adam | amodelofcontrol. a cracked machine. musings on a life returned to london.

The Day That Never Was

Posted on February 22, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

To say I’ve not been well – and I’m only coming out of this virus-y nastiness now – I’ve perhaps pushed myself a bit hard of late.

So in other words, it has pretty much been business as usual. Which included seeing The Twilight Sad last Tuesday in the company of stephens, and then Blindness, Thee Faction and The Nuns in Putney last Thursday (photos can be seen by clicking on the above image, as ever). Friday I worked from home, and did nothing that evening, in a desperate attempt to try and fight this damned virus off that only partly worked. Saturday was another relaxing day, aside from joining various goths to head to the Dale Chihuly exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery, which is really quite extraordinary. It is free, and well-worth an hour of your time.

Rivet Flyer - 30-March 2012 There are more gigs this week (Blindness again last night, a review to follow, then Rammstein on Friday), a house party, I’ve got to go to the outer reaches of Bristol for work on Thursday…again little time to stop.

Oh, and Rivet returns on 30-March, and the forthcoming Autonomy will be my last one.

Music:Various comebacks and gigs to note: The return of Sulpher is confirmed – playing the Purple Turtle in Camden on 04-May – and this interview is worth a read too. Then there is the confirmation of the long-rumoured Laibach show at the Tate Modern, for which I got my tickets today. Just £18 direct from the Tate, which for a gig of this scale is bargainous.

I may get a bit irritated by crap requests all too frequently, but I can safely say I won’t be going this far.

Also, this extraordinary compilation was on the new releases section in HMV (Moorgate) yesterday – Metal Dance – Industrial Post-Punk EBM Classics & Rarities 80-88. For a tenner, this is a bargain.

Tuesday Ten:In this era of downloads, the B-side has almost become a dead art. And what a shame, when you consider some of the astonishing tracks hidden away on the flipside of a single over the years. Not to mention that a number of B-sides have become accepted as some bands greatest songs, or have become live favourites, or both. Back when it was still of use, it was a good place for bands to experiment, or simply to continue releasing material without the pressure of a full album. Or in some cases, simply fill up B-side space with endless remixes, which may or may not have been any good.

So this list is going to be something of a retro list, mainly as so few bands nowadays even bother. But importantly, these are all actual songs on B-sides, rather than remixes or live versions. Obviously I’m going to have missed some great bands and/or songs from this, as always feel free to tell me about it in the comments. And yes, I know this has been posted on Wednesday rather than Tuesday…

Playlists: Spotify | YouTube

Suede | Killing of a Flashboy | B-Side to We Are The Pigs
Interestingly, the first six bands noted here all collected their B-Sides into albums, a sign of just how strong they were deemed to be, and another of this list had a set that should have been compiled. And, frankly, Suede are here first as it is generally agreed that Suede’s B-Sides were, for some considerable time, all the equal at least of the singles being put out. Or, consider the fact that Sci-Fi Lullabies is a good contender for being the best Suede album. It is almost all of their B-sides up to and including their third album, doesn’t have a single duff track on the first CD, and various of them were live staples for years. In particular this one, in fact, a monstrous glam-stomp that was played both times I saw them in 96/97, and saw aired in the encore in their shows last spring. In fact, I listen to both this track and sister B-Side Whipsnade more than I do the single itself…

Oasis | Acquiesce | B-Side to Some Might Say
Quite how on earth this song was relegated to B-Side status is one of the more bizarre decisions I’ve ever seen a band make – particularly as the single it was paired with…hasn’t exactly stood the test of time. This song, though, remains fucking glorious. A rock song with a heart – and Noel proving a perfect foil in the chorus to his brother – this track came armed with a planet-sized chorus, and it can only be imagined how ubiquitous this song could have become had it really been the A-side. Remarkably – or maybe not, in the circumstances, seeing as like Suede, Oasis seemed to save their best material for the flipside sometimes – the B-sides compilation The Masterplan went on to sell two million copies worldwide. Not bad for an album of what could be called off-cuts. [Note: due to the lack of material on Spotify, a different B-side features there]

Mansun | Drastic Sturgeon | B-Side to Take It Easy Chicken (EP Two)
Another band who ended up with a compilation of their B-sides was Mansun, and long before that the various dedicated fans of the band (of which I was one) had made each and every one of their EP series collectors items. Interestingly, like the other bands above, it has to be said that the creative well did begin to dry eventually, but the first four or five EPs at least from Mansun are all as essential as their debut album. An early favourite of the B-sides – and again a big live favourite – was this rather strange track, a poppy, surreal track with lyrics as bizarre as the title. And for once in this list, it is not hard to see why this one was missed off the album – it would never, ever have fitted the mood. Of the band’s various other B-Sides, by the way, it is also worth mentioning the awesome Everyone Must Win (the seething, post-punk collaboration with Howard Devoto of Magazine).

Manic Street Preachers | Prologue to History | B-Side to If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Here’s one that is a track that would have certainly improved an album immeasurably. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours wasn’t really that great – although was by far the band’s biggest selling album – probably because it leaned rather more heavily on the pop door than any of their albums – indeed, this was quite a shock when you think that The Holy Bible was just two albums before this, a sign of just how much had changed in the band’s world in that short-ish period. But this track is full of the snarling politics, and the music has signs of (the old) life that the album itself so sorely lacked. Still, it ended up with pride of place as the opener on the B-sides collection, which was as it should be.

Smashing Pumpkins | Blue | B-side to Rhinoceros (Lull EP)
Oddly enough, I actually mentioned the Pumpkins’ greatest B-side only a few weeks ago (the epic Starla), so I’ll pick another that also ended up on Pisces Iscariot, a release that was purely to cash-in on the bands new-found success in 1994. Not that any of us were complaining, as the album was brilliant. This song is somewhat schizophrenic: at points a delicate ballad, in others it rocks hard, but with a lovely melody winding through it, something that once-upon-a-time Billy Corgan did effortlessly.

Doves | Valley | B-Side to Catch the Sun
I have to admit, that as much as I love Doves – and in particular their earlier material – their B-sides collection Lost Sides is very patchy indeed, with more filler than killer here. But songs like this, a wonderful, sun-drenched track that despite the bright demeanour, still has that nagging feeling of utter desperation that inhabits all of this bands best songs.

Garbage | #1 Crush | B-Side to Subhuman
Sadly no compilation exists of Garbage’s B-side collection, which is a real shame, as the original, highly-collectible singles are all of course long out of print. Especially this one, featuring two non-album tracks that were both very different, but equally good. The lead single Subhuman was about as industrial and as heavy as the band ever got, while aside from Vow (relegated to B-side status due to licensing issues), the other track was the bleak, needy ballad #1 Crush, that for a long, long time was one of my favourite songs. It eventually gained greater prominence, in a much-changed “trip-hop” remix form, as one of the lead tracks on the Romeo+Juliet soundtrack. The original is well-worth hunting out, if you’ve never heard it. [Note: On the Spotify playlist, it is the remixed version, on the Youtube playlist, it is the original]

Placebo | Slackerbitch | B-Side to Nancy Boy
Aside from the label-released compilation, this track was for many years an utter sod to find. Which was a shame, as it was one of the band’s best songs, and was a long-time killer live track, too (I vaguely recall it closing at least one of the many Placebo shows I saw in the nineties). Something of a flipside to the swaggering confidence of Nancy Boy, appropriately enough, it starts off gently enough, before exploding into a chorus of snarling fury, that perhaps would never have worked as a single, for its title alone?

Dark Star | The Crow Song | B-Side to Graceadelica
Another long-vanished B-Side – I only have a digital copy, I’ve searched in vain for a CD copy of this damned single for years – this was another track that became a live favourite pretty fast. It is clearly cut from the same cloth as the band’s only album, though – taut, brooding, psychedlic-infused rock that came from dark and unstable corners. With the benefit of hindsight I suspect this track was only missed off the album because there was nowhere it could fit – everything else flowed so well.

Haujobb | Letting The Demons Sleep (Nightmare) | B-Side to Dead Market
A track so good that I very nearly put this in my best of 2011, rather than the single itself – and this is, now I look at it, the only track on this list not from the nineties. An austere, cold synth construction, like most Haujobb tracks, this is as much about the atmosphere created as it is about the tune itself. But the tune is worth hearing, as the synth lines coil tighter and higher, pulling the chorus out into the daylight for a brief moment.

In Other News:Fucking hell, our Government are being reprehensible on just about every front right now. So, we have equality legislation, but free schools can educate in whichever bigoted way they like? This is brilliant: a detailed run-down of the financial interests and plain conflict of interests in the Lords and Commons over the NHS privatisation. The list is terrifyingly long. When even the Daily Fail are starting to post angry OpEds on a regular basis, it is clear the Government are on the wrong side of popular opinion. And then Tesco “asks Government to change” Workfare scheme after they are found out. And as this points out, Cameron complaining about heavy drinking and antisocial behaviour is a bit fucking rich.

Also, this is not before time, this didn’t take long, and this has been kept pretty quiet, oddly enough. Oh, and the Olympics comes first, even over this? And how much tax is the IOC paying – I seem to recall the answer is not a lot.

In voices of sanity somewhere, the Tories are already beginning to be punished in opinion polls over the NHS, Paul Krugman skewers (again) the myth that austerity and cuts are the answer, and even Guido Fawkes is asking why the taxpayer is paying for such immense subsidies on MPs food and drink (especially when the lower staff in the same place of work pay more!).

And finally, the most truly disgusting story of the week: legalised rape in Virginia.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged friends, music, musing, news, photo, review, tuesday ten | Leave a comment

Puritania

Posted on February 15, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

It has been a long week, and I’m now paying for it by being ill. Well, ill by way of a hacking cough, mainly. Which hasn’t helped a great deal at work.

The week has been a good one, generally, though, aside from that. Last Tuesday xandratheblue and I went to The Hawksmoor…for the finest steak we’ve ever had. Friday night, _pinkdaisy_, xandratheblue, stephens and I headed to the Athenaeum for the Pudding Parlour. Which was more pudding than I will ever be able to take in one sitting again. But…OMG pudding.

Saturday saw us head to Sue and Graham’s wedding in Stratford, which was great fun – with lots of people we don’t see enough of attending. My photos are linked above. Then there was a quick visit to a party in Stoke Newington, and Sunday turned into something of a lazy day…a day to relax. Before we headed to Islington Screen on the Green to see Martha Marcy May Marlene. I’d heard good things about it, and they weren’t wrong. An astonishingly tense film, it was austere, and brilliantly made. Very much in the style of Michael Haneke, I can’t recommend it enough.

Monday was a lovely night with silkyraven, and then Tuesday night I joined stephens to go and see The Twilight Sad live. A review will follow this week.

Music:In other things of note, I have four more gigs to attend in the next two weeks (including Rammstein!), and looking further ahead Sulpher finally return with a London gig on 04-May. It is also understood (and awaiting final confirmation) that Laibach are playing the Tate Modern on 14-April (!!!), and this is in conjunction with the quite amazing looking film Iron Sky.

In other music news, Electronic Saviors 2 – nearly here, a new Killing Joke album 2012 on 02-April, and new tour, new album and new single for the supposedly finished Ministry (I’m going to think long and hard about going to the London gig, seeing as the last time was fucking awful). Oh, and new Meshuggah leaked (only the one song, mind).

Also, Weebl have turned their attention to Professor Brian Cox. And worth a read: a pretty great article, although this argument does seem to be going in circles now: You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You.

In Other News:So, whatever happened to consultation? This is becoming more and more common with this Government: forcing bills through by any means necessary, and criticism and comment be damned. While a report has come to rather difficult conclusions over the riots last summer than the “official” line. And an impassioned article from Patrick Stewart detailing more of the cuts affecting organisations like Refuge. Oh, and this had me astonished, but sadly not particularly surprised that these attitudes prevail.

I’d also love for someone to explain to me what “honest rape” is.

Off you go then, I’m sure God will say whether this is right or wrong…oh, wait. How fucking dare Lord Carey suggest ‘these sensitive matters can no longer be left in hands of judges‘. So who should do so? People like you with a vested interest? Or people like Baroness Warsi, who has been raging at ‘secular extremists’ this week. So thanks to Newsthump for translating this effectively.

And sadly this doesn’t surprise me at all – Turing’s pardon call rejected.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cinema, film, food, friends, music, musing, news, photo, wedding | Leave a comment

The Offering

Posted on February 7, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

Rather more relaxed after a long weekend, we shall see how long that lasts with a busy week at work in prospect. I’m trying not to let this stress me out at the moment, instead just to get my head down and get on with it. Simple, no?

Anyway, this week has taken in Marmalade, getting pretty stupidly drunk at Inferno (man, did I pay for that on Saturday), snowball fights on the Parkland Walk (not to mention a snow Dalek – see photos), an utterly riveting SuperBowl on Sunday night (once again, my beloved Giants took it right to the wire before finally winning), and then a day to myself yesterday, which ended up involving CD purchases and my first new XBOX game in ages – SoulCalibur V, which I’m happy to say is enormous fun, with silly new characters and some better power moves.

Music:The mighty Sunn 0))) are touring this summer, and this includes a show in London in June. So I’m going to risk my hearing by going along… Also of note on their forthcoming album is an Orbital collaboration with Zola Jesus.

Worth reading from The Quietus: The new bleak, and the return of Mr Agreeable, and he is still just as annoyed as before.

Tuesday Ten:The first new music coverage of 2012 from me (the best of the past month or two, anyway). So new stuff, and a dusting of the old, too.

Playlists: Spotify | YouTube

Mind.In.A.Box | Control | Revelations
The star track from the stellar new album, a glorious, glittering ballad in the same realms as Fear. Yes, that good, and it has a chorus to match. A yearning, pretty song that like all of this bands greatest tracks, takes it’s own sweet time to unfold, before delivering that killer chorus – and there is barely a vocoder in sight. Those remarkable live shows over the past year have clearly had a considerable impact on the band’s sound, too – while the theme is similar, there is perhaps a bit more of a human touch to the sound, and this is one of a few songs on this album that clearly has been created for live performance at some point. A full review of this album will follow once I have time, but it is worth noting that this album is a real grower – give it a few listens and you’ll see what I mean.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross with Karen O | Immigrant Song | Girl With the Dragon Tattoo OST
Yeah, so this dates from the close of 2011, but it is so awesome that it is worth mentioning here. A monstrous, industrially re-tooled revisit of the Led Zeppelin classic, this genuinely adds something new. The atmosphere is less of the fantasy world, more of a dark night and the rush of fire towards you as Karen O sends her howls into the darkness. There are, of course, nods to Nine Inch Nails in the guitar work in particular, and this only serves to remind that as Reznor’s stock seems to go up with every soundtrack release, his return to whichever of his bands he chooses to work with next can’t come soon enough.

Inure | This Is The Life | The Offering
American industrial band Inure finally announced their long-awaited new album recently, the title track of which I featured ages ago in a companion list to this – Tuesday Ten 30, in fact – so four years ago. The time has clearly been put to good use, as the lead single is a storming, guitar-fuelled industrial dancefloor attack. Pretty much, actually, what KMFDM should be doing nowadays but so aren’t.

Mindless Faith | Vultures (Let Us Prey Mix) | Just Defy
Another long-awaited return was completed recently, with the release of the new Mindless Faith album, about five years after the last. Not a great deal has changed, actually – there are still thundering beats and crunching guitars, all with a production that sounds that much brighter, and a whole lot louder, than just about anything else on the scene. The thing is, there is a bit of a dearth of the tunes compared with before – while the previous album had Bound and, in particular, the monstrous I’m Pretty Much Fucked, there just isn’t the same accessibility here. But much of this redeemed by the astonishing industrial roar of the final track on the album, where it all comes together at last and shows off what Mindless Faith really can do.

Dead When I Found Her | New Age of Reason | ArtOfFact Records Industrial Music Sampler
Frustratingly not available outside of the US – this is on a free compilation, but Amazon still see fit to region restrict it. If ever you wanted yet more evidence of how parts of the music industry keep shooting themselves in the foot, here it is, although I’m sure Artoffact are not at fault – this is the first new material proper from DWIFH since their quite brilliant debut Harm’s Way. And if this is a pointer to the forthcoming follow-up, it should be very interesting indeed. Still in the broad realms of Skinny Puppy’s eighties output as a primary influence, once again it is warmer, less confrontational, but this time also it has an energy to it that might see it work on dancefloors. Remarkably, this wouldn’t be the first time I’d consider DWIFH for my DJ sets – Fixer Fixed has become relatively popular, judging on the reaction to it of late…

Mark Lanegan Band | Bleeding Muddy Water | Blues Funeral
Eight years since his last album proper – as opposed to the countless other projects he has been in since – and Lanegan has returned to the murky, electronically enhanced blues of Bubblegum, and while not a lot has changed in the meantime, seemingly – the subjects are still similar, and proceedings are no happier – it is a sound I’ll willingly wallow in. And this lengthy track is an immediate standout. Dominated, as usual, by his deep, gravelly croon, this is the sound of a man who has seen more of life than he ever needed to. And in this age of bright, overproduced pop music, this dark corner is a good place to retreat to.

Cyanotic | A Still Light Sun | MedPack Vol.1
A warm welcome back to Cyanotic, who have returned in early 2012 with their first new EP in a while, which takes them in an entirely downtempo, mellowed out direction. I’m assured this is not a permanent route, but is certainly a worthwhile diversion. Other reviewers have also picked up on the apparent Future Sound of London influence – the languid beats and mechanic, stark samples certainly point that way. What this and the rest of this EP – which I will review in full soon! – do show more than anything, though, is that Sean Payne and his band are a multi-dimensional band that are clearly willing to explore different sounds, rather than ploughing the same furrow all of the time. And this is most certainly a welcome trait in industrial in 2012.

Lamb of God | Guilty | Resolution
Probably the most high-profile, and biggest selling metallers of the age are apparently not letting their relative success affect their sound. Oh no – this new album is just as punishing as the previous ones – and indeed is more in the style of their breakthrough Ashes of the Wake than the albums in between. This is a good thing – that album was a blistering groove attack, and this takes up that mantle too. Pick of the album so far is this three-minute brute of a track, that doesn’t let up for a second, has a monster of a riff, and a kicking breakdown too. LoG may not be reinventing the wheel, but the wheel they are using is in rude health.

∆AIMON | A SCREW (HOLY MONEY) | Amen
What an intriguing cover (thanks Greg). Covers of Swans tracks, particularly their brutal earlier period material, is few and far between, probably as most artists wouldn’t even dare to go there. But this artist – who I’ve no idea about other than that it has been termed “industrial witch house” – has gone for an intriguing choice of song, and comes out very well. It starts out more restrained than the original – particularly the vocals, but surrounds the funereal beat with a fog of static. The killer moment, though, is when the ritual chanting of the title as the song closes out rises out of the murk.

Kraftwerk | The Robots | The Man Machine
Yes, I’ve finally got the remasters box, and oh my god…it sounds amazing. Picking favourite Kraftwerk material is, frankly, rather hard, seeing as their material is broadly peerless and forward-looking. But I’ve always loved this track, a look at the use of robots by humans for all kinds of tasks – and it was of course rather prescient on a number of fronts. But never mind the future, the song itself is still glorious. An early synthpop gem, the remaster makes the beat that bit punchier, and the synths shimmer even more. Perfect robotic pop.

In Other News:…is going to have to wait for another time.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged music, musing, photo, tuesday ten | 1 Comment

Puritania

Posted on January 31, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

As is so often the case, I’m going to try and make this relatively quick, mainly as I’m heading out for sushi in a short while…

Anyway, it has been another busy week, mainly because the past week has seen me DJing twice. The first was of course the debut of our new night Rivet on Friday, which andyravensable and I have been planning for a while. Happily, it worked well, too, with a reasonable turnout and seemingly enough of a demand for us to do at least a second one, in a couple of months time. We are not going to do it monthly, but on a semi-regular basis. Thanks also must go to mark13 for his marvellous guest DJ set, and to in particular for her assistance through the night. Thanks to everyone who made it down, too. The full setlist from the night is here.

Saturday was a bit fuzzy, and lazy, before we headed back down to Canal 125 for ‘s birthday – where we learnt, amongst other things, that makes a very plausible . The whole night was a whole load of fun, aside from my DJing issues (a cable failure being the culprit). My setlist from that night is here.

This weekend is looking rather quieter, aside from Inferno on Friday. Which, I suspect, could get drunken. No Tuesday Ten this week, either, but I now have a full schedule of them for the coming month at least, so expect that to start next week.

Music:Various random items: Is this perhaps the greatest might-have-been in rock? And somehow I’d missed that this was coming at all.

While I’m going to miss Garbage‘s live return to London in May…because I’m going to be over 3,000 miles further west in New York at the time. Still, the album is called Not Your Kind Of People, and is out on 14-May. Gigs I’m not going to miss, though: Atari Teenage Riot for a fiver, and Primordial in London (at last!).

In Other News:I may have mentioned this before, but right now I’m getting even more disillusioned than before with the way our country is going. It appears to be heading even further down the route of screw the poor, screw the working poor, screw those unfortunate enough to be ill or incapacitated, indeed screw anyone who hasn’t donated to the Tories. Wow, what a future we have in store.

In fact, this comment piece draws some parallels with the sleight of hand in US politics, while this made me feel ashamed to be living in this country. We are in one of the richest fucking countries in the world, and ever increasing numbers of people can’t afford to even eat? For fucks sake. Instead public anger is diverted to the straw men of banking – and while yes, it could do with being reined in, rather more attention on what the cuts the other side are doing might help to frame the debate more fairly. But fair is a word that has become a dirty one, it seems.

Over in the US, there appears finally to be a backlash beginning to form against the rich politicians and their influencers. Even amongst other politicians, with one interesting addition to a bill followed by another. And the enormous number of signatories to the recall in Wisconsin.

Finally, in brighter news, one for those of you that like cute baby animals, and a marvellous bit of PR from Sainsburys…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged friends, music, musing, news, party, photo, rant, setlist | Leave a comment

Fear

Posted on January 24, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

This was going to be a positive post, generally, and probably still will be, just tempered a little tonight by me being in a pretty foul mood over a few (work-related) things. Nothing that I’m going to go into here, nothing I want to talk about outside of work, but it is hanging like a black cloud this evening, and it is probably best I’m on my own this evening as I’d probably be shit company anyway.

Moving on. This Friday is Rivet, of course, and I should add that this is currently a one-off, to test demand. andyravensable and I have also created a Youtube Playlist each to give an idea of what we will be playing (mine is here, and Andy’s is here). Also DJing alongside us will be mark13.

What else has gone on? Saturday was mainly spent with silkyraven, partly as part of culturegoth_ldn heading to the Museum of Childhood, then on our own to go for food in Soho, and then to see the actually-quite-good-fun Haywire.

Also: most of you have probably seen this, but it is worth linking anyway, as it is extraordinary: the view from the Shard, 360-degrees across London.

Music:Yet more new music confirmed: Meshuggah’s long-awaited new album is out on 26-March, and is appropriately titled Koloss, new ††† (Crosses) material out this week, too, and more on Garbage and the new tour.

Also, the new Mind.In.A.Box album Revelations is, as hoped, quite wonderful. Finally, a great Cracked thing about industrial music, that, needless to say, isn’t exactly played straight.

Tuesday Ten: set me a challenge for two Tuesday Tens the other week, and it seemed like an interesting idea. Last week included the shortest Spotify Playlist I will ever post, and this week goes to the other extreme.

So this week is long songs – agreed to be more than ten minutes in duration, and also to be actual songs (as opposed to including secret tracks or silence). Which did, admittedly cut down my choice from the 447 tracks of 10:00 or more in duration by an a fair bit, and also reduced the number of genres involved. There were a few things I chose to ignore, too. Like the ridiculously over indulgent Mother by Goldie – all sixty minutes of that orchestral-drum’n'bass car crash – or the stupidly overlong Breaking Into Heaven by The Stone Roses, which would have been a great track if only they had reined it in a bit – then again, something that was said a lot about that album…

Even so, you’ll need a fair amount of spare time for this lot. Two hours and fifty-five minutes of spare time, in fact, for the Spotify version – the Youtube playlist is a sprightly two hours and nine minutes. Playlists:

Spotify
YouTube

Smashing Pumpkins | Starla (2011 Mix) | Gish (Deluxe Edition) | 11:02
Billy Corgan seemed to have one truly epic song per album as he went along, but incredibly the best of all of his long songs was relegated to B-side status, and it is likely that until recently, you will have only heard this on the (actually very good) B- sides compilation Pisces Iscariot that is now somewhat long in the tooth. So all credit to Corgan for remastering the B-sides too for the deluxe reissues of Gish and Siamese Dream, and Starla has finally gained pride of place at the head of the queue. And so it should, too, being one of the best songs the band ever released, a wondrously epic, spaced-out rock anthem that is also surprisingly tender.

Tortoise | Djed | Millions Now Living Will Never Die | 20:57
The track that most of all, from their breakthrough album, that really sign-posted that Tortoise were something special. And that something special was an amalgam of many parts, and on the US release (other regions had a few more tracks) took up nearly half the album! While nominally shoved into the box marked “post-rock”, it wasn’t really at all. There were elements of post-rock, yes, but also there were dub sections, jazzy motifs, and most of all, a big, big nod to their krautrock forebears. But for a song so long, it never gets dull, instead morphing into new movements and sounds as it goes along, sounding much sunnier in outlook than you might suspect for a song (and album) that has such a towering reputation.

The Beta Band | Monolith | The Three EPs | 15:49
That The Beta Band never were properly appreciated for their “anything goes” approach in the late 90s is a sad indictment of the musical times. While Britpop was choking its last few breaths, finally descending into mediocrity and parody, The Beta Band threw in anything but the same old influences. Along the way they made a few utterly astonishing singles, more than a few amazing B-sides (of which this was one, happily all collected on the still perfect The Three EPs), and took the piss royally once their debut proper came out. But let us ignore for the moment the latter material, and go back to this. A riot of found sounds, blissed-out rock and lashings of electronica, The Beta Band never really trod this route again. Mores the pity.

Kraftwerk | Autobahn | Autobahn | 22:47
Ignore the short, single version of this, and go for the epic album version – what was and is effectively year zero for electronic music. The ultimate paean to carefree travel, enjoying the scenery and (presumably) sunshine through the car window, and remarkably it never feels like a chore to listen to the whole thing. It is warm, bright and accessible – things that many seem to think Kraftwerk are not. This is why these guys were so damned good (and it still holds up now) – there is humanity and emotion in what should be cold, robotic music.

Mogwai | Like Herod | Young Team | 11:40
Like a number of other bands in this weeks list, I was hardly short of options here. But really, it came down to this, or the snarling Christmas Steps (Mogwai Fear Satan has, of course been used before in this series). But seeing as this is one track that I still can’t quite pin down and know off by heart – like many others, it still surprises me when the riff jumps out of the speakers – and it does quiet LOUD like no other post-rock track, this won. And for the purposes of this list, it is actually quite short, too…

The Young Gods | Moon Revolutions | Only Heaven | 16:34
Another band who seem to place at least one truly epic song on each of their albums, I think I actually prefer this to Summer Eyes, their longest song of all and one I’ve seen live. Sadly, although I know they’ve performed it (I have it on at least one live album), I’ve never been priviledged to see this one live. Why? Well, for the first five minutes it is the ‘Gods at their most epic rock-wise, complete with a guitar solo that should have been filmed being played at the top of a mountain, in front of a stormy sky. Then it vanishes into dark, moody, barely-there ambience before building into a tribal trance to close. In fact, through the three parts to this, it is a pretty good showing of all of the sides to The Young Gods, and why they continue to be so awesome.

My Dying Bride | The Barghest O’ Whitby | The Barghest O’ Whitby | 27:04
Such a monstrous epic that it actually needed its own trailer, this was, I guess, MDB finally taking their gothic doom as far as they could. And that was into a gothic legend, set to music, complete with stormy samples and deep, deep vocals (of course). That this doesn’t sound like a parody is testament to just how damned good at this doomy business MDB are.

Opeth | Deliverance | Deliverance | 13:36
Continuing with more metal, it is now easy to forget that just a few years ago, Opeth weren’t nostalgic, classic-rock bores. Back over the first half of the last decade, they released album after album of thrilling, prog-influenced metal that pretty much perfectly balanced the more reflective side with some seriously heavy metal. And of all of their many ten-minute-plus songs, this one has the best of both worlds – that awesome, chugging opening that opens out into a tender verse…before an entire arsenal of riffage is unleashed again. And so it goes, until we come full circle and a stuttering, staggering riff brings it to a close.

The Orb | A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld (Live Mix Mk 10) | The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld | 18:49
The ambient house boom is now pretty much twenty years old. Or, as I like to think of it, distant history. That doesn’t make all of the material from that time crap or cheesy, though, particularly when you think of just what this influenced later. Or perhaps, actually, we can lay the blame for a lot of “coffee table music” since at the door of acts like The Orb. Or maybe the drugs were just better then. Even so, this takes in all kinds of field recordings, outer space, those really good drugs, and Minnie Ripperton. Ignore those that tell you this is a waste of time, and immerse yourself in it. Yeah, maaaan.

Spiritualized | Cop Shoot Cop | Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space | 17:01
This track is actually about fifty seconds shorter than this, but a sign of the obsessive attention to detail Jason Pierce had with this album is reflected in the fact that the actual length is to ensure the album appears as exactly seventy minutes in length when the CD is inserted – as it said “1 tablet 70 min” on the cover. This is, of course, the blues/rock/freak out jam that closes Spiritualized’s greatest album, the sound of losing yourself in the chaos of life, love and loss for sixteen minutes and coming out the other side feeling strangely cleansed, fresh and reborn. A suitably epic way to close a playlist like this.

In Other News:More on the news later in the week.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cinema, job, music, musing, tuesday ten, video | Leave a comment

Internal Combustion

Posted on January 17, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

A new week, same old story. We’re hurtling through 2012 already, my to-do list is stacking up, work is getting busier now we are over the post-Christmas lull, and there are things going on again socially. This weekend was no exception, of course, as and I headed to Camden first (dropping a few flyers off for Rivet, for a start), then onto Canary Wharf for the London Ice Sculpting Festival (see photo to the left), before a bit of a break until the evening events.

Which firstly saw me in Islington, to go and see a few bands – in particular Blindness. My review can be found here, and the photos can be found by clicking on the photo of singer Beth Rittig to the right.

Post-gig, it was then onto and ‘s housewarming party, which was drunken, amusing and thanks to I got to taste Marmalade Chase Vodka. I ought to get a bottle of that.

Aside from all that, the Giants unexpectedly won in the NFL playoffs, I have football to play on Thursday evening, and a fair number of plans this weekend, too (where it will be rather good to see ).

Music:More new releases to mention: A new Stromkern EP at long last – Dead Letters on 13-March, with follow-up Dead Language in June; a new Cyanotic EP MedPack Vol.1 too, with MedPack Vol. 2 to follow soon, a new Rabbit Junk single too, and Society Burning’s last album Internal Combustion can be had for free here.

A number of notable gigs are starting to appear, too, which I will add into the Events Listing as soon as I can.

Tuesday Ten:So, a return to my traditional Tuesday Tens after the end of year break for rounding up 2011. set me a challenge for two Tuesday Tens last week, and it seemed like an interesting idea. So here is the first part of it, and it will likely be the shortest Spotify Playlist I will ever post.

Oh yes. So this week is short songs – agreed to be less than one minute in duration, and also to be actual songs (as opposed to intro tracks or interludes). Which did, admittedly cut down my choice from the 783 tracks of 0:59 or less in duration by an awful lot, and also reduced the number of genres involved. And with one exception, these songs are also played rather fast. Well, you’ve got to cram as much as you can in, in such a short song, I guess…Next week, of course, we go to the other extreme.

Obviously, blink and you might miss this lot – on Spotify this lasts just 364 seconds, or six minutes and four seconds, if you will, for ten songs. Playlists: Spotify | YouTube

dEUS | Shake Your Hip | Worse Case Scenario | 0:41
So let us start with a song that even affords a fade in. And unlike most of the songs here, it is at a more sensible pace, and is a marvellous little (anthemic) groove that never really made sense in the musical surrounds of dEUS’s debut album, being rather brighter, and joyous than the darker and more reflective songs that sit before and after it. But that was always the joy of dEUS – confounding expectations, and many years later they continue to do so with every single album.

Black Flag | Spray Paint | Damaged | 0:34
Let us head back, now, to the early eighties: to a time where punk had got through it’s initial phase, and bands had finally begun to seriously look at moving into new realms with this fast-paced, angry sound. And over in Los Angeles, one furious bunch of guys formed Black Flag, and once Henry Rollins joined, they became one of the earliest – and most iconic – bands to be associated with the term hardcore. And from their incendiary debut Damaged, the second track is this short blast of the apparent joy and defiance in being a graffiti artist.

Minor Threat | Straight Edge | 0:47
One of a number of bands that made a virtue in brevity, it was almost as if their sheer rage set them off playing even faster than their peers. And oddly enough, there were more than a few choices for this list, but really, it had to be this. Quite possibly the shortest song to all-but kickstart a youth movement (OK, so it wasn’t the first song to note the Straight Edge ideal, either, but it was definitely the most prominent), this is a hairdryer blast of defiance – proudly proclaiming an aversion to “hang[ing] out with the living dead” and instead going for a life of no booze, no drugs and no casual sex. And no moshing, either, in Ian MacKaye’s later band Fugazi. Ok, so not a life for me, broadly, but the music was, and is, awesome.

Napalm Death | The Kill | Scum | 0:20
The shortest track proper I own is, of course, You Suffer. However I’ve already used that before, I seem to recall, so it didn’t count here. Instead, this does, though – a twenty second grindcore classic mocking those who believe in the afterlife. And remarkably manages to fit six lines of lyrics – including two choruses! – in it’s twenty seconds or so…

Pig Destroyer | Ghost Of A Bullet | Prowler In The Yard | 0:20
I can’t say I’ve ever actually had the time to sit down and analyse, or even read, many of Pig Destroyer’s lyrics. After all, like Napalm Death, they blitz through songs at quite unbelievable speed and in their earlier days, at least, it was something of a surprise if the bulk of the tracks on an album topped ninety seconds in length. One thing is for sure, though – there aren’t any politics, or comments on religion, here – there are darker, more malevolent themes at work here, if you listen for them through the blisteringly loud grindcore.

Nasum | Violation | Helvete | 0:38
Yes, more grindcore – but what did you expect when I was looking for really short songs? The brutal, neck-snappingly fast mosh-down of an opener to my favourite of this band’s albums doesn’t hang about, and once again the lyrics frankly aren’t important. Nasum actually ceased to exist when Mieszko Talarczyk died in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, but rather unexpectedly they are reforming with a guest singer for a few shows in 2012, to commemorate what would have been the twentieth anniversary of the band this year.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed | Bullshit Gets Up and Walks Around | Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope | 0:14
Probably the shortest song proper I have in my collection, aside from You Suffer, this is a full twelve seconds longer (so over six times the length!). Therefore it deserves its place here, and is also notable for that fantastic, chunky riff that dominates the track.

Gallows | True Colours | Death Is Birth | 0:36
Moving away from grindcore back towards hardcore, this was the comeback track for Gallows last year after they announced the arrival of their new singer, ex-Alexisonfire member Wade MacNeil. And what a comeback – a ripsnorting intro, a pulverising mid-section and chorus, followed by one of the best breakdowns to close out I’ve heard in years. Consider that difficult second album Grey Britain well and truly buried, eh?

Beastie Boys | Tough Guy | Ill Communication | 0:58
By the time of this classic album, the Beasties had long since confirmed their ability to sound comfortable with both their rap and rock sides, but it was this album where they really introduced hardcore and punk into their sound, to pretty spectacular effect – especially as it didn’t feel out of place whatsoever. So this following the now classic, laid-back rap of opener Sure Shot was no great surprise at all. A vicious kick-down of a punk track, the Beasties detailing their beef with a basketball player who is throwing his weight around, and is seemingly heading for a fall…

HEALTH | Courtship | HEALTH | 0:56
Finally, something totally different. HEALTH were dubbed “noise” early on – which to me wasn’t really correct. The later term of “noise rock” probably was closer to the truth, HEALTH being a band that specialised in short, sharp bursts of rock with all kinds of odd effects sprayed over the basic rhythms, leading to a dense, and complex sound. In later releases, there has been rather more restraint, but here, there was nothing of the short. This is blasts of sound and rhythm, and vocals used as another instrument, and frankly not a lot else. But it is an intriguing listen, and one that still sounds like no other band.

In Other News:One thing that 2012 is going to be for me is a year full of monarchists. Hopefully most of them won’t be as unpleasant as Michael Gove, who it appears would rather gift an extremely rich woman a £60 million yacht, than actually do his fucking job. Yes, I’m a Republican in the British sense. For me a much more patriotic way to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee would be to, I don’t know, do something that might actually benefit the fucking country.

Kudos to this young woman, too – fighting back over the unemployed being forced to work for free for large companies (profiting from the unemployed, nice).

Over in the US, the GOP are celebrating ignorance, and getting at Romney for speaking French. This is the right-wing future, folks.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged events, gig, music, musing, news, photo, rant, review, tuesday ten | Leave a comment

Operating Tracks

Posted on January 10, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

So, you may have heard by now that we have a club night coming up. It is called Rivet, and myself, andyravensable and mark13 will be bringing various forms of industrial and electronics. Click on the flyer to the left for the full details on Facebook.

It has been a busy week, actually, as I return to the normality of working life after a good Christmas break. There was the last few days of travelling to East Finchley to feed jez_alone‘s cats while she was away (and thank you so much again for the present, Jez!), seeing silkyraven last Wednesday for a quiet night in (and seeing a surprisingly marvellous film in the shape of The Lincoln Lawyer), enjoying a couple of nights off on Thursday and Friday, then _pinkdaisy_ and I headed north to Leicester on Saturday for our traditional visit to her grandparents for their Slava. It was entertaining, as ever, involved titanic amounts of food and booze, and then bonus home-made cherry vodka and an unbelievably drunken and slow game of snooker back at her Aunt’s place. Sunday was fuzzy, to say the least.

Photos are on the right, linked as usual by the photo. And indeed, this photo is the first of a series this year, as I’m participating in the Guardian’s 52 Weeks photo project.

And in a flash, we’re already back to work again, two days gone in the week. And last night was tasty sushi at MoshiMoshi with xandratheblue, and then reminding ourselves that book adaptations are not always great, as proven by the still-boring Crash.

The rest of this week is actually looking relatively quiet, which could be a blessing seeing as Saturday is looking rather busy. There is a houseparty, and Blindness playing here. So obviously I’m going to try and do both.

Music:Talking of gigs, it would appear that 2012 is going to follow the pattern of the past couple of years, with yet more reformations. Not that I’m complaining too much about the return of The Afghan Whigs, Refused (!!) and At The Drive-In, mind…

In other music news, The Prodigy: definitely not going dubstep, A great music wishlist for 2012 from I Die: You Die…oh, and the new Big Pink single is fucking amazing. Also, here we go again: blame piracy again. Except that this seems to contradict that view.

In Other News:I’ve actually got quite a bit to write about here. So I’ll try and keep relevant things together.

So lets start in the UK. The disabled have chosen to fight back themselves, quite rightly taking the view that they are being ignored (the detail in this about how the consultation was actually totally ignored, it would appear, is extraordinary and I have to wonder how this was legal) – Edit: see also this extraordinary article in the Daily Mail, that is actually fair, balanced and apparently well researched), while also fighting back are a number of schools that are effectively being forced into becoming Academies, against the wishes of the parents and school. ~~Tim Nice But Dim~~ Gove knows best, apparently.

The desire to rid the 50p tax rate has reared its head again (with a quick delay story later in the day, too), while as Monbiot points out action is forthcoming far quicker on the poor than on the rich.

Two stories of apparent racism, from different sides of the pond: plans for deliberate discrimination against foreign students in Plymouth (just try substituting “foreign students” in their plans for “blacks”, or “jews”, or “gay people”, and have a think about how that would be treated by the council…), while Chevron are now fighting racism claims in Ecuador as well as an enormous bill for their actions in the country. Oh, and then there is Rick Santorum and his attitude to gay people.

In fact, his competitors for the GOP nomination aren’t much better, really. Like Ron Paul, Mitt Romney or any of them on the economy or science. But more importantly, perhaps, this is going to be another election, like it seemingly always has been in the US, fought over who can do the most for their corporate paymasters. Still, at least it wasn’t one of them that came up with this idea.

Elsewhere, Andrew Wakefield, again. An interestingly under-reported obscenity trial with an intriguing result, and other ways to get great views of London and other cities, rather than paying the eye-watering figure the Shard will reputedly be charging.

Finally, the big announcement today was the widely trailed approval for HS2. And I’ll say now that I’m in favour of the idea – obviously others aren’t, for various reasons. There are the many NIMBYs on TV, the MPs desperately trying to save their seats, and many who I wonder would take the same trenchant view against if it was a road, for example. Such is the cost of progress, I guess – and the reaction to a project like this is nothing new. I’ve just finished reading the utterly fascinating Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain, and the landowners wanting their pound of flesh, and the NIMBYs, and MPs, have always been there. And always will be. But in the wider scheme of things, this is a good idea, as long as two things happen – that it links to HS1, and that the northern extensions are built. Then, we will have a coherent and quick link to northern Europe, and to northern England, and vitally expanding capacity on other lines. One of the things that has driven me mad are those insisting that “all of the existing network could gain extra track and/or longer/larger trains”. Well, no, it couldn’t. We built our bridges and tunnels lower than the rest of Europe, for a start, and there isn’t any room for extra tracks on existing lines – which would screw those plans. We need an extra line to ease capacity, and to reduce internal/short-hop flights that bit more. And the spending isn’t immediate, either, while the construction of the line will guarantee quite a few jobs, I’d think. For once a bit of forward planning might actually be a good idea – our country and successive Governments have done an astonishing disservice to this country with their short sightedness over just about everything else over the years, and while it might be a bit much to hope for more long-sighted decisions, at least this is something of a start.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged events, family, film, music, musing, news, photo, rant | Leave a comment

New Age of Reason

Posted on January 3, 2012 by amodelofcontrol

Into the new year we go, and I’ve still not really stopped. This past weekend has seen random drinking, epic nights out, and seemingly lots of consumption in various ways. But it has all been fun, I’d just like a little more sleep at some point.

2012 Forthcoming Releases:This has become something of a tradition on my blog – to round-up as much as I am aware of that is due in 2012, in one handy list. If I’ve missed anything, please do let me know, or feel free to correct if you are on this list!

Others understood to be releasing albums this year, or at least mentioned an intention to do so:
Seabound
The PCP Principle
Neurosis
Tool
Garbage
Mazzy Star
Dismantled | Disease EP
Icon of Coil
Earthtone9 (potentially?)
VAST
Sulpher (I’ve lost count of how many years I’ve heard this, though)
Alter der Ruine
Bitter Ruin
xotox

In Other News:Too tired to post this tonight, so instead, have this utter genius if you haven’t seen it already: Goths Up Trees.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged humour, music, musing | Leave a comment

Another Year: A Short History Of Almost Something

Posted on December 31, 2011 by amodelofcontrol

2011 has been a pretty bonkers year. Like 2010, I’m going to try and cover it in bullet points.

I’ve been busier and happier than in a long time. Part of which has been down to a stable job, which has seen me effectively promoted to Head of Mobile.
This has brought it’s own challenges, but I am relishing pretty much every bit of it.
The stable job – and considerably better pay – has also resulted in various benefits.
Like travelling a lot – to Kinetik in Montreal in the company of attack_monkey, spending my birthday in Berlin with _pinkdaisy_, going to the Netherlands for work in July, Infest, going to Glasgow in December for Front 242, and then going to Antwerp for BIMFest.
And going out an awful lot.
And being able to enjoy more stuff. And buy more stuff (my CD intake this year has been ridiculous, frankly).
My girlfriends have been awesome too.
As have my friends, old and new.
Here is to 2012 rocking as much as 2011 has.

A couple of quick musical things: a reminder of my roundups of the year if you missed them…The Enemy’s Tom Clark suggests he is going to save music…hopefully by stopping. And this is the most depressing “rock” chart I’ve ever seen. Next week, I’ll be looking at the new releases due in 2012.

In Other News:Yes, I’ve had a little time to put some of this together. So, quickly: change in North Korea has resulted in no apparent change, and the release of documents under the 30 year rule has revealed some interesting material about the Thatcher Government and their attitude to cities like Liverpool. The death penalty in the US could finally be on it’s way out due to cost considerations, of all things, while this story of the poor being cut off from water supplies in Alabama is a perfect example of the way the poor are made to pay for other peoples incompetence or negligence.

Back in the UK, Agency workers finally have better rights for pay and conditions. And will we ever as a nation really think in metric? I’d like to think we will at some point shed an outdated system. While an intriguing study has revealed the likelihood of a sharp increase in deaths on the roads if motorway speed limits are increased to 128.7km/h (sorry, 80mph). Is it really worth that?

Finally, this is one hell of a grumpy crocodile (the video is priceless).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2011, friends, music, musing, news | Leave a comment

Supermassive Black Hole

Posted on December 6, 2011 by amodelofcontrol

A short post, kind of. It’s been a busy, busy week again, with insane work stuff and a few other things besides. Like heading to Leicester for the weekend with _pinkdaisy_ to see her dad, and also to head to Autonomy, for my last DJ slot of the year. The setlist for which can be found here.

2011 Round-up: Week Two: Tracks of the Year:This is the eighth year that I’ve done a rundown of the music released in the past year – and every year I seem to end up with more material to cover. I’ve probably bought more music this year than I have in the past couple of years combined, so I’ve had to expand this list a little more – as there was no way that I was going to be able to include everything otherwise. Even capping this list at 25 has resulted in a few things having to make way, too. Anyway, as ever I’d like to hear from you too about your favourites of the year. Next week: Albums of the year.

Listen to most of the list on Spotify
Watch most of the list on YouTube [COMING SOON]

/25

OK Go
The Muppet Show Theme
The Green Album
Walt Disney

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