If Lisbon's Lux club seemed to get rather short shrift in my preview of the James Holdenthree-night-run of a couple of weekends ago, that is probably because I have yet to visit the club myself, so I truly didn't have much to tell you. And although I didn't actually go along this time either, a number of reports have come in since James' return that suggest that Lux is also a world-class modern techno club that deserves much more than a passing mention on here, so here follows my attempt to rectify my previous oversight...
The first noteworthy item must surely be the fact that the club is co-owned by none other than Hollywood superstar John Malkovich, as previous Lux-guest Nathan Fake informed me over dinner at the beginning of last week. That almost seems too bizarre to be true (and yet still it had somehow managed to slip James' mind!), but Lonely Planet assures me it is indeed so.
T-Mobile may have managed to cock up turning on the European-wide roaming on James' beloved new Google Phone in time for his trip to Lisbon, but thankfully that didn't stop the camera feature from working, which enabled him to capture this suitably surreal recent addition to the Malkovich-club to show to us folks back home - a pair of giant spread legs which surround the club's front-door-vagina:
This Google-Phone-facilitated rejoining of the cameraphoned masses after a couple of camera-less Nokia calculator-phone years means that we can finally expect plenty more of these sort of endearingly-crappy photos of cheese, rodents and other worldwide curiosities encountered on James' DJ-travels to be added to the collection of ever-changing backgrounds over on that website of his forthwith. And about time too.
Meanwhile, our virtual tour of Lux continues care of Portuguese fanboy Marco, who offered me a glimpse inside with his own photo reportage showing the club's smashing flashing wall of LEDs in full glorious technicolour (as well as a video showing the scrolling windmill scene you see below rendered in LED form which sadly wasn't quite good enough quality to post here):
And the surreal atmosphere of the exterior continues once inside, James tells me, where a particularly bizarre manifestation of Europe's new legislation against smoking in public places sees one half of the dancefloor branded as a non-smoking area, whilst the other half are permitted to light up at will. I am sure there is a whole article there to be written on the different ways in which the various European nations have chosen to interpret and implement the recently-introduced laws against smoking in public - as well as how successful those different attempts have been - but I think we should probably save that for another day when I am feeling less hungry...
The new entrance way to Lux is too rude for Myspace it seems! I uploaded the same photo there but it got deleted. 13 year olds aren't allowed to look at this sort of thing, apparently.
I certainly am. And I am also ever so slightly buzzing after my internet detective work unearthed a list of forthcoming European dates from LA's wonderful Lucky Dragons, including the obligatory London appearance at The Luminaire on January 26th 2009 (although the news has yet to hit the Luminaire website, tickets are already on sale so I am not totally mad to be planning my life so far in advance). I was also lucky enough to make it along to Lucky Dragons' last London show, but it being a weekend, almost everyone else that I know would have loved it was out of town: thankfully this new show falls on a Monday, so this time I won't be accepting any excuses whatsoever from Mr Holden, Mr Abbott, Mr Fake, Mr Oliver or Mr Linares...
That afore-mentioned previous London show also took place at the Luminaire, where audience and band roles began to blur as statuesque Dragons Luke and Sarah set up their array of custom-machines, rocks and wool-clad sensor-cables in the middle of the Luminaire's floor, gently encouraging the participation of the surrounding seated viewers by handing them a rock, cable or touching hands to morph the sound as appropriate, whilst the remainder of the audience were permitted to pile onto the stage for a better view. Actually, I am not sure that any word-based description can ever do justice to the amazing interactive nature of their performance, but luckily the dedicated Upset The Rhythm crew have uploaded a couple of grainy videos from the show to their Youtube channel to give you more of an idea of this rock-based sound modulation:
The Lucky Dragons could also give our own Nathan Fake quite a run for his money in the live-show-fitting stakes, it seems:
My tip-off on Lucky Dragons' European manoeuvres originally came from a plug for Berlin's upcoming Clubtransmediale festival in January 2009, where amongst an impressive 10th anniversary line-up that includes Anja Schneider, Benga, Black Devil Disco Club, Daniel Bell, Dirty Soundsystem, Fuck Buttons, Lindstrom, Mathias Kaden, Mika Vainio, Pan Sonic, Peverelist, Pilooski, Pole, Prins Thomas, Skream, The Emperor Machine and Zombie Zombie, I noted the Dragons' presence. That then led me to the website of booking agents Paper & Iron, and a complete list of European dates so far as follows (with more dates still to be confirmed, so don't give up hope on them dropping by your hometown just yet):
25th January: The Joy Gallery @ Redspace, Dublin, Ireland 26th January: Luminaire, London, UK 27th January: KSET, Zagreb, Croatia 29th January: Maria @ Club Transmediale, Berlin, Germany 30th January: Recycleart, Brussels, Belgium 2nd February: Grrrnd Zero, Lyon, France 3rd February: LJUD @ Musikcafeen, Aarhus, Denmark 4th February: Semifinal, Helsinki, Finland
As you can probably tell, I am quite the fangirl, and as such the Lucky Dragons' drawing-based side-project Sumi Ink Club inevitably also gets my vote of approval, not least for their guest t-shirt design for Upset The Rhythm (available now from the Upset The Rhythm online shop), which I also picked up along with the Dragons' back catalogue at that legendary London show:
The is the most amazing thing i have ever seen. So beautiful yet so raw and gritty and *live*.. beautiful overdrived harmonics flying around, really spontaneous and interactive. I *need* to find a way to make dance music with this level of looseness and feeling.
It always seems strange to start preparing for the weekend on a Wednesday, before the week even feels like it has really got started, but when James is booked out for an extended Thursday-Friday-Saturday three-night run, I am afraid needs must. Nowadays three-countries-in-three-days sounds a bit too much like hard work to Old Man Holden, but at least all of the nights in this particular series look like they ought to be guaranteed-good-gig-fun.
First up is the ever-reliable Lux in Lisbon on Thursday 6th, before nipping across the Mediterranean to the Club To Club festival in Turin on Friday 7th. Festival organisers have wisely paired him with a live show from Four Tet, one of James' favourite gig buddies (aside from our own Border Community roster of course!). And the rest of the club-based festival doesn't look bad at all if you happen to be in the area, with Luomo, Benga, Pivot, Junior Boys, Skream, The Mole, Magda and Ellen Allien all guesting at assorted clubs over the three days.
Then on Saturday it is off to Paris' Rex Club for the first time in a good long while; in fact it his first Parisian gig since the ecstatic We Love Border Community party we did back in the summer, so I am sure this return is eagerly awaited by all involved. Another happy pairing bills James alongside Buzzin Fly star and Rex / Requiem 45 regular Mlle Caro, whose DJ set last time they had the good fortune to play together at Rex was very much to James' liking - high praise indeed from the hard-to-impress DJ standard-raiser. Mlle Caro's Buzzin Fly album collaboration with Frank Garcia Pain Disappears meanwhile would make a pleasant Border Community friendly addition to anyone's Itunes library who has yet to be converted to the fuzzy Parisian emo-techno sound.
It feels like I am always the last to know these things. Our Swedish meatball Petter is stopping by London this weekend for the first time in a good while, but of course, slippery and elusive creature that he is, he didn't think to tell us that. It was left to Amit of the Man Make Music crew to alert me to this most exciting of happenings, when he requested a plug for their new winter residency at yet-another-new-Shoreditch-club - the aptly named The Last Days Of Decadance - which Petter has been given the honour of launching this Saturday (8th November):
Actually, I am not sure if Petter has notified anyone at all of his scheduled presence this weekend, for there has been talk amongst the troops of a rival outing to see Hopen on the same night, which I gather has something to do with Nathan Hrdvision (aka brother of Mathew Jonson), although what exactly that is I am not sure. For me of course there is no contest: normally when we get to see Petter play it is in a supporting role at one of our Border Community specials, so the chance to see him deliver up his special sound blend in a starring role is a rare opportunity which I intend to seize with both hands.
I urge you to do the same of course, although past experience has taught me to remain cautious in my endorsement of these kind of untested new Shoreditch venues that are springing up all over the area like a rash. But I think we can trust the Man Make Music boys to have chosen their spot wisely before trading in their nomadic warehouse party lifestyle in favour of residency security. Back in March our bunny boy Nathan Fake guested for them at the sike warehouse party they organised together with our good friend Matt (aka barrow-jam merchant and resident situationist An'Unexpectacle), from which evidence I can confirm that they most certainly know their rave onions. So who is coming with me?
London's going-out scene is certainly in a transitional stage at the moment: every few weeks brings news of old club stalwarts closing, or new venue ventures springing up not-quite-in-their-place. Either this is the end of an era, or the beginning of something new and exciting. Unfortunately my I-don't-like-Mondays head is currently leaning towards the former: although I can't say I felt the loss of Turnmills or The Cross too acutely, no amount of lame new Shoreditch style bars or corporate superclub revival attempts can ever make up for the massive gaping hole that will be left when The End closes its doors for good in January.
A couple of weeks ago we got to experience the authentic eighties empty dancefloor of music video legend at East London's latest take on the free entry dancing concept, the new Cube club space in the basement of the Bedrock-B borrowing Tabernacle Bar and Grill, where cuddly Colognites Michael Mayer and Tobias Thomas served up an evening of kitschy techno-disco in a David Walliams-studded celebration of the release of Kompakt's new Pet Shop Boys collaboration. As the PR-assembled glitterati gradually emptied out of the venue at an all-too-sensible hour, the supposed "freaks and geeks" of the club's marketing campaign were in short supply as our Kompakt heroes bravely chucked ever more synth-pop anthems into the mix.
A chance for London to redeem itself in Mr Mayer's discerning eyes comes in December, when he will be back in town for another freebie, this time for the T Bar - relative scene old boy and pioneer of the free entry concept. The T Bar has been on club death row since May, when it slightly desparately offered a £2000 kickback to any Resident Advisor reader who could find them a new replacement location for when their current lease runs out, and although my last visit to the T Bar (to see our beloved George Issakidis) was a rather dismal experience populated by the wrong sort of free-entry-loving club tourists that the picky door policy originally intended to keep out, there is no denying that the original Shoreditch club-bar blueprint did things with much more style and panache than any of the would-be heirs to its throne ever could. Michael Mayer spearheads this last-ditch attempt to revive the T Bar's glory days on December 8th, reuniting with former cohort Damian Lazarus (also returning to town for the occasion following his recent defection to LA) to dig up their long-since disbanded Stink shindig from beyond the grave for one final whiff before the T Bar's departure. If any night is going to get you through the T Bar's doors one last time, then this is probably it.
Another one bites the dust, as the rather depressing saying goes.
why does ra suck? I see no mention of border community in their "RA release advice: November 2008". I thought there was another Border release this month sometime? ra should mention you. or should we nevermind them and their readership?
RA's reviews of Tobar were too low I'd agree. People (Geeks) need to speak up in the comment sections of RA to let them know when their review writers are off. Anyway, the real question is: where does one nowadays turn for music news? Border Community's Blog?
Joshua - we've got no more BC releases scheduled until next year now, so RA haven't slipped up there. But I do hope you will continue to come here for snippets of music news, although there is no way I can ever hope to be as comprehensive or complete as a site like Resident Advisor!
"The chicken" is a mystical figure that haunts my waking life. Ever since James turned his alarm off one morning because a chicken in his dream told him to do so, the spectre of that chicken has become an all-purpose scapegoat for any of the stupid things that James does. Not that he actually is stupid, you understand, but he is surprisingly prone to the odd logic-circumventing brain spasm that leaves you wondering: what on earth possessed him to do that? "The chicken told me to..." is the best excuse he has come up with yet...
So I did chuckle when I spotted the cover of Sascha Funke's new mix album for Berlin nightclub professionals Watergate (released on 24th October), which also forms a fitting next chapter in this blog's occasional series of pretty-brightly-coloured-album-covers-of-note:
Sascha's latest mix CD offering is the second in Watergate's brand new compilation series, and the Venn diagram intersection between a DJ who is very much on our wavelength, a top-notch world class club, and a rather tasty tracklist selection makes this one priority purchase. As well as the sublime Four Tet remix of our own Nathan Fake's You Are Here, Sascha also had the presence of mind to include a series of other high-profile soundclash collisions between Miss Kittin and Ellen Allien, the Wighnomys and Minilogue & Kab, and the formidable tagteam of Tobias Thomas and Superpitcher taking on Sascha's own 'Mango', alongside alternative electronic heroes in their own right DJ Koze, Closer Musik and The Mole.
The truly impatient can get their MP3 fix from What People Play today, or if you can wait that bit longer, pre-order the real deal CD from Watergate's own online shop, perhaps also taking the opportunity to slip in the eagle t-shirt to complement Onur Özer's contribution that formed Watergate's debut compilation release. The white version gets my vote: and don't you think Sascha's colourful chicken friend would look even more wonderful blown up to fill the front of a lovely soft white t-shirt?
I think it is probably not too much of a secret that sardonic synth-pop pair the Pet Shop Boys number amongst the list of influences of our jokers in the pack The MFA. The faithfulness of Rhys-MFA's Pet Shop Boys press photo tribute is a clear indication of his adulation, whilst Ali "Bear" MFA's subversion of the pastiche of this classic shot by wearing an all-too-colourful Santa Claus bowtie probably points towards the fact that French fiddlers Daft Punk figure more prominently in his own personal ranking of legendary dance duos:
When I first discovered the tongue-in-cheek We're The Pet Shop Boys tucked away on sassy syntheticist My Robot Friend's Hot Action! album, I felt like it was a song that The MFA really ought to have written themselves - or at the very least covered. But then somewhat unbelievably the actual Pet Shop Boys, and then even Robbie Williams, beat them to it!
Recently, The MFA's idols moved another step closer to them, when I stumbled across the news that the Pet Shop Boys-produced Sam Taylor-Wood cover of I'm In Love With A German Film Star is to be the next release on Kompakt Pop, on 27th October. It was of course the Cologne-based Kompakt who licensed The MFA's The Difference It Makes from us way back when for an early release on their fledgling Kompakt Pop offshoot, and this recent Pet Shop Boys addition to the roster I suppose makes them labelmates of sorts to our dear old MFA. Exciting news indeed, especially if you are The MFA!
Speaking of those MFA fellows, there seems to be a lot of concern out there in internet-land over their recent musical silence, with a steady stream of emails and this article over on Fluokids wondering what on earth they are up to now? Groundbreaking developments this week that are much too tedious to go into in any detail mean that I can now finally confirm that there will be a new long-awaited MFA release on Border Community early next year, so we can all breathe a massive sigh of relief...
Their silence on the touring front however looks set to continue into the forseeable future, after poor old Ali-MFA was struck down by a pretty serious ear infection at the beginning of the summer, which even knocked out his balance and earned him a doctor's ban from going to any places that play loud music. The loud music ban remains in place for at least the next few months to make sure that the infection doesn't return, so touring is certainly out of the question for the timebeing. But fingers crossed he will be back to normal before too long: Get Well Soon Bear!
I might live in London nowadays, but I suppose I will always be a Northerner at heart (in fact, if you got any more northern than me, you would be Scottish...), and I would hate to have that age-old London-centric charge levelled at my blog-baby. So as part of my recent outreach campaign to also blog about events even if I can't actually go to them myself, here is a little pointer to get your advance tickets to see the mighty Zombie Zombie when they stop by Manchester's Ruby Lounge for a rescheduled gig for Wotgodforgot on January 26th (yes, next year). That may well seem like an awfully long way in advance to be planning your life, but apparently the Zombie men are also booked to play at White Heat @ Madame Jojo's in London the day after (January 27th), and if the tickets for that particular outing had already been released, believe me I would be securing mine now...
Oh man, yea, Team Doyobi are awesome. I first heard them on that little tigerbeat 6 NWA remix CD. That's still my favourite track. The covers are very nice indeed also.
Although James has been playing obnoxious electro-noise anthem 'Xantac' from previous Betty Botox album G4 Faggot ever since its release a couple of years ago, I have to admit that it was only last week that I finally realised that this mysterious Betty Botox character is actually an alter ego of Optimo's JD Twitch, under which he serves up DJ-friendly re-edits of hidden gems from the vaults of his record collection for mass dancefloor consumption. This much-needed wake-up call came to me courtesy of the most recent Earplug newsletter, which also contained the revelation that the three aptly-named Mmm, Betty! vinyl volumes that James picked up a few weeks ago in Phonica are now also available lumped together on one handy CD:
It was probably naive of me to think that there was someone calling themselves Betty Botox locked away in a bedroom somewhere coming up with new music that sounded like this. Indeed, the re-edit origins of all of the tracks would have been obvious to me had I only bothered to read the small-print on the G4 Faggot vinyl:
"All the tracks on this LP have been edited so that they are all 100% dj mixable from start to finish. The purpose of this LP is that these tracks are all tools for djing to be played for the dancefloor. If you feel that the editing / quantisation process has taken the soul out of some of these tracks, Betty urges you to track down the originals and play them instead. Thank you. Tracks are edits of (or using samples from) the following: A1 'intro' by flying rhythms A2 '...and more' by can A3 'pulsator' by ray davies B1 'i love you more' by rene and angela B2 'how long?' by lipps inc. C1 'lost in music' by sister sledge C2 'i'm an indian too' by don armando's 2nd avenue rhumba band and 'i'm an indian too' by tussle D1 'a day' by xymox D2 'the anal staircase' by coil D3 'here to go' by cabaret voltaire"
The Mmm, Betty! CD meanwhile spells it out even more clearly, with an explanatory sticker on the cover, and the inclusion of an email address for Mr Twitch in the obligatory disclaimer, where he also deftly fends off the inevitable geek whinging with the instruction that: "If the process or the fidelity offends your sensibilities, please track down the originals and do it yourself."
Still, whilst the music may not be entirely new in origin, and the perpetrator is not exactly an unknown, the Glaswegian trendsetter's 'Mmm, Betty!' CD compilation is nonetheless interesting, varied and well worth picking up in the absence of any devastating new breakthrough producers that sound as fresh and exciting as this. Even if it does leave me wondering once again if all of the good music has already been written...
Our dynamic duo James Holden and Nathan Fake only have one gig a piece this weekend, happily playing together for Techno.is at the Nasa club in Rekjavik tomorrow night, having decided a while ago to take advantage of their coinciding schedules and submit to Iceland's mystical lure by making a whole weekend of it. So I packed James off to the airport this morning with plenty of jumpers, confiscating his usual gym pumps and strapping him into a pair of sturdy new boots, and I trust that Nathan's surrogate mummy did the same for him, as Iceland is unsurprisingly pretty nippy at this time of year (it is all in the name...). We wouldn't want them to freeze their assets off, after all!
Going to Iceland at any time would be pretty exciting, given this afore-mentioned mystical status and its seeming position as the epicentre of all interesting facts. Nathan has long nurtured something verging on an Iceland obsession, and has already organised a couple of trips there off his own bat; actually, when I think about it, I have come across quite a number of Iceland-fanatics over the years, a couple of whom have even gone so far as to learn Icelandic or Old Norse to really cement their attachment. For some the magical attraction of Iceland stems from an ancient linguistic affinity; for others it is the unique geography and location, the geysers and the hot springs; or perhaps the tales of their quirky culinary traditions; or maybe the extensive seabird population; often it begins with the idolisation of individualistic musical flag-bearers Bjork and Sigur Ros that gradually morphs into an obsession with all things cutural and Icelandic. One way or another, the comparatively small country of Iceland exerts something of a bewitching power that has captured the imaginations of Britain's youth.
But given Iceland's recent financial crisis, and today's tough talking from Gordon Brown in a bid to recover the millions of pounds of investments from UK-based councils, charities and individuals which were held by Icelandic banks, today of all days is a particularly poignant time for James and Nathan to be heading off to Iceland, as UK treasury officials follow hot on their heels. Very occasionally a DJ's tour diary will coincide with global news flashpoints, and it is at these times that all of this enforced travelling becomes particularly interesting. Being amongst the many who thought we were being clever by stashing our savings in an Icelandic bank, I can certainly see where Gordon Brown is coming from; but at the same time, it must feel slightly uncomfortable for James and Nathan to be guests in a country that our Prime Minister has implicitly branded a terrorist state. "Welcome to terrorist country," read the text from Nathan's long-time internet pal Joi (aka the rather talented 7oi) shortly after he landed today!
Certainly an odd situation to find yourself thrust into, but it really isn't James or Nathan's place to be taking sides or assuming the role of the political mediator: James may have a Maths degree, but at the end of the day they are musicians, not economists. In both Iceland and the UK, and indeed all over the world, it is normal every day people who suffer at the sharp end of the economic machine: whilst the politicians try to unravel the mess of how to get our savings back, all our BC-boys can do is provide some much-needed musical respite to distract from the depressing daily headlines about the decline of Western civilisation...
Many thanks to everyone who came down to our Concrete & Glass festival showcase at Plastic People last weekend, and simultaneous apologies to anyone who couldn't get into the full-to-capacity venue (though thankfully that wasn't quite as many people as were left standing outside the relocated-to-Cargo-at-the-last-minute TV On The Radio gig). There are plenty of advantages to doing an event in a venue as cosy and intimate as Plastic People, but the one big disadvantage is the fact that inevitably not everyone who wants to will be able to get in. Not wishing to rub anyone's nose in it, but at least a good time was had by everyone who did make it in, which I suppose is the most important thing...
For us, it is always a recipe for a good night when we can get the whole crew out to play: I don't think we have ever managed to bring so many Border comrades together in one place before, with Avus and Nathan Fake popping along for the fun of it just to hear billed-boys James Holden, Fairmont, Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell play. All too predictably, I didn't get any photos of the evening - I am just hoping that someone else did?
The whole East London vibe seemed to go down rather well with Jake (Fairmont) and his Canadian companion James on this visit, which makes a refreshing change from the usual visitor complaints about pollution, expense, size, noise, traffic, black snot and so on... So it is a real shame that some light-fingered lout had to go and snaffle Jake's Kaoss Pad from the DJ booth after he had finished playing (at least it was not before or during, I suppose...), an occurrence which rather took the shine off the evening. What with clothing theft in Newcastle, and equipment theft in London, the criminal community of the UK seem to be conspiring to give our Canadian cousin Jake a less than positive impression of our little island. If anyone does know what happened to the Kaoss Pad and can return it to us, perhaps there is still time to undo some of Britain's negative karma regarding the treatment of our Commonwealth guests...
Last Friday was a particularly big night for visiting Welshman Mr Wesley Matsell, for not only was it his Border Community event debut, it was also the first time he had ever met us, our negotiations regarding the release of the mighty Bernwerk (buy the mp3s now from our online store) being previously limited to a rather protracted email exchange. So even after we had picked him up from the location of our group Vietnamese feast, we still had as little idea as anyone what he would play during his warm-up, having been forewarned of his predilection for "ridiculously eclectic" DJ sets when compiling his biography earlier in the year. Not that an open-minded soul like me was particularly worried you understand, but when the time came, we were pleasantly surprised at just how techy and dancefloor-friendly his hour-long intro turned out to be: we really could see the beginnings of a fairly distinctive sound emerging that ought to hold up jolly well when rolled out onto the world's dancefloors, should the opportunity arise. Completing the trio, Friday was also the first time that Wesley had ever heard his Bernwerk-baby played out on a club system (once by himself, and once by James), and it is always a special moment for an artist to witness that kind of spontaneous crowd reaction to their music first hand.
Wesley's eclectic tendencies coupled with the snippets of noise terror hosted on his Myspace did initially set some alarm bells ringing in our friend Sam's head when I first put Wesley forward as a potential guest mixer on Sam's wonderful Allez-Allez podcast series, but Friday's set certainly allayed his fears of inflicting an out-of-character extreme noise onslaught on the faithful Allez-Allez subscribers. And in an outburst of perfect timing, the Wesley Matsell guest mix is ready and waiting for download from Allez-Allez today, offering everyone a taster of what our latest new recruit is all about, whether you made it into Plastic People last Friday or not. Tasteful tech is on the menu once again, and we trust you won't be disappointed by the selection of quality produce on offer chez Wes:
Wesley Matsell Allez-Allez Mix 1) Hecker - Bsf°tyk 5 2) Gyorgi Ligeti - Lux Aeterna 3) Kim Cascone - Null Drift 4) 2 Dollar Egg - Untitled 5) Maetrik - Kamtron 6) Misc. - Double Tongue 7) We Are Records - Unknown 8) Hugg & Pepp - Krook 9) D.I.M. - Frogger 10) Elektrochemie - Mucky Star 11) Wesley Matsell - Bernwerk 12) Hugg & Pepp - Morfar 13) Pauline Oliveros - Lear 14) Para One - Bike
We really can't get enough of Brighton-based bright spark Pinky's visual brand of modern psychedelia, a fact which has just earned him yet another plug on our blog. The-artist-responsible-for-the-Fairmont-album-artwork has a new show opening later this month in Manchester, at Mr Scruff's Cup cafe (53-55 Thomas Street, in that there Northern Quarter). Any lurking Mancs reading this really ought to consider popping along to the opening on Thursday 23rd October (7-9pm), or failing that I am sure you can squeeze in some sort of tea-based rendezvous there before the end of the year:
Pinky's online shop doesn't seem to have much left for sale, so heading along to a show in person is probably the only way to add to your Pinky collection for the timebeing: but as the "art for everyone" tag might suggest, his goodies are genuinely affordable, and would, dare I say it, make excellent Christmas presents. For a quick pan around the sort of desirables you can expect, and a glimpse of the man himself's impressive big fuzzy hair, take a peek at this video from his recent Love Is The Drug solo show in Brighton.
And far be it for me to suggest that it might be time to replace Wesley Matsell's own desktop-based psychedelia, but I do believe that Pinky's Yes Sun downloadable wallpaper may well have the environmental high ground: monitors apparently require less energy to display dark screens, so his choice of a black background casts Pinky as a veritable eco-angel next to our diabolic Welsh experimentalist Wesley. But bright colours are so pretty!
Edit: Sorry to be the nerd police but - Pinky's misleading us a little here - it's only old-fashioned CRT monitors that use more power for bright colours. LCD screens are lit from behind on full brightness the whole time, and the pixels just block light to display colours other than white. So you can keep your Wesley-wallpaper and not feel bad to the polar bears. James.
fucking blog wars. i cant believe someone got through the trons clearance levels to transmit a message with the truth about LCD witchcraftery in it. i am behind on today's afternoon dose of buspirone and all these security breaches aren't making things better.
If you are dedicated enough to subscribe to the RSS feeds from our news page and this blog, then chances are you are already well up to speed on this Thursday and Friday's Concrete & Glass festival happening in East London. And you probably aren't going to spot my sneaky news page edit of a few minutes ago, offering two pairs of Concrete & Glass passes for both days of the festival to two lucky competition winners. So in the name of fairness, I am sure you won't mind me repeating myself here...
We have two pairs of passes to give away to two lucky Border Community fanatics, providing entry to both days of the Concrete & Glass festival (including of course our showcase at Plastic People featuring James Holden, Fairmont, Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell). Simply mail your answer to the following question to competitions@bordercommunity.com by 5pm tomorrow (October 1st) to be in with a chance of winning:
Which of the Border Community Concrete & Glass showcase artists has a track called 'We Are Made Of Glass'?
But if you have already secured your Concrete & Glass tickets, then fear not, as there is something in this post for you too. You may be interested in availing yourself of the rather nifty interactive schedule function just added to the Concrete & Glass website, where all the events are listed in chronological order, with neat little boxes to tick to create your own schedule and synchronise your movements with your friends. All festivals ought to have this kind of thing!
One very important addition to that mammoth list that ought to take priority when allocating your gig-going budget is Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid, who have included a show at Dingwalls on Thursday 20th November amongst the select smattering of dates to celebrate the release of NYC, their fourth record together recorded earlier this year in New York (where else?). Get your gig tickets now from Seetickets, and pre-order the album ahead of its November release date from Amazon, although I can't tell you what it is like as James hasn't managed to blag an advance copy from Kieran yet. But he did offer these words of enlightenment as he loaded the dishwasher this morning: "I think I will like it - it is recorded to tape..."
I have just secured our tickets to see Barbara Morgenstern at the dully dutiful Luminaire in London on 28th November, so I think it is probably now safe to share the ticket link with the rest of you here.
I mentioned Barbara on here once before, in reference to Gudrun Gut and her outstanding Monika Enterprise label, but now she is back in the headlines again as the promotional campaign kicks in for her fifth album for Monika, entitled simply BM and due out on November 18th. First single Come To Berlin (as if the good people of Berlin really needed to be sending out anymore invitations to the world's creatives!) is already out, a typical Morgenstern Anglo-Deutsch mish-mash whose full sardonic lyrical import is inevitably lost on any non-German speakers sucked in by the English chorus hook. A tempting set of remixes from naive trancey Swedes The Rice Twins, Parisian dancefloor queen Chloe and electronica stalwarts Telefon Tel Aviv urge you to download it from Juno today.
If you are only just arriving at the Barbara Morgenstern party now, then the Monikavision YouTube channel has a few video introductions to help you get with the programme. The easiest way in is probably via The Operator, the lead single taken from her The Grass Is Always Greener album, which hits all of my kooky Germanic electro-pop receptors:
On a similar tip, you have got to love the crazy German dancing of We're All Gonna Fucking Die, where Morgenstern does her best to convince me that she is every bit charismatic (or crazy) enough to break the icy atmosphere often caused by the excessively reverential Luminaire house rules (where speaking during bands is strikt verboten) when she comes to town in November:
And finally, if you are more inclined to take Mr Holden's word for it than mine, then you should also know that he has previously publicly expressed his love for Barbara's Vermona ET 6-1 debut album over in the archives of that blog of his. What more encouragement do you need?
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