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01. Dorcha - As This is the first track from Dorcha’s album “Honey Badger”, which was released late 2020. I met them while they were recording this at Invada Studios and I was going about my working day; they were really nice and they liked my dog-friend Coco and the snippets of music wafting through the doors when someone came to make tea or use the loo sounded really really interesting, so when the album went on pre-sale I ordered it immediately without checking out any of their other stuff (because I like a surprise), and it ended up being one of my albums of the year. Dorcha Bandcamp 02. Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan - Old God’s Tongue The first track and video I released from “EDEIDA”. Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan Bandcamp 03. Landslide Purist - Atlas Vibed Landslide Purist are Sean Talbot, Robin Alleander and Sam Wisternoff (aka the artist formerly known as SJ Esau and maker of most excellent music videos). This song is from their 2021 follow up to “Get Your Hopes Down”, titled “True Correction For A Bright Future”. When they put out their first album, they played a gig at Cafe Kino and it was one of the most beautiful and warm gigs I’ve ever been to. A real heart expander. They released this one in the middle of the really rubbish post-Christmas lockdown and did an online “album launch” on my birthday weekend which was one of the most entertaining, hilarious and annoyingly clever things I’ve ever experienced. Utter bastards. Landslide Purist Bandcamp 04. Curse Monkey - A Feast With No Ill Will Curse Monkey is a moniker of Jonathan Skinner from Hanging Freud. This is taken from a self titlted cassette / digital album released in March 2021 and I keep getting it stuck in my head. Curse Monkey Bandcamp 05. Irreversible Entanglements - Bread Out Of Stone I was at the Exchange one day and had to ask Fat Paul what the music he was blaring in the cafe was - it was the first Irreversible Entanglement’s album and I was fucking hooked, it was wild and ferocious and real. Fat Paul has fine taste, we all know that; this one is from their second album “Who Sent You”, which came out in 2020. The last gig I got to see before Covid hit was Moor Mother at the Exchange. Irreversible Entanglements Bandcamp 06. Qariaq - Lumber Limbs Qariaq is Esther and this was released in 2019 on an EP of the same name. Esther also makes really beautiful artworks. Qariaq Bandcamp 07. Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan - Golden This was the second song I released from “EDEIDA”. Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan Bandcamp 08. Penfriend - Exotic Monsters Exotic Monsters is the title track from the first Penfriend album, which came out on May 21st. Penfriend is the new musical project of Laura Kidd, Bristol based multi-instrumentalist, producer, podcaster and all round hilarious and talented human. Penfriend Bandcamp 09. UV - Defender UV is the solo project of a really special woman called Marina Elderton who I first met in Brighton in 2013 when Thought Forms played a gig with her then-band KULL, which was a duo along with bass player Lika Protsenko. We fell in love with that band, the music and the people. This song is so beautiful and keeps getting stuck in my head. I loved her “UV:TV” series too and can’t wait to hear what she does next. UV Bandcamp 10. Hanging Freud - Power Over You Hanging Freud is the duo of Paula Borges and Jonathan Skinner (aka Curse Monkey). Paula is really, one of my oldest friends at this point. We met in the world of internet forums, in the early 2000s… She is from Sao Paolo, he is from London. They have made some of the most extraordinary music I’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing live. They live and create in Glasgow now. Hanging Freud Bandcamp 11. Jared Barron - For One Moment This Lee Hazlewood cover by Jared Barron brings me so much joy. Those fucking guitar tones sound like THE BEST TORNADO you’ve ever dreamt of. Jared, Jared, Jared. We met Jared when Thought Forms was touring with a band he was playing drums for way back in 2008. He became part of the family, playing drums on the Thought Forms US dates for the first album back when Guy was busy doing his GCSE’s and he kindly put us up and drove us around in his pal Doug’s huge yellow bus and generally became a brother. Jared switched me onto Lee Hazelwood, blissfully enjoyed afternoons of Sweet Vermouth and LPs in his Greenpoint penthouse paradise and shared culinary pleasures. Jared Barron Bandcamp 12. Orryx - Eldritch This one isn’t released yet… It’s coming out on the wonderful ZamZamRec! (Heloise and Olmo are two awesome people living in France - Bristol misses them.) Orryx is Christelle, was Twin, was Bambikill, guitar and voice of Bristol band VENACAVA. This EP is absolutely hypnotic and I can’t wait to see her live again. Orryx Bandcamp 13. Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan - I Took
You heard it here first - “I Took” is the penultimate track from “EDEIDA” and is one that I was playing back in 2009 or whenever… 2010… whenever it was that I used to do solo gigs. I remember playing it at the Arnolfini and shaking and thinking I was gonna puke and then almost crying afterwards. Enjoy. I had the honour of being interviewed by Ian Fraser for the legendary Terrascope magazine - check out our Q&A here : www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Silver_Stairs.htm
Since the start of lockdown I've been having some work stuff delivered to my house. Mostly huge boxes of records but on this occasion it was something for my boss - he was being sent a poster for his favourite film and when it arrived this morning, he asked me to open the package and send him a photo of the contents.
The innocuous film poster was present and correct, but the generous screen-print company had added a few extra "gifts" in! Let me describe them... Poster 1 : Image : A naked woman riding goat. Purpose : Poster for an all male band. Poster 2 : Image : A topless woman. Purpose : Concert poster for a band with a really bad name created using "Generic Stoner Rock Name Generator". Poster 3 : Image : A woman laid on her back, head tilted back as if passed out, with a dress pushed up so that she is naked from the waist down. Purpose : Concert poster for an all male band whose frontman was accused of raping a woman in her sleep only the previous year. Poster 4 : Image : A woman's legs shown from the knees down, red painted toes, passively hanging as if dead, covered in blood. Purpose : Concert poster for an all male band. Poster 5 : Image : A closeup of a woman's face overlaid with a pram and the text "Pray For Her Baby". The woman in question was a real human being who was brutally murdered along with her unborn child. Purpose : "Jokes". Earlier this morning, I had been feeling good, positive about making music and regaining my health enough to do so... When I opened this package I just felt sick and sad. Isn't it time to move on from this kind of imagery? At best, it's lazy and misogynistic. At worst, it's dangerous and misogynistic. I think it's both. As a woman who has been playing and attending gigs for twenty years, I am not ok with the portrayal of violence against women as something to sell tickets to gigs by boring boy bands with mostly male audiences. Why should I be? I want you to know that every time I see this kind of shit on display in your venue, or your studio, or on your band's shirt, on your psych-fest poster - I lose some respect for you. Because I know you don't respect me. We can do better than this and it's well overdue. I respect Taylor Swift even more after watching “Miss Americana”
... how about you get fucked? ... cool story, bro ... people will judge you no matter what you do, so you might as well do what you want ... the bread is all well and good, but it’s the video with the cat and the hand that slowly undoes the coat and the eye contact and …well, you know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you ... this is going to be a killer DJ set if I do say so myself ... I like to keep my sadness private, it’s a bit distasteful ... brakes of Satan ... nothing like opening the bin to remind you there’s no point in trying to make yourself look fuckable ... you don’t have to lose your rituals ... my husband is fucking HOT |