Christina Nott

also appearing on facebook

2010-03-19T12:46:00.006Z

I’ve decided I will create a facebook page, only because there are still people looking for me and who best know me by this name.

The last.fm continues to receive hits and I’ve even had people over there trying to buy copies of the CD - which is still only available as a download to most people.

I loaded a copy of the old cover art. Its amusing to think that there’s two versions with different covers yet its still really only a demo.

jawdance

2010-03-17T23:46:00.002Z

I decided to head along to Rich Mix this evening to see the splurge of spoken word represented by JawDance. Of course, I was partly there to support John Challis who was performing and had his name prominently on the flyers along with a select gang of other groovy poets.

Most of the sets were around fifteen minutes and it was altogether a good evening, with some quite personal poetry sets, a few of those ‘oh you, snigger’ moments and in John’s case a quite diverse set of about eight pieces.

An enjoyable Wednesday evening in a good venue.

almost enough for an album

2010-03-02T13:47:00.004Z

It was good fun to do those new music tracks and its certainly filled a gap in the lack of production for some time.

I’ve really got enough tracks now to be able to create a full album, but I think some will need re-mixing or various pieces of tinkering before they are ready.

I’ll be talking that over with rashbre, but I know how busy he is, so it could be quite a while before we move to the next stage.

obsession with body songs

2010-02-22T13:43:00.005Z

We do drop into some quite interesting clubs from time to time and there’s various levels of sophistication down to sleaze depending upon the venue. This song is more at the darkened jazz club end of things and we thought a ‘body all over mine’ type theme would be suitably moody.

I’ll be honest, this doesn’t really fit with most of the other material, because of the jazziness, but I think its a fun track to do nonetheless with all of the Ronson-esque horn section accompaniment. The timing is really weird for it though and it snakes off into a world of its own by the end.

your body all over mine

remember me

2010-02-21T13:43:00.003Z

There’s a bit of a standing joke between a few of us about ‘remember me’ which is a line we use when we call one another after usualy long breaks. We’ve decided to use this as the lyric for the next song and so its basically just sung about 20 times, which would be a mere shadow of the number of times we all say it to one another.

This is a more traditional dance type track, which mixes a bit of a guitar riff with some bloopy synthesizers and would seem in keeping with the stuff from Singularity. We think of it as a bit old school now, but I quite like it when the synth stabs in part way through.

remember me (rashbre feat. Christina Nott)

prophesy

2010-02-20T13:42:00.004Z

Time to do some songs with rashbre. We decided to start with something simple, so its basically a guitar and me singing.

Somehow we’ve managed to make the guitar sound like two different ones by pushing a few buttons.

Its not a bad track and it is here. Prophesy.

prophesy (rashbre feat. Christina Nott)

china in my tang

2010-02-15T13:41:00.002Z

Dropped into China Tang’s for a while. A few of us had a late snack before going our separate ways. I think I was already a little bit sqiffy when we arrived having been at another place until around eleven.

The next table was full of models, which somehow didn’t seem to go with the quantities of food on display.

v & w

2010-02-09T13:41:00.001Z

Played vampires and werewolves today. Enough said.

grime and then sand

2010-02-08T13:40:00.004Z

I joined the posse to see Sherlock Holmes yesterday, which had some good grimy London in Victorian times scenes. More a pleasant way to spend some time than a great film, but worth it for the London shots. Then we headed for some shots at a bar that I’d never visited downstairs in Soho.

By the time we got back I’d heard about the Dylan-esque tune that rashbre had concocted during Sunday whist hitting the Sol.

I shall have to watch out or someone else might want to have a go at the vocals when we collaborate.

la dama puliendo el paso, por todo la calle real

electro shock and memory effect

2010-02-06T13:38:00.001Z

Now I’ve fixed some dates to work together on the songs with rashbre. We’ve agreed that all I need to do is turn up and he’ll have a few lyrics we can use. I suspect we’ll go for the more improvised techno stuff rather than the ballads that we crank out on an acoustic guitar.

We both think some multi track extravaganzas with beeps and bleeps will be more useful because we can also project them towards the album. In the background I’ve been singing that moonbase alpha track as well, though and am coming to quite like it.

The Electro Shock Therapy in his latest one is a bit bleak. I sometimes wonder how many personas lurk. I’ve emailed across some lines for ‘Memory Effect’ which I think goes quite well with the EST one.

churn

2010-02-02T13:37:00.002Z

I’ve not had a chance to do anything for this songwriting thing yet, but expect to have a go later in the month when rashbre and I can get some ‘studio time’ - ie time together in a room with some recording equipment.

I’m a little alarmed that rashbre seems to be churning out daily songs but I’m sure the novelty will wear off. The latest one seems to be a sort of political one, but this time with UK politics.

banjo starbeams

2010-02-01T12:47:00.005Z

Since I’ve been back from Denmark, I’ve been chatting with rashbre again and he was telling me about the February songwriting project.

It all seems a bit nutty to try to write 14 songs in a month, but I assume that rashbre will show the usual determination to have a go.

I see the first one is already up and seems to mix some space politics with a sort of love story.

At least he’s had a go at playing it, albeit on the banjo! Snigger.

no more moonbase alpha

toy cars

2009-10-05T09:14:00.000+01:00

Last night was, er, interesting as we slipped into that club to meet Jake's contact.

In a private area. To be honest what we found out was a little bit 'boys and their toys' when I thought about it afterwards. These dinky little cars are linked but I can't really write about it here. This little area of London is part of a bigger plot although I'm not even sure now whether its all just a wind-up. I shall just be glad to be able to get back to home instead of walking around an area where I have to keep checking what is in the shadows.

VIP Poledancing

2009-10-04T18:10:00.000+01:00

VIP Poledancing is not exactly my thing, but Jake says that his contacts have asked for another meeting at this club in East london.

This is going like the Amsterdam trip at the moment and I'm not sure I want to continue.

Clare says we don't really have much choice at the moment and that she'll come along with me as a kind of backup. Bigsy also seemed quite interested in joining in. I can't think why.

Now I know why getting the funds for the last studio sessions was quite so easy. There's clearly another agenda operating. I need Jake to level with me.

bedsit

2009-09-30T18:01:00.000+01:00

From Fortnums as one of my local shops to this new grocer's shop at the end of my short term street.

Jake's errand to the USA and the meeting with the Ukranians turns out to be a bit more convoluted than I'd expected. I collected the original papers and then met 'Danny' in Exeter, but there seems to be an ongoing list of demands. I'm not quite sure what Jake has gotten into, but Clare assures me its all cool.

I trusted this view until Jake suggested I move to some temporary accommodation for a few days. I was beginning to think I'd not been home in a while and now Jake is practically insisting that I 'hide' for a few days. I know he was doing something similar when I returned from the States, so I'm pretty sure there's some kind of trouble going down. And Bigsy's hurried selection of a 'cheap East End bedsit' hardly inspires confidence.

Exeter

2009-09-20T23:36:00.000+01:00

The Ukranian guys asked me for another meeting, which is linked with a gig in Exeter. It suits me, so I'm meeting a guy close to the Cathedral and he is supposed to be handing me some papers for Jake. As it happens, Clare is in Exeter too and I asked her to see whether she could snap a picture of the guy I'm meeting. Amazingly it worked, although the picture of the guy is quite small, mainly the Cathedral. He said his name was Danya though most people call him Danny.

temporary

2009-09-12T11:43:00.000+01:00

Staying at a friend's for a couple of days.

There's some work on and I need to be able to get to and fro from a couple of spots fairly quickly.

Staying here means its only about ten minutes walk each way, rather than taking tubes and buses. Much easier as I'm flitting back and forth quite a lot.

Woolworth's building

2009-08-22T17:13:00.000+01:00

I did take quite a few pictures whilst I was in the US, but I haven't loaded them to flickr.

This one of the Woolworth's Building seems appropriate though, given the fall of the UK store from its former glory. I think there is still a Woolworth's shoe store in Manhattan.

I was told that the Woolworth's building here was once the tallest skyscraper in New York. Its close to where I had to go to pick up the papers for Jake after I'd met the two Ukranians. They'd arranged to meet for the second time near to Wall Street, which is quite close by.

put us in the corner cos we're into ideas

2009-08-20T15:54:00.000+01:00

Some time in the studio today, with rashbre helping out. I've been preoccupied though; thinking back to various Amsterdam and New York moments.

Amsterdam turned out to be a big and quite long mistake, although I enjoyed the city much more than the project. New York is always a great place but the music option there remains to be seen. They talked a good game, but I need to wait to see.

Today, its so refreshing to be back in London, even if it was in one of the damp, grey mini studios near to Denmark Street.

I keep having that Ting Ting song going through my head. The one where Katie says:

Everything’s breaking but I don’t care
Smash the rest up, burn it down.
Put us in the corner cos we’re into ideas.

Take these edges, they’re inside out.
No one will notice, they’re looking elsewhere.
We can’t be honest, we call it off.
We got the choice if it all goes wrong.

We walk, we walk
We walk, we walk

I think I've played that song ten times today.
Thats been my Amsterdam. The one where I walked out.

white cube

2009-08-06T16:45:00.000+01:00

It seemed disorientating being back in London after my travels and even stranger being around the White Cube, where the business with Brian had started. I wasn't so aware of what had happened at the time, but with the story from Clare and Bigsy, its all fallen into place.

Although I like art galleries, I can't actually visit this one now, because of what happened.

not exactly hiding

2009-07-18T16:49:00.000+01:00

I still can't believe that for half the time I was in the States, Jake was holed up in Perseverance Works.

Its all very well having a decent rate of fees from our business, but not if someone has to practically go into hiding because of what might otherwise happen.

The others seem to take it in their stride, but I suppose what happened with the Zurich thing has helped get them used to it. I'm really glad that I'm 'In' but it will still take some getting used to.

Back to UK

2009-07-15T16:58:00.000+01:00

Back on the plane today, which was surprisingly empty.

The combination of working and having to do those errands for Jake has wiped me out. The music was great, but dealing with those two Ukrainian characters was something else.

I was quite happy to meet them in a hotel lobby, but definitely not where I was staying. The Marriott Marquis was a good suggestion because of the general activity there.

I've got the papers that Jake requested as part of the second meeting by Wall Street, but I can't really see how they were worth as much as we've paid.

studio time but no recording

2009-07-14T17:09:00.000+01:00

I know I say 'its all about the music', but New York and the music industry is a strange animal.

I've had several meetings already and been to small studio, which looked more like an office with a few computers. The stuff back in the UK is probably more high tech than anything I've seen here. I'm sure the MacBook and a few special boxes outdoes some of the things I've seen today.

I can't really knock it though because some of these guys seem to be making rather a lot of money from it. I can't help wondering whether the music is the main business or maybe something else.

gear overload but no drums

2009-07-12T17:24:00.000+01:00

John had dropped in to check the place whilst I'd been in Amsterdam.

I'd said he could use the recording deck that rashbre had loaned me a few weeks ago.

i think we are really just one big collective. When I returned John's equipment was piled inside the door but fortunately he showed up a couple of hours later and has retrieved it.

He's found a new bass player named Tom, but we still don't have a reliable drummer.

reflection

2009-07-11T18:13:00.000+01:00

Lets just say the music plans didn't work out too well whilst I've been in Amsterdam. The town is great and I eventually met some fine people.

I think I started on the wrong foot though and its taken me a little while to recover.

I realize, after I'd spoken to Bart, that there is a layer of exploitation here, which extends beyond the obvious industries and that although everything is politely regulated, there's still a lot of people trying to make a quick buck.

For the music world, I'd either have to comply with their rather shady business models or I'm back to square one.

I've decided to put this down to experience.

I've talked to Jake and Bigsy about the up front fees and they've said its really no problem.

Jake has asked me to help him out with something when I'm in the US next month. Clare said that Jake has only done that to make me feel better about losing the money.

more bicycles

2009-07-08T18:05:00.001+01:00

I called Mel today and couldn't help but tell her about recent developments.

She was slightly surprised, but said that I should probably reassess which part of cafe society I should operate with in Holland.

I sort of agreed; really its the same in London and mainly a case of finding a suitable level. Mel knew someone from her company who worked in Amsterdam (I hadn't expected this) and she gave me a number.

She said she'd email ahead but that Bart was a good guy and would probably be able to extricate me from the current situation if that was what I wanted and also to put me in contact with perhaps better people.

At this point I'm a few grand down because of fees, and although this is money from the Triangle, I don't want to have to go back to Bigsy with a sob story.

Mel said that it really didn't matter. Bigsy wouldn't care at all.

It was more imporatnt for the gang to be doing what they wanted. Then she gave me another piece of advice. "Get a bike", she said, "Do Amsterdam with a bike - you'll love it".

So I now have a black, secondhand bike with a basket and a bell.

Rokerij

2009-06-20T17:57:00.000+01:00

I'm getting more used to the Amsterdam ways now. Like the canals in rings, there's many layers to the place.

I seem to have started rather close to the less salubrious part. The people I'm with don't just do music for TV commercials, they also make it for -er- other types of film.

I discovered this when they suggested we go out for a drink one afternoon. The nearest place is called 'nasty Cafe' and although they thought this was fine, I suggested we go a little further afield.

By my hotel there's a few more touristy pavement cafes and we were heading there when Joeri's phone went and he was called by one of his clients.

They were nearby and so we all headed for another cafe, which was just around the corner. I hadn't really noticed it before, although I had spotted the Sex Cinema next door.

The place was called Rokerij, which I think means 'smokery' or something similar. You get the picture. It was in this coffee house that I found out about the porno videos that they'd been providing with sound tracks.

mojo

2009-06-16T16:54:00.000+01:00

I got back just in time to see Alex before he heads out to Oz on a gap type project. I think he's planning to be there some time. I've got all the email accounts and suchlike, so I'm sure like many others I will be able to track his progress.

We had a little event in a bar in Soho and probably all drank too much. The group then split into two, with some going on until 4am, but me just about surviving after jetlag.

I'll catch up with Clare and the others tomorrow.

lap dancing

2009-06-15T17:49:00.000+01:00

I wasn't quite expecting this place when I arrived for a meeting this morning. I've been staying in Rembrandtsplein quite close to here and had the address as 'The Blue Bell Club'.

Its actually "Blue Bell's" and is something of a lap dancing dive.

Although it looks closed, they seem to operate some pretty extensive hours.

The location is outside of the main regulated area and I wasn't quite expecting this.

I actually took a snap of it on my phone and MMS'd it to Clare and Bigsy before I went inside. Bigsy actually called me back to ask where it was.

Around this time Simone appeared from across the square and matter-of-factly took me inside.

"Its Amsterdam", she explained, "this is nothing special". Sure enough, upstairs was a regular apartment converted into quite an attractive office with a surprisingly good sound system. The meeting went as planned, although I think they really want me to help them with their cover track cloning. I can see this being a dead end.

up

2009-04-25T19:14:00.000+01:00

Out and about in the King's Road, I noticed that there's now the blend between people in winter clothes (notably the Ugg boots) and those flinging themselves into Spring. I'm moving to Spring as fast as possible and, no, I don't have any of those boots.

busking

2009-03-07T10:22:00.000Z

I've been off the planet for a while for all kinds of reasons, but thought I'd try to catch up with blogworld a little. Thanks John, Mel and others for dropping by even in my absence. I know you've been going on to me about Laura recently - heres a phone clip of her busking before she got famous.

happy new year

2009-01-01T09:10:00.001Z

A few of us made it to the Elton gig for new years eve. It was on the television too. I didn't stay over at Canary Wharf like some of the others, instead braving the tube afterwards to head back home. Good gig, although we were split into three different groups because the main area had numbered seating. Somehow rashbre was right in the A's near the front, whilst our gang were about two blocks further back, but we still had a good view.

back in town

2008-12-29T11:51:00.000Z

A sneaky picture of rashbre's banjo box. I don't think the world knows what it is letting itself in for. I'm sure we will hear about it later over at rashbre central, but at the moment it all seems rather secretive. Clare and Bigsy popped around earlier and attempted some carol singing. I don't think they will make very much. I managed to avoid nearly all of the television over Christmas, although I did see Doctor Who.

xmas

2008-12-24T11:49:00.001Z

Yep. Home for Christmas. Leaving the smoke for a few days. Trying not to look over my shoulder too much.

too much tequila

2008-11-27T16:42:00.004Z

It was like continuing the US theme going to a Tex-Mex for Thanksgiving. It was something of a random decision when Clare came around and dragged me out to meet the boys who had earlier been trying out the car that Bigsy brought back from Germany.

There's quite a story around that and Jake and Bigsy had been drinking tequilas whilst they practiced making it sound even more improbable than it was already. We staggered across to Cargo quite late but I really just needed sleep.

holiday season starts early

2008-11-09T17:04:00.004Z

I couldn't help noticing that there was already a Christmas tree (not sure if that the right name here in America) in the hotel lobby.

The lobby itself is on the 8th floor.

I remember that from staying on Times Square once before and having to catch a high speed elevator to the check in floor. Here, there's a modest entrance, then an elevator and the main lobby seating on the 8th.

bicycles in Amsterdam

2008-10-10T17:44:00.004+01:00

A few days in Amsterdam now, for the music.

I'm working with a couple of guys and a girl who mix dance tracks, but it turns out that half of their business is cloning existing work for TV commercials.

I had no idea about this. They take normal records and then make a complete copy which sounds almost indistinguishable from the original but doesn't use the original artists.

I gather there's two reasons: royalties and to get the song the right length or with the odd word change included. What with the coffee-houses here where theres lots of boozy half stoned brits and the rather unusual clubs, this is going to be quite a couple of weeks.

now I get it

2008-10-07T17:40:00.001+01:00

Great gig yesterday and I was pleased to have a few supporters turn up, including Clare.

It turns out that the rather nice hotel was not from the agency, but was actually paid for by the Triangle.

Clare said that as the business is doing quite well the main partners can almost stay wherever they want to as we move around the world. I'm really rather flattered to have been asked to join the other three.

I know this has a sort of 'too good to be true' thing about it, but simply being a member of the firm gives me a sense of the rather attractive risk to reward ratio.

gig hotel

2008-10-06T17:35:00.003+01:00

Not a bad hotel, before tonight's gig.

Amazingly, I've actually been here before, when Jenny was over from the US.

I wonder if there's a standard set of locations that get used. I somehow doubt it, but I'm far from complaining. Not a bad start to working with the Triangle. A gig, a contact for some work in Amsterdam and some new contacts in the USA.

Quite a week!

babble

2008-09-08T21:10:00.002+01:00

Lunch today in Sloane Square with Clare, Bigsy, John and Mel. Actually, rashbre was supposed to turn up too, but was in Milan.

We had a great laugh and a few too many cocktails. John asked me if I was any further forward with the album and I explained that I has a short project in Amsterdam to try to get it re-mixed. Most of the sound work on it has been done by rashbre, but we all agreed it would be best to get someone else to take a look before we commit to an album.

Imagine my surprise afterwards when I found this picture on my phone. Its us leaving Oriel's! I've no idea how I took it.

Ukranian influences

2008-09-07T19:13:00.002+01:00

Jake's been talking to some folk from Ukraine about some new business. Clare and I burst out laughing when we first heard (rather unkind of us) because we kept thinking about that old MTV video of the Ukranian pop star. Nat first put us on to it ..Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai. Finest Ukranian MTV?

bank=winebar; church=restaurant

2008-09-02T21:39:00.000+01:00

Today we met at 4 pm for a late lunch in an old church, which is now a restaurant. A few days ago I was in a bank that is now a wine bar. And a couple of weeks ago I was in af ire station that's now a bar and cafe. Altered states of reality?

london town

2008-08-03T14:20:00.000+01:00

A daft video of London, starting from Borough Market on a Saturday and then via the South Bank, Tate Modern and the City zooming to Rough Trade in Brick Lane and then on to Camden Lock, all in the same day. Something of a shopped out type of experience, using a jagged route. Don't smear the Rimmel.

buddy bus

2008-07-20T18:48:00.000+01:00

This is a loyalty picture because someone I know is in a project related to this show. I'm hoping that a blog entry can also blag entry to the show, which I hear is great and like a gig with some incidental action. Hint!

breakfast at oriel's

2008-06-01T13:47:00.000+01:00

You can't beat a leisurely breakfast at Oriel's. its one of my Sunday choices. Ignore the cliche of Sloane Square, stroll in for a lovely cafe au lait, some eggs benedict and a long read of the Sunday newspapers, thoughtfully provided often in a neat pile on the bar near the entrance. Bliss.

prohibition

2008-05-06T17:46:00.000+01:00

I found myself in a 1920s speakeasy on Saturday night, somewhere in W1. A surprisingly interesting recreation of a jazzy cocktail club, complete with waiters at the bar and hostesses mingling with the crowd.

The booze was in teacups and there was a cinema showing old movies.

The Charleston was a particular moment of fun, too.

born of astral sound

2008-04-18T17:32:00.003+01:00

I've just been to the Riflemaker where there's an amazing show covering Stardust and various cosmic influences. Lilliane Lijn's exhibit is made with something called Aerogel, which is the substance used by the NASA Stardust Project as means to collect of interstellar dust.
In this case it glows eerily and magically in various strange and colourful shapes.

A way to imagine the cosmos.

A way to catch a falling star.

not my idea

2008-04-14T19:22:00.000+01:00

It was not my idea to go to that place in the Haymarket the other evening. It was not my idea to go to Chinatown for a hurried bowl of rice. It was not my idea to go to the tourist nightclub just behind Leicester Square.

It was my idea to slip away and grab a night bus home.

cars

2008-04-12T18:35:00.003+01:00

Sometimes there's odd co-incidences. Kate's car nearly got ticketed a couple of days ago but we managed to get back just before some kind of critical part of the process had happened. Ticket-free in that situation was quite lucky.

My car doesn't get used much because transport in the centre is generally pretty good. Therefore when the large brochure arrived from Mercedes Benz advertising their super deluxe convertible sports cars, it seemed a little strange. I don't remember asking for it and I can;t imagine they send them to everyone. The package was particularly lavish and there was hardly anything in it except some really big photographs of three different cars.

I'm wondering if I dare apply to test drive them, especially as they've included a helpful form? The one in the picture looked pretty good, although I'm not sure about the red seats.

zombie strippers

2008-04-11T20:25:00.002+01:00

Can this be for real? A secret government agency lets out a deadly virus causing the reanimation of the dead and the first place to get hit is Rhino’s, a hot underground strip club.

As one of the strippers gets the virus, she turns into a supernatural, flesh-eating zombie stripper, making her the hit of the club.

Do the rest of the girls fight the temptation to be like the star stripper, even if there is no turning back?

C'mon.

blockade

2008-03-25T19:02:00.002Z

Sometimes the technology doesn't work. Like a set of railings, you can see through them clearly at some angles but at other its like a solid wall. I've been trying to upload pictures to rashbre's flickr for days and there seems to be a little problem where flickr goes away to have a very long think and then eventually gives up. I will have to suspend my scribbles until we ca fix it.

overload

2008-02-29T11:07:00.002Z

I was just putting all of the CDs back into their boxes and restacking the books into piles when visitors arrive in search of expresso. So instead, we unpacked a few more CDs and dug deep into the magazine heap.

the little things

2008-02-11T13:40:00.000Z

Sometimes its just about catching up with people. A few erratic minutes of paths crossing is still good for the soul. Some people just know they are spirits defining the future.

secret cinema

2008-02-07T15:05:00.000Z

I see the next secret cinema screening is attracting some interest.

I received the email about the areas of the venues for the next one.

Just as vague as London and Bristol so far - more via last minute emails and textt.

A sort of falsh mob cinematic experience. These are from the last one.

Still best to wrap up warm at this time of year.

test

2008-02-04T19:40:00.000Z

The party in Balham was great and there's a whole album elsewhere. I see Melanie and John have decided to go the extra mile and produce a proper test card based upon their childhood creation.

you suck at photoshop

2008-01-19T15:16:00.001Z

Amusing tutorial; not what it seems.

tea, anyone

2008-01-12T20:04:00.000Z

Returning from my travels - I need to get blogging again.

pie

2008-01-10T20:07:00.000Z

I got some early tickets to see Tim Burton's version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. I like the gothic stuff in any case so Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter fit the bill brilliantly. See my homemade trailer above.

still here

2007-12-22T14:23:00.000Z

Thanks for the recent emails. Not so many posts lately because I've been involved in another project. Hopefully during the Christmas break I will have time to do some music and maybe make a post or two.

rehearsal

2007-12-17T15:01:00.000Z

Believe it or not, this is just the setup for the hall party. Not sure where all the equipment has come from, but there seems to be enough. The projector really makes it funky. That's Bigsy on the Mac.

I hope to sneak in a couple of the old tracks somewhere during the evening.

preparations

2007-12-14T14:46:00.000Z

Santa seems to be showing up early this year. No complaints though.

ice

2007-12-10T23:59:00.000Z

We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore.

How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing.

Well, someone had to go.

Mrs Coulter

2007-12-06T20:44:00.000Z

I read the little red book about Lyra in Oxford before I read the Northern Lights, which is the first part of the Pullman Trilogy and the basis of the Golden Compass. His Dark Materials first appealed as a cool title, and is an interesting read, with its alternative belief system and the Compass which can detect truth itself.

So Nicole Kidman gets the part of the villainess who can rival most of DIsney's most dangerous and plays to the role with excellence.

Part of the plot is simple, get Lyra into Mrs Coulter's spell and steal the compass. The film has a steam-punk kind of gothic charm, with shimmering cities, weird flying machines and enough mind control to even amuse Tom Cruise. There's proper daemons to make tangible a person's spirit.

Mrs Coulter is part of the mind control Magisterium and has plans to stop children's free thought but luckily Lyra can link up with hero James Bond and plenty of others to attempt to thwart the evil plans. The film kicks in with the assumption that the viewer understands this world and its tensions and this moddern editing accelerates the action right from the start.

Nicole should create a few interesting nightmares for those who watch the movie.

germany

2007-11-18T14:38:00.000Z

John returns this weekend from Germany. He's been in the Schwabian area around Stuttgart. Whilst he's been away, the reports from the blog have been good fun to read, along with the equivalent blog entries from the others in the exchange scheme.

schneeverhaeltnisse

2007-11-15T14:54:00.000Z

Well, the messages from John suggest that there's snow in Stuttgart now. I'm thinking it is about a week early. I'd have guessed around the 21st. Great though for John, because he is only there for a week, so this means a view of the whiter side of Stuttgart and the efficient way that everything gets cleared away.

spaetzle

2007-11-14T14:45:00.000Z

I recommended to John that he should seek out the Spaetzle whilst he was in Schwabia this week. The picture from the Bierhaus West seems to suggest that he found some!

Mahlzeit!

bat for lashes

2007-11-01T20:01:00.000Z

I saw Bat for Lashes at Glastonbury and then again yesterday at Koko. They have an edgy style, with Natasha Khan acting as a good front person for the band. Natasha used to be a young children's teacher and some of the acting and story-telling has rubbed off into the performance. The stage was like a wintry fairy playground with dreamy glittery trees.

The stage act is quite mystical and the musicianship is strong and now reinforced with extra musicians beyond the original band. This is no girly band, but rather a strong addition to the alternative indie circuit. I'm hoping there will be a DVD soon; they were filming it during the gig and made us all wear face-masks at one point. Ideal Halloween entertainment.
Mixing weird vocals, interesting lyrics, broad soundscapes and hints of cosmic magic as well as flashes of self destruction, adding a cover of a Tom Waits song to the set and flickering golden lights and dreams into the evening's staging. Not Bjork, not Tori Amos, not PJ Harvey, but if you like any of these, you will probably like Bat for Lashes.

This set is still developing and already jumped forward from Glasto.

More wonder will surely follow.

In the mean-time here is a short mesmerising studio session from a few months ago at KCRW. Click here to enjoy

Kate's gig

2007-10-16T14:25:00.000+01:00

Photo by Jacqui Sadler
I was pleased to get a ticket for the Kate Walsh performance in Islington and arranged to meet the others at the venue. A beautiful church, which still operates a s a church, but which converts its pulpit area into a performance space and has a bar tucked into a side room around the corner. I headed for the bar and in keeping with just about everyone else there, ordered a Jamaican Red Stripe lager. There were several tables with different levels of animated conversation an a few people in twos sitting around the edge. Our little gang made some noise at one of the tables before going into see the support act.

To be honest, we missed the first few minutes and I still don't know who he was, but it was a strong set, played acoustically and with self accompanied harmonica. It also set a great tone for the evening, in this magically lit area, with by now a large crowd to see the main performance by Kate.

At nine o'clock she appeared with a small band and they started out with a song from the last album. Extremely strong performances from the ensemble, who played in a way that kept the simplicity which is a cornerstone of Kate's style. During the evening there were a couple of minor technical hitches, but I'm sure that I, like most other there, thoroughly enjoyed the entire set. Its interesting to see someone like Kate Walsh, who has made her own way in the music business, with a 'home recorded album' on its own label and initially mainly distributed via Myspace and iTunes.

They say the business is changing and it probably gives more artists like Kate a chance to make their mark, away from the pop pap of Simon Cowell and the other mega promoters.

Here's a little realplayer clip of Kate on KCRW in Los Angeles explaining to Americans about Fireworks night and playing a couple of tunes.

Well played Kate, a highly enjoyable evening.

I'm not there

2007-10-14T10:35:00.000+01:00

Bob Dylan meets Allen Ginsberg, with Cate Blanchett as Bob, amongst the troupe of Dylan players.

Cate said "Dylan was a bit like a U.F.O. A lot of people have sightings."
Ginsberg once said, "Nobody knows whether we were catalysts or invented something, or just the froth riding on a wave of its own. We were all three, I suppose."

ukelele for the people

2007-10-11T10:54:00.000+01:00

John is trying to learn purple Ukelele at the moment.

This might help.

Thanks to cartoonlife for helping track this down and for anyone that has handled a Ukelele with its very strange tuning, Jake here makes this look deceptively easy.

carbon neutral

2007-10-08T22:21:00.000+01:00

I see there's a few 'Carbon Neutral' CDs appearing in record stores now. The packaging is cardboard and the container for the CD is made of that egg-box material.

The inside of the CD, like this Will Young one above has a series of instructions about reducing one's carbon footprint and of course the materials are recyclable. The only question I have is whether, on average, people want their CDs to be biodegradeable?

free burma london march today

2007-10-06T15:24:00.000+01:00

kate

2007-10-05T12:19:00.000+01:00

Rashbre seems to have Kate Walsh as a car CD fairly often and I'm pleased to see Kate is about to do a UK tour of mainly small venues.

Kate started with home assembly recording, made an exceptional album and performs spellbindingly with an acoustic guitar. I see she is also performing at the Union Chapel in a few days (thats where the above video was filmed) and I couldn't resist getting some tickets. I suspect various rashbre central associates will be present!

free burma

2007-10-04T15:17:00.000+01:00

Union Chapel Little Noise

2007-10-03T11:29:00.000+01:00

I've mentioned the various other uses for churches and chapels in my area. The Polar Bear gig was in an ex church now a museum and performance space and the late lunch a few weeks ago was in a converted chapel.

Now I'm on the trail of the Little Noise gigs, which are in November and due to be held in Union Chapel, Islington. The plan is to run around nine nights of acoustic sets by some of the great and good on the indie and pop circuit, hosted (curated?) by Jo Whiley and in aid of the Mencap charity.

And this chapel? It is still used as a church, as well as being a London venue and a homelessness project.

tudor

2007-10-02T22:10:00.000+01:00

An Evanescence soundtrack to a story about Henry VIII, being played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers?

Actually its the American Trailer, which is somewhat longer than the BBC2 sting for the same show. I believe the series was made by Canadians, so it will be interesting to see how it develops. And the website is like something from The Sopranos

I gather a few character names like the many Marys have been adapted to (eg) Margaret to lessen plot confusion. So stand by your text books. I can't find the BBC2 45 second trailer online, but its more like this...

desert

2007-09-16T02:49:00.000+01:00

The i-sense music I've been listening to evokes prior mystic moments. Whether travelling, being at one with the living desert or looking at a thousand stars there are wonders under these infinite skies.

I've visited deserts of the middle east and deserts in america; they are quite, quite different. Heres some slightly old mobile phone blogging from the middle east. You can tell it was a blast.

i-sense

2007-09-15T20:49:00.000+01:00

One of the main people that got me into creating music with synths and voices was the person behind the formidable i-sense. The new album is released on 24th September, but I was lucky enough to get a preview copy.

Several of us sat together in Chelsea today to unveil it and it lived up to promise. A shorter recording than the last couple, but highly evocative of the middle east and mysticism. There will be unknown messages wrapped in the braids of the music and it may take a time to unravel.

Mixing spoken vocals with strong bass, sweeping and combed synthesizers and emphemeral effects, this is a fine work and one which I've already listened to about four times. John even flipped on his Fender and jammed some eastern accompaniment when we'd had the first listen through.

So jump across to myspace and be swept off to the beautiful deserts of the middle east. More when I've iTuned it.

leafcutter john's forester

2007-09-15T18:47:00.000+01:00

From yesterday's gig, here's one of the pieces of software that leafcutter john was using to make the ambient effects. This version is a free version for the Mac. His live version had a playstation controller to operate some effects, too.

another church

2007-09-14T23:59:00.000+01:00

I mentioned visiting churches that were now wine bars a few days ago. Friday night was another such occasion, this time to a church which has been converted into a museum and jazz venue. The museum of gardening in Lambeth, which on friday night featured "Sax, Lies and Audiotape" as well as the the experimental jazz electronica of Polar Bear.

The gig was part of the capital jazz summer season and played to a very full house. By good luck we had reserved tables (thanks to Ray the Sax) and were able to get right to the front, literally to the stage area.

There followed an evening of pyrotechnic jazz fusion with special effects added by Leafcutter John on Playstation controller through an Apple Mac. Sounds unusual? Trust me, it was a great evening. I'll try to dig out some of the phone footage, but we don't have any clips of saxophone and balloon piece.

Then across the road for some late drinkies, before the evening closed down in the wee small hours.

UPDATE: rashbre beat me to it loading some Polar Bear video.

Friday's Child - mobile phone edition

2007-09-12T23:59:00.000+01:00

Will Young requested by Mary. 50 comments and I'll add Switch it On.

Sandeman

2007-09-12T19:58:00.000+01:00

Its a type of sherry, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Only positivity around here.

Someone knows what this means!

Ronnie Scott's

2007-09-11T20:08:00.000+01:00

Not my typical venue, but a very famous club in Frith Street, nonetheless. I was asked to go there on Monday to get some tickets for a forthcoming event, in the knowledge that the tix went on sale at 12:00. Only thing was, they actually went on sale at 10:30 and by 12:00, they had all sold out. Ronnie Scott's has 300 seats and were absolutely deluged with requests for the gig which is taking place on the 23rd September. I wasn't even trying to buy the tickets for myself, but lets just say that Julie is rather disappointed that she won't be seeing her pop icon.

Leave Right Now - mobile phone version

2007-09-10T23:59:00.000+01:00

Will Young requested by Julie.

Hyde Park

2007-09-09T20:26:00.000+01:00

Flag waving at the Proms. I read someone else's post from inside the Albert Hall and they were complaining that they got jostled out of the way by some drunk people.

Hello.

The Last Night is somewhat raucous. We were in the Park and had a blast - including singing along to all the favourites at the end of the concert. Plus the afternoon and evening had been filled with other performances, both classical and pop. A great evening of fun.

ukranian pop

2007-08-20T21:00:00.000+01:00

I stumbled on this in Nat's comments...Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai. Finest Ukranian MTV.

mash can be a comfort

2007-08-18T20:43:00.001+01:00

Some say mash is a comfort food. I decided to listen to a few today. Here's the Rolling Stones vs Rhinocerose jumping in a cubicle.
jumping in a cubicle
And some dire straights vs the sex pistols avec un petit drumbeat.
money for the queen
Thanks to the moule.

who

2007-08-18T20:24:00.000+01:00

Another upload from the crowd at Glastonbury during the Who. Its taken a while to get these out of the phone and converted for the web. I shall have to try .mac sharing instead of continuing to scrounge space from rashbre. Wooo!

trapped in iphone

2007-08-14T00:01:00.000+01:00

These iphones seem to catch people unawares.

Nitin at the Proms

2007-08-10T22:58:00.000+01:00

A rather blurry picture from the end of the Nitin Sawhney concert. The camera we were using seems to have a mind of its own and kept destroying the pictures.

Nitin Sawhney is a remarkably versatile artist and this concert showed some of the breadth, from simple acoustic pieces, through voice only effects to full symphony orchestra sized pieces, by way of sitar-based Indian fusion. Quite an evening, with an astonishing amount packed in. Listen to Prophesy.

another evening without makeup

2007-08-09T22:01:00.000+01:00

We found the missing tiny stills camera and I've started to offload some of the material from Glastonbury. Here's a rain drenched moment from the Long Blondes with Kate singing about makeup (or the lack of it). Spot the umbrellas.

A few London concerts

2007-08-07T17:35:00.000+01:00

I've managed to get tickets for a few London shows in the next few weeks.

This Friday its Nitin Sawhney at the Albert Hall as part of the Proms.

I'll also be doing Proms in the Park which is a bit more poppy and at the end of August it's Prince. These will be some good gigs to look forward to.

As well as a side visit to Birmingham at some point to see Rufus.

The picture is the Royal Albert Hall from the top of a 452 bus and if you look closely you can also see the reflection of the Albert Memorial, which is on the other side of the road in the park.

last cigarette

2007-08-06T21:08:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since my last post.

I decided that if I was going to be impossible to talk to for the last month then it would be better to stay away from the blog.

My plan was to stop smoking when the new rules came in for the UK and rather than bore everyone with my day by day groans, it would be easier to stay silent until I reached the end of the process.

Some may say that a month is not long, but actually I really feel like a non-smoker now, not a smoker in denial and not a reformed ex-smoker. So this post today will be all you hear about it.

apart from this,,,(thanks Michelle)

Concert for Diana

2007-07-02T21:30:00.000+01:00

After a week of wellies and mud at Glasto, the prospect of seating to watch some pop acts was really quite good. We met at Edgware Road and tubed it to Wembley Park, then making our way into the stadium in time for the start.

There were a huge number of acts for this concert, started with Elton singing "Your Song" and then the two princes coming on to the stage for a right royal welcome to the crowd plus the estimated global audience of 500 million. Some of the acts had a clear linkage to the Princess and some of those that didn't had made an effort to find something special or appropriate to perform.

At some points it was clear that the acts were backing up, because there seemed to be quite a few cuts from say two songs to one (Will Young, Natasha Bedingfield as examples) and some of the longer acts were also commenting in away that suggested they were being asked to cut back.

I enjoyed Lily Allen singing about London, the Status Quo doing a reprise of Rockin all over the world and getting an audible sigh from the crowd that they were only allowed one song, Tom Jones in a venue like this was well-judged, Will Young with his troupe of dancers stood out in their brilliant white. Nelly Furtado also drove a strong performance. I also liked the P.Diddy rap with funky violinists which had been specially written for the occasion.

Overall a strong way to catch up on mainstream pop and a lot less muddy than Glastonbury, although the food at Wembley was awful compared with anything on offer at Glastonbury with £8 at Wembley purchasing any variety of inedible option.

Here's the view from the seats we started in before I discovered we were in the wrong block and we moved to right underneath the Princes!

...Oh and the Spice Girls were there, with Beckham, but not performing!

Spice Girls rumour

2007-06-30T12:01:00.000+01:00

I shall be at the Diana Concert on Sunday. I've even studied the tube map to figure a route that may be less mad. No chance.

I'm guessing that there will be a special act at the show.

I'm guessing that David Beckham will introduce it and I'm guessing that it will be the Spice Girls.

If there are conflicting stories about them not doing it, I guess they won't be ready -however, it would be too good a global promo opportunity to miss for a relaunch.

UPDATE: already seeing denial stories!

bomb the bass

2007-06-29T14:16:00.000+01:00

I'd arranged to meet Roger at Canary Wharf yesterday evening. We were outside one of the wine bars looking at the water.

Roger was bass player for the Bomb, a band which is now defunct, but at the time were noted for their shiny red guitars (we both thought that maybe the guitars were a bit better than some of the music!)

Anyway, it was a fun evening, comparing notes on various folk we both knew and extending some of our contacts. In fact we stayed there until pretty much the last trains, then he headed away to Essex, and me back to Chelsea.

Glastonbury 12

2007-06-26T21:14:00.000+01:00

I will start posting about other topics again, but I thought there were a couple of aspects of the journey back to London worth a comment.

The coach was fine; all of the seats had special seat covers as protection from the mud. Actually there was quite a lot of banter about the gigs and so forth, but also a surprisingly long discussion about the different types of mud we had encountered; we all seemed to have developed a full vocabulary to describe the gloppy, the see-through, the slow-sink, the stinking, the mainly hay - and so the list went on - and got ruder.

The journey was stopped part way at a services and it was entertaining to see the spontaneous response of normal folk to a bus load of grimy revellers descending on the Service station. I think they worked out where we were from.

It was also strange walking on normal surfaces again. I've got so used to the mud and wellington boots effect and the services were a sort of return to normal walking. Most of us had a strange zombie like shuffle - a combination of sleep deprivation, having to stand for the last 4 or 5 days and the strange support provided by Wellies.

The next interesting part of the journey was arriving at Earls Court. Ten o'clock in the morning in central London, yet the overwhelming impression was of how quiet it was. This is the post Glastonbury noise effect, because nothing ever really stopped at the festival. People,. music, chatter, happenings twenty four hours a day.

And then on the tube - people pointing "they've been at Glastonbury". And surfacing at Sloane Square. It was as if the entire Square stopped to look at us as we walked to a 137 for the last stage.

Proper photos and some short video of the Long Blondes and the Who, to follow - but probably at the weekend.

Update...here's another Glastoblog

moblog : Glastonbury 11

2007-06-25T07:10:00.000+01:00

Sunday continued to rain, but our spirits were lifted by some great shows. Surprisingly, at this point the Shirley Bassey and The Who were both amazingly good. Shirley Bassey performed mid afternoon and showed us what 'show-biz' can be like. Warmly received.

The Who were later and it was raining quite hard. Still a great gig. Finished with a quick tropp around some of the late clubs but decdied to get back to the tent rather tahn see the dawn.

Actually the Vango has survived really well. No leaks and hardly any mud, unlike some of the others. Picking a spot away from the main areas helped.

I'm writing this on the coach back to Earl's Court. Managed to get one at 5.30 in the morning instead of 6. We've brought just about everything back, and because of the waterproofs, there is far less mud on clothes than one might expect.

moblog: Glastonbury 10

2007-06-24T17:59:00.000+01:00

Refreshed with a couple of bands this afternoon, I've just paused for a large fruit drink. Last night became this morning without really any gap. The time seemed to go very quickly, by the time we had checked out a few of the dance tents and the strange attractions of Trash City.

There seem to be several new areas here this year although it is possible that I just missed them before. There were definitely Dance tents last time, but not on the scale of this year's Dance East and the nearby Dance West. We also spotted a Wild West area called the Pussy Parlour with some rockabilly type band at full speed.

And as for the New York area, the burlesque clubs, pagoda shaped opium den and the pole dancing ballerinas - or maybe I just imagined some of it. A lot to handle in a single evening. I'm also conscious that there's still several of the main tents that I havn't really visited.

Still there's another night.

moblog : Glastonbury 9

2007-06-24T14:17:00.000+01:00

A bit of a night yesterday.

Didn't finish until around 7.

Just going for coffee.

Saw Kate on stage with Pete in the Babyshambles gig.

Leather.

More l8r as the text says.