Plus / Minus

Just got a yummy new CD through the post. It's an EP from one of my new totally fave bands, Buke and Gass. Buke and Gass is pronounced Byook and Gayss, (awkward) - this refers to hybrid instruments, e.g. a bass uke-elele. They are a girl-guy duo, they make their own instruments, they are from Brooklyn, they sound great. The End.

Check out this gorgeously crafted Ep, though. It's called +/-, and all the packaging seems to be hand-printed, which of course I massively appreciate. They also included a free sticker, which is another way to win my heart.






Lovverly! Here's a video of theirs, not of my favourite song maybe, but it is their only vid so far. Here is the Buke and Gass website, also. Check it out. Especially check it out if you enjoy vibrant, vocally awesome, surprisingly, eccentric, rocking rock.

You Can Fly

Found this video over on Kitsune Noir. Seemed appropriate since Hook came up in conversation the other day, can't remember why. Hook was one of my favourite movies when I was a kid, and I haven't really seen it since. I don't think I should see it again (even though I still have it on VHS), because that might ruin my remembered childhood emotional investment in the adventures of a grown-up stretchy-faced Peter Pan. In fact I think Robin Williams would annoy me quite a lot.

Still, seeing the little clips here provokes pleasant little pangs of recognition, plus the music is totally rad.

EDIT: The video has been taken down by The Man/copyright laws. Shame, it was a good vid.

Bangarang, by Pogo.

God, you know who is a total brat? Rufio. He came through in the end, though.

Mini List Time!

My personal choice for the Top Five Best Songs to Sing in the Shower:


1. Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
2. Love Machine - Girls Aloud
3. I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor - The Arctic Monkeys
4. No One Knows - Queens of the Stone Age
5. The Big Sky - Kate Bush


These songs were chosen through an organic process judging by which songs had lyrics I could actually remember, and what just felt right.

Equally Cute

CUUUUUTE.

So I feel terrible about putting a poll up on my blog asking who is cuter, Tegan or Sara. What a terrible thing to do. I mean, obviously they are both awesome and so is their music, I guess I was envisioning some kind of desert island situation?

Well, you all agree with me, because everyone voted for "Abstain so as not to create a rift between the two". You are good people.



In further T&S news, they just released the album artwork and track listing for their new album Sainthood on their website. I have to say, I am not so keen on the front cover, below. It just looks like Tegan has a big balloon head. It's weird. Oh well, I am excited to hear it anyway. I will just not look at the cover.

Sainthood - good album cover or bad album cover?

Summer is Ready When You Are

Y'all want to experience my secret summer anthem?

Saints - The Breeders

It's only a secret because I have only just realised that these lyrics have been rolling around my head the entire summer, and I think during previous summers too... It is my newly realised summer anthem.

I like all the different people
I like sticky everywhere
Look around, you bet I'll be there

Hot metal in the sun...

A lot of face
A lot of crank air...

Summer's ready
Summer is ready when you are

I like all the different people
I like every kind of fair
In the crowd, you bet I'll be there
Walkin' around
Going nowhere

Summer's ready
Summer is ready when you are

These lines expresses all the things I think encapsulate summer, and what I totally hate about summer too! I hate stale air, air conditioning, people all over the places, stickiness! Gross!

At the same time I tend to romanticise these things, I don't know why. Probably because I totally love The Breeders.

Luckily I live in England, when it rains most of the summer, and luckily it is almost autumn.

...

Those were some random thoughts to blog about at this time of night. I apologise.

My loud guitar comes in, my thumpin' drums come through

CUUUTE!!

I can't think of anything to post about this evening. It's been a long week at work, I'm tired and my brain has gone to mush. So the thing to do is look at some cute pictures of Tegan and Sara.

Note the adorability factor! Behold the lesbian hair! Imagine all the awesome pop punk being created in this studio! Try to guess who is Tegan and who is Sara (easy peasy). Spot the tattoos! Drown in a joyous sea of plaid!

These photos can all be seen on Tegan and Sara's fancy website. The photographer was Lindsay Byrnes.

P.S. Don't forget to vote in the poll to the right so we can see who we think is cuter, Tegan or Sara. You will also notice a third option at the request of my fairminded girlfriend who thinks judgement of this sort is cruel. Sigh. Bloody Americans.

Rollerskate Buddies

Here are two excellent music videos directed by film-maker Eva Husson. Both songs are very 80s, but in an acceptable way even to me (trust me, even if you don't like the vibe initially, they are both growers). Both videos use incredibly talented youths who get to show off their moves in a way that is both impressive end endearing.

M83 - Kim and Jessie

The Presets - If I Know You

I think my favourite must be the bright pink rollerskater pals dealing with various travails, but I am very partial to the video for The Presets - I love the way it builds, and the flaming finale with the 'power of youth' vibe to it.

(Can't find out anything much about the director, dunno where she'd based, but she does stuff in French and English. Website here, but these two music vids are most definitely the best things on there.)

We Have a Winnar

Just a little post to point out the fact that:

80% of people think that Eurovision is more entertaining than the Oscars.*

I feel so vindicated in my love for Eurovision! Obviously it helps if you get smashed. But certainly a night of quality entertainment for all! I have only watched the Oscars live once, obvs because of the time difference between here and the States, and it was entertaining enough. But nothing compares to the camp thrills, the confusing novelty and the sustained unintentional hilarity of Eurovision. I for one cannot wait til next year.

*Figures may not reflect all of humanity, merely the tiny handful of people who read my blog but it's still true so there.

12 Points

The culturally astute amongst you will know that last night was the Eurovision Song Contest. This is one of the most fascinating, glittering, wondrous occasions of the year, and my housies and I gathered to watch it with pizza and a goodly amount of drinks. To help the evening along we had some EUROVISION DRINKING RULES, which I will include here for your future Eurovision edification. Some I got from the internet, some I made up, some seemed like they needed to be included as we went along.


HOSTS

The hosts sing
The hosts speak in rhyme
The hosts change their outfits
The hosts engage in painful comedy that flops completely

PERFORMANCES

Performer clenches fist with eyes closed
Performer falls to floor with emotion
Native instruments/costumes/dance
Politics/religion
Rap
Magic
Outfits ripped away
Prominent nipples
The song goes up in the last refrain
SINGING OFF KEY
An elderly person is on stage
Excessive feathers on outfit
Performer is wearing a jaunty hat/moustache
Fireworks/ribbons/candles/masks
PUPPETS – drain glass!

VOTING

Local correspondent seems drunk or disorientated
Drink for every England nil point
BLOC VOTING
People like Ireland
Interrupting
Computer visualization is a bit weird
You find that the voting is boring you

GENERAL

Short subtitle, lots of words being said/sung
Graham is bitchy about an outfit
GAY.
Colour scheme that makes your eyes bleed
Hideous open shirt/visible chest
Wink at camera
Team is clearly already drunk in the Green Room

OVERALL RULE: Drink if you would tap that.


We were a bit disappointed that Norway won, since the song was very forgettable and they seemed mostly to have won because the lead singer was cute in a teenage Pop Idol kind of way. Our pick was Germany, for the shiny silver tight pants of the lead singer, the surprising appearance of Dita Von Teese, and the general extreme gayness. Portugal was sweetly catchy, Estonia were foxy, Moldova were hyperactively awesome. Britain had a pretty goddamned awful song by Andrew Lloyd Webber (the Webber-toad was even on stage), and yet we came fifth, our best result in years! Go figure.

By the way, if you were watching, correlate the events of the night with these drinking rules and you will be able to have some idea of how drunk we got. (P.S. The answer is VERY.)

Learning Through Musicals

Saw this on Funny or Die, home of the occasional star-studded gem of silliness. It's a fantastic example of musical satire speaking truth. Behold! Prop 8: The Musical...

What's That Behind You?

So my BFF Tim is in the early stages of starting a new band, something in the hardcore noise range, and they're trying to think of a name. I have been lobbying for about a month now for them to call themselves Backphat. Is that the best name ever or what? Fun to say, slightly distasteful in a groovy way, and clearly displays its cool points through the use of the trendy street slang word "phat".

Just when I thought Tim might give in and saddle his fledgling musical combo with the name Backphat, it turns out that there's already a band in Japan called Backphat! Can you fricking believe that?! There really are no new ideas in the world. I am disheartened.

You Hum It

A few scores from avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew. His dates are 1936 to 1981, and he was an experimenter, communist and possessor of a fantastic name. These are pages from his Treatise, a 193-page graphic score. I have no clue how you are supposed to play this music, I gather you can more or less interpret it as you like. I heard a Cardew piece on the radio the other day and it sounded like someone reading out physics problems over the Swanee-Kazoo round of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Make of that what you will.

Bibliodyssey have a great entry on "The Visual Context of Music", featuring Cardew and more neat-looking scores.

I Think You're Just So Pleasant

I have previously posted on She & Him and their therapeutic effect. What a band.

Hammerpress

A few band posters from Hammerpress here, connoisseurs of letterpress printing. Kaia saw a few of these in a shop, told me about them, made me wish I was in that particular shop. I want to buy attractive prints. Old fashioned frontier lettering and images, good colours, good bands too. Including Spoon; why is everyone clamoring to design posters for Spoon? (For that matter, how come the same Spoon songs are in every new movie trailer?)

My only quibble is that the designs don't always have much to do with the particular band they're advertising. Posters designed by Aesthetic Apparatus have the distinct AA style, but take care to reference the band in some way - an image from a song, an album, the tour title, musical style, whatever. These posters are all distinctly Hammerpress, but most could be interchangeable. Well whatever, they look cool. I yearn to go have some letterpress fun now. (I've never done it before. It's one of those print techniques I constantly get confused.)

(I am having a terrible time with spacing these pictures by the way, so I apologise for that. I fail at layout.)

I Covet These

Some fantastic posters from wonderful Minneapolis-based design concern Aesthetic Apparatus. They make tour posters for many cool indie bands, and occasional other bits and pieces. Love the use of collage, retro stylings ranging from cold war vibes to frontier scrolling (maybe? in my head?), ingenious colour combinations, thoughtful thematic links to whatever band they are promoting, apparent genuine immersion in their music scene, sense of humour, general gorgeousness.

Spoon, 3 colours (black, metallic silver, transparent blue) on archival white stock

Unlimited Sunshine 2007, 3 colour screenprint (cream, red-orange, light blue) on archival off-white stock

Night Windows, 2 colour screenprint (slightly glow in the dark white, dark blue) on archival dark greyish blue stock

The Swell Season, 3 colour screenprint (blue, dark blue, red) on white paper

Little Sarah's Birthday Bash, 2 colour screenprint (cream, dark dark blue) on safety orange archival stock

Lucero, Blue, 3 colour screenprint (slightly metallic blue, black, white) on archival creamy stock

The New Pornographers, 5 colour screen print (white, yellow, magenta, cyan, black) on archival off-white stock

The Frames and Josh Ritter, 2 colour screen print (metallic mint and black) on archival white stock

Grizzly Bear, 2 colour screenprint (silver and black) on archival butcher orange stock

The Breeders, 3 colour screenprint (gold, sky blue, black) on archival creamy stock

Constantines, 2 colour screenprint (black and red) on off white paper

You can buy these, can you believe it? From their website. For about $20, that is the same as ten of our English pounds. WANT. Want one. Want one now.