Last album(s)
I bought   

THE FALL  "A PAST GONE MAD"    This is a best of The Fall from the 90s. And very good value it was too at £4 in the sales! Basically if you want a sneery, political, satirical, surreal, funny and above all funky sound in your music then check this band out. I'd been meaning to for years, and finally I have. Highlights include the excellent "High Tension Line", the sadly familiar (thanks to crappy car ads) "Touch Sensitive" and the hilarious and energetic "Hey Student!". But it's ALL great of course...

What I'm listening
to at the moment

MY XMAS GIFTS   Yes, somewhat predictably for early January I have spent the last two weeks listening to the albums I asked for from my folks. Let's deal with each of them in turn shall we?
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN "DEAR CATASTROPHE WAITRESS" I really expected to be disappointed by this album. In a small way I am because it kind of marks the end (proper) of the ramshackle 60s retro sound we'd got so used to from this band. Instead what we find is a bizarre early new-wave/late 70s/post punk style thanks to the professional gloss added by 80s music mogul Trevor Horn. The result is an odd mixture of just what you expect on B&S albums, catchy retro tunes with a story to tell or a social conscience combined with their trademake so-indie-it-hurts-so-good sound/feel BUT also a new experimentalism that seems oddly fixated on such (in my opinion) 'yeah, but what's the point' bands as Squeeze and their ilk. I'm kind of confusing myself here, so if we put it in simple terms, DCW is about 25% classic B&S, 25% retro 70s, 50% film soundtrack stuff like on "Storytelling". If you're a fan well, you'll already have it. If you don't know what I've been going on about, start with "The Boy With The Arab Strap" if you don't intend to massively be enamoured with it all, but if you're looking for commitment in the busom of the REAL 'New Smiths' then start with their first- "Tigermilk". Highlights on this album include "Dear Catastrophe Waitress", "Wrapped Up in Books" "If You Find Yourself Caught in Love" and "Asleep on a Sunbeam". 8/10. 1 point deducted for odd production.
THE BLUETONES "LUXEMBOURG" Okay, stop sniggering at the back there! Go on, I know it's you so be quiet and listen and you just might learn something! Honestly... Right so you know why I did that idiosyncratic intro to this review don't you? It's 2004 now, and it was 2003 when this was released. In the eyes of most people the Bluetones had their moment and that was Britpop. They're a joke- they don't sell anymore and I expect you're amazed they haven't split up yet. Armando Iannucci summed it up best with his ridicule of them in his 2001 TV show as being on the list of things the world wouldn't miss if they went, things that serve no purpose, "the music of The Bluetones" he said and yes even I chuckled to an extent. But take off those blinkers now, and let me dispell a myth. This being that they're a one-trick pony with absolutely nothing to say about anything. "It all sounds the same" you say. I say "Pah!" because that's just so wrong. The Bluetones are classic musicians in that they actually have a 'sound' in the sense that The Beach Boys had a 'sound' and they always use this as the framework for their music. The fact is their music has steadily evolved in a way bands like Oasis never have. And if you don't believe me, listen to this album. First and foremost, they make great pop music, a feat modern 'indie' fails miserably at, with the exception possibly of The Coral and The Thrills. And as for being out of touch, on "Liquid Lips" we have a far catchier and hence more effective criticism of the evils of Tony Blair, easily outstripping the pretentious, flabby and incomprehensible depressing junk Radiohead came up with on the same topic. As for their sound staying the same, as hinted on the previous effort "Science and Nature", this album has seen a much rockier, high-octane (dare I say it) modern approach come to the fore. Tunes like "Never Going Nowhere" demonstrate this perfectly. I must admit that based on the "I Love the City" download I attained last April I expected that for once the critics were right and they'd let me down, but no, this album is actually better than their last one although it could never be on a par with their second album "Return To The Last Chance Saloon" beacuse that is one of the great lost albums of the 90s. Anyway, enough rant. If you liked them when you were a teenager and they were industructable as far as NME was concerned before it decided they were rubbish... i.e. 1996. If you own "Expecting To Fly" but never listen to it, then go on, out you go, score it up. You won't regret it. 8/10
KRAFTWERK "TOUR DE FRANCE SOUNDTRACKS 2003" I am a massive Kraftwerk fan and there is nothing much I can say about this consequently. It's amazing that after being basically almost entirely responsible for all modern electronic music in the world that in 2003 they can still make music that sounds relevant and interesting. AND they manage to make it sound retro and hence unmistakably Kraftwerk as well. It's just too wicked. I can't gush enough about it... gush gush. 9/10
Well I hope you enjoyed this little set of reviews. And I hope it's made you think about getting your mits on at least one of them!

Last thing I 
got off e-bay 

CUD "LEGGY MAMBO"   Miles ahead of their time, and criminally overlooked nearly-men who, if there was any justice in the world, would have been a lot bigger than they were. Some may disagree but I always think of them as being like a funkier version of The Smiths, with a more soulful version of Morrissey in the form of Carl Puttnam's vocals. My favourite track, personally is "Love in a Hollow Tree". Get on E-bay and get some Cud today! Oh yeah, the drumming is just too excellent as well...

Suggestions for wasting your time

ISKETCH is a lot of fun. Think Pictionary online and you've pretty much got the idea. Only this version has chat and the drawing doesn't suck so much cos you have more tools at your disposal. So, it's fun, it's social (in the net sense) and it gets the old braincells working. Visit it today at http://www.isketch.net

ADOBE PREMIER   is a lot of fun if you can get to grips with it. Just take mpegs, stitch them together, knacker them about any old how with the simple point and click interface, add the music, and voila! Instant wanky music video. One thing to note though is it helps if you have some sort of videocamera to start with so you can get the mpegs you want. A lot of modern digital cameras come with vid facilities. So, become a Premier freak today- Kubrick will be proud, honest!