Some Velvet Painting

I've had a wealth of stuff to post about recently, but been struggling get myself to write about. So let me just say now The Cavalcade are great and so is the Liechtenstein album. They deserve more effort than this and hopefully I will do something soon. Although the most exciting thing of all has been Ed Cake's new album under the moniker Pie Warmer - hopefully this one gets promoted big time.

Speaking of promotion; my motivation for posting now is to mention that some friends and I now have a semi permanent radio show on Auckland's Fleet Fm on Saturday evening from 9 till 11, which I think is currently 10am-12pm Saturday morning in the UK. So you can listen online, or I will be posting a recording of most of the show each week here. So just click this to hear last week's one.

second hand bookshop's greatest hits

Blogging on the job may feel mildly illicit, but when i'm trapped behind a counter all day it's one of the few things I can do.

So what's been playing in the shop today? Cause Co-Motion's Because Because Because is pretty much coolest record out right now, which is fairly predictable since Cause Co-Motion are pretty much the coolest band around right now. If only the rest of the world will work it out. Recorded in a single day at Gary Olsen's place it's much the same as their singles, which Slumberland lovingly compiled last year. The most obvious departure is the less frantic 'You Lose', which is the only song to extend over the two minute mark and is also available for free download from the Slumberland site. I'm guessing the band may start to face a little criticism for venturing down a bit of a stylistic dead end, but I think that's garbage. I imagine Beat Happening or The Pastels could have faced the same criticism twenty five years ago and I feel Cause Co-Motion not having an obvious "maturity" path set in front of them only makes it more exciting.

But its not really bookshop music is it? I gave it a blast when I opened up, but since the pace is picked up a bit I've been pretty much locked on The Castaway Stones lone album 'Make Love To You'. I'm on my fourth listen of the day and I can't believe that after years of loving both Pam Berry and The Saturday People I've never given this record much attention. Maybe its just for today and I won't feel the same tomorrow, but right now this sounds like the dreamiest, catchiest, mostly beautiful pop imaginable. Furthermore (oh god I've been writing too many essays recently), I think it's the best I've ever heard Pam's voice, and yeah I realise that's a pretty big claim. I also realise the album is out of print and pretty tough to find - so I may have to upload it when I get home.

Cheap Red and Cheap Radio

Cheap Red seem to be the most talked about band of the last ten hours or so, why? The cynical answer is because it's basically Boyrace plus Kanda, so everyone's up to hear more from bands they already love. But I'm not the cynical type, so I'm going to say it's because the songs streaming on their myspace at the moment sound great - go listen now.

Not so great is my radio show. I still can't work any of the equipment and never know what to say on air - but if you fancy it you can have a listen here - I really need to think of a name for the show now that it's semi permanent. I'm afraid not a lot of thought really goes into the play lists, so for the most it's always the same old songs - not too much new or obscure stuff.

radio on!

So in a couple of weeks I'm putting on a Jonathan Richman themed club night. It should be a lot of fun and a welcome distraction from an endless pile of reading. I decided to put this on after seeing he was touring UK to alleviate the disappointment of being on the wrong side of the world. I was lucky enough to be able to see him in May last year and it was truly amazing - I spent pretty much the whole time unable to believe it was him standing up there on stage. He didn't play any of my favourite songs, but it hardly seemed to matter. He just does whatever he feels like and that suits me fine.

If anybody knows of great Modern Lovers and/or Jonathan Richman covers let me know.

stuck to a sheep's bottom

Debates about "twee" seem to have been a pretty permanent feature of the internet for as long as I can remember. So it's pretty interesting to read a defense of twee that has nothing at all to do with music. Maybe the world doesn't revolve around indiepop after all?

I haven't been writing in here much at all these days as life seems to be pretty dominated by uni - and unless I wanna start posting about New Zealand's movement from "Greater Britain" to "Better Britain" it's likely to stay that way.

my favourite radio friendly wednesday afternoon

If you've ever wondered how I spend a wednesday afternoon, wonder no longer. Here's a link to a recording of the radio show I do with my friend Alex, and more recently Kris from Heaven Is Above Your Head. It's actually only the last 40 minutes or so - so you don't have to listen to the loooong Fall song I played (but you do have to listen to the looooooong Felt song Alex played).

http://audio.substep.com/fleetfm/tuesday311.mp3

Alley Oop!

So my first proper trip to Wellington in years ended up being far more profitable than I imagined. I assumed it would be full of over sized coffees and funk rock, but instead it was amazing Tex Mex food and the best record shop in New Zealand. I expected Slow Boat to be a bit better than Auckland's Real Groovy, but really it put us to shame. I ended up leaving with as good a haul as I could afford and sadly had to leave a fair bit behind. Best find? Three issues of Alley Oop; pretty much the best fanzine I've ever read.




I can't really find any information on Alley Oop, I'd only seen an issue once before when a workmate from the library brought one in he'd borrowed off someone else. But that brief look was enough to let me know this was something I needed to track down. Published around 1988 and seemingly lead by Bruce Russell (guitarist in Dead C and founder of Xpressway). It's a near perfect document of an exciting and important period in music history (to me anyway). It's fascinating to read contemporary and often critical accounts of "classic records", partically Russell's muted review of The Bats' Daddy's Highway. Although it's not all Flying Nun and what was to become Xpressway bands. There's a great review of Miles Davis' NZ tour and record reviews of any internation albums considered worthwhile. Almost all the writing could be held up as perfect examples of how to capture the excitement of music, but also combined with a critical confidence which reflects immense knowledge and wisdom. I'm considering scanning the whole thing and posting it up somewhere, but for now we can make do with a review of the last ever Look Blue Go Purple show. Memorize it and pretend you were there!!