Nonwrestler Blog

Don't mean to do this, but...

Thought I'd share something of mine (kinda) here, because I really want people to see it!

A very nice man has made a video for Malty Media's tune, 'The Mescaline Man', appearing on the upcoming Angry Rabbit compilation Apropos of Nothing. More stuff in my music news... release gigs, etc.

Here's the vid on Youtube:

Labels: music, youtube

Posted at 21:55  2 Comments Links to this post

Never knew 'White Lines' was just a massive rip-off

Liquid Liquid's 'Cavern':



It's so much more interesting too - so live, and weird sounding.

The backstory of the rip-off action on this history of 99 Records is interesting too. Scroll down to the bit about the single "Optimo / Cavern".

Always amazes me to read about these "obscure" songs and then read passing comments that e.g. this song sold more than 30,000 copies at the time. Holy shit. If I could sell a 10th of that I'd be so stoked.

Labels: music, youtube

Posted at 07:57  3 Comments Links to this post

Commuting in Tokyo

I guess a lot of people have heard stories of people getting packed into trains at rush hour in Japan. Here's a decent clip of what it actually looks and sounds like at a suburban station. So quiet!



Amanda and I did this for only a week or so when we first moved to Tokyo. I remember on the first day we just stood back in disbelief and watched 3 trains fill up and go past, but eventually had to surrender and just do it. In our case the station we were commuting from was the last on the line where you got in on that particular side, so for the rest of the trip more and more people were crammed in on the other side, forcing us back against the closed doors on our side more and more heavily. On that first day there was a tiny woman between Amanda and the door, and I remember the sound of the air forcibly escaping her lungs at every new station.

Labels: life, youtube

Posted at 11:20  1 Comments Links to this post

Bad Cover Version

This is all 7 years too late, but I've been revisiting Pulp's last album, We Love Life, and felt the urge to rave about 'Bad Cover Version'. The lyrics talk about trying to replace lost love using the metaphor of bad covers to get the message across. At the time the album came out I never bothered to track down the video, but, man, it's worth it. It's one of the most nicely married-to-the-song vids I've seen in ages, both in terms of message and tone.



On top of that, the b-side for the single is a cover of 'Disco 2000' by Nick Cave. Follow that concept through! Follow it!

No video, but you can stream it via Youtube too.



Aaand for in-jokey reference bonus points, the lyrics trawl through a list of "bad imitations that got it so wrong". This includes "the second side of Til The Band Comes In", which happens to be an album by the song's producer, Scott Walker. Haha, I guess it's nice to work with someone you get along with well enough that you can take the piss out of them while they're helping you out.

Labels: music, youtube

Posted at 14:30  0 Comments Links to this post

Public CCTV music vid

This is a bit old, but this (terrible-sounding) band The Get Out Clause played in a whole lot of public places in Manchester and then requested the CCTV footage of themselves under the relevant legislation. They edited the footage together, and, hey presto, a novelty video! Was surprised to see footage from inside a taxi!



Pity the idea is wasted on a crap song and apparently having no intent beyond being cool, bro... So it goes.

Labels: music, youtube

Posted at 09:43  0 Comments Links to this post

The new Cut Copy is quite great

Cut Copy have just put out a second album, In Ghost Colours. It’s heaps better than their first, sounding like they’ve synthesised (hoho) their ridiculously long list of influences much more successfully. The involvement of Tim Goldsworthy (DFA, ex-UNKLE way, way back) probably helps to ensure the overall sound is much fuller and more interesting than on the first album too.

I tried to piece together all the things even one song reminded me of, but it’s a bit of an impossible task. Anyway, here’s my attempt:

After a bit of distorted noodling, Strangers In The Wind kicks off in a verse that sounds like Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams or America’s Ventura Highway. Acoustic guitars, warm bass and acoustic drums, a bit of slide guitar in the background… In come more contemporary electro synth chords and the acoustic guitar abruptly stops as the bassline cranks up a notch for a refrain that sounds like an anthemic moment from Duran Duran (“Run to the lights of the city / This dance will last us forever”). A burst of sizzling noise, house beats drop in and tweaked chunks of sound from the opening verse swirl around between the kick drums – suddenly it’s like that Eric Prydz song that was based on Steve Winwood’s Valerie, except here it’s Cut Copy remixing themselves mid-track. After a few more breakdowns and shifts in scene a super contemporary synth riff comes in, sweeps up into a tinny distorted mess, and the song’s done. At the macro level the steady beat and traditional song structure make the stylistic shifts seem completely natural, but on closer dissection the song seems like it’s stitched together from bits and pieces from the last 40 years of pop history.

I can’t put my finger on who the guy sounds most like – bits sound like Human League, there’s a bit of New Order and when he goes up to the top of his (limited) register he’s heading towards Icehouse and even some Bryan Ferry moments. Oh and the guy from The Church. Maybe I should replace this para with the word “eighties”. ;)

Most of the album’s as dense and blatantly referential as Strangers In The Wind. It creates a weird mix of nostalgia, total familiarity and confusion. All the stylistic nods in a thousand directions could be really off-putting, but I reckon this manages to transcend the shittiness of a lot of “nu rave” acts for two reasons: 1) no song is a direct pastiche of one other thing (e.g. “here’s Cut Copy doing Roxy Music”, nor even “here’s Cut Copy doing 80s disco”) and 2) the guy actually knows how to write songs. The latter is (obviously!) important, because it means there’s something more to latch on to than the initial nerdy fun that comes with hearing familiar things recontextualised, a la mash-ups or someone like The Avalanches.

Sorry, enough babbling! Here’s the vid for Hearts on Fire. Don’t like the vid at all, but the song makes me far too happy. Can't get over the balls required to put that sax solo in!



Edit: Hm, they actually chop out the sax solo in the above vid. Ah well. Here's another one, set to a scene from the BMX racing movie Rad.

Labels: music, youtube

Posted at 15:11  1 Comments Links to this post

I find this far more funny than I ought to.

Some smart-arse has overdubbed the sound on a bunch of guitar gods... They go on far too long, but funny idea. Here are a couple of faves.

Santana shreds! Love the band...



Jake E Lee shreds! Ozzy Osbourne looks ... very talented.

Labels: youtube

Posted at 10:43  0 Comments Links to this post

Contemporary or not?

I stumbled upon this Youtube clip embedded in a page, so I couldn't see the name or any info about it. The weird thing was I couldn't decide from watching it whether it was contemporary people being very calculatedly retro or something really old...



As it happens, it's from 31 years ago.

Labels: music, youtube

Posted at 00:39  1 Comments Links to this post