Mr Owl PhD

Illness does what the CIA could never manage.

59 minutes ago, kirsten said:

Yaaaaas! Who all did you see? 

We saw: Steve Gunn/Lonnie Holley/Deerhoof/Wand/Mario Batkovic/Bo Ningen/Beak>/Les Filles de Illighadad/Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids/Tim Hecker/Deutsche Ashram/Happy Meals/Dinosaur Jr/Cate Le Bon/Zerfu/The Ex and Fendika/Digable Planets/Canshaker Pi/Horse Lords/Scott Fagan/Patty Waters/Pauline Oliveros/Tortoise/Samuel Kerridge/St Francis Duo/Suuns/Junun ft: Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the Rajasthan Express

I think this year was their most experimental and weird line-up yet, after it slowly going that way over the last few years. I had a vague list of bands to see, but didn't end up sticking to it and just went along with whatever was going on, just pleased to be there as it's such an ace festival. Missed out on loads of great stuff because we couldn't face the walk back from De Helling. It's a great venue but SO FAR AWAY from the rest of the festival and always inevitably raining and 3am when you're walking back home from there.

That's a fairly different selection of stuff to what I saw, although it includes quite a lot of people I'd have liked to have seen but wasn't able to.  I only arrived on Friday so missed the Thursday stuff (including Lonnie Holley who is totally brilliant).  I also missed the stuff on Sunday evening, as I was travelling back.  Some of the stuff I got to was: Jherek Bischoff/ Hannah Peel/ Jessy Lanza/ Klara Lewis/ Circuit des Yeux/ Aine O'Dwyer/ Julia Holter/ Tashi and Yoshi Wada/ Let's Eat Grandma/ Digable Planets/ Laurel Halo/ Karolus Magnus/ Jospehine Foster/ Phurpa/ Amber Arcades.  Also bits and pieces of various other things and a couple of the films they were showing.

I agree about de Helling and only saw one artist there (Klara Lewis).  Luckily I was staying fairly nearby so didn't have to walk to far to go to bed afterwards!  The stuff in the Janskerk was particularly great.  An amazing venue. 

Tekkers

On 8/3/2016 at 0:49 PM, Mr Owl PhD said:

So yeah, looks like I'm going to Le Guess Who this year.  Nice line up:

http://leguesswho.nl/editions/2016/

So this was totally ace.  I think the Saturday evening was possibly the greatest musical night of my life.  Loads of great stuff that I missed as well, for one reason or another. 

Pretty much anyone who likes music should go to this festival.  It's really easy to do, very pleasant, not massively expensive and incredibly diverse.  Nice to see a few other folks from Aberdeen there too.

Jimmy 'didn't die' Young:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37903108

The new album by Honeyblood 'Babes never die' is out.  It's ace.

34 minutes ago, James Broonbreed said:

Answering the door to a TV license inspector waering pants and a Legalise Drugs and Murder Tshirt at 3pm on a weekday. 

Sling yer hook pal, have a gander round the back of my TV all you fucking want.

  That's a very odd uniform for a TV license inspector to be wearing.  I'm not surprised you told him where to go.

Sheer die-lightful football:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37767301

Anyone still interested in football?  Let's have some thoughts.

So, a quarter of the premier league season gone and just one point between the top five.  Anyone any predictions on how things will pan out?

And are Aberdeen going to win the cup final against Celtic?

It's good having Humpback Whales hanging around off Aberdeen beach at the moment.  I think there are supposed to be two.  I saw at least one quite well on Thursday, although not as well as in this video:

Have become a bit obsessed with a new compilation album of music from 1970s Burkina Faso.  It's called Bobo Yeye: Belle Epoque in Upper Volta.

http://www.numerogroup.com/products/bobo-yy-belle-poque-in-upper-volta

Some of the stuff on it is just ridiculous: a mixture of African grooves, jazz and psychedelic rock. 

Good to see some love for owls here.  They get my vote but I'm just going to do my top 5 with mammals.  I'll be here all day if it's birds.  Anyway:

1. Pallas's Cat - if you don't know what one is, do a Google image search and then put it on your list.  I've seen them too, in the actual wild.

Power - B

Aesthetic - A+++

Vibe - A+++++

2. Bears - probably Brown Bears after spending a night watching them in Finland this summer.  I'd show you a picture if I could.

That night I had the exciting experience of going to bed listening to a bear crunching on bones about ten metres away.  A+ for everything.

3. Otters.  I don't get bored of seeing Otters.  They're always entertaining.  I made a video of one in Aberdeen Harbour.  A for everything.

4. Dolphins. When I went to view the flat I live in I went to the bedroom and immediately thought 'great, I can watch the dolphins'.  And that's what I do.  If you could be an animal you'd be a dolphin.  I could probably mention whales too.  If you don't like whales and dolphins then you're doing life wrong.  A for everything.

5. Sloths. It's all about the vibe with sloths.  They don't get anything for power or aesthetic but they win at vibe.

2 hours ago, James Broonbreed said:

 I probably should've included Viljandi - Estonia on my list. Cool little place with no Russians.

Everyone's either young and healthy, or ancient and drunk.

Viljandi's pretty good.  Like many small towns in Estonia about half of it seems to be taken up with a massive castle.  I could probably put pretty much anywhere in Estonia but Tartu's the place I've spent most time in and is just generally excellent in every way.

2 hours ago, colb said:

Lots of Groningen love as well, I went there too - it was nice enough but the terrible chips and cheese took it right out of my top 5

The Netherlands generally is pretty bad for food.  It's good for music though.  I spent a summer in Groningen when I was a student and had a brilliant time.  Great venue (the Vera) where I saw Codeine and Unsane.  Also great record shops.  Proper place.

I've travelled a lot but usually avoid cities.  Here are some that I've spent a bit of time in that I thought were good/ amazing.

1. Auckland, NZ

2. Tartu, Estonia

3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

4. Groningen, NL

5. Boston, MA

The path is now clear for John Carver to take up his rightful place as England manager.

Arnold Palmer finishes his round:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/26/arnold-palmer-us-golf-dies-aged-87

I've often wondered when the obsession with TV shows as news stories began.  In the 'olden days' (I think pre-2000 anyway) TV shows were really popular (even more so than now probably) but stuff that happened in them didn't generally make the news unless it was something ridiculous like someone dying.  These days the most minor thing like someone being knocked out of Bake off or X Factor seems to pretty much be headline news across the board.  Syria, global warming, pandemics - they just can't compete with Ed Balls on Strictly for importance.

18 minutes ago, Lemonade said:

People who think typing Amen on a picture of a burnt baby is actually going to do anything. Also, the people who start that kind of horrible shit. This weird modern hunger  for likes at its most extreme. 

"100k people liked my picture!"

Well done. You found a picture of a dead baby on Google and shared it with the world. 

Amen!

Here are Manchester United practicing in a car park in Daventry today, which is funny on any number of levels:

And now there up against Shaquille O'Neal's maroon and white army.  Mon the Cobblers.