Forward

Jealous Again, now Centaurs moves forward a step this week, with the possible addition of a 6th member. Alex, Ross and Ruari have been putting up with Bones and I flicking around music and inspiration for the last 6 month or more, and around four weeks ago, i decided I'm really not the man for the job of vocalizing our work. I found thats its been a drain on my thoughts, and really not allowing me to be as sonically immersed as I want to be.

More news as this progresses.

More interesting things that have cropped up in the last few weeks;

Obama... woo.

In a rare fit of all things London, On the day I had tickets to see the formidable Les Savy Fav and Shellac crush my skull with their frankly electric sets at All Tomorrows Parties' Release The Bats on Thurs 30th Oct, I also attended the new Rothko Exhibition at the Tate Modern. The girl at the box office let me in for student price without me even asking for it! I haven't lost my youthful charm just yet it seems! Just as well, as I thought £12.50 was a tad on the pricey side, but i think the amount the work has made me consider since experiencing it has been surprising. I had been a fan in the laymen sense of the word for a couple of years, so the chance to see the later 'series era' of his work was a thrill. 

I went in with a reasonably bad headache, and all i can say is, the gravity of the pieces, especially viewed in some slightly more wide context than the small room already at the Tate, didn't help my head one bit. My perception of Rothko's work went from that of a sense of overwhelming darkness to something a little bit darker.... i felt that work wouldn't let me interpret it, its too big, too.... monolithic for me to even comprehend. He was relentless, almost arrogant in his delivery. How can I even begin to enjoy such satire? As he got more playful, the message seems more bleak.... he seemed to give up on his ideals, adding accurate white frames in his later work; almost giving in to his view of human kind putting everything in little boxes to collect, label and own. 

This wasn't helped by the fact, when we arrived the other side, available for purchase, were mugs, bags, cups and even T Shirts blazoned with out of scale, out of context 'pictures' of his work. It was a dark story that seeme dot get more tragic as we moved forward, his defiance and strength, gradually weened out of him, until all thats left is a shop. 

I've been swooning over the new record from Helms Alee, the new band from Ben Verellen(guitarist/vocals Harkonen), one of my heroes of the last few years. Sine the release of records such as No Age's Nouns and the resurgence of the genius of My Bloody Valentine, its great to see such an underrated performer back, and on the cutting edge of modern music. The record veers between Massive AmRep style rock a la Harkonen, but with quite beautiful passages that have almost captured the blurry, unfocussed dream state of bands such like MBV or Jesus and Mary Chain.... and it works! don't sleep on this band, I await their arrival on these shores with baited breath.

Helms Alee Myspace

Also, In celebration of progression and weary reminder of the dark days just passed in US Politics, Thom York has posted a DARRRRRK remix of the amazing Harrowdown Hill on the Radiohead blog DeadAirSpace.. go check it out immediately, its fantastic.

Dead Air Space

Thats all for now i think.... 

The Solution?

After my rants regarding the world creative, independent artists have to be in if they play music, i have been thinking, and thinking about how I could possibly move forward.

With NCF, i felt the pressure of admirers not to disappoint, the pressure from myself to show an amount of continuity in aesthetic, quality, genre and more, and not just from release to release but from song to song. There is too, the issue of 'dropping the ball' with regards to being in the public eye. If you are out of action for twelve months writing, the press and 'the kids' will probably have moved on. 

I've never been one to flog my wares for two or three years on end... touring one release until you force the issue on the masses, record labels etc. My creative attention span seems to be a a lot shorter than this trend. Modern answers to this? Side projects, singles versus albums etc. But it still exists in this environment which is controlled by scenesters, PR people, booking agents, labels, 'journalists,' and more bullshit people NOT actually doing the creative bit. If you are out of favour with some of these people, things can be very difficult. I'd also like to make the point, not all people that move in the mentioned professions are evil, some are the loveliest, most genuine and hard working people on earth ;-).

AAAAnnnny way.. I have decided that in future, I want as little to do with this world as possible. There must be another way right? The guys and gals which I live with have all got similar sentiments to me, we're all at the beginning of one career or another, but we're all still punk rockers... and we've been trying to work out a way of forging a creative outlet for ourselves in this age of blogs, internet socialness and a press in the UK that is as bullshit as it is today.

I don't want to be touring one EP in one band for two years... MAYBE getting some interest from a large UK indie.. supporting some lame US bands on some badly organised tours.... like I said, my attention span has already grown weary of this routine. I want to do my new band Jealous Again, I want to release some new NCF songs, I want to follow up the two or three other projects I have started in this last twelve months, And I want them all realised in way that justifies the creative work I put in... Recorded presentations, Collaborations with Artists for aesthetics, possible Live presentation of the material, where, when, with whom, how often, and most importantly, WHY?

I don't want to be tied to a 'Band,' I want to begin and finish projects, in much the same way an artist would. Writing, Recording, Ideas, Design, Production, Realization, Limited amounts of final product, to be sold as a piece art. Not a disposable download, not something thats here today, gone tomorrow... musicians put SO much time and effort in to writing and recording, the finished product should be EXACTLY how we want it, down to the paper the sleeves are printed on, the weight of the vinyl, and the price that is charged for the piece. Does this means paying more? probably yes. Does it means the customer is getting ripped off? FUCK no... people buy Screen Prints at ATP with band names on for upwards of £60 but don't want to pay a fair price for the music itself? weird. 

I understand it though, who cares about mass produced, cheap CDs you can get in tesco, HMV or downloads for free?? But music projects, created, recorded, printed, limited, collaborative works with artists, limited and numbered... thats a different kettle of fish altogether right?

The Don't Look Back projects from ATP have inspired me no end... I saw Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation at the Roundhouse in Camden last year, and i thought, why didnt NCF just do that from the beginning? We forced ourselves into playing a set made up from parts of Dungeness and Black Ballads because we were in an environment where we had to entertain people. What I want to do is present my new work to people, not perform like a monkey while they get fucked and couldn't give a shit until we play Transgression. Bands at our level dont have choice over environment in which they perform, how much it is to see it, and to some extent have pressure on them to use content in which will keep 'customers' entertained as opposed to people seeing a creative presentation.

These ideas, along with ideas about visual arts, exhibitions, and all sorts of creative projects are starting to take shape in my mind, and about a few of us might be able to execute accomplished projects from all different creative avenues. Keep an ear to the ground! 

Whats this?

Old Hardcore Kids get proper stressful jobs? better move to the seaside together and write some bitchin tunes then eh? 

The Entire 80s are back???

Well, the entire spectrum of 80s guitar rock seems to be enjoying a Renaissance this year, and I must admit, Sub Pop seems to be getting in there with the two key sounds.

Groups like Foals, Vampire Weekend et al have released excellent albums this year, with production informed by some really mainstream production styles of that era. 'Antidotes' by Foals really reminds me of one of the mid-period New Order records, or Sumners' Electronic album. It has real 80's sheen, an almost campness about it, with the off beat, jumpy brass, almost ska guitar, yet what Dave Sitek has achieved is a sense of real modernist 'muscle' behind this. I think its got something to do with the excellent drum recording, which is thumping and more aggressive than anything I've seen the band pull off live. Its a nod to Sitek's own TV On The Radio i reckon, and no bad thing, as its really using contextual influences with new ideas.

Vampire Weekend, too have pulled something that could have come from of course, everyones favourite lazy comparison of the month, Graceland, but when i play this record, it reminds me of being driven around by my dad, pumping Little Creatures by Talking Heads. The result of transferring this bands sense of middle class, college boy art rock to digital format is just excellent. Again, totally fresh, yet steeped in its history. 

Next up is Sup Pop's 20th anniversary slap on the back session that is Pissed Jeans, No Wave, and next up Oxford Collapse. Post Hardcore at its most natural and very best. These bands are what happens to HC kids when they REALLY grow up, and not just get a taste for NME or Kerrang! limelight and jump ship. I don't want to talk too much about what's happening right now in Post Hardcore, but its warming my heart, thats for sure. Its giving me new confidence in the choices I am making Post November Coming Fire as to where Jealous Again should be going. The next year is going to be intersting!

The Ultimate Format?

After studying Marketing in Music, and being in a band that wrangled with the ugly music industry myself, i think I'm one of thousands that could see this happening, and it's a pleasure to witness true musical evolution that makes such good sense for ease of use, quality, sentimentality and the collector factor in us. Goodbye CDs, and fuck you for wasting 20 years!

http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/05/lpmp3_the_ultim.html

Listen to...

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - 'Reckless Burning'

I got this about four or five years ago whey i was going through my dark Alt Country phase, along with The Handsome Family, Damien Jurado and Grey Delisle. After hering her perform so astoundingly on the Sunn0)))/Boris CD, I dug this LP out and it's amazing, so fragile, stripped and although completly steeped in it's context, sounds so fresh.

Just got to pick up the new one on Southern Lord now!


http://www.jessesykes.com/

Term 5

You Love this, so much



Music and the Summer.

Today, while supervising my 6th form students in study time, I was rocking ‘Everything all the Time’ by Band Of Horses. This is a record I totally rinsed this time last year just before my trip to ATP to see their first UK show. There was a bunch of other stuff going on in my life at that time, and it’s been one of those situations where the sound of a record brings back memories, feelings, and an almost subconscious awareness of how it felt to be me a year ago.

It’s an age old observation, but one I’ve always been fascinated with, records that become fused to times, places, events and emotions in our own lives. Around the same time, I was hammering ‘We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank,’ by Modest Mouse, ‘Nebraska’ by Springsteen, The last Micah P Hinson full length, and they have become inherent to that period in my life; to the point where I lost interest and stopped playing them, and when I did spin them, they bored me, but today, something struck that chord that brought it all back… maybe the break was what I needed? Maybe I merely needed to detach myself from the events that shaped me a year ago?

The records are always part of an emotionally and mentally turbulent time it seems too; Break Ups, Falling in Love, the loss of a loved one, stressful and transitional times at work or while studying, and this really blows my mind. It seems as if our minds, senses and memory functions are working over time at these points to significantly remember trivial things that accompanied the events. Why?

I tend to find that I learn the most when I’m passionate about something, be it positively or negatively, willing or not; I take the most on the long run, from situations that make me address my conduct, my life, my efforts, my relationships and the things that continue to help me move forward.

Does the soundtrack to these events help us to remember? Does is put emphasis on the important times? Does it help us be philosophical, logical and objective? Does it merely remind us to be so?

Whatever really, whether it’s Band of Horses, The Smiths, Azure Ray or Old Man Gloom, they are truly that records that have helped define and emphasize memorable points in my life, as well as kick the massive ass. Amazing.