Turning Japanese

I've just managed to get a copy of the Polysics LP - 'Now Is The Time' - described as 'punk rock with video game noises' - a pretty apt description, all I now is that they rock. They come from a long list of inovative Japanese Groups. Japan is a hotbed of groundbreaking acts - from the freeform psychedelic jams of the Acid Mothers Temple to the girlie garage stylings of the 5,6,7,8s. Julian Cope has written a great tome about the history of Japanese 'pop'; 'Japrocksampler - How The Post-War Japanese Blew Their Minds On Rock 'n'Roll'.
Here are a couple of Jap classics to whet your appetite! Enjoy!

Polysics - Coelakanth Is Android

The Boredoms - Super You

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April already

So time makes it's inexorable way forward and April is upon us. March was a great month for new music; new lps from Foals, The Whip, Los Campesinos, REM among others. April should prove to be no less exciting - Crystal Castles release their debut, as do The Courteeners. So to celebrate the new month, some CC and Courteeners (didn't see that one coming eh?)

Crystal Castles Vs. Health - Crimewave Remix

The Courteeners - Acrylic

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Butthole Surfers

Revisiting my youth again, digging out all my old Butthole Surfers stuff. For those who don't know them, they were (are?) a bunch of psychedelic punks from Texas who specialised in freaky, psyche, and sometimes downright offensive alt.rock. I saw them in London in 1986/87 where they had naked go-go dancers (nothing new there, the Stranglers were doing that in '77) but the stage was backdropped by a film of someone undergoing a sex-change - pretty freaky baring in mind the amount of narcotics consumed that night by tye punters. Anyhoo, here are a coupla tracks to whet your appetite: 'American Woman' from the 'Rembrandt Pussyhorse' LP and their brilliant Sabbath rip-off 'Sweatloaf' from 'Locust Abortion Technician'.

Butthole Surfers - American Woman

Butthole Surfers - Sweat Loaf

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Antidotes - Foals

So, after weeks of speculation the Foals LP has finally come to light ; and it doesn't disappoint!!! The pre-release buzz centred around the decision to omit the two singles 'Mathletics' and 'Hummer'; some said it was brave, others stupid but whatever, the album certainly doesn't suffer from the omission - it stays true to the Foals sound, vaguely afro, lots of hi-end guitar, lots of hi-hat and loads of class. The pick of the album must be 'Cassius' the new single. Production credits go to Dave Sitek from 'TV On The Radio' who kept the recording crisp and clear. Foals nearest competitors in the 'so good it hurts' league are Vampire Weekend. Surely this must be an early favourite for Album Of The Year!?

Foals - Cassius

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Another punk day

Having another one of those punk days where all I wanna do is listen to some very loud, very fast hardcore punk. Them were the days, pogoing 'til you were sick, and it wasn't a good gig unless you got a black eye, a nosebleed or some broken bones, sigh!!.
In about '80 or '81 I was lucky enough to see the Dead Kennedys in London, wot a gig that was! My only regret was never seeing Black Flag. So, in memory of those I saw and those I didn't.....

Dead Kennedys - California Über Alles

Black Flag - T.V. Party

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New REM LP

Just got a copy of the new REM lp 'Accelerate'. In my humble opinion the best material they have produced in many a year - better than the sometimes turgid mess of 'Around The Sun' and much more upbeat than the (albeit very good)more emotional 'Automatic for the People'. 'Accelerate' is a joyous journey of pacy guitar rock, sometimes fuzzy garage, other times high-quality indie rock. Whether this is the musical equivalent of a mid-life crisis remains to be seen!

REM - Living well is the best revenge

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Tours

Midnight Juggernauts are currently doing the rounds, with a short UK tour, kicking off in the capital tonight. They play vogueish indie, electro-synth music and have remixed the likes of The Presets and Damn Arms and have appeared on bills with MSTRKRFT. Good stuff

Thu 20/03/08 Scala, London,
Cancelled - Barfly,Birmingham
Thu 27/03/08 Night and Day,Manchester
Fri 28/03/08 Bodega Social, Nottingham,
Sat 29/03/08 Thekla, Bristol
Sat 05/04/08 Norwich Arts Centre

Also just announced their tour dates are Brighton based boy/girl combo Blood Red Shoes. They will be showcasing their own unique brand of Indie across the UK in support of their debut LP 'Box of Secrets', released on April 14th.

Stoke, Sugarmill (March 26)
Nottingham, Rescue Rooms (27)
Birmingham, Barfly (28)
Leeds, Cockpit (29)
Hull, Lamp (31)
Norwich, Waterfront (April 1)
Northampton, Soundhaus (2)
Oxford, Academy (3)
Tunbridge Wells, Forum (5)
Cambridge, Junction Theatre (6)
Brighton, Komedia (7)
Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms (8)
London, KCLSU (9)
Bristol, Thekla (12)
Liverpool, Barfly (13)
Manchester, Academy 3 (14)
Newcastle, Academy 2 (16)
Aberdeen, Kef (17)
Glasgow, ABC2 (18)

Midnight Juggernauts - Road To Recovery

Blood Red Shoes - You Bring Me Down

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Punks Not Dead!!

Quick one today,got a stinka of a headache, a couple new(ish) punk bands for your musical delight.I'm off to neck some Nurofen and settle down with the latest episode of 'Lost'.

Cancerbats - Grenades

Pissed Jeans - I'm Sick

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Back in the day

I'm currently in the process of converting all my vinyl to mp3, a daunting task but well worth it. Music must be one of the most emotive of mediums. Certain records take be right back to 80s/90s - being wrecked at the Reading festival, dodgy clothes, even dodgier hair and Karen...aah, the lovely Karen!. It all seemed so innocent back then, but then I'm getting old!!! I've provided you lucky people with three of my faves from back in the day; Stourbridge's finest - Pop Will Eat Itself, fellow midlanders The Wonderstuff and and the dynamic duo themselves - Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. Those of a certain age will sigh with memories of youth lost!

Pop Will Eat Itself - Def. Con. One.

The Wonderstuff - A Wish Away

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - Sheriff Fatman

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Avant Garde my Arse!!

I hate the term 'avant garde' - it's one of those phrases bandied about by people who just don't understand - it's all relative. It's like the word 'crap' - who are we to call something crap when we don't like it. For example, I really dislike Scouting For Girls but I wouldn't call them crap (someone must enjoy their cod Del Amitri, lovey-dovey, 'ooh she's so lovely', immature drivel!). Anyway, back to the point of this rant, one band that is always having the 'avant garde' label thrust upon them are The Mars Volta. I caught them in London on Friday; what I saw wasn't avant garde but the most joyous, ear-splitting, exhilarating noise I've had the pleasure of listening to for quite a while; 2+ hours of psychedelic prog-rock with some jazzy weirdness and some 'cerebral' lyrics, oh, and some awesome guitar work. For those who've never had the pleasure I've posted 'The Widow' from the 'Frances The Mute' lp. I would seriously recommend investing in the full output.

The Mars Volta - The Widow

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A Good Weekend

At last! West Ham have finally managed to not only score but to win!! After three 4-0 drubbings on the spin it was a great relieve. Freddie Sears is a name for the future.
And Lewis Hamilton won the first Grand Prix of the season, putting that stroppy spaniard in his place!!

Speaking of bright young things - tracks for you from 3 of the new Indie vanguard.First up are Bolt Action Five whose AA side single was released on This Is Fake Diy last October. Another band hard to categorise - indie, electro, post-hardcore, dance-punk - take your pick!
Let's Wrestle write snotty songs in the good ol' British way and the music reflects the attitude - laddish but in a very endearing manner. 'Music is my Girlfriend' has hints of C86 about it.
The Black Kids are the current darlings of the NME and ,for a bunch of yanks, are pretty damn good - I was chuffed to see that they're playing Colchester (close to my little piece of Essex)in June.

Bolt Action Five - Think Fast

Let's Wrestle - Music Is My Girlfriend

The Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

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Damn Arms

These lads from Oz are causing quite the stir in the 'nu-rave'(or'electro-punk' or electro-pop', I don't know - I get confused these days) circles. I do know that they make a goodly noise that makes me happy!! You can see/ hear more of them here. In the meantime here are a couple of spunky cuts from them.

Wooden Leg, Evil Claw (Dyce Remix)

The not so progressive punks (Narctrax remix).

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I Hate You Darling

It seems we were all well and truly shafted by the Chancellor yesterday. Being a smoker and a driver I was crucified, thank god I don't drink! Instead of dealing with the real issues in this country (poverty, the impending recession, teenagers and the fact that no-one can afford to by a house )Alistair Darling, in his infinite wisdom, decided that people who happen to own a car, like a drink and who smoke should bear the brunt of his ineptitude - the bastard!! That being said, at least me ol' nan will be warm next winter! Anyhoo, to cheer up any fellow drivers/smokers, here are a couple of shitkicking tunes. The first is a blinding Hadouken! remix of Bloc Party, followed by The Presets' awesome 'My People'.

Bloc Party - The Prayer (Hadouken Remix)

The Presets - My People

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Bad day

So, after a really shite day at work, I decided I'll start my own blog - mainly music but with the occasional rant about the state of the world. And so........


CRYSTAL CASTLES.

This Canadian boy/girl group are set to HUGE in 2008 - producing a neat line in electropunk noise. They are touting the UK this year - catch 'em!

Oxford Carling Academy (May 2)
Bristol Thekla (3)
Norwich Waterfront (4)
Brighton Concorde 2 (5)
Nottingham Rescue Rooms (6)
Birmingham Carling Academy 2 (8)
Glasgow Arches (10)
Newcastle Carling Academy 2 (11)
Manchester Academy 2 (12)
London Mean Fiddler (14)
Stoke Sugarmill (15)

Crystal Castles - Black Panther

Crystal Castles at MySpace

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