Music and that. Written the day before I hit NYC

The house in which I live has a kitchen and I am sat in it.
I am listening to Without You I’m Nothing by Placebo. Who are excellent, if often quite silly on occasion. I covered one of their gigs for a mag a few weeks ago.
They looked very smiley and healthy, which was really odd.

Today I did some things, few of which were of any interest. However, I did think “hmm, if I were going to Cannes, and I had a van and knew some dudes with whom to go, what kind of thing would I take with me”. Luckily this hypothetical thought was of some use because it reminded me that I am in fact going to CANNES in a VAN and I will be taking films there with my buddies. Or rather my buddies are taking films and I’m going with them. Or something. I’ve yet to work that one out.

Not long ago, I met up with some people I know and watched an onslaught of their short films and projections set to music. Their project and installation was going by the name of

WHAT THEY COULD DO, THEY DID

and if you give a shit about ‘Art’ I would strongly advise checking out at least some of it.

They jammed in an old car showroom garage thing in Peckham. Mostly and by accident I ended up working the door and offending people who took themselves very seriously. Then a man tried to sell me a duvet, and some crack. Peckham is rubbish.

Art is often ridiculous. It is sometimes necessary to scream “you are recycling and recycling again you talentless fucks” but this should be kept to a degree of severe rarity. Mostly because it upsets people and only encourages them.

However, in and amongst the somewhat confusing art (-core) there were a few things that really grabbed at me. Or rather, witnessing them was a bit like being punched very hard in the throat and having your eyes stabbed out… in a good way.

YEBOROBO

THE FRANKEN ORPHANS (FRONTED BY IGNATZ HOCH)

H (yeah, as in like the guy from Steps but only in the sharing of a name)

AN EMPTY ORCHESTRA

Another few SUPERB acts to check out are:

THEY DON’T SLEEP (see them live, it’s Entirely worth every moment)

MIMI LEUNG (who has changed her performance name so many times that I can not keep up, but I do not care because the girl has skills to the degree that skills should be spelt with a Z. Go see her skillz.)

You can find them all in or around myspace or on Google. Go and look!


Ok, an interlude and ending all at once:

I have just taken Placebo off of my play-list because much like anything to do with Billy Corgan it is hard to make it through a whole album without wanting to stab oneself in the ears. Having moved onto a mangled hybrid mix of tracks consisting of Tool and some old-school tunes by The Offspring with a bit of Like a Train Through a Pigeon (excellent hard-core band) thrown in.

I am wondering if I should listen to something sensible.

What is sensible music? Any ideas? If you have any drop me or the other CANNES in a VAN dudes a line and between us (and our shamelessly joyous contact book) I am pretty sure we can book you some kick-ass gigs and get a couple of releases put out there in exchange for you not sucking and giving us at least one free trip to London Zoo. We will launch you on something with the word Shallow in it. Really.

Oh yeah, do you have to be white to like Bruce Springsteen?
I remember an episode from the days of the Fresh Prince where the answer was strongly suggested to be “yes”. I’ve wondered that ever since.

Go cyberspace.