Your Pawnbroker Roared

Marcus over at Harry's Place has posted a hilarious piece on Bobby D's decision to release his latest album via Starbuck's only. The horror!

'Dylan has chosen to distribute his latest release exclusively through that symbol of global capitalism, Starbucks.'

Symbol of global capitalism, eh? Unlike that cottage industry Capitol Records, employees of which knitted each of Dylan's previous multi-platinum selling records by hand.

Read the comments - they're hilarious.

Was listening to the Bootleg Series last night. It still amazes me that he has never released or properly recorded She's Your Lover Now. So biting and although full of bile ('You just sit around asking for ashtrays/Can't you reach?'), it's a prescient commentary on meeting your ex-girlfriend who's with a new man. Also, on the first disc, there's his 1962 version of Moonshiner, a traditional mountain tune. Dylan sings it so beautifully. The liner notes suggest that you should play it to anyone who thinks Dylan can't sing. I first heard the song through Uncle Tupelo (Jay Farrar, now of Son Volt and Jeff Tweedy, now of Wilco). I've played it live before. Dylan holds on to the notes which changes the length of the measures. Truly haunting.

Been listening to Seven Swans again. I was an idiot to say that it wasn't great. It is. In the Devil's Territory is beautiful. Here's a quote from this review.

"In The Devil's Territory" might be the prettiest song ever written about staring down the Beast. Amidst a soaring banjo and organ (not to mention musical saw), and accompanied by the willowy harmonies of Elin and Megan Smith, Stevens sings "Be still and know your sign/The Beast will arrive in time/We stayed a long, long time... To see you/To beat you/To see you at last."

Also listening to:

Derek Bailey/ William Parker/ John Zorn: Harras. Quite a rare find thi one. Got it off ebay. £26 on Amazon. Japanese only release, I think. Recorded at the Knitting Factory, NYC.

Nas: I Am

Perishable Beauty

As he sat on the side of his bed he felt the room, the house, and the night as empty. In the next room Nicole muttered something desolate and he felt sorry for whatever loneliness she was feeling in her sleep. For him time stood still and then accelerated in a rush, like the quick rewind of a film, but for Nicole the years slipped away by clock and calendar and birthday, with the added poignance of her perishable beauty...

So delicately balanced was she between an old foothold that had always guaranteed her security, and the imminence of a leap from which she must alight changed in the very chemistry of blood and muscle, that she did not dare bring the matter into the true forefront of her consciousness.

Tender is the night
F. Scott Fitzgerald

There's a new link to Foghorn Records on the right.

Listening to:

Roy Ayers: Virgin Ubiquity
Resonance FM: New Adventures in Modern Music
Gilles Peterson: last night's show

A great article from Hitch. (courtesy Norm)

I've been meaning to quote from Francis Wheen's book and Nick Cohen's article, in yesterday's Observer (which also quotes the book), seems like the perfect reason to do so now. So here it is:

The alluring adjectives 'complementary' and 'alternative' are essentially euphemisms for 'dud': there is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't. Professor Richard Dawkins pointed out that if a healing technique is shown to have curative properties in properly controlled double-blind trials, it ceases to be an alternative: it simply becomes medicine. 'Conversely, if a technique devised by the President of the Royal College of Physicians consistently fails in double-blind trials, it will cease to be part of "othordox" medicine. Whether it will then become "alternative" will depend upon whether it is adopted by a sufficiently ambitious quack (there are always sufficiently gullible patients).'

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

The UK premiere of The Devil and Daniel Johnston is at the ICA tomorrow night. Johnston plays the same venue on Thursday night. There's a Q&A tomorrow night with himself and the director. It won the Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival. Here's an article from the Guardian.

A superb article on LD at the New Yorker. It's the best article I have seen regarding him. He rarely does interviews. Watched Sour Grapes. A tad disappointing. There are snatches of dialogue that are pure David, but sadly not enough to make it a worthwhile film to watch. The acting seems somewhat stilted also. I didn't realise that LD directed it. Maybe that was a mistake. A rare one.

There's an episode of CYE where he's accused of racism (he makes an ill-judged joke about affirmative action). He later bumps into a black woman, played by Karen Bankhead, who tried to get a job with him on Sour Grapes. She says that her experience was ideal and that she was perfect for the job. LD says that he gave the job to one of his wife's friends. She continues to accuse him of being a racist, slating Seinfeld for never having any black characters. Anyway, having watched the film, one of the main supporting characters in the film is played by Karen Bankhead. LD goes post-modern, again...


UPDATE: Daniel Johnston has had to cancel his appearances. Take a look at his website announcement. Looks like his mood has darkened....

Stop Smiling

I've had the link to Stop Smiling magazine on here for a while now. You can't get it in the UK, I don't think. Here are the archives which I'm trawling through, slowly. Here's an interview with Brian Wilson by Wayne Coyne. Scrolling down the contents of the magazine just stun you: Matthew Shipp, Ian Mcewan, Lou Barlow, William Parker, Christopher Hitchens, Saul Bellow, John Fahey, Robert Altman, Son Volt... This interview with Wayne Coyne (solo) is a must-read:

(On Brian Wilson) I think he can be a fool, because he needs people to pay attention to him. He’s got the Elvis Presley syndrome. He wants everyone to say, “You’re great! You’re great!” I think he surrounds himself with people who are like, “Brian, the way you eat cereal – you’re a genius. Brian, the way that you wipe your ass, it’s genius.” I’ve found it off-putting at times.

But later on, I was like, “Well, if he’s such a genius, why can’t he… talk.” He’s been asked about his music, like, everyday of his fucking life, so you’d think that he’d have something to say about it, besides, “Well, the Beatles are great.” I know they are, Brian. Now, do you remember any of the ideas that you put into your music?

SS: What do you think of some of these newer bands out there that seem to emulate Wilson in every which way? And not just the Beach Boys, but the entire sound of the 1960s: Phil Spector, George Martin, etc? I don’t wanna name names, but you know who I’m talking about, right?

WC: It’s lame. It’s ridiculous. I mean, here’s an opportunity to talk about your music and to be original and all you wanna do is talk about your record collection. I’ve got no time for that. I’ve got records, too. But I don’t think you can judge a human being by their record collection. A lot of people do that. This sort of stuff is ridiculous and it is the sort of thing that people like to do when they’re young because there’s no gauge on what makes a person cool or not. They could kick your sister’s teeth out, but as long as you have the first R.E.M. B-side record, you’re all good.

When you get a little bit older, you realize how stupid all of this stuff is. Plus, anyone who wants to use equipment that was made in 1967, thinking that it’ll apply today, is ridiculous. If Brian Wilson used equipment in 1968 to record a record that was 30 years old, he’d be using recording equipment from 1938! It would be like one track. My point is this: these people [Brian Wilson, the Beatles] were thinking past their time, and that’s why we’ve applied them at all, especially in art. I can go and buy the Beach Boys records on my own, I don’t need all these bands to tell me about them.

Yes, and no one wants to ever talk money, either. It heightens the drama for these bands. Everybody says it’s for “the art,” because they wanna change the world because it’s fucked. Well, let me tell you something: The world isn’t that fucked. The world is fine without rock ‘n roll; the world wouldn’t be very much different, I think. Your world might be and my world might be, but we would adapt, we’d be fine in no time. It’s something that everyone indulges in. It’s entertainment, really. I don’t see myself as being any different than a guy at a traveling circus: people come, they pay money, good, hard-earned money, to see you, and you should entertain them. And then they can go home, and that should be it.

I’m glad that my audience has a life. Sometimes people go to shows and then they’re like, “God, this band changed my life.” Well, if you’re 14 –that’s fine. But if you’re 24, I hope you are stable enough and secure enough with your fucking identity that a rock band doesn’t change your fucking existence.

You don’t need to emulate these people. Go to your job, listen to music. I don’t think that a guy that works at a bank is any less important than a guy that’s in a band is. He likes banking; this guy likes music. We all have to have something that we enjoy.

Blue...so blue...a pool so blue it was almost grey

Silence

True silence is evasive
True silence eludes us
True silence...

Silence is yet to be heard
There is no silence in a meadow at dusk
There is no silence in the depths of the Oceans Pacific, Atlantic nor Indian
There is no silence

Yet silence is a worthy goal
And we should be unafraid once we come accross it
For it shall not forewarn us of its presence
We shall not find silence
Silence will find us

In search of Diz and Bird (Part II)

Oh dear. I met the most amazing woman last night who has frankly thrown my somewhat hasty and certainly premature 'off women for life' stance into disarray. Wow. Dr. D was leaving to study medicine and so we went for a few drinks on Summer Row, a supposedly cosmopolitan and trendy collection of bars with seats outside. Next to a dual carriageway. With views of a roundabout. Anyway, Dr. D invited his friend who walked into the room like Nicole Kidman at a premiere. Oh, brother...

She has lived in Paris and went to Juillard (see this post, also) in New York for 3 months. She studied Politics at Cambridge and then did a law conversion in London and is now a corporate lawyer (I think). We must have talked about food for about an hour. Despite her breathtaking figure she eats good, real good. I won't bore you with the details but we touched upon the restaurants in Paris, New York and London, the quality of coffee in Paris and Rome, the similarities between Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday. I mentioned A Cook's Tour and that me and T were addicted to it over Christmas. She said she loved Anthony Bourdain ('the Lou Reed of the culinary world') and his programme and that she had been to his bistro in Manhattan. She didn't think it was that special. Go here and here and here. Despite her background, she was grounded. Her love of coffee and cigarettes prompted me to ask whether she'd seen Coffee and Cigarettes. She had. Despite her disdain for Amelie and despite her defence of Irreversible and extreme French cinema, there wasn't a shred of pretensiousness in anything she said. Honestly. Despite, despite, despite...

Eternal thanks to the Yorkshireman for letting me know that Sour Grapes was on last night on Channel 5 @ 3am. Larry David's directorial debut. I think it got panned by the press and I'm fairly sure it didn't reach these shores. Taped it. Will watch it tonight. The 5th series of Curb Your Enthusiasm is out on HBO soon. The 4th series is yet to appear over here for some reason. Ordered the DVD though...

Listening to:

Jim O'Rourke: Bad timing
Lou Reed: NYC Man (yes, still. Incidentally, Lou Reed is modeling some Alexander McQueen clothes in the current ID magazine. Pretty hilarious...)
Wilco: Live bootleg

CountryBlueGrassBlues

So Jellie's moving to Stoke Newington. Good luck to her. I've been there just once I think, with T. I went to see Peter Fairclough and Keith Tippett. Pete taught me to play kit and is a true inspiration. He played at the Vortex which is now re-opened albeit in a new location. From what I remember N16 is somewhat quaint and the walk to the nearest tube is a long one. The gig was great. I bumped into my mate Spencer who was on the first year of my degree course. He came down to London Town to attend BassTech. His grandfather owned a jazz label and Spencer played bass (he played good, real good) and trumpet. Should have kept in touch with the guy.

When I was in NYC, I went on a pilgrimage to Charlie Parker Avenue on the Lower East Side and decided to check out CBGBs whilst in the area. I walked past a record shop, Downtown Music Gallery. I looked in the window. It had some great sides. There was a board with recommended releases. At the top was this! Further down was this! I went in and got a ton of CDs. Playing it cool, I approached the counter and said that Peter Fairclough was presently teaching me. The guy just stared back at me and said, "Oh, right..." I guess he was just too much of an NYC Man.

Currently listening to:

Bill Frisell: The Intercontinentals
Sufjan Stevens: Illinoise - Mr Stevens is attempting to record an album dedicated to each United State of America. This is the second one (the first being Greetings From Michigan). They are 2 truly beautiful pieces of work. He also recorded this in between which is good but not great. Illinoise is a lot more uplifting than Michigan. Not having been to either, I'm guessing it has something to do with the states themselves. They need to be heard to be believed. They represent all that is great about American music. It feels like it could have been recorded at any time since the 1800s. And yet its fresh and progressive. Astonishing.

Just watched Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train for the second time. What a great film. It features Joe Strummer, Screamin Jay Hawkins, Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi and the great Youki Kudoh. It's got a great soundtrack (with original music by a band featuring Marc Ribot). Although it's a film as a whole (linked by Memphis and the music of Elvis Presley), it's also presented as little vignettes and it would make a great 3-Act play.

Pet symmetry

Have a look at this. Kanye West's College Dropout album fused with Pet Sounds. All Falls Down works the best. It's mixed with Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder). Slow Jamz is mixed with Caroline, No which also works well. The others work less well but it's still an interesting listen. I'm guessing the site will be taken down soon so be quick. (courtesy Yorkshireman)

Saw this piece in the Observer today. Paul Morley discusses Kenny Wheeler's Angel Song which I'm yet to hear but must check out asap:

Kenny Wheeler collaborated with three very distinctive greats from different generations - saxophonist Lee Konitz (who played on Miles' Birth Of The Cool), bassist Dave Holland and guitarist Bill Frisell - for the Angel Song album on the snidily underrated ECM label: every year for the past 36 years ECM has released at least half a dozen neglected classics. Absolutely beautiful, drummerless, delicately abstract hybrids of composition and improvisation , it's astonishing that this piece hasn't become the modern equivalent of Kind of Blue or Love Supreme and crept into the mainstream pop canon. I played it non-stop in Barcelona after buying it in 1997, spending a few days with my partner Elizabeth in the Arts Hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, and every time I listen to it now I hear love, sun and sea, as if the music was written just for us.

What to listen to and when...

Thom Yorke and Radiohead are now blogging whilst recording their new album. Should be very interesting. I've kind of lost interest in them recently. Apart from their over-politicized spoutings (maybe I just disagree with them), I was more concerned with blatant rip-off of Charles Mingus' 'Freedom' from The Complete Town Hall Concert on Hail To The Thief. Great source material but not too clever. Not clever at all, in fact. Downright disgusting. My dissertation was entitled 'To what extent were Kid A and Amnesiac a watershed for popular music?'. The answer was to a moderate extent (to sum up 12,000 words). I have to credit them with my a large part of my musical education. I wouldn't be in to the things I'm into now without studying their interviews etc. Learning about Penderecki, Messiaen, the Warp label, Anti-pop Consortium. Their ground-breaking use of the internet really changed how artists use the web to reach their fans (as well as non-fans). In some ways they became experts in marketing, a charge I'm sure they wouldn't be too keen to hear. (Courtesy of here)

This is something I've been meaning to put up for a long, long time. The extent of Elvis Costello's musical knowledge is something I'll never catch up with. Only Vincent Gallo and perhaps Henry Rollins have similar record collections. Of course there are obsessives all over the world whose collections would dwarf all of the above. The difference is that the above are all in the public eye whose music reaches millions of people and the chances of influencing those people are vast (the late John Peel is another one I've just remembered). So, enhance your collection as you progress through your life with this list. You could do a lot worse. It's great to tick off the albums on there that you now own. Trust me. Ok, ignore me. For those are more anal (if that's possible), go here to see Costello's article in Vanity Fair on what to listen to throughout the day.

On a similar level, Martin Carr (formerly of The Boo Radleys and now Brave Captain) has a blog. Have a look at this post where he goes for a walk with his ipod on shuffle. Great... (courtesy of T)

If you haven't checked out Prefuse 73 yet, do so. He has his head screwed on for sure. He has a diary on his site which reveals much although not often. There is also a really good interview on Pitchfork here. On another Warp records link, here's a great interview with Jamie Lidell who is everywhere at the moment.

Nick Hornby interviewed Bruce Springsteen in the Observer recently. Me and Hornby both share the same favourite song of all time: Thunder Road off Springsteen's Born To Run.

Just seen this which should be interesting. Reading about Elliot Smith always makes me sad.

Radiohead,Nick Hornby,Costello,Elliot Smith,ipod.

Solarized

So there I was at Dunstall Park (above), the racecourse in Wolverhampton, for a corporate 'do'. We were taken out by one of our clients who came up from Southampton. For the first time I met Dan Bierton, a guy I speak to on the phone regularly. I won't go into details but his job is a fairly mundane role within the legal sector. We got on well and didn't concern ourselves with the 'action' down on the track. He then slipped into the conversation that he used to work in a recording studios in London. I asked him which one (pre-judging Dan to have merely had 1 weeks work experience in some under-exposed back street studio used by advertising companies or something). He said, 'Do you know Sarm(Trevor Horn's studio)?'. So, it turns out that he was an engineer there who worked on some big records. In particular he helped out on Ian Brown's first solo album. He got on so well with him that ended up co-writing a few tunes on his subsequent albums and became his tour drummer/keyboardist. He then moved to the south coast to raise his family while Ian Brown took time out. Astonishing. He offered to put me in touch with some of his contacts when I move down to London Town. He still writes for West One Music who put forward his work for TV and adverts.

Currently listening to:

Jim O'Rourke: Halfway to a Threeway
David Axelrod: Songs of Experience

Ian Brown,David Axelrod,production,Trevor Horn.

Atonement

My good old friend MC Donny OD has just been signed to Something In Construction. He plays guitar in the band Christian Silva. They have a mini-album out in September which was recorded in France. They're playing accross London regularly. I saw them at the Varsity in Wolverhampton at one of their first shows. Queen and Muse immediately sprang to mind. I'm not a huge fan of either and it's certainly has a pop edge. Indeed, the album has been produced by James Sanger who produced Keane's album. I really hope they can utilise Donny's influences more than they currently do. Donny has some great credentials and an encyclopedic knowledge of music. The label have also mentioned Bowie and Talk Talk in reference to them and I guess I can see that. Christian's voice is very similar to Thom Yorke's. Go and download Why Should I from here or here. It's really good.

The Electric Cinema continues to be the arbiter of creative cinema-going. To celebrate the release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory they have asked Chouchoute to produce a chocolate fountain and they're also serving chocolate cocktails all week. What an amazing place it is. I don't know another cinema like it. They also have this upstairs. There are bound to be some great ones in London and I've been to The Coronet in Notting Hill which reminded me of the theatre in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. I reckon The Electric competes with anything London can throw at it though...

Woo has a great post. He's waiting for the new Stevie Wonder album. How has he decided to title his post?....... 'Signed, Sealed.....Undelivered'!!!! YES!!! Brilliant......

Pitchfork has the tendency to be annoying but it has its moments. Here are two great interviews with Ryan Adams and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and DFA.

Broadcast appear in this month's Wire. They take part in the Jukebox feature which is ridiculed in the pre-amble to the above James Murphy interview. They mention Cinephilia which I previously mentioned in this post (or see my profile). Its an astonishing place and, again, you would struggle to find a better place to rent films in the entire country. Broadcast must live fairly near to me. They have a studio at the Custard Factory.

cinema,music,David Bowie,Stevie Wonder,Ryan Adams,Birmingham.

Cielo, Provocation and Money

Richard Herring, formerly of Lee & Herring and Fist of Fun, has a great blog. He's currently at the Edinburgh Festival and he's chronicling his up and down times there. I don't remember the his TV show that well to be honest but I do remember catching little snippets and laughing as he played the Morecambe to Lee's Wise. Stewart Lee wrote an article for The Wire a few months ago which I was very surprised to see. It was essentially about him experiencing a comedic awakening at a Derek Bailey gig. I loved this post of Herring's. It's a great example of a comedian taking a potentially controversial suject and ridiculing the reaction to it.

If I had a brand spanking new bike I would have to cycle everywhere shouting, "I
was going to buy this anyway, it's not because of terrorism. I am not a pussy.
Like all the other new cyclists that you can see in front of me. The terrorists
have not won"...We're all more scared of the police now anyway. It was a bit of
a nippy morning today and I couldn't find my leather jacket so was considering
putting on my long winter coat. But then I thought that the police might see me,
be suspicious of me wearing inappropriate clothing for our wonderful British
summer and execute me in the street, just in case. I do have a beard as well
after all. And there would be quite a hefty bulk under the coat that anyone
would assume was a bomb rather than the result of guzzling pizza and beer.
No-one would blame them for the mistake. So I just went out in my shirt instead.
People shouted at me, "You coward! Going out without a coat on. The terrorists
have won."

Have just finshed reading Martin Amis' Money. And also Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. Both courtesy of T. I can't profess my love for New York City enough (Money is set there as well). Have been listening a little too much to Lou Reed's NYC Man compilation, a fine, fine album if ever there was one. Coney Island Baby, Street Hassle, Pale Blue Eyes, Caroline Says II. T pointed me in the direction of this book. It's now on my wish list.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's latest work Extras is currently on BBC2 on Thursday nights. I hold both of them (particularly Gervais) in such high esteem. Gervais constantly references my favourite shows: The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld (I admittedly obsess over all three to an unhealthy extent). Gervais credits George Costanza as the finest sitcom character ever. And he's probably right. Extras is influenced to a considerable extent by The Larry Sanders Show (as was I'm Alan Partridge) but, again, Gervais takes it to another level (as did Steve Coogan), making it universal and British all at once. Gervais and Merchant have had a show on XFM for a good few years now. It's really worth accessing the archives here.

Go see the Asian Provocateur: 'Life. Love. And a little bit of luxury'. Actually, its better than the by-line. Much better. She pointed me in the direction of this site, some great quotes from New Yorkers. Also, she went to see a DJ at this place, based in the trendier-than-thou Meat-Packing District in Manhattan which I visited (the district not the club) when I was there in 2003 (it's also referenced in a Seinfeld episode).

Go see Painter Girl. She's somewhat Anglophile in her tastes. She's paints good (as Gallo would say) and best of all, she lives in New York.

extras,ricky gervais,comedy,New York,Edinburgh,Seinfeld,books.

Gallo @ Koko

Mr Gallo entertained me and T for just over an hour last night at Koko in Camden. He was joined by Woody and Theresa who was pregnant. They swapped instruments although Theresa was mainly on kit and Woody on guitar. Vincent seemed relaxed for a change. I was at work in Birmingham in the day and then travelled down to Camden. The venue, now called Koko, used to be the Camden Ballroom and its former title befits the grandeur of the place. It's beautiful (although I would imagine that it's slightly less beautiful when holding Trance nights). Vincent played most of his When album, a few new tunes, a version of what I think was a Yes track and he came on for an encore of Moonshine (King Crimson). He went down well and it looked like the place was sold out. Gallo cracked a few funnies about girls in pants, how he wished Theresa's baby was his and then when the crowd begged for more at the end (perhaps more out of feeling short-changed) he said that he usually gets booed off after the first few songs. Then the three of them stood on stage deliberating what to play. Gallo protested that Moonshine was the only other song that they knew. Theresa wanted to play a tune where they 'rocked out' but Gallo wasn't keen. T thought it was Vincent's best gig. I think the RFH gig was the best (PJ Harvey and John Frusciante came on to do 'Moon River' for the encore). The less said about this gig the better.

Meanderings and musings...

So, reasons for delay in posting: holiday in Spain, wedding in Barnsley (stag do in Skegness), cricket, up and down to London... So there you go...

Go see Jelly at Shocking Blues and Mean Reds. She's a big fan of Vincent Gallo (we'll both be at the Gallo gig @ Koko on Wednesday), Cat Power and, especially, Audrey Hepburn. She publishes a fanzine of the same name which has her writing in it. Read all about her kooky goings-on in loveley Brighton. There's nothing like women...

Issue #2 has a great little article about mix-tapes. I can still remember the first one my brother, T, made for me. Dinosaur Jr, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nick Cave, Thelonious Monk, DJ Shadow, Curtis Mayfield, Gram Parsons, Robert Johnson. This tape was monumental in my learning. 'Nuff said... I think I read in the latest Wire that Thurston Moore has just released a book documenting the importance of mixtapes in the development of music in the 80s. I think Jim O'Rourke (as well as others) has added his favourite mixtape from his youth.

I got a Candi Staton compilation from T for my birthday. Whilst being reminiscent of Aretha Franklin (indeed, Staton rips off the backing girl parts of 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man' in 'Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man'), Staton's raspy yet velvety vocals reveal more pain and emotion than Franklin (not that that's a competition that sounds like it's worth winning). It reminded me of Billie Holiday as opposed to Ella Fitzgerald: both awesome but you can just get a little more out of the former, knowing the heartachingly rocky life she lived. Worth getting anyway and very cheap. I love the following line from 'Mr and Mrs Untrue', what an image:

I keep my shades on Johnny,
The hotel is kind of crowded tonight

Also bought the new Jamie Lidell album 'Multiply'. It's superb and you should reject any pre-conceived notions of a white person singing soul. Apart from being offensive and simply wrong, such critics would, I'm sure, fail to criticise a black person singing opera simply because black people have no history in that culture. He recorded it in Berlin and although one minute it can sound like the Four Tops (and I mean exactly like the Four Tops), the next minute it's as progressive as Squarepusher. Lidell has said that he didn't ever want to become part of the 'Space Race', which is a great term for those such as Aphex Twin, Autechre and the aforementioned Squarepusher who pursue the latest fucked-up sounds.

I have also been playing cricket for the work team. We play at Moseley Ashfield CC's III team pitch. It's a great ground, overlooked by the stunning Britannic Assurance appartments. Playing recently, I was fetching a ball from under a car when I heard a guy ask if I needed a hand. It was Heath Streak! He staying in one of the little maisonettes while playing for Warwickshire CC. We also played in Regent's Park recently, right by the zoo. You can see the BT Tower and just see the London Eye from the pitch. Anyway, we're doing well...

cricket,blogs,soul,

l-r: 'Five Dances', Mr and Mrs Dickson, the photographer (or bus driver depending on how you see his jacket)

Villa Jasmine, Javea, Spain