Feel the fusion wrath!

I've been watching The Mighty Boosh on the net. The series is online at the BBC(3) for one more week. I remember seeing Noel Fielding on a Channel 4 stand-up show called Gas back in what must have been around 1997/8. I think he was doing his Arctic Boosh show at the time. Julian Barratt was in Chris Morris' Nathan Barley recently (Fielding also briefly appeared). I probably can't do the show justice here, but here are some highlights:

There's a flashback sequence where the Bongo Brothers (Rudy Van Disarzio and Spider Dijon) go to the desert to search for a 'new sound'. At one stage Rudy is offended by Spider, points his guitar at him and asks him to: "feel the power of my fusion licks!". They discuss how embarrasing it is to be under the shadow of Carlos Santana and how they were unlucky to have to be asked to clean up after Woodstock (for six days), saying that the Who would never stay afterwards to clean up. They eventually find the new sound thanks to their battle with the obsolete Betamax format. As the credits run, Roger Daltrey comes along with a hoover. Seriously.

Various other episodes mention a potion that mixes Mozart's tears and the urine of Mark Knopfler, there's confusion between the occult and Yakult, dropping some Weather Report into a DJ set to 'blow their minds', modal jazz and the use of the flat 9th chord. There's even mention of George Clinton, P-Funk, Parliament, Funkadelic and Bootsy Collins.

There's an interview with them on the BBC site. Fielding talks about what a nice guy Chris Morris is. Apparently he attends a ton of gigs in London and has an encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture. Fielding went to a Peaches gig with him. Morris was a little underwhelmed and left, just before Peaches covered herself in blood and threw herself into the stage, where Fielding caught her and was pictured in Mojo doing so. Morris was a little perturbed by this. If you go here you can see the music credits on Nathan Barley. There's some great stuff on there from Prefuse 73 to Public Enemy, from Lee Hazlewood to Gang of Four, from Clinic to Boards of Canada.

Speaking of modal jazz and flat 9th chords, I've been listening to:

Bill Evans: Interplay and New Jazz Conceptions ( I love the titles of the classic jazz era: I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good, No Cover No Minimum and You and the night and the music)

Also listening to Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3. I love the sound of unaccompanied choral music. The history of the form and the ethereal qualities make it sound so special. If you listen carefully it touches your heart in a way that other music can't seem to do...