Monday, November 8, 2010

sabre-tooth tiger with an asshole like an 8-ball sidepocket

"Casanova used to run his fingers, his hands up the ladies dresses as men were torn apart in the king's courtyard; but Casanova died too, just an old guy with a big cock and a long tongue and no guts at all. to say he lived well is true. the ladies usually go for the biggest damn fool they can find; that is why the human race stands where it does today: we have bred the clever and lasting Casanovas, all hollow inside, like the chocolate Easter bunnies we foster upon our poor children. - the only thing that has kept me from being assassinated is that I am small shit, I have no politics, I observe. I have no sides except the side of the human spirit, whist after all does sound shallow, like a pitchman, but which means mostly my spirit, which means yours too, for if I am not truly alive, how can I see you?" ~ C. Bukowski

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Woman Crucified on Telephone Pole

This promotional poster for the Doors L.A. Woman LP has always been a favourite of mine but I have yet to find out who created it, any ideas?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

-Philip Larkin

the last american hero


'And there goes the Challenger, being chased by the blue, blue meanies on wheels. The vicious traffic squad cars are after our lone driver, the last American hero, the electric centaur, the, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west! Two nasty Nazi cars are close behind the beautiful lone driver. The police numbers are gettin' closer, closer, closer to our soul hero, in his soul mobile, yeah baby! They about to strike. They gonna get him. Smash him. Rape... the last beautiful free soul on this planet.'

-Super Soul (Vanishing Point, 1971 film)

Monday, November 1, 2010

notes of a dirty old man

'One day after the races, I saw down and wrote the heading Notes of a Dirty Old Man, opened a beer, and the writing got done by itself...Just sit by the window, lift the beer, and let it come. Anything that wanted to arrive, arrived.'

I've been meaning to read Charles Bukowski for a while, his style of grimy street realism, and focus on America's lowlife, it's losers, antiheroes, women, gambling, booze and violence attracts me. Now I have Notes of a Dirty Old Man, I hope to not be dissapointed.

unfashionable alienation & outlaws under the bad moon

Today I purchased both the reissue of Morrissey’s 1990 compilation Bona Drag, and the deluxe edition of Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings. Both artists, Morrissey being one of my favourite singer/song writers, seem to be fairly unfashionable with Macca being rarely fashionable outside of the Beatles. Since I don’t follow trends, hipsters and petty music fans I listen to what I please.

Band on the Run is well known to be one of Macca’s finest post-Beatles records and on first listen, despite the rather limp Bluebird, it is definitely more outstanding then much of his output. Macca for me has always been a melodic genius, but his approach to song writing has always left me cold. Unlike Harrison and Lennon, he always chose to create his own characters rather than autobiography. I find his music to often suffer from being style over substance. However Band on the Run, which comes in a lush deluxe edition with photos, bonus tracks and a film, is definitely one of the best Macca albums. Stand out tracks include Jet, Mrs Vandebilt, and Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five.

Bona Drag is one of the finest releases by the Moz ever, and the reissue sounds amazing. It also contains six previously unreleased tracks. The record contains November Spawned a Monster and Piccadilly Palare, which are his darkest songs about outsiders and also his best. Bona Drag is an essential record for anyone curious about Morrissey but unsure where to start.

Bona Drag meaning nice outfit in subculture slang Polari (Polari being a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes and the gay subculture)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Crystal Castles - Not In Love ft. Robert Smith

On their brilliant self-titled second album that came out this year, the Crystal Castles covered Platinum Blonde's Not in Love. It's an obscure track and one that I had never heard before but CC took it and made it their own perfectly blending it with their unique style. But they have recruited Robert Smith of the Cure to make a new version to be released as a single in December. It's an awesome song, Robert Smith's yearning vocal elevates the song beyond their album version.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

International posters for The Black Swan

Black Swan is the next picture by Darren Aronofky, after the success of the Wrestler. It stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis and has been labeled as a psychological thriller. I've heard it's a mix of David Lynch and Cronenberg which sounds good to me. The international posters for the film are amazing:





It is released in the US in december on limited release.
Uk release yet to be confirmed.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Bergman's Persona (1966)


'Don't you think I understand? The hopeless dream of being. Not seeming, but being. Conscious at every moment. Vigilant. At the same time the chasm between what you are to others and to yourself. The feeling of vertigo and the constant desire to at last be exposed. To be seen through, cut down, perhaps even annihilated. Every tone of voice a lie, every gesture a falsehood, every smile a grimace'

Monday, October 25, 2010

BLAST 1: WYNDHAM LEWIS

BLAST is a literary magazine of the Vorticist movement written by Wyndham Lewis, it can almost be read as a punk manifesto, sharing much of its contradictions and revolutionary approach. Here are some extracts: 

We stand for the reality of the present-not for the sentimental future, or the sacripant past.

WE ONLY WANT THE WORLD TO LIVE, and to feel its crude energy flowing through us.

The moment a man feels or realizes himself as an artist, he ceases to belong to any milieu or time.

Popular art does not mean the art of the poor people, as it is usually supposed to. It means the art of the individuals.

To make the rich of the community shed their education skin, to destroy politeness, standardization and academic, that is civilized, vision, is the task we have set ourselves.

We want to make in England not a popular art, not a revival of lost folk art, or a romantic fostering of such unactual conditions, but to make individuals, wherever found.

We are against the glorification of ‘the people,’ as we are against snobbery. It is not necessary to be an outcast bohemian, to be unkempt or poor, any more than it is necessary to be rich or handsome, to be an artist. Art is nothing to do with the coat you wear. A top-hat can well hold the sixtine. A cheap cap could hide the image of Kephren.

AUTOMOBILISM (Marinetteism) bores us. We don’t want to go about making a hullo-bulloo about motor cars, anymore than about knives and forks, elephants or gas-pipes.

Blast presents an art of Individuals.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Crystal Castles Bristol Anson Rooms Oct 17th

Great lighting, awesome music & a vigorous Alice Glass. In so many words: Awesome!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

the Invisible Republic


Greil Marcus, one of the best rock n roll critics, has an anthology out in November containing his finest writing which covers four decades of Bob Dylan, including reviews and essays written for Rolling Stone, Creem, the Village Voice, and the New York Times. Essential for fans of Dylan and music journalism.


Also released is Bob Dylan's first 8 albums in mono, which went out of print back in the 60's. As Greil Marcus would attest, the only way to listen to Dylan. £60

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

pop culture


Inventiveness, originality, subtlety, finesse are all words that I would be careful in using to describe the popular culture of today. Popular music is the easiest to criticise due to its fast decline in quality and so the one i'm going to write most about. Much of what I’m going to write though can be applied elsewhere in popular culture and not just to music. There is no denying that there are artists out there that really have something to say, and have a self-determined attitude and are challenging themselves. But these are often the same artists that are left on the sidelines. Only a few may break out big, and this may be often due to good timing, sugar coating their songs for public consumption, a TV/film tie in, or becoming tabloid fodder. To find the reasons why popular music is so lame would probably mean exploring the odd narrow-minded social norms of today which is too wide of a subject to write about here. Instead what we are left with is an irony-paralysed music that shows a startling lack of memorable and inventive tunes. Technically it is easy to see why since today’s music is written from the rhythmic track upwards, rather than that of music of the past which began from the melody/harmony idea. This often means that modern harmonic movements are predictable. But even some of the good artists of today work the same way so really it must be more of a concern with the obessive nature of technical skills that they can employ in the studio over that of expression. It seems expression has little or no place anymore; instead music is created like that of a product in a factory: mechanised and soulless. This doesn’t just apply to pop but to most popular genres of music including rap, which was once in the late 80s early 90s such an inventive, politically aware genre is now all but drowned in clichés and bad humour. But it is pop music that has most certainly taken the biggest plunge in quality, showing little surprise or originality in structure, metre or melody. There sadly doesn’t seem to be much of a remedy for this, and people don’t seem aware or caring enough to want a change. Reality TV is only a small part of the problem I’d say, people are always quick to criticise it but popular culture has been declining for many years, probably starting as far back as the 80s.

Monday, October 4, 2010

dream of the dirt

Sometimes I believe in nothing and nothing believes in me. I just drift, drift, and drift. Even as they gather, some with hair like bouquets; I see nothing in their ovals. I see their features but there is no unity. I hear their words chirping but I can’t make sense of it. I hear ‘dream of the dirt, become the dirt. Salvation doesn’t thrive under any roof. You are a dabbler.’ They dissipate and it becomes silent. Sometimes I believe everything. Still I just drift, drift, and drift.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Rock N Roll Psychosis

Wow! I've been waiting a while.....i've waded through so many limp records promising me something i thought long lost, but now here comes along a band to finaly set fire to my heart and make my soul breakdance and their name is Jim Jones Revue. Their tunes channel 50's rock and roll with a razor punk edge like that of MC5 and Dr.Feelgood among others. Don't get me wrong though, JJR aren't reinventing music, nor do they have a Elvis hip moment to drag in the kids. Nope. Rather they are breathing new energy into a quickily diminishing genre. By going back to the roots, they are finding the essence of the music that made it so irresistable to begin with. But this time your mum and dad might not dig it.

Look out for their new album not in a supermarket near you


La culture est l'inversion de la vie (culture is the inversion of life)

On inspiration & creativity

'Somebody at one of these places...asked me: "What do you do? How do you write, create?" You don't, I told them. You don't try. That's very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It's like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it' - Charles Bukowski

Monday, September 13, 2010

Grinderman 2


The album cover for Grinderman's second album is a hint as to what to expect. It is a menacing bluesy soundscape, punctuated with sharp wit, sexual violence and tortured characters. Nick Cave hasn't lost it yet.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Transmission

"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel. I have always needed fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run... about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio."
Hunter S Thompson


I can see where Hunter is coming from with this poetic and memorable quote. I think it conveys the emotions that music can conjure up in someone and if you're a true music fan, and an unstoppable music consumer you will understand it intuitively. George Martin once asked something along the lines of how can one chord make you cry, and yet another chord could fill you with joy? It's a good question and not something that is easily explained. I think music works as a drug and that too much music can in fact devalue it. I'm often searching for new sounds, always searching for the reignition, that pure excitement. For me there is not many things in life that come close to the feelings that music can occasionaly arouse. Maybe musics effect on people is not just a poetic fiction but a neurological fact?

Saturday, August 21, 2010

f**k didactic

Jaded eyes don't see the world too clear, they sometimes miss what i hold dear. With light there must be darkness and at times i am lost in the shadows. I see too many people who find their way, who find their philosophy, but then ruin it by trying to fit a role or image that they feel abides to it. There is too much sublimating for my liking. I think there is always a time for an accusatory finger if you truely have something to say. One has to draw attention to the drawbacks of their rivals if they want to make their message clear. Alarmingly, good friends can be hard to find. I know people who are negative even to their closest friends. Listen to my warning; if you can't stand by your own friends then you're locking yourself in a lonely cell.

LITERARY PETS

LITERARY PETS

Who would have known pets play such an important part in a writers life!?

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Metropolis re-release

Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi epic Metropolis is going to be re-released as the director originally intended for it to be seen for the first time since German cinema-goers saw it in 1927. The footage previously believed to be lost has been found and restored back into the film.

The reconstructed and restored Metropolis will be shown in cinemas this September and the dvd/blu ray will be released late 2010.

Details on the film and cinemas showing the film are here


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

olly moss

The 2010 Alamo Drafthouse / Levi’s Rolling Roadshow is the much talked about film tour and Olly Moss has designed the posters for the classic films. Find them here:

Olly Moss film posters

Monday, August 2, 2010

tara mcpherson

Saw these awesome cushions among other artwork by Tara Mcpherson in Forbidden Planet today. They are priced £39.99 each.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

dreams

For anyone who, like me, are facinated by dreams, here is a website i urge you to check out:

dream studies

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Inception

I don't intend on using this blog to review films, but when one comes along as great as Inception it demands to be mentioned. Inception is a rarity among blockbusters; it's thrilling but also cerebral. The only criticism i can see being made is that the way dreams are represented in the film are not quite how we ourselves dream. At least not how I dream. This didn't bother me at all. I wish more films were made like this one, instead of the same disposable blockbusters that are put on us every year.

9.3/10

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

hipster's guide to rockabilly


`A read as rip-roaring and exciting as the records and singers he eulogises.' --Lois Wilson, Mojo

A Rocket in my Pocket: the Hipster's Guide to Rockabilly charts the rise and fall of 50's rockabilly music and its influence on future generations.

I hope to pick this one up when it becomes available.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

cyberpunk films

Cyberpunk = post-industrial dystopias + marginalized characters

these are some of my favourite cyberpunk films:

Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

James Woods stumbles upon a broadcast signal showing extreme violence and torture. He soon succumbs to hallucinations. One of Cronenbergs best films, showcasing his usual themes of sadomasochistic sex, bodily transformations, and infection.

Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)

An adaptation of the manga of the same name, the year is 2029 where a hacker known as the Puppet Master has the ability to hack human minds and implants fake memories. A female cyborg officer leads an investigation to stop it, while encountering an existential crisis. Stunning animation and a facinating story.

Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

Based on Philip K Dick's novel Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?, it follows a police officer who in a dystopian Las Angeles must track down rogue organic machines known as Replicants who are trying to find their maker in order to lengthen their life span. A flop on release it is now an influential classic, but still divides due to its slow pace and thin narrative. But some overlook its complex themes.

Metropolis (Rintaro, 2001)

Not to be confused with the 1927 German expressionist film of the same name; this film follows a young boy and his uncle who find a laboratory where they come across a robot called Tima who appears human but has no memory of who she is and so they go in search of answers. A lighter film than the others, but a very good one which shares similar themes.


Want to see:

The City of the Lost Children (Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1995)

This one looks intriguing just from the poster; follows Ron Perlman on a journey to a misty rig in the ocean to rescue the children whose dreams are being stolen by a mysterious villain.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

jacob sutton


The Jacob Sutton photography for the covers of Franz Kafka's books are inspired.

Saturday, June 26, 2010