The Brood

I should be doing my end of year list thing which is usually fun to do and is actually popular. At the moment I can't be arsed with it. Maybe Its a mood or maybe its something more. I can't even be bothered analysing why. Hopefully I'll get around to it next time.

I watched David Cronenberg's The Brood for the first time the other day and was blown away at how good it was.  I love some of his other films Existenz in particular but also Videodrome & The End Of Violence.  The Brood had become quite a mythical film for me and I thought well I better watch it.  When my wife was a small child of around 5 or 6 she was exposed to this film.  She then had nightmares for a very long time following that, with good reason (The Brood is v demented). She never knew the name of the film but her and her sister referred to it as Alien Space Babies.  One day in a high school film studies class a clip of The Brood was featured.  Finally Emma knew what the film was.  Anyway it was many years later when she was working in a certain cafe in Richmond in Melbourne that she served a bespectacled gentleman with a Canadian Accent.  This man praised her coffee making abilities saying something like "That was the best coffee I've ever had in my life." Minutes later the cafe owner pulled her aside and asked "Do You know who that was?" She replied "No." Then he said "That was the film director David Cronenberg!" She was shocked that she was face to face with the man who'd traumatised her childhood and she didn't even know it was him.  Suffice to say she didn't watch The Brood with me the other night.

Spoiler Alert! The alien space babies wreak havoc on Candice's school teacher and granny after popping out of her mums tummy due to bad thoughts! Now that's entertainment. Cindy Hinds who plays Candice the 5 year old is particularly good as are the evil brood.  Oliver Reed's character, Psychotherapist Dr Raglan, is incredibly creepy. Also loved Robert A Silverman as the disturbed but right on Jan Hartog. Not forgetting the performances of Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle as Candice's parents. Don't ever be persuaded to have Psychoplasmic Therapy otherwise you may spawn a brood of killer alien space babies of your own.  I'm pretty sure they got the idea for Alien right here as well things like Childs Play.  Upon finishing viewing of the movie I referred to Leonard Maltin to see what his verdict was.  He gave it a rating of a bomb giving me new found respect for anything in his movie guide that's awarded this rating.  What should it have some shit about Rosebud or some trite message to get it its deserved 4 stars Leonard?  Fuck off Maltin!

It must be nearly Christmas....

Moon Wiring Club always release their albums just before Christmas which usually means I've barely listened to them enough to include them in my end of year round up. Last year's Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets would have been in my top 5, fo shizzle, if I'd heard it more than twice. So this is the new one, cool artwork again. Two different formats, this time a cd and a tape which are the same but different or something....

One of the best songs ever.

INXS Were An Experimental Band

Weren't they?

I loved it when INXS got weird and experimental. The B-Sides in the 80s were always something to look forward to.  I reckon they were into Eno, dub, disco & maybe Cabaret Voltaire and The Residents. This is the other side of INXS, what could have been.....

Slumber Party Massacre

I was brought up a strict Catholic and it wasn't until late 1987 that we got a VCR.  So I basically missed the whole VHS horror thing. 1982s Slumber Party Massacre is a classic of the slasher genre and along with the teenage kicks you get a some girl power. Amy Jones was one of the few female T & A slasher directors and she makes the most of it. Way before Scream et al. she made a mockery of the entire genre.  Chicks win in the end and guys come off second best. This movie would have been great if you were a girl in the 80s havin a sleep over. I think it was Bitch Blog who led me to this film. The soundtrack is awesome too. Since watching the film and trying to track down the score I've become aware that this is a much admired item, you know, going for ridiculous amounts of doe on e-bay. Indeed Ralph Jones' soundtrack is up there with the best of the post-Carpenter school like Jay Chataway's Maniac or Tim Krog's The Boogey Man. Minimal and restrained eerie synth soundz for the psychopathic 80s.

Minimal synth tones to be stalked by

Chevrolet III

This is a 1974 LP from Chevrolet.  Listen here if you dare!
Thanks to Maiorov Simpleton's library blog.

Cabaret Voltaire - #8385 Collected Works

On The Hi-Fi In Nov 2013

Never ventured into Cabaret Voltaire's work beyond 1982.  From their inception in the early 70s to1982 they were one of the greatest bands on the planet. Cabaret Voltaire's paranoid clanky custom built low-fi electronic dub funk was an irresistible sound. It reflected, according to Richard H Kirk "Post-war desolation, unemployment and ugly urban landscapes."  I guess their move into more commercial/dancefloor friendly terrain after the departure of Chris Watson during the 2*45 sessions in 1982 always seemed a bit dubious to me.  New Order were already occupying that area with excellent results soon to be followed by Severed Heads. Previously Cabs could do no wrong on their winning streak of releases from 78-82 including classics like Mix Up, Three Mantras, Voice Of America, Red Mecca and their clutch of singles now compiled on The Original Sound Of Sheffield 1978/82. Cabs were also one of perhaps only 2 bands, the other being Devo, that arguably recorded their best work before they started releasing records.  Their pre-history recordings were only ever released to the wider public over 20 years later on Methodology 74/78: The Attic Tapes. That 3 cd set was the sound of a real homemade electronic garage band.

In 1983 with the release of The Crackdown they were reduced to the duo of Richard H Kirk and Steve Mallinder. Along with their change of direction came major labels, money and fancy 24 track studios. The music I'd previously heard from this era, mainly from late night tv, has always underwhelmed me so i'm venturing trepidaciously. When I first put on The Crackdown (disc 1 of 6 in this collection) I thought maybe this was a bad idea and that perhaps there was no need for me to pursue this avenue of exploration. I quickly moved on to disc 2 which contains the Micro-phonies LP and much to my surprise I am comin back to this record for more. Sure that doesn't mean its up there with The Attic Tapes but for anything to get a repeated listen, in this day and age, it must be doing something right. I have to look at them as The Cabs mk II, which they are, to get past the fact that no electronic squalls of dubbed out noise will be coming my way. Do Right, Spies In The Wires and Sensoria are the choice cuts here. The only other disc I've got to so far is disc 5 which has the 83-85 12" versions and is perhaps the best way to listen to this era of Cabaret Voltaire. Just Fascination and Crackdown (both originally from disc 1) are excellent here as is the aforementioned Sensoria.  These versions are beefed up for the disco dance floor and dare I say it make you wanna boogie, in a very white manner of course. This is as far as I've come so far but I'm a lot more positive about continuing on with the other 3 cds and then there's the dvds.....to be continued.....

Choice Cabs artifact.

*I missed that Wire article a while back, so apologies if you're bored of this subject.

Only A Shadow-Cleaners From Venus

Just coz it's like excellent and that.

So is this. Saxomophone....

And this...

Chevrolet II

Back cover to On The Move

Turns out that Chevrolet released at least 9 records including LPs, 7"s, even a 10", according to Discogs. These were for use in the dealer's showroom apparently.                                                                                                                                                                                           

Front cover for On The Move
from 1969.

Chevrolet

Haven't heard the record but I'm loving this cover from 1972. Building A Better Way To Seeing The USA Music by Richard Behrke released by Chevrolet! Looking forward to listening to it here or maybe not.

On The Hi-Fi

I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America 1950-1990 -

Various Artists

Totally diggin these mellow vibes man. Some of my/your favourite new age/ambient heroes are here like Laraaji, Iasos, Don Slepain, Constance Demby, Michael Stearns & Larkin. Then there's a whole bunch of fellow astral travellers I've not heard of like Judith Trip, Daniel Emmanuel... The best discovery for me here is Aeoliah who gives us 11 and a half minutes of cosmic ear candy, waves of plinky keyboards give way to moon desert guitar bliss to free your mind on the track Tien Fu: Heaven's Gate. That Constance Demby track is killer and indicates her influence on the neo-cosmic underground er.. hello Motion Sickness Of Time Travel. Actually this compilation probably would never have come out if its artists weren't such a big influence on the whole hypnagogic/vapourwave scene of the last few years. This once reviled genre (new age) continues its much warranted rehabilitation.  Fans of the excellent but now inactive blog Crystal Vibrations rejoice, your album of the year has arrived. 

Cosmic Machine: A Voyage across French Cosmic & Electronic Avant Garde (1970-1980) - Various Artists

When I read that an LP was coming out with that title I got very excited. I thought 'Yeah about time the French got their due in respect this kind of gear.'  I guess I was expecting to hear from the likes of Heldon, Spacecrft, Fondation, Patrick Vian, Illitch, Thierry Muller, Metal Urbain, Puzzle etc and maybe a bit of French library by Jean Pierre Decerf or Bernard Fevre. Anyway Fevre appears but none of the rest do. France's 3 most famous musical exports appear however ie. Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Michel Jarre & Jean-Jaques Perry. I possibly would have used the word pop in the title like 'A Voyage Across French Electronic Pop.' but hey that's not gonna fit for the market they're aiming for though is it? Semantics aside this is a good survey of 70s electronic pop French stylee much of which I'm unaware of.

Bandidos OST - Egisto Macchi (1967)

Choice Spaghetti Western soundtrack from possibly my favourite Italian soundtrack/library composer. We all need more of this in our lives. We should all live like we're in a Spaghetti Western doncha think? I don't know even what that means. Oh dear.....

The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue OST-Giuliano Sorgini

This tedious film had like 15 different names and it was set up north in the UK but it was Spanish! Sorgini is Italian and I'd previously heard his Under Pompelmo LP which was some funky shit from 1973 and also went under a different name, London Transport! That's all very confusing isn't it? This soundtrack however is one of the best Italian horror soundtracks ever. Its up there with Goblin's Suspiria and Profundo Rosso, Riz Ortilani's Cannibal Holocaust, Morricone's Argento trilogy, Libra's Schock, Nico Findenco's Zombie Holocaust er... and the list goes on. This soundtrack from 1974 has all the right spooky psych-funk vibes with strings, electronics and awesome drumming. The atmospheres are creepy with haunted organs and witchy woodwinds.  Sinister laughing and screams permeate the soundtrack and I loves it. 

Debris Pics 1

Me likey this one a lot.

These 4 photos (i-phone-no fx) come from the Sunraysia district in November 2013.

Two are from me backyard!

Steve Brule-Puppets

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I can barely watch this, it hurts!

Girls & Menda

The Year My Voice Broke (1987)
Menda (left) and Taylor (right)

Menda in Girls

Noah in Game Of Thrones

I just watched the second season of Girls and hey that was weird wasn't it? Way less laughs in this season. It had me thinkin of Woody Allen doing Interiors after his early comic hits ie. Girls season 2 was really quite bleak and disturbing. Then in maybe the second to last episode my continuity/disbelief suspension was totally ruptured. Great Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn shows up as Jessa's dad! My viewing then switches from identifying with the kids/20 somethings to then having to readjust to relating to Mendelsohn's character's situation as he's only a couple of years older than me. Funnily enough it was not that dissimilar to mine as in he'd moved to the country and was watering the grass, something I'd never done until 2 days ago. I guess I relate to the characters in Girls in a retroactive kind of way. I watch them and see what they're up to and mainly think 'Thank god I'm not that age anymore'. I still relate to their more universal human characteristics though. Just like when I watch The Simpsons I still relate to Bart on a lot of levels but I'm also surprised how Homer-like I can be. Is this navel gazing? Anyway seeing Ben Mendelsohn put me in mind of a time in the early 90s when late at night after boozing on there he was in the same St Kilda kebab shop as me. I remember thinking 'He's from one of my all time fave movies (The Year My Voice Broke) and here he is just as drunk and in need of late night lamb sandwich as me'. Noah Taylor from that same movie turns up in Game Of Thrones but that wasn't nearly anywhere near as jarring as Menda being in Girls makin me feel well old. I guess also Taylor's appearance doesn't jar because Game Of Thrones is fantasy while Girls almost feels like Cinema Verite. Oh shit I'm in trouble now with the pretentious police for saying C..... V.....  Judy Collins, yes the singer from the 60s, makes an appearance too, looking quite frightening. Lena Dunham, Girls creator, has created some exceptional characters including Hannah played by herself. One wonders/worries how autobiographical Hannah actually is with her escalating OCD and Hypochondria. In Girls the boys are especially brilliantly acted. Ray, Charlie and Adam are confusing, complex, frightening, stupid and real. Then there's the ladies, Jessa is fabulous, Shosh is just weird and how much do you hate Hannah's mum and bloody Marnie? It's one of the few telly shows right now worth watching.

Ray. Service with a sneer.

Australian Landscape

 Classic Australian Landscape (I-phone pic, no fx).

RIP LOU REED

What can I say? You either know what this man means to music or you don't care. One word from me will do: Legend.

Jesus Christ, I forgot how good this tune is!

Rihanna-Pour It Up

Love this tune. One of her best ever no doubt.

Loving this too. I've never paid much attention to this dude until I saw this video today. It's kinda like 70s Rod Stewart meets Prince (er.....that's meant to be a compliment). It's pretty pretty good.

Other observations after watching the top 50 on channel V today.

*Why do people insist on using ye olde microphones in their film clips? Its like they have to give us a visual representation of the fact that they are influenced by ye olde music. They've been doin this in music videos since at least the 80s. Anyway there was a slew of ye olde microphones in the top 50, I'm lookin at you James Arthur.  Which is funny coz all the songs in the top 50 pretty much sound the same. If one of these (see below) turns up in a video you know the song's gonna be shite. MK20 have 2 antique microphones doubling the shiteness of their song. Then there's 2 more in the Capital Cities video. James Arthur went for a triple shite threat!  Retromania gone wild.

*Bruno Mars also has a vintage microphone in his video but its kinda cool (late 60s/early70s, not like the above) so he gets away with it. 

*Ham's The Wire has got to be the worst thing I've seen/heard in a long long time. I can't even begin to describe that attempt at a song.

*Britney's new track has got a riff like a UK 'ardore tune from 92!

*I was shocked by all the Mumford wannabes.

*The dude from One Republic looks like Australian cricketer Michael Clarke a lot, it's weird.

*All you fogeys complaining about sex in videos need to redirect your outrage toward the Arcade Fire. Words like vile should be saved for discussions on the artistic merits of such a pop group.

*Who buys all these Jason Derulo tunes? He had like 3 in the top 50 but I can't remember how any of them go.

*Has GaGa run out of steam?

*Do they make pants for ladies in the 21st century?

Arcon 2 - Liquid Earth

Loving this track. The opening 1 minute 15 seconds is Burial ten years early. The weird thing is I was listening to Burial's Untrue on my phone while I was surfing the net (that's a quaint term now innit?) and the album finished. 7 or 8 minutes later this tune came on. I thought 'er..this must be a secret track that I've never noticed before.' But I went to now playing and it said nothing was playing. I thought 'Gee that Burial is freakin me out with his ghost trax that aren't even playing.' Anyway by the time the drum and bass breaks arrive I realise something's up. So I scroll through what I was looking at on the interweb and it turns out I'd accidentally hit play to start this mix over at blog to the oldskool.  Coincidence or not?

Luke Vibert's Nuggets 3

Just discovered this on i-tunes today and couldn't wait for the vinyl so I downloaded it. This is Luke Vibert's 3rd volume of selections taken from various library music archives. Volume 3 is material taken exclusively from the Bruton Library vaults I believe. Volume I had tunes from Chappell, Southern, IM and PIL music libraries and was where i discovered such luminaries as Roger Roger and Nino Nardini. Further Nuggets was the second volume in this series and was my introduction to the likes of Eric Peters, Bernard Fevre and Roger Davey. Since the release of those two compilations over 10 years ago now, we are all a lot more informed about music libraries thanks to the many blogs that popped up specialising in this music. Many library classics and not so classics (there's a lot more of those) have been shared and heard thanks to the likes of Funky Frolic, Dusty Shelf, Val Verde Music, Retro-Teque, Library Music Rarities et al. Many of these blogs though have now closed down. Anyway thanks to those legendary bloggers I am well aware of the Bruton catalogue. Having said that many of the tunes on Nuggets 3 I've not heard.  Down-tempo crime funk, space age disco and car chase themes are the order of the day here. However there are some anomalies. Scratch City is as the title hints a scratching hip hop jam!? Adrian Baker & Ray Morgan give us the Beach Boy-esque In Close Harmony while Bill Campbell & Aaron Harry throw up (apt word for it) Galaxy a Reggae tune! Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett both make several excellent contributions ensuring that this collection's status goes beyond mere novelty. The discovery for me though is these five tracks from Francis Monkman (The prog guy of Curved Air/Sky fame). These top synthetic noir funk jams sound like they could be coming out of today's underground. Now where are all those library music files.....

Scarecrows

Those three are actually quite scary but this next one is just awesome.

Foo on the farm.

Goodbye Hello

From here 

So Long Melbourne

to here

Scarecrow competition at the Cardross
show.

Still Life-Oneohtrix Point Never

Has Oneohtrix Point Never become some kind of born again fundamentalist using propaganda videos to get his point across?

Either that or he's havin a laugh at the expense of others. Roll up roll up ...A modern day freak show for you all to see. No exploitation here folks just good clean healthy fun.

*Uh Huh, here's an essay on this video right here. This is what xxxxxxox says in the comments at Rouge's Foam about the essay

 "Its clear that the only point of this smug little uni grad zero books clique is self aggrandizing. You all police culture like your petty little incoherent screeds are remotely interesting to anyone."

I thought that was hilarious and pretty on the ball. Couldn't help but think though 'did xxxxxxox's manuscript get knocked back by Zero Books?' Also couldn't help thinking he was being a culture copper himself.

Back to that video, just look at reality tv though and you'll see how much people love exploitation. People want to be exploited, exploit and watch others exploit and be exploited. Nothing much has changed since the days of freak shows has it? We still love to see the freaky shit don't we? Shows like Embarrassing Bodies and that one about the guy with the massive balls* are popular for a reason. X-Factor, Idol et al have a fair bit of laughing at the unfortunate and the mentally ill. There's big bucks in this shit.

*Was AC/DC's Big Balls the theme tune for that?

Mutant Ideology - Dopeski & Jakes

This is where my head's at right now. I can't get enough of this shit. Choice darkside tune from back in the day (1993) but new to me this week.

Nick Cave Tribute Concert

One of the weirdest things is happening on my telly(ABC2) right now as I write. It's some kind of tribute concert to Nick Cave by indie and ...ugh!.. roots artists from like over a year ago. Its like the kids get to dress up and play Nick Cave for a night. It's truly horrible. Some of these artists should know better ie. Kram from Spiderbait who's holding down the drum spot and a bit of singing. I can't see the point at all. Nick Cave usually tours Australia once a year so you get to see him do his stuff regularly. The thing is none of these people are makin it their own, you know like what a worthwhile cover version is all about. Funnily enough Nick Cave is very good at doing this as heard on his excellent LP of covers from 1986 Kicking Against The Pricks. Some jock just did a Chuck Berry style version of Deanna. I guess Lisa Mitchell the former Australian Idol contestant turned The Ship Song into a Lisa Mitchell song, make of that what you will. Also guess what kids? Nick Cave's not dead! Hang on Paul Kelly's shown up and whatever he sings can only ever be a Paul Kelly song. He's turned Nobodies Baby Now into a song you would believe he wrote. Not only that it sounds like one of his best songs ever and it coulda been on his classic LP Comedy. Now that's how you do a cover! Is the singer from Magic Dirt tone deaf? She's turned Straight To You into something truly horrid. Very bad indeed. I want to go home now. Oh but I am at home. Hang on, you thought it couldn't get any worse but now some dude's doing a reggae version of The Weeping Song. Wow! This is comedy gold! You know what else is strange? There's bloody thousands of people at this concert. What are they doing? There's way better things to spend your time and money on. For instance chocolate, drugs, helping the needy or I don't know watching DVDs of Melrose Place. Wait more comedy! Some Aussie hip hop guy has taken the stage and is doing Stagger Lee, not really a Nick Cave song but whatever. They've turned into some lame rock opera of truly cheap proportions. Hey that's entertaining but that doesn't mean it's good. Now some bird in terrible red pants, no hang on, the worst pants ever worn is covering The Mercy Seat. This is so awful it's almost good. Abbie May plays guitar on Jack The Ripper and there is no doubting her talents on the axe. She's fucking incredible. Blixa wouldn't hate what she's up to. Then the footy player in the C & W shirt is back singing Get Ready For Love making me feel sick. Now Blixa would hate this as would Nick I reckon and as do I. Some time in the mid 90s I was drunk in the front bar of The Punters Club and Up Jumped The Devil came over the stereo. I proceeded to do a legendary performance and so memorable it was that many weeks later someone in attendance presented me with a Bad Seeds T-shirt (which I still have to this day). What I'm sayin is you shoulda been there for that and not at this absurd display.

Good cover.

The House In The Woods-Bucolica

Whilst still in the 90s & 00s I have visited now a couple of times I must admit. Didn't really know what to expect with this record. It's the dude from Pye Corner Audio doing some stuff that's pretty different from the music he does under that moniker. We're still in darkly atmospheric territory but this time its more of an organic blur. Only one track has anything resembling a beat. This album is more in line with mid 90s isolationism than haunted slasher soundtracks. Bucolic is a funny word isn't it. I always have to stop and think 'bucolic no its not some hideous disease or poison. Its about idyllic country life.' So it's a word that sounds like it should have the opposite meaning than the one it has. A bit like this record really. This is the sound of wind and rain amongst the trees and mysterious lights off in the distance. I can smell the air and feel the temperature. But I can also feel the melancholy.  There's bliss too particularly on Sunlight On Rusting Hulk, which reaches MBV-like blissed out proportions. Then sinister vibes arrive, but are they though? Or is your mind playing tricks on you for a moment.  Are we just projecting fear onto a lull or stillness. This is a fascinating record. Rural psychedelia lives.  

The 90s Again....

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I didn't see anything wrong

Sam dressed up as a woman again.

Audrey Horne

Just to cleanse your eyeballs after that last post 

here's the one and only Audrey Horne.

Miley Cyrus' Disney Sex

First we were made to imagine  Miley being penetrated by a giant finger (did I have to imagine that? She pretty much was!).  I read a great quote about this performance at the vmas, which was along the lines of "Unfortunately I can't unwatch that performance." I'm not sure I need to be upset or outraged by it though. It is what it is.

Then we were made to watch her playing with a giant anal bead. "Oww My Balls!" I'm not sure what her intentions were but its definitely not sexy, perhaps the opposite actually. In a way it kinda fits with Disney (who I assume she is trying to distance herself from) as its all a bit cartoon. Courtney Love thinks its punk. What's next?

Random Thoughts On Pop Culture

How fucked up is American pop culture? For an example of this look no further than the family entertainment of the Disney corporation. Talk about Babylon burning. What happens to all these child stars who were once mouseketeers. It seems like you'd be an outsider if you came out of Disney as a child star into adult life and weren't fucked up (more on this in future blog).

Why have Mumford & Son been allowed so deeply into toady's pop culture? What the fuck is wrong with the kids? The re-release of Devo's Hardcore Volumes 1 & 2 put this in perspective for me. I thought why the fuck would you want to listen to this Mumford shit when you could buy those two LPs? Would it be a bad starting point for an anti Mumford manifesto? C'mon kids. Mr Agreeable is on board as well here.

Why didn't more records sound like Iggy Pop's The Idiot? You can hear the air on that record. Has there been a more singular sounding record ever? Speaking of Mr Pop surely his next step in his retro career replay project is to get the gang from The Idiot/Lust For Life era together and do some concerts then maybe a record and perhaps start using heroin again. Is anyone looking forward to when he gets around to Blah Blah Blah and American Caesar again? What happens when he gets round to The Weirdness again does he start the replay again? He might as well just keep the loop going till he dies. Imagine if he never dies? That got me thinking is there anyone whose career was so awesome you wouldn't mind it being replayed over and over again? It's just not a very good idea at all is it? Leave a comment if you can think of someone.

Is pop culture as we know it dead or dying? Catching an episode of Letterman a few months ago I was struck by how uninterested Dave was in his alleged pop icon guests. He's sometimes been like that in the past but he was having fun with it. He seems to get that talking to actors or whoever is a waste of time and why would anyone care? He lights up more when he gets to talk politics. The talk show format does seem to be moribund. Watching the Australian talk show Adam Hills Tonight or something like that I just thought it was tired and a completely pointless.  Everyone- Hills, the guests and the audience know this but they don't want to admit to it because then what? There's no new paradigm. Why did people ever think talking to actors or musicians was interesting? Name me a recent episode of a tonight show where you thought 'Gee that guest was great!'

Morcheeba & Woob are the latest couple of groups who are returning from the 90s in 2013. Who's next? Well I saw Omni Trio's Rob Haigh has a record out as well. To be quite honest I can't recall a single Morcheeba track. They were like trip-hop johnny come latelys as I recall and the genre was probably past its use by date by the time they arrived. 1194 the debut LP by Woob however was a 90s ambient classic, which I loved. Still do in fact.

Chillin' out..

I was in Ballarat the other day.....
Ballarat Bitter...never had it, didn't even know it existed till I saw this.

Not big on the iphone camera. This is just random effects. They should call this hipstamatic effect The Boards Of Canada. I hate the way it framed this one. I liked my $50 phone better, at least I'd mastered that. It used to give me the vision I wanted. I was in synchronicity with that device.

90s Nostalgia

Am I gonna get swept up in nostalgia for the great 90s 60s nostalgists Mazzy Star and their new LP? Probably. Which is a bit weird considering I never bought their 3rd album. I mean I loved those first two records, She Hangs Brightly & So Tonight That I Might See, played them to death. By the time of the third record it seemed their time was up but 17 years later it seems perfectly acceptable to give Mazzy Star's Seasons Of Your Day a listen. That says more about our relationship to time in 2013 than it does about me. Mark Fisher has some interesting thoughts about time over here.

Now here's some more nostalgia but this time for the future, well when 'ardcore was like the future in the 90s. Manix have a new record out called Living In The Past as pointed out here at Blog To The OldSkool. Pete from said blog is swept up in the nostalgia and has ordered a copy. Now why does Manix's comeback seem more naff than Mazzy Star's? I guess because Mazzy Star were always living in the past and you never thought Manix would ever be. In their time Manix, 4Hero, Reinforced Records et al were the antitheses of nostalgic revivalist culture. Like the Sex Pistols reunion Manix's comeback seems contradictory to their original intent. Living In The Past though is guaranteed to be more modern than Seasons Of Your Day.  We've all gotta eat I suppose.