Parenthetical Girls have a girlie boy man woman guys gals thing going on, know what I'm saying? It's all gender switch lyrics an' shit, which is always good, and in the case of Parenthetical Girls it's bloody good! This gig was in a weenie little venue, the downstairs of Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff.
There were three support bands who I will review...now! Zissou: Heavy on haircuts and "indie". Nice cover of Nashville Parthenon by CFTPA. Hail! The Planes: Terrible name, sounded really good during the intro for the first song but the singing spoiled it. Really didn't like the guy singing but when the girl sang it was really good. She should sing all the songs. Ladybird: Sort of, like, funtime guitar pop. Ok.
There was one headline band who I will review...now! Parenthetic Girls: Absolutely amazing, possibly the gig of the year and certainly in my top ten of all time. All four members of the band switch instruments between pretty much every song which I usually find a bit wack but in this case I thought it was spiffing. Zac was just great, he was "air twiddling", doing sort of scooty marching both forwards and backwards, rolling around on the floor, climbing on the seats, crawling across the bar, drumming on the walls, doors, steps, speakers, singing from outside the venue, and at one point he was even flat on his back with his head between the legs of the one, the only, the, Boxing Duck!,,,,,,,,,,,,,
(Click the photo to see the rest from the gig...)
Some dude from Los Campesinos! (?) sang the first song and kept giving me the evil's all night, I've never bothered listening to them, the name is a bit to (sic) fun sounding for me, I'm not a big fan of fun. Track, list:
Love Connection Love Connection Pt. II Four Words I Was The Dancer Avenue Of Trees Gut Symmetries The Weight She Fell Under Stolen Children This Regrettable End
Tonight the person who runs Wicked Trips and Rising Viper Records in Swansea, South Wales attacked me. He repeatedly punched me in the face and ripped my hoody (by http://www.existclothing.com an awesome Swansea skate shop and clothing brand) over I'm not sure what. It seems he had read my music blog "Boxing Duck!" and seemed to be very upset because I was enjoying music and sharing what I liked, he finds this very offensive and rather upsetting. I would suggest you do not associate yourselves with either http://www.wickedtrips.com/ nor http://risingviper.com/.
If you ever experience something like this in Swansea I urge you to contact http://www.south-wales.police.uk/ who I am sure will help you resolve the issue or just do nothing which is why I didn't contact them, I'm just using their link to benefit my cause, whoop.
I hope you enjoyed this free speech broadcast.
Yours Sincerely The Boxing Duck!
Disclaimer: Boxing Duck! does not encourage nor endorse abuse but fully supports boycotting :-p
I've not really got any exciting stories about Yeah Yeah Yeah's really, just that they are a great band and this is a great sounding recording from one of their gigs in 2006.
Seeing as I have nowt to say I have knocked up some killer animated gifs for y'all, hope you like them...
Here is the setlist...
Live at Kool Haus, Torono, ON - 10.04.06
Gold Lion Honeybear Black Tongue Fancy Phenomena Mysteries Cheated Hearts Dudley The Sweets Y Control Miles Away Turn Into Crowd Noise Maps Warrior Tick Art Star Modern Romance Date With the Night
Well lookie here, what's this? It can't be? Can it? IT IS! A JONATHAN RICHMAN BOOTLEG FROM 2000!!! All right, bloody hell, calm down isit? Oh ok, I agree it is pretty exciting, and it's also really really great quality in both sound and content :-D
I loooooooove Jojo, I love him so much that I am getting a Jojo tattoo some time soon, I have my Silver Jews and Daniel Johnston tattoos that can be read as either happy or sad depending on whether you are happy or sad but I want a bright Richman one that just says (not literally) "don't be sad, be happy!" cause I need to stop all this 'I'm depressed' business! Yes, I'm depressed but buying black trousers to wear with my 20,000 black band t-shirts is not a good thing, I need some colour in my life. They say "once you go black, you don't go back" but I think it's about time I at least tried to go back, maybe I should go to more bakeries but they don't really cater for vegans. I have discovered that one of the bakeries in town has a fridge that is FREEZING at the back and most of the time the Diet Coke right at the back has ice in it so I usually buy my pop from there; I don't think Jonathan was talking about pop when he wrote those lyrics though. :-s
If you were to look at my last.fm page you'd see that my top two artists are The Fall and Jonathan Richman, two musical oddities that you wouldn't really put in the same camp but they have a lot in common I suppose, I'm not gonna write about it like some kind of Pitchfork type, instead just take a second to think about it yourself...
I don't half write some rubbish on this blog, it doesn't give enough insight into my mangled brain enough to achieve a book deal yet it isn't boring enough to just post the download link and be done with it. How about some questions? Throw some questions at me in the comments, that'll be a gas, ask me anything, just don't ask me about why I think Star Wars is a big pile of crap cause it just is, m'kay.
I am currently downloading some very very rare Modern Lovers live recordings from '76 and '78, I'll share them some day...
This recording has really great quality and has three (I think) unreleased songs in the form of Silent Treatment, Barcelona and I'm Not Obsessed With Her...
Intro Her Mystery Not Of High Heels And Eye Shadow Egyptian Reggae Give Paris One More Chance Silent Treatment Pablo Picasso Nineteen in Naples I'm So Confused I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar Couples Must Fight Barcelona I'm Not Obsessed With Her I'm a Little Airplane Rooming House on Venice Beach Let Her Go Into the Darkness True Love is Not Nice Vampire Girl You Can't Talk to the Dude
Wow! You guys 'n gals are lucky to have me! Today I bring you The Decemberists live in Liverpool 2004. This is a short set (40ish mins) but it is special because it's from their first ever tour of the UK. I travelled from Swansea all the way up to Liverpool, a good 5 hour train journey and they played for under 40 minutes, I was pretty upset and was forced to beg them to play Los Angeles, I'm Yours (in vain). I did feel a bit sorry for them, they were pretty 'big' in 2004 and they come over here and literally played to about 12 people at this gig, and most of those were there for the support band, then they get turfed out because it was time for the DJ to go on!
I don't think I have any funny Decemberists stories so instead I'll just tell you about my iPhone 3g: it is the bo shizzle. If you have an iPhone but haven't hacked it then you must do it immediately! Jailbreak that bastard and load it up with killer apps for FREE. I'm up til all hours every night SSH-ing stuff to it, none of this "oh the app store has a nice app for £5.99" crap, you gotta get on Cydia yo.
Here's a funny story: this week I have come into possession of the entire album The Crane Wife in instrumental form and also Cricket by Happy Cactus which was Colin Meloy's band BEFORE Tarkio, I know what you are thinking, you are thinking "that's not funny", what is funny is that I am not gonna upload them anytime soon, HA!
Now, go forth and download, the sound quality is good, whoop:
Live At Barfly, Liverpool - 08.10.04
01. Shanty For The Arethusa 02. The Soldiering Life 03. The Infanta 04. Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect 05. Clementine 06. Leslie Anne Levine 07. Billy Liar 08. Grace Cathedral Hill 09. The Chimbley Sweep
Do you like shiny metals? Do you like Larry David's bald head? If you answered yes to both of those deep questions then you will LOVE Silver Jews. If you answered no but know good music when you hear it you will LOVE Silver Jews. As mentioned before I used to listen to Biggie Smalls and stuff like that in my teens, then I got a girlfriend and she had a tape with Silver Jews on one side and Belle and Sebastian on the other. She'd put it on every night and for a long long time all I knew of either band was 'Smith and Jones' and 'Stars of Track and Field' cause I'd be out like a light as I would have been doing radical stunts on my skateboard all day (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K52c8BjU200 [I'm up first]). So I bought If You're Feeling Sinister and copied The Natural Bridge and American Water off her brother. As I'm sure you are aware Belle and Sebastian became SHITTY POO whereas Silver Jews are still kicking ass and will continue to kick ass, I am sure of that.
I just searched for something and came across something else, I have a Silver Jews tattoo, I met Berman and had him to write the lyrics I wanted on paper...
...then some dude saw that photo on t'internet and emailed me with this, frankly, long string of words...
"One of these days these days will end?
Hey, great photography. I know a bit about photography; I would say I know enough to deem your photos, which appear on your your profile and your website, as great works. On your profile, I love that picture of the guy with the wild hair and what looks like an application of the burning and dodging technique. Cool stuff. So, I came across a comment or rather, a picture, that you posted on the Silver Jews' profile: it was a picture of a man's arm with what looked like a tattoo of a phrase, which read, one of these days these days will end. I am confused; perhaps, a poet no longer resides within me, but I want to understand this. I always try to subjectively or objectively reason with things, but it is usually the former type of reasoning that leads me astray. So, I ask,what does that mean to you? Why were you compelled to post that? It looks like a photograph that you have taken; if so, did the person who had it branded into his skin give you a reason? Is that like a carpe diem phrase? What are "these days"? Is that statement referring to all of the war strife and all of the dismal, bleak, and suspicious ways of stopping terrorism? "One of these days these days will end." Of course, it is going to be the last of "these days" that "these days" will end and the phrase expresses a certainty or hope that, indeed, "these days" will end. Does the first "these days" imply a different meaning? So, we know that four things are uncertain: WHEN "these days" are going to end; HOW "these days" are going to end; WHY "these days" are going to end; and WHERE "these days" are going to end. What doesn't make sense to me the most is this: Say you have 7 days and either by instinct or by given, bestowed knowledge you know that one of these seven days, "these days" will end; let's say that on the fifth day, "these days" end; what happens to the remaining two days? Are they not "these days" anymore? Are they just days that a person can decide what he/she wants them to be, which is just an existential sort of idea. So, really, I think this quote means that any person can hope for something to come to an end and maybe the interval of time that this "end" takes place is uncertain, but . . . (?) Now, I think that is a great photograph. This person has branded himself with a permanent marking; it is almost like he/she has mock-hope that anything, good or bad, will end; he/she is going to take this tattoo to the grave. So, I guess, in a poetic point of view, he/she is just trying to say that there will always be "these days"(great/horrible times) and really there is no escaping these things and one must always be conscious of this fact because that's what imposes moderation . . . GAH!!!!!!!! I don't get it. Well, nonetheless, I would love to read your interpretation of this very general, enigmatic, phrase. Sorry, to bother you. I think that this is a very interesting thing about myspace. We live in a very vast, ever growing world and the more people there are, the more general things become and the more confounded things become; thus, we are all be coming detached. What a scary thought. Peace."
Barmy.
This is pretty special, it is the whole of Tanglewood Numbers in demo form. It's pretty cool and there are some good lyric differences that are sure to make you laugh out loud :-)
I've seen The Magnetic Fields live a bunch of times now, Shepherd's Bush just after the last 6ths album came out, both 69 Love Songs nights at The Lyric and on the I tour at The Royal Northern College of Music. The venues are getting progressively poncey and so are the attendees which, for a council estate boy like me, is quite unfortunate really. I don't mind rich people as long as they are bonkers rich but I can't stand the middle classes, what a bunch of wankers. That's neither here no there, just thought I'd make it known that the middle classes are rubbish.
There's no winning for me really, every time I go to a gig I realise just what a raving misanthropist I am, it's horrible for me. I honestly don't understand how people can like a band like The Magnetic Fields yet dress up like a complete retard and spend and hour doing their hair before leaving the house, and that's just the dudes! What's it all about, eh? A person's life must be pretty uncomplicated if they have that amount of disposable time, I'm too busy worrying about exactly when and how I am going to die to bother styling my fucking hair. That's what I love about The Magnetic Fields, they are so bloody plain, never has a band looked so boring yet packed such a punch. Stephin is an absolute genius of the written word, Claudia is just plain amazing and Sam and John look like a couple of maths students. You could walk past any one of these people in the street and they'd be invisible to you (unless Stephin was walking his gargoyle, of course). I don't understand where wearing the wacky clothes comes into being a music fan, going to gigs these days is almost like going to a clown convention.
This tour has had a "set a" and a "set b", I'm not exactly sure which one I got but I've seen the setlist for the other and I would have preferred that one, it's all right though because this one had some absolute classics in the form of "When I'm Out Of Town", "Lovers From The Moon" and "Give Me Back My Dreams" as well as all the other great songs they played. The sound is pretty darned good except for some chairs creaking and some sniffling, which although I don't remember shuffling in my seat or sniffing was probably me as I'm a fidget and have a bit of a breathing problem cause some cow punched me in the nose when I was a lad. Shirley Simms was there which was a delight, her mouth reminded me of the woman that works on the reception of the gastroenterologist in the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry has an itch in his anus which was a bonus.
01. Introduction 1 02. When I'm Out Of Town 03. California Girls 04. All My Little Words 05. Come Back From San Francisco 06. Old Fools 07. Xavier Says 08. Walking My Gargoyle 09. No River 10. Too Drunk To Dream 11. Courtesans 12. Crows 13. Water Torture 14. Introduction 2 15. Lovers From The Moon 16. I Wish I Had An Evil Twin 17. Give Me Back My Dreams 18. Grand Canyon 19. Papa Was A Rodeo 20. Drive On, Driver 21. The Nun's Litany 22. The Tiny Goat 23. Smoke And Mirrors 24. Zombie Boy 25. Three-Way
There's really no point in me rambling on about how great "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" is, everyone with ears agrees that its great. The Silver Jews lyric "All my favourite singers couldn't sing" has never been more true than in the case of Jeff Mangum, in a way at least. His voice is awesome but he wouldn't get through the first round of Pop Idol that's for sure. He does some awesome wailing on this recording!
This is the LAST EVER Neutral Milk Hotel gig, it's not the full band it's mainly just Jeff with a bit from Laura Carter. The gig was advertised as "World of Wild Beards Incorporated" but is all NMH songs and a John Lennon cover. The sound quality is excellent so get downloading...
February 4, 2001 King's Arms, Auckland, New Zealand
01. Two-Headed Boy 02. I Love How You Love Me 03. Song Against Sex 04. King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 05. King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3 06. Everything Is 07. Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone 08. Ghost 09. Oh Comely 10. Engine 11. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 12. World of Wild Beards explanation 13. Mother (John Lennon cover)
Well, I was gonna upload this but did a quick search and someone else already has it on their blog so I'll just link you to there. Richard & Linda Thompson recorded a bunch of albums together back in the olden days, my two faves are "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" and "Shoot Out The Lights", for some reason I can't really get into their other albums...
This bootleg is from the "Shoot Out..." sessions recorded by Gerry Rafferty and later discarded by the duo. It's a must have for any Thompson fans but if you aren't familiar with their work then first slap yourself in the face then get the two albums I mentioned above before downloading this.
I'm gonna be shooting photos for Pitchfork at The Green Man Festival this year, Richard is playing and I can't wait to see him, more than anyone else on the bill. Richard Thompson also did the music for the Werner Herzog Documentary called "Grizzly Man", there is an awesome doc on the DVD of the recording sessions where you get to see Thompson at work, it kicks ass.
1. Don't Renege on Our Love 2. Back Street Slide 3. Walking on a Wire 4. The Wrong Heartbeat 5. Shoot Out the Lights 6. For Shame of Doing Wrong 7. I'm a Dreamer 8. Modern Woman 9. Just the Motion 10. Wall of Death 11. Lucky in Life 12. How Many Times Do You Have to Fall? 13. Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman 14. Wall of Death 15. Sword Dance/Young Black Cow 16. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Ooooooooooooh! A Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - 14.05.08 recording for you, aren't you the lucky one???
You have no idea how excited I was about this gig, for, like, months, 'n', shit, the day before I was bubbling like that pink slime in one of the Ghostbusters films, it was insane, I've not been so excited since that one time when. The day of the gig I was gonna catch the 13:30 train up there and queue to make sure I got near the front but instead I bought a bottle of vodka, two cartons of orange juice and a plastic picnic cup and met up with 'the boys' to make the pilgrimage to smelly Cardiff.
We got up there and the city was heaving with Boss fans, at least I think they were, it was hard to tell with the amount of light being reflected off all the old dudes heads... We headed to Wetherspoons where I polished off what was left of my vodka then battling the immense pain in my chest rushed to the toilet and sicked it all back up again. We got wind of a special "Born in the USA" cocktail at a place across town, word on the street was that it was layered red, white and blue and a must have on this special day. As you can see from the photo below it wasn't red, white and blue at all, it was pissy yellow but fortunately it tasted a little bit like heaven so not all was lost.
Following that I had a "Sex and the City" (I think) before we left and I bought up another bottle of vodka, do you see what's happening here? I was so excited I was inadvertently getting absolutely hammertimed!
After hiding my recorder and vodka in my pants (I assume I did this cause they weren't in my bag when the security checked) we got to the stadium about 7ish. I bought 2 bottles of pop and left the gang to buy myself one of the awesome "Tramps like us baby we were born to run" t-shirts, split from the pack, hammered and with no idea what was going on I was now alone, this was the beginning of the end.
I don't remember Bruce and co taking to the stage or leaving the stage or much in between, I have a faint recollection of part of Thunder Road but that's it. MAN, I AM SO PISSED OFF! At some point I realised I'd lost my hat and I think that was the last straw, the other straws being the tens of thousands of pathetic middle aged losers standing around stroking their bloody chins. If The Boss has preached any message of the years it's not to sit back and rot but to get off your arse and make something of your life, being surrounded by so many so called "fans" that have neglected to heed the word of their 55 quid a ticket hero pushed me over the edge. I remember going for a piss and just looking out over all the people and just losing the will to live so I sat in one of the seats on the side and just started crying.
It's a horrible thing to be surrounded by something like 60 THOUSAND people and feeling so alone that there is nothing worth living for, I think I started texting desperately at this point (sorry to whoever got one or many!) and then just put my head in my hands and wept, I don't know how long this lasted but I'm pretty sure it was a long, long time. This depression is doing it's best to kick my ass but I have a secret weapon, and I'll be going to the doctor on Monday for a prescription. I once managed 3 months without meds and this time I've managed the massive, wait for it, ONE MONTH before losing it completely. Bruce's music has never been about rocking out to me anyway, its about sadness and misery and whether I remember any of it or not that night I was extremely sad and really fucking miserable.
That's enough about me, just check out this setlist! I'm so pissed (pardon the pun) that I don't remember it cause it's just incredible! I have put an asterisk next to all the ones I'd have killed to hear. The download links are at the end, note that it is split into 2 separate downloads due to its size so download both parts from different links to save yourself time.
01. Intro 02. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) 03. 10th Avenue Freeze-Out 04. Radio Nowhere 05. No Surrender * 06. Lonesome Day 07. Promised Land * 08. Danny Story 09. Blinded By The light * 10. Magic 11. Atlantic City * 12. The River * 13. Gypsy Biker 14. Darlington County * 15. Because The Night * 16. She's The One 17. Livin In The Future 18. Mary's Place 19. Working On The Highway * 20. Devils Arcade 21. The Rising * 22. Last To Die 23. Long Walk Home 24. Badlands * 25. Outro 26. Intro 27. Jungleland * 28. Tribute To Tim Russert 29. Thunder Road * 30. Born To Run * 31. Rosalita * 32. American land 33. Applause & Thank You
(I DON'T KNOW WHO RECORDED THIS, SOMETHING WENT TITS UP WITH MY RECORDER AND NOTHING WAS ON THE CARD, I FOUND THIS ON SOULSEEK, IF ITS YOURS AND YOU WANT ME TO REMOVE IT THEN CHILLAX YO)
Remember to buy stuff from Amazon using the links below cause I get a cut and I need a cut, I promise I won't spend it on vodka, my lesson has been learned!
There are two ways to blog about Big Black, there is the wrong way: Big Black, and there is the right way: BIG BLACK I rambled on about BIG BLACK in this post so I won't bother going through all that crap again. Even though Albini is a weeny little dude with funny little specs he's one manly mother flucker ain't he?! He gives skinny little guys like me hope, I listen to BIG BLACK and feel tough, I swear that my biceps become a little bit bigger every time I shout 'CABLES!!!', just look at the before and after photos below and make up your own minds...
...I think the proof is pretty clear, listenening to BIG BLACK definitely makes you a bigger man and listening to BIG BLACK rarities makes you a MASSIVE hulk of a man so if you are a complete wiener you better download the two disc Way Hap Ultimate Rarities set below and make yourself big and strong like me! They are full to the flippin' brim with demos, live stuff, rare compilation songs and even some pre-BIG BLACK Stations songs! I've used massmirror instead of sharebee this time round cause I'm impatient, if you find that it sucks ass tell me in the comments and I'll re-upload them.
DISC 1 1. Spoken Word Intro (Sub Pop 100) 2. Bang Zoom Review 3. Big Payback (Rough Mix) 4. Hunter Safety (Tommy Bartlett Dies In Pain) (Middle Of America Comp) 5. Il Duce (Il Duce 7'') 6. Burning Indian Wife (Happiness Is Dry Pants) 7. Rema Rema (Rema Rema 7'') 8. My House (Pig Pile Box Set 5'') 9. Crack Up (God's Favorite Dog Comp) 10. Every Man For Himself (God's Favorite Dog Comp) 11. Strange Things 12. Texas (Live) (Code Blue Cassette) 13. Dead Billy (Live) (Head Over Ears Comp) 14. RIP (Live) (Il Duce 12'') 15. Cables (Live) (Il Duce 12'') 16. Pigeon Kill (Live) (Il Duce 12'') 17. Kerosene (Live) (Nothing Short Of Total War Comp) 18. He's A Whore (Nothing Short Of Total War Comp) 19. Run Nigger Run - Pray I Don't Kill You Faggot 20. Crazy About Lemurs
DISC 2 1. Stations - She's Lost (Demo) 2. Stations - People In Church (Demo) 3. Stations - Meet Me Inside (Demo) 4. Stations - Kiss On The Floor (Demo) 5. Stations - Seeds Of Corruption (Demo) 6. Jump The Climb (Demo 82) 7. I Can Be Killed (Demo 82) 8. Unknown Track (Demo 82) 9. Live In A Hole (Demo 82) 10. RIP (Demo 82) 11. Deep Six (Demo) 12. Sleep (Demo) 13. Ugly American (Demo) 14. Il Duce (Demo) 15. The Power Of Independent Trucking (Demo) 16. The Model (Demo) 17. Bad Penny (Demo) 18. L Dopa (Demo) 19. Precious Thing (Demo) 20. Columbian Necktie (Demo) 21. Kitty Empire (Demo)
To say that I am a big Jonathan Richman fan is like saying that Steve Irwin liked animals, crikey mate, I just love Jojo! Some people like his stuff with The Modern Lovers but don't like his later silly songs, some people like the new stuff but don't like the silly songs, some people like the silly songs but not the rest, some people are complete idiots and claim to like the first 'The Modern Lovers' album but say "his other stuff isn't very good" (if you are one of those bloody 'hip indie' people please reverse out the way you came in). I am of the belief that everything Richman has put out (and I have it all) has been pure gold, the guy is a machine, he just can't make a bad song, I bet when he farts in public people spontaneously dance uncontrollably. I don't need to sell Richman to you, you are already here, bless you my children.
I've seen him live twice in the last few years, the first time at the Jazz Cafe, London (I have a recording of this which I'll upload one day) he was on fire, I almost danced and for me that is unheard of; the second time, in Cambridge, he was great too, that's me with him up the top. We came out of the venue and he was strolling across the car park with his guitar in hand on his way to bed at the Travelodge, you can see how excited I was to meet him and you can't deny that he looks pretty happy to see me too. This tour I had a ticket but lost my job and couldn't afford the train fare to london so I missed out. :-(
Now for the download, it's entitled "Jonathan Goes Funky" and is a demo tape from the early 80's, this is rare, by crikey it's rare! it's so rare that if you search for it in Google you'll get next to nothing, just one mention of it, fair dinkum.
1. Underneath 2. My Name is Jonathan 3. The Neighbors 4. Better 5. Don't Change for Me 6. Somebody to Hold Me
Remember to pop over to JOJOBLOG, the finest Richman site on t'internet.
If you think the Boxing Duck! is really, really funky for bringing you this great rare demo tape then use the links below to buy stuff from Amazon, cause when you do the duck gets a little cut, yay!
ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS ARE CUNTS! Is that too offensive a way to start a blog post? I don't know anything about this mclusky acoustic session except that a whole bunch of people seem to either have them or want them. I am in the have them camp, you are in the want them camp, but in a few minutes we could be camp together, like, in a tent camp, I'm talkin' really camp!
1. Throwing Bricks from Trains 2. He's Been Sitting Here Forever 3. Normal Kid in the United States 4. Love Song for a Mexican 5. Centrefold 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. Give You Cinema 8. Cassanova 9. Perpetual Motives 10. Leaning Forward / make room for more thoughts 11. Catch More Fish
I've been waiting many a year for Xiu Xiu to hit the UK and hit it they did the other night in mucky Manchester. This was my first overnight stay in the city where I wasn't robbed, the first time some swine stole my socks out of my shoes and the second time someone stole my pillow, all that was stolen this time was my heart, by Jamie Stewart and his band of merry men and the lovely Caralee, who was rocking some of the most terriblest moccasin style shoes I have ever seen! Chris Garneau was supporting and I actually enjoyed his short set, I'd listened to the stuff on his myspace beforehand and wasn't impressed but I'll be 'sampling' his album from one of the fine 'record sampling' websites that one see's about on one's travels through the information super-highway. Here are some photos of him playing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tfrancis/sets/72157605202951313/ I recorded his set but I ain't uploading it until TEN people request it in the comments cause I don't like him enough yet to let him into the Boxing Duck! family.
Xiu Xiu played for an hour, Jamie seemed really flucked, he looked super duper tired and ready to collapse between every song as he gargled his drink. There's no way he can go on with all his shouting and yelping, it really can't be good for him, so I say to Jamie, "sing some quiet songs, make an album like El Perro Del Mar to give your vocal chords a rest".
I usually come away from gigs thinking about how much it had cost me to get to where it is and stay the night but I came away from this thinking that they were really great, Jamie was awesome, Caralee was awesomee, Ches was awesomeee, and Devin was behind a pillar for the whole gig. I must give a shout out to my main man Ches cause he kicked ass, I love a good drummer and he was great, he was giving it the whole, bang, bangidy, bong, bong, bing, bing-a-bing, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk, all that stuff.
I shot a whole bunch of photos which are ok (click the photo to go forward, hover over the bottom part for thumbnails:
Now for the recording, the setlist wasn't all that really, for me at least I'd have liked to hear a lot of different stuff but Suha was just fandabbydosie, I can't think of a better song that they could've finished on. The recording is a weird one cause Jamie's vocal is just swamped beneath the noise...
1. Bishop, Ca 2. In Lust You Can Hear the Axe Fall 3. Clowne Towne 4. F.T.W 5. No Friend Oh! 6. Master of the Bump (Kurt Stambaugh, I Can Feel the Soil Falling Over My Head) 7. You are Pregnant You, You are Dead 8. The Fox & The Rabbit 9. Save Me, Save Me 10. I Do What I Want, When I Want 11. Clover 12. Apistat Commander 13. Suha
I've stopped taking my Citalopram again so I can't really be arsed to write anything, I'm sure none of you read the crap I write anyways, you just click the download link and piss orf. Here's a thing, like a download thing, where Will Oldham and David Berman play some of their songs, other peoples songs and talk and read poems. This ain't no soundboard recording so unless you are a Silver Jews or Palace / Bonnie 'Prince' Billy fanatic you may be better of downloading the new Radioboringhead for a penny.
Liss Ard Festival, Skibbereen, Ireland - 29.08.99
1. Now II 2. Arise, Therefore 3. If There Was a Book About This Hallway 4. Crying in the Chapel 5. Joke 6. A Leprechaun Gave Me a Blowjob 7. Missing in Action 8. Talking and Jokes 9. Don't Cry For Me Argentina 10. War in Apartment 1812 11. Jokes 12. Madeleine- Mary 13. Talking 14. Nervous Ashers & Apocalypse 15. Armadillo Song of London Homesick Blues 16. Talking 17. Folson Prison Blues in Spanish 18. Sweet Child O' Mine 19. Thunder Road 20. Talking 21. Come In 22. The Rocker 23. New Orleans 24. Smith & Jones Forever 25. Turn the Page 26. Talking 27. Horses
I had a ticket to see The Go-Betweens in Liverpool on 10th May 2005 (which I just realised was 3 years ago yesterday so really I should have posted this yesterday!), it would have been my first time but it never happened. I got a new job and there was a 'team building day' on the 10th, for the first and LAST time ever I gave up the gig for a day wading through mud and swamps. A year later Grant McLennan died and so I will never ever ever get to see them. The moral of this story is: DO NOT EVER PUT WORK BEFORE ANYTHING!!!
Up for grabs here are a bunch of demo's that I found on Soulseek many moons ago, I especially like the 16 Lover's Lane ones. This is what you can get your grubby mitts on...
Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express Demo's 1. Spring Rain 2. The Ghost & the Black Cat 3. To Reach Me 4. Twin Layers of Lightening 5. Head Full of Steam
Spring Hill Fair Demo's 1. A Bad Debt Follows You 2. Bachelor Kisses 3. Emperor's Courtesan 4. Part Company 5. Rare Breed 6. The Old Way Out 7. This Girl Black Girl 8. Unkind & Unwise
Tallulah Demo's 1. Bye Bye Pride 2. I Just Get Caught Out 3. Right Here (Her Song) 4. Someone Else's Wife 5. Clarke Sisters 6. The House That Jack Kerouac Built
16 Lovers Lane Acoustic Demo's 1. Was There Anything I Could Do? 2. Wait Until June 3. The Devil's Eye 4. I'm Allright 5. You Won't Fint it Again 6. Love Goes On! 7. Love is a Sign 8. Dive For Your Memory 9. Streets of Your Town 10. The Clarke Sisters 11. You've Never Lived
I've popped them all into the same zip file, so if you only want some of them you have to have all of them, now that is what I call rock 'n roll excess :-p Choose from any of these stinky links...
Well, I was a bit tipsy and it appears I didn't press record so there's no bootleg, lucky I can shoot photos no matter how drunk I may be so there are about 75 pretty nice snaps below.
Click the photo to go forward, hover over the bottom half to see thumbnails, snazzy!
I usually have some kind of sexy story to accompany my downloads but I don't think I have any exciting Leonard Cohen stories, Lenny isn't the sexiest man around after all. This is a really cool bootleg from 1988 at the Philharmonie, Köln. I think it's a soundboard, the quality is top notch and you get a real sense of the venue too from the acoustics. A lot of the songs feature an extra bit of 80's pazazz in the form of synths and a bit of cheese, but don't worry it great!
Ooh! I remembered a sexy story! I have got a Songs of Love and Hate book containing all the sheet music, if anyone wants me to scan and upload the pages hit me in the comments, make sure you are logged in and not anon. cause I won't be able to contact you otherwise! (UPDATE, I'VE UPLOADED IT: CLICK HERE)
Now for the recording, here's the setlist:
1. Bird On The Wire
2. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
3. Who By Fire
4. Ain't No Cure For Love
5. Dance Me To The End Of Love
6. The Law
7. Heart With No Companion
8. I'm Your Man
9. Coming Back To You
10. First We Take Manhattan
11. Avalanche - solo
12. Chelsea Hotel #2 - solo
13. The Stranger Song - solo
14. Tower Of Song
15. I Can't Forget
16. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
17. Everybody Knows
18. Hallelujah
19. Suzanne
20. Sisters Of Mercy
21. There Is A War 22. Introductions
23. Take This Waltz
24. Passin' Through
25. I Tried To Leave You
26. The Law
27. The Law
28. Bird On The Wire
29. First We Take Manhattan
-MISSING SONGS-
30. Avalanche
31. Tower Of Song (instrumental)
As always I've uploaded with sharebee.com so you have four download options, this is a big download that I've had to split into two parts, you can download each part from a different site, do that or you'll be waiting all day...
The actual name of this bootleg of a radio broadcast in 1982 is "A Social Gathering for the Celebration of the Anniversary of Someone's Birth", it's a stupid long name and it is credited to The Birthday Party AND Lydia Lunch even though all she does is yap a bit on Funhouse. Anyone that has read anything about The Birthday Party knows that they were a live band and their albums really don't live up to seeing them play, I was still listening to my mother singing from inside her belly when they first came to the UK so I, like many of you, have to rely on bootlegs and the great officially realised CD. There is also the incredible "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" video which I won't say much about cause I'm gonna try and find it online and post it some other time.
I first got into Nick Cave when I was 18, I remember the first time I tried playing "From Her To Eternity" I had to turn it off cause it was just noisy noise, it didn't take long for me to get a grip on myself and love it like it should be loved (A Box For Black Paul!!!). I got a shit load more Nick Cave albums before I got The Birthday Party stuff. I had "Junkyard" as my alarm clock CD for about a year, fuck knows what Hasan and Wendy upstairs thought every morning! I used to hear them getting jiggy up there, he was all "ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh" and she was all like "ooh, ohh, ohh" so I reckon they got off lightly, he could barely speak a word of English, I remember hearing her trying to explain Spiderman to him once and he had no idea what she was on about, two 40 year olds, married with no obvious form of communication, making Spiderman noises outside my door, welcome to Swansea...
Anyway, this bootleg was released in 1987 and is from a German radio broadcast in 1982, the gig was in Bremen. The sound quality is good and the content kicks ass, the setlist is pretty short but sweet as a nut:
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can Dead Joe The Friend Catcher A Dead Song Six-Inch Gold Blade Junkyard Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow) Pleasureheads Must Burn Funhouse (with Lydia Lunch).
I would suggest that when you click on any of the download links you shout "BLAST OFF! BLAST OFF!!!" at the top of your lungs, it will enhance your enjoyment of the recording tenfold.
When I was in the last couple of years of school I had a few favourite tapes: Biggie Smalls; The Pharcyde; Smiff 'n' Wesson... I was the blackest white man in my school, probably why everyone called me bent and hated me and why I hated them, but there was one other tape, it had Doolittle on one side and Surfer Rosa on the other, it was my favourite tape. I listened to this tape almost every day for I don't know how long, I couldn't get enough of it and I didn't know why, one second it was quiet, then it was loud, then he was screaming like a girl; I had no idea what he was on about but there was just something that kept pulling me back. I didn't have track names, I didn't know their names, I'd never seen their CD's in the shops, it was like a super tape sent from a far off place (in reality Simon Dark gave it to me, and later recorded over Surfer Rosa with a pop punk compilation containing The Queers that he said was much better, it certainly wasn't better but it was ok at the time).
This was around 1996, long after the Pixies had broken up, when I was 17 I discovered the HMV super sale and bought every Pixies album in one go and became a pathetic fanboy, over the next few years I bought all the singles, 3 copies of Death to the Pixies in different versions on CD, bootleg vinyl, a rare white label and searched eBay for years before I found a VHS bootleg recording of one of their gigs. I got into Frank Black solo too, and went to see him, he played some Pixies songs and I was chuffed but it wasn't enough. Then the rumours started, could it really be true? Were they really getting back together? It couldn't be! Could it??? When I got my ticket for Brixton I literally danced around my pad singing "I'm gonna see the Pixies! I'm gonna see the Pixies! I'm gonna see the Pixies!" a la the scene in Wayne's World where they get their cheques when they sell out.
There was a long wait between buying tickets and the actual gig so I started looking for new bootlegs and found this fine specimen, its their first gig on the comeback tour at Fine Line Music Cafe and it kicks ass, the crowd are absolutely rabid, its worth listening to just to here everyone cheer when Charles sings "Rock me Joe", it sent shivers down my spine. Damn, this is a long boring story...
I don't know where I got this recording, it was years ago, if you recorded it and are pissed off that I have posted it then chillax, you should be proud not angry cause the sound quality is awesome, here's the setlist:
Bone Machine Wave of Mutilation U-Mass Levitate Me Broken Face Monkey Gone to Heaven The Holiday Song Winterlong Nimrod's Son La La Love You Ed is Dead Here Comes Your Man Vamos Debaser Dead No. 13 Baby Tame Gigantic Gouge Away Caribou Isla De Encanta The Holiday Song In Heaven > Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf) Where is My Mind? Into the White
If you haven't seen the Pixies documentary called loudQUIETloud yet then either go to pitchfork.tv THIS WEEK where it is playing for free or buy it or download it or whatever floats your boat cause it's a really good watch, I give it 10/10
Buy Pixies albums on Amazon, the Boxing Duck! gets a percentage of whatever you spend so get your hands in your pockets!
Come one, come all to the Casiotone for the Painfully Alone MEGAPOST! I've got all bases covered here: an interview to read, photos to look at and a live recording to listen to, dare I say that this is the best CFTPA blog post in the history of geekery?
First up is an e-mail interview with the man himself, Mr. Owen Ashworth...
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THE PRETENTIOUS QUESTION If I was going to compare your early albums to a film movement I would say they were kind of like Dogme 95, very much a small operation, constrained by a self imposed set of aesthetic guidelines. What film movement would you compare your more recent, wider sound to and why?
I cannot answer this question honestly and still feel okay about myself.
THE PITCHFORK QUESTION (THE TWOHEADEDBOY QUESTION) Actually, I don't know enough big, silly words to create a question that requires a dictionary to decipher. If you had two heads, what kind of personality would your conjoined twin have?
I would hope that he would be a pretty cool guy who was interested in seeing the same films and wanted to sleep when I wanted to sleep. Oh my God I completely assumed that my conjoined twin would be a dude. How chauvinistic.
THE PERSONAL QUESTION There is a kind of sombre, almost moribund thing going on in a lot of your songs, although they aren't really depressing they have that feeling about them. Have you experienced depression and do you use your music as a way to get it out?
I have certainly experienced depression, although I wouldn't consider myself to be a depressed person. I'm not convinced that depression is a driving force behind my songwriting, though. My mom listened to a lot of Willie Nelson and Otis Redding and stuff when I was growing up, and I think my tastes formed very early. I have always just preferred sad songs. Those were always the kinds of songs that I was interested in writing because those were always the kinds of songs that I was interested in listening to.
THE "WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?" QUESTION Your music doesn't really sound like anyone else's to me, are you influenced by other bands or by something else entirely? (Sub-questions) - Who are your all time favourite bands? - Any new bands you really like?
I think the Stax Records house band, MGs, are maybe my favorite band ever. Also, the band that backed up Neil Young on Harvest. I think they were called the Stray Gators. I would love to own both of those bands like baseball franchises.
The Sly & The Family Stone albums There's a Riot Goin' On and Fresh, The Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks On Me," The Magnetic Fields' early albums, Vince Guaraldi's music for the Peanuts Christmas Special, The Carter Family, Smog, Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Young Marble Giants, Suicide, The Shangri-La's, and Bruce Springsteen have been huge inspirations at different times.
The Donkeys from San Diego are like the MGs and the Stray Gators of the 21st century. Like baby stray gator mg's.
THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN QUESTION I love your cover of Philadelphia, in fact, I like it more than the original. I find The Boss is a good way to distinguish between true music lovers and people that are in it for the looks, you have passed the true music lover test with flying colours! What are your favourite Springsteen albums / songs and what would you say to get people to realise that he is the man?
I actually really like a lot of the new album, Magic. I think "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is particularly lovely. The three classic Springsteen tapes that have been played and played and warped over time in my car stereo are Born In the USA, Nebraska, and a greatest hits collection that I bought used at an Anacortes book store for $2 five years ago. It seems like Nebraska is always the record that converts the non-believers. The low-tech production values are less jarring to jaded "punk" sensibilities. I've heard a few people ask "Wait, are all of his songs this good?" after listening to Nebraska for the first time.
THE QUESTION OUT OF NOWHERE What motivates you to maintain such a killer beard? Is it a psychologic mask against the modern world? Is it for the chicks? Is it just to keep your chin warm?
I find it much easier to have a beard than to not have a beard. It actually requires work to not have a beard. I'm following the path of least resistance.
THE TECH GEEK QUESTION I'm a Mac geek, other people are guitar geeks, some, God forbid, are even mobile phone geeks. What is your favourite equipment? (computer, software, instruments, pens, paper) (Sub question) Can you play a bunch of instruments, or are you a keyboard and computer specialist?
I like my Korg EM-1 drum machine a lot. It's great for writing and sketching out ideas. All of the drum machine sounding sounds on Etiquette came from that machine. I use a lot of Korg stuff, actually. I have two different Korg samplers that I bounce sounds between. Lately everything has been going through a Fender Twin Reverb amp.
I've played bass and drums in other bands, but I mostly stick to keyboards these days. I don't really use computers to make music. I prefer keyboards and modules and amps.
THE LAST QUESTION ABOUT UPCOMING RELEASES (HOPEFULLY CONTAINING SOME EXCLUSIVE, NEVER BEFORE READ INFO) What are you working on at the mo? Can we expect a new album any time soon and if so, will you be expanding your use of analogue instrumentation even further? Any new song titles you'd like to tease us with?
I just finished working on the music for Laurel Nakadate's movie Stay The Same Never Change. That kept me really busy for a long time. I'll be away on tours for the next few months, but when I get home, I'll get back to work on the next album, which is about half done. I consider it bad luck to discuss the specifics of creative projects before they are finished. I generally don't even like playing new songs live before the records are finished. I'm keeping all of the song titles to myself for now. I can tell you that there will be some pianos and drums and organs as well as some electronics and samples. So, far, this is my favorite sounding Casiotone record.
~
Sooooooooo, after walking around in the rain for well over 30 mins I found the magical hidden venue that is Tommy's Bar in Cardiff, the place to be for dweebs, scruffs, indie kids, nerds, Lisa and her buds and me tonight (actually last night and a few hours ago). I'll get the boring stuff out of the way: there was always the chance that I'd miss the last train home and I did, a million thanks go out to Lisa for giving me an old style very comfy blanket and some "middle-class squash", a rare taste of the high life for me! There were some good support bands, especially The Voluntary Butler Scheme which is one guy who played guitar, uke, kazoo, keyboard, drum, cymbal, tambourine and bells all by himself, check him out...
Watching Owen at work was a real treat, I'd assumed that he made his music with a computer but he's all about the knobs, knobs and buttons and sliders, it was amazing. There are a bunch of live videos on youtube but it's really not the same, I know nothing about making music but one can't help but be knocked over by seeing a dude twiddling and pressing and sliding things resulting in all these incredible electronic noises that sound just like the albums, I tell you he doesn't keep still for a second, he was sweating like a pig (sorry Miss Piggy) by the middle of the set. He was joined on stage by Jenny Herbinson for a good few songs, Scattered Pearls wouldn't have been the same without her, that's fo sho. I won't ramble on about the songs cause you can listen to them and make your own mind up, lets just say that he played all the ones I wanted and even threw in Graceland at the end when someone asked for it, what a bloody thoroughly good chap!
I thought I'd taken some killer shots but they aren't all that really, deffo worth checking out though (click photo to go forward, hover over the bottom to see thumbnails)...
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The recording is pretty bloody good, the sound is great, the songs are great, everything is great, the setlist is great, great.
Cold White Christmas
Nashville Parthenon
White On White
Streets Of Philadelphia
Scattered Pearls
White Corolla
Ice Cream Truck
Old Panda Days
Love Connection
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone In A Green Cotton Sweater
Bobby Malone Moves Home
New Years Kiss
Young Shields
Calloused Fingers Won't Make You Strong, Edith Wong
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Anyway, this bootleg was released in 1987 and is from a German radio broadcast in 1982, the gig was in Bremen. The sound quality is good and the content kicks ass, the setlist is pretty short but sweet as a nut:
