Before and After, part II (still before)

Right now, I should have been playing squash, as mentioned in my last blog. And I did want to be playing squash. My racquet, squash balls, and suitably sporty clothing are sitting beside me on the sofa.

The excuses began yesterday - "the other guy who's meant to be playing hasn't got back to me", "the squash racquet I ordered on ebay hasn't turned up yet". Oh, and "a friend of mine happens to be having a leaving do on thursday night".

I might be playing sunday, but I'm not going to get my hope up.

Before and After, part I (before)

In a moment of folly, I appear to have talked myself into a corner.

I fancied a pint at the weekend, and called a friend who told me that he was detoxing. I wasn't having any of it. This time of year isn't the time of year to be making yourself more miserable by depriving yourself of life's pleasures. I talked him round and he came out for a pint or two.

This blog post isn't about beer though (but a passing mention of the brilliant Evening Star wouldn't go amiss). Over the course of the evening's pontifications, we obviously discussed the reasons for detoxing and New Years Resolutions. I commented in passing that I was never as fit as when I played squash. And now somehow I'm playing this thursday. I haven't played since 2002. I can't remember the rules. It took me two days to find my racquet. It could all end in tears. Worse, it could end in blood, sweat and tears. Or I could return me to the peak of fitness that I had years ago, if I keep it up.

I'll try and blog again on friday and let you know how I fared...

A Place Where The Sun Never Shines

So, it's been about two months since I last pulled a mix out of the bag. That one was very New Rave / Electro. This new one very much isn't. It will still have an air of familiarity to anyone who tunes into my radio show on Purple Radio though. Well, it will for people who stay tuned in until the end of the show.

In one sense, it's almost a Best Of This Year - the tracks by Amiina & Lee Hazlewood, Sigur Ros, The Durutti Column, David Holmes, Goldfrapp vs Spiritualized, Death of the Neighbourhood, Hot Chip, Emiliana Torrini and Sia are all from this year. But on top of that, there's a number of other reasons for it coming together. A stinking cold just over Christmas meant I wasn't in the mood for jolly Christmas tunes and I wanted music that would soothe my head. And there's two tracks with "Christmas" in the title but aren't Christmassy at all, which came to my attention while searching through iTunes for festive stuff. One of those, the Mogwai track, reminded me that years ago, again over Christmas, I made a compilation tape which I called Mogwai Fear Santa (a play on their track Mogwai Fear Satan). That was also quite chilled, and other than the Mogwai track were the Pulp, Beth Orton and My Life Story tracks which make an appearance here. There's also a bit of an Icelandic theme going on. When I was playing around with tracks, I was looking at Björk tracks I might include, and had a live version of Unravel in the list up until this morning but decided it wouldn't quite work in the end. I've had a love affair with Scandinavian music for years , and I really feel for what's happened to the Icelandic economy this year. Hopefully I'll make it back this year at some point this year, which I'll admit is opportunism on my part, because the exchange rate should mean that everything's dirt cheap over there now. It's still one of the most amazing places in the world though, and I hope their path back to stability doesn't change that. This story is heart warming, but why did the Guardian have to write "Though Audur Capital has not divulged the material investment of Björk the singer in Björk the fund, knowing her work we imagine it is something along the lines of one heron feather, five regrets and 16 baby teeth.", undermining the whole article and resorting to lazy stereotypes?

Anyway, I hope you like it. For those who enjoyed my last mix and were hoping for some more bleepy electro nonsense, there is a Fidget House mix in the pipeline. Watch this space, as they say...

A Place Where The Sun Never Shines
download link

Amiina & Lee Hazlewood - Hilli (At The Top of the World)
Alpha - Given Time
Aphex Twin - Avril 14th
Sigur Ros - All Alright
The Durutti Column - Amanda
David Holmes - Hey Maggy
Mogwai - The Christmas Song
Pulp - Sunrise
Goldfrapp vs Spiritualized - Monster Love
Death of the Neighbourhood - The Town of Half Finished Building
My Life Story - Angel
Blur - Sweet Song
Hot Chip - We're Looking For a Whole Lot of Love (Christmas Version)
Beth Orton - Pedestal
Emiliana Torrini - Bleeder
Sia - Lullaby

Here's to brighter days

So, we made it. For the next six months, the days get longer every day. We've passed the solstice which means no more sunsets at a quarter to four again for the next year.

Unsurprisingly, the event is celebrated in Brighton. Any excuse for a party! Apparently the Burning The Clocks procession started while I was down here before. They were celebrating it's 15th Birthday this year. I guess it would have been in it's first year or two though, and even now, it's not that publicised. It's not quite as hectic as Lewes Fireworks but that's probably for the best. I don't think you'd get away with that level of health and safety risk in a town full of Christmas Shoppers, especially since you can't argue that you've got hundreds of years of history on your side. So it's all quite tame in comparison - a parade of people carrying paper lanterns painted as clocks which get thrown into a big cage on the beach which then gets lit with spectacular results:



As a new-ish tradition, I think it's pretty cool. There's no religious overtones (despite nearly every major religion celebrating some kind of festival around the winter solstice), and it manages to be family friendly without being too twee or alienating adults. And it culminates in burning stuff.

full set of pics here

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

I think I'm in love. At my age, I shouldn't be falling for pop stars, but, well...

It's probably best to start at the beginning. I've always quite liked Retro Pop. It's probably Saint Etienne's fault. Or maybe The Cardigans. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that when I hear a band being described in certain terms, I'll give them a listen, and a couple of years ago, The Pipettes were one of those bands. And they were good. Quality pop songs, unashamedly derivative, who got away with singing those songs with a knowing smile. And as well as just being a great band, with great songs, as if that isn't enough, if the stories were to be believed, they also formed in my favourite pub - The Basketmakers Arms. They had a special place in my heart.

But after one perfect pop album, things went wrong earlier this year. Of the original three girls who fronted the band, one had already moved on before they got big. Earlier this year, the other two original members also left. I doubt we'll ever be told exactly what happened. It's probably not that straightforward anyway. Maybe it wasn't fun any more. Maybe the record company execs wanted to turn them into a parody of themselves? Retro songs without the irony? Who knows.

And that was a shame, because they were great. They weren't some big cash cow built around an amazing voice singing retro sounding songs (yes, I do mean you Amy Winehouse, Duffy, or anyone else who turns up sold as "the new Winehouse"). They looked like they were enjoying themselves. They looked like they had quite a DIY ethic - they'd swap keyboards, and obviously made up their own dance moves. What you were being sold was The Pipettes, not some record company's version of an act designed by committee. It seems that nothing lasts forever though. It was all a bit reminiscent of what happened to Kenickie ten years ago - they were no more far too soon too.

Rose was the one I liked most in the Pipettes. There's no shame in saying that - in every girl group everyone has their favourites - the Spice Girls based a fair chunk of their career on it. The Pipettes had Gwenno - blonde, pretty and a very obvious choice. Too obvious for me though. Then there was Becki - glasses, nose piercing, and an obvious choice for the indie kids. A bit too alternative for my liking though. Then there was Rose. Devastatingly attractive, and seeming to relish the irony and love the pop music in equal measure. Yep - she was "my" Pipette - and no doubt several thousand other fans' Pipette across the globe. Let's not lose perspective here. That view was cemented at Glastonbury 07, when I saw her in the crowd for Gruff Rhys, singing along. As well as loving her pop, she also loved her indie too. But then she left The Pipettes, and I kind of assumed that would be the last I would ever hear of her.

Shortly afterwards though, I saw that she had started a myspace page. I don't even know how I found it, or why I was looking. She only had a handful of friends at the time I added myself, compared to the thousands she has now. No tracks were up initially, but take a look at the list of influences:

Broadcast, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Sandy Denny, The Cocteau Twins, Bridget St John, Stereolab, Eric Satie, Joni Mitchell, The Sundays, Fred Neil, John Fahey, Spank Rock, My Bloody Valentine, Buffy Sainte Marie, Hope Sandoval, Beth Gibbons, M Ward, Animal Collective, Dion And The Belmonts, Julie London, Karen Dalton, Serge Gainsbourg, Portishead, Anne Briggs, Caribou, The Dirty Three, Bjork, Pj Harvey, Life Without Buildings, Nick Cave, Donna Summer, Billie Holiday, Bert Jansch, Silver Apples, Altered Images, Francoise Hardy....

What a list! Within a few weeks, the first track was up, and it was apparent that the list of influences were actually influencing her songwriting. How many acts do you see on Myspace have a cool list of influences then sound like derivative rubbish? Fast forward a couple of months to last week, and her first solo 7" got released, and she also played her debut solo gig down here. And that's where we get where we are now. The single is brilliant. It starts with hand claps and a simple guitar line, and her distinctive voice. It's a far more adult song than the Pipettes could have ever released. There's no big hooky chorus, but that's not to say that it doesn't draw you right in. When she sings "Was it just the way that you kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss me / That showed me That I want you, I want you, I want you I want you, I want you, I want you " your heart skips a beat. Well, mine does anyway. By the end, there's hand claps, organs, synth strings and drums all swirling round taking you to another place. This is what pop music ought to be like.

And I'm pleased to report that it's not just the one song that's great too. Everything I heard at the gig was great, and a new track - May Holiday - has just been posted up to her myspace. The gig was criminally unattended - probably down to Brighton Council's draconian rules on flyering and postering - but I'm glad I went. Gwenno Pipettes was also spotted in attendance. Anyway, I had my camera with me, and I'm really pleased with the shots I took. This is my favourite:

A Murmuration of Starlings

They don't tell you what a Murmuration is on the Wikipedia Page about Starlings. And while problems with starlings in Rome have been mentioned on the BBC, they don't use the word Murmuration either. So what is a Murmuration? Well, it's actually just the collective term for starlings, but the sight of starlings flocking is pretty amazing. Unlike a lot of birds, starlings flock and roost in very large numbers - thousands, if not tens of thousands - and before they go to roost, the flock swirls around the sky - masses of birds moving almost as one, with smaller flocks joining as time goes on. It's an incredibly impressive sight.

And where their starlings are a problem in Rome because of the bird mess, it's not a problem down here, because they go to roost on the remains of the West Pier, so every night over the winter, the locals get an amazing display just after the sun goes down, and last night was no exception.

So why am I writing a blog post about it? Well, it's not music, so it must be photography. The full set of my photos from last night are here, but main reason for the post is that I finally got a photo on Flickr Explore, which is their view on the Most Interesting photos. Just to give you an idea of numbers, according to Flickr just now, over 2,500 photos have been uploaded in the last minute, so to have one of mine picked as one of the 500 most interesting photos is quite an accolade. Flickr don't say what their criteria are for an "interesting photo", I guess because if they did, they'd have loads of photos contriving to become one, but I'm pleased that whatever those criteria are, mine fulfilled them :)

It wasn't meant to be like this

A whole month without posting? How slack of me! Anyway, it's not just my posting levels that weren't meant to be like this.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought would could be my favourite single of this year. It's called Crying Blood, and it's by VV Brown, and it's bloody brilliant. It's retro pop, with a big nod to 60s girl groups, but couldn't have been made any time but now. And it's only two and a half minutes long. It makes you desparate for more. On the flip of the 7" is an Andy Weatherall remix, but it's not a patch on the original in my opinion, because how do you improve on something that's perfect in the first place?

You can have a listen to it, and watch the video, on her myspace http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Duser.viewprofile%26friendid%3D213056871&ei=0rUvSZWOO5zP-QaCz4DDCw&usg=AFQjCNFyUJRKEZmtVW4ODJKa68tLJ7b0OQ . Myspace also has tour dates, and I saw that she was playing down here last week, so I thought I'd go and see what else she had to offer. And I'm sorry to say I was let down. Crying Blood is an amazing track, but nothing else even came close. There were some other retro pop songs, but they didn't have the energy of Crying Blood. There was a Rolling Stones cover which didnt do much for me, and some other songs which left me disappointed. It's a great great shame, cos if she'd rattled through ten songs similar to Crying Blood in the space of about twenty minutes, she'd have had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand.

Oh well. As someone I spoke to said - there's nothing wrong with a one hit wonder. But let's hope I'm proved wrong, eh?


In other photography type news, I went out a couple of weeks ago and took some photos like this:

It's Shipley Windmill, out in the middle of Sussex somewhere, taken as a long exposure, bathed in moonlight. Inspired by Flickr Member The Big Bambooly ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/bambooly/ ) who kindly drove and was very patient while I asked dozens of questions about how to get the best shots.