unpopular

Going Pop! Again

Exeter Goes Pop! again tonight night at the Exeter Phoenix. Looks like it will be just me spinning disks this time, so be prepared for three hours of Unpopular rubbish. I had a couple of playlists prepared, but will more likely go for the freeestyle approach from whatever CDs I have in the box... I've been listening to The Painted Word, Factory era Wake, early New Order and Comet Gain a lot last night and this morning, so you have been warned...

Result!

The Schmap Guide To Paris has used my shot of the Crillon at night for the entry on its new edition. Yay!

No Winter, No Autumn

Now I knew something of the excitement around certain Philippines Pop! in the past few years, but it mostly passed me by for a host of reasons. Now, however, I am most assuredly in thrall to the sound of Moscow Olympics. I had heard them referenced for a while but had not heard them until Linn slipped ‘Still’ onto her mix last month. It sounded delicious, a real sparkling gem amongst a treasure trove of other splendours. Imagine my surprise then a day after slipping that mix onto my iPod to have a message waiting for me on my Unpopular MySpace page from the very band in question. Yay! for divine coincidences.

Anyway, the upshot of it all is that today I have downloaded the full Moscow Olympics demos and am completely and utterly in love. I suspect that some will find the more ‘dreampop’ feel to some of the songs to be at odds with a group named after a spiky Orange Juice b-side, but that’s okay and to be expected. Me, I rather like a bit of that drifting feel in my Pop every now and then. And Moscow Olympics carry it off so very well, with a breathy vocal atop a glittering guitar and broody drum beat. Yum. Think Blueboy leaping from the clouds and snogging The Wake in the sunset whilst drifting down over the Oresund bridge. Perhaps.

I think I’m right in saying that there will be a Moscow Olympics record out before the year’s end, and if we close our eyes and cross our fingers really tight, there might even be some tracks on a 3” CD for a terminally unpopular record label. Keep those dreams burning, baby…

let's just call it Pop!

I’ve seen this referenced in a couple of blogs already, but in case you have not already read it, let me point you at Jude Roger’s rather fine piece on notions of indie and independence in the music industry. Personally I think we need some entirely new term that ignores all notions of perceived ‘independence’ and ‘DIY’ culture. Oh, I know, let’s just call it Pop!

Merci, Monsieur Livingston

“I know one thing: Ken Livingston is a folk hero.”

I’m writing this on the train home to Devon after a weekend in London for Le Grand Depart of Le Tour De France. And what a grand depart is turned out to be, with the abysmal English summer finally giving way to a couple of days of glorious sunshine. The crowds were astonishing all the way around the prologue route and in the parks. We walked out from our hotel on Trafalgar Square to beside the Serpentine gallery, where we perched by the intermediate timing stand for a while. I would concede however, that watching bike racing from the roadside is not the most exciting experience in the world, however excellent the atmosphere, so we adjourned then to Hyde Park where we proceeded to watch the racing on one of the giant screens. Here too, the atmosphere was terrific, with everyone in good spirits applauding the riders’ exploits. There was of course a big partisan appreciation for David Millar and Bradley Wiggins, but there was as much if not more applause for the awesome ride that Fabian Cancellera put in at the very end of the afternoon which destroyed the rest of the field. It was truly an amazing sight to watch him ride.

What was equally great to see was the way that the whole thing seemed to go off without a hitch. The sight of hundreds of thousands (i read a million quoted in the papers!) of people dissipating from the parks and the route after 6.30 or so was quite mind-blowing (especially for us country folk).

I guess the roll out from The Mall this morning went smoothly too, though it was a little early for us, so by the time we got out into the open air David Millar was already well into his early attack. We had thought about spending a couple of hours looking at some art, but instead took advantage of the sunshine and the giant screens in Trafalgar Square. It would be great if they kept those there for the entire duration of Le Tour, but I guess that would be a step too far!

Now I often come home from London feeling sorry to leave it, but this time I felt that tug to remain stronger than ever. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the crowds that helped restore a semblance of faith in the goodness of humanity, or maybe it was just because of the sun shining for the first time in an eternity. Whatever, it was a magical weekend, and as we checked out of our hotel, Ken Livingstone appeared behind us, doing the same, so C thanked him for giving us such a wonderful time. It seemed the least that we could do.

eyes like lotus leaves... no not even like...

A few days ago I said that the best thing in the last issue of Plan B was the piece on Tara Jane O’Neil. This was only partly true, for the article on Look Blue Go Purple was equally fine. As was ET’s review of Life Without Buildings’ Live At The Annandale set. I have to admit that I have yet to pick this up, though it is high on my priorities. I have been listening to their Any Other City album again the past couple of days though, and have been smitten all over again by its genius. ‘Sorrow’ in particular has been hitting hard, as indeed it always did. So I am excited about hearing the live album. I wonder how it will compare to the recording I made on May Day 2001 of their Cavern set. I remember an email from Sue Tompkins where she was bemoaning the dreadful sound at that gig (ah, the joys of the infamous Cavern PA) but fuck, it sounded like the most heavenly bop art to me. And still does.

The Clientele played Debaser in Malmö a couple of nights ago. Entry cost 20 Crowns, which in real money is around £1.50 or so. Can you believe that? A gig for £1.50? And not just any gig. Sheesh. Not that it helped Ylwa of course. I bet she is still fuming. I know I would be… Chris certainly had a great time though. Lovely photo on his blog, which I am delighted to report remains essential reading in spite of his recent return from the grey streets of Glasgow. Or perhaps because of. Who can say. Graham meanwhile also sent me a link to his Flickr set from the show, though he sounded slightly less upbeat about the show itself. Nice to hear about them closing out with a song from Television’s Adventure set, for that record is such a perfect reference point for The Clientele and is criminally undervalued next to Marquee Moon. In so many ways I prefer Adventure. That red vinyl 12” of ‘Foxhole’ was the first Televison record I bought in fact, and what a mighty artefact that is. In a perfect world there would be a clear red vinyl edition of God Save The Clientele too. But of course the world is far from perfect.

Currently I...

Is this a meme? I am not sure. Anyway, Ylwa had this on her blog today, so I thought I would steal it.

Currently I...



Listen to:

Rodan. Been playing Rusty since mentioning it yesterday, and fuck me, it sounds amazing. I genuinely love this record, which confuses so many people. But that’s good. It’s good to confuse sometimes.

The Lodger: Grown Ups. Still playing this and still loving it to bits. Did Leeds ever sound so appealing? I think not.

We’ll Always Have Paris. Best mix ever, every song a highlight. Yum. And then some.

Read:

Current reading includes Roseanna, the first novel in the Martin Beck series of Swedish police thrillers with a political/cultural edge by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Also ‘teach yourself Swedish’… which reminds me that I am hopeless at learning languages. I also have Shena Mackay’s Music Upstairs next on the pile of fiction to (re)read, a copy having popped in from an Amazon market place seller yesterday. Oh, and I started reading London At My Feet last night too. Am I juggling too much? Yes, probably.

Quote: Not sure if I am quoting anything these days. Joni yesterday of course. And maybe that Bobby Baby song with the lines about riding my bike in the morning… I wish… the weather has been so crappy and I haven’t the energy or the time. Gah.

Watch:

See previous post about movies that are piled up. Going to see Casablanca at the cinema tomorrow night. I am looking forward to seeing it on the big screen. ‘We’ll always have Paris’ indeed.

Talk about:

Most of the time it is education related I guess… how depressing. Strategic plans and briefing papers. Gah. And about how tired I am. Also about Poofy, and what I’m going to do now that Tangents has been put to the sword.

I have an enormous pile of movies that I want to watch. I blame John Carney and Marino Guida, for I have been re-reading some of their old articles on Tangents and have been drawn in once more to the appeal of the reference points. They reverberate with the essence of feelings I had forgotten about. I also blame Linn for sending messages about bears from Fårö, for I have invested in a Bergman boxset which could keep me occupied for months/years. Not content with all of that however, I have just ordered a copy of the Half Cocked DVD. I was not aware of it before, but it looks fascinating. The story-line reminds me a little of The Fabulous Stains. I’ll let you know what I think of it.

These dark café days

Maybe it’s the interminably dull weather, but I’ve been playing Blue again the past couple of days. I had forgotten what a beautiful record it is. And didn’t I read a pome by Rupert recently with a line about how he was listening to Joni? That is in my head like a ghost smiling sweet, sweet tears.

Of course I always come back to that line in ‘The Last Time I saw Richard’ about how “all romantics meet the same fate someday, cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark café”. It is so perfect. And I also always come back to a summer’s evening sitting out back of a bar in Cambridge with Jenny Toomey and Tara Jane O’Neil. Is that really thirteen years ago? Funny the things you remember.

And listening to Rodan’s ‘Darjeeling’ again this morning, well my goodness, what a momentous racket that is.

But I should really pick up more of Tara’s solo work. The piece that Everett did on her in the last Plan B was the best thing in that magazine for ages. But you know, personal agendas and contexts determine so much about how we relate to things.