MY WEBLOG, MY RULES.

So for the moment, I can’t be bothered to review the second All Tomorrow’s Parties. It was pretty alright, but it wasn’t as good as the first one, or at least, there weren’t really any exciting new discoveries that I absolutely HAVE to tell you about, and I haven’t got any photos either. And as readers of this weblog, I guess you’ve probably had your fill of ATP for the moment. If you do desperately want to hear about it in detail though, don't hesitate to let me know via comments or email, and, thoughtless slave to public pressure that I am, maybe then I’d get round to it.

Otherwise though, here’s some other stuff I’ve been enjoying recently;

Angus Maclise – Counter-Culture Chronicles
You know Angus Maclise right..? He was the NY-dwelling beat/hippy guy who played drums in an early line-up of the Velvet Underground, participated in a lot of the Theatre of Eternal Music stuff with LaMonte Young, John Cale et al, and probably did a whole bunch of other stuff so cool and underground we never got to hear about it? No? Well anyway, this is a CD of some stuff by him recorded between 1964 and 1980, and it’s absolutely superb. Some truly beautiful and forward-thinking transcendental drone work featuring mesmerising webs of Eastern / DIY percussion, murky field recordings and heavenly waves of impossible-to-identify sound rising and receding – this will be sending me off to sleep for a long time to come. I know, I know, you’ve heard all that before, but seriously – this one is a keeper. I don’t really know whether ‘Counter Culture Chronicles’ is the name or the record label or the name of a series it’s part of or what; the packaging is rubbish and it looks like a bootleg to be honest, but regardless, the real news is that it comes with a bonus DVD! And not just any DVD, but one featuring Jonas Mekas’ film of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable – loads of dark, fuzzy abstract imagery and unique live recordings of a transitional VU line-up featuring Maclise on percussion and Cale on lead vocals – and Ron Rice’s totally-far-fucking-out psychedelic film ‘Chumlum’ (for which Maclise did the soundtrack)! GEAR! (Yes, it’s another rare sub-cultural treasure-chest provided to me for a not inconsiderable sum by the nice people at Volcanic Tongue.)

‘Acidic Brain Spit’ and ‘Distortion & Cough Ups’ CDRs
These are mix CDs sent to me by an American guy called Tanner with whom I’ve intermittently swapped music for a few years. What can I say, except that he has great taste and is ALWAYS on point; previous tapes and CDs have provided my first exposure to such varied big-hitters as Neutral Milk Hotel, Gospeedyoublackemperor!, Anaal Nathrakh, Iron & Wine, Dillinger Escape Plan and Derek Bailey, amid much other fantastic hardcore, black metal, noise and improv, for which I am eternally grateful. Highlights of the two new discs include Ultralyd, Jennifer Gentle, Leviathan, Tetuzi Akiyama, Cold Bleak Heat, Brendan Murray, Byard Lancaster and Iran. Needlessly to say, replying to such devastating stuff with my own CDs is always a challenge, especially since these days I basically find myself just listening to Neil Young and the Kinks all day long.

Fabulous Foxes – Glaciers
Fabulous Foxes is the vehicle of singer/songwriter/guitar player/whatever Bob Clueley, whose presence will be familiar to regular gig-goers in the city of Leicester, both through his own performances and his mischievous habit of contriving a way to get on stage even when he’s not playing. Fabulous Foxes live experiences have a tendency to veer closer to unintentional performance art than music, regularly attracting such superlatives as “shambolic”, “incompetent”, “confusing”, “rude” etc., which obviously is great, but I’d argue that whatever happens, you can usually hear the inherent qualities of Bob’s songs shining through. And here is a CD with some of those songs on it (an ‘album’ I suppose you’d call it), recorded with the help of various Leicester / Nottingham folks, and damn me if it doesn’t defy all expectation by being just totally, straightforwardly great. The songs are simple, memorable and moving, taking as their theme good old unconditional love with a hint of desperation, explored with a sense of humour and with some pleasantly weird lyrical digressions, all of which suits my sensibilities down to the ground. Bob’s voice itself is also a thing of unexpected joy; slow, clear and pronounced but rough around the edges, recalling the syntax of the Albion folk singers of old. At times I’d almost swear he sounds a bit like Alastair Roberts... but less Scottish, obviously. And there’s much else to enjoy here too; the way the arrangements (the Foxes big band utilising electric guitars, drums, horns, violin..) sound nice and complement the songs rather than swamping them; the admirable sense of brevity (10 songs in 20 minutes); the general lo-fi charm of the whole business – leaving in false starts and between song banter to capture a bit of the chaos of the live shows and to emphasise that, yes, there’s no secret here and we could do it too if we dared get off our backsides and sing some songs. So there we have it – he’s gone a made a fucking good record, the cheeky sod. If you declare an honest interest, maybe he'll send you a copy; www.fabulousfoxes.net

Oneida – “up with people”
This is the new song by Oneida. It has often been said in the past that Oneida sound kind of like rave music played on rock band instruments, and here they do that more literally than ever before, using their drum kit, organ and guitars to create a perfect facsimile of some kinda totally euphoric early ‘80s New York disco / proto-house dancefloor smash, only, like, gnarly and rocking! It’s great! “You gotta get up to get free” the vocal hook advises us, correctly I’m sure, but still on some level recalling the old linguistic gag of the dopey farmer who cuts down a tree and then cuts it up. Presumably to take the promised freedom all the way, one must get up (onto one’s feet) and then get down (on the dancefloor)...? Meanwhile, the dancefloor and its freedoms have come and gone, leaving me alone in the chill light of dawn, still stuck pondering the vagaries of hipster slang.

Royal Trux – “money for nothing”
More hopeless confusion where there should be only fun as far as the eye can see! Is this meant to be ironic? Or is it just awful? Or, alternatively, does it completely rule? To what extent does the answer to the first question affect the answers to the second and third? I honestly can’t tell. My head hurts. God rock n’ roll can be a complicated business...

Comanechi
Well no ambiguity here! Comanechi are brilliant. They are a rock dude who plays the guitar and a crazy girl who plays the drums, and all their songs go like DUR-DUR-DUR DA-DA-DUR-DUR-DUR DA-DA-DUR-DUR-DUR, and they’re totally loud and fast and sloppy and their recordings are totally cheap and bad quality, but they don’t give a fuck cos they’re too busy being brilliant. Most of the lyrics are the name of the song shouted again and again. (The songs on the 7” I have are ‘Naked’, ‘I Knew’ and ‘I Feel Fantastic’.) If anybody out there has a better recipe for perfection, I’d like to hear it.

Hawkwind - Space Ritual
Ah, Hawklords, take the pain away....