Thursday 16 December 2010

Video of the day (Kermit The Frog & John Denver - The Christmas Wish)

This is my last post of the year and I really can't think of a better way to finish.

This has to be the best Christmas song ever.



Have an awesome Christmas and happy new year and I'll be back in January.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Best gigs of 2010

2010 has been an incredible year for gigs. I have seen so many amazing bands in so many amazing places and organising them into any sort of ranking would just be impossible. Below is a list of the ten gigs that sticks out in my head for one reason or another. Photos by me, unless ptherwise specified.

Japanther and Ninjasonik @ Hoodstock, NYC, USA - 22nd May 2010
This was an insane night. Incredible bands, playing in amazing space.


(photo by Rebecca Smeyne, Village Voice)

Loads of photos from the night can be found here.
Village Voice slide show from the night, with more photos


Nana Grizol – The Silent Barn, NYC, USA - 4th June 2010
It's hard to go wrong with such an amazing band, playing in such a small quirky "venue".



Andrew Jackson Jihad – The Gaff, London - 8th October 2010
They've been around for ages, but I only really discovered AJJ this year. If two people using only a double bass and an acoustic guitar can get a massive moshpit started in North London, they are definitely doing something right. Great show.



Jad Fair – The Salvage Vanguard Theatre, Austin, USA - 14th March 2010
I stumbled upon this show by accident. I'm a huge Half Japanese fan, so seeing Jad play was a very special treat indeed.



Withered Hand – The Wilmington Arms, London – 22nd January 2010
The first show I put on this year and a roaring success, despite equipment issues and the venue being too small for the demand. An incredible show.



Times New Viking, Pavement ATP, 14th May 2010
ATP was all about Pavement, but in levels of fun Times New Viking was hard to beat. From the first distorted note to the very last, the whole venue was just one giant moshpit of smiley happy people.


Trouble Books – The Betsey Trotwood, 14th September 2010
I have nothing to compare it to, so I don't know if this was particularly great Trouble Books show. One thing is certain, though - I absolutely adore this band and seeing them in the tiny Betsey Trotwood basement was always going to be special. It was the first time I'd seen them and I doubt they'll be back any time soon.



Best Fwends – Houston, USA - 13th March 2010
I was jet-lagged, drunk and lost in the weird and not especially wonderful world that is Houston, Texas. Best Fwends were running around like crazy, screaming along to a backing track of bleepy electro-punk and wrestling giant inflatable gargoyles. Obviously this was absolutely amazing.



Allo Darlin' – British Music Embassy, Austin, USA - 20th March 2010
I've seen Allo Darlin' over 30 times this year, but the one that sticks out in my memory is this early day-time show in Austin. It was great atmosphere, with free food and a free bar and the band just played a perfect set.



Les Savy Fav, Electric Ballrom, London – 22nd November 2010
What can I say? You had to be there. Absolutely insane.


Photo by Tim Boddy. More here.

Monday 13 December 2010

Albums of 2010....the list

It took a while, but here it is. Originally, the plan was to make a podcast of all the best tracks, but then my computer died, so that's not going to happen now.

Anyway, here they are...the albums that soundtracked my year more than any others...in reverse order...


10. Ninjasonik – Art School Girls
I think it's fair to say that Pitchfork are not fans of Brooklyn rappers Ninjasonik. The final sentence of their album review speaks for itself really - "Can an album truly be bad even if it achieves exactly what it intended to do? If your intent is to make shit music, I don't even see how it's a question at all." And the final score of 1.9 out of 10 makes it one of the worst reviews I've ever seen on the site. But then it's Pitchfork. They were never going to approve of this. Yes, this is not a deep and meaningful record. It's silly, stupid and hideously un-PC at times, but for some reason that's part of it's appeal. It just feels like an honest record and I guess serves as a document of a certain scene - a record for friends made by friends, with all the references and in-jokes that goes with that. We all talk shit when we're with friends. I guess, most of us just don't put those conversations on a record.

(track: Ninjasonik - Daylight Remix)



9.The Thermals – Personal Life
I didn't expect much from the new Thermals record. I guess I kind of thought the band was a closed chapter for me. Then I heard I Don't Believe You and all that changed. I can't really pinpoint why I love the song so much, but it's definitely one of my tracks of the year. And although nothing else on the album quite reaches that level of awesomeness, it is a very strong record. It's fun and bouncy and never boring. That's all I ask really.

(track: The Thermals - I Don't Believe You)



8. Säkert – Facit
I don't really understand how non-Swedish speakers can listen to Säkert! Sure, the music is stunning, but for me it's all about the lyrics. It's sad and uplifting in equal measures. It's a rare skill to be able to express yourself to such an extent in two languages, but Annika Norlin never struggles with words. Every bit as charming as her songs in Hello Saferide (her English-language band) this is, again, an extremely personal and very beautiful record.

(track: Säkert! - Får Jag)



7. Matt and Kim – Sidewalks
Matt and Kim are all grown up these days, doing Bacardi ads and playing giant festivals. Sidewalks is miles away from both their self-titled debut album and the follow-up Grand. But, you know...it's still Matt and Kim, one of the happiest, most life-affirming bands on the planet. I'm always going to love these guys, no matter what they sound like. And don't get me wrong, the album is great. It's nowhere near as punky or fast as the previous ones, but still alot fun and catchy as hell.

(track: Matt and Kim - Block after Block)



6. Of Montreal – False Priest
I don't understand what people were complaining about. So, it's not a new Hissing Fauna. False Priest is still fucking great. Famine Affair is one of my all-time favorite Of Montreal songs. That's all.

(track: Famine Affair)



5. Standard Fare – The Noyelle Beat
I wasn't overly impressed when I first heard Noyelle Beat, but over the course of the year it has just grown and grown on me. It's really a stunning record. All the songs are great, but songs like Fifteen, Dancing and Philadelphia really stand out...all pure indiepop classics.

(track: Standard Fare - Fifteen)



4. Trouble Books – Gathered Tones
Just another absolutely stunning record from Ohio's finest.

(track: Trouble Books - Arms Full Of Lemons)


3. Tiger Tape – I Woke Up In Hökarängen
I already wrote a post about this record somewhere. It's AMAZING! 'nuff said.

(track: Tiger Tape - Skanstull)



2. Nana Grizol – Ruth
Hmmm....getting bored of thinking of things to say now. Nana Grizol's debut record Love It Love It was an incredible effort, so follow-up Ruth had a lot to live up to. As is quite common, it's a much more polished record, but none of the charm is lost. An extremely addictive record, with lyrics and melodies that will stick in your head for months and months.

(track: Nana Grizol - Cynicism)



Which brings us to the number one...

1. Japanther - Rock N'Roll Ice Cream

During the past nine years Brooklyn punks Japanther have produced a seemingly endless amount of material. I've lost track on how many full-length albums they've released, but each has added something new and fresh to their sound. This constant re-invention continues with Rock N'Roll Ice Cream, an album that marks a slight departure from their usual lo-fi fuzz and distortion. The record is by far their most "produced" and "clean-sounding" effort to date. They've even called in some female assistance to provide some extra vocal layers. Despite some initial hesitation, I quickly grew to absolutely love this "new sound". Since I first got my hands on the record in the beginning of the year, I've listened to it an insane amount of times and it still shows no signs of losing its appeal. It's just great. Bursting with positive energy, with just the right dose of angry thrown in, it's a record that I can count on to drag me out of the shittiest of days. Big words, but Japanther are really my favourite act in the world right now, both on record and live. They have a great attitude to recording and performing and I just can't wait to hear the next one.

They're coming to London in February! Seriously, you need to get tickets.

(track: Japanther - She's The One)


OK...that's it...Bring on 2011!!

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Video of the day (nordloef - Buddy Holly (Weezer cover)

I first came across Swedish chiptune artist nordloef a year and a half ago on the 'Weezer - The 8-bit album' compilation. It features 14 classic Weezer tracks, covered by 8-bit/chiptune artists, including Anamanaguchi and I Fight Dragons. The whole compilation is great, but Nordloef's version of Buddy Holly definitely stands out as one of the best tracks.



Weezer - The 8-bit album can be downloaded legally for free here.

nordloef on myspace

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Videos of the day (Anamanaguchi x 3)

Yes, yes...that top-10 is still coming at some point. I've just been too busy.

In the meantime, I just can't stop listening to Anamanaguchi's Dawn Metropolis. It's an incredible album. And they have amazing videos for every track! They're all great, but here are a few favorites. NINJA!







Anamanaguchi's Official and totally awesome website

Friday 3 December 2010

The past few days of gigs (Bobby Conn, Withered Hand, Enderby's Room, Dan of Green Gables)

So, I was planning to publish my top-10 albums of the year yesterday, but that didn't happen. I'd quite like to have a podcast to go with it, so I just have to postpone it a little. Should be revealed at some point in the next couple of days though.

Some photos from the past five days...

Bobby Conn (Brixton Windmill, 27th November 2010)

I love Bobby Conn. I have seen him a number of times and he's never been less than amazing. It had been extremely quiet in Conn-land for the past few years, so I was very excited when the gig was announced. A kind of pseudo-'Don't Look Back' show, the band played the Rise Up! (soon to be re-released) in its entirety.

Unfortunately, I just wasn't in the mood. It was really busy and The Windmill is a bit awkward when it's mobbed.



Bobby Conn on myspace


Little Scream and Withered Hand (AAA, 1st December 2010)

Sorry, but I'm gonna moan again. Kensington is a pain to get to. And it was snowing and cold. On top of this, the bar was ridiculously expensive. The bands were great, however. Sadly, Viking Moses had to cancel due to border-crossing issues.

Little Scream

Withered Hand


Little Scream on myspace

Withered Hand on myspace


Enderby's Room and Dan of Green Gables (The Hideaway, 2nd December 2010)

I used to live just ten minutes walk from The Hideaway, but had never ventured inside. A shame really, cause it's a lovely bar, with a great basement for gigs.

Last night was promoted by Stroke Your Beard, who had covered the floor with astroturf, giving a lovely picnicky vibe to the evening.

Highlights were Enderby's Room and Dan of Green Gables.

Enderby's Room

Dan Of Green Gables

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Sooo....it's December...the season of best-of lists!!

It's finally December and I can now officially accept all the Christmas malarky going on everywhere.

I must say I struggled a bit when I first started compiling my favorite albums of 2010 list. It felt like it had been a pretty quiet and boring year. Then I realised I've just been so so busy this year, that releases from February might as well have been released ten years ago and I had just forgotten all the great records that had been released. So, I went back and had a look at the albums I'd bought and loved and suddenly I found myself with quite a large list. It took quite a while, but finally I had it all narrowed down to 27 albums. But, you can't do a top-27, can you? It has to be 10 or 20, 25 even. But not 27. Oh no. So, in the end I opted for a top-10, with 17 honorable mentions sharing the 11th place, in no particular order. Lazy? Possibly.


So, here goes. The most surprising album on the honorable mentions list I guess is the above receord, Allo Darlin's debut album. Of course it should be in my top-10. But, at the same time I feel I can't really include it there. I've been too personally involved in the making/promoting/touring of this album. I designed the artwork for the album and the four singles, I've taken most of their photos (both for artwork and for press), made two music videos, been on two US tours and one European tour (all in all I've seen the band more than 30 times this year) and mentioned them in many, many, many blog posts. That is why I made the decision to leave it off my top-10 list. It just feels wrong, almost like putting my own release in a best-of-the-year list and that's not on, is it? It's an amazing record and by far the one closest to my heart. It wins that prize without any competition whatsoever. So there.

OK....after much thought and headache...all absolutely great and in shared 11th place:

11. Allo Darlin' – s/t
11. No Age – Everything In Between
11. Bonnie "Prince" Billy & The Cairo Gang – The Wondershow Of The World
11. Best Coast – Crazy For You
11. Shrag – Life! Death! Prizes!
11. Wavves – King of the Beach
11. Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts
11. Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be
11. Blonde Redhead – Penny Sparkle
11. Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin
11. Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern – The Essex Arms
11. The Radio Dept. – Clinging To A Scheme
11. Love Is All – Two Thousand and Ten Injuries
11. Adam Green – Minor Love
11. Quasi – American Gong
11. Avi Buffalo – s/t
11. Caribou – Swim

My top-10 will (probably) be revealed tomorrow. [EDIT] at some point [EDIT 2]at the weekend before the end of the year. Been too freaking busy.

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Video of the day (YMCK - Magical 8bit Tour)

I've been listening to alot chiptune stuff the last couple of days. Below is a track from Japanese 8-bit popsters YMCK. They are also the people behind the Magical 8-bit plug-in, which you can download for free from their website at http://www.ymck.net/ . It says it should be Grageband compatible, but I've been having problems with it recently, so be a bit wary. For me, it just causes Garageband to make an extremely loud popping noise before crashing and it's not exactly pleasant if you're wearing headphones. Should work better with other pieces of software though.



And an old classic from the grand Uber-lord ninja master of computer games music, Rob Hubbard.



Aww...those were the days.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Les Savy Fav live (Electric Ballroom, 22nd November 2010)


I remember going to punk gigs as a teenager and how exciting everything seemed. It was never really about what songs got played or how well they were played. It was just so exciting to be in the same room as your favorite band and watch them play. It's a rare thing indeed to experience the same excitement as an adult, but Les Savy Fav came pretty damn close last night. Tim Harrington is an amazing frontman...perhaps the best in music today...and crowd interaction is very much top of his agenda. The set list at a Les Savy Fav show doesn't really matter...as long as there's room (and there always is) for the obligatory The Sweat Descends of course. The music is more there to provide a beat to the interaction between band and crowd. It was a beautiful sweaty mess of a show, with the crowd going crazy and Harrington going everywhere, making sure every person in the room got the full experience. All over the floor. Up on the lighting rig and upstairs to the balcony. It's been a long time since I've seen so many sweaty, smiling faces...both during and after the show.

I didn't bring my camera and only have a few blurry iphone photos from what was a truly amazing performance and straight into the top-3 of the year. Just awesome!




Friday 19 November 2010

Video of the day (Enfant Bastard - For The Maudlin)

Enfant Bastard is an Edinburgh-based 8-bit artist. Well, he used to play messy and completely awesome anti-folk under the same name (and previously as The Love Gestures) but these days it seems to be all 8-bit bleeps coming from Cameron.

In this video Withered Hand's For The Maudlin gets the 8-bit treatment. I thought it was the perfect way to start the weekend. Have a good one!



How incredibly awesome is that?

Enfant Bastard on bandcamp

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Gig flashback - Bobby Conn & The Glass Gypsies (Scala, 9th June, 2005)

Bobby Conn has been suspiciously quiet the last few years. He released his last album, King For A Day, in early 2007 and then he seemed to vanish off the face of the planet. The internet suggest that he became a dad and took a step back from music, so I guess we'll go with that as an explanation. Anyway, HE'S BACK! There's word of a new album and he's playing the Brixton Windmill on 27th November. Apparently, he will do a 'Don't Look Back'-style show and play his Rise Up! album from 1998 in its entirety. You should really try and make it to this show. Bobby is an incredible performer and his shows are never less than fucking amazing.

The photos below are from summer 2005, when he played the Scala in London.







Tuesday 16 November 2010

Thank you Owen


Last night Owen Ashworth played his last ever show as Casiotone For The Painfully Alone to a completely sold-out Cargo. It was the perfect goodbye show, with just him and his instruments. He played a long set...well, in "indie time" anyway....one and a half hour, the songs chosen mainly through audience requests and spanning his entire "career"...We Have Mice, Ice Cream Truck, Scattered Pearls, New Year's Kiss, Old Panda Days, Graceland, I Love Creedence etc etc...before finishing with a stunning version of Hobby Bobby.

It's sad to see him go, but 13 years of pouring your heart out, has to be enough for one person. He promised to be back under a different name in a couple of years. I guess nobody knows quite what to expect, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait. And, until then, at least we'll still have his records.

Monday 15 November 2010

CFTPA final show...


This evening Owen Ashworth plays his last ever London show as Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. After 13 years it's time to say goodbye. Owen has hinted that he will continue to make some kind of music under a different name, so we will just have to see what happens.

CFTPA is such a special band....act or whatever. I've only had the pleasure of seeing him play once, so I have nothing to compare it to. I remember people talking about how it was so much better when it was just him on his own with a Casio keyboard and maybe it's true. How do I know? For me it was just brilliant night, watching one of my favorite artists. He played half a set with a full band and the other half on his own, just playing audience requests.

Tonight, I don't know what to expect. Being a final show and all, I kind of hope that he will play a selection of songs from all his releases, rather than concentrating on the later ones. But, we'll see. It's his last show. He has given us 13 years, five albums, endless EP's and compilations...so I think he's entitled to play whatever he wants to play.



CFTPA official website

Friday 12 November 2010

Withered Hand live (Silver Bullet, 11th November 2010)

It had been almost a year since I saw Withered Hand. It was at the Records Make Great Pets night at The Wilmington Arms (photos here) and despite all the equpiment drama and stress that goes with putting on shows, it was such a brilliant night. Last night I wasn't involved, so I could just stand back and enjoy the show.

Playing as a three-piece Dan and Co were in good form, stomping through most of the "classics", including an amazingly shambolic version of Religious Songs, along with some new songs.



Set-list (fairly accurate)
New Dawn
I Am Nothing
No Cigarettes
Panda Eyes
Religious Songs
Joy
Love In The Time Of Ecstacy
Inbetweens
Heart, Heart
Providence
Wonderful Lie
My Struggle
Cornflake
Hard On (which they didn't get round to playing because of time constraints)




It was a great performance as usual. The sound at the Silver Bullet is rather tinny and horrible, but it didn't matter. London seems to have really taken to Withered Hand and the audience were singing along to their hearts' content.

In the end, the silly London 11pm curfew ended the show. I guess we're used to it, but this time it was even more annoying than usual. The band were ready to hit the stage earlier than their given time, but the DJ's would not allow them to start. Obviously the main reason we go to gigs is so we can listen to the music in between bands. Stoopid.

Dan is back in London in December, when he'll be playing on his own in support of Viking Moses at The Luminaire. That is bound to be an incredible show. A full-band Withered Hand tour is currently being planned for early next year, but more on that in a bit.

Monday 8 November 2010

Video of the day (The Thermals - I Don't Believe You)

I wasn't all that impressed with last year's Now We Can See, so my expectations for the new Thermals album were pretty low. It's not that it was bad, it was just not very memorable....which happens every now and then with The Thermals..I don't think they have any really bad songs...for me, they seem to be either just good or fucking awesome. I Don't Believe You is very much the latter - it's completely fucking awesome. And the video features Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein. Woot!



The new album from The Thermals, Personal Life , is out now and it's great.

The Thermals official website

Friday 5 November 2010

Video of the day (Of Montreal - Famine Affair)

I have listened to this song an insane amount of times over the last couple of weeks. It's the highlight of False Priest and definitely one of my "songs of 2010". The video was just released the other day and it's great as well. Of Montreal can't really do much wrong in my eyes at the moment.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Alone In The Dark (1982)

What a curious little film. Starring Martin Landau, Jack Palance and Donald Pleasance it was always going to be interesting, but I really had no idea of what to expect. A new doctor is struggling to fit in at the mental hospital he's been placed. When a powercut disables the hospital's security system four of the most dangerous inmates escape. They eventually surround the doctor's house, forcing him and his young family to fight for their survival.

This was…well…weird. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just didn't feel like a normal horror film. The way it's written, shot and paced just made me feel a bit uneasy, but not in a 'I'm scared' kinda way. I just couldn't figure out what type of film it was trying to be. Despite there being no supernatural elements to the story, and the plot itself being fairly straight forward, none of it felt realistic. It's almost like all the characters were non-humorous caricatures of themselves…if that makes any sense. At time it plays out like a chiller intended for the whole family, but then it gets too sinister and gruesome for that to have been the intention.

It's not that it's a bad film, in fact I quite enjoyed it. I just don't know where to place it. It's well worth watching for the great cast, Jack Palance in particular. If you do watch it, let me know what you think. I'm still a bit confused by the whole thing.

Alone In The Dark on imdb

Sunday 31 October 2010

Happy Halloween!

So, today's Halloween and thus the end of the official horror month. But, but...I imagine that won't affect my viewing habits too much. In fact, I imagine November will be just as heavy on the horror. Anyway, I've been watching quite alot of movies the last few day, some alot better than others. Here's a selection...


Barn Of The Naked Dead (1974)
As you'd expect with a title like that, this is pretty sleazy. Man plays nice, lures women to his farm, locks them up in his barn and plays out some twisted circus fantasies. It's a hideously misogynist script, which just leads to the whole film being completely unbelievable and annoying. Only worth watching for Andrew Prine, who plays the wacko and completely steals the show.

Just Before Dawn (1981)
Surprisingly effective chiller of the 'loud-teen-campers-ignore-the-warnings-of-local-forest-ranger-only-to-bump-into-machete-wielding-loonbags' variety. Well worth checking out.

I Drink Your Blood (1970)
One of my favorite discoveries this year. Great fun. Satanists, rabid construction workers. This film has everything. Awesome!

Turkey Shoot (aka Blood Camp Thatcher) (1982)
I only bought this because I was so impressed with some of the directors other films (especially Dead End Drive-In), but this was a bit of a bore. Most of the film is devoted to showing Olivia Hussey looking worried. And I guess she should be. After all, she's either in a horrible prison camp or being hunted like an animal by rich people. Hmmmm. Nope. Bad.

Prom Night (1980)
Four children commit a crime, resulting in a young girl's death. Six years later it's their high school senior prom night and an unknown killer has decided it's time to make them pay. Despite starring Leslie Nielsen as the school principal, this is pretty average. Not much happens until the end...and even then it's not terribly exciting.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Video of the day (Allo Darlin' - My Heart Is A Drummer)

Here it is, the latest Allo Darlin' video. This time it's for upcoming single My Heart Is A Drummer. I wasn't involved in the making of this one, which is why it looks so awesome :)

Saturday 23 October 2010

Video of the day (Micah P. Hinson - Beneath The Rose)

I just realised that Micah P. Hinson is playing in Brussels tonight....but unfortunately there are no tickets left. Hmmm...Î wonder if you get ticket touts in Brussels...would be amazing to go and see him.

This is a cool video......high-speed snails!!!

Friday 22 October 2010

Gig flashback - Bergman Rock (Camden Barfly, 12th April 2006)

So, I'm at my mum's house for the weekend and thought I would look through her old computer before it's thrown out. I found a Nik folder and inside, some gig photos from when I first arrived in London.

Bergman Rock at Barfly was insane. In case you don't know...Bergman Rock is the English-language alter ego of Swedish pop legends Bob Hund (one of the best bands to come out of Sweden ever). The same band members, playing similar kind of music, but in English. And that's the main problem. It's just not the same in English. Bob Hund's Swedish lyrics are absolutely incredible....anyway, it was a great show. The band and the audience went completely crazy.







Bergman Rock on myspace

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Come on, Jean-Claude!

Apparantly Jean-Claude van Damme suffered a heart attack last night! But, he seems alright.

I'd like to wish him a full and speedy recovery. The world needs him.

In honour of JCVD, here's his legendary dance scene from the awesome Kickboxer (1989).

It's crap quality, but the only one I could find that was still embeddable.

object>

Sunday 17 October 2010

The Corpse Grinders


Yeah that's right, the name of the film I just watched is The Corpse Grinders, a 1971 "horror" directed by a Ted V. Mikels. With such a great title came high expectations, but I realised pretty quickly that the name was as good as it was ever gonna get. Not anywhere near as grisly as I expected, not the least bit scary and would in general have been a total waste of my time, had it not been reasonably goofy and even charming at times.

So, what's the deal? Well, ok. Previously harmless cats are going crazy all over town, biting and even killing their unsuspecting owners. At the same time, dodgy cat food brand Lotus are doing great business. Could there be a connection? Of course there is! Their special secret ingredient happens to be human flesh and this is what's giving the cats their bloodlust. But where does one go for this ingredient? Well, a good place to start would be the cemetary. Lucky for factory owners Landau and Maltby there's a crazy couple living just by the cemetary and they're more than happy to dig up corpses for a bit of cash. Doctor Howard Glass and nurse Angie notice their cat behaving aggressively and when more people are attacked they get suspicious and try to find out what the hell is going on. Meanwhile, Landau and Maltbyy stops using cemetary-fresh corpses for a while and starts killing homeless people instead, working up some good mileage on their factory grinder. It's a race against time, good vs evil. Will Howard and Angie discover the secret and get to Landau and Maltby before more people are killed. And who is that man in a moustache that keeps watching everything? He looks like an undercover cop and acts like an undercover cop. Could he perhaps be....an undercover cop?

There are so many flaws in this film, it would just be tedious going into too much detail. The plot is pretty bad, the script is terrible, as is the acting. It looks like a bad tv soap opera....and so on. But, you know...it kept me interested enough to want to see the end. There are some strange characters that keeps it watchable, but also more confusing since they don't really serve any purpose. There's a one-legged mute woman working in the factory, who for some reason is the only one Landau treats with any kind of respect. He's even quite nice to her. And for someone who is usually pretty quick to throw just about anyone into the grinder, that's pretty unusual. I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this is. To show he has a heart? A bit late for that. Then there's also the weird couple in the cemetary, Caleb and Cleo. Cleo has a doll that she treats like a real child, but we never really find out why.

Hmmm...I doubt I'll ever watch this again, but at the same time I don't regret having seen it. A pretty terrible little oddity of a film.

The trailer...



The Corpse Grinders on imdb

Friday 15 October 2010

Video of the day (Pagan Wanderer Lu - Chemicals Like You)

A while back Andy (Pagan Wanderer Lu) sent a twitter appeal for couples to star in his new video. I regret we didn't go now. The result is a really, really lovely video.



Pagan Wanderer Lu on myspace

Thursday 14 October 2010

Video of the day (Japanther - Spread So Thin)

Unless something absolutely amazing is unveiled in the last couple of months of 2010, the latest Japanther album Rock n'Roll Ice Cream, looks set to grab my album of the year spot. I've listened to it an insane amount this year and it just keeps getting better.

Here's the new video for Spread So Thin, one of my favorite tracks on the record. The video is fun as well, in all its pixelated trippy glory. I really wish someone would play this song on a dance floor near me, but it seems unlikely. Maybe I'll have to do something about that.



Official Japanther website

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Another video of the day (Allo Darlin' – If Loneliness Was Art)

It's taken a while to complete, but here it finally is - my latest video for Allo Darlin'. This time it's for the song If Loneliness Was Art, the third single from the band's self-titled debut album.

The video was shot on Super-8 at various London locations over a couple of days in the summer.



You can download the song for free at the Fortuna POP website

Video of the day (Bobby Conn - Never Get Ahead)

I just bought tickets to see Bobby Conn at the Brixton Windmill on 27th November. This is going to be one hell of a show. Bobby is one of the best live performers I have ever seen and apparently he'll be playing his Rise Up! album in its entirety along with some new songs. He hasn't played in London for years and has been quiet in general since the release of his King For A Day album back in 2007.

The Slits guitarist and main songwriter Viv Albertine will be supporting.

I'm sure I've posted this video before, but it is pretty much the best video ever made.



There are still some tickets available from wegottickets! I strongly recommend you go and get yourself some!

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Jonathan Richman live (Water Rats Theatre, 9th October 2010)

Water Rats on Saturday. It was packed. Jonathan threw an anti-air-conditioning hissy fit, so it was boiling hot. He played I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar. It was great. That's all.