John Peel - RIP

thank you. mark e ireallylovemusic

noise fatigue

normally i await the arrival of the postie with keen anticipation and excitement. but recently i have become somewhat wary of the clang of the finger ripping metal device. i am feeling somewhat a case of music fatigue. started yesterday and has sort of continued into today. its a rare occasion in my life and somewhat natural i suspect. rather than spin new unfamiliar sounds i wanted some songs and beats that would make me feel warm and fuzzy. recall more relaxed innocent days when the most stressful thing in life was deciding which band t-shirt i was to wear for the day (AOC or Foetus - that perpetual dilemma). so i decided to dump my webiste responsibilities and dig out the Big Audio Dynamite catalogue. i can go for years without hearing their songs .. and yet something will click and i will get the urge to hear micks clash of beats, guitars and ealing comedy samples. i realise that they were never a cool band, lots of folks hated em and rated the non-classics as weak insipid stuff. i disagree. the story of BAD (+ BADII/BA) is almost a synopsis of the tales of life in clubbing london throughout the 90's, told by someone who loved the new grooves as well as the formulaic rock music of old and therefore tried to combine both worlds mking for a perfect pop band for me as i too craved the dance culture but could never completely move away from my indie-rock roots. the lyrical uk references have somehow become more relevant now in 2004 than upon the songs original airing, pre-dating the current in vougue-ness of big city life lyrics by grime/uk hip hop artists. admittedly the beats are still thin , and with an air of underproduction at times, but matching the somewhat dodgy vocals perfectly makes the presence of timestamped keyboard riffs/samples all the more fun. even the unreleased final album 'entering a new ride' has tracks that pump and groove in a way that only an ex-clash member could muster, no big name producer needed .. just a home studio, a few mates (rnking roger even guests adding the much missed mc'ing skills of Don Letts from the bands classic era) and the ever present computer hacker extras. so yes, the coverart on all their albums (bar the first) were indeed consistently dreadful .. i mean REALLY bad, but hidden amongst the cringeworthy tracks there are some absolute belters. that was yesterday .. today though .. i needed to hear something very different. passing aside all the usual lo-fi bedroom productions that are staring me in the face in the ever increasing review pile, i dug out the albums by 'oxide and neutrino', both bought recently for a mere pittance and their So Solid connection bit them hard in the sales area. shme as both albums have some wild action. futuristic electronica hiphop beats sped up, with garage mc'ing telling stories of booze and life on da streets .. hmm it'l never work. and after a few hours of splintered beats/minimal melody/scattershot lyrics i felt refreshed. normal service can once again resume. if not - anyone want a cheap-n-cheerful review website .. joking. onwards ! mark e ireallylovemusic

new newness.

monday normally brings the realisation that i have wasted another weekend of my life doing mundane housechores/diy etc. only this is not so today .. i spent the weekend watching my 2 offspring bond and develop their brotherly relationship. was rather special. and made me feel very content with the world for a few moments. so today i updated ireallylovemusic with words on the forthcoming depeche mode remix compilation. and listened to the new wendy james solo album - oops - sorry - racine no.1 album. it's not bad, made me think of joy zipper and big audio dynamite, in a strange way with the lo-fi underproduced aspect of it (a la late BAD albums), and the girl pop style of the songs (hence joy zipper). certainly a lot more fun than i ever expected. then when i played the new ep by two lone swordsmen, and, subsequently had a mad craving to hear proper stuf by shriekback (an obvious influence on andrew weatheralls latest sounds ..) and realised just how much i loved 'jam science' album. despite myself i keep finding myself spinning the forthcoming minilp by gravenhurst .. still cant put my finger on the reason as its not my usual type of music, but there is something in the moods and extra sonics that keep dragging me into this dark world. onwards mark e ireallylovemusic

at last ..

its no secret i love the joy zipper albums. therefore after a fairly lengthy period of silence i am chuffed to see this from tabith of the band posted on their website : hi everyone!!! sorry i've been so quiet. we've had a really busy summer. immediately after our uk tour we started recording our new album. we spent two months doing all of the basic tracking our home studio (vintab) in nyc and are now over here in the beautiful english countryside recording drums and electric guitars. it's absolutely beautiful here. looks like we'll be back up in london to mix at the end of september. the album's coming along really well and hopfully it'll come out on schedule!!!-early spring. we're also looking forward the release of american whip in the u.s. in january although we can't believe we'll actually have to promote it again- for the third time!!! has one album (american whip) ever had such a long period of promotion ! other Pop music news : the return of Claudia Bruken and Paul Humphreys as onetwo is very special to those of us who still play the ZTT 12" Dr Mabuse by Propaganda on a regular basis. more detail : here so all in all, its been a fine couple of days .. all topped off with a lovely chat with Wemdy James who is back under the name 'racine world'. once i have that written and sorted (lots and lot of words ..) then i will obv post details in the usual places. in the meantime .. onwards ! mark e ireallylovemusic

"my names on the list guv .. honest .."

monday morning. need to figure out the sounds for today .. a strange clash of committementsssss 1. aspects - new album .. hopefully will be seeing this lot tonight with the Bees (aint keen on their particular brand of scallycoral-isms .. but their collab with Aspects is indeed rather fine, so need to get in the mood. though i suspect it will be the ususal blagging rubbish on the door and i will have a wasted journey .. 2. matt harding - new ep out on moshi moshi - very mellow and nice. need to let the world know. 3. King Of Woolworths - Rediffusion - new album out on Lo. my orig promo copy skipped like a kanga making listening very unpleasant .. now i have it sorted this is a definite grower. loosing the pop direction of the mans previous outing (a real shame as Evel Song was my fave pop record ever) this is a completely instrumental affair with all sorts of mad analogue synths and beats .. somtimes unsettling and others complete muzak styled. 4. depeche mode remix comp .. just for the ON-U remixes alone this is completely worthy. a few too many of the old school remixes wheer the beat was extended and vocals echoed for my likening .. but evenso .. a fine set of dark pop songs twisted in the blender.

quietly quietly does it ..

the moods change with the weather. suddenly my hiphop mixtapes dont sit well, i want to feel soothed. warm. and safe. so naturally i decide to get cosy with the new Bronze Age Fox compilation - a band who have decided to become a Proper Band, and release a proper album thats available in shops as opposed to going loopy via ebay. reviewed in the usual place. but for those who like to feel the darkness coming in then i believe that Gravenhurst is your natural destiny. this is a man (according to his blog) likes his horror films and having been advised of this passion Nicks way with the acoustic guitar and far away creaks and noises on the recent mini-lp make a lot more sense. released on Warp. of course. another non-electronica release on Warp (these are strange days we live in people) is the soundtrack to Dead Mans Shoes .. all sorts of excellent sounds and weirdness set against some truly lovely downtempo songs by Calexico, Smog, M Ward etc .. interesting stuff. onwards ! mark e ireallylovemusic