hours of fun!
not sure it'd work that well with cds though...
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Festive Frog-rock
Is this the most underrated Christmas song ever?
No scumbags, no maggots, no Radio 1 controversies here. Just good old Macca, Rupert the Bear and more frogs than a Frenchman’s Christmas dinner.
Although released in both 1984 and 1985 it never quite made it to the top of the sparkly Christmas number one tree but you don’t get much tougher competition that Geldof and his Band Aid chums, Wham’s Last Christmas and Shakin freaking Stevens!
Imagine a three year old Rory, still struggling to unravel the complexities of his new Transformer, being introduced to Paul McCartney for the first time. For all I knew back then he’d just won some tacky TV talent show and was riding on the coattails of Rupert’s fame (possibly the dullest kids character of all time?)
Anyway, I know a little more about Mr. McCartney now, apparently his group was quite popular for a time, but why don’t we hear more of this Christmas classic? Surely some festive DJ will answer my plea...
No scumbags, no maggots, no Radio 1 controversies here. Just good old Macca, Rupert the Bear and more frogs than a Frenchman’s Christmas dinner.
Although released in both 1984 and 1985 it never quite made it to the top of the sparkly Christmas number one tree but you don’t get much tougher competition that Geldof and his Band Aid chums, Wham’s Last Christmas and Shakin freaking Stevens!
Imagine a three year old Rory, still struggling to unravel the complexities of his new Transformer, being introduced to Paul McCartney for the first time. For all I knew back then he’d just won some tacky TV talent show and was riding on the coattails of Rupert’s fame (possibly the dullest kids character of all time?)
Anyway, I know a little more about Mr. McCartney now, apparently his group was quite popular for a time, but why don’t we hear more of this Christmas classic? Surely some festive DJ will answer my plea...
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
if it ain't stiff...
Last Friday I stumbled upon a repeat of BBC Four's documentary on Stiff Records. It was a great bit of telly and what's more, it was 90 minutes long...by the end I felt that I probably knew all I was ever going to need to know about the label, its disastrous tours, its constant flirtation with bankruptcy and its eclectic roster of hopefuls and hopeless cases (from Wreckless Eric to Madness to Lene Lovich to The Pogues to Elvis Costello to Jona Lewie to Ian Dury etc etc)
I even came away with a couple of things I never knew...1) Pete Waterman was a producer for Stiff and 2) Alvin Stardust released four singles on the label. Oh yes.
But stronger and stranger was the inescapable conclusion that the world was a very different place back then. Punk had changed the rules or at least hidden them somewhere, and there was still money in making singles. Could you imagine a record like this making number one these days?
Thought not.
I even came away with a couple of things I never knew...1) Pete Waterman was a producer for Stiff and 2) Alvin Stardust released four singles on the label. Oh yes.
But stronger and stranger was the inescapable conclusion that the world was a very different place back then. Punk had changed the rules or at least hidden them somewhere, and there was still money in making singles. Could you imagine a record like this making number one these days?
Thought not.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Cheer up! It's nearly Christmas
Malcolm Middleton's attempt to get his catchy new single We're All Going To Die to the Christmas chart top spot takes him to Colin Murray's Radio 1 show on Monday.
Colin's website has a wonderful video of the former Arab Strapper recording a festive version of the song with sleigh bells and a children's choir at Maida Vale that you can watch here.
The official video is pretty good too:
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Wednesday biscuit #2
Today I clocked three esteemed members of the music team lifting the lid on an empty biscuit tin, only to walk away with a groan/hmmphf. Let's call that a grmpf.
I on the other hand was lucky enough to find half of what can only be described as a gingernut in disguise. An oblong shaped no-namer, not your regular round Griffin or Arnotts kind.
Hmmm. Were these biscuits bought from an off-licence?
Nonetheless this half of whatever it was, left quite an impression. My only piece of advice to the manufacturers would be to give this baked good an IDENTITY. Dress it up a little! Make people see that there's something worth being discovered...
Which, tenuously as ever, leads me to prog doom disco act Chrome Hoof. As part of BBC Introducing (BBC's new music initiative) they performed a special session at Maida Vale studios in North London last night, filmed for Gilles Peterson's show on Radio 1. And there is no mistaking them.
Loud, grinding and glam, this 10 piece work their magic with fabric (see below). Incorporating a wide variety of instruments, violin, bassoon, sax, trumpet, guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion to create their menacing racket. Try Pre-emptive False Rapture , released earlier this year for more of a taste, or catch them thundering away at these UK shows in the next week.
I on the other hand was lucky enough to find half of what can only be described as a gingernut in disguise. An oblong shaped no-namer, not your regular round Griffin or Arnotts kind.
Hmmm. Were these biscuits bought from an off-licence?
Nonetheless this half of whatever it was, left quite an impression. My only piece of advice to the manufacturers would be to give this baked good an IDENTITY. Dress it up a little! Make people see that there's something worth being discovered...
Which, tenuously as ever, leads me to prog doom disco act Chrome Hoof. As part of BBC Introducing (BBC's new music initiative) they performed a special session at Maida Vale studios in North London last night, filmed for Gilles Peterson's show on Radio 1. And there is no mistaking them.
Loud, grinding and glam, this 10 piece work their magic with fabric (see below). Incorporating a wide variety of instruments, violin, bassoon, sax, trumpet, guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion to create their menacing racket. Try Pre-emptive False Rapture , released earlier this year for more of a taste, or catch them thundering away at these UK shows in the next week.
Even though it looks like it.... no humans were poked with giant light sabers during the taking of these photos.
Bemused sequined moment?....
Use the force.... the disco force.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
i-Mix
From the 'what will they think of next?' dept comes a bit of software that allows you to use your i-Phone to control Pro-Tools. So poor overworked producers and remixers can literally phone in their performances from anywhere, thus avoiding having to deal with any performer egos or leave their, er, cribs.
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