Back from the wilderness with bright new shiny broadband and creaky falling apart new house. I’m not going to talk about the war because I’m finding it all very strange and I can’t quite organise my thoughts. That is, the bit that goes STOP THE WAR is quite clear but after that I’m finding there’s lots of debate and thinking. Which is great, obviously. The other major thing is having a TV again and being quite awestruck by the wrongness of televised war. Maybe more sometime later.

In the meantime, I have been Getting Out Of The House, quite a new experience for me really. First stop the newly reformed Throwing Muses back playing live again. I never saw them before and I was quite excited by the idea as well as new album with Tanya and everything. The support band I was confused by, not being able to figure out who the hell they were but not particularly caring since they were a bit dull. I was thus surprised and dismayed to discover they were Sons and Daughters. Surprised because I know Scott and Adele to some small extent and didn’t recognise either of them; dismayed because I really liked Scott’s solo thing March of Dimes and Adele’s voice on various things (Arab Strap, the otherwise rubbish Zephyrs). I can only conclude that something was wrong and I shall endeavour to see them properly and have another go.

I went down the front for Throwing Muses because this was the QMU, a venue where small people cannot see anything unless they are right at the front. Even in the second row, I often couldn’t see a thing, thanks to Tall People in front of me. I hate harping on about the rubbishness of being a wee person at gigs but it so totally sucks. Throwing Muses were great as well – a bunch of songs I knew and a whole lot I didn’t and sounding all sparky and loud with Kristin’s voice as lovely as ever. Only after a few songs the sound started to become uncomfortably loud like the soundman had turned the volume knob all the way up to ‘Mogwai’. So what could have been a wonderful gig ended up with me struggling to see and struggling to make out the tunes through the blaring distortion. Eventually it got so loud I started to feel ill and had to go sit down. So I’ve had it up to here with the stupid QMU. I really resent paying twelve pounds to not see a band and not hear them either. Until they open up the balcony as a special small person’s area and turn the volume down a notch I’m avoiding the place. Gah.

Quite the opposite situation the next night at Stereo where I was treated to a cheap night of fantastic electronic music. Steven and John bis got themselves dressed up in white coats for one of their first gigs as Dirty Hospital, as which they romped through a set of electro rave. Fit to join the ‘electronic music can be fun’ ranks alongside the likes of Cex and Kid606, they were a joy. Loud, fun, stupid electronic music with shouting about hospitals. I like. EU was much more understated but still very very good. And he carted his entire computer all the way from Russia or wherever it is he’s from. No ‘get a laptop’ hecklers to be heard though. I enjoyed his set immensely apart from kicking myself for not bringing any money to buy more of his records. I was also astonished to discover I knew pretty much no-one in the place. When I next see all my Glaswegian friends and acquaintances I shall be shouting FOOL at them for missing this.

This is going on a bit now so I’ll just end with THINGS I WANT.

– a shiny new platinum Gameboy Advance with SNES Zelda!

– new shoes

– to hear the new Mogwai album

– it to be December. How can it still be NINE MONTHS until the next Lord of the Rings film…

You might have noticed things have been quiet around diskant towers again, for fairly obvious reasons. There’s little I feel I can say to make any kind of worthwhile point, but something was brought to my attention tonight:

16 May, 1918 – The U.S. Sedition Act

United States, Statutes at Large, Washington, D.C., 1918, Vol. XL, pp 553 ff. A portion of the amendment to Section 3 of the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917.SECTION 3.

Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.

To anyone in the United States of America opposing this ‘war’, you have my sympathy.

Yes, I am moving house again, which means diskant is moving too since we don’t really all work in a big castle. The broadband is being a bit tricksy so there may be some delays in getting things updated. It’s also highly possible that this might cause delays in me replying to emails but even if it doesn’t I’ll be using that excuse for at least two months. And, hey, if you’re ever in Glasgow come visit us [unless you are a psycho].

I did wade through the boxes and leave the house over the weekend though, thanks to the major ego boost of being asked to be part of the panel at one of the workshops at Frock On. I had a really great time and met lots of nice people. I’ve always been a little wary of GURLfests, despite being initially radicalised via Riot Girl. Never been too keen on all the vegan, anarchist, new age stuff that goes along with the music and the feminism. But I had a jolly nice free lunch and a couple of hours discussion about self-publishing and zine making with a cool crowd of girls. As I say, I was on the panel along with Lucy from Chica, Marie from No, I’m A Veronica and Pat from Vesuvius and they were all lovely and much more interesting than me. Good discussion from panel and ‘audience’ and lots of networking of the nice kind. Sadly, my head was still full of boxes so I never made it to the evening gigs but I’m sure it was all good. Big thanks to Heather for asking me along.

Right, I better get back to my boxes. Maybe fit in a THINGS I LIKE though:

YAY:

– Mojave Three and Ligament. Covering all bases at present

– New house!

BOO:

– Soil gnats! They may not be damaging my plants but they are damn irritating.

– all the crap, boring, tiring parts of moving house

Finally, I am selling some indie/Britpop stuff on eBay so have a look if you might possibly be interested. It’s all ending in the next day or so though.

I went to see the gargantuan beasts of rock who go by the name of Part Chimp last night, who were really quite terrific. There were many drunken fallings over, and guitars that could level cities. Yes. When I leave this here country in (hopefully) a couple of month’s time, there will be very few things that I actually miss, but Part Chimp will certainly be one of them. As will Wolves! (Of Greece), and I’m hoping they play near here before I go. Those of you who may have some influence in these matters, get on it.

Recently I have been listening to the latest CD by Rhode Island band The Eyesores which doesn’t disappoint at all. I was very pleased to discover that it includes the song ‘Thousand Yard Stare’ which was the first song of theirs I ever heard (thanks Audiogalaxy). I’m not sure I could really even try to describe such an accomplished work with my inane comments, but if you’re a fan of Black Heart Procession, Will Oldham, Songs:Ohia and all the rest, you could do a lot worse that to pick this up. Out now on Handsome Records!

Neon Hunk, like a lot of bands, used to be called Abra Cadaver. Fuck knows what they think they’re doing. The only reference point I can think of is the music that David Amiss MP played on the cake episode of Brasseye; ridiculous jittery crashes with random blips and screeches. They do that, but with tinny speeded up vocals over the top. The term ‘Pokemon grind’ has been stuck to them, and it seems pretty accurate to me. As completely pointless and stupid as they are though, I couldn’t help but crack a smile when listening to them. They’re dumb and they know it, so there’s no pretence. It’s all good, apparently. I got a split with them and a band called My Name Is Rar Rar who are shouty and have someone from the Flying Luttenbachers in them apparently. Not much else to say about them really. For further things look at Liquid Death/Hello Pussy.

And last, but not least, it’s the return of Things I Like:

Garbage Pail Kids nostalgia

Having enough money to eat all month for the first time in ages

Diskant badges!

And Things I don’t:

The ringing in my ears

Royal Mail

The fact that no one has come round for tea and cake yet. Fuckers.

I mean, real post – like, parcels and that. Today I received in the mail a load of Shellac goodies (the 1000 hurts album in its nice 12″ box, and a couple of singles), a Q And Not U album (thanks to Ollie for those) and also the new Hood compilation CDs in a rather beautiful handmade hessian bag. It’s days like this that remind me why getting real, physical things in the post is so great.

Probably no one. Well, I liked it a lot, and the lyrics of Pugwall’s band The Orange Organics gave me some much needed guidance during some very shakey pre-adolescent summer holidays. Quirky pop ditties rife with ideals of rebellion and advice on achieving one’s personal goals were very important to me and I’m sure thousands of other mixed up 80s kids. This is why I am now very dismayed to discover that Jason Torrens who played Pugwall has grown up not to be the star that he always sung about, doing things on his own terms and following his dreams, but the drummer in some shameful corporate cock-sucking nu-metal band. This is him then, in the glory days of The Organics, and here he is today, pictured third from the left. People, I’m crushed.

Further evidence:

Bugdust

Pugmania

Here’s some good film news.

And here’s some very bad film news. If you can’t be arsed reading the article, what it boils down to is this: Less money / support of arthouse cinemas in the areas where that support is needed most. If there’s a place in the country where those cinemas can survive without BFI funding it’s London, where there’s enough people to provide an audience for just about anything. Whereas if you live anywhere else but still want to see something different, you’re on your own. Let them watch cack.

So, as I was saying before Blogger went mental and ate my post [we hates it, we hates it! etc], it was the Anti War protests on Saturday and I hope you were all present and correct. We took lots of small children with us so spent a fun Friday night making our own placards out of cardboard boxes, brightly coloured paint, plaited wool and shoogly eyes. They were rather fantastic and the press kept taking photos of us. Sadly the interview Indymedia Scotland did with two of the kids isn’t on the website [interviewer: “why are you here?” kids: “umm” interviewer: “are you against the war?” kids: “YES!”] but there are lots of photos. The Glasgow demo was brilliant I thought, filling Glasgow Green at the beginning and the SECC car park at the end. Walking up St Vincent Street with people ahead and behind as far as we could see was exciting enough. Going off for chips halfway through and returning to just as many people was amazing. Also great to see so many ‘normal ordinary’ people instead of recognising 80% of the demonstrators. Tony Blair nipped in early to do his speech at the Labour Party conference and then wussed off home to hide so there was little to do once we arrived at the SECC except be continually amazed at how many people were there, try and find a space where you could be one of the twelve people able to hear the speeches and consider occupying the Tall Ship. Then the police closed the nearest bridge over the motorway so I had to walk some more miles to get home. Best anecdote of the day: when we were watching the march going past and looking for a handy gap to slide into, one of the kids with us asked, “is that the war?”. Aww.

Also on the Scottish front, some good news and some bad. The good news is that there is finally an official website for the Yummy Fur [only about five years late eh?] which has a long and very good interview with singer John McKeown and lots of other info. The bad news is that bis have confirmed that they’ve split up. But there will be a few farewell live dates and a final record before they go and they’re all involved in new projects. Crossover news of the day as John and Steven bis’ new band Dirty Hospital will be playing Stereo in Glasgow on the 24th of March [supporting the ace EU] followed by John McKeown’s new band The Mars Hotel the day after [and my birthday, yay!]. We just need a gig by Amanda’s band The Kitchen and we’ll have the full set.

i am currently attempting to live on my own for the first time in my life, which is very strange and not entirely pleasant. my wife kim went home to indianapolis yesterday to start work, and i will go there once my visa application is processed and all that stuff. i’m very excited at the prospect of us living comfortably for the first time, going to see some exciting bands and getting away from all the ridiculous english crap that pisses me off on a daily basis. unfortunately in order to obtain this, we now have to spend months living apart. since kim moved here ten short months ago, i had become a shadow of my former self, a walking cliche, completely co-dependent and unequipped to deal with life on my own again. now the reality of spending evenings alone, going to work alone, doing everything alone is sinking in, and it’s scary. i know no one cares, and i hate to sound so lame, but i felt the need to say something about it.

in an attempt to combat loneliness i’m throwing myself into full-on selling / trading / whatever mode. if you haven’t already seen it, look at my stuff here and tell me if you want anything. equally, if you’d like to swap some tapes of random stuff, i’m always up for that. i’m also selling some stuff here so buy it! yeah…

on a lighter note, i like that show marion and geoff a lot. anyone seen it? bewildering cringe-comedy at it’s finest. also been watching some amazing films recently (well, one amazing film) but i should save that for the column.

if anyone wants to come round for a cup of tea and some cake, or send me some nice things, i’d be very happy.

There’s a new issue of Scotland’s answer to Careless Talk out now. Issue three of Is This Music? has interviews with Teenage Fanclub, Nick Cave, Swimmer One, Idlewild, Calamateur, The Beauty Shop, Cayto and Olympic Lifts plus live and record reviews and the usual actually-good free cd featuring Swimmer One, Won Mississippi, Tacoma Radar, The Aphrodisiacs, The Electroluvs, The Beauty Shop, Cayto, Real Shocks and Calamateur. £3 from independent record shops in Scotland (nationwide soon) and online from www.isthismusic.com.