Not in a dream, but in a song

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Take #7

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"What? Oh, right. Hi there. Shit. Is this thing actually on? Are you sure? What do you want anyway? Um, sorry, this is a recorded message. I guess you could tell that though, right? I mean, he's usually so much more articulate in real life, haha. Seriously, he's dazed and confused and looking in a broken mirror here 'trying' to spot white hairs, whilst also trying to stick to what I've written down for him on this pink post-it note - pink... it's yellow, you fucking idiot, not pink... are you colour blind as well as unable to read? - but he keeps fucking it up. Anyway, yes, the discordant malcontent (oh right, well fuck you, I liked that description of the bumptious, sociopathic prick - it is him to a 'T' and you know it) who tragically runs this sorry excuse of a self-hate shack isn't around just now but will be back after the summer sunshine beep-beeps, or when he gives up trying to finish that really fucking terrible novel by Will Self... she always thought he was a genius you know, pffffft - so, so wrong and no wonder he left that party, eventually - although, true, in Glasgow it might be raining rather than glorious summer sunshine. It is just now as I'm speaking this to him through the intricate neural networks. Raining, I mean, it's raining right now. Er, and I mean typing this, not speaking this of course. Confused? Aye, me too, and I have to live inside this bampot's head 24/7. Spare a thought a wee thought, eh? Och. Anyway, see you all soon I guess. Have a nice time. Er, are you getting away anywhere nice? Oh, Bexhill-On-Sea you say? Really? Um, lovely. I'm sure you'll catch syphilis or the plague or something... at least the flu, given it is August by now. So 'bye' then. Oh yes, leave a message if you want to, with your name and number and all that kind of thing but I very much doubt he'll get back to you. He's not much good at that kind of thing. Nothing personal, it's just that he doesn't really like telephones that much (bit of a phobia, he always assumes - empirically correctly as it happens - it's bad news or some credit card company chasing money from him, oh do you get that too... what a coincidence!) and he often doesn't play the messages when he gets back because when you press play, because this fucking machine is so old now, it sometimes gets the tape a bit stuc..."

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The Go-Betweens - 'Finding you' (live) (3.55)

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Here, there, everywhere. Sigh. Remembering Grant, as always... :(

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You always need to be where the party is

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Don't look down. Oh, you can never look down. Pass 'Go' if you can muster the chemical energy (every chance in hell comes his way, for sure). Crossing the floor now. In zig-zags, avoiding direct contact with stray limbs, just like the remote cleaner that sweeps up the debris after you, but can never hope to catch up in time to make the break. You are staring at a floating ceiling, looking for a Tour Eiffel foundation. It was always going to end this way: how could it be balanced, stabilised, by any other means necessary? It's a swift return, this distance between us taking another form now. A transparent and reductionist alienation, a journey leading into a departure. Alone. Together. Radiating. A dichotomy of sociological conditioning. More than a missing piece; all of the jigsaw is torn into a hundred slices, in a B&Q garden chipper and shredder. Murder, it was. But, really, on the down, down, down.... serious, where the fuck do you go, in your swollen head, dulled mind, lethargic soul, when all the people leave your smiling company to return to what they know as reality, the morning after, the day job? Do the teetering, shaking sub-woofers and blinking red and green lights block the harsh reality out? You stare ahead, eyelids fluttering, peepers dancing to the pounding of the technological movement, seeing nothing but your own sour, taken oblivion. Jeezo, our Jesse. What a scene, what a fucking tune. It seems you can't escape those demons... play loud, and on repeat.
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Honey Claws - 'Digital Animal' (3.47)
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Band / Source
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Music to hold hands to

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Math and Physics Club @ The Captain's Rest, Glasgow, 25-07-11 (with Very Truly Yours, Bubblegum Lemonade and The Hermit Crabs).
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"Why did the farmer start a punk rock band? He'd had enough of Hall 'n Oates..."
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As jokes go, you know those ones, that are told to fill awkward gaps and spaces when tuning up, the guitarist, Lisle, from Very Truly Yours did hit the spot. It made us all laugh - and laugh with him, not at him, thankfully. Anyway, wow! What an amazing balmy Monday evening spent in indiepop heaven at The Captain's Rest in Glasgow last night. Does it get any better than this? The evening was something of a Matinée Recordings shindig as three-quarters of the bands on the bill are currently signed to that label. Very twee, sweet and incredibly adorable - and that was just the audience. What was really impressive was the show of bodies, faces and enthusiastic clapping for opening act The Hermit Crabs. Led by Mel, they played a blinding set and were breaking in the new 'Highlands and Islands' rhythm section. Playing a selection of material, old and new, they are a band well worth checking out. I mean, people even danced! (this can be quite unusual for this particular venue, in my experience - or perhaps it is just the type of bands I go to see play here?). 'Correspondence Course' was especially good and Mel would return later for a spot with the headline act - but more of that later! Bubblegum Lemonade were next up and play a kind of scuzzy Pastels meets Mary Chain shagging the Velvets b-side type of music (and that is very high praise indeed!), and frontman Laz is just brilliant with his Byrdesque guitar 'licks', as well as with the audience; being both witty, self-deprecating and charming - often in the very same sentence... 'Yeah, in your face Artic Monkeys!', said as he ruminated on their as yet elusive search for global 'hits' and 'rock star' status. The wonderful 'Girlfriend Ghost' was dedicated to those who couldn't attend, and a slight chill was felt in the air, as much as you can feel such a thing downstairs in the Rest... and their cover of 'That Thing You Do', as ever, got a wild reception from a sweaty audience in the 'ken. Very Truly Yours, over from Chicago and en route to Indietracks, had the hard job of following on next and what a rousing set they played. Although missing a keyboard player, Billie!, they were tight, jangly, lovely and loud - a bit like Camera Obscura might be if they took better drugs and 'cut loose' once in a while. Indeed, Kristine's vocals are very Traceyanne although the former, true, is a bit more talkative, and not just to cover the silences enforced by tuning and re-tuning. Thanking us all, many times over, for coming out to see the show, it was all smiles and candy floss from Kristine and the band - and great, great songs. 'Across The Sea' was a bit of an obvious song to put on the setlist, given the circumstances, and it fitted the mood of the evening perfectly of course. And, as mentioned, Lisle's joke gave us the giggles. :) As for headline act, Math and Physics Club, what can you say - it was just such an honour to have them play in Glasgow, almost unbelievable in fact. I always thought I'd need a wee trip back to Seattle to catch a show from them as they never play in Europe. It was a fantastic set, covering material from the two albums as well as the early EPs, and the audience were dancing away and nodding heads to the 'catchy pop beats' they play so well. It was difficult not to grin like a complete idiot as songs like 'Jimmy Had A Polaroid' and 'Love Or Loneliness' were played so faultlessly (depsite the jetlag!) and it was quite funny when 'La La Lisa' was dedicated to a Lisa who had just left the room (weep!). A further highlight was the duet with Mel Hermit Crab, a very emotional version of 'Darling, Please Come Home'. There didn't seem to be many dry eyes in the room for that one, including my own. Sob. As the set went on the covers came out to play and we were given two choices (I seem to have forgotten them both! I think one was by the old Sarah band, Brighter? Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking on my part? Whatevs.). Anyway, no matter, as we demanded both, and then insisted on another original song for good measure...! :) Oh, there was a very funny moment worth telling... when offering the cover versions someone in the audience asked the band if they knew any songs by Belle and Sebastian... 'But we've just played an entire set of Belle of Sebastian songs!' came the knowing reply from Charles, followed up with 'Why not come to see us play in Manchester tomorrow and we'll play The Smiths!' from Ethan. LOL, so we did. Anyway, in terms of the songs, here you have what the band opened with and closed with in Glasgow last night. Do enjoy. What a brilliant time of it. Moar, please.
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Math and Physics Club - 'Weekends Away' (2.37)
Math and Physics Club - 'We're so DIY!' (2.24)
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With very special thanks to Colin ('Half My Heart Beats') for putting this show on. :)
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Go say hello at the Clubhouse! And, remember, Indietracks is this weekend coming! As for the photographs, what can I say, erm... I do like musician's feet (not in a weird way, promise!).
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If you hear the perfect note then share it

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The dark moors appeal tonight, surrounded in mist and regret, staking out their shadows and trophies for the hunted tribes whose pride and confidence has taken a terminal fall. And this soundtrack, my God, it resonates wildy inside your head, like a forced echo sustaining a rotating, forgotten landscape. The delicate ripples, in the form of one note then two, lap over your raw and bruised feet, soothing and healing, in time to an unfamiliar pattern you can't hope to forget or extinguish. It is all in that moment, a touch, the lingering. Deep inside this cave of sound a faint hum, with jagged claws, is tearing at your soul questioning everything you know, everyone who made this moment of reflection, of unquestioned 'self', possible. The echo continues and repeats, over and over and over. The delicate side comes forth more now, the haunted scraping against skin, against the heart. Sounds invade, and then fade, in a perfect sidestep on this journey. But how many notes does it take to seduce him over to the place where you are? How many for her, do you know? And what about the losing? It's a question, an equation, that defies any kind of traditional or technological source code and has no aide-memoire to act as compassionate companion in the search for that completeness. This time you need to figure it out on your own, the man you both inspire, and then aspire, to be. It's all about the rhythm of time, you see, and as for the exercised hands on the seen-better-days clock... well, they wait for no one, not even you. It marches on and claims continents, never mind countries.
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Richard Skelton - 'Shore' (7.04)
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You can buy Richard's work here, and say hello over at his Wordpress site. The effort that goes into making these divine artefacts needs to be seen to be appreciated, not just heard. With sincere thanks to F. for leading me to Skelton's work.
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I want my lips to blister when we kiss

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Sometimes - and you all know this to be deeply true, if you are being honest for once - the only gesture required or demanded at those kind of times is feeling a soft, warm head falling deep into your electrified scapula and a matching pair of loving, tentacled arms reaching around your naked, shamed body, to say, actually, it's all going to be alright, forever.... and I do feel that the Wild Beasts need such a warm, tight embrace, right about now. "It's alive", indeed. Sigh.
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Wild Beasts - 'Bed of nails' (Live, Later with Jools Holland, 17-05-11) (3.43)
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Like snakes in the grass. One to buy. The injustice... it does hurt.
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I can take a road that'll see me through

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So, you were drunken in the haze of a less than happy hour, I know, but is that really a valid excuse eighteen years later? Sigh. I don't suppose you remember this song? Or the band? It was a strange time after all; 1992 was it? Nothing but Mega City 4, Midway Still, Leatherface and The Senseless Things playing local tiny grubby venues, attracting all the spotty late-teen boyz ('pop kids'), bad drugs and haircuts that could be used as weapons of mass destruction within their respective gigathon shrines to 'Powah Pop'. They ate all our chips as well. And snogged our ex-girlfriends as they had shiny wheels and could play three chords, with delay, reverb, delay, reverb, delay, reverb... etc. Nobody wore trousers, did you ever stop playing with yourself to even notice that? It was all baggy shorts and obscure indie T-shirts. Except for Wiz, of course, as he always wore that slightly manky Hüsker Dü shirt. Life in a transit van, eh? It's funny, just a little bit, how you look back at those strange times - you know, way back then - and when you look up at yourself now, in a forced hallway mirror making sure you've no toothpaste on your chin before you head off out for the day, kind of way, you realise that you've somehow ended up living the kind of life your Dad can't even begin to imagine. Or perhaps he can. But you'll never ask him, obviously. A line in a movie script would have it that 'every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around'. I'm not so sure that's actually true though, for some things. I mean, some actions, events, can't be turned around or forgiven. Water and bridges, and all that (it has long sailed out to the polluted ocean now anyway). Life. In an instant. You got it all wrong, you know, it's not all about my mother, it's all about my father. Him.
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Drive - 'Go out - be happy' (3.52)
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Nostalgia can be a terrible thing, but not always. Buy a copy of the album, go on now. You look at the photographs and just wonder: what the fuck were you thinking about, son?
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Ps. My rather vain and lame attempts at documenting the wonderful life of Sarah Records continues, by the way. That occurs over here. It's happening every Sunday from a few weeks ago until I get bored, we run out of singles or JC evicts me from his castle. Hopefully the middle option will rule the school. :)
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Tell us a story from before we can remember

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So, yes, I admit it, I would have liked 'The Tree of Life' a lot more if the soundtrack had included Moscow Olympics on it. However, even so, I still can't wait for Part 2. Erm, there is a Part 2 coming along soon, right? Like, 'The Shrubbery of Death', or something?
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Moscow Olympics - 'Second Trace' (3.43)
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Go make friends!
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The killing jar

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'Death is not the end' proclaimed the ill-fitting, turning black-to-grey, T-shirt. And you stare into this iron cage, a grasping void of self-doubt, knowing the reasons why (and your certain fate within it) but you just can't back away. Tip-toes on the crumbling edge, staring down. There is no love lost here, no hope of escape. And yet.... in you go, happily so. A moth into the light, in opposite formation. Deep down, spilling and twirling and longing to be let go. It requires an explanation, in a sense, but there aren't enough letters in the alphabet to form the words demanded by such horrors. How could there be? For this sound, such images, and the feelings generated... they are not of this world; Lynchesque in plot, narrative, angles, set design, acting. All of it. An identity, a long-player, is shaped in the knowing of what needs to be unlearnt and then built up again, reconstructed to a new set of plans. Past mistakes, no more, but the experience and biography shapes you. New foundations need to be established. Roots secured, in hope and promise. Room to grow, a nurturing. It's a farewell, to you, and then...

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Conquering Animal Sound - 'Wasp' (3.48)

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Visit / Buy / Watch (on tour)

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And resentment rides high

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All I should say, at this point in time, is that I do appreciate the very slight tip of the cap to 'Love will tear us apart' in this song (whether accidental or on purpose). And, in saying these words, I don't particularly care if no one else can hear it but me. But, do you hear it, as I do? The thing is, J. Tillman (who is not just the drummer in that band) is my new post-Kozelek love(r), for sure. And, erm, The Horrors? Who? Jeezo, that's just so, like, yesterday.... meaning, of course, 1983-84. ;)
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J. Tillman - 'Occurance at the River Jordan' (4.16)
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All things real. One to watch.
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I wish that we could talk about it

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'And it keeps coming, and it keeps coming, and it keeps coming... until the day it stops.'
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There is something about the interpretation of this LCD Soundsystem song that just cuts me down, every-single-time. Emotions, associations and memories, to the song itself of course (when I left the big house, years ago now, early morning, this was my soundtrack as I walked to the railway station in the glinting sun with a stuffed sports bag over my shoulder for company) but, also, it's the sheer talent and skill that is on display here that is just breathtaking (thank-you, Andrew). It's all picking, fingering, tapping and bowing of the cello and the useful employment of some fancy technology as well; the building up of sounds, layers and loops and then their eventual downfall. There are no spoken words involved this time around, they are just not needed, as you find yourself mouthing the words anyway. 'The coffee isn't even bitter'. I love that part. It seems to matter the most these days. Not so long ago it used to be 'I miss the way we used to argue'. But the truth is, I just don't anymore. Those days have been and gone.
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Andrew Carter - 'Someone Great' (LCD Soundsystem cover, Cello instrumental) (6.43)
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Go visit Andrew. See him play, loop and play again. One to watch. And the original, of course.
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It starts out quickly.

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'It's all a matter of perspective' mouthed the seven-foot tall goalkeeper to the nervous penalty-kick taker, attempting to stare him out at this most critical of all moments in the ninety-something that have been on offer. And, it's also an expression I'm getting used to hearing these days, this sense of relativity and unknowing, even without that physical twelve yards necessarily being involved. Needless to say, the shoe will fit so I'll slip it on. I'm very much the person that needs to kick the ball into the less than open net. Gulp. This is a challenge. And whilst I appreciate the importance of such an act, of enacting an active agency, so to speak, this doesn't prevent that fear running through the dark spilled blood, chilling it to a slow-motion replay where the metaphorical waterfall floods are actually tiny drips and the journey stops and starts in lost and abandoned railways of the heart. And whilst I gather an inner-strength, of a kind, the soundtrack comes from somewhere otherwordly; a place where what end of the street you stand at really matters, where what you say cannot be taken back. It all begins with one solitary note on a piano. And if you can't even play that note as it should be played then why bother at all? This is not a practice session or a 'jam'. This is real life.
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Glissando - 'With a kiss and a tear' (7.06)
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Searching delicate sounds / A slow burning secret / Buying worthy Gizeh
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Tell me you feel this fire

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Oh Glasgow, I do love you. Yes, I fucking do. Especially when the sun shines brightly, the graffiti gives good LOLZ (praise be to the 12 year old boyz with marker pens about town!) and, amongst all the high horse shite that is being hurriedly pushed through your disciplinary letter box of late, the new 'Young Team' (so tae speak) are finally sent out to find their inspiring 'selves' with their loved ones, both big and small, looking on. I do <3 Graduation Day and I can't help myself, in a traditionalist kinda way. But, you know, it's just nice to see a lot of people coming together, all scrubbed up clean and dressed to the High 9's, to be happy, right? Big smiles and white teeth. Cameras at the ready. And yes, ok, even if it is just for a morning or so and the all-familiar drudge-drudge-drudge of the wordly ways returns in the form of a hangover the very next day. But just believe, for a day or two at least, that the future is a lot brighter than you think and it pays to keep some fingers and toes crossed (but not the ones you stole from Sukie at the graveyard, please no, no, no...).

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Stereolab - 'Les Yper Sound' (live) (4.13)

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Not writing, just thinking.

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A monopoly on the legitimate use of violence

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I know, it's not very amusing, really, but the more I read Weber (let alone Marx!) and, in particular, the more I listen to a band like McCarthy, the less I understand how we actually put up with what we put up with in terms of the socio-economic world we are forced to endure and play a small part in. In other words, yes, I am having a slight crisis of political (not musical) faith and I'll be taking a wee break from this rather bourgeois indulgence to consider my material options and focus on the things that matter most. And by that I don't mean the forthcoming public sector revolution (shame on fucking you Miliband; what your Dad would have made of it all I can't even guess). Or do I mean that public revolution? No, I think I have to mean a more personal revolution, one involving the people; the good souls. Well, that and possibly, if the news arrives, trying to find another job (along with two and half million other people forming a winding line around the revamped dole office).
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McCarthy - 'Governing takes brains' (4.16)
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One for the weekend. Storm those barricades, comrades.
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PS. Speechless. Open mouthed. I don't know about you, but this song has just blown me apart into a million different pieces. The Horrors are taking it beyond a question of mere 'progression' or 'levels'. They are now wholesome giants in a minature, scaled-down world. And we are better for this transformation, absolutely.
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