A great, great pop song. Just over three minutes of swirling noise and chunky power chords. Now readily available again on 'Capsule', a limited edition best of double CD. Nice one.
21 May 03 ·delicado: I had completely forgotten about this. Nice one indeed! O'Leary, eh... 22 May 03 ·Genza: It's easy to forget about it - but you should listen to how great it still sounds. I was amazed. It's slips down so sweet - like a smooth, velveteen bunny honey. And David O'Leary is a confirmed Kitchens fans apparently. Not sure if he likes Kachloul or Aplay though...
I really love Slowdive. I guess it's fair to say they're the most under-rated band of all time (yeah, I know you all have your own opinions but you're wrong and I'm right - okay? ).
So imagine my surprise when electronica masters Morr Music decided to compile a Slowdive tribute record last year, featuring luminraies such as Icelandic beauties Mum.
The album is a sheer joy - and highlights the quality of Halstead's original song-writing (before the layers of reverb and delay were added).
The stand-out track is Altogether, taken from Slowdive's second Creation release 'Souvlaki'. An astonishingly pretty but achingly mournful track is turned, by Morr's Styrofoam, into a trippy work of blissed-out happiness. Cool.
Japanese recluse Ip rarely leaves the confines of his room-cum-studio - and it's usually to attend a naff 1980s-stylee disco. The shy, clumsy student takes on the persona of a mentalist when news of a party spreads.
To celebrate his love of all things crazee, Ip recorded a series of bizarre poptastic tracks in the early 1990s. The songs suffer from dreadful production values and annoying lyrics, much of which is spoken in broken Engrish. But hey, that only adds to the fun.
Ip's debut album 'Floor 15: Room 17' is his best. Two stand out tracks include: 'Knocking on door while Mr Room Mate is away now', and 'Why are all new friends arrive for special event not on?'.
But his best song is 'Have you got ticket to the Dome?', a slice of Human League-esque rom-pop, bolted on to a 130 bpm, glam rock rhythm.
I used to know his acquaintance, this bloke that used to wear a plastic suit and fake glasses. He would hang around with a can of cheap lager. But I haven't seen him in months. I think he lost his mobile phone, or something. He'd probably say: 'Oh yeah, Gonza, Genzo. I remember. The good old days. Hanging out in the Lounge.'
Whatever. But Ip. Far out.
from Floor 15: Room 17 (The Vale), available on CD
09 Feb 06 ·delicado: I don't remember Ip's music. Wasn't there a related thing called 'DJ Bakesey'? I remember that being really good. 10 Feb 06 ·Genza: Don't remember Ip? What on earth...? If I remember rightly, you used to hang around with him and those two mates of his that used to jump up and down on bed and squeal in a high-pitched way. Very, very odd.
As for 'DJ Bakesey', he wag good - and some of his mates in the JCR Squad were pretty hot. Their sound - looking back - was pretty ground-breaking. 'MC Lem' was amazing and I loved his booming anthem 'Fish Pie':
'All I want for tea is Fish Pie
All I want for tea is Fish Pie
If I get it, I won't swear like a bad boy
If I get it, I won't play Duncan no more...'
Who was Duncan? And what did it all mean? Am I scared? Can I sleep here?
