purplefezmonkey blog on Absolute Radio

New music galore!!

purplefezmonkey — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 10:40:38 +0100

My god, what a mad month this has been, I have been inundated by music, literally every day something turns up that I must listen to. I am on a roll. And to top it all off, the Zepps are reforming. My name is down, and I am crossing the many appendages available to me that I am in with a chance of seeing one of the bands on my 'bands I have to see before I die' list. God I really hope I get chosen. The fact I don't have any money at the moment is moot - I would beg steal, borrow and indeed suffer through Paulo Nutella to see my idols in all their catterwauling, riffing, bass soloing glory. Oh hell yes.

That is all. Just a short list of the cool stuff I've been tapping my toes/stroking my chin to recently - anyone interested should check these bands out -- they deserve our awe:

Prinzhorn Dance School - first UK DFA release. Cheers James Murphy, it would appear that not only are you a musical genius beyond compare (a sexy one at that), but you have a canny ear for post-punk minimalistic English indierock music. Love these guys.

Chrome - there are no words. Helios Creed, distortion, looping and freak out psych guitars. Like MC5 on an acid trip playing Can cover songs. Mmm good.

Marnie Stern, Bat for Lashes (damn you Mercury judges, although well done Klaxons, if anyone deserves public recognition it's you lovely proggy/indie freakboys), Caribou, Kinski and Vile Imbeciles deserve special mention too.

Things that I have got recently thst have made my legs quiver with geekish delight - Magnolia Electric Co. box set - wooden to boot, Spiderland, Altar, 1000 Hurts and Dirty all on vinyl - yeah baby, deluxe edition of Goo, new Modest Mouse album, Vic's Big Night out on DVD for a fiver.

Tickets for Psychic TV on mOnday night and a Current 93 t-shirt. Life is good!!!!!!!

New music galore!!

purplefezmonkey — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:24:11 +0100

I've been a busy bee lately, getting into some pretty diverse stuff. At the moment I'm checking out a band called Winter, 'tis doom metal at its doomiest - slow, apocalyptic and mournful. Perfect for a sunny Saturday afternoon - the first day of full computer access since our other machine went to the great data dump in the sky. I will shed no tears (now that I've got my new computer), as this one is pretty fast. The lack of CD burner is an issue, but that shouldn't be a problem for much longer.

So new releases have been pretty thin on the ground of late - the Spank Rock fabric mix has grown on me, Kings of Leon was a welcome surprise I have to say. But for me the new Of Montreal album has been an absolute treat - 'Hissing Fauna are you the Destroyer' is an amazing blend of clever pop, synths and intelligent lyrics that recreate a nervous breakdown in Norway, a broken relationship and other such delights. I've heard it three times now, loved it from the get-go, and it gets better each time I hear it.

The Modest Mouse album is fabtastic - despite mixed reviews from critics and the public alike, I think it's just as good as the previous album, and is a grower. I like Modest Mouse a lot - the world needs more like Isaac Brockman (perhaps with a touch less of the self mutilation tho).

Other than that, I've been delving into the archives of indie music to discover some early post-rock that surprisingly I have loved. See the thing about me (ask anyone who knows me for they have heard my vehemence) is that I abhor post-rock - Sigur Ros, Mogwai, anything on the Constellation label. All that one level subdued instrumental nonsense turns me cold. However, I have found three rather marvellous bands - Slint (the daddys of slowcore post-rock), Codeine and the For Carnation. Admittedly they all deliver a similar sort of spidery guitar over spoken word style songs, but I can't get enough of it.

Thngs that have also floated me boat of late - Sonic Youth (wow), Throbbing Gristle (wow of a different kind) - I am currently exploring their sonic landscape whilst reading a very good biography called 'Wreckers of Civilisation'. A person could become very attached to TG, and I have to admit I am really falling for those guys.

Anyway, that's me - I'm off to get rid of the 500 spam emails that accumulated in my account whilst I was away.

Sad sad songs

purplefezmonkey — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:45:42 +0000

I am quite hard, me. But right now I am listening to Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails and it is causing an alarming sensation in my eyes. They appear to be filling with some kind of water which is threatening to spill over.

Amazingly enough, this is not the only song which causes this strange phenomenon. Other suspects include Strength of Strings by Gene Clark, because it is a beautifully crafted gorgeous song and First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes. Awww, man that is a lovely lovely song. I have to go now and listen to some early Nick Cave to clear my head.

That is all

Reasons to be cheerful

purplefezmonkey — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:33:29 +0000

Yay, it's Monday and I'm not in work, the sun is shining and I don't have to struggle to find new releases to play in the shop due to an absolute dearth of decent releases so far these last few weeks.

As far as I can see, today is no different. The Enter Shikari album is out. Hoo bloody ray. I've heard a couple of singles, and have to say I don't get this whole 'ravecore' tag. To me it sounds like a halfhearted bit of substandard trance beats mashed up with some whiny nasal metalcore vocals and . The result? Klaxons and lostprophets in a blender with the lid off. Which is not good - not only will it make a mess of your kitchen, it's three minutes of your life that ain't coming back. I did see them referred to as the screamo version of the Kooks, which made me chuckle. Fortunately, due to the, ahem, 'heavy' (heavy my eye, Melechesh, now those guys are heavy) nature of the album, we won't be hearing any of this instore. Phew.

Fortunately there are good things on the horizon - Clutch have a new album coming out next week, and I must say it's rather good. Also the creative forces of Isaac Brockman and Johnny Marr have decreed that the new Modest Mouse album shall be released in April - yay!!!

In the meantime I shall continue to listen to 'West' by Lucinda Williams - she's been through the mill I would imagine - I hope I've got her balls when I get to that age, she rules! There are some amazingly good live versions of all but one of the album tracks which have just blown me away.

Other releases of note this year so far for me would be the new Shins album, the !!! album is great for work, Grinderman, Deerhoof and LCD Soundsystem. I've been far too busy at work to research the heavier stuff, but I shall be looking into that a bit more in weeks to come. I need to get some new (not nu) metal back into my life.

Anyway, that's about it for this morning - I have rambled on much more than I intended, but it's either this or housework. Then again, isn't Trisha on about this time?

Woohoo

purplefezmonkey — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:01:11 +0000

It's my first blog for Virgin Radio. So huzzah.

I'm not really sure what to say at this point, so I guess I will make it up as I go along. This tends to be a recurrent theme in my life. Things about me that are interesting: I work in a record store. At the age of 27 perhaps I should have a more 'responsible' role. Meh and feh - I like music, ergo I work in a climate which allows me to listen to it all day. This is a good thing, and screw the money.

That's probably not really very interesting. Oh well, hey ho. I will state another fact about myself. I like music. A lot. I like a lot of music. My favourite kinds of music are progressive rock, folk rock, avant/experimental shizzle, US indie (not fey shoegazing nonsense though), a random smattering of other types of music from the 60s and 70s. Despite my relatively tender age, I don't like much new. Unless it sounds like it is old. I also like heavy metal and other forms of extreme music. Some of my favourite artists would be VDDG, Eno, Bat for Lashes, Magazine, Clutch, Ween, Pink Floyd, Les Led Zeppers, QOTSA (Josh Homme is my ginger dreamboat), Witch, Melvins and many many other great artists.

I am off work today, and am currently listening to the new Shins album, which has grown on me and sunk into my pores like a cheerful hooky indie mould. It is very good.

Anyway, I am wrapping it up now, as I feel the need to make a series of compilation CDs that all relate to different themes and then go play some Tony Hawks pro skater on PS2 as I kill that shizzle every time.

Word to your mother (as it is Mothers Day today, and she was kind of instrumental in getting you out in the big wide world).