A few months ago I sat in my car at four in the morning to call up legendary mountaineer Arlene Blum over in Berkeley. Glad to see the resulting conversation is now on the Outsiders Store site… with some particularly good photos courtesy of Arlene.
-
Mk.gee in London
While walking around Blackpool a few week’s ago I was talking to my wife about the ever-present image of elvis which can be found along the promenade, and how his instantly recognisable silhouette means he can easily be resurrected on signs, posters and life-size resin statues. Who else has that ability of iconography? MJ? Morrissey? PrincE? Give it 50 years and maybe this guy will be there too…
Until then this recording that some wise cat captured at an earlier DC gig will be on endless rotation. Respect to anyone sneaking high quality audio recorders into gigs to preserve this stuff.
-
-
-
‘Kill the kindle, buy a book’
A few photos from the book stall on Church Street from a few week’s ago. Spent a lot of time lurking in here on my lunch breaks when I worked in town, but apparently after decades of trading it’s finally on the way out to make way for swanky flats. The cardboard boxes here have always contained serious gold, spanning right across the spectrum of high/low culture, from rare photobooks to football highlights videos, displayed with zero snootiness and sold with a true no-nonsense manner. I’ll miss the scent of cigar smoke and damp paperbacks down here.
-
-
-
Bonnie Prince Billy at the New Century Hall
Will Oldham AKA Bonnie Prince Billy at the New Century Hall a few weeks back. Hard to keep up with this guy’s endless albums, but maybe that’s a good thing. Always cool when people just constantly put stuff out without being too precious. Those early Palace records in particularly feel like prime examples of documenting a moment, rather than endlessly faffing around for ‘perfection’. Respect also to that guy with the glasses from Hot Chip for having the best t-shirt of the night (not sure about his music though…).
-
Spresso – Pretty Penny Slur
Considering I was never in a band, ‘Band practice’ played quite a large part in my teenage years, and many summer nights were spent watching friends chug through endless covers of ‘Serve the Servants’ and ‘Cherub Rock’ in an old studio in the corner of Ulverston’s Ford Park. Chops would be cut, Cans would be supped, and occasionally the leathery-faced old cowboy who looked after the building would nod in approval.
Pretty Penny Slur—the new one from Mica Levi, Alpha Maid and Zach Toppin’s Spresso project—isn’t a hundred miles off the kind of honed slugging that I think my friends were gunning for. And that’s a good thing.
-
-
-
Pigeons in Whitworth Park. Manchester, 2024.
-
Foster Huntington Interview
A few months back I interviewed van-man, VHS fan and tree-house mastermind Foster Huntington for the Outsiders website. Foster is a bonafide cool cat and definite free thinker, so we got onto some pretty interesting subjects. Also respect to Foster for his ‘COINTELPRO‘ bumper sticker.
-
Helen Mort at Rare Mags
This Thursday I’ll be chatting to writer, climber and marathon runner Helen Mort about her recent book on the life of pioneering outdoor activist Ethel Haythornthwaite down at Rare Mags in Stockport.Come on down if you’re into long walks and the Peak District and that kind of thing…
Grab a ticket here. -
Mark McQuire – Soaring
After a decade without listening to music over headphones, I recently treated myself to a £25 iPod Shuffle from CEX. And jUST in time… this eight minute track from ex-Emeralds guitar mastermind Mark McQuire is just right for cueing up before riding my bike to the nearest swimming spot as the sun beats down on a rare bright summer’s day.
-
Spycopter – Glitch
I’ve been subjected to my older brother Luke’s guitar twanging for not far off 30 years now. Sharing a room with him up until the age of 17 I had no other option but to endure hours of axe-based audio-onslaught as he evolved from Oasis covers to Janes Addiction and far beyond.
Glitch is his latest album. Recorded somewhere in Cumbria over the last couple of years, it’s nine tracks of layered guitar work and wide-eyed vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place on a late 80s Cherry Red cassette.
Listen here…
-
Mica Levi – Slob Air
Slob Air is The new one from Mica Levi. One of those ‘not much happens, but enough happens to warrant it being 12 minutes long’ kind of tracks. Is this what music writers mean when they describe sounds as ‘sweeping’?
-
Tape Report – Negativland – Over the Edge
i WORK IN A BOOK SHOP IN sTOCKPORT A COUPLE OF DAYS A WEEK. eVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, WHILST WANDERING AROUND TOWN ON MY LUNCH, I LIKE TO WALK UP THE NARROW STREET TO aLL nIGHT flIGHT, THE EXeMPLaRY RECORD SHOP UP THE ROAD, AND ROLL THE DICE ON A TAPE TO LISTEN TO IN MY CAR. toDAY THE DICE LANDED ON AN OLD sst CASSETTE BY nEGATIVLAND.
this wasn’t a complete gamble, I know a little about Negativland and their legacy as audio agitators and original culture jammers, but still, I didn’t really know what the deal was with this tape apart from the fact that it was taken from an old radio show and the design on the case looked pretty cool. Having already agreed to pick up some old tables from a block of flats out in the industrial expanse of Carrington for my wife, this C60 tape seemed like it could come in handy.
Within minutes the stage was set. a man of the cloth by the name of Pastor Dick is trying to raise $180 in pledges to recoup some money that his secretary had nabbed from her purse. People phone in to confess sins. Snippets of sound blast by for a few seconds. Pastor Dick quickly becomes a drunken mess. This goes on for an hour.
In short, it was the Perfect soundtrack for circumnavigating the M60 ring road in torrential rain to go and procure a second-hand nest of tables for my wife with my fuel counter down to zero.
fairly confident I’ll never listen to this tape again, but it was certainly an enjoyable experience.
-
Gyeongsu & June – All to None
In the age of information, less is more. I know hardly anything about Gyeongsu, apart from the fact they’re probably French, but the complete lack of concrete info or awkward press shoots has only made them seem more appealing. It probably helps that the few bits and pieces they’ve put out over the last few years have been great—fresh and breezy, without wandering into lazy lo-fi territory (not that I’ve got a problem with lazy lo-fi stuff).
All to None is their latest release. Four tracks made in conjunction with someone called June who I also know nothing about. Hard copies out in September via Deardogs.
Roman Candle Magazine 