“That dog that’s barking…that’s not my dog”

‘Lo all,

I, for one,  would love to see Jeremy Paxman in a situation where he has to interview Gary Busey in this sort of rare mood. The dog’s not the only thing barking in this clip.

Big ups to Kate for spotting this wee gem

Fad or not; it’s here to stay…because it’s incredible

Aloha,

 Just when James and I were thinking that we have some cool synths, this yoke comes along. One can’t help but feel that this is the synth that The Predator would play

And to see how it actually looks being used in a live setting – enjoy this….

Many thanks to Barry for drawing my attention to this

Kiwi-tastic Pop Fest

Three impossibly catchy tracks from under Down Under…

The Phoenix Foundation “All In An Afternoon”

Holly Smith “Bathe In The River”

And saving the catchiest for last…Fat Freddy’s Drop “Wandering Eye”

Film – The Bad Plus (Live Aphex Twin Cover)

Normally, I don’t like handheld shakeycam vids but for this I’ll make an exception.

I’ve also found some really good videos for my two favourite tracks on drukqs.

Avril 14th – Aphex Twin

 

4 – Aphex Twin

Orchestral versions of these and loads of other Aphex Twin tunes can be heard on Alarm Will Sound’s Acoustica album, which is very impressive (but I’m still not sure if the manual handclaps work).

‘Bubbles’ – The Free Design

Some bubblegum pop (quite literally) from the great unsung heroes of the 60s.

The 2001 Cherry Red compilation The Best of The Free Design was the first Free Design material ever to be released on this side of the Atlantic (the dull rainy side).

 

You can also get The Free Design: The Now Sound Redesigned. This is a masterclass in how to remix stuff from the 60s with lessons from Stereolab, Super Furry Animals, Belle and Sebastian and more… The Madlib remix is sublime.(Not all 60s remixes are good. The recent ‘effort’ from Mark Ronson on Dylan’s Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) is quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever heard. If you’ve been lucky enough not to have heard it, please don’t go looking for it.)

Those scienticians never fail to crack me up

Ever feel the urge to curl up into a little ball, roll down a hill and grab some rings?That could be your Sonic hedgehog gene acting up. Some humourous chimp in a lab coat thought he could impress his friends by naming this gene after the Sega videogame character.

Read more here.

I like the line:  Some clinicians and scientists criticise giving genes frivolous or quirky names, calling it inappropriate that patients with “a serious illness or disability are told that they or their child have a mutation in a gene such as Sonic hedgehog.

It’s not funny but it does make us laugh.

 

Arab Strap – Cherubs

They don’t make ‘em like this anymore. One of the most original bands of the last decade. Dark, confessional, heartfelt, painfully brilliant. Sad to see them split up a while back, but glad that Aidan and Malcolm are both still doing solo stuff. It’s worth getting Mad for Sadness just for ‘Girls of Summer’. I found it in an old CD wallet today and it’s been giving me the shivers all afternoon – I can’t believe it’s a live album! It takes me back to Road Records and the TBMC circa 1999.

“How many additional dead Americans was Saddam worth?”

Here’s Dick Cheney in 1994 explaining why it would be a bad idea to invade Iraq.

Isn’t it odd how things can slip your mind from time to time?

Funny how you get more right wing as you get older

Lie back and think of (the North of) England (in the 60s)

If you can get mentally strip away the awful video (or simply close your eyes) then you’ll enjoy this.  The orchestration is particularly satisfying and it has much more of a warm, Spektory feel than a lot of the Motown numbers released around the same time

 That is all,

Ian

The Mutt’s Nuts

Back in the earlier days of our musical career James and I appeared in a charming quintet named Murdock. We did a pretty good cover of this (one of our ‘fans’ actually said it was better than the Beatles version, which it wasn’t) but we never needed the words written on a piece of tatty paper like John and Paul here.

For the records, we were joined in those early days by Paul ‘Cheesy Oasis Solos’ Spencer & Robert ‘I sure know my way around a mean backbeat’ Chadwick. Good times

 Ian