effectively shutting down the system, or at least running some kind of Personal Disk Utility. So I’ve been pottering about whilst my mind runs a ‘repair disk permissions’ routine. Not sure it’s been wholly effective yet, mind, judging by the fact that I was awake at 6.30 this morning thinking about School Things and by the fact that my eye is still twitching involuntarily; a sure sign of stress and tiredness. And sorry for the geek metaphors there… but what else can you really expect?

Speaking of geekdom, we sat and watched the new Doctor Who on Saturday evening. It appears to have gone down well in Who circles, but personally I thought it was a steaming pile of crap. All flash, no substance; like some goofy sub-late-season-Buffy nonsense. It should have been dark and menacing instead of slapstick and silly. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m no great aficionado, so heh… Mags seemed delighted by it all at least.

Just downloaded the new British Sea Power single from iTunes. ‘It Ended On An Oily Stage’ is mighty; the kind of epic chasm of melodic noise that lots of bands like to think they are making, but in fact aren’t. Instead they are making overblown histrionics. So British Sea Power tread the line finely and nod to Kitchens Of Distinction and The Wild Swans instead of Rock Orthodoxy. Naturally it’s a good decision. I’m really looking forward to hearing the album (hint to Rough Trade there)…

Is the Today show a big thing? I don’t live in the US of A so I have no idea. I read on Mike Appelstein’s blog that Smoosh were on it this morning and I wondered what the UK equivalent might be. Anyone care to say? If you care to check my AudioScrobbler page you will see that Smoosh are comfortably out front as my top band. So yes, I like Smoosh.

And on that topic, did I mention already that we are doing an Unpopular Smoosh 7”? We’re doing an Unpopular Smoosh 7”. It’s super exciting. And I’m not sure why I’m saying ‘we’re’ doing a Smoosh 7” when in reality it’s just ME doing an Unpopular Smoosh 7”. Me in the Geek Lair all on my lonesome. Oh, and my overdraft at the bank, of course, but that’s a trifling matter. What’s money when you have the chance to release records that will turn the world on its head, after all?

Email from the always entertaining William Crain today, telling me how he has picked up the Freaks And Geeks box set recently. It made me want to dig it out myself again and do some re-runs. Again. In replying to the email a couple of things struck me, one of which is that I think the truly great thing about the show was that it whilst it was so redolent of the era and place in which it is set, it also totally transcended that, so it became universal. After all, I don’t think that the essential qualities of being a teenager change much, irrespective of time or place within a Westernised Pop-cultural context.

And the whole notion of the class distinctions created by culture intrigue me. I know they existed when I was young, but they never seemed to be so stratified and explicitly defined as they appear(ed) to be in the US. It's funny, I was having a conversation with our Head today and we were talking about 'boffs' (boffins - smart kids - I guess the 'geeks' of today in Devon) and I was saying how I could empathise with the boffins. He asked if I had been more of an 'arty' boffin or a 'nerd' boffin and I had to admit that for the majority of my school life I was the latter. It was a strangely embarrassing confession. As a Math Bloke I wonder if he was a nerdy boffin when he was a lad? I didn’t have the nerve to ask him...

After what feels like an eternity of cold, it’s been strange today to come home to a hot and stuffy Geek Lair, courtesy of the sun on the roof and the balmy conditions outside all day. I’m certainly not complaining: it’s lovely to finally have the windows thrown open and to not be huddled inside layers of clothes. I don’t expect it will last: the forecast for the weekend has the temperatures back at barely above 10C, but let’s keep our fingers crossed, eh?

In other news, things have been so stressful of late that last night I found myself walking around the house muttering to myself and fighting off the desire to just sit down and cry. Just the pressure of too much stuff all happening at once really, not any one specific thing. It’s like that line in ‘Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song To Rocky Dennis’: “I wish I had a proper reason to cry. A reason not so abstract, more like a broken clause in a contract.” And it is an abstract reason I’m feeling (though not so much today, thankfully), a reason to do with that creeping sense of being bone-tired; of fighting the clouds of ennui and of thinking maybe I really should just chuck it all in. Maybe I really should just strip my life back down to its core and rebuild.

Or maybe not.

I did think long and hard about applying for the Art job at Priory. It’s in Exeter, for a start, which would be ideal. I could walk / cycle to school no problem. They will have a brand new building from September, and will be a Media Arts School. Sounds ideal really… But then I think about how much effort and time and energy I have invested in the Art dept at Tivvy, and I think, can I just walk away from that now? And I have to answer that no I can’t. So on I go…

I realised the other day that 2006 will be the tenth year anniversary of Tangents existence. I’ll also be 40 years old. Erk. Doesn’t time fly?

Unpopular is a bit mad at the moment too. I told myself I wouldn’t let it get like this, but I find it so hard to say no. I find it so hard not to get excited by things. So it’s my own bloody fault. I really want/need a CD duplicator to help keep me sane. Donations lovingly received. I’m so excited by The Pathways and by Pants Yell! at the moment. They rock my world. Also of course The Pipettes and Smoosh and the aforementioned Mr Lekman and… the list goes on. Actually I thought about this the other day and it feels like I am more excited by lots of groups and artists at one time than I’ve been for ages… maybe EVER. Which is weird. But there seem to be so many people making so much really great, infectious Pop music these days. We are spoilt, we really are.

And herein lies the root of my problem I think: there’s SO MUCH that I want to see and hear and read and DO and I’m almost paralysed by the enormity of it. Eyes bigger than my belly, as always.

This just in from the mighty Pipettes:

Just a quick reminder - The Pipettes' debut Radio One FM live session can be heard tomorrow night (Tuesday 15) from 11pm!

Becki, Julia and Rose have recorded four songs especially for Huw Stephens' show, and they'll be beamed across the nation tomorrow. You can also listen online, wherever you are in the world, by logging onto www.bbc.co.uk/radio1

Huw has always been very close to all our hearts. He was the very first person to play "I Like A Boy In Uniform" in public - over the PA at Reading Festival back in August. Good lad!

Our session for him also marks the final performance on keyboards by bazzin' Marc Beatty, who has now left The Cassettes to concentrate on his Tenderfoot and Brakes projects. Our hearfelt thanks and very best wishes go out to him. His place on the piano stool has been taken by Seb "Beppe" Falcone, who received a baptism of fire on the recent Go! Team tour. He's doing just fine...

The very fine SAW are currently putting the finishing touches to some new recordings, to which I for one look forward to with great anticipation. They’re looking to string some shows together around Europe in June, so anyone out there that is booking shows should drop them a line and see if you can help out. If you put them on, I’m sure you’ll be impressed.

Speaking of shows, I’m gutted I can’t be at the Metric Mile / Pants Yell! / Pathways show later this month. March 25th is the date, the 169 Bar in NYC is the place. It’s Good Friday. Actually, when I think about it, I guess we could just about make it. If we could fly out Friday morning… Wouldn’t that be a fine start to the holidays? Yes it would. But can we afford it? No we can’t. So I’ll stop dreaming.

Well, I just updated the Unpopular label site with details of the Pipettes badge set. I also added a ‘news’ page to the site. Or rather, I replaced the ‘catalog’ page with a news page, mainly because I figure if anyone wants to know what the catalog is they can get that info from the shop page. Anyway, all this by was of saying that the following info is lifted straight from that news page, so if you are reading this then there’s no need to go check out the changes. Oh, except to go an order your badges of course.

Unpopular Stuff

The Pipettes single is currently at the factory. I’m hoping it will be back by the end of March or the first week of April at the latest. It’s all very exciting. Everyone who has pre-ordered their copy will get it sent out in the mail at the first opportunity. I see days of packing and addressing envelopes lining up for the Easter holidays, but it will be worth it. The first batch of singles packed will get a free ‘school uniform’ badge, as I seem to have a surplus of that design, but it will be strictly first come first served, and as there are only around 25 spares, it’ll be a strictly limited thing. If you still want a badge, however, fear not, because the Pipettes badge sets are now available to buy from the Unpop shop! The two designs come in a plastic bag, complete with hand stamped insert and a lovely pink ticket. The ticket serves two purposes: One, it’s a nifty numbering device to ensure each set is unique. And two, I’m going to randomly select ten numbers at the end of March, and if you can prove that you have one of those numbered badge sets (send a scan of the ticket, or a digi photo or something – heck, you could even mail the ticket by the old fashioned postal service) then you’ll get a free copy of the single, hopefully signed by the band members! Yay!

If you buy the badge set at the same time as pre-ordering the single, rest assured that the badges will be posted immediately, with the record following as and when they have arrived. Same applies if you order anything else at the same time. Basically if its in stock it ships as soon as I can physically get to the post office…

Details of the next Unpopular 7” release will be made public very soon. Rest assured it is a very exciting project that involves certain magazine cover stars and what with that and the Pipettes and the Legend! 7” just out, I’m so excited I’m just about fit to burst. Yes I am…

Oh, and speaking of interviews, there's one with me here that you might (or might not) find amusing. Thanks to Simon from the ever excellent Diskant for taking the time to do it.

London Weekend (pt 2)

So Saturday was a good day. Up and out quite early to the Serpentine to see the Tomoko Takahashi installations. They were a delight: a riot of colour and sound, a delicious exploration into the world of play and of the memories of childhood. On the gallery wall is written: “I stayed up all night to watch the first launching of the Space Shuttle. Didn’t you?” and whilst the answer is no I didn’t, I do remember a TV set being placed in the assembly hall at school and us crowding around it to watch Columbia lift off that first time. So maybe it was that, or maybe it’s the fact that Tomoko Takahashi was born in 1966, but I felt a real and immediate connection with the work. There’s a real sense of pleasure in the installations. They communicate the delight of play so well. Also the frustrations (perhaps no coincidence then that one wall features the flattened boxes of the ‘Frustration’ game) – pieces that don’t go together, parts missing entirely, the frustration of things not going quite right, of never looking like they do on the box, of changing the rules to suit yourself, or making it all up as you go along. So it’s about appropriation of the elements of play; something we all do so naturally when we are young but that we lose the thrill of as we age; working within the constructs of our culture and our responsibilities instead of instinctively challenging them.

I guess what’s also appealing in the work is the obsessive cataloguing and the rigorous (and often ludicrously complex and personal) taxonomies of meaning behind the objects and their ordering within the installations. Fascinating games being played all around.

And I was so taken with the work that I forked over a bundle of cash for one of the limited edition prints from the show. It looks fabulous; a gaudily coloured Pop Art cacophony of meaning. I can’t wait to get it framed and hanging in the shortly to be completed (I hope) dining room. I’ve also got my Chris Onstad ‘Achewood’ print to hang in there. Yay!

So yeah, that, give or take a walk in the park taking photos and popping into Barkers for a new pair of jeans, was Saturday morning.

The afternoon was even more enjoyable though, as I finally met up with Lawrence. I was of course excited and nervous beforehand, but he was really lovely, exactly the wonderful Pop maverick we should surely all know him to be. We talked for well over four hours, including a two hour ‘interview’ that will hopefully eventually feature in Plan B. We talked about so many things, and it was a real pleasure. It turns out he is a big fan of Gordon Burn, which I kind of expected / hoped for. He hasn’t read David Peace yet, and though the fact that it’s fiction might go against his interests, I think he would like him.

Also got to meet Phil King (formerly of the excellent Servants of course), who looks amazingly handsome as ever, and the lovely Lora Findlay, whose illustrations and designs grace so many of those great RPM sleeves, including the brilliant ‘Dreambabes’ series. It was such an honour to be amongst those amazingly talented and brilliant people. I felt so honoured. I only hope the finished Lawrence interview / article does his genius justice.