whimsical

I finally got a new camera, thanks christmas!
best for 2009!

rehearsal

New Blog

I'd like to draw yr attention to the new blog Lachlann and I are making, to promote our forthcoming *new* album, as Gay Against You.
There's a bunch of photos up right now, from the last few years of touring etc. but expect video, animations, album previews and other fun stuff to appear in the run up to the release!
Anyway, point your RSS readers etc. HERE
Thanks pals.

remix! - Collections 1

I'm gradually uploading the various remixes i've to Sound Cloud for ease of use. (Thanks to whoever recommended soundcloud to me!) I can only put of 5 per month unless i pay for a pro account (which I won't), so keep yr eyes peeled for more remixes in January - I've got a fair amount to get through sitting around. Anyhow, here's the first five - use as you will.

*EDIT* remix! - We See 'Em

thanks for pointing out the expired rapidshare link! its now fixed, with a non-expiring link!
My pal Marvellous Mac Mello is finally getting round to releasing his debut single next year, "We See 'Em / G's", next year.
A bunch of time ago, he asked me to do a remix for him and we kept it under wraps for a while too! But finally it can see the light of day!

Marvellous Macc Mello - we see 'em (germlin refix v by betray_yr_friends

spread!

P.S Check out his Last.fm page also.

remix! - Cut Dick

Mr Oizo - Cut Dick (Bean Butler Judaisco edit)

I couldn't resist doing a disco re-work of this track, partly 'cos it was asking for it and partly cos its one of the stand-out tracks on the new Oizo record, Lamb's Anger, which doesn't fall into the Justice / Ed Banger trope which is so prevalent and boring!
More to follow!

3 Years Later....

Just in time for Christmas 2008!

Three years plus late for Christmas 2005!

Treat yourself!


Youth Pixxel on iTunes now!








hopefully the Gay Against You album'll be up soon too, for all you "look back bores" in other countries, interested in international nostalgia.

HOPE (?) *edit*

Edit - This post wasn't intended to be critical of anyone other than justice. Apologies if i trod on any toes.



We need a shake up of attitudes in the UK.

There's an interesting report by the Guardian's Caroline Sullivan today, regarding the future of live music in the UK. Its obvious that no-one buys ceedees anymore and we've seen the ramifications of that shift already, from the rise of downloading to the mass sacking of PR people and the close / reinvention of EMI and others.

As someone who makes their living working loosely in the "live entertainment" industry and is well aware that he'll probably never make a penny from records, (unless its cd-rs or something similarly homemade) I've noticed some worry and dismay from lots of people involved over the last few months as to the future of live shows as well. Promoters, who would normally easily fill a venue seem nervous and shakey, ambitious first timers are cagey and suspicious and the booking faces of *respectable UK independent music magazines* think that their cache is enough that they can not pay the bands they book and hassle the booking agents into accepting shitty deals.

As with my reaction to the current economic crisis, (pretty similar to that of Imomus recently), I feel that musicians and other creatives with no visible credit history will probably continue to exist below this problem, not quite feeling the same pinch as Kings of Leon, Coldplay or the Pet Shop Boys. But fuck 'em, I don't really give a shit if these people make £15 from each punter at the Brixton Academy, rather than £25 at Wembley Arena and I suspect they don't either. The mechanisms that feed of them certainly will though and perhaps, as with the withering of the fat cat labels, this is no bad thing.


I think one of the problems with a situation like this, is due to the nature of touring, bands will travel from town to town, promoters will float between venues in their particular city and the various networks that make shows happen behind the scenes will trade information and details as usual - In short, bad news spreads! Bad attitudes are replicated and its easy for people to become jaded and bitter.



I watched the recent documentary, by So-Me and Justice, entitled 'A Cross the Universe' and was saddened by the stupid, mercenary and ignorant attitudes displayed by the band, their entourage and their fans. I know that there is always a fair bit of myth - making in these vehicles and so some elements will have been 'pantomimed' somewhat but it left me with absolutely no sympathy towards the characters. They came across as rude, violent idiots, who have no respect for anyone and hugely inflated rock- star egos. I just don't get this attitude, I don't appreciate it and certainly don't believe in it. I think its anti- progress and anti - people and its easy to see how it can extend to the dour attitude currently present in the music industry.

There's a good example of the the antithesis of these attitudes, in a recent NME interview with Glasgow favourites, Dananananaykroyd. When posed the 'standard london interviewer' question of "isn't it always miserable in scotland, isn't everyone a miserable bastard?", Paul Carlin says:

"I don't think standing on a stage telling stories about how shit your life gets is exciting anymore."



Paul is right and his band back him up with walls of cuddles and definately posi-rock, which is fun, inclusive and exciting - all good things!

The UK diy music scene doesn't need a Barack Obama figure, to rally behind. We need a little bit of positivity. We need to encourage those who work behind the scenes to pass it around and we need to pass it to every person who comes to our shows. We need to be polite to those we work with, to show we appreciate their efforts and try to understand when they come up short, 'cos good news spreads too!

goin' back

re-posted from the ever interesting GOOD magazine.
There's lessons here for every country.

Amongst the Slush

Things are continuing apace, albeit quietly. Everything's hidden beneath a layer of snow, or slush.
Meanwhile, you can chart the depressing curve of less and less frequent blog entries!

Recently, I've been charged with two Max Tundra related mix projects -

A) Coming up with an hour or so of tracks to play between bands at 'One Night with Max Tundra' at Cargo, London.
(facebook invite here)
Me and the "psychic deejay", Pete Um are to fulfill our roles as mp3 / vinyl jockeys. REAL deejaying will be supplied later, by Silverlink and G£nuin£ Guy respectively.

B) Coming up with some mixtapes to make the long drives on my January / February Uk Tour with Ben more bearable. How will i be able to resolve the inner desire to geek out with the sensible notion of actually having listenable / relaxing music on the player?

So i'll be posting some new mixes in order to try these out here, soon!
Comments, please!

Oh and any Glasgow pals still needing something to do on new years eve, please come along to THIS

remix! - Love Lockdown *edit*

I read this article in the guardian last week, regarding Kanye West's new album and how his ambition has transcended hip hop, heralding the birth of a new musical genre, "pop-art".
Now, while not being a huge fan of Kanye, I think he's generally got the right idea this time - Its awesome to see a big name star of his status, openly calling for progression and change in both the hip hop and indeed pop music communities. 95% of UK and US top forty singles are pap nowadays, so this can only be a good thing. Let's hope it provokes a bit of competition too - If Kanye is aiming to be the noughties Phil Collins, maybe 50 Cent can get way into world music and take on the mantle of Peter Gabriel.

To get 'em started, here's my remix of Kanye's Love Lockdown.

oh, and re: Tom's question, I'm not convinced that mr West has what it takes to single handedly pioneer a new genre, nor do i think hip hop particularly needs saving - Maybe Kanye's statement can be seen as challenge or a catalyst to others, to keep striving for originality and keep creative. Whatever grandiose and inflated opinions K. West might have of himself, its nice to see pop music holding a mirror up to itself again.




p.s I tried to make it sound like Alexander O'Neal.

Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy

Today's episode of the BBC 4 show, 'Fags, Mags and Bags', a comedy by Sanjeev Kohli and Donald Macleary, had me spitting out tea and weeping over the radio.
Have a listen here

MUSIC WEEKS II

In the spirit of yesterday's generosity, i'm putting up old material thats cluttering up my hard drive up for free on Last.fm

Click the picture above to get 2005's "Watermelon Dude Zone" album, for free. Tell a pal.

MUSIC WEEKS

Sorry for being so slack at updating! I've been able to stop procrastinating this afternoon, after sending away a huge envelope of receipts, travel documents and police reports to my insurance company. More about that later.

Firstly, I spent some time today updating the Last.fm page for Ben Butler and Mouse Pad today, there's a bunch of songs and some better info up there now!
Click the photo above (taken by Martin D, thanks buddy!) to go there!

Oh, there's also a few new tracks for free download from Germlin if yr into that sort of thing.

Oh, and to celebrate, here's some mixtapes (Not from me, my Ipod got stolen along with a lot of other important stuff in france, i'm still building up my collection of tracks from scratch pretty much, yikes).

MAX TUNDRA RADIO MIX
A promotional mix by Max Tundra (and G£nuin£ Guy to celebrate the release of his new album, 'Parallax Error Beheads You', out on Domino.
Poached from the ever wonderful20 Jazz Funk Greats.

The Very Best Mixtape"
Awesome mixtape by Radioclit and Esau Mwamwaya, Great Dubplates and sweet, sweet vocals.
Poached from the reliably awesome Lower End Spasm

surprise!

joemus album is ready!

The album i worked on this year with Nick Currie, aka Momus is available now, on pre-order, from Darla Records , Cherry Red records , Amazon US and Amazon UK.

I'm really proud of how the record came out!
Here's the blurb from the record label:

"The new Momus album, Joemus, is a collaboration between the veteran electronic vaudevillian and Joe Howe, a young Glasgow breakcore musician known for his work with Gay Against You and Germlin. Asked, back in 2007, to do a cover version for a limited edition box set called Recovery, Momus called on the young Scot's services to make a cover of David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes, which turned out "not so much a pop song as a ping pong match between Coco the Clown and Major Tom... a series of satistfying thwack and plock and boiiiiiing noises," according to Momus. The Bowie cover isn't on Joemus, but the Nintendo Glam Rock feel -- and the odd noises -- persist. The pair worked over the internet, then spent several weeks together in Berlin fine-tuning the results. The Joemus album sounds like the hits of 70s Scottish glam rock sensations The Bay City Rollers played on 80s amusement arcade equipment. Joe's frenetic, ADD-addled jams get turned by Momus into folk jigs, but the fast numbers alternate with tenderly morose slowies, covers of Cliff Richard ballads and Ryuichi Sakamoto croons. Then it's back to the beats-and-edits frenzy, and tales of horror, from Dracula (a duet with Groopie Kyoka Kyoka) to Ichabod Crane. The result may be the most satisfying pop album Momus has ever made -- but only if your definition of pop tends to the edgy, jumpy, fresh, and weird."

finding diamonds in the right mines for mind diamonds

On the flight from Glasgow Prestwick to Dublin, my pal Lachlann challenged me to come up with eight song titles and an album title, for a new record he's planning. Here's the results!

Album title: "Hiding dimes in time for finding China" by Yoko, oh no!

1 - poop-poop deck
2- getting along with the masai mara
3- shops-at-knox
4- owen
5- an account of an rescue
6- pig's ear blues
7- sorry, i staying clever
8- my waist

I hope they are suitably inspiring!

Return'd

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, i'm just back from Holland, having got back from London, having moved to Aberdeen, having come back from Stavanger, having left Berlin, where i was staying for a few months. Its hectic!
Anyway, a new mixtape, photos and some info on Torry coming soon!
In the meantime, VBS's Epicly Later'd is back and i'm getting into it!

come to this show if you are in berlin!

MIXTAPE IV

This one is a musical apology for the disappearance of Mixtape III.
Mixed by DJ Bean Butler, in Berlin. Monday 25th August 2008.

savieur mallia - automatic meteor
giles, giles and fripp - murder
magma - nonono
mahotella queens - uthulli lwezichwe
richard hell and the voidoids - new pleasure
p****e - why you wanna treat me so bad
amon duul II - restless skylight transistor
unknown artist - manje re
devo - doctor detroit
mahavishnu orchestra - meeting of the spirits
brian eno - golden hours

Prog / Synth / Pop / Psyche / Hi Life / Ambient

DOWNLOAD HERE

Manifesta 7 2008

We took a road trip with our friends Nick and Hisae to Manifesta 7, the European Biennial, held in in disused and unnoticed industrial buildings in the small mountain towns of tyrolian Italy. Here's some photos!




more info on Manifesta 7

re-post

ITV cant understand scottish people saying C*NT
reposted from prancehall.

punky like a tribble

thanks to everyone who came out to the debut joemus show tonight, at stereo!
photos to follow!

Ninja Vampires

Devin Flynn's brillianty daft / almost unwatchably psychedelic animation series for Super Deluxe, "Y'all So Stupid",
is now available to watch online in its entirety.

LINK

Did you grunt?

I'm going to see this lot tomorrow, with Lach
I hope i don't regret it, cos it's expensive.
EDIT: the night was fun, even if the band were a bit crap.
I met Gibby and Paul afterwards! I was probably a dork!

Triple School =2

Ace sophomore E.P from Glasgow's Triple School (Giles and Tom)
made available as a free download by plucky and neat indie label Winning Sperm Party.

DOWNLOAD (zip file contains the seven mp3s at 192kbps, artwork, and a PDF lyric sheet)

More info here

Thanks everyone!

DENSE MUSIC

The Remix i did for French producer digiki is going to get released properly on his upcoming Remix Record, "Dense Music". The album has a pretty interesting concept - As Antonin says, the notion of a remix record has become pretty stale and predictable, so he commisioned various artists (including Dexpistols , E*Rock and me!) to make almost impossible 'dance' versions of his already awkward, stuttering music. In his own words:

"Its title, a reference to the (failed) concept of recording music without using a beat as a base, was clearly an indication that I had no plans to have the songs remixed in a danceable way. Often (wrongly) perceived as a DJ and having done myself my fair share of remixes in the past, I wanted to present true original material, without appealing to any particular audience."

check Antonin's full liner notes to the record here
It was a pleasure to be involved in this album and I'm stoked to get MY Digiki remix back from Antonin soon!

full tracklisting:
01 Intro / Desktop Music (Antonin ‘LV’ Gaultier Juliana re-dub)
02 Kraftpunk (Donovan Remix)
03 Cease & Desist (Audioporno Remix)
04 Non Plus (Germlin Dancefloor Version)
05 Cease & Desist (O.Lamm Remix)
06 Paper Bits (E*Rock Remix)
07 Desktop Music (Duck Rock Remix)
08 Kraftpunk (Dexpistols ‘Too Late’ Remix)
09 Pancaked Again (Overcooked by Jean Nipon)
10 Jeon Ju (Pancaked Again Carl Stone Remix)
11 Beat Vacation (Mondkopf Remix)
12 Skip Skap (Skip Released by Popular Computer)
13 Pancaked Again (Toshiyuki Yasuda Remix)

The record'll be available soon through the usual outlets!

MIXTAPE III: RAPIDSHARE EDIT!

Whooops, Rapidshare have blocked my new mixtape due to "suspected illegal content".
I think it was probably to do with kraftwerk being involved, I suspect they have one of those web sheriff agents or something. Anyway, i'll do my best to re-up the mixtape with an altered tracklisting SOMEWHERE ELSE in the next few days. hold tight!

HELP FAMICON II

money, originally uploaded by l_m_s_n.

Like I said in my previous post, this bunch are doing some awesome stuff and I want to help in any way i can!
Support UK small press / comics / DIY artists!

From Leon Sadler:
"Me and my brother are setting up a publishing project, but we need to raise a bit of funds to get things rolling. If anyone wants to buy any of my books, they're on here now
famiconexpress.co.uk
Just email cathopreicon (at) googlemail.com, and u can pay by paypal. all prices on the site include worldwide postage.
Revenge Fantasy and Famicon Collection 003 aren't available at the moment though.
For an extra £5 I will also include your own special drawing.
If you send me a t-shirt and £10 I'll do a painting on it and send it back to you. (£13 outside of europe to compensate for the extra postage cost)

Laurent Plessiet from frederic magazine just made these silkscreen prints of my drawing. They done DIY style so the print 'quality' varies on each one. They're black on aged paper, approx A4 size, edition of 27. I have made 4 hand coloured versions.
normal version = €10
colour version = €25"

GET BUYING STUFF PEOPLE!

HE THINKS I HAVE GNARLY POTENTIAL

Taken from The Rad Project

DORKS

Me and Emma, doing essential duties during the set-up of the Dark Horses show at Recoat.
The hats are IKEA Crayfish Party hats.

MAIDENHEAD OR DEAD

Danny Baker, presenting 20th Century Box, a Janet Street Porter commissioned series, documenting fads and the like. This episode is entitled 'Iron Maiden and the new wave of British Heavy Metal'. awesome.

FAMICON

li-'l bulllet, originally uploaded by stefan sadler.

Emma and I just spent a few days hanging out with our buddies Kitty and Stefan, from Famicon collective. If you're in Glasgow, check out Kitty's contribution to the Dark Horses Show at Recoat Gallery, open till sometime in august - You can also pick up some Famicon Zines and Prints while you're there. If you aren't a real person, you can just look at their website. Awesome comics and videos! props.

BEAN BUTLER

I'm starting a new band. Its called 'Ben Butler and Mouse Pad'.
check it out here
fanks.
from Joe.

Harmony Korine Q&A

Taken from FAMILY

Q&A with Harmony Korine on 'Mister Lonely'

Hiding Places

Awesome architecture from Jules, aka RueFive
We met Jules a bunch of times when Emma was working at the Changing Room Gallery. He loves Stirling and we are trying to coax him through to Glasgow, long distance. Go check out his window and mural at Analogue books, Edinburgh.
RueFive Flickr

Problem Solvers

New Paper Rad Cartoon Series "Problem Solvers", on YouTube!

BOOMBOX THERAPY

Another excellent boombox therapy mix by Shex over at rbdx.com
download link

Mores

Another free mp3, this time Gay Against You's Remix of Glasgow Pop Band "We are the Physics".
This was originally featured as a download with their One Records single, "Less than Three".

RAPIDSHARE LINK

Collections

Something I'm fascinated with, as someone who travels regularly by public transport in the UK and abroad, is the awesome pattern designs they employ on buses, trains and trams - From the weird purple, sky blue and maroon khaki design of the Berlin U Bahn subway, to the cartoonish Irish Setter repeat patterns on the Irish Bus Éireann.
I guess its partly because a lot of the stuff is mostly ignored by the commuters and hardened travellers who use the services regularly but mainly its because I think it must be an amazing job - I can imagine a factory floor where the designers are continually coaxed to produce ever more eye wateringly complicated and jarring designs in the hope that they enliven the public's journey or at least break through the stupor of the early morning / late night slog to and from work. Here's to 'em!

The transport upholstery Flickr pool is based here

DARK HORSES

Here's an invite to Emma's first show as curator!
Awesome new work from: Kitty Clark, Anna Peaker and Margarita Louca.

The Show is held at Recoat Design Gallery, 323 North Woodside Road, Glasgow,
The opening is at 7pm on the 4th July 2008 - with an after party until midnight at The Captain's Rest, 185 Great Western Rd
The show'll run 'till 6th August.
Please come and say hello!

Hazem Shalaan

stickies

link up (blog mix)

joe germlin - link up (blog mix)

rapidshare

enjoyyy!

MIXTAPE II

To celebrate our new open-plan bathroom, I thought I'd make you all another mixtape!

Hi-Energy Times! Click the link below to download (mp3, 83.9mb)

rapidshare link

TRACKLISTING:
01 yellow magic orchestra - rydeen
02 matmos - polychords
03 mr oizo - Z
04 lorella cuccarini - la notte vola
05 TTC - travailler (orgasmic remix)
06 dizzee rascal - i love u (4x4 mix)
07 BMX - theme to bmx
08 dolby anol - heil mary
09 rampage - fuck what you heard
10 para one - musclor (feat. TTC)
11 dj copy - fist
12 moby - alice (DTL heavy bass mix)
13 cyber people - polaris (club mix)
14 yelle - tristesse / joie (rolf honey remix)
15 c code and mago - badman (remix)
16 germlin - link up (blogmix)
17 dude n nem - watch my feet
18 chaka khan - feel for you / friday night (bonus beat)
19 when saints go machine - kids on vacation (wongo remix) / benga & coki - night
20 metallica - master of puppets (phantom's goldon axe mix) / bubble bobble main title theme

(note: you'll need unRARx (mac) or winRAR (pc) to unpack)

shite

I had to kick our bathroom door down yesterday, from the inside. I've never had to do that before. lach suggested I should take some photos but I was so scared about what the landlords would say, I didn't dare! Here's a photo of my busted up hands instead.

from make magazine:

a robot designed to record and "replay" sounds, using a rudimentary set of tools.

installation proposal for artbots 2008 from ranjit on Vimeo.

so awesome

EYES (triptych)

top to bottom: greg, seeds, building

new glasses

scumbag (link up)

wicked video my new friend chris made for a germlin song. the vocals are by kiki hitomi, another new friend.

RADIOLAB

This Post is almost a note-to-self, or as a reminder that THIS program exists (and is good).

Countless times in the last year, I've found myself recommending RadioLab - Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich incredible science Podcast - Broadcast on New York Public Radio regularly and available as a download from the site.  Pitched halfway between a Radio Drama / Audio Art piece and a Scientific Forum, the shows are equally as entertaining and addictive, as they are informative. I urge you to subscribe to this podcast, in iTunes, or whatever else you use for 'em.

   

SCORBION SCABERS

One of the few perks about living on our street (aside from the piles of trash and the dude next door who blasts Rolling Stones when he is strung out) is that all the wee kids are skaters for some reason. There must be a skate park or skate class or something locally. Even the wee girls wearing head to toe pink have ratty boards which look well used, it's pretty cool. Thought I'd give some props to the Focus Skate Blog, particularly this awesome video of Glasgow Skate Spots.

Untitled from Paul Vx on Vimeo

Jock Steady Crew Blog

24 new teeth

Those who know me, will know i've been a bit scarce of late, buried in the writing and recording of two (and now probably a third!) new albums and projects, not to mention the times i've been away on tour around the uk, or further.

I thought i'd start this new blog off with a mixtape of the songs which have inspired / entertained me throughout this time. 

So here's 20 for New Teeth to celebrate - Twenty tracks of Library Music / Prog / Italo Disco / Hardcore / Zeuhl and Pop Music. The full Tracklisting is included in the file.

rapidshare link 

(note: you'll need unRARx (mac) or winRAR (pc) to unpack the file)