Jerry the Nipper

Massacre of the innocents

2009-02-18T14:30:15Z

This is very well done:

http://notvoodoo.blogspot.com/2009/02/crunchy-fun.html

There is surely some fun to be had drafting the Puccino, M&S and Apple redundancy notes too.

Proto-Micro-Horse

2009-01-30T10:58:54Z

The Times Archives blog really is a never-ending source of delight.

Trumpet blowing

2008-05-22T09:30:56Z

Apparently this book, for which I wrote an essay about pop songs in the movies what feels like years ago, is finally in some shops! (It's supposedly been given a "soft release" ahead of actual publication in June. Well it worked for the first Annie album, right?)

I'll stay these vagabond nights...

2008-03-30T22:57:46Z

Had a sudden Billy MacKenzie pang this evening - more particularly a desire to hear "Breakfast"- and discovered that someone has finally put that mythical Associates Ronnie Scott showcase from 84 up on youtube...

What's more, the same person has put up Billy Mac's performance of Simon Dupree's "Kites" - quite possibly the pinnacle of 20th century British popular culture.

How wonderful!

VA-VA-VOOM

2007-11-15T21:04:52Z

It's been knocking around in my to-listen-to pile for a while but transatlantic flights and flu have delayed me hearing what turns out to be a last gasp contender for single of the year: Findo Gask's 'Va-Va-Va' - out imminently on Optimo's OSCarr label. Hear it here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=52223252

ACHTUNG JUNGEND VOLK!

2007-10-25T13:17:11Z

Particularly the young dancing people!

I don't suppose any of you are going - or would like to go, for free! - to Fabric tonight where Jolly James Murphy is djing?

Sold a pup

2007-10-22T10:43:29Z

Pup #1: J0s13 L0ng. Who told me this woman was funny? Went to see her at the Gipsy Hill comedy club on Saturday and, though she was head, shoulders, knees and toes above the other acts ("Facebook, eh? What's the deal with *that*?!"), her whole "I am a poorly-dressed child-woman savant from the mean streets of Peckham" shtick was excruciating. In a very real sense, she's the Kate Nash of komedy.

Pup #2: Aly and AJ. Can only blame the [Bad username: lone looneez] for this one. The single is fun, but dear god, listening to their album was an ordeal. All my suspicions were confirmed when I saw that the soppy dude from Semisonic was one of their co-writers.

The Kylie record, on the other hand, has actually gone UP in my estimation over the weekend.

Carmodic goldmine

2007-10-18T14:11:39Z

Came across this site while doing some urgent research on short-lived ITV kids show 'Gilbert's Fridge'. On first glance I presumed it was just another cosy 80stalgia repository, on a kind of Calvin Harris level. But the detail is simply staggering! Does anything sum up the absurdity of early Thatcherism as well as a CB radio smurf?

If you're feeling Sinister, this Saturday...

2007-08-23T13:14:43Z

If I can keep the paint shiny on my nails

2007-08-10T10:56:19Z

Strange days: now that the sun is finally out, I find my favourite pop song of this summer has been made by the bloke who used to play drums for Marine Research. Go here http://www.myspace.com/johndownfall and click on 'Seven Dials'...

Nipper Book Club

2007-06-18T14:07:07Z

One of the perks of moving to Crystal Palace is having The Crow as my local bookstore; it was there that I picked up an import copy of the Miranda July short stories (far classier than the dowdy Cannongate edition), and it was via their recommendation on Friday that I bought Catherine O’Flynn’s What Was Lost.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

It made a soggy weekend a real pleasure. It’s hilarious, touching and even, y’know, profound. Still on the first page, I was already laughing out loud and reading out snippets to evildrakling. By the fifth page I realised I was pretty much reading out the whole thing to her. I think it may be the most impressive, enjoyable debut novel by a British writer I’ve read since. ooh, Alan Warner’s Morvern Callar.

The book will appeal to:
· Fans of Veronica Mars
· Fans of Harriet the Spy
· Anyone who has ever worked in a shop
· Anyone who has ever been morbidly fascinated/depressed by the experience of shopping malls
· Anyone who ever tried to get their hair to stick up just like Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen in 1984 (ok, this may narrow it down to just me and O’Flynn)
· Anyone at all, really.

Rather wonderfully, you don’t even have to take my word for it: it was Radio 5’s book of the week recently, and they still have a pdf of the first five chapters up here: (right click and save)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/entertainment/mayosbookpanel/month/mar2007/whatwaslost.pdf

Paging Steve M

2007-06-15T16:39:42Z

(Full story here )

Reporting back

2007-06-11T13:09:26Z

AMBUSHED BY UNEXPECTED MINIMALISM
I had feared that the Southbank Overture event was going to be a stroppy throng of poncey nitwittery – the cultural mall syndrome that makes Tate Modern a bit of a chore. And though there were moments when it felt like being trapped in some Bosch-meets-Posey Simmonds purgatory, it was mostly hugely enjoyable. It was nice to gaze out over the Thames from the old VoiceBox room on the fifth floor while cis’s gamelan crew twinkled away (I particularly liked the bits when the singers sounded like they’d suddenly been pleasantly startled). And it was particularly great to watch the London Sinfonietta, augmented by some schoolkids from the local estate, plus members of the London Laptop Orchestra, phase through the 40 minutes of Terry Riley’s In C in the RFH ballroom. Just a lovely atmosphere: curious, playful, not condescending, not overbearingly reverent – I wish more arts events were like that. Maybe they are and I should just get out more.

IS RICHARD RORTY RIGHT OR WRONG?
During the course of a particularly boozy interview in Ladbroke Grove last summer, Green Gartside told me that this was his initial title for the record that went on to become White Bread, Black Beer (his missus wisely talked him out of it). The memory was provoked by the news of the death last Friday of Richard Rorty – probably the only philosopher I can honestly say changed my life, or, at least, the way I think about it. Occasionally, when I’ve expressed my enthusiasm for his work, mates have been surprised that I’d be so keen on such a seeming liberal milquetoast. I don’t think the seriousness of his political engagement is generally acknowledged, or it’s overshadowed by talk of his Ironism. A useful corrective is the free pdf “Against bosses, against oligarchies” – available here: http://www.prickly-paradigm.com/paradigm3.pdf

GOTTA DANCE!
I finally managed last week to track down a bittorrent of Jacques Demy’s Les Demoiselles de Rochefort – a kind of glitzy sequel to Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. I thought it was absolutely magnificent, but evildrakling thought it was fun but silly. Even despite the presence of Gene Kelly. “There are no TUNES in it,” she told me. “Not like Singin’ in the Rain”. And I now notice that SitR is being shown on a big screen in the open air at 9.15 near the Mayor’s office down near Tower Bridge this Wednesday.
http://www.timeout.com/london/aroundtown/events/417506/more_movies-open-air_film_screenings.html
Does anyone fancy making an evening of it? (I now realise that farewell drinks are happening on the same night – aren’t they somewhere in that vicinity too?)

ANDORRA
New entry in the Nipper Chart of Truth: Caribou’s Andorra (obviously inspired by David Beckham’s return to the England team) – spectacular electronic soft psych-pop from someone I’d never rated much. He doesn’t have any of it on his myspace yet, but I imagine it is eminently findable.

Much like the forthcoming Liverpool/Chelsea semi-final

2007-04-17T10:21:06Z

I have to say that Mary Poppins on the right wing does not fill me with hope for the powers of Good.

(More on this devilishly overpriced item here http://www.notcot.com/archives/2007/04/good_vs_evil_fo.php )

Olvidarme así de este crudo aburrimiento. Reencontrar la novedad...

2007-03-30T11:21:13Z

As everyone knows, the greatest pop thing of 2007 so far is, implausibly, the Mutya/Groove Armada collaboration. However, running it close, as of last night, is this wonderful album by Single, aka Teresa Iturrio, who used to be in Le Mans (who I had previously lazily thought of as standard issue Elefant janglers). The press release describes the song "Mi primer viaje" as "Bobbie Gentry meets the Temptations", but in fact it is Pipas produced by Glenn Campbell. If that sounds like it would marge up your madeleine, I have put it up here for a limited time.

Reporting back

2006-10-02T14:22:02Z

Foolhardy as it seemed in advance, going on holiday to the North of England for two weeks at the end of the September proved to be an excellent idea! We stayed at D.'s grandpa's old cottage in a tiny village up on the Lancs/Cumbria border, just inland from Morecambe Bay and were blessed with 10 days of flawless indian summer afternoons. We went armed with, among other things, Michael Bracewell (and Linder)'s guide to the area, "I know where I’m going", which initially seemed a bit vague and skimpy, but actually captures pretty well the atmospheres of the place: the utterly ruined gentility of Morecambe, the amazing light over the bay, the eerie desolation of the marshland, the looming grandeur of the Lakeland mountains.

Highlights:
· The dazzling light at Silverdale at hightide on a perfect Sunday noon.
· Galumphing across the top of Humphreys Head and spotting a team of parachutists fluttering to earth just along the coast.
· The perfectly twee promenade at Grange-over-Sands.
· The autumnal abundance of the hedgerows (= home-made blackberry compote)
· J. A. Riise’s goal against Spurs.
· The mad profusion of stars in the sky on the late-night walk home from the local pub.

Coming back to work today, there was a minor riot at the 31 bus stop at Swiss Cottage when not everyone could get on the bus. Then some madman kicking the shit out of an unco-operative cashpoint on Kentish Town Road. And now it's pissing down. Welcome back to London!

****

Just went out to the local bookshop at lunchtime and spotted that Johnny Rogan has said some very nice things about my writing in his new Morrissey book. I'm in the index with my name spelt properly and everything! I hope he ~~dies in a multi-car pile-up~~ enjoys a slap-up meal in the Little Chef on the M3.

A Youtube Menagerie

2006-09-12T13:25:13Z

A bout of insomnia last night led to a particularly rewarding youtube session, the spoils of which I share with you here.

1. Chris Marker's associate, Guillame-en-Egypte, having a catnap and chilling to some choons. The clip is from Marker's film on Medvedkin, 'The Last Bolshevik', which I notice is now out on DVD en France.

2. Glenn Gould having a chat and a sing-song with some close friends at the zoo.

This one doesn't embed so the link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57kR6RsV2iA

(Youtube is, I'm pleased to discover, a real treasure trove of Gouldiana - both performances and nutty documentaries. Check out this clip of him recording Bach's Italian Concerto, 3rd movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4A5D6u_KY )

3. Jane Siberry lollygagging with her cow.

This one brought back vivid memories of the spring of 1989: listening to 'The Speckless Sky' lp, reading Wallace Stevens and feeling terribly aesthetic on the banks of the UEA lake. Happy days.

C!S!S!

2006-09-11T12:17:13Z

Had to practically beg to get into Dingwalls last night due to venue incompetence, but it was certainly worth it. Bumped into Marianna ShimuraCurves at the end and sweatily declared "that may have been the greatest gig I have ever seen!". The morning after it still feels like a reasonable conclusion. Even the clodhopping moshers at the front couldn't spoil it. By the end their majesty had reduced D. (who took the pic) to awestruck tears.

And they're back on November 14 at the Scala!

Have people seen this already?

2006-09-04T15:31:10Z

Songs as they start on American radio

via susumu

Why can't she see, she's lovely to me?

2006-08-24T10:06:41Z

Stop press! The best single I've heard in months has been made by the Shortwave Set - who I had almost forgotten about - out of bits of an old Madness song!

It's at their myspace here and it's called 'Casual Use'.

Concrete dreams

2006-08-16T10:49:51Z

Reading Colin Ward's excellent 'New Town, Home Town' last night about the early planning of Milton Keynes. I wasn't too surprised to read that the initial plans included a city-wide monorail (which older residents are still campaigning for ). But I did have my mind slightly blown by the suggestion that they built roads with the facilities for staRRcars - that you would drive on residential roads, but hook into a computerized grid on highways - as featured in everything from Logan's Run to Minority Report! These days Milton Keynes doesn't even have a proper bus service.

Kind of following on from cis's visit to Thamesmead, on Saturday I went to the 'Turning the Tide' exhibition, about the Thames Gateway proposals, at the Building Centre on Store Street. I had gone along thinking I had a very muddled idea of what was planned, and I needed to get a better handle on it all. Turns out I actually had a quite clear idea of what is, in fact, a very muddled project. Lots of beautiful sketches and designs - but no sense at all of any political will or vision. The vast model of London in the foyer is well worth a gander though.

Almost enough to make me want to read a Tolkein book again

2006-08-16T00:21:38Z

Are these widely known? Certainly not to me: Tove Jansson's illustrations for the Finnish edition of 'The Hobbit'.

Wallpapers I will almost certainly one day choose to decorate my dream home

2006-08-08T13:23:53Z

More at 5QM vintage and contemporary wallpaper

Tootling my own tuba dept.

2006-08-03T13:48:17Z

Inveterate ~~kopyrite pirates~~ WHSmith browsers may like to know that the current issue of Uncute features a big review of the Pulp reissues - and an interview with Jarvis - written by me! It's pretty good!

Do the Hukkelberg

2006-07-31T16:00:52Z

The best concert I have been to this year was Hanne Hukkelberg at the Luminaire a couple of weeks ago. The whole line up - including Ally's Fezzy Hall and Barbarossa - was great but HH, who I hadn't expected to find particularly compelling, was magnificent. Twinkling Norwegian space jazz has never particularly been my kettle of herring, and when I saw the band had miked up a bicycle on stage I feared the worst. But her combination of odd charisma, a ridiculously gorgeous voice and the most versatile, daring musicians I've seen in a long time made a convert of me.

I mention all this now because some kind soul has put up a video of one of the last songs from the show. The sound is terrible and you can't see the drummer and the glock/flute player, who were very entertaining, but it brought back some happy memories.

Hanne's latest video, incidentally, can be seen at her myspace