Lenin And The Trotskys

You can see why they appealed to me instantly, can't you?

Lenin And The Trotskys.

What a name!

Not only are they very friendly and up for a bit of historical, sociological, political banter, but their music is very good too.

Go to their MySpace page and there you will find three great tracks. Messy and fun. And two of the three you can download.

I'm quite a fan of Jesus Jives at the moment.

Hopefully they will be playing some dates soon and everyone can go and see them.

I want a t-shirt.

New term, new era of stress

Its feels like an unnatural amount of stress has washed over me.

And as I am feeling emotional I felt this was rather suitable to let the tears flow.

Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle

Later I am sure I'll be telling myself to toughen up and will probably be listening to this.

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

It'll all be okay, won't it?

Klaxons

Is it incredibly controversial to hint that part of me thinks that the Klaxons are only good for remixing?

Get this in your ears.

Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco remix) Right click and save target as...

A track I've been bumming for months and still can't let go of it.

Actually, I do like Atlantis To Interzone untouched.

Hadouken & The Gentlemen DJ's

The less said about seeing Hadouken! the other night the better.

Maybe music is not cool any more and just creating a wall of impenetrable noise is.

Other people seemed to enjoy them though. But I think people will go mad at any gig regardless of how poor the band is. Especially in Middlesbrough.

I'll tell you what though..

The Gentlemen Disc Jockey's never fail to play a brilliant selection of songs. They really have got it sussed. If you ever are forced to be in Middlesbrough for whatever reason then try to make sure that it can involve you going to the Empire in Middlesbrough on a Thursday night to see these guys DJ. They restore faith that had previously been let to ebb away in worrying that maybe just DJ's were all to be killed. Not these though. Here is their spanky website.

Pedistal for The Gentlemen DJ's please.

Good news.. Maybe..

I have been delusionally tired all day and whilst sitting on the floor, pricking my fingers with security tags my ears suddenly heard what may have been my frettered mind trying to lift its own spirits.

Pop World is to be axed.

Channel 4 want to focus on other musical pursuits.

Yey!

We all know it died a death the day Simon and Miquita left. I still mourn the loss. Hence the above picture that was taken whilst I absorbed every last drop of their very last stint.

I hope those scrawny indie kids currently attempting to present Pop World get thrown out on the street.

Editors

It would probably be fairly accurate to say that Editors were a band that I was always intrigued by but sometimes just didn't do enough to win me over until the album appeared.

They played at Middlesbrough Empire way back in April 2005. It had been something I had been looking forward to but they came on stage about 20 minutes late, looking tired and unhappy, played for about 20 minutes and then left. I was disappointed and tried to account for them. I knew in the pit of my stomach that it was not a precise reflection on them as a band. And I had still very much enjoyed the set they did play.

By the time The Back Room came out in July 2005 I think I was probably still fairly bitter about the gig. But somewhere along the line I forgave and indulged in the album. And at a time when I was just a little disappointed by the music being produced this album swept me off my feet.

I held onto it in the dark winter months and even to listen to now it characterises a particularly difficult period in my own personal life, but in a way that reminds me of the power of truly good music to help you build your life to again.

Unfortunately for one reason or another I've seem Editors live as much as I would of liked. And their upcoming tour I'll probably miss too. If you can get yourself along then do.

May 22nd, 2007 Warrington Parr Hall
May 23rd, 2007 London Roundhouse
May 24th, 2007 Wolverhampton Civic Hall
May 25th, 2007 Glasgow Barrowland
May 27th, 2007 Dublin Olympia

And with the new album An End Has A Start due out for June 25th I will be keeping my eyes peeled.

Golly gosh I hope it good.

This little excerpt sounds it though..

Editors Official Website.

Lovely.

Here is their MySpace too. Give You Are Fading, the live track, a listen.

The Field

The Field has somewhat fallen into my world from, I'm not really sure where.

And I am insanely grateful.

From Here We Go To Sublime is something I felt I almost stepped into. I felt I was wearing the sound and music as it filled my ears. It completely enveloped me from beginning to end.

I don't want to say too much on it.

Words may erode this piece of joy.

It is a seamless album. Making the album format something to love once again after being barraged with just 'tracks' in and of themselves for a long while now.

And with the Simian Mobile Disco album looming I feel that the album format will make a welcome return for most.

Buy From Here We Go To Sublime.

As random as Schoenberg.

So not at all.

But my mind is a little bit all over the place. This is a combination of a) suddenly having lots of money in the form of a student loan, b) having watched that documentary on 'The Race to Size Double Zero' and c) there being a new CD at work. Nice.

So just to set my mind and 90% of things in the world straight.

• Go buy Victor Bermon - Arriving At Night. It is beautiful and will make the needless heat and humidity of the impending summer all the more worthwhile.
• Get tickets to see Andrew Bird.
• Simian Mobile Disco are tantamount to most religious worshipped deities.

Other things will come to me when the upheaval of thoughts in my head settles.

I have also finally finished my March compilation CD, entitled Orite! (You facking cant!). The tracklisting is as follows:

Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
Lemon Jelly - Ramblin' Man
The Shins - Turn On Me
Calvin Harris - Acceptable In The 80's
Maximo Park - Our Velocity
Mr Oizo - Patrick122
Klaxons - Golden Skans to Interzone (So Me remix)
Para One - Midnight Swim (Surkin Drowning mix)
Lemon Jelly - The Staunton Lick
Arcade Fire - Black Wave/Bad Vibration
Scissor Sisters - She's My Man (Goose remix)
Unklejam - Love Ya (Herve remix)
The Shins - Kissing The Lipless
Late Of The Pier - Space And The Woods
Thom Yorke - The Clock
Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
Lemon Jelly - Experiment Number Six

Took a while to finish this time. But it is good listening.

I shall be more coherent soon. Fingers crossed.

Andrew Bird

Armchair Apocrypha is out and I suggest you all go out and buy it. And then when you get back and are basking in the beautiful sounds of what may be the album of the year, think to yourself, "Can I muster a mere £12.50 to go and see Andrew Bird at The Scala in London on 7th June?". If the answer is yes then click here for tickets.

I'll be there.

Probably crying.

Egotistical self promotion

To incorporate all the aspects of this modern internet communication type lark Pop Cultureddd has its own little space on this strange ether of the internet here, as you can see with your very own working eyeballs.

Yet, it also takes up a bit of space here, too, on MySpace. At this point if you would like to be my 'friend' then please do so. All comments and feedback on anything at all is appreciated, it may not have any heed taken to it if calous but such is life. I occassionally post out little bulletins telling people what to listen to and what to do whilst listening to it. Throwing shapes is usually it.

This, well, this is a rather yummy-scrummy, refined and matured bit of sexy space that Pop Cultureddd also takes up on Virb. I recommend you get yourself one of these if you are morally against MySpace, which I would be if I weren't so God-damn addicted to it.

You can contact me via my personal bits and bobs too (not rude 'personal bits and bobs').

Email: stephibabes@yahoo.co.uk
MySpace: Ms Mulrine

Victor Bermon

Just discovered this artist through Virb.com which is actually a very nice alternative to MySpace. Very clean-cut and stylish.
My Virb profile.

Back to the point.

Victor Bermon is what may be classed as an electronica artist, although the blurb on his profile does question that genre somewhat, so we'll say 'electronica' in the sense of what I'd think of classical electronica. I may have just made a new genre. You read it here first, Ladies and Jellyspoons!

Invest in this artist. Get Arriving At Night, his new record. I have it but have been working everyday recently (well, 11 out of the most recent 14) so I have not been able to give it the attention is deserves.

But I will. Because from the tracks I've heard it needs to be listened to. It demands it.

Rant #1

Why should it matter at all?

For so many people on this little spinning planet an artform that is based around noise, sound, basic auditory perception is absolutely fundamentally central to their everyday living and way of being.

Why? Why should it be so highly regarded at all?

I mean at some point in the past it can't have been so fetishized as it is today. It once would have been something experienced only in a fraction of the way it is today.

Sometimes I just don't get it.

I really don't.

Camera Obscura

I am currently suffering actual shock after having witnessed
Camera Obscura's Country Mile on an advert...

An advert for Tesco!

I fundamentally hate Tesco and I always try my hardest to avoid shopping from a company hell-bent on possessing all the souls in the world to restrict consumer choice, fuck farmers and the producers of goods and generally monopolise everything they endeavour into.***

So why does not already having all the mediocre celebrities in Britian doing the voice overs and making appearences in their adverts not annoy me enough? I mean, I was going to maybe reach-out and email some of the celebrities to tell them that as role models to the citizens of Britian they had certain repsonibilities, but now.. well.. now Camera Obscura have gone and done this and it makes no sense to me.

Please go and read the information here, Tescopoly, and make an informed decision.

Arm yourself with knowledge.

Avoid Tesco.

I fucking loved that song too. On a monthly compilation CD and everything!

*** - Edit: This is solely my opinion. Based on very little. Tesco may well be very nice. And I'd quite not like to be sued for voicing my opinion. Eep.

Kill All Drummers.. It's fun..

Golly gosh.

This isn't half fun. Kill All Drummers dot com and all that jazz. Including such fun as To My Boy, Late Of The Pier and Theoretical Girl.

Its quite impressive really. Champions something different. In a violent way. Which is always good.

And so the other artists there are probably well worth a little investigation.

Help She Can't Swim

Help She Can't Swim.

Fucking awesome band.

On at Middlesbrough Empire on Thursday this week at Club NME. Don't worry if you didn't already know. Apparently they only advertise through rancid pizza shops on Linthorpe Road in Boro. How very chic.

No fucking wonder no half decent bands play the North East, or Middlesbrough, in particular. Fucking musical suicide.

I'm actually livid that I might have missed this because I've been so busy and its been so poorly promoted.

Empire don't deserve such a good band on if they aren't going to bother putting in the effort to promote it properly.

To reiterate, Help She Can't Swim are great. I will be there giving support, screams, spittle of vodka and money. Boo Empire. As per.

The Shins

So its been over a week now since I went to London to see The Shins. And I've been meaning to post about it since then.

But words have failed me.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with The Shins. I love the music. But I think I may have had a distorted view of what the band were like in my head. Just nice. And no one needs that. And in my head James Mercer was annoyingly young and blonde looking. With the rest of the band being completely devoid of anything other than the ability to play. The thought of going to see them and actually having to trek all the way down to London to see them, having just already been to London and then to Edinburgh too. I was not a happy bunny.

Swearing in the pub next to The Forum in Kentish Town at all The Shins fans. Bleurgh! Lots of nicey-nice type people.

"I bet none of them have any personalities."
"Why not?"
"They like The Shins!"

And then we got there and some woman took my water off me because obviously the Cockney bitch wanted me to dehydrate or something. Or maybe she thought I was going to throw it off the balcony at James Mercer (to be fair I had threatened it enough). And then I couldn't find the merchandise table.

Then we had to endure Viva Voce and sorry for anyone who in anyway likes them but I cringed from the inside out watching them. A poor, rubbish, over-excitable version of The White Stripes. "One, two, let's rock this shit!" I almost cried.

Then I got denied to access to the merchandise stand.

I was generally very unhappy and wanted to get out of London and go home.

Then The Shins came on. Sleeping Lessons. My current no. 1 in the personal Shins chart of my mind. And from there on in it was spectacular. James Mercer is not at all the horrible annoying little man I had in my head. Well, he was looking rather attractive. And he was pitch-perfect. Thats always a bonus.

And then, all was suddenly going a lot better when the icing on the cake walked past... Nick Hodgson! I have an odd thing for him. Kaiser Chief's drummer. Sings and drums AND is funny. So I love him a lot. He walked straight past me. More than once. Not only can he sing, drum, be funny, walk past me but he likes The Shins. Fucking excellent!

Oh, and I got a t-shirt in the end too. But now I am on a mission to find a skirt to go with.

The picture above is from the actual gig, taken by Paul's actual camera, with his actual hands, actually.

Big Stereo

Happy Birthday Big Stereo!

The blog that initially inspired myself.

Read it.

It is full of wisdom.

Radio 1

This is brave to say, but, having listened to Radio 1 a bit recently some things need to be picked out for serious consideration, discussion, debate and, well, just to generally note.

• I like Reggie and Fearne. They are overlooked as a seriously good pairing that bounce off each other very well.
• I hate Jo Whiley. She champions, likes and loves everything. No discernible opinion whatsoever. And definately not one to take heed of.
• Edith Boman is very good at hosting an all-round entertaining show on her own. She is infinitely better off without..
• ..Colin Murray. I hate Murray. And since when did he become a music guru in ownership of a knowledge of music that anyone in the world should admire?
• I like Sara Cox and it scares me because I don't know why. I find her quirky, harsh Northern voice strangely soothing. I like her ancedotes of being a mother.
• Zane Lowe shouts.
• And most importantly, Rob Da Bank is in actual fact the the light, hope, grace and true way in the scary monopolised landscape that is radio.

Everyone should make a point once a week of taking some time to go the Rob Da Bank Radio 1 page and click the 'Listen Again' feature and be gently and firmly taught the rights and wrongs of music.

Sack the mainstream.

James Morrison

Who the fuck?

I'm not sure I want to know anymore than the material I have already had to endure.

I'm all for pop. But not that.

I'm a closet pop lover.

Actually, I'm an all-out pop lover.

And I want a Kylie Minogue t-shirt.

Hot Chip

Flipping through my old brick of an MP3 player last night in bed I popped on Coming On Strong by Hot Chip. I'd not listened to it in ages and I just peacefully drifted. My hips still continued to jiggle though. The only remaining conscious body part. All the rhythm goes there.

Sweet and subtle.

You Ride, We Ride, In My Ride is a hushed hymn. And Hot Chip are certainly a band to provoke a reaction like that of the tea-sipping vicars of the quiet parishes of rural England.

Here is me with Paul looking non-hushed, subtle or sweet at a Hot Chip gig last May...


And this is Hot Chip as they were back last May...



I feel the need to pray.

The support act of that gig is worth mentioning. Grovesnor. At first, I must admit, I did think he was the soundcheck guy and had just got carried away because I'd walked past him manning the merchandise table. Turned out he was just multi-faceted. And I remember telling him he was like a more sexually-charged Sebastien Tellier, which he seemed to like. But anyway, give him a listen. He's good.