Hot Calamari

Shaking the Wax 05/04/11

2011-04-05T23:40:00.000+01:00

1 - Quiet Village - Free Rider
2 - People in Planes - Evil With You
3 - Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been
4 - Kula Shaker - Die For Love
5 - Queen - Nevermore
6 - Roxy Music - 2hb
7 - Scott Matthews - Passing Stranger
8 - The Music - New Instrumental
9 - El Coco - Let's Get It Together
10 - Apollo 100 - Joy

The Music are doing a farewell tour and they're playing @ Shepherds Bush Empire on the 4th of August - nothing is going to stop me going to this gig!

Quiet Village

2011-04-04T01:16:00.000+01:00

I've been pretty quiet myself for the last week, rather busy indeed but the blog must go on.

The guys over at FoundSoundOrchestra pointed me in the direction of these chaps - Quiet Village. Their debut album 'Silent Movie' is out now and you can grab a free download of 'Circus of Horror' by signing up to their mailing list. 'Silent Movie' is a relentlessly chilled album from start to finish with each song possessing a decisively narrative tone.

I'm currently working on finishing my review of Siriusmo's 'Mozaik' but will most definitely have an in depth review of Quiet Village's inaugural creation very very soon.

Quins Video

2011-03-26T01:19:00.001+00:00

Got bored and thought I'd rip some low-quality footage from my premiershiprugby.tv membership and make a quick video of some Harlequins tries to try and rally their grumpy fans. Just a sprinkling of tries from the Premiership thus far, in the order they happened. I'll probably make another couple of videos for the rest of the season as soon as I can be bothered!

Music is 'Titanic Vandalism' by The Go! Team

Shaking the Wax 22/03/11

2011-03-22T00:42:00.003+00:00

Thought I might as well introduce a random regular feature. It'll be a list of 10 tracks that I'm currently listening to. Where possible, I'll attach youtube links. Simple as that.

1 - Siriusmo - High Together (Album Version)
2 - Radiohead - Cuttooth
3 - Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul (Live @ Abbey Road)
4 - My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus
5 - Curtis Mayfield - We're a Winner
6 - The Cinematic Orchestra - Horizon (ft. Niara Scarlett)
7 - Avril - Urban Serenade
8 - Air - Eat My Beat
9 - Supergrass - Run
10 - Monarchy - I Won't Let Go

My Morning Jacket

2011-03-22T00:12:00.002+00:00

I will be forever grateful to 'American Dad' for introducing me to 'My Morning Jacket.' A stand-up rock band with an abundance of great songs, complete with catchy hooks and a shameless raw intensity that a lot of today's up-tight moody bands don't possess.

*** Coming Soon *** - Review of Siriusmo's new album 'Mosaik' + I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the new LateNightTales offering from Midlake on the 25th of March

As Magnificent as it is Terrifying

2011-03-18T23:24:00.000+00:00

Was listening to the Tron soundtrack again this evening and started messing around in Ableton. Whipped this baby up in 2 hours, so chuffed that I thought I'd post the bugger up, even though it's not quite finished.
I'll conjure up some artwork soon

Shut yer eyes and imagine a wide shot of a barren wasteland where a city has just been destroyed. People are searching round the smouldering rubble, desperately hoping to find surviving family members. The camera is slowly moving about these hopeless people. The camera then slowly moves upwards and approaches a ridge and as it slowly moves over this ridge it reveals a towering structure that's clearly responsible for the devastation. It is as magnificent as it is terrifying.

As Magnificent as it is Terrifying by Mousey Brown

Monsters OST

2011-03-18T01:09:00.000+00:00

Firstly I need to start by saying that 'Monsters' is a cracker of a film, and it shouldn't be pigeon-holed as a District 9 bandwagon-hopper. It isn't an all out CGI-Aliens-in-yer-face-fest, it's about the poignant evolution of a relationship between two people, with the "monsters" serving as a backdrop.
I won't mention that it was written, shot and directed by one man, Gareth Edwards - who also did all the special effects himself, that it only cost £500,000 to make and only starred two actual actors with Edwards getting astounding ad-libbed performances from on-site locals. Oops. Aaanyhow go and check it out, definitely one of my favourite films of 2010.

Jon Hopkins' ethereal soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment to 'Monsters,' and having seen the film it puts you right back in there when you listen to it. Much in the same way that the Lost In Translation soundtrack reminds you of how you felt when you watched it as well as conjuring up that unforgettable image of a neon Japan at night.

Click on 'Read more' to hear more

Read more »

Art Lebedev sees the future

2011-03-16T00:58:00.000+00:00

The forward thinking guys at Art Lebedev have offered us a glimpse of what I think is a highly probable future reality - they call it the Flashkus. Click here to see it! The idea is that usb flash drives will become so cheap and plentiful that they'll be made from cardboard and sold in batches (all electronics will be miniaturised and contained in the tip of the device). You can then tear off a usb stick, fill it with photos from your trip to Shanghai, label the drive accordingly with pen/pencil and give it to yer mate. Mark my words we'll be seeing something like this very soon.

Their website is well worth a look, it's stocked full of ideas as well as actual products they've produced. Some are a little barmy but some are just brilliant.

Lighting up @ 1052fps

2011-03-14T21:47:00.000+00:00

Lots of Phantom Camera videos have been doing the rounds these last few months. At present it seems to be a handful of incredibly rich people indulging in some very high fps experiments (we're talking thousands of fps here!). Can't wait for some nature program directors to get their hands on some of this kit.

Anyhoo, here's a magical video of a lightbulb turning on @ 1052fps

slow burn from frazerchurchill on Vimeo.

Search "Phantom Camera" or "Phantom Flex" to have a look at some of the nutty things people are filming in super slow motion.

Get British Business Online...and that's it

2011-03-08T01:06:00.004+00:00

Hmm, so when I heard from a friend that BT & Google had teamed up to provide .co.uk domains for 2 years for free, I thought that it was a great idea! However, upon registering hotcalamari.co.uk, (which was available - hurrah!) I've spent the last few hours tearing my hair out!

It turns out that this whole thing is a disgusting Google marketing exercise, where they force you to use their absolutely god-awful website design tools. So I have a great-looking website that I have made independently and I can't actually upload it to a domain that I own - FANTASTIC. Their FAQ is literally brimming with people desperately trying to transfer their domain because they've found out exactly the same thing. Call me a cynical old Google-hating bastard, but this has got to be one of the most back-handed attempts at "helping" businesses to get online ever! If it has helped some businesses get online - fab. But don't dress it up like it's a fully-fledged web solution for someone that wants to publish a half-decent website.

Have a glance through some of their "Success Stories" to witness some eye-raping websites that make the internet look as if it was created yesterday.

On the bright-side, it's the cheapest way to park a domain for 2 years, thanks Google! Now all I've got to do is find a nice cheap host and make the transfer.

Excellent!

2011-03-06T01:19:00.001+00:00

Never has that chorus been sung with such enthusiasm!

The Found Sound Orchestra!

2011-03-04T00:36:00.002+00:00

Digging through old internet favourites as one does, when I came across the now-abandoned team9 website. These guys thoroughly fulfilled my bootleg and remix fetish throughout most of my late teens - click on Read More for a couple of samples.

Aaanyhow, I heard about 'The Found Sound Orchestra' through team9, who are firm advocates of this excellent lil' outfit.

TFSO are true sonic scavengers, taking samples from absolutely bloody anywhere and then meticulously crafting them into entirely new and imaginative compositions.

I think I like them because their songs sound great and (in my very sporadic spare time) i suppose that i'm trying to do something similar. However the main difference is that their work rate is through the roof! Especially as I have only just found out about their most recent 2011 project - 52 Weeks, where they are creating a new tune every week!

Check these guys out and give them some well-deserved support. I must confess that I haven't listened to any of their new songs yet but you can bet your Nan's nipples that I'll be raving about any good ones!

As they modestly say "Hopefully by the end of the year those that have stuck with it will have enough decent songs to make a nice 10 or 12 track album."

Read more »

Nine Inch Nails splurrge

2011-03-03T01:41:00.001+00:00

With Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross snatching up Oscars recently I decided to have a peak at what Nine Inch Nails are up to these days. Reznor is truly not one to disappoint fans and so he regularly updates the NIN website with photos, pictures and general updates regarding his latest projects.

Relatively recently he's posted up some awesome videos from NIN's farewell tour; including a mind-blowing performance of the epic 'Just Like You Imagined' with special guest piano-extroadinaire Mike Garcon.

As you can imagine this only encouraged me to dig up some choice Nine Inch Nails live videos to wack up on the blog.

Click Read More to check 'em out.

Read more »

Baboons, Gods & Breasts

2011-03-01T20:02:00.001+00:00

Sorting through my old hard drive and came across some photos from my old Samsung D900 which I had in 2006-07. Found some pictures of the Santa's Ghetto installation on Oxford Street and came across a ruddy cool picture of this Baboon about the gnaw down on some bosoms!

After some rather intense googling I discovered that it's by a guy called Kelsey Brookes and it's called 'Baboons, Gods & Breasts.' After a bit more digging I found this fantastic website that does regular features on current artists etc. called Fecal Face Dot Com. What a name!

So anyway it turns out they've done this awesome feature on Brookes where he walks them through the creative process of 'Baboons, Gods & Breasts' - Check it out here.

Old Canon FD Lenses!

2011-02-28T23:30:00.001+00:00

So I stumbled across this video of a very enthusiastic American chap who raved about buying dirt cheap Canon FD lenses and then, with the help of an adapter, using them on a modern day Canon EOS DSLR. As he says in the video; although these lenses are manual focus only, they are perfect for filming with a DSLR and their build quality is second to none. And to top everything off the price of these lenses is immensely low! I picked up the following from ebay, all in excellent condition:

Vivitar 28mm 2.8 FD fit - £19

Canon FD 35mm 3.5 - £20

Canon FD 50mm 1.8 - £15

The fotodiox adapter (which I'm still waiting to arrive because it's being sent from America - doh!) costs £30 and enables me to use all manner of old Canon lenses.

The current Canon 35mm is £240 and the 28mm is £150. The 50mm 1.8 is actually pretty cheap, retailing at about £70, but it is about as rugged as a pair of paper swimming trunks. So to get 3 very good quality lenses to knock about with for under £100 is a pretty sweet deal! Cannot wait for the adapter to arrive so I can start messing around - will definitely post up some sort of filmic creation to show off what they can do.

The King of Limbs

2011-02-26T00:21:00.002+00:00

In Rainbows was always going to be a tough act to follow and having heard 2009's 'These Are My Twisted Words' I suppose I was worried that Radiohead's new offering was going to be a cluster of airy songs that rumbled along with no distinct melody or chorus. Click on Read More to see what I think of 'King of Limbs.'

Little Update

2011-02-24T00:53:00.001+00:00

Air's 'Mer Du Japon' - dead simple bass and piano that builds rather pleasingly

I've listened through Radiohead's King of Limbs numerous times and have made some notes, review nearly finished but can't bring myself to listen through the album again :S Soon.. soon.

POTTOKA!

2011-02-18T00:22:00.001+00:00

I have found my calling! The Bayonne rugby team mascot is known as Pottoka - after the 'Pottok' ponies that inhabit Bayonne. This guy was literally going nuts at the Harlequins vs Bayonne match and it just makes we wanna get in a big ol' suit and tumble around for 80 minutes. Click Read more to see some videos of the crazy mascot horsing about.

Gnarls Barkley - Reckoner

2011-02-17T23:52:00.001+00:00

Came upon this really tight cover of one of the best songs from Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' - damn can the big man sing and damn can DangerMouse play that tambourine. Nice to see a live video taken at the Astoria, real shame that the only perfect-sized venue in London is now gone.

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of The Soul

2011-02-15T22:05:00.001+00:00

Right so I dug up the ol' unfinished review, had a glance through it and it kinda says what I want it to say so what the heck without me tweaking it and making it all nice, so click on Read More to see the whole thang.

Having co-helmed Gorillaz' 'Demon Days' album; produced 'The Good the Bad and the Queen' as well as taking a bigger-than-producer role in his new outfit 'Broken Bells,' the well-developed 'Dark Night of The Soul' project seems only a natural progression from these previous creative outlets.

Through the legs BEAUTY!

2011-02-12T00:23:00.001+00:00

Brilliant!

Cheers RugbyDump.com

ROME

2011-02-11T15:05:00.003+00:00

It looks as if Danger Mouse is going to take us on another musical voyage with his latest collaborative album - Rome. DM has already worked with Daniele Luppi before on numerous projects including; Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere, Broken Bell's debut and the recent epic Dark Night of The Soul. Though Luppi acted primarily as the arranger of strings and various other orchestral accompaniments, he is now very much shoulder to shoulder with DM at the helm of this exciting new project.

Roping in the likes of Jack White and Norah Jones to lend their unique vocal talents, this album promises to be another classic to add to Danger Mouse's encyclopaedic arsenal.

They won't let me embed the SoundCloud player but click HERE to have a listen to the album sampler. I'm liking what I'm hearing, very acoustic, very western, very romantic - they've even managed to make Norah Jones sound like Morcheeba.

Rome Album Website

On the subject of Danger Mouse, I'm still yet to post up my extensive review of Dark Night of The Soul. Expect it in the next 5 days.

Wed-nes-day

2011-02-10T02:05:00.001+00:00

A couple of tunes I've been listening to recently - a lovely Supergrass track from their 1997 album 'In It For The Money' and a Kula Shaker song from their new and frustratingly under-exposed new album.

Gotta love it from 1:35 onwards with those clunky ivories and that lovely positive refrain.

This isn't Kula Shaker's best work by any means, but it's a great little ditty that returns us to that wonderfully simple Beatles-esque world where love reins supreme.

Couple of Tunes

2011-02-06T23:49:00.001+00:00

Randomly came across this cover of 'You Got The Love' by good ol' Crazy P. It's pretty tame until 3:14 and from then on it really kicks off

Continuing my unintentional theme of repetitive funk tunes, here's a nice lil' congregation of clavs and guitars.

The Music - RIP?

2011-02-04T15:35:00.002+00:00

So in the last month it was announced on 'The Music's' facebook page that the band has split up because the lead singer decided he wanted to leave. It's a real shame because these incredibly young and talented guys burst onto the music scene (no pun intended, they have a stupid name) in 2002 - as debut albums go it's fantastic, a real mixture of dance-rock and psychedelica and Rob Harvey's voice is simply spectacular. Two years later they released the equally brilliant 'Welcome the North' before going on 2 year hiatus due to Rob Harvey's various drug/alcohol addictions. I thought that I'd never hear from those guys again which sucked tremendously hard because I had never got a chance to see them live. But in 2008 they re-appeared with the energetic 'Strength in Numbers' which was produced by industry heavy-weights Mark Ellis and Paul Hartnoll. It was a lot more electronic than their previous offerings but it was just so refreshing to hear some new material with Rob's voice stamped all over it.
I was lucky enough to see them live at the Camden Roundhouse and it was a tremendous gig - those guys have so much energy and the venue was quite clearly rammed full of people who adored their music. The Music really should have changed their manager eons ago because they are not nearly as big as they should be.

Anyway, fast forward another couple of years and here we are with the band split up and Rob Harvey is now apparently working with The Streets :S

Click on Read More to see a mere sprinkling of live videos that, although awesome, only go some way to highlighting the talent and character that these boys have. Oh and also to have a depressing insight into what Rob Harvey is currently wasting his vocal talent on.

Read more »