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Brogues



Last Updated: 11/17/2009

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Gender: Male
Age: 37
State: Scotland
Country: UK
Signup Date: 10/11/2005

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Friday, November 20, 2009 

Being housebound and laid up with a jiggered ankle has its good points. I've watched approximately 8,935 Northern Soul clips on YouTube. I even watched Paul O'Grady learning to dance like a Soulie. I also found this top single which may or may not be related to West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.  I've neglected the Sunshine Pop genre of late but this has piqued my interest once more. I wish I owned this on 7"...sigh...
19:56 
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009 

Category: Music




23:10 
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Monday, November 09, 2009 

Category: Music
Have you heard "Never Anyone But You" from The Clientele's staggeringly pretty "Bonfires On The Heath" cd (Pointy)?  What did you think of it?  Did it make you want to cry, it was so beautiful?  Did you find your breath taken when you first heard Alasdair sing "I can only see you"?  I know I did.  I've been repeatedly floored by The Clientele's music since first picking up the "Reflections After Jane" 7" when it came out some time in the late '90s so it shouldn't have come as anything close to a surprise that once again they'd bettered their best and produced something almost unearthly in its beauty.  But somehow it was a surprise.  Not because I didn't expect their new album to be impeccably recorded and bursting with glorious melodies, beautiful instrumentation and stunning guitar playing but because, well, I'm just average, unexceptional old me and I don't have it in me to imagine that something so unquantifiably gorgeous could actually exist.  I truly believe "Never Anyone But You" to be a masterpiece, a pinnacle.  I honestly can't conceive of how they can better it but I'm sure they will and when it happens I will offer a few more lines of giddy praise but once again it won't be enough to adequately express my admiration for what they've achieved.
22:22 
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Saturday, November 07, 2009 

Category: Music


I can't remember the last time I actually dreamt of a b-side but it happend on Wednesday night when, on holiday in the Lake District, I sat bolt upright at about 4am physically aching because I didn't own Fergus and Geronimo's "Powerful Lovin'" on vinyl.  Sounds a bit pathetic doesn't it?  A grown man dreaming of a popsong and feeling almost bereaved that he doesn't possess it...it just ain't right!  Fortunately, J and I had scheduled a wee excursion to Manchester for the following day so I resolved to find the famed Piccadily Records to see if they had a copy of "Blind Muslim Girl" (Tic Tac Totally).  Unfortunately, despite having Fergus and Geronimo's previous (killer!) single "Harder Than It's Ever Been" (Woodsist), they didn't have the Tic Tac Totally release so my pain (melodramatic...me?...never!) went uneased.  Until today, that is, when I was finally made well again. So what's so good about "Powerful Lovin'"?  Hmmm, I'd say:

1.  It has one of the most fabulous, idiot simple bubblegum keyboard lines you're ever likely hear
2.  Its instantly memorable melody sounds like it was purloined from any one of a thousand gut wrenching Southern soul records 
3.  The stately guitar solo is genuinely moving
4.  The vocals are immensely passionate and, thankfully, never sound like someone doing a Stars In Their Eyes imitation of Otis Redding 
5.  It shows genuine love for the sources from which it steals so never feels like a cheap, camp cash-in on other people's genius

It can currently be heard on their  myspace page and it looks like I'm not the only one who's fallen for its charms. Hurrah!
16:16 
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Monday, November 02, 2009 

Category: Music
Liz Harris, more commonly known as Grouper, is definitely not the kind of lady to get easily flustered.  As the Stereo crowd looked on in silence she adjusted and readjusted her (analogue!) cassette looping setup for what seemed like an eternity before starting her first song.  Once underway, however, she delivered a gorgeous 45 minuntes of distant, obfuscated minimalism.  Bathed solely in blue light, she teased only the gentlest of sounds from her blue guitar and when she sang it was in a quiet, sombre voice.  It was a bit like listening to a Julee Cruise/Angelo Badalamenti record under a 13.5 tog duvet with a goose down pillow over each ear and it was just lovely.
01:41 
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Thursday, October 29, 2009 

Category: Music
Further evidence that being being perenially slow on the uptake can reap rich rewards: I've just discovered Carla Thomas's "I'll Never Stop Loving You"!  Imagine...until last Saturday I'd never heard it!  Well, maybe I had at some Northern Soul or Mod night or other but I just became truly aware of it last Saturday when I listened to Kent's recent compilation of the best cuts from the 6Ts Soul Society's anniversary singles.  It's one of the strongest Kent collections I've heard in a good while but Carla's track and The Teardrops' barnstorming "Here Comes Loneliness" are the ones that have burrowed their way deepest into my affections to the point where whole days could pass without me listening or even wanting to listen to anything else.  After about the 15th play of "I'll Never Stop Loving You" at work today I thought I'd better retire it for a while just incase I wore it out but no sooner had the cd stopped than I found myself needing to hear it again so instead of ejecting the disc I gave it a 16th play and a 17th.  Somehow when it wasn't playing the day seemed hollower, less beautiful.  The reasons why I love this song and production are myriad so it's simpler just to say that in my opinion everything about this record is perfect; there's simply nothing that I would change if I had the ability to do so.  How often can you say that?

23:52 
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Sunday, October 25, 2009 

Category: Music
Like just about everybody of my vintage I loved The Clangers when I was a wee boy.  One of the things I liked most was the way they spoke.  I've always been a sucker for a swanee whistle...especially if it comes filled with jelly beans!  I like to think that if Oliver Postage had ever created a character called Cute Clanger his voice would've sounded something like the sublime little keyboard riff that toots beautifully all over The Dovers' magnificent "What Am I Going To Do":


I came to The Dovers' original of "What..." via the Flying Nun Records supergroup Pop Art Toasters who included a faithful but fabulous version on their covers e.p. over a decade ago.  I wonder if the current generation of pop kids will be switched on to the majesty of The Dovers through the new Atlas Sound c.d. "Logos" (Kranky/4AD).  It was pointed out to me yesterday that Bradford Cox had been smart enough to construct 'Walkabout' around that keyboard riff.  It's hard for me to be objective about the results as the instant I hear that perfect sequence of notes my head gets fuzzy with excitement but what I can say is, that after about half a dozen spins, the combination of Panda Bear's weaving melody and the bobbing beat makes me want to grin and dance every time.

13:00 
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Tuesday, October 06, 2009 

Category: Music


It sounded like Black Time had made last year's mighty "Double Negative" lp (In The Red) by stuffing the attitude of Huggy Bear along with an imperial tonne of fuzz into the Pebbles Trash Box and kicking it around for a while before emptying the shattered contents onto molten vinyl.  It was blasting and wonderfully abrasive: one listen to "Problems" and you suspected that these guys were plain evil!  It came as a bit of a surprise, therefore, to discover at Dow's on Saturday night that they were actually smiley, intelligent sounding chaps who possessed a good working knowledge of Scottish pop's most cherished gems.  As if to underline their nice-guy credentials, just before he took to the drum stool, the drummer stood behind me singing along endearingly with Ty Segall's smashing sounding debut lp.  To begin with I was a little disappointed that they weren't the unhinged snotty noise monsters I'd braced myself for.  Sure their guitars were loud but not, you know, nasty and as with Wavves their live sound was much less heaped with  feedback and other audio detritus than their recorded works would have suggested.  I quickly reached the point, though, where I didn't miss the scree and grew to really enjoy their 50s tinged set and when their song by "the greatest living Scottish punk band"  turned out to be an amped-up take on The Pastels' divine "Crawl Babies", my heart was all fuzzy even if their guitars weren't outrageously so. It wasn't all polite rock'n'roll, mind.  There were some scamp-ish punkboy antics: the singer/guitarist jumped onto a chair and then onto their merchandising table, trampling assorted cds, 7"s and lps underfoot. An act which made the condition extremist in me wince and made me glad that I'd bought my "Girls In The Garage" 7" and Ty Segall split lp before their set!  So, yeah, maybe they weren't the fiends of my imagination but they were well worth seeing and I'll happily do so whenever their battered transit van rolls into town.  
22:43 
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Tuesday, October 06, 2009 

Category: Music
My attendance at Sunday night's King Khan and The Shrines happening at Stereo was in doubt right up to the last possible minute.  Over the course of Sunday evening my need to economise duked it out with my lust for pop kicks but neither side of my brain could land that killer punch so I was all set to do the inertial thing and have a night in with an Ovaltine and Match of the Day 2.  Then D's words from the night before started to nag at me.  His assertion that the garage punk would be enhanced by a bit little bit o' soul forced me to crank J's laptop into gear and 27.34s seconds into listening to "Welfare Bread" I knew that if I didn't go I would regret it big time.   There was no time to go home so I rolled up to Stereo with my car's boot heaving with messages (or 'groceries' as non-Scots bizarrely seem to call them) having safely deposited the frozen goods in J's freezer. Not entirely rock'n'roll, eh?  From the moment the keyboard player took to the stage in winklepickers and a shirt adorned with frills like the crimped tops of Cornish pasties, I knew I'd made the right decision.  The King's feather-crowned-leopard-skin-jacketed arrival on stage was trumpeted by a guitarist whose uncanny resemblance to Jim Carrey impersonating Henry Rollins made me chuckle.  What followed was an industrial catering sized soul garage punk gospel riot!  Outfits coordinated, brass was big-cheeked and blasting and basslines roped your feet and forced you to dance whether you wanted to or not.  Band members charged through the crowd or teetered atop speaker stacks and vintage organs were held aloft at the stage's edge in direct violation of about 100 health and safety edicts.  It was quite a ride and The King's voice was just incredible no matter whose ghost it was evoking, be it James Brown's, Arthur Lee's or Ian Svevonius's.  I hadn't witnessed anything like it since I first saw The Make-Up at King Tut's or, maybe, The Dirtbombs at The 13th note a few years later.   A heart that was already hopped-up on the visceral power of The Shrines was given a further adrenaline shot when, heading back to my car, I had to sprint to avoid the glass and rocks being hurled from the second floor of a nearby construction site.  As I sat and listened to the insane ringing in my ears, trying to compose myself before driving home, I knew that I'd made the right decision so, if you're reading this, thanks for the sage advice D!
19:37 
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009 

Category: Art and Photography


...of course, the sole reason why I'd love to find a copy of this issue of Juniper Beri Beri is to read the plant-care guide as I'm having real troubles with my pesky geraniums and don't know where to turn.  I got a similar sugar rush from looking at this array of bonnie fanzine covers as I did when I first discovered the eye-snogging Bus Stop Records sleeve gallery page (which, sadly, appears to be no more) a few years back.  I've also been enjoying screwing up my face and pushing my waning ocular capabilities to the limit to read the scans of the old fanzines posted on The Golden Page Of Indie Fanzines Flickr pool.  Both sites came to my attention via the 'deleciousness' links on the right hand side of the always dandy dusty7s blog.  Thanks dusty7s, yr a champ!
19:57 
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