neepheid

King Khan and the Shrines - Idle no More Happy music, plenty of horns in a 60s homage is always appreciated by me. Could imagine having a dance around the place to this. Probably my favourite of the three albums this time, it stays the right side of cheesy and as has been already said by someone, it's well put together and competently done. The instrumental parts of "So Wild" in particular pleased me, I just enjoyed the melody of it. Paul Cary - Ghost of a Man I enjoyed the songs, but I do not care for a whole album which has been made to sound like someone's playing it down the telephone to you from a gigantic marble hall. Sure, do a song like that for effect, but it really starts to get wearing over a whole album. That kinda spoiled it for me. I don't mind things that sound a bit scuzzy or lo-fi but this bugged me. PC Worship - Social Rust Wasn't expecting to make much of this reading what others had to say, so I was quite surprised to find that I got along with it OK. I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word - "respected" seems more appropriate. It grinds away, doing its thing doggedly, not caring which parts I'm agreeing with and which parts are having me screw up my face. I thought I heard some Diamond Dogs era Bowie in there, and some crazy sax a la King Crimson, which made me smile. Overall, not necessarily something I'd go out of my way to seek out, but not half as bad as I thought it was going to be. I don't do scores, but I guess I could do the order of preference thing: King Khan and the Shrines PC Worship Paul Cary But none of them were awful. Good selections this week.

All we need to do is compile an agreed and codified definition of what "being a dick" is. Then be anti that. Simple not simple!

Uh-oh, this time it actually is personal

I'm still in, despite me not posting my thoughts on the last selection yet. I've listened to two of them, my head's not been in it lately, will sort that out soon

I should never have sold it and now I have it back - my Epiphone Les Paul (not so) Standard bass. EMGed to hell and back (2x HB pickups, BQC 3 band EQ with mid sweep), selector switch in its rightful place. Played my first proper gigs with it. Played it at band rehearsal last night and it was ace. Couldn't be bothered taking new photos, so have an old one:

Rich Lewis in BoD - ou7shined@gmail.com

Dean Blunt - Black Metal I found this hard work to be honest. I was on a bus at the time and in hindsight a snooze probably would have served me better than listening to this. A bleak sparseness to it all, glitchy electronica in the background which seems perpendicular to the whole thing. The vocals bugged me in particular, a particularly bad combination of low register and lack of adherence to a tune which grated with me a bit. I didn't enjoy it much, it's not that any of it seemed lazy either, there's clearly been effort and thought put into it, but it was wasted on me I'm afraid. Ariel Pink- Pom Pom The first time I listened to this I was rather bewildered by it all. What kind of record IS this? What does it want to be? Does it even know? One thing's for sure in my estimation - it's too long. I think it would have benefited from excising some of the wackier interludes, evening it out a little and making it a little less WTF. All the same, I mostly enjoyed the ride, it seems to inhabit the kind of weird world that my mind does frequent from time to time, albeit after consuming ten too many cans of Red Bull. It seems to be a nod to so many things, as if someone had assembled all their heroes and influences in a room then ran around said room high fiving them all for an hour. It is absurd, it is preposterous, but for all that it seems to revel in it and I can't help but raise a smile about that. Use sparingly though - the only reason I don't have diabetes after listening to this is that I suspect it's more saccharine than sugar. The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World A pleasant listen. I enjoyed how the opening track built up from almost nothing to a full on guitar/choir/strings thing. Then moving onto a brass driven thing which had me thinking back to some Boo Radleys stuff. Then piano pops up in track 4 to drive things along. Better Not Wake the Baby made me smile, here's the banjo. Later on there's a moothie. It's almost like a tour of instruments. That's principally what I took from it, that and it being very polished and professional sounding. I'd give it another listen, yeah.

Brian McGee - Ruin Creek I do not favour the one person and a guitar thing, it's too sparse. I enjoyed the bits when there was a lady singing with the guy and maybe a tambourine or harmonica thrown in there better (simply because there was more going on), but it's still not something I'd seek out and listen to - I always just find myself wanting more to happen. Some of the songs seemed to have good lyrics going on. He's got a decent voice until he stretches it too far and then it breaks down. At least there wasn't any of the fucking cha-cha-cha last chord thing that so many one person and a guitar acts do - that really hacks me off. Marco Benevento - Swift I found this pleasant listening, widescreen sound, all lush, spacious and that. Happy without going as far as being cheesy. As some commentators have said, I hear little snippets of things I've heard before, I think I heard organ (mellotron-y?) sounds during "The Saint" and "No One is to Blame" which mixed with piano could easily have appeared on an early 70s Genesis album. Anyway, before I get pummelled for that comment, I just say that I enjoyed this as an overall kind of thing. Nothing leaps out specifically, it's just kinda good all the way through. Honeyblood - Honeyblood I thought I'd like this more than I did. It's not awful by any means, but it's not exactly lighting a fire under me either. It just lacks a bit of get up and go for me. A kind of a weird, detached feel about it that is probably trying to be aloof but it ends up being a little alienating to me. Not too jazzed with the production either - it's a bit of a wash when the guitars are going at it, better in the quieter moments. After I listened to this, I went and listened to some Breeders.

The whole place needs a bloody good sandblasting. Even if they took the weeds/shrubbery out of their gutters and roof it'd be a start.

Guild Starfire IV? http://guildguitars.com/g/starfire-iv/ Hagstrom Viking? http://www.hagstromguitars.eu/index.php?option=com_zoo&view=category&Itemid=6 Hagstrom Deuce-F? http://www.hagstromguitars.eu/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=327&Itemid=36 Gibson Midtown? http://www.thomann.de/gb/gibson_midtown_custom_vsb.htm The Deuce is only half (bass side) chambered rather than semi hollow in the strictest sense of the word, and the Midtown is similarly chambered rather than separate back, front, sides, centre block. Midtown body is also a bit trimmed down compared to the ES-335/Dot/Casino size.

Water Torture - Pillbox Whenever I've reviewed/critiqued something, I've always been careful to say something positive, even if I've had to look hard to find it. Well, it obviously takes skill to create something this fast-slow/dense/complex. I've never liked or understood music which seem to have lyrics but damned if I can make any of them out. Might as well be instrumentals. Specifically regarding this release, I like it better when it slows down and something more melodic struggles its way to the front (for example on "Rat"). The rest of it just has me scratching my head and going "eh?". I suspect I'm just not meant to "get" this kind of stuff and that's my problem, not theirs. It will make no difference to my life if I never hear this album again. I found it hard work, and where's the fun in that? This Will Destroy You - Another Language My heart sank. "Terrific", I thought to myself, "another opportunity for me to show how old and out of touch I am". I don't get it. It's delicate and pretty, but rather like a snowflake it melts too easily. It's like being presented with a beautifully engineered, fragile Heath-Robinson device and I say "it's lovely. What's it for? What does it do?" There's no answer, it merely exists. I let the album wash over me and didn't realise that suddenly I was on track 6. Normally I notice the transitions. Track 7 made itself known, well, it cleared its throat then said very little after that. I wanted to like it, but it gave me so little to go on. Me listening to this is like being blindfolded and placed in an infinitely sized empty room, wandering around with arms outstretched, on a ultimately fruitless quest to find a wall or some kind of reference point from which to develop an understanding of my surroundings. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty After drawing two blanks I really hoped I'd find some joy here. I didn't. It's so empty. I don't mean sparse, I mean empty. Like opening the fridge and finding nothing there, not even something you can grudgingly make a sandwich with when all you really want is a pie. I'm sorry. The voice sounds bored. That's fine if it's juxtaposed with interesting stuff around it, I enjoy the contrast. But bored sounding guy talking over not very interesting background is not good for me. Seems that I care not for stuff that sounds like someone having their teeth drilled out with a mechanical hydra wielding a different power tool in every head, or delicate, spacious, sparse stuff that I acknowledge is there but offers insufficient reason for me to make its further acquaintance like the strangers in the street I walk by every day. "Favourite" one? Water Torture - because at least it kept me awake. Sorry for lateness. The reason I'm late is that I tried but I didn't like any of it and I feel bad for that. It's a bad start to my participation in this excellent thread. It must seem like I don't like music at all but I've been left with this aching feeling of "WTF?", like a joke I didn't get or a complex concept I just can't grasp. I feel awful for writing all this. I feel like I'm twice as old as I am, and that I am a bitter hater of all things. I feel like deleting it but it's done now.

It's all about the current above which ensures that all the lights go out when one bulb blows

Oh, I forgot to update my car story. So, after the two Fiestas, I had a 6th generation Civic 1.4i 3 door hatch. A bit like this one but a darker blue with a wanky name like Deep Adriatic Pearl or something. I continue to fail to understand what's so "granny" about this Civic, I think it looks great - big fat lights, long-ish bonnet, curvy rear. Went around in it for many happy years (6 or 7) and only got rid when I was approaching MOT time and "'eard a noise". Then I got a 7th gen 1.6i VTEC Sport: Again, a long term relationship ensued (6 years or so) but it came to a shuddering end last year when I lost control on the Ellon - New Deer road not far from Auchnagatt at a corner and binned it into a wall: Oops. I replaced it with a 8th gen Civic EX, and so far I'm very happy with it, apart from its reliance on electricky sensors and such-like. My 7th gen was probably my last "simple" car. That's us up to date. The 9th gen Civic can bugger off, don't like what they've done at all, so hoping for a good long run with this one.

In People's Republic of Torry, albums recommend you.

A few Gibsons, maybe my Jack Casady.

Planning a downsizing later in the year, and the only incoming thing will be one of these strange Yamahas (if I can ever find one) SBV-J2 SBV 800MF Yada yada, neck dive, yes Einstein, I'm aware there might be balance issues

I'm ok with the writing, not so hot at the finding stuff to listen to though. I'll give it a go.

My better half bought me a DiMarzio Model One bass pickup for Christmas, and here it is in my Midtown Standard. Warning - the Model One is a direct replacement for the old school sidewinder "mudbucker" pickups which Gibson used to use. It is not a direct replacement for the modern TB+ pickups masquerading as mudbuckers Gibson are using these days. I had to take the chisel to the pickup route to take a few mms off each side before it would fit. That'll teach me to assume stuff. Had a spare 500k push/push pot in the spares box so I wired it series/parallel. Parallel sounds nice, series is beefy but a little less boomy than the stock pickup. Haven't had a chance to use it in a band scenario but it's a definite improvement on its own.

Let's see: Glenmorangie Bowmore Aberlour Scapa Laphroaig Glenrothes Bunnahabhain Whyte and Mackay for cooking Gentleman Jack Gordon's Angostura 1824 Diplomatico Reserva Wray and Nephew a raspberry gin of unknown origin Estonian coffee liqueur Vana Tallinn (orange liqueur) plus various miniatures Couple of bottles of red. That'll do.

I've always rated Woods and his drumming. Also, it's as enjoyable to watch him play as it is to listen to him - world's happiest drummer, I reckon. As an aside, I'm so glad you said 100%.

Lovely stuff. No, for realz. Singing seems more confident and controlled in this release vs the EP, and You Look Like a Purse is a fantastic track 1, side 1. GBOL.

No pics? Liar, you have none of these devices!

Next year some time I think I'm going to move from a single 4x10 cab to a modular 2x1x12 setup. So many options though, dunno which way to go yet.

You don't even need a record player!