IdeasFactory is a new website set up by Channel 4 to provide information for young people thinking of a career in creative media. The Scotland sub-site is now up and features quite a few interesting articles that make it worth while having a browse through the site. Of particular interest is, inevitably, an interview with ME ME ME about how to waste your life on a stupid music website and features all kinds of revelations about my dodgy past. Also good is Chris Mack’s diary of visiting Brazil and an interview (by me!) with local video interview website Triggertonic.

Okay, I’ll stop bigging myself up here.

Do also note that diskant is moving servers sometime this week (we already have the new space and most of the new design, we’re just waiting for the domain) so there will be some downtime and confusion at various points. Hopefully once we get ourselves organised some other diskant contributors might, you know, contribute to this blog. You really never know…

I have been thinking about this a fair bit lately but not for the usual STOP STEALING MUSIC reasons but because I am finding myself at work with a high speed connection and winamp enjoying The Faint and The Mars Volta. I know this stuff sucks really – it’s eighties goth disco and overblown prog rock respectively – but I’m enjoying it in the privacy of my headphones. If I didn’t have access to this stuff online there’s no way I’d have spent actual money on it but now I have to admit to liking The Faint. Delete me from the internet! I’m also becoming annoyed with Pitchfork for assuring me that the music I listen to is indeed crap. It’s like The Strokes all over again. But not.

I had more to say but I have to get back to designing a website for holiday villas. Delete me from the world!

Nice one Dave, remind everyone that I have a huge stack of zines sitting on my computer waiting to be reviewed… [insert crappy excuse here].

I’ve just realised this is the first time ever that I’ve not bought the new Mogwai album the first day it was released. Or at least tried to (see legendary ‘One Up in Aberdeen only ordering in 3 copies of Young Team’ tale). I would like to personally blame Glasgow City Council for leaving me destitute and incapable of record buying while owing me hundreds of pounds. Bah.

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.

For reasons I’m not going to go into I was in [insert name of big record chain] today. Well, okay, I had to meet friends and I had to swap my IOU for a real live Fugazi ticket so we combined the two. Anyway, for reasons I’m not going to go into [ahem, Kim was really late…] I was there for quite a while and had a browse through the stuff. It’s a long time since I did this and blimey did they have some mental things in there. How can this be the only store in Glasgow to stock Blectum From Blechdom CDs? Why do they only stock old obscure Sonic Youth releases [nothing newer than Washing Machine]? My ponderings were distracted by the magazine stand where I discovered Comes With A Smile, a Copper Press style magazine, very nicely printed with a free CD and based in the UK. That high street record stores know more about cool new UK zines made me feel very odd. I remember similar situations when I lived in Aberdeen as well. I traipsed all round town one day looking for something by this exciting new Godspeed You Black Emperor! band. And which shop was the only one to stock it? Our Price. The world’s a strange place.

I moved from Reading to Oxford, and celebrated by, err… spending a day out in Reading. And now the good things begin: as I waited to buy a selection of obscure indepedent records from the local friendly second-hand record shop, the nice guy who works there, and knows my obscure independent interests, said ‘oh, I sorted out a pile of stuff you might be interested in, it’s over there’. That’s nice, huh? So I take a look through and I’m exceptionally pleased to find the 4 TUNNA BRIX 12″ by Sonic Youth, which I’ve been after for, like, YEARS. It’s the bootleg(ish) 12″ of their Peel Session of Fall covers from 1989. ‘How much?’ I ask. ‘To you mate, five pounds’. Hurray! I think. So much less than the fifteen quid I saw it on eBay for, yesterday. Of course, I know there’s a 7″ of these tracks out there somewhere, too, so now I have to find that…

On account of forthcoming enormo expenditure, I am forcing myself to limit what I spend money on very strictly. This includes records, to some degree – or more specifically, I’m not buying so many random things ‘just to hear what they’re like’, and ending up with piles of half-listened things all over. This has had the fortunate consequence of forcing me to delve into records gone by, so I’ve been rediscovering nice things like the Tortoise albums, lots of crazy old psychedelia, and all of Sonic Youth’s back catalogue. I’m also LISTENING to things over and over now, and become rapidly obsessed with/deeply acquainted with the first two Shellac albums, and OXES of course.

I have also been making interesting food with vegetables, but that’s another story.

A free lollipop for anyone who noticed I was gone. I’ve been moving house and getting broadband internet yay. I’ve also been listening to Autechre and Le Tigre and Papa M [thanks Simon and Adam] and reading loads of stuff which included having a pretension check after reading every word in both Wired and The Wire. My new need to take public transport to work has vastly reduced the amount of music I listen to and almost convinced me that Metro is an interesting and worthwhile newspaper. Helllp meeee etc.

Must also mention wee Stuart Braithwaite‘s column in The List this fortnight. It’s a classic. The columns aren’t online sadly and I don’t have it with me but basically it says this [yes, I’m paraphrasing]:

‘We’re on tour in South America! It’s amazing and the shows have been tremendous. Only a complete fool would find anything to complain about…..but..but all my pals back home are getting to watch the new Star Wars movie and I can’t!! waaaaaahhhhh!’

The man’s a comedy genius.

Christ knows what I’m gunna do now but I am finding that I have an inordinate amount of time to potter about achieving very little. Anyhow good stuff I’ve been listening to recently includes albums from The Van Pelt; Eastern Youth; Biblical Proof of UFOs; The Art of Fighting; Appleseed Cast and Mineral. I still have piles of stuff to get through but it’s not a bad life, I suppose. Aside from that I’m off to see the new Star Wars film tonight with a bunch of geeks. Woo!!

well, i had a dream that dave grohl signed my shoe, and didn’t even have to ask my name.

greg kitten: friend of the stars (in his crappy fantasy world).