the money thing is the most boring part of everything
October 03, 2008
so when people who are songwriters say, “That’s my property and if you give it away for free then I lose my incentive,” then, well, good riddance.
I was 8 when Minor Threat formed in 1980. Way too young. I didn’t properly discover music until about ‘85. I inherited a big old record player and all my Mums records form the ‘60’s: Dylan, The Rolling Stones, lots of Donovan.
Perhaps five years later, must have been some time in 1990 the year I finished high school, I remember being at a friends house and hearing Minor Threat and Fugazi for the first time. It blew my mind. He was a French Mauritian skate kid. Definitely a bad influence. We hung out and smoked cigarettes (not very straight edge I know). We would often nick his dads (his dad had a shady history preserving French interests as a mercenary, ironically) strong French cigarettes and cheap bottles of wine. Those were happy days. We’d skate. Occasionally we’d surf (badly). We’d get drunk and smoke more cigarettes. And our soundtrack was Fugazi. Always Fugazi.
It opened the door to the grunge of Hüsker Dü, Nirvana (of course) and Screaming Trees (the talented but troubled Mark Lanegan) and then began a long love affair with Sonic Youth and all things Thurston Moore (who I admire in a similar way to Ian MacKaye. As much for his music as his outlook). They’re the reason why today I’m drawn to the raw punk energy of bands like Japanther (pictured), Sic Alps, No Age.
The record industry is in the process of atrophying but the music industry is thriving. I really believe that. Thanks to the internet I’m listening to more music now than I ever have. I’m always discovering new exciting bands and rediscovering old ones. And if I hear something and it blows my mind, you’d better believe I go and try and buy the fucking record. It’s exciting times and it’s creative people like Ian MacKaye that fill me with optimism. I want to believe that the future doesn’t belong to big whoring businessmen. I want it to belong to the people who make and create. In any case, creativity thrives in the absence of and regardless of money.
My position is that the money thing is the most boring part of everything and I find it much more interesting and engaging to be part of a community where money and contracts are not the central conversation, and that’s what happened to music.
This resonates very deeply with me. Not just in music but in everything I do.
Read the interview with Ian MacKaye at downhillbattle.org
Quotes by Ian MacKaye taken from the interview. Photo of Ian Vanek of Japanther is my own.
Poundland
September 26, 2008
You know that Poundland in Bromley hasn’t changed its prices since the nineties.
My good friend MrLomo
socialise losses
September 18, 2008
We privatise profits; we socialise losses.
Michael Greenberger, a former director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Photograph: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters
Hugh Holland
September 17, 2008
“In 1975, when Hugh Holland first began photographing the skateboarders in southern California, he had already been living in Los Angeles for nine years. His interest in photography had developed in the mid-sixties as a 20-year-old living in his native state of Oklahoma. Except for a college job working in a photo lab, Holland had no formal art education. He spent years training his eye by shooting photographs and working with the images”
Biting the bullet
September 10, 2008
Right. I’ve got myself a slice and today marks day one of my migration from MediaTemple to Slicehost. I’m going to document the whole process as best I can in the hope that it will be useful to others. No hard feeling MediaTemple but you’re making me look bad. Your C Panel is amazing and your support second to none but my slice is slow and I’m not paying $20 for a Django container. Let’s go…
Truckasaurus
September 05, 2008
I‘m smitten. I’ve not felt this way about a band since I first heard Red Snapper back in ‘96. Prince Blimey blew all my preconceptions and ‘musical rules’ away in an album that I rate very highly even today, more than 10 years on. I’m reminded of Red Snapper a lot whilst listening to ‘Tea Parties, Guns and Valor’. Listen to the Knuckle Buckemruff (Basic Remix). It’s ’The Sleepless‘ in 8 bit.
‘Rise of the Idiots‘ they are not. You can be forgiven for thinking so. On first glance they show all the signs of affected ’hipsters‘. But these guys have got skills. Real talent. The music is intelligent and exciting and if you need proof of that just watch the “Street Truck” Video by Trent Moorman. The percussion is astounding!
As an aside, I’m also excited to hear to that Red Snapper’s new album is eminent. Pale Blue Dot. Out on the 28th October on Lo Recordings. Masterful stuff!
the Orange Unlit tour
August 22, 2008
Women: The Google challenge
August 12, 2008
The band’s called Women and their debut album is called Women. They were recommended to be by ’thelovelygemma‘ and they’re very good.
So, here a little internet challenge. See how much info you can find about this band by searching for them in Google. Tricky huh?
Perhaps there’s something in it. Trying to come up with band names that no one can google. If you can’t google it, you can’t find it, you can’t download it and you have to resort to legitimate sources to buy it. Clever.
Shyness
June 25, 2008
Shyness is nice, but shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life that you’d like to.
The Smiths
We’re on a family holiday in Greece. Its a lovely warm evening. The sun is on it’s way down and everything is the most amazing sunset red. We’re wandering past a pretty restaurant playing “traditional Greek music”. My little girl, she’s 4 going on 14, looks up at me and says “Daddy, I want to take my shoes off and dance”. I say that it would be lovely and of course I’m more than happy for her to, but I can see the noticeable change in her face as she is overcome with “shyness”. Such a dreadful word. It’s like a disease. Shyness. God forbid anyone should be shy.
So I said “Ok, let’s find somewhere to dance where no one can see you”. Well that was no good. What’s the point of dancing if no one can see you.
“Ok then, what’s the deal?” I say (we do this often). “I’ll do a twirl over here if you give me a cuddle after”, she says matter of fact. Well who’s going to argue with that. She does the twirl, she smiles the biggest most beautiful smile and gives me a big cuddle.
A half hour later she’s still dancing, getting lots of praise and attention. Even my little boy’s joined in. I’m smiling proudly, feeling a little shy myself now. Then she comes running over, grabs my hand and says “Thank you daddy, I’m not shy anymore”.
Those we miss the most
June 09, 2008
Sir John Betjeman
Play Balloonacy
June 03, 2008
See that little balloon floating from the bottom left bottom right side of the page? It’s part of an awesome project I’ve been working on at POKE. It has just launched and registration is now open for the World’s first internet balloon race.
Get yourself a balloon here and if you’ve got a website or blog make it part of the the race course by signing up and adding it here.
Crystal Stilts
May 26, 2008
Love isn’t glycerin, it’s nitroglycerin
Crikey, I’m on a roll. I thought this might be a punk album from 10 years ago but I ‘googled’ Crystal Stilts. It’s very recent and of course Pitchfork are all over it. Very lo-fi, very punk, very good.
The Tallest Man on Earth
May 26, 2008
I grew up with a very healthy dose of Bob Dylan so a little folk music doesn’t scare me shitless like it does some. So on discovering The Tallest Man on Earth, I didn’t run away covering my ears. I’m particularly fond of the track ‘The Gardner’. It’s melodic, it’s poignant, it’s clever.
I tried to retrace my steps but I’ve no idea how I discovered this. I was hunting around looking for something to listen to. Something to satisfy an audio (not audible) lust. Shallow Graves quenches… briefly.
Simon Høgsberg
May 16, 2008
Over a period of 3 months I stopped 150 strangers on the street and asked them what they were thinking about the second before I stopped them… then took a picture of them.
South Bank
May 13, 2008
South Bank HD from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
I enjoy discovering something interesting or beautiful in the seemingly prosaic. So it’s with great pleasure that I stumbled (via Matthew Buchanan) across the work of Philip Bloom. This video in particular. The South Bank is my favourite place in London and I’ve walked the route from Waterloo to the Tate Modern many times yet this beautifully observed video is full of images I feel ashamed to admit I’ve completely missed.
There’s more work on Philip’s site and it’s all beautifully observed. Great stuff.
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