acquisitions/5

The Breeders/Mountain Battles

Phosphorescent/The Weight of Flight

Fairport Convention/What We Did On Our Holidays

Alasdair Roberts/No Earthly Man

Warp 10+3 Remixes

interval [9]

Today I feel like listening to Sabotage 20 times in a row. It’s one of those days.

happy-go-lucky

Last Friday I went to see Mike Leigh’s new film, Happy-go-lucky. Having read many good reviews (if a little puzzled by the light-hearted approach of this film compared to previous ones by Leigh) and a few bad ones, I was curious to see for myself what it was all about. The plot is simple, a few days in the life of Poppy (Sally Hawkins), north-London primary school teacher and serious nut-case. But a lovely, fun, and generous nut-case. In the opening scene the camera follows Poppy while she cycles through London and locks her bike before entering a little bookshop. Needless to say, her bike gets nicked but her reaction is unexpectedly jolly. There’s definitely something wrong with her. Or maybe not? Anyway the whole point of the film is that shit happens to everyone and what really makes the difference is people’s reactions to the aforementioned shit. Although Poppy has just hit 30, she’s still sharing a dingy flat with her best friend, she’s not bothered about pension schemes and she’s not in a stable relationship. In London people are so pressurised into buying properties, having the best job, best relationship, best holidays, and so on, that I doubt they (we?) find the time to enjoy all these things. So it’s refreshing to see that there is another way, and more than just one, to see life. It’s just fiction, but it could also be a source of inspiration. Oh, and seeing our house in a couple of scenes was a bit of a shock, but funny all the same!

Double interview Leigh/Hawkins

interval [8]

I know this vicious minute’s hour;
It is a sour motion in the blood,
That, like a tree, has roots in you,
And buds in you.
Each silver moment chimes / in steps of sound,
And I, caught in mid-air perhaps,
Hear and am still the little bird.
You have offended, periodic heart;
You I shall drown unreasonably,
Leave you in me to be found
Darker than ever,
Too full with blood to let my love flow in.
Stop is unreal;
I want reality to hold / within my palm,
Not, as a symbol, stone / speaking or no,
But it, reality, whose voice I know
To be the circle not the stair of sound.
Go is my wish;
Then shall I go,
But in the light of going
Minutes are mine
I could devote to other things.
Stop has no minutes / but I go or die.

Dylan Thomas

…and more

I’m on a destructive shopping spree. I had to have these.

Retribution Gospel Choir [myspace/website]

Vic Chesnutt/North Star Deserter [myspace/websiteblog]

Caribou/Andorra [myspace/website]

acquisitions/4

Saturday 19 April all around the world is Record Store Day. I’ll probably be going to Rough Trade East, which will host an interesting programme of in-store gigs. Below the latest acquisitions.

Do Make Say Think/Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead

Do Make Say Think/& Yet & Yet

This Will Destroy You/This Will Destroy You

Dawn McCarthy & Bonny Billy/Wai Notes

Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band/13 Blues For Thirteen Moons

Black Keys/Attack & Release

Fuck Buttons/Street Horrrsing