I’ve been enjoying hermitting recently. I’ve gone out and done the odd thing and for work, but I’ve been happy to stay in the last few weeks and work on various projects, and apply for more work, and declutter junk. Sometimes these phases are nice.
1) Tears on Fresh Fruit- Sparklehorse
Poor old Mark Linkous.
2) Tired of Sex- Weezer
I loved the first two Weezer albums so much as a teenager. I was pretty disappointed when the third album came out, and I never bothered with the others after that. I live in a delusional bubble where Weezer only have two albums. Don’t spoil it for me. Listening to them now, I also realise what a total and utter creep Rivers Cuomo is. I mean “I want a girl who laughs for no-one else”?. Seriously? My friend Tukru sent me this message recently about hearing Across the Sea on the radio at work. “I was all YUSSS and EWWWW” at the same time. Pretty much sums it up.
3) Used for Glue- Rival Schools
Loved this album when it came out too. The last time I listened to it all the way through though I felt really sad. I don’t even know why. Perhaps I’m getting old.
4) Underpass- John Foxx
Danceable Ballard. You can watch a great documentary about British synth-pop over here.
5) Electricity- Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
I enjoy the uncle dancing in OMD videos.
6) Wet Blanket- the Chills
New Zealand’s top export.
7) Teenage Jesus Superstars- the Vaselines
I’ve got a best of the Vaselines I bought in Edinburgh well over a decade ago. It’s on vaseline coloured vinyl, which is great, but the fact it’s transparent makes it really difficult to see the individual tracks, because the other side shows through too, so I just kind of listen to it all at once. No hardship.
8) Milk It- Nirvana
As a young teenager, I read every Nirvana interview I could get my hands on, and followed up the things that were mentioned or referenced. I got the Pixies, Bikini Kill, the Vaselines, Beat Happening, Patrick Süsskind and lots of other stuff out of that. Thanks Kurt Cobain. It’s weird though when you think of the stuff Nirvana were into themselves, and compare it to the dull plodding stuff that was labelled as their progeny. I saw a Bush video again a little while back on TOTP2. It was tedious stuff.
9) Nothing Ever Happened- Deerhunter
I never saw it coming.
10) Rudderless- the Lemonheads
When I was 12 or so, one of my friends at school had an older brother who was doing art foundation and seemed impossibly cool. He was very nice however, and was always patient about letting his younger sister raid his cd collection, and about recommending things we might enjoy. He was responsible for introducing me to both the Lemonheads and Weezer. Thanks Rob.
11) What a Pleasure- Beach Fossils
I get impatient listening to a whole Beach Fossils album because it gets very samey, but I always enjoy the individual songs.
12) Discretion Grove- Stephen Malkmus
I’ve been listening to the Malkmus solo album a fair bit recently. I don’t think I’d done that since it actually came out. Maybe I should dig out the Preston School of Industry stuff too.
13) My Valuable Hunting Knife- Guided by Voices
This version is better than the spruced up one, but the opposite is true of Game of Pricks.
14) Free to Go- Folk Implosion
15) Last Day of Magic- the Kills
I’ve never been huge on the Kills, but I got this single in the 50p bargain bucket because I liked the creepy birthday party photo on the front, and I was very happy I did.
16) Meet Me at the Harbour- Idlewild
I loved loved loved the first three albums, but then they went all serious, and I wasn’t bothered any more. They should probably have never stopped rolling around on the floor. I have a fair few Idlewild 7″s I bought at the time (I particularly liked the b&w photography of the Scottish Highlands on the front of them all), and some of the b sides were almost better than the actual singles. This was the b-side of Actually It’s Darkness. I still have no idea why it wasn’t on the album, and a great song like Victory at Sea wasn’t used at all.
17) Porchlight- Seafood
I really wanted some stuff off their third album, but Spotify didn’t have it. I also really liked Seafood in the late 90s/early 2000s, and they were obliging about playing in Medway. I’ve got a review of a split EP they did from 2002 I tore out of the NME and stuck in my scrapbook which says “it’s a wonder this sort of ambition-free indie arse still goes on. But goes on (and on and, indeed, on) it evidently does, like a suppurating rash that smells suspiciously like 1994. The two Seafood songs sound like Seafood songs always do- Sonic Youth falling asleep”. I love a good burn review. (I also like sleeping and Sonic Youth, so fair’s fair). The best one I ever saw went along the lines of “this is so bad, that if they started giving it away with the cornflakes, I would start buying different cereal”. Sadly I can’t remember what the review was of, and googling doesn’t give me anything, because I’d probably have to get the exact wording.
18) Sheela-na-gig- PJ Harvey
Take those dirty pillows away from me?
19) Slow Life- Super Furry Animals
Rocks are slow life.