November 27th, 2008 §
November 18th, 2008 §
My band, Wrecktheplacefantastic, has its first gig next Friday 28th November. In case you don’t know the lineup, it’s Ben on lead guitar and vox, myself on rhythm guitar and shouting, Jake on bass guitar and screaming, and Fran on drums and not making vocal chordy noises. We play slightly punky melodic rock music – not sure exactly how to define it so why not come see us, then tell us what we are…
The gig itself is The Offcuts’ album launch show, where they’ll be releasing their first album ‘White Horses and the Unicorn’, which from what I’ve heard so far will be a fucking masterpiece of weird, spazzy, jazzy hardcore punk. Seriously, these guys rock. Also playing are the Rolo Tomassi-esque Charlie Uniform November Tango and the very very loud Bunny. If you’re on the Facebook, there are full details here.
If you want to have a listen to the bands:
The Offcuts | C.U.N.T. | Bunny
We don’t have any properly recorded material, soz. At least, nothing with real drums.
You can buy tickets directly directly from me, or Rounder Records / the Punker Bunker. They’re £4 in advance; alternatively, it’s £5 on the door.
Would be great to see some friendly faces out to show us support – for most of us it’ll be the first time we’ve played in front of a crowd. But if you can’t make it no worries – there will be other shows!
November 18th, 2008 §
My review of charming Ninty DS JRPG Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen has, as promised, gone live over at the Den.
Since writing that review I’ve picked up a cheap copy of Lost Odyssey, probably the strongest and most universally appealing JRPG available for the Xbox 360. Thus far I’m finding it an entertaining experience. I’m glad to have found this and the DC series fun, as Final Fantasy XII, the Blue Dragon demo and the mediocre Enchanted Arms had left me quite jaded with the formula (to be fair, the combat system in Enchanted Arms is its saving grace).
November 17th, 2008 §
It turns out that my review of The Mist went up last week – I was looking for it in the wrong section of the site. Sigh. Rookie error, eh?
You can read the full review here. The Dragon Quest review should be appearing tomorrow.
November 16th, 2008 §
My review of Canadian hardcore punk outfit Fucked Up has gone live over at the Dreaded Press – check it out. That’s my first live music review in some time… I think since I wrote a short review of Zettasaur and others when I started this blog. Before that? Shitty student newspaper reviews, dating from back when I knew even less about music than I do now.
I’m not sure where the two reviews I’ve written for DoG have gotten to, but I expect they’ll go up early next week.
November 14th, 2008 §
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear meeee. Happy birthday to me. Now here’s some Friday flash fiction, courtesy of the birthday boy/old man.
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SIGNS
In one direction, the road stretches out towards a dust-hazed horizon. From the other, a walker approaches. It’s a woman, evident from the contours of the thick coat she is wearing, but her face is hidden beneath a fur-lined hood and large tinted goggles. A faded scarf is pulled up over her mouth and nose.
There is no sound but the crunching of grit beneath her boots, and even this ceases as she halts, fists clenched around the straps of her rucksack.
» Read the rest of this entry «
November 13th, 2008 §
Quite a few free mp3 compilations have sprung up online recently, so I thought I’d gather together the links to some of them. First up is from No Idea Records – the next in a now-traditional series, it’s THE FEST 7 comp with 34 tracks from some of the bands who played this year. Sniff. One year I’ll make it over.
Next up is a lower-profile collection from the label/distro The Political Party, titled Party at Ground Zero. There’s a $5 price tag on it but you can just download the whole lot, or individual songs, without paying. Your call. If you go for individual tracks, make sure you give Pegasuses-XL, the Tigermilks and Dead Town a punt.
Courtesy of Rev HQ we have some haaaaaaaaardcore. Scene Not Heard: 22 tracks from the hardcore/punk underground. Exactly what it says on the tin. From looking at the tracklisting I’ve realised how out of touch I am with what Revelation Records are doing these days.
Finally there are three comps I’ve not yet listened to, so I can’t really pass comment on them, but I’ve sure downloaded them. Eyeball Records offers up Eyeball Records Vol. 3 (An Albatross are on there and while I’ve not heard them in a while, I remember liking ‘em). Century Media bring their Fall Sampler – this one there’s no tracklisting for, but according to PunkNews.org it contains “16 songs from The Haunted, Fear My Thoughts, Intronaut, Stick To Your Guns, In This Moment, [Brighton's own] Architects and many more”. Graaaah metull! Ist krieg!
Last but not least, Anti- have a Fall Sampler too. Again, no tracklisting, but the same source claims that this one boasts tunes from “Jolie Holland, Islands, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Lyrics Born, Mavis Staples, Tim Fite, Man Man, N.A.S.A., Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, William Elliott Whitmore, Billy Bragg, Cadence Weapon, Xavier Rudd, Bob Mould, Ersi Arvizu, DeVotchKa and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott“.
It’s really not hard to find good music for free these days, huh?
In other news, for the first time in weeks I’ll have some Friday Flash for you tomorrow, and also in the near future I’ll be linking to reviews of Fucked Up live, Frank Darabont/Stephen King’s The Mist, and Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen on the DS. The benefits of being on holiday, huh? All the time in the world.
November 6th, 2008 §
November 5th, 2008 §
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"So, what's up America? Forty-three years after Jim Crow (only forty-one in Virginia, which looks like it's gone Democratic for the first time since 1964), and despite a campaign laden with filthy, vicious racism and the incitement of a lynch mob mentality among the Palinites, you demolished the GOP and got yourself your first black president. On a landslide."
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Really, really good experimental punk rock band. Check them out, if you don't it really is your loss.
November 4th, 2008 §
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"Johann Hari has rightly pointed out that what is driving the wars in the Congo is fierce competition over mineral resources, particularly coltan. To this extent, he helps see off some of the more obnoxious 'heart of darkness' myths that habitually appear in coverage of the conflict, in which almost five and a half million have died."
