2010 in Music - Releases

I haven’t really sat down and thought about a countdown of top albums this year, but I always make a note of what albums I’ve bought throughout the year (that are released during it) then just mark off what ones were really fucking good… then try to arrange them in some sort of rough order. This isn’t exactly fair as some albums get a billion plays since January, others only get 4 or 5 plays, over the last week! I also decided to combine releases for artists who have proper churned stuff out this year.

Regardless, here’s my attempt to organise some records I’ve enjoyed this year:

1. Astrohenge - Astrohenge

2. Teeth Of The Sea - Your Mercury

3. The Declining Winter - Scenes From The Back Bedroom Window EP

4. The Green Kingdom - Prismatic / Remixes

5. Altar of Plagues - Tides EP

6. Triptykon - Esparistera Daimones

7. Khuda - Palingnesia

8. Working For A Nuclear Free City - Jojo Burger Tempest

9. Cloudkicker - Beacons / ]]][[[ EP

10. d_rradio - Parts / Seasons EP

11. Alcest - Écailles de Lune

12. Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

13. Brave Timbers - For Every Day You Lost

14. The Moscow Coup Attempt - Transmissions From The End of The World

15. Mass - Paint By Numbers

16. We Are Knuckle Dragger - Doors To Rooms EP

17. Lafaro - Lafaro

18. IO - Materioptikon

19. Dead Meadow - Three Kings

20. Rose Kemp - Golden Shroud

21. Fieldhead - Riser EP / Long Train Journeys / Reference Line

22. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart

23. The Dark Sky Singers - Like No English

24. Mogwai - Special Moves

25. worriedaboutsatan - Heart Monitor EP

26. 65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway / Heavy Sky EP

27. Wolf People - Steeple / Tidings

28. Baths - Cerulean

29. Admiral Angry - A Fire To Burn Down This World

30. Scott Kelly -The Wake

31. Gallops - Gallops EP

32. These Monsters - Call Me Dragon

33. Unkle - Where Did The Night Fall

34. BXI - BXI EP

35. The Books - The Way Out

36. Mender - The Happy Medium / Resonant Tense EP

37. Quack Quack - Slow As An Eyeball

38. Autechre - Oversteps

39. Silent Front - Dead Lake

40. Drum Eyes - Gira Gira

What have I missed then? I must point out that I didn’t find the time (or money) to buy every album I wanted to, so yes there are big gaps in the shape of God Is An Astronaut, SWANS, Grinderman, Chickenhawk, Humanfly (I only have that album on tape so it’s only had a couple of plays so far), Enslaved, The Phantom Band, Sleepy Sun, Melvins, Zach Hill, Bardo Pond, and so on… I’m still waiting for the postman to deliver the 2010 releases by Talons and Conquering Animal Sound too.

There’s also a load more that I didn’t mention as the list would end up going on forever. A top 40 is already too much to try to figure out! Feel free to discuss any of the records I have or haven’t included.

In 2011 I am looking forward to new releases from Vessels, Manatees, Three Trapped Tigers, Mogwai, And So I Watch You From Afar, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Necro Deathmort, The Pattern Theory, Alright The Captain, Dextro… the list goes on!

2010 in Music - Visual

Normally, I don't see many music videos. I've never had a TV with music channels (I don't have a TV at all these days), and I tend to listen to music when drawing / painting / reading / sleeping. So a visual element would be wasted on me.

However, the internet has changed all that. I still haven't really gone out of my way to search for any videos, but a few have made themselves known to me. I'll explain how as I go along, I suppose.

Be warned though, this is a very mixed bag of serious and stupid videos, both of which appeal to me. Trying to organise them into a sort of "top ten" isn't easy... but I'll give it a shot! Well, it became a top twelve during the writing process, but I can pretend it's deliberate... one for each month? Regardless, feast your eyes and ears:

12. Dressed In Wires - Let The World Be Wary.

I can't put this any higher, cos all the footage is nicked. But it works well with the track, suitably weird and dark. I had to include some DiW somewhere.

11. Kunt And The Gang - Use My Arsehole As A Cunt (The Nick Clegg Story)

I forgot to mention this fella in my live round-up, but I spent the whole gig grinning from ear to ear at the crude level of humour. This variation of Use My Arsehole... has a political edge, and got to number 66 in the UK singles chart at Christmas. Bravo Kunt!

10. Holy Fuck - Red Lights

OK so I've only just seen this, and will probably think it's very silly when I look back on this post, but I did thoroughly enjoy it on the first watch. I haven't even bought this album yet.

9. Triptykon - Shatter

If you ignore all the metal video clichés here, and just enjoy the long shadows and general grimness, I think it's quite good. I may well be biased due to how much I've been enjoying Triptykon this year. I didn't see this video until they were added to the Bloodstock 2011 line-up though. Tom G. Warrior looks a bit like the Emperor off of Star Wars here. Or the Pope.

8. We Are Knuckle Dragger - Explanations With Connotations

This video is all about smug faces. You'll see what I mean. It's also the best use of Penshaw Monument since it's original purpose as an altar of ritualistic goat sacrifice*. I saw this video as I've been keeping an eye on whatever these chaps do, just because I like their noises. I even went to a Halloween music video shoot for their next single Tom Ryder. The resulting film features my housemate Mark dressed as a Thwmop from Mario.

7. Dextro - Momentary

A simple idea, well executed. You can see a lot of time has been spent recording a lot of footage, then combined in the most visually appealing way. This was also my favourite track from 2009's Winded (which topped my end of year album list), so it's good to see a suitably hypnotic visual representation of it. There's also an excellent video for Ring Cycle from the same album (and a 12" released this year), but as I mentioned, this track is my favourite.

6. Mountains Became Machines - The Screening

I've just had to expand my list to make room for this gem I'd almost forgotten about (it seems older than it actually is to me, as I've listened to this single loads)! I like how the presentation of an old documentary or infomercial about television becomes quite sinister and imposing with the musical accompaniment, but still almost triumphant with the addition of vocals near the end of the track. It's a real shame these guys called it quits this year!

5. The Moscow Coup Attempt - The Travelers

Another prime example of a great visual representation of a piece of music. However, TMCA deliberately creates work in this manner, having made soundtrack pieces in the past. This album was released as a DVD, a full audio visual experience as opposed to an album with videos added later. But this track stands out to me, both musically and in film format.

4. That Fucking Tank - Mr Blood

I can't post a link to this as the première was only held last night. But it was a really professional and suitably bizarre piece of film. I'll update this when it's been added to Youtube.

3. Blockhead - The Music Scene

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Blockhead, and after picking up this album (promo copy, £1) I still only really like this track. Even then, it's probably because of how blown away I was by the video. Superb trippy animation and a great concept for a film piece (I enjoyed the comments by Youtube users, trying to figure out what was going on). It was really tough deciding if this should be higher in the list!

2. Amon Tobin - Esther's

This is more like a short film than a music video to me. The level of quality is astounding, and the idea is really cool. Amon Tobin's glitchy music has always featured robotic style album artwork, and it's great to see a full video to go with the theme. This must have taken ages, which you can tell not only by how great the video is, but the fact that this track was originally released in 2007. The video was released as part of the Ninja Tune 20th anniversary celebrations this year, much like the Blockhead one. This one just stole the glory for me as I'm a big Amon Tobin fan, and seeing this inspired me to have a good old back-catalogue binge. I do think the doorbell should ring at the end of the video though.

1. Grinderman - Heathen Child

The daftest, most ridiculous thing I've seen all year. Nick Cave and co. dressed as giant romans, firing lasers out of their eyes.

So there you have it. Did I miss any other treats this year?

*This may not be 100% true.

2010 in Music - Live

2010 has been a bloody good year for music, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve crossed some big names off my “to see” list, but added just as many to it by exploring new releases. No change there then. Before I attempt to go on about records, some live highlights this year have included:

Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, The Netherlands in April. Holy shit. This was the best collection of bands in one weekend I have ever known. Dream Of An Opium Eater, Goatsnake, Altar of Plagues, Triptykon, Yob, Enslaved, Thorr’s Hammer, Moss, Garcia Plays Kyuss, Nachtmystium, Church of Misery, Jarboe and of course our local doom heroes Bong. So many intense performances in such a short space of time. Incredible. Tickets for Roadburn 2011 have been purchased.

Mono & Glissando, The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds in March. The atmosphere was beyond words here. A sold out gig, remaining in complete silence for the two band performances. Both of which were incredibly stirring and powerful in their delicate sound construction.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the Barrowlands, Glasgow in December. My first venture to the Barrowlands, but definitely not my last. Godspeed played for a whopping 2 and a half hours, without any breaks. Background visuals were enthralling but not distracting, the sound was controlled and powerful as required. Purely mind-blowing.

King Creosote at Henry Boons Yard Bar, Wakefield in April. It’s not often that anyone good comes to my hometown. Henry Boons isn’t really a venue either. So I knew this was going to be something special. I’ve been a fan of KC since I saw him support and out-perform Arab Strap many years ago in Newcastle, and I’ve seen him a couple of times between then and this gig. But this was only my second time seeing him play solo. His skilful acoustic guitar and accordion playing fits perfectly with his beautiful and/or comedic song writing. Another lengthy set with a beer break in the middle, very good value for money. Decent sized crowd, and people knew all the words… unexpected!

Vessels, Quack Quack & Juffage at The Library, Leeds in January. Vessels are one of my favourite bands, and this gig was also my introduction to the incredible Juffage, who I have now seen a load of times and I even had him play a gig in Sunderland. As well as great sets from all the acts playing, there was a four-way drum battle between the two drummers from Quack Quack and the two drummers from Vessels, which was intense and bloody noisy! Also, I got wrecked with Tom Khuda, who can’t handle his booze.

Gold Panda at The Cut, Newcastle in November. You can’t beat going to see a musician and ending up drinking from the rider, having awesome banter with all the bands and just feeling very welcome around the people you’ve paid to go and see. It makes it all worth it.

That Fucking Tank. Four times in various places. The New Wave Of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal is a new song they’ve been blasting out, and I’m hooked to the point of chasing them down whenever possible. Not that I wasn’t already fanatical about them.

Taint and Manatees at Trillians, Newcastle in August. This almost didn’t happen. I’m so fucking glad I got in touch with the bands to make sure it did do though, and holy shit it was worth it. Manatees always blow my head off, they make exactly the sort of noises I want to hear. Taint played incredibly well too, and it sadly turned out to be their last tour.

Gentlemans Pistols and Trippy Wicked & The Cosmic Children of the Knight at The Borough, Sunderland in October. I helped to get this one sorted, and it was a roaring success. Trippy Wicked were excellent as ever, and I was blown away by Gentlemans Pistols who I hadn’t seen previously.

Scott Kelly at Trillians, Newcastle in December. Powerful vocals and song writing, slow guitar playing, intense silent atmosphere. Perfect.

Alcest at Damnation festival, Leeds in November. You had to be there.

Black Mountain and Wolf People at TJ’s Woodhouse Club, Leeds in September. Heavy psychedelic blues rock masters Black Mountain delivered exactly what I wanted to hear, at a suitably ridiculous volume. Wolf People were a late addition to the bill but were the ideal warm up.

Part Chimp at The British Wildlife Festival, The Brudenell in Leeds. My ears are still bleeding.

Throughout the year I also soaked up a load of performances by Lafaro, We Are Knuckle Dragger, Khuda, Alright The Captain, Future of The Left, Humanfly, These Monsters, Maybeshewill, The Pattern Theory, Dextro, Kong, worriedaboutsatan, and countless others.

I’ve spent over 90 days or evenings at musical events this year, so I could continue with this for quite a while, but I’ll round it off now.

It’s also been absolutely incredible to go on tour as a merch monkey for Wodensthrone, and be able to see some amazing performances by Wolves In The Throne Room, A Forest of Stars, The Axis of Perdition, Haar, Cloaca, and of course Wodensthrone themselves. All whilst getting messed up on Dr Thunder and having a bloody good time. …and we met The Hairy Bikers at Watford Gap services.

I wonder who I’ll see in 2011...

Wall Painting 2

This is a bit of a disappointment...

You may remember that I have been working on a wall-sized painting in a bar in Sunderland. Here's the blog post with all the details.

Well, the bar recently closed, changed hands and is due to re-open at some point I suppose. But I've been informed that my wall (and everyone else's giant artworks) have been painted over. Completely blank white walls again. Hours and hours of work gone. Just like that.

I'm glad I took photos of the process so I still have something to show for it, if only a tiny snapshot into the monumental amount of work involved. I'm also pretty glad I didn't soldier on and finish it in the last couple of months... it would have really annoyed me if I just got it all sorted before it was erased from history.

In the future, I think I'll stick to canvas so I can at least get my work back if a place closes down. Can't really take a wall home with me... nowhere to put it.

Supermutant Animal Duels 3

Hello Supermutant Animal Duel fans! It's been a while. Your DVD discs of season 1 and season 2 must be getting mighty worn out by now. But fret not, season 3 is finally here! We've assembled the best selection of ludicrous animals... the worst possible film directors... and some especially terrible special effects*.

Supermutant Animal Duel season 3 box set contains the following ten fights:

Morbidly Obese Wasp vs Anorexo Squirrel

Junkie Mole vs Crack Parrot

Fluffy Mammoth vs Zombie Lobster

Venomous Raccoon vs Hermit Pig

Furious Worm vs Colossal Midge

Stealth Whale vs Mind Trout

Broken Swan vs Miserable Budgie

Atlas Moth vs Sat-Nav Caterpillar

Paraplegic Kangaroo vs The Tourettes Giraffe

Shifty Pigeon vs Benevolent Sky Moose

*none of this is real. Still, a man can dream.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Last night, I met a man who claimed to be a millionaire. Bizarrely, this is the second time this has happened, and both situations were incredibly random. Which is why I think these stories need to be told...

Millionaire number one was a very strange Irish man who I encountered in Sunderland one night when out drinking with a few friends. My initial introduction to him was when I heard him laughing just after a girl had fallen down a full flight of particularly painful looking stairs in a bar. Everyone immediately kicked off about the fact that he was laughing, so he looked for a quick escape route. Being the nearest person to him at the time, he began to talk to me. I then tried to get rid of him by returning to my other friends, but he just wouldn't take "go away" for an answer and decided to tag along. He then paid himself and 3 of us into the next bar / club / thing. It was at some point in the queue that he mentioned being a millionaire, and wanting to spend his money with some good friends. How he got his riches remains a mystery... if he was even as rich as he claimed to be. How he has no friends better than us was easy to find out.

Inside the bar he showed very little social skills, grabbing a barmaid by the arm to get her attention, shouting "Oi!" at a barman to get his attention, and slapping various blokes on the arse for no reason whatsoever. He was a terrifying man to be around, but we thought he would eventually get a round in with the wads of cash he was waving around. He didn't. He did, however, invite us to his private box at the Sunderland stadium for a football match the next day. We politely declined as he was a complete mentalist. After a short while, he said or did something stupid to a bunch of guys nearby, and then told us to leave as he was about to get into a fight. We haven't seen him since, thankfully.

Millionaire number two was essentially just a horrendously drunken Asian man with lots of money about his person. He stumbled into The Brudenell in Leeds with a pint in his hands, even though the bar was already closed. He started dancing to The Pattern Theory who were playing the encore of their headline set. Then he started shouting and trying to get me and Jeff of Juffage fame to dance with him. We politely declined but he began to be a nuisance. So, the promoter asked him to leave. When he refused to do so, his pint was confiscated and taken outside, but he then paid the full entry price to come back in for the last 1-2 minutes of the last song of the night.

During this mess, he had been waving his money around, and he did have quite a lot of cash on him. I hope for his sake that he didn't get mugged on the way home, as he wouldn't have a clue what happened the next day. After the gig had ended, he continued to be annoying in front of the merch stand, potentially explaining the lack of sales after the bands had finished. Then he got into a fight with some bloke who was trying to get him to spend all of his riches on our merchandise, which sadly didn't work.

The real highlight of his presence was when he finally decided to go home. It took him about four attempts to get his leather jacket on (more specifically, to get his arms in the correct sleeves), and then proceeded to do the whole "OK, I'm going now, bye!" thing several times before actually going, even though no one was paying him much attention.

I wonder if either of these two chaps were actually loaded... or just mental...?

The Poster Theory

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted anything here for a while. This is because I've been really busy for a change. One of the many things occupying my time of late has been the organisation of a gig for The Pattern Theory, and the designing of the posters for the event.

As I type this, the gig is now just a week away and everything seems to be coming together at last. The gig posters were placed in various record shops and bars in Sunderland and Newcastle, including within the venue itself. However, someone decided to specifically tear down and screw up all of the posters in the venue and the bar opposite for some reason. Thankfully, I also got a load of flyers done so hopefully people will still hear about it.

The venue itself also printed out a couple of the same posters, but at A1 and A0(!) size. The A1 version can be seen on the outside of the venue:

Here it is again, with a bit of zoom action:

The A0 size one is supposedly inside the venue at the top of the stairs, but I haven't been in the main room since it was put up... just the little room for a gig or two. I've already been told I can have the massive one after the gig though, which is a pretty cool souvenir as far as I'm concerned! I think I'll attempt to get everyone who's playing to sign it too.

I've also designed some similar posters to sell on the night in question (and at the band's earlier Leeds date). These are A3 colour prints, with four different designs available. All the patterns are taken from my first set of triangle rubber stamp experiments. I got 30 of each design printed, making 120 in total. This is what they look like on my wall:

They seem to blend in with my boring wallpaper rather a lot.

You may notice that the top left design is slightly paler than the other three. This wasn't deliberate. The first of the four designs, as used on all the flyers and posters, was stamped directly onto some fancy card, then scanned. I did this specifically rather than stamping on white and copying it over, so as to get a more warm and natural appearance to the picture. However, the other 3 designs were stamped on white as I don't have any more fancy card like that.

The background for those posters is a scan of the back of the same piece of card that I used for the first one, but for some strange reason it came out slightly darker. The stamped designs were also tampered with in terms of colour saturation, so as to mimic the first design instead of appearing in their original stark grey colour scheme.

Anyway, I'm still pretty pleased with the four designs and after asking a few people which design they prefer, each one has had a few votes. This is helpful as I was worried about selling out of one design quickly and still having 30 left of another.