This mule ain't from Moscow..

I often laugh at the things that come out of the mouth of Thom Yorke. He's hilarious. I remember he once said that he loved Autechre because they sounded like the sounds inside his head. Wow. He's so deep. I guess I know what he means, though. Sometimes there's a need to listen to chaos. There is comfort there. On occassions. I listened to Confield last night. And then I listened to Cecil Taylor's Conquistador this morning. I couldn't have listened to either of them two days ago, for instance. But last night and this morning they really worked.

Weedawg has made me listen to Hail To The Thief the past few nights. We Suck Young Blood completely rips off Charles Mingus' Freedom from the The Complete Town Hall Concert album. The slow hand-claps, the Ride cymbal with nails in it, the pace, the piano, the timbres. One of the most important pieces of music from the 20th century. Overstatement? Exaggeration? Go listen to it and then come back... They admitted as much in an interview going as far back as 1999/2000. I included it in my dissertation. So this is a band revered for being cutting edge, ripping off someone else's material and then using re-hashed stuff from 5 years ago. Mmm...Knowing what they know about music (and they know a lot), how can they do that?!!!

Went to see the Flaming Lips at Birmingham Academy last week. They were great but I'm not going to do the obligatory gig review you'll be pleased to know. Hell, you can read it elsewhere. But have a look at the photos on Steve Gerrard's site. He's local to Birmingham. There are some excellent gig photos on there but there are also some great shots of NYC (I know, zzzzzz....) and some really good portrait shots.

Radiohead,Mingus,jazz,Flaming Lips,Autechre,Warp,photography.