- I joined Ed Pinsent in the Resonance FM studio for a tribute to Ennio Morricone: http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2009/12/12/ennio-morricone/
- A scathing (but fair) piece I wrote on The Fallen, Dave Simpson’s book about ex-members of The Fall, appears in the latest issue of the Sound Projector: http://www.thesoundprojector.com/current-issue/
- …as does a lengthy consideration of Peter Doggett’s excellent There’s A Riot Going On: revolutionaries, rock stars and the rise and fall of ’60s counter-culture
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Recent activity
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Pestrepeller play the Equinox festival on Sunday 14th June 2009
Thursday, May 28th, 2009Next month Pestrepeller play our first live gig in over five years, at the Equinox Festival in London. Billed as ‘A Festival of Scientific Illumination’, it will be ‘a cross cultural platform for the exhibition of creative and innovative approaches to spiritual discovery’, a multi-media event with talks (including one by friend of Pestrepeller, Edwin Pouncey), films and music from the likes of John Zorn, Comus and Z’EV.
It will be the first stage appearance for the expanded Pestrepeller which features Sharon Gal and Peter Hope-Evans, as well as ‘core trio’ Savage Pencil, Harley Richardson and Ed Pinsent. This is the version of the band that recorded Alphabet of Daggers, the still unreleased follow-up to Isle of Dark Magick, as well as the track As Wolf which appeared recently on a picture disc.
Venue – Conway Hall in Holborn, London
Tickets are on sale here – Sunday-only passes cost £27, weekend passes (Friday-Sunday) cost £80
Paintwork # 2
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
I have some drawings in a London exhibition which starts this week. Opening night this Thursday (14th May), 7pm-10pm, all welcome!
Paintwork # 2, 15-29 May 2009
SW1 Gallery, Victoria, London
Art about or inspired by The Fall, the UK’s hardest-working group and the ONLY band to deliver on the promise of the punk years. Led by Mark E Smith, charismatic storyteller, hard-line front man and BBC football score keeper.
Opening event Thurs 14th May (7-10pm), live music 15th May
ARTISTS INCLUDE:
- cover artists – Pascal le Gras, Anthony Frost, Savage Pencil, Claus Castenskiold, Mark Kennedy, Suzanne Smith (sister of Mark)
- musicians – Jeffrey Lewis, Knud Odde (Danish rock legend), Jowe Head (Swell Maps), Safy Sniper, Globo
- fine artists – Dave Muller, Rik van Iersel, Paul Housley, Tommy Crooks (ex-Fall member)
- cartoonists – Elaine Will, Harley Richardson
- photographers and film makers – Michael Pollard, Robert Palumbo
Full details in attached press release.
SW1 Gallery, 12 Cardinal Walk, Roof Garden Level, Cardinal Place (Off Victoria Street), London SW1E 5JE
More info: http://www.praxishagen.de/frameset-pwII1_gb.html
Gallery: http://www.sw1gallery.co.uk/
Pestrepeller’s As Wolf available now
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
The My Cat Is An Alien / Pestrepeller split picture disc featuring artwork by Robert Opalio and Savage Pencil is finally out, on A Silent Way records.
The Pestrepeller side of the disc is given over to 20 minute epic ‘Aswolf’, the first public evidence of the current Pestrepeller ‘noise quintet’ featuring Sharon Gal.
Limited edition of 500, available now c/o Rhythm Online.
For more info about Pestrepeller visit www.mysterydick.com.
The Sound Projector 17
Friday, November 21st, 2008
The latest issue of The Sound Projector, Ed Pinsent’s hefty annual survey of interesting music, has hit the streets.
For over a decade now, the magazine has ploughed an unfashionable furrow, championing the alternative, overlooked and avant garde. It thankfully steers clear of the pretentious language usually associated with ‘Art’ criticism, instead bringing honesty, healthy scepticism and insight to the subject and making a lively and straight-talking case for why this music is important and can enrich our lives.
The magazine sees music as an active, not a passive experience, as born out in both its motto ‘better listening through imagination’ and Ed’s uncanny facility for translating his listening experiences into evocative visual descriptions. Helped by regular contributors Jennifor Hor, Richard Rees Jones and Aaron Robertson, he investigates such diverse areas as folk music, Black Metal, field recordings and, this issue, Australian surf music.
My contribution to this issue is an essay which explores the thinking behind the Guilty Pleasures (TM) phenomenon, whereby music fans confess their love for uncool records by the likes of Phil Collins or David Essex, and finds it wanting. By way of comparison, readers may also be interested in the appreciative surveys of 90s chart music which I compiled for previous issues of the mag; the issues in question are now sold out but the first of them can be downloaded as a pdf via Scribd (see The Chartists, p76). Happy readings!
The Sound Projector 17 – 172 (!) pages for £7.00 + postage, available online or via discerning record shops.
Bad Weather Report
Monday, September 15th, 2008Sat in again for Ed Pinsent on the Sound Projector show last Friday, where I mixed a bunch of diverse tracks into an impressionistic take on this summer’s weather.
Playlist
A collage of the following tracks:
- Pharoah Sanders, ‘The Creator Has a Master Plan’
From Karma, EC IMPULSE! IMP11532 CD (reissue 1995; original issue 1969) - Spontaneous Music Ensemble, ‘Withdrawal Soundtrack – Part 1A’ (1966)
From Withdrawal, UK EMANEM EMANEM420 CD (1997) - Can, ‘Peking O’
From Tago Mago, EU SPOON SPOONCD006/7 CD (reissue 1989; original issue 1971) - Damon & Naomi, ‘The Earth is Blue’
From The Earth is Blue, USA 20|20|20 202020.01 CD (2005) - Les Baxter, ‘Tahiti: A Summer Night At Sea’ (1957)
From The Fruit of Dreams, UK EL RECORDS AMEM57CD CD (2005) - The Feelies, ‘Away’
From Only Life, USA A&M RECORDS AMA5214 LP (1988) - Old Time Relijun, ‘Cold Water, Deep Underwater’
From Lost Light, USA K RECORDS CD (2004) - Creedence Clearwater Revival, ‘Ramble Tamble’
From Cosmo’s Factory, UK FANTASY CDFE505 CD (reissue date unknown; original issue 1970) - Francesco López, ‘La Selva’
From La Selva, NETHERLANDS CD (1998) - Soundtrack to Psychomania feat. Beryl Reid and George Sanders (1973)
From V/a comp Savage Pencil presents Angel Dust: Music for Movie Bikers, UK BLAST FIRST FU3LP LP (1988) - Sonic Youth, ‘Rain on Tin’
From Murray Street, USA GEFFEN RECORDS 493319-2 CD (2002) - Raymond Scott, ‘Space Mystery (Montage)’ (1963)
From Manhattan Research Inc., HOLLAND BASTA 90782 2XCD (2000) - Annea Lockwood, ‘Wine Glass’ (1968-1970)
From Early Works 1967-82, USA EM RECORDS EM1064CD CD (2007) - Silver Apples, ‘Water’ (1968)
From Silver Apples / Contact, EU TRC TRC039 (1994) - P Reno, ‘Secrets of the Deep’ (1963)
From V/a comp Lunar Probe, details unknown - Hugh Le Caine, ‘Dripsody’ (1955)
From V/a comp OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: 1948-1980, USA ELLIPSIS ARTS CD3670 3XCD (2000) - Boredoms, ‘Super Going’
From Super æ, USA BIRDMAN BMR019 CD (1998) - Joe Meek feat. the Blue Men, ‘Glob Waterfall’
From I Hear a New World, UK RPM RECORDS RPM103 CD (reissue 1991; original issue 1960) - The Velvet Underground, ‘Ride Into The Sun’ (1969)
From Bootleg Series volume 1: The Quine Tapes, USA POLYDOR 514589067-2 3XCD (2001) - Black Sabbath, ‘Black Sabbath’
From Black Sabbath, UK CASTLE COMMUNICATIONS CLACD196 CD (reissue 1986; original issue 1976) - Ground Zero, ‘Miagetegoran, Yoru no Hoshi wo’
From Plays Standards, UK RER MEGACORP RERGZ3 (reissue 2002; original issue 1997) - Bongwater, ‘Rain’
From Double Bummer +, NETHERLANDS SHIMMY DISC EUROPE SDE8901/DCD-2 2XCD (1989 expanded reissue; original issue 1988)
The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM
Dub and Reggae show this Friday on Resonance FM
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008I’ll be sitting in for Ed Pinsent on The Sound Projector radio show again this Friday, filling the airwaves and copper pipes with the heavy sounds of dub and reggae, in what will be a follow up of sorts to the show Ed did way back in 2004.
As usual, central Londoners can tune in on 104.4 FM and the rest of you can hear it online at http://resonancefm.com/listen
The Sound Projector show
Friday 22nd August 2008
5.30pm – 7.00pm
Stand up comics
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008Unreleased tracks by Pestrepeller and Mystery Dick were heard last Thursday during Stand-up Comics, a special edition of Strip, Resonance FM’s weekly delve into the world of comic books. This week’s show was compiled and presented by Gemma Cantlow, editor of Layby Perk, and featured music and spoken word recordings by small press cartoonists such as Daniel Locke, Sylvie Wynn and Steven Tillotson.
You can hear the show now: part 1 and part 2 (we’re in part 2).
Mystery Dick and Pestrepeller – dead but still audible
Monday, August 11th, 2008Sad to report that both Mystery Dick and Pestrepeller have ceased musical activities, although that’s not to say you’ve heard the last of us, as there’s a substantial backlog of recorded material worthy of being made public. The Pestrepeller / My Cat Is An Alien picture disc appears to be stuck in limbo, but you can hear excerpts from two as-yet-unreleased albums – Pestrepeller’s Alphabet of Daggers and Mystery Dick’s Single Angel – on Resonance 104.4 FM this coming Thursday.
The tracks will feature in the weekly comics programme, Strip, this week’s theme being “Stand Up Comics: Music and Performance by Small Press Artists and Writers”. Tune in at 5pm on the radio (if you’re in London) or on the Internet (if you’re not).
Beach Boys Bounty
Saturday, July 19th, 2008On 16th May I co-presented a Beach Boys special for Ed Pinsent’s Sound Projector show on Resonance FM. This was a Pet Sounds and Smile-free zone, avoiding those over-discussed records in favour of little known gems from the early albums, surf instrumentals, a capella songs, the ‘Sock It To Em’ period, Brian Wilson’s work with the Honeys and American Spring, tracks written or produced by the other Beach Boys, and the Holland period.
You can now listen to the show here.
Playlist
- The Beach Boys, ‘Surfin’’
From Surfin’ Safari (1962), reissued on Surfin’ Safari / Surfin’ U.S.A., USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7243 5 31517 2 CD (2001) - ‘Catch a Wave’
From Surfer Girl (1963), reissued on Surfer Girl / Shut Down Volume 2, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 0777 7 93692 2 5 CD (1990) - ‘When I Grow Up To Be A Man’
From Today! (1965), reissued on Today! / Summer Days and Summer Nights, USA CAPITOL RECORDS CDP 7 93694 2 CD (1990) - ‘Our Car Club’
From Surfer Girl, op cit. - ‘Be True To Your School’
From Little Deuce Coupe (1963), reissued on Little Deuce Coupe / All Summer Long, USA CAPITOL RECORDS CDP 7 93693 2 CD (1990) - ‘Boogie Woodie’
From Surfer Girl, op cit. - ‘Moon Dawg’
From Surfin’ Safari, op cit. - ‘The Rocking Surfer’
From Surfer Girl, op cit. - ‘Let’s Go Trippin’’
From Concert LP (1964), reissued on Concert / Live in London, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7243 5 31861 2 8 CD (2001) - ‘A Young Man Is Gone’
From Little Deuce Coupe, op cit. - ‘In My Room’
From Surfer Girl, op cit. - ‘Devoted to You’
From Beach Boys’ Party!, reissued on Beach Boys’ Party! / Stack-o-Tracks, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7243 5 31641 2 6 CD (2001) - ‘Our Prayer’
From 20-20 (1969), reissued on Friends / 20-20, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7 93697 2 CD (1990) - ‘Aren’t You Glad’
From Wild Honey (1967), reissued on Smiley Smile / Wild Honey, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7 93696 2 CD (1990) - ‘Anna Lee, The Healer’
From Friends, reissued on Friends / 20-20, op cit. - ‘I Was Made to Love Her’
From Wild Honey, op cit. - ‘I Went to Sleep’
From 20-20, op cit. - ‘Here Comes the Night’
From Wild Honey, op cit. - ‘Celebrate the News’
From Break Away 7″ (1969), reissued on Friends / 20-20, op cit. - ‘Darlin’’
From Wild Honey, op cit. - ‘Feel Flows’
From Surf’s Up (1971), reissued on Sunflower / Surf’s Up, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7243 5 25792 2 9 CD (2000) - ‘I Can Hear Music’
From 20-20, op cit. - ‘Disney Girls’
From Surf’s Up, op cit. - ‘Never Learn Not to Love’
From 20-20, op cit. - ‘Lookin’ at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)’
From Surf’s Up, op cit. - Dennis Wilson, ‘River Song’
From Pacific Ocean Blue (1977) from reissue promo (2008) - The Honeys, ‘Tonight You Belong to Me’
7″ single (1969), reissued on Pet Projects: The Brian Wilson Productions, UK ACE RECORDS CDCHD 851 CD (2003) - Spring, ‘Sweet Mountain’
From American Spring LP (1972) reissued on SEE FOR MILES RECORDS SEE269 LP (1989) - The Beach Boys, ‘The Trader’
From Holland (1973), reissued on Carl & The Passions “So Tough” / Holland, USA CAPITOL RECORDS 7243 5 25694 2 7 CD (2000) - ‘Sail on Sailor’
From Holland, op cit.