Thank God It's Friday - Love & Kisses

Well, it's that time again. I don't always post a Friday 'banger' but I feel like we all need one this week so here's perhaps one of the ultimate end of the week tracks, the disco-tastic Thank God It's Friday. Play it loud and dance around the office/house/cell block (I know my audience) in yer pants.

Troumaca...with love

Met up with one of much missed Birmingham band Troumaca last night down here in sunny Devon (talk about a small world eh?) and it sent me scurrying off to You Tube to watch/listen to some of their best tracks. Very sadly the band's guitarist Geoff Foulkes passed away just over two years ago but the music well and truly lives on. Enjoy. 

I've vinyl-ly lost it...

Went to a record fair on Saturday for the first time in ages...with predictable results. Bought a couple of bags full of vinyl to add to the mountain of the stuff already spilling out all over Baron Towers. Ahhh well, you can't take it with you. Picked up some mighty fine buys too, including a copy of Zappa's Hot Rats featuring the naggingly addictive Peaches En Regalia. After listening to this track via a laptop or on CD for years the vinyl version's a ruddy revelation.

Snaffled a couple of early Now That's What I Call Music albums (Volumes 2 and 4) for a £1 each too. Being officially old I can remember when Volume 1 came out, apparently this November sees the release of Volume 98. Good grief. Anyway, here's a personal favourite from Volume 2, Matthew Wilder's Break My Stride, altogether now"The road behind was rocky, but now you're feeling cocky...". Is it just me or does he look a little like a lost Chuckle Brother?

Kenickie - Punka

Mention of Kenickie on Lauren Laverne's 6Music show this morning sent me scurrying off to You Tube for a little Punka. Still a cracking tune 21 years on (21 years!!!). You know what, the early to mid 90s was a pretty good time for female fronted bands, from the whole Riottttttttttttttttttttttttt Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl scene through to the Britpop pack (Echobelly, Bis, Lush, Sleeper, Elastica, theaudience, Catatonia, Salad etc). All well worth a spin if you don't remember them from the first time around. Good grief I'm old...
 

Marc his words...

One of my musical heroes, Marc Almond, is in the news for having the audacity to tell a couple of 'ladies' sitting and chatting loudly in the front row of his gig in Ipswich to basically shut the fuck up (these may not have been the exact words but that's the gist of it). Good on him that's what I say. The first time I saw him live way back in 1988 at The Powerhouse in Brum exactly the same thing happened during a particularly impassioned performance of In Your Bed (and that was a sweaty 'club' gig as opposed to a seated posh do). I've never understood people who not only pay to get into a gig but then stand at the front and talk. I mean...what...the...actual...hell?! Nowadays there's a new spin on this age old problem, people standing at the front surfing the web on their ruddy shitty 'smart' phones, turning round with the back to the band and taking crappy selfies to show what a great time they're having. Quite frankly the lovely Mr Almond, and any other performer who has their show interrupted by these utter arses, should have the automatic right to leap from the stage and decapitate the offenders with an axe. Harsh but fair I'd say. Respect the performers putting their hearts and souls into the show, respect your fellow audience members who may well have spunked a huge chuck of their disposable income to be there and finally respect yourself by ACTUALLY LISTENING TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOUR INANE CHATTER. Ahhhhh, that's better.

PS: Here's Wilco's Jeff Tweedy attempting to tackle the same problem...

Just a City...

'wood you believe it, on Sunday it'll be two years since we left Bearwood and Brum. TWO YEARS! Given that I was born and raised there and spent 42 years in the place inevitably I still miss it and its people, although judging by the number of friendly Brummie accents you hear down here in Devon half of Birmingham's population's seemingly decamped to the South West.

Anyway, the last time I lived away from Brum (before this one) was my 3 year stay in Brighton during the student years (oh so many baked beans) and when I did venture back I'd often listen to the first Voice of the Beehive album, Let It Bee (on cassette, naturally). Somehow, no matter how long the journey took, the track Just A City always seemed to be playing as that familiar skyline came into sight. So, two years since I last left, it seems entirely fitting that I give it another spin.

PS: How good were Voice of the Beehive? Jangly pop perfection. Incredibly this track stalled at number 42 in the charts. Criminal!

The roof, the whole roof and nothing but the roof

More news from the The Day Ends, this time it's a super special gig THIS SUNDAY (October 15th) in collaboration with The CPM Connection. Suffice to say you won't have heard or seen anything like this ever before and it promises to be quite possibly one of the most life affirming and unpredictable gigs this year...or any year for that matter...and that's a wonderful, wonderful thing. It all kicks off at 6.45pm and entry's on a 'pay what you want basis'. You don't get that from Bieber do you eh?

Here's a little pre gig promo from The CPM Connection themselves...

The Day Ends - PMPD live!

Still fighting off the flu but now I've added the fallout of a chilli eating competition that I entered yesterday too. Ouch. Happily a new live clip from The Day Ends came my way this morning. The line up may be new but the sound's as epic and confrontational as ever with the semi-shamanic Miles Perhower this time venting his considerable spleen against the world of pop music promoters.

My faith in the band (and its predecessor Miss Halliwell) remains as solid as ever and, quite frankly, we need music like this more than ever these days. With rumours of a new album in the pipework (actually do you mind if we don't talk about pipework...those chillis are wreaking havoc with mine) and plans to get out on the road 2018 could well - finally - be their year. Quite frankly that doesn't really matter anymore. Miles and co have done and continue to do what they hell they like, leaving behind an enviable body of work that will quite possibly outlast even styrofoam. So there.

Flu Fighters...

No posts for almost a week but I've got an excuse. The flu. Pretty sure it's 'flu' rather than a mere common cold...mainly because I'm struggling open my eyes let alone anything more strenuous. I wonder if there are any songs about the flu I wondered in my semi-delirious state. Silly question. Of course there is.