http://hootpage.com/hoot_wattstooges2006record.html
COME ON!!!!!!!!!

First, a confession of prejudice: I don’t like football. In fact, sometimes I hate it with a passion. The antipathy comes from growing up in a soccer-free household and being the wilfully unsporty kid who always got chosen last for school playground matches anyway. The strong dislike comes from living in Glasgow. I’m not sure if that part requires explanation or not. Anyway, my heart sank rather when, upon signing up for a course on contemporary international cinema at the GFT, I found out that the first screening would be a documentary about a footballer.

But Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait isn’t your average documentary. The film follows Zenedine Zidane throughout the course of the Real Madrid vs Villa Real game of April 23, 2005, in real time, from the moment he steps onto the pitch, to the moment he leaves it 97 minutes later. The progress of the game itself is mostly incidental; what’s happening elsewhere on the pitch is of little or no interest to the camera. Only Zidane himself is important.

The majority of the film keeps him centre-screen, following him around the pitch, but it is punctuated by shifts in style. The camera will drift out of focus, or become momentarily distracted by some tiny detail – the goal netting, or a television camera – or disappear to the very top of the stadium and take in the whole-game in long-shot. We are briefly treated to a short series of subtitles from, presumably, an interview with the man himself, in which he talks about playing football as a child. Sometimes we hear his every breath, muttered word or thump of ball-against-foot. Presumably he has one or more radio mics on him. Either that, or this film deserves an oscar for foley work alone. At other times, only the excellent Mogwai soundtrack is audible. At one point, the sound of the match is replaced with that of children playing.

The problem is, for all its technical excellence, and the bravery inherant in making such a film, is that Zidane isn’t particularly enjoyable to watch. For much of the film, he is blank. Stoically focussed on the progress of the game elsewhere on the field. When the ball does come to him, it’s gone again in moments, and with a couple of exceptions you are left with little or no sense of where it went or how his actions affected the outcome of the match. The film doesn’t stick with him at half-time, preferring instead a montage of images from around the world on a single day, and by never allowing him an existance beyond the pitch, he becomes a sweating, spitting footballing machine whose final product you have precious little chance to appreciate since, whenever he does encounter the ball it is gone again in moments. The film doesn’t really care about the game, only the player, but divorcing one from the other leaves him diminished and dull.

If the intention of a portrait is to give you some insight into the person depicted, then you come away from this film having learned that Zidane is a professional footballer who’s concentration on the game is absolute, except on occasions when his temper bubbles over, as in the incident which earns him a red card, ending his game, and the film, anticlimactically.

And so you wait, patiently, for one of the film’s aforementioned breaks from watching Zidane run on a giant green treadmill, and when they come they can be surprisingly beautiful. In one brief sequence the roar of the crowd, and the accompanying Mogwai soundtrack, are filtered and distant as we are taken on a walk from the corridors behind the stands into the stadium proper, like a fan who had to nip out to piss and his hurrying back in case he misses something. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, these moments impart a sense of place, and the communal event taking place, and seem far more powerful than watching Zidane spit for the 80th time.

If the point is to give you a sense of a man withing the same framework as you, a member of the public, might otherwise experience him (by watching a game), but with all extraneous detail stripped away leaving you with just him and his game, then as an experiment the film is a success. Unfortunately, the findings of the experiment seem to be that there isn’t much to show.

But, then, maybe lacking the gene that allows the appreciation of football also means being unable to appreciate lengthy closeups of sweaty footballers. I think I’m happy about that, come to think of it.

Zidane, un portrait du 21e siecle at the IMDB

I have been downloading stuff more than usual lately, using MP3 blogs rather than slsk which I have not bothered to install on my new mac yet. I like this way better as you don’t have to think about what you want, instead you just cherrypick from a rush of MP3s being flung at your ears. And, as a bonus, sometimes you get some good writing about the tracks. It’s even good for The Artists as MP3 blogs generally only post 2 or 3 tracks from an album, making me much more likely to buy the album than if I’ve got all the tracks off slsk.

So, here are some new things I have heard that I have added to my buy list.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – So Divided (some MP3s here and here)
Oh, how times have changed. I didn’t even know Trail of Dead had a new album coming out! This is where MP3 aggregators are great. I spotted some unfamiliar TOD tracks, clicked over and discovered the new TOD album, complete with pretty cover art. By the sounds of things, TOD have finally made the major label album they always intended to. Where Source Tags was a bit too commercial and throwaway and Worlds Apart a bit too sprawling and bloated, So Divided sounds like it could be the one where they get their prog-pop in perfect balance. Stand In Silence, the only likely hit song so far, sounds so much like another band but who? Anyone?

Squarepusher – Hello Everything(some MP3s here)
These tracks are so good that after one listen I was all set to get off the bus and go buy the album before the shops shut. Except it’s not out til next week. I’m no major Squarepusher fan, more someone who picks up a cheap album here and there bt nothing I have sounds as great as this. It’s so clean and warm and layered. I love Hello Meow’s xylophones, like Tortoise gone pop and Welcome to Europe’s insanely clever interlacing, warped melodies. I am so excited about this album.

Joanna Newsom – Ys (some MP3s here)
I was pretty much in love with The Milk-Eyed Mender when it came out but I wasn’t entirely sure whether I’d buy her new one. A long wait at the bus stop on a rainy morning listening to these two 10 minute long songs and I’m thinking I probably will. These songs seem less attention-grabbing, more subdued but still sweet and strong. Sounds like it will be perfect for cold, damp autumn days.

Ellen Allien & Apparat – Orchestra of Bubbles (some MP3s here)
I’ve been pondering buying this for a while now but it hadn’t drawn enough attention to itself. I’m a big fan of Ellen Allien who I find so much more playful than your average techno artist and so far this is softer than her recent releases, sounding vulnerable and a little unsettling.

MP3 BONUS – Those of you who haven’t heard the wonder that is Gay Against You, you can now download their CDR album for FREE! Do it.

I will try and do this on a regular basis and if anyone else wants to join in please do. What have you been downloading lately?

I heard some positive whispers about this band a while back but being the casual music fan that I am I didn’t take notice and I didn’t check them out. I now fully regret that lack of commitment as, on the basis of “Lucy, What You Trying To Say”, Popup are now my new favourite band.

The story of Lucy, a slightly shy girl on a night out on her own, is touching, warm and funny. In a does-what-it-says-on-tin kind of way, Popup have delivered a great fun, up beat pop song. Their vocals shine with personality, guitars gleefully deliver exuberant hooks and the drums boast beats that wouldn’t be out of place on a Beyonce CD.

I particularly enjoy that the Scottish brogue of lead singer Damien Gilhooley reminds me slightly of The Proclaimers and not at all of River City. This a good thing.

myspace

Like great adventurers of yore, Team Damn You! set off to Chicago in September to attend the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary.
We took a squillion photos and they, along with some diary style blurb is here:

www.flickr.com/photos/sumlin

Enjoy with your brain!

I love this track. I’ve been playing on repeat on my ipod for the last couple of weeks and it almost makes me cry each time. I’m not sure if that makes me a bit ’emo’ but as I haven’t bought any nail polish yet, I think I’m safe for now.

If you haven’t heard it is MCR’s defining song: it is the song they’ve been trying to record right from when they started. It has broken world records for the number of tracks that were ‘laid down’ for it, there is everything from a marching band to a school choir in the mix. Something about it all reminds of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and that can never be a bad thing in my book. It is a big theatrical monument of a record that is a beautiful meeting of style and substance and I think it is brilliant.

I sound like a right fan-girl but nevermind.

myspace

I’m mentioning these three releases in one go here, as in my mind Boyracer and Beatnik Filmstars are irreconcilably connected. They were two of the bands that throughout the early to mid-nineties helped to develop my musical listening into directions away from the pure indie-pop I was obsessing about beforehand. Both bands have their roots very firmly in indie-pop; Beatnik Filmstars springing from the ashes of the dearly missed Groove Farm, and Boyracer being a mainstay of the fanzine/cassette scene that was so healthy at the time. And both bands are still producing music now, albeit with a more ‘relaxed’ frequency of releases.

Beatnik Filmstars’ ‘In great shape’ is their first album in seven years and continues in their familiar, but effortlessly enjoyable style of previous releases. Lo-fi guitar sounds, sardonic-sounding lyrics and the odd (and unfortunately, slightly dated-sounding) samples are smashed together with an unquestionable sense of melody and pop perfection. This is a band that have gone through a variety of phases in their career – from the early shoegazing of ‘Maharishi’, through the angrified ‘Laid back and English’ and the bizarro ‘Astronaut house’ to the current reversion to pop simplicity of this album. It’s almost the Groove Farm played through a slightly bitter, slightly experienced filter – quick glimpses of songs flit by in the 23 tracks here, interspersed with more reflective moments and the odd foray into lo-fi dance irony. Whilst there’s a lot to take in here, and I feel that some of the more throwaway tracks could have been, well, thrown away, it’s hard not to like Beatnik Filmstars at their fizzing best. Fortunately there’s still enough of that here to make me happy.

Boyracer’s musical trajectory started with noise-drenched pop songs, the feedback and scream-drenched days of their early singles calming down into a gliding style (yet still covered in feedback) as on ‘More songs about frustration and self-hate’, then experimenting a little in their own way before maturing into a pure, modern-style indie-pop band. ‘A punch up the bracket’ solidifies Boyracer’s status as an international pop band – rushing through 21 tracks that take in the American-style pop often released on labels like Slumberland and the band’s own 555, cutesy Japanopop with cutesy synths and squawked, girly vocals, and what used to be known as ‘perfect pop’ when it was coming out of France, Bristol, Scotland and indeed everywhere some years ago. Like with the Beatnik Filmstars, it’s all held together with an undeniable charm and a distinctive style.

Both albums are a welcome respite from the RAGE and ANGER that seems so connected with modern independent music these days…

555 Recordings
Beatnik Filmstars
Boyracer

Footnote one: I’m erasing the memory of a recent Beatnik Filmstars Oxford show from my mind, lest in damages my long-held love of the band. Seeing them looking tired and bored whilst dragging themselves through a short set in front of ten people isn’t, perhaps, the best way to experience them.

Footnote two: The 75-track compilation (75 tracks!) ‘Punker than you since ’92’ is somewhat essential to me, being in equal doses an enormous hit of nostalgia – with all of the songs on those old 7″s and flexis that I rarely dig out these days – and an impressive overview of a band that’s managed to keep it together for more than fifteen years.

Their record label have manage to misunderstand my perfectly clear (so I thought) instructions and have sent me two copies of the rather awesome ADHD by Blood Red Shoes on 7″ instead of one copy plus a Foals 7″. I really can’t be bothered trying to return it so if anyone wants to trade me something cool for it email me or leave a comment.

In other news, I just purchased an original Jay Ryan print from Art Prostitute and am rather excited.

Nice article in The Guardian today profiling the best 20 independent record shops in the UK. I’ve shopped in 8 of them, I’m proud to say.

First record you bought and do you still own it?

“Hits 6”, part of a short-lived compilation series that rivalled the “Now That’s What I Call Music” behemoth. Purchased on cassette from John Menzies in Paisley and played through my tinny little tape recorder that was normally used for loading Spectrum games. Side 1 Track 1 was Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, making it the very first song I purchased with my own money. I think I still have it in a cardboard box somewhere.

Last record you bought

Three at once out of Fopp:
1. “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain” by Sparklehorse. Disappointing.
2. “Remixes” by Four Tet. Patchy but good in places.
3. “I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Kick Your Ass” by Yo La Tengo. It’s ace.

Last song you downloaded

I don’t tend to download much music. The only downloaded music I’ve ever paid for is the iTunes-only “Bam Thwok” by the Pixies. The concept of paying for a piece of music with DRM embedded to tell me what I can and can’t do with it makes me blind with rage. If only all online music stores were like Warp’s Bleep. I still prefer to buy CDs, however, even if the first thing I do is rip them to MP3.

Last song/record you went to enormous lengths to find

Sadly I am too lazy to go to enormous lengths for anything much.

Most elaborately packaged record you own

Probably something on Constellation records. It takes me about ten minutes to extract one of their CDs from the packaging.

Last song you listened to

“Savage Composition” by Don Caballero.

Favourite mixtape someone made you that you still listen to

I no longer have any cassette-playing apparatus, and nobody’s made me a CD in ages.

What records are you going to buy next?

I heard a bit of “Expert Knob Twiddlers” by Mike and Rich (aka Mike “µ-ziq” Paradinas and Richard D. “Aphex Twin” James) the other day, and it sounded very good indeed, so it’s on the list.

What are your top 10 most listened to songs on iTunes/last.fm/whatever

From iTunes:

10. Xylin Room – Autechre
9. Hallo – Astrobotnia
8. Lightworks – Astrobotnia
7. Pin – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6. Dahlem – To Rococo Rot
5. Blown – LFO
4. Thomas the Muthafuckin Tank Engine – Datashat
3. Tascel_7 – Arovane
2. Nonlin.R – Arovane
1. City Girl – Kevin Shields

Things I like

Snow
Curry
Sleep
Wind-up robots

Not

Sleet
Celery
Not enough sleep
The evil robots from that really tricky level in Ouendan.

Ten worst/most unlistenable songs in your collection?

Ten? Since I don’t have all day, I’ll do you five.

Du Du Du – Du Du Du by Half Japanese
I love Half Japanese. Even the really early stuff, recorded in Jad and David Fair’s parent’s basement. They knew they wanted to be the best rock’n’roll band in the world, and they weren’t going to let a complete lack of technical ability get in the way of achieving that goal. Most of that first album, “Half Gentlemen, Not Beasts” is hard to listen to, but the spirit of it shines through. However, not even the staunchest advocate of outsider music can deny that much of it, such as this 7-minute long recording of a single bass note played over and over again, is pretty mince.

Stutter Rap (No Sleep ‘Til Bedtime) by Morris Minor and the Majors.
It crept onto my iTunes somehow.

Ventolin – Aphex Twin
That high-pitched whine is allegedly the sound Richard D. James heard when having an asthma attack as a child, and it’s about as pleasurable to listen to.

Scooby Doo – The Pubs.
Me and a friend covering the theme to Scooby Doo in my parent’s garage, when we were both old enough to know better. An embaressment that comes out with alarming regularity when I have drank to excess.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) – Whitney Houston