The Avalanches

Lisa, my wife wouldn’t let me play a CD for our travelling about this weekend, well she did, it was Bossanova by Pixies, but it was on an ipod and it wasn’t part of my loosely alphabetical trawl through my CD’s. Today it resumed though and it was the self titled album by New Zealand dance act, The Avalanches. I have to say when I first heard this album I liked it very much, in a similar vein to Lemon Jelly and Cowcube, the difference being I know when I get to those albums they will still be a joy to listen to. The Avalanches wasn’t. Every track is a 3 second loop repeated over an over, they aren’t songs they are breaks, good breaks but breaks none the less, and this really long album ( I was stuck between Jct 11 and 8 for 40 minutes and the album only finished as I pulled into work) but apart from maybe 1 or 2 tracks, you could listen to any 5 seconds within a song and it would sound the same as any other 5 seconds within the same song. They are using hip hop beats but not breaking it up with any rapping, it was a really tedious CD to listen to, Frontier Psychiatrist and Since I met you are pretty early on and EVERY other track is practically a 3 second loop. I really wished that I had skipped this album but that is breaking the rules. Appalling. 1 out of 10. It should be less as the album version is not the version of since I met you that I love.

The Virgin Suicides

A lot of EP’s and singles to flick by this morning, notably, The Amps, Ash, American Music Club, and some Air, before settling on Air’s soundtrack to the film The Virgin suicides. The film is a favourite, I loved the film and so did my wife, who I bought this soundtrack for some years ago. She owns a lot of Air and it’s a band I can and do listen to a reasonable amount, usually in the bath when I have had a day dealing with idiots. It’s a toss up between The Virgin Suicides and Moon Safari as to which is my favourite, Moon Safari is not so far away but for now lets say TVS, and it’s a great soundtrack, stunning in fact, up there with Selma Songs. Really very enjoyable and the perfect sound to block out the hum of the M6. So far the best that the A’s have had to offer, I am conscious though of Archive, The Amps and another Ant album coming up, but for now, the best. 8 out of 10.

Auf De Mer

Auf De Mer by former Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist, Melissa Auf De Mer. This one is a copy that a good friend took the time to make for me, so any negative comment would seem rather ungrateful. It is shit though, not bad, or mediocre, it is easily the shittest CD I have listened to whilst navigating the A’s, and at the end of all this when I play the last track of the second Zumpano CD I may look back and say , Auf De Mer, that WAS the shittest! Tunes it is bereft of them, clichés its chock full of them, its autotuned beyond belief, its fucking appalling and that’s being polite. I quite liked one single when it was released but this album, which is ridiculously long and has an oh so hilarious hidden “track”, this album is just not good. 2 out of 10 and that’s being polite as a good friend did it for me, and due to its length only plays once per journey.

Bang Bang Rock and Roll

I skipped a number of EP’s this morning, two by the All New Adventures of Us and two by Ash and that bought me squarely to Bang bang Rock and roll. Art Brut was todays soundtrack and as good as it was I still have this ridiculous dislike of Eddy Argos. That’s neither here nor there. I first listened to Art Brut as a result of the Emily Kane song and video and then saw them at Reading festival, they were excellent and the subsequent album was equally excellent. Then they decided to rarely play anywhere in the UK so I went off them a bit, well a lot. The album then, quite spikey listening back to it, and I recall just how much my wife played this album, an album of penile dysfunction, first loves, the music business and planned moves to LA. I guess it is punk rock in its own way, but by the end of the second rotation, (Its short) his voice was getting on my wick somewhat. 5 out of 10 for the voice 7 out of 10 for the songs.

Sad To See It's Morning

Spinning on the Donohoe in car CD player was the second offering so far from Ant, a compilation called Sad to See it’s Morning. Its an album of B-sides, demos and rarities, and to be honest it is perhaps the Ant album I have played the least, not as a reflection of its quality but maybe because it was a compilation. That’s neither here not there though as the whole point of me going through my CD’s in this fashion was to address the fact that I maybe haven’t listened to some albums as much as I should have, this album is a perfect example. Its not all great, it is all good though and there are few tracks that just blew me away, as the CD case is in the car and I am not very good with titles you will never know which ones, if you do own the album, and you should, it’s the one with the female vocal on it, track 2, Suzanne Rhatigan at a guess, that track in particular was just lovely. Of course it shouldn’t have been Ant today, it should have been The Ataris, but my CD player would not play that album so I pulled over and dashed back in the house for a different album. So, Sad to see its Morning, enjoyable, 6 out of 10.

From Here To Infirmary

This mornings journey through the Donohoe CD’s is another Alkaline Trio Cd, From Here to Infirmary and if Fridays was a disappointment this certainly wasn’t. They actually sound like they mean it on this CD and it reminded me why I loved them in the first place, Stupid Kid and Private Eye being the stand out tracks and a CD that when it got to the end I was glad that it started again, really enjoyable. 8 out of 10.

Keith West to The Wedding Present

Recently Kev did his musical history, my own is rather warty when it comes to warts and all, I like to think that the route taken was one that made me the person I am today, one that appreciates the niceties of most genres.
I was born in 1970, my first musical memory was a song that was being played but had been released in 1967, so I assume that Jimmy Saville or Ed Stewart was playing it for some reason, it was Excerpt from a Teenage Opera by Keith West, potentially the single saddest song ever recorded, or possibly not, but rather sad in its tone. I remember hearing it in the kitchen of our Donnington home.



The first song that I really recall and played time after time after time was one of my parents 7 inches, and it was the Johnny Cash schmaltz fest that is A thing called love, I absolutely loved this song and played it over and over and over, not from his glory days and bereft of god or murder, and the production on the original has thse dreadful female backing singers that seemed to be on a lot of his Colombia released albums, that single and the repeated plays of it was the start of a love affair with Johnny Cash that goes on today.



1976 and punk rock was just starting and the musical world was changing, for me though it wasn’t, Brotherhood of man had won Eurovision and I liked that, Jimmy Saville liked it too and unless Jimmy played it, it didn’t mean shit. I worked at Butlins up until the mid nineties and managed to watch Brotherhood of man quite a number of times, it was rather sad as in 30 years they hadn’t appeared to age, they seemed quite old on the Eurovision footage.



1980 was the year music changed for me, I was ten and had pocket money burning a hole in my pocket, older brother and sister influencing me more and more, and it was the year I bought my first single, or singles to be precise, bought from a Wallpaper shop in Donnington Telford, that had a sideline in selling records, in the back of course, behind the anaglypta. I bought 2 singles that day and the pop foundations were well and truly enforced, but pop of the most magnificent type. Blondie’s The tide is high and Abba’s Super Trooper, the former was just a record that I liked but the latter was the first tentative steps with the first band that I ever got into. For the next two years Abba would be a flirtation.



This may have of course sent out signals to my parents, after all it wasn’t Deep Purple or ACDC or some other manly band, it was Abba, I was going to allay any fears they may have had and asked my dad for a music album which I played a lot over 1981 and 1982 and that was You Can’t Stop the Music by The Village People. Ahem



1984 and 13 years old was the year that I started to love music and it started to mean more to me than just background fluff, In 1983 there was talk about a band that had made this record, but radio wasn’t playing it, but it was on 160 at the moment. I duly called dial a disc and pre digital telecommunications were not kind to it, but I liked what I heard. Frankie Goes to Hollywood were without doubt the first band that I truly truly loved to the point of buying every release on every format, and postering my room to an inch of its life with pictures of the band. I absolutely adored the band and for me realistically, 1984 was year one for music.



Frankie and me probably lasted 2 years, then one night I decided to listen to radio late at night, I hadn’t before, well I had but it tended to be Lee Vynon on Signal FM, now it may have been Peel, it may have been Gambacini, but someone was playing Bonzo Goes to Bitburg, the current single by The Ramones, and oh my, I had never heard anything like that at all ever, The Ramones were a life changing thing, and this is absolutely true, I ripped down all of my FGTH posters and gave away all their records the next day, I needed to get that Ramones single and investigate just how stunning they sounded. Over the next 3 years intensely and again recently, The Ramones just became my gods, they were the first band I ever saw, I wore their t-shirts, I made pilgrimages to Lndon to track down the gaps in my record collection. I loved that band.



I knew what I wanted from music from that moment, and it would not really change for quite a number of years, I liked guitars and that was the case when Alex Poulson introduced me in 1987 to The Wedding Present, Alex introduced me to a lot of music, notably Husker Du and The Clash, but his main contribution to my life was playing me George Best by The Wedding Present, a band that kickstarted my gigging years and probably had a retirement home built due to the ridiculous amount of money spent by me on them. I travelled the length and breadth of Britain watching them, payed stupid sums for a mispressed singles and the like and really should have known better.



So this brings us neatly up to 1987, 84-87 were the 80’s for me, and after 87 it gets a little crowded so my musical history can take a break until soon when I regale you with Peter: The Dance Years.

Good Mourning

This mornings soundtrack to drive into work in the trek through my loosely alphabeticised CD’s was Good Mourning by The Alkaline Trio, a fairly enjoyable pop punk offering from a band that are likely to crop up a lot over the next week or two as I have a few albums by them. I do quite like the band a few years ago I really liked them but what struck me about this album and I think it is their thing, but what struck me was the cartoon fascination with murder and horror, other bands do it, notably in our house The Horrorpops and The Cramps, but it seems relistening to The Alkaline Trio, it becomes their schtick and formulaic. All in all a good album though and nice to relisten. 6 out of 10.

A Long Way to Blow a Kiss

This mornings alphabetical CD was A Long Way to Blow a Kiss by Ant, if I was doing EP’s as well yesterday would have been him as well, but as I am not, just today. Ant used to be the drummer in Hefner and is probably the only member of the band I still listen to. This album, I can’t recall how old it is but I know I liked it a lot at the time and that hasn’t changed, really enjoyable, it alludes I think to the long distance relationship that Ant was having with his then girlfriend, its all rather sweet if not extremely personal. 8 out of 10

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

I am going through my CD albums and playing one a day in the car. Alphabetically, although that hasn’t been the case for Monday (Innervisions by Stevie Wonder) and Tuesday (More than this, The very best of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music) but I started properly today, but I stress that although my CD’s are alphabeticised, its very loose, so todays may be the first of the A’s but others that come will almost certainly be before it alphabetically. Also no CD singles or EP’s as they are too short and I will be back to the start before I have hit the motorway. It gives me an opportunity to relisten to albums or in some cases listen to for the first time. Todays was The Arctic Monkeys debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. An album I really liked on its release but one that I haven’t played possibly in 12 months, oddly I played some Arctic Monkeys on Friday night as well, maybe I am liking them again. Anyway, really liked the album, a nice soundtrack to the motorway and the resultant search around Birmingham for a cashpoint that worked. 7 out of 10.

Duffy - This Note's for You

Duffy, who I quite like, has fallen into bed with Coca Cola. She had the best selling album in the UK last year, and has 'broken' the U.S., so she can't be short of a few bob. Now, it's up to her to make a few quid while she can, and it's not like she's advertising guns, or supporting the Tories, but you'd think she could come up with something better that fizzy pop. Should it make her less of an artist? Probably not, music is a selling game, but Coke? Really? You couldn't think of anything better?

Duffy, This Note's For You by Neil Young

Valentine's Day

You may wonder, why the photo of what looks like a 'full English'? 'I've logged on to read amateurish and badly spelled music posts that lack insight and judgement, and you've gone all Master Chef on me'. The 'baked' beans weren't up to scratch to be an 'English', but for a Kiwi take on it (Kiwi owned cafe), in Chile, the Mrs (who has sampled authentic fayre in the greasy spoons of West Ealing, Northfields and the pubs of Shropshire) declared it 'lovely', through a mouth full of sausage.

It often perplexes me as to why, after spending time and effort creating a pleasant atmosphere, perfecting a menu, and spending a fortune on tables, chairs and lighting, the owners of eateries pay so little attention to the music they play. Is Barry White an aid to digestion?

The posh brunch, in an upmarket backstreet, was because of Valentine's Day, which I usually don't recognise. This year I recognised it as an opportunity to have posh poached eggs with smolked salmon on toast, and my digestion was actually aided by the Everley Brothers wafting through the precariously mounted wall speakers. At the end of a confusing conversation with the Mrs, it turned out she was confusing the Everleys with the Blues Brothers, which explained her continuous mentioning of 'their sunglasses'. Also played was Tony Bennett's 'Rags to Riches', by which time we were on the small coffees and 600 peso biscuits.

My only complaint was the fact that one speaker was in one room, and the other in another room, so the miracle of stereo made it sound like some of the musicians were on the far side of the joint. At one point I worried for the group of gringos who were seated about six metres to my left, as I thought they were being attacked by trombonists.

So, here is a Valentine's Day threesome, made up of 2 I heard while mopping up my egg with French Bread, and The Godfathers, who always used to play their Valentine's Day Massacre gig.

Birth, School, Work Death by The Godfathers

Walk Right Back by The Everly Brothers


Rags to Riches by Tony Bennett (it's on The Goodfellas Soundtrack)

The Grammys 2009

This is what I learned from watching the Grammys 2009......

Carrie Underwood is Bonnie Tyler re-incarnated.

Coldplay dress like forgotten 80's never-rans.

The Jonas Brothers, Camp Rock indeed.

Whitney Houston is still alive, although she looks like she's been taking lifestyle advice from Shane McGowan.

The Rock should do less push ups and more stand up.

Kid Rock may well be a Rock & Roll Jesus but I've seen him on the bus selling ice-creams.

Kanye West, the guy that sang Ghostbusters wants his suit back.

New Music for You, and You and You!

Peter's evangelical passion for genitals (see Evangenitals post below) rather prodded me in the direction of CD Baby I was curious to see why he was suggesting we purchase his genital passions on this particular website. I really should have gone to bed, but found myself playing with their Discover Music button. It's simple, you just type in the name of an artist you like, and they suggest other people you might like. The beauty of it is that it is a website of independent music, so you haven't heard of half the names suggested to you. This makes is so much more interesting than Amazon suggesting artists that, while you might initially have a passing interest, chances are you won't ever need to buy the album as you are destined to hear it in lifts and supermarkets for the next year or so. You won't hear many of CD Baby's suggestions as 'boarding music' when you next get on a plane.

For those of you bored with the 20,000,000 songs on your 346GB mp3 player, and uninspired by forthcoming albums by major names, this is the place for you.

Thankfully, the kind people at CD Baby have put samples of the cd's on the page, so your search results provide you with some brief entertainment, whether or not you decide to buy. I decided to put it through its paces.

Give me music like Nina Simone - suggested Liza Melfi, Bjorn Norestig, Lisa Sokolov.

Give me music like Pearl Jam - suggested NYC Smoke, Lucas, Caroline's Spine

Give me music like Half Man Half Biscuit - suggsted Dogs Must be Carried, MJ Hibbett & The Validators

Give music like Britney Spears - suggested children's music, fair enough I thought, it works.

Not only can you search by the artist name, you can also search with a key word.

My search for 'annoying' music gave me an album by Becky, about who the blurb read

'Music to annoy your parents with', which I thought was surely proof of an excellent website.

John Martyn RIP

This may be the only time I open with a Phil Collins quote.

"He was uncompromising, which made him infuriating to some people, but he was unique and we'll never see the likes of him again"

John Martyn died a few days ago. The first time I ever saw him was on a BBC2 folk show, and he played an acoustic guitar and beautifuly drawled a song of his classic Solid Air album. Even to a novice like me he was clearly an unusual talent, and I spent the next few years tending to agree with Phil Collins, as purchasing his albums could be infuriating. Think you've got a folkie? Think again. Some called him the 'father of trip-hop', which I don't understand, as I'm not sure what it is.

I saw him live once, at the Cambridge folk festival. He did a version of Johny Too Bad that had guitar sounds which sounded like a chopper scene from a Vietnam film. Several hard core folkies in the tent were highly disturbed. I loved it.

Here are 3 John Martyns

Johnny Too Bad, 1981.

A slightly oriental version of Don't Want to Know



One for The Road, 2004