I Am In Here

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Umlauts from hell

Liam Lacey at The Globe and Mail reviews the new Lemmy documentary -- titled, cleverly enough, Lemmy -- here. The trailer offers good entertainment value.

Lacey's review is unenthusiastic, but he does memorably liken a Motorhead concert to sounding like "a pack of Dobermans attacking an electric lawnmower." That's as apt a description of the band's particular appeal as you're likely to get. In other words: Lemmy! Lemmy! Lemmy!

If you don't already own No Remorse or Orgasmatron, you're simply a terrible, terrible person and I have nothing to say to you. The single "Killed By Death" captures Motorhead at their most ferocious, which is saying something. The original video offers the bonus pleasures of poufy Eighties hair and tiger-print tights. Essential.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

All We Have Is Four Minutes

Time was, Pylon's first album, Gyrate, used to turn up in the bargain bins. I think I bought it at a hole-in-the-wall record store out in the Beaches for about three bucks. Would have been '87 or '88.

Guitarist Randy Bewley died in February 2009. Singer Vanessa Hay, a mother and RN, records and performs with the band Supercluster. She has posted an account of Pylon's career here.

Gyrate and its follow-up, Chomp, have been re-released by James Murphy's DFA Records.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Mick Karn: 1958-2011

R.I.P. Mick Karn.

There are certain sounds that define the Eighties for me, and Karn's distinctive, rubbery bass is one of them. There's something defiantly un-rock about it, which fits perfectly with Japan's deliberate sexual ambiguity. It's all too easily dismissed now, but in its own way the New Romantic movement -- of which Japan was a prime exemplar -- stood as much in defiance of corporate cock-rock as the punk that predated it.

Karn's playing is showcased to admirable effect, along with some amusingly robotic stage moves, in this live recording of "Gentlemen Take Polaroids." John Taylor of Duran Duran offers a short but graceful tribute here.

Friday, December 31, 2010

We're all stories in the end

Fictional person of the year: Amy Pond

"...when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend ... the raggedy Doctor, my raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real. I remember you. I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too. Raggedy man, I remember you -- and you are late for my wedding!"

Inspirational Quotes (I)

"I'm going to start by telling you a story about a young lad, a bit of a tearaway, a bit rebellious, a bit of a loose cannon. People were always telling him, 'Settle down. Do as you're told. Don't challenge authority. Don't rock the boat. Don't smash the system.' He didn't listen. He did his own thing. They said, 'He won't amount to anything!' You might be surprised to know that that man went on to become … Sid Vicious. And although he died at the tender age of 21 from a heroin overdose having possibly murdered his girlfriend, I don't think that detracts from the fact that ... you know, it shows that a certain amount of skepticism toward authority ... you know, can be beneficial ... you know, in small measures, obviously ..."

Culling the heard, 2010

So you finally learn to stop caring whether the clerk at the record store is judging you. And then you start downloading all your music anyway. Favourite albums of 2010, in no particular order: The National, High Violet ** Sleigh Bells, Treats ** Spoon, Transference ** LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening ** MIA, Maya ** The Fall, Your Future Our Clutter ** Arcade Fire, The Suburbs ** Surfer Blood, Astro Coast ** Titus Andronicus, The Monitor. Favourite songs of 2010: Kanye West, "Runaway" ** Elizabeth Cook, "Heroin Addict Sister" ** The National, "Bloodbuzz Ohio" ** Dessa, "Children's Work" ** The Hold Steady, "The Weekenders" & "We Can Get Together" ** Drive-By Truckers, "Birthday Boy" ** [List subject to change based on random whim, sudden mood changes and the possibility that new favourites are buried somewhere in the pile of stuff I haven't got round to listening to yet.]