Hello,
I haven't posted here in ages so here's a quick update:
1) Most People are DJs
We did one show this year but the studio was broken in some way so it wasn't recorded. We'll be back soon so keep checking the blog and try listening on Sunday evenings and maybe I'll be there!
2) Label Minded
Rob and I did a new Label Minded on Sunday, looking at American drone/post-rock label Kranky. It was a pretty fun show, check it out at mixcloud.
3) The Punch Table
I've started writing at my brother's music blog over at The Punch Table. That's probably where I'll be posting most of my more random things from now on. Come and say hello!
Edwin
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Show 12/12/2010
Another new show from Sunday 12th December. Possibly the last of the year (although I didn't know that when I made it otherwise I might have done a more wintry playlist).
Galaxie 500 are great for short winter days. I think my favourite song of theirs for that is the version of "Listen, the Snow is Falling". Maybe we'll play it next time!
Stream
Playlist:
Richard Thompson - Time to Ring Some Changes
Nana Grizol - Circles 'Round the Moon
James Blackshaw - Part 7
Weed Hounds - Embrace (More or Less)
Cats and Cats and Cats - Burst into Flowers
Yuck - Rubber
P.S. Eliot - Tennessee
Lau Nau - Lahtolaulu
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Say No to Love
Prolapse - Tunguska
Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream
N.B. I should of course have said Lau Nau is Finnish, not Swedish. Give that album, Nukkuu, a listen; it's really lovely (although it takes a little while to get going).
Galaxie 500 are great for short winter days. I think my favourite song of theirs for that is the version of "Listen, the Snow is Falling". Maybe we'll play it next time!
Stream
Playlist:
Richard Thompson - Time to Ring Some Changes
Nana Grizol - Circles 'Round the Moon
James Blackshaw - Part 7
Weed Hounds - Embrace (More or Less)
Cats and Cats and Cats - Burst into Flowers
Yuck - Rubber
P.S. Eliot - Tennessee
Lau Nau - Lahtolaulu
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Say No to Love
Prolapse - Tunguska
Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream
N.B. I should of course have said Lau Nau is Finnish, not Swedish. Give that album, Nukkuu, a listen; it's really lovely (although it takes a little while to get going).
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Zine & Swans
The new issue of the zine (#2 for this year) is out! It's another good one. Check it out here.
Also since they didn't need it here's a review I wrote of the Swans gig I saw a month and a bit ago. It was intense.
Until next time!
*******************************************
Swans @ Koko 28/10/2010
The current economic climate is hard on us all, whether we're penniless
students, city bankers or no-wave auteurs. Or at least it seems to be.
Swans were one of those bands that I always thought would never reform:
their career having encompassed everything from blistering early no wave
to more "mellow" outings with the later albums, their artistic statement
seemed complete. Michael Gira moved on to the Angels of Light, and, to
paraphrase their posthumous live album, the Swans were dead. Or seemingly
so. The promise of a Swans reunion, then, raised some serious questions.
How far was it going to be a genuine resurrection? How far a run-through
of some greatest hits, sure to please the crowd but doing nothing for the
legacy (hello, Pavement!)?
But first on was James Blackshaw, on Gira's own label, whose psychedelic
instrumentals I'd been looking forward to as much as the headliners. His
more recent releases (beginning with last year's The Glass Bead Game)
point the way to a more minimalist, compositional style, with Blackshaw
moving more often to the piano, and as such they sometimes fail to capture
the pure virtuosic bliss that his beautiful twelve-string arrangements
have. This year's All is Falling was an improvement, moving at times more
towards ambient areas, so I was excited to find out what he'd be playing.
In the event, it drew more heavily on the solo guitar works of his early
career. Carefully orchestrated and perfectly executed American
Primitivism, all ringing suspensions and subtle harmonies. But not that
you'd have recognised much of that from the Swans gig, the combination of
a poor mix and the loud and constant chattering of large parts of the
crowd making him largely inaudible. A brave and interesting choice of
support, then, but an unfortunate one. Then, between sets they played
country blues and folk. Was this a pointer as to a more stripped down
sound to come once Swans arrived?
Well, no (which I really should have been expecting from the record they
released in September). A feedback drone gradually began to build, to be
eventually followed by the first member of the band, the amazingly named
Thor Harris (who also wins the most-unlikely-connection prize for being in
Shearwater as well), frantically hammering a set of tubular bells and
introducing that new record's opener, No Words/No Thoughts. One by one,
the other members of the band joined the stage, tuned up, and prepared
themselves. What followed was revelatory.
I've seen some pretty loud and some pretty intense bands. Some that
envelop the audience in a wall of sound and some that make confrontation
the centre of the gig. But nothing quite like Swans. Audience members
apparently used to vomit at their gigs at the sheer volume, and I can
believe that. Perhaps as a kind of proof that this new Swans was just as
powerful as the old, they started with a full-volume excursion into the
most experimental, harsh noise ends of their sound. The set (especially at
first, until senses got dulled by the volume) felt like noise was being
projected straight into the front of my brain, bypassing my ears and
whatever bit processes waves into sounds. The kind of harsh noise that
makes you dizzy: cathartic and breathtaking and awe-inspiring and brutal,
like your skin is slowly being dissolved in a hail of shards of glass. The
kind of noise that bounces off the walls until it replaces all the air in
the room (even in a cavern like Koko) with pure sound and enfolds you
within it. If you've ever seen My Bloody Valentine, the effect is similar
to the noise section they do at the end of You Made Me Realise. But
instead of their warm, comforting feedback, Swans make theirs out of pure
ice. Transcendental, and easily the highlight of the gig for me. Anyway
after about twenty five minutes of that they ratcheted off the volume (if
not the intensity) and played some more conventional songs. Gira is a
truly great frontman, summoning up the spirit of Son House in his persona
of demonically possessed preacher. One of the most affecting moments of
the gig was when the band stopped, leaving him alone, the room totally
silent, invoking "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!" repeatedly with such
control that you couldn't help but be moved.
By this point I was pretty exhausted by the sheer intensity, and I'm not
sure how much I actually enjoyed the last few minutes of the gig (which
finished with an encore lasting all of thirty seconds). But it's not a
show I'll ever forget. Swans are very much alive.
Also since they didn't need it here's a review I wrote of the Swans gig I saw a month and a bit ago. It was intense.
Until next time!
*******************************************
Swans @ Koko 28/10/2010
The current economic climate is hard on us all, whether we're penniless
students, city bankers or no-wave auteurs. Or at least it seems to be.
Swans were one of those bands that I always thought would never reform:
their career having encompassed everything from blistering early no wave
to more "mellow" outings with the later albums, their artistic statement
seemed complete. Michael Gira moved on to the Angels of Light, and, to
paraphrase their posthumous live album, the Swans were dead. Or seemingly
so. The promise of a Swans reunion, then, raised some serious questions.
How far was it going to be a genuine resurrection? How far a run-through
of some greatest hits, sure to please the crowd but doing nothing for the
legacy (hello, Pavement!)?
But first on was James Blackshaw, on Gira's own label, whose psychedelic
instrumentals I'd been looking forward to as much as the headliners. His
more recent releases (beginning with last year's The Glass Bead Game)
point the way to a more minimalist, compositional style, with Blackshaw
moving more often to the piano, and as such they sometimes fail to capture
the pure virtuosic bliss that his beautiful twelve-string arrangements
have. This year's All is Falling was an improvement, moving at times more
towards ambient areas, so I was excited to find out what he'd be playing.
In the event, it drew more heavily on the solo guitar works of his early
career. Carefully orchestrated and perfectly executed American
Primitivism, all ringing suspensions and subtle harmonies. But not that
you'd have recognised much of that from the Swans gig, the combination of
a poor mix and the loud and constant chattering of large parts of the
crowd making him largely inaudible. A brave and interesting choice of
support, then, but an unfortunate one. Then, between sets they played
country blues and folk. Was this a pointer as to a more stripped down
sound to come once Swans arrived?
Well, no (which I really should have been expecting from the record they
released in September). A feedback drone gradually began to build, to be
eventually followed by the first member of the band, the amazingly named
Thor Harris (who also wins the most-unlikely-connection prize for being in
Shearwater as well), frantically hammering a set of tubular bells and
introducing that new record's opener, No Words/No Thoughts. One by one,
the other members of the band joined the stage, tuned up, and prepared
themselves. What followed was revelatory.
I've seen some pretty loud and some pretty intense bands. Some that
envelop the audience in a wall of sound and some that make confrontation
the centre of the gig. But nothing quite like Swans. Audience members
apparently used to vomit at their gigs at the sheer volume, and I can
believe that. Perhaps as a kind of proof that this new Swans was just as
powerful as the old, they started with a full-volume excursion into the
most experimental, harsh noise ends of their sound. The set (especially at
first, until senses got dulled by the volume) felt like noise was being
projected straight into the front of my brain, bypassing my ears and
whatever bit processes waves into sounds. The kind of harsh noise that
makes you dizzy: cathartic and breathtaking and awe-inspiring and brutal,
like your skin is slowly being dissolved in a hail of shards of glass. The
kind of noise that bounces off the walls until it replaces all the air in
the room (even in a cavern like Koko) with pure sound and enfolds you
within it. If you've ever seen My Bloody Valentine, the effect is similar
to the noise section they do at the end of You Made Me Realise. But
instead of their warm, comforting feedback, Swans make theirs out of pure
ice. Transcendental, and easily the highlight of the gig for me. Anyway
after about twenty five minutes of that they ratcheted off the volume (if
not the intensity) and played some more conventional songs. Gira is a
truly great frontman, summoning up the spirit of Son House in his persona
of demonically possessed preacher. One of the most affecting moments of
the gig was when the band stopped, leaving him alone, the room totally
silent, invoking "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!" repeatedly with such
control that you couldn't help but be moved.
By this point I was pretty exhausted by the sheer intensity, and I'm not
sure how much I actually enjoyed the last few minutes of the gig (which
finished with an encore lasting all of thirty seconds). But it's not a
show I'll ever forget. Swans are very much alive.
Show 05/12/2010
New show! Stream it on mixcloud here .
Playlist:
Melissa Etheridge - Come to My Window
The Raincoats - Lola
The Corin Tucker Band - 1000 Years
Betty & the Werewolves - David Cassidy
The Royal We - I Hate Rock N Roll
Veronica Falls - Found Love in a Graveyard
Soda Fountain Rag - Don't Kill the Clowns
Huggy Bear - February 14th
Sleigh Bells - Riot Rhythm
The Velvet Underground & Nico - All Tomorrow's Parties
Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon
Chrome Hoof - Tonyte
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Everything You Pay For
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Playlist:
Melissa Etheridge - Come to My Window
The Raincoats - Lola
The Corin Tucker Band - 1000 Years
Betty & the Werewolves - David Cassidy
The Royal We - I Hate Rock N Roll
Veronica Falls - Found Love in a Graveyard
Soda Fountain Rag - Don't Kill the Clowns
Huggy Bear - February 14th
Sleigh Bells - Riot Rhythm
The Velvet Underground & Nico - All Tomorrow's Parties
Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon
Chrome Hoof - Tonyte
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Everything You Pay For
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Monday, 29 November 2010
Label Minded #2 - K Records
New edition of the show I'm doing with Rob and Dasal (when he eventually makes it to a recording). This week we're focusing on classic indiepop label K Records. It's not all indiepop though!
Stream it here:
http://www.mixcloud.com/LabelMinded/
If you want the mp3, you know what to do.
Stream it here:
http://www.mixcloud.com/LabelMinded/
If you want the mp3, you know what to do.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Show 21/11/2010
New show from this weekend. My flatmate and robot fan Sam was the guest.
Playlist:
The Blanche Hudson Weekend - Love Vacation (Rough Demo)
Clues - Cave Mouth
Jessamine - Secret
Pavement - In the Mouth a Desert
Galaxie 500 - Final Day
The Fall - Garden (Peel Sessions version)
The Library of Congress - Internal Citations
Mission of Burma - Weatherbox
Low - Dinosaur Act
The Cherry Smash - Nowhere Generation
Boris - Farewell
We've received a slap on the wrist from Rare FM management so in future I'll be using mixcloud for all of the mp3s of the show. It's pretty good as you can stream the shows directly without having to download them. If you really want the mp3s to put on your iPod or whatever send me an email.
I'm also going to try to put some of the "back issues" up as an archive on mixcloud so you'll be able to access any of our previous shows! It takes a long ime though so it'll be when I have some more free time. I've put a few shows up on mixcloud in the past but from now on it will be the primary source of new MPaDJs.
Here's the link to the mixcloud page:
Stream
Click the big green button to play!
Here's the Most People are DJs home page.
And here's the Label Minded one.
Playlist:
The Blanche Hudson Weekend - Love Vacation (Rough Demo)
Clues - Cave Mouth
Jessamine - Secret
Pavement - In the Mouth a Desert
Galaxie 500 - Final Day
The Fall - Garden (Peel Sessions version)
The Library of Congress - Internal Citations
Mission of Burma - Weatherbox
Low - Dinosaur Act
The Cherry Smash - Nowhere Generation
Boris - Farewell
We've received a slap on the wrist from Rare FM management so in future I'll be using mixcloud for all of the mp3s of the show. It's pretty good as you can stream the shows directly without having to download them. If you really want the mp3s to put on your iPod or whatever send me an email.
I'm also going to try to put some of the "back issues" up as an archive on mixcloud so you'll be able to access any of our previous shows! It takes a long ime though so it'll be when I have some more free time. I've put a few shows up on mixcloud in the past but from now on it will be the primary source of new MPaDJs.
Here's the link to the mixcloud page:
Stream
Click the big green button to play!
Here's the Most People are DJs home page.
And here's the Label Minded one.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Show 14/11/2010
Here we are, new show for this week.
The guest was my brother who has been on a few times before. Stalk him here.
mp3
Playlist:
Gentle Friendly - Lovers Rock
Nico - Frozen Warnings
Serena-Maneesh - Blow Yr Brains in the Mourning Rain
Archers of Loaf - Web in Front
Cats on Fire - Tears in Your Cup
The dBs - Black and White
Superchunk - Slack Motherfucker
Vic Chesnutt - Coward
Rocketship - I Love You Like the Way That I Used to Do
Aberfeldy - Hypnotized
Deerhunter - Basement Scene
Another Sunny Day - I'm In Love With a Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist
A.A. Bondy - Witness Blues
Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You in the End
Okkervil River - Red
The National - Lucky You
The guest was my brother who has been on a few times before. Stalk him here.
mp3
Playlist:
Gentle Friendly - Lovers Rock
Nico - Frozen Warnings
Serena-Maneesh - Blow Yr Brains in the Mourning Rain
Archers of Loaf - Web in Front
Cats on Fire - Tears in Your Cup
The dBs - Black and White
Superchunk - Slack Motherfucker
Vic Chesnutt - Coward
Rocketship - I Love You Like the Way That I Used to Do
Aberfeldy - Hypnotized
Deerhunter - Basement Scene
Another Sunny Day - I'm In Love With a Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist
A.A. Bondy - Witness Blues
Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You in the End
Okkervil River - Red
The National - Lucky You
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