Joane Skyler - Orz.

Joane Skyler - Orz (Reckno)
This time i'm not reviewing a record because I am doing a tape called Orz instead by Joane Skyler who looks like a very nice lady from the cover. I've not seen a tape for sale in a long time and thought they was a bit old fashioned and that no one used them any more but I think it's alright for people to make tapes even if they are old fashioned because it gives people something to play in their tape recorders. I have a tape recorder at home with some old tapes I still listen to like my Nancy Sinatra tape which I like a lot and a tape somebody made me once with all sorts of different kinds of old music on it.
      The music on this tape though isn't old music because Joane Skyler is a brand new artist who has never released anything before.
       Side A of the tape starts off with a noise like an electronic organ and the sound of a heartbeat and then there are electronic drums which sound a bit like foreign bongo drumming and lots of other little electronic noises all mixed up together - it's not messy music though because it is very soft and quite relaxing and very enjoyable and nice and quiet which is a bit of a change for me with my reviewing because recently I have been listening to a lot of noisy music. The music changes after a bit and i'm not sure if that's because it's another song or not because it's hard to tell where the songs end but I think it might be. When the music changes it gets even softer and there are no drums for a bit just a long noise that reminded me of the wind blowing in a tunnel and then there are lots of different electronic noises and drums which keep disappearing and coming back - it is quite strange stuff that changes all the time and this makes it very interesting to listen to.
            After a bit everything totally changes and there is the sound of an old music box which plays till  the drums come in and this time they get a bit more faster like you would hear in a danceclub; I liked this bit a lot, it was very funky and I think it would be good to dance to but I don't really go out dancing, I never really did go out dancing and I think I'm a bit too old to start now because I'm 69. After this funky bit things get all slow and it sounds a bit like the tape's gone funny but it's supposed to sound like that, there is also a rapper guy on this bit but you can't really make out what he's saying much. To finish this side tape off there is then a twinkly tune that also sounds a bit like a music box, I thought this bit sounded very nice and was a good way to finish the side of the tape with. You can hear the whole side of the tape here:


                    Side B of the tape starts off with another funky dance tune and then after that things get a bit weird and there are lots of strange noises like a cat squealing and bubbling and then some drums and this turns into a soft tune that doesn't last too long before changing again and getting even softer and then it gets all funky again; one of the things that I like about this tape is it changes a lot and you don't know what's coming. Near the middle of this side of the tape is a bit I really liked where everything seems a bit broken but then there is a sound like an electronic violin and everything sounds okay again. This bit carries on till the end and I thought it was very nice to listen to because it reminded me somehow of being out in the country and walking through nice fields, I don't really know why it made me think of that, it just did and I liked it. You can listen to this side of the tape here:


          Overall I would say this was a very good tape that I liked a lot because there was a lot of strange different things to listen to and I think other people would like it too. I thought it was a very good first recording from this new artist and I'd like to wish Joane every success in the future. You can buy this tape by clicking the link at the top of this review and hear some other music from Joane here. I would give this tape 10 out of 10.

An Interview with Paul from Hey Colossus.

This time I am not doing a record review because instead I have interviewed Paul from Hey Colossus who I did a review of last time. I was very pleased when I found out about doing the Interview and very grateful to Paul for doing it. Here are the questions and the answers to the interview that we did, I hope people enjoy reading them.

Dear Paul, hope you are keeping well and thank you very much for this interview. I liked listening to your Hey Colossus record so I am very happy indeed to be interviewing you. Here are my questions:

I know Hey Colossus is a noisy rock group with a lot of people in it but I don’t know too much more, could you tell me things like how many people are in it, how long have you been together and what does everybody do? Also, I was wondering because there are so many of you do you all get on well? 

Hello Peter. We currently have 7 people playing in the band, each member uglier than the last. The group has been together for about 10 years I believe, but I've not been in it for that long. Some of the founder members are very old and need a lot of help with basic tasks such as tuning a guitar.

Hey Colossus - Picture courtesy of Rusty Sheriff

In terms of what we do - we have four guitarists, two of which sing, one of whom dances, a drummer with a thick neck, and two men with pedals and noisy boxes, one of whom sings a bit, the other preferring to grow his hair into afro's and talk lovingly of the stars and the planets. We do get on very well and I sometimes wonder - How? 

Do you like being in a rock band and what do you like and not like about it? I’ve been on stage a few times myself with the band here at the Gate and the songs that I sing are Monster Mash and Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, do you like being on stage, do you get a lot of people who come to see you and do you get nervous at all? Also, do you ever smash up your instruments like The Who did? I would like to see a band do this. 

Being in a rock band can be fun. There are times when you can get to turn your amps up really loud and jiggle about dancing on a stage and you get rewarded with free beer and sometimes money. There isn't much to dislike about it apart from being in a van for a long time with older men who have smelly wind coming from their bottoms - AND THERE'S NO WAY OUT OF THE VAN  PETER!

We don't really get many people coming to see us, but it doesn't matter does it? As long as one person is having fun then it's all worth it. On the odd occasions when more than one person is looking like they are having fun in the crowd then it's time to party! We don't tell each other, but I reckon some of us are nervous on stage. It's part of the fun of playing, when you take the nervousness and magically turn it into energy. Or sometimes it goes wrong and the nervousness comes out in the form of horrible smells. 

I have smashed a guitar on stage with another band I was in, and it seemed like fun at the time until the poor owner of the club came up to me afterwards to tell me that he'd just spent all his money on getting the stage nice and new and that I'd ruined it and that he didn't have any more money to fix it. It was selfish thing to do and I felt terrible.

It's always worth remembering other people's feelings. Although it was also a lot of fun, so nevermind!

Do you have a lot of girls coming to see your band and do you like girls or are you married? I like girls but I’ve never had a girlfriend though I would like to find one so I could take her out for meals or maybe I could go to one of your concerts with her and then maybe get married. Do you think being in a band is a good way to meet women? 

Girls don't come to our shows, really. And you can't blame them - we all look like drunken librarians, apart from the drummer who looks like a sober binman. Being in a band is probably a good way to make special friends with ladies, but not if you're in this band.

When I was listening to the Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo record I liked it very much but I couldn't really make out some of the words because the voices were a bit too growly - do you think this matters and what sort of things are the songs about?

That's an interesting question. I'm not sure if it does matter if you can hear the words very well. It would probably matter if we wrote words that we thought should be heard really well. Actually, this LP that has just come out has the clearest vocals and words on any Hey Colossus record, so maybe we're getting better at writing songs. Or worse. I'm not sure!

The songs are generally about absurd people and situations. The world can be rather grey sometimes, like a cucumber sandwich. Our songs are a like a sprinkle of pepper, or a dollop of lovely mustard. And then you just put the cucumber in the bin and eat the pepper and mustard on a bit of bread.

I like all sorts of music but I especially like music from the 60's and 70's like The Kinks and The Rolling Stones and The Who. Do you like all types of music or just noisy music and could you tell me about other bands that you think people might like if they like your band?
 
It would be very boring if all we listened to was noisy music. There's lot's of different, amazing things that the world has thrown up and we all like lot's of strange and lovely things. And the 60's and 70's were a very good time for rock music, so I agree with you on that.

It sometimes seems a bit silly to be making rock music these days, but we're cantankerous old buggers!

Here's some youtube links for some things that we like - maybe you can listen to them and tell us whether you like them?

Faust - "Jennifer"


German Oak - "Raid over Dusseldorf"  

King Tubby - "Laser Rock"

 
Phil Minton

 
Bobadin - "Mother that Curses People" 

And that's all the questions that I have, I hope you like them but if you can think of anything else you would like to say then that's okay, do you have anything you want to ask me?


To Paul from Pete.

Just thanks a lot for asking. It's nice that someone should care to be bothered about us, and you seem like a bloody lovely chap!

Thank you very much for doing this interview and I hope you are well.

You too, Peter. Life is good!

So that's our interview, I hope everybody enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed it - I especially liked him talking about the farting in the van because that made me laugh and made me think of Wayne who also lives in my house who farts a lot, Wayne is alright but he does lots of smelly farts. I also thought it was interesting about smashing the guitar and I think Paul was right to feel a bit bad about smashing the guitar on the new stage but I think I'd still have a go at smashing one if I got the chance. As for the songs that Paul sent along I liked them all very much; the Faust song I liked especially because it reminded me of Donovan except it is a bit more weirder than Donovan, I would definitely like to listen to Faust a bit more. German Oak I liked too and I thought it was a bit like The Shadows who did Apache who I like a lot. I thought it was interesting that Paul sent the King Tubby song because I wasn't expecting him to like reggae, I like reggae very much and we play a lot of reggae here at the Gate because everybody here likes it a lot too. The Phil Minton video I thought was very funny indeed and it reminded me of throat singing, I learnt all about throat singing for another review that I did and I had a go at it with my friend Francis and I think I was okay at it but francis was a bit more better. As for the Bobadin song, I really liked too because i've never heard anything like that in my life before and I thought it was very good to listen to because it is funny and weird and would like to thank Paul for sending it and all the others too, they were all very nice to listen to and I think other people who read this will find them interesting too. To finish up I would like to thank Paul again for everything and also thank you Lauren for organising things - I have had a smashing time doing this and it has made me feel very good.

Hey Colossus - Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo.

Hey Colossus - Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo (MIE)

And now I am reviewing a new Record from Hey Colossus called Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo - I got this music to listen to from Lauren who is the person in charge of giving people their music to review and I would like to thank her very much for sending it to me because I like Hey Colossus a lot. I have heard of Hey Colossus before because I reviewed them right back when I started reviewing records - I remember it very well because I got sent a T-Shirt of theirs from the record company that put out that record for doing such a good review, I like the T-Shirt a lot and am looking forward to when it's hot in the summer time so I can wear it again.

         For those of you who don't know Hey Colossus they are a rock band from Somerset and London and they are a big noisy group because there are eight of them all making a racket on loads of different instruments and you can hear this on this record.
                The first song on the album then is called Hot Grave and it starts off with big guitar strums a bit like the beginning of Pinball Wizard by The Who but that's only at the first beginning because after that it doesn't really sound like The Who anymore because it's much noisier than The Who were. When it starts off properly there are lots of guitars and drums and other noises that I can't quite make out but sound a bit like synthesisers, it is all very noisy but still quite groovy. Over the top of all the noise there is a man singing in a deep voice that sounds a bit like growling but I couldn't really make out what was being sung about but I don't think that matters, you can hear this song here to see if you can make out what the words are if you want:

If you listened to this you will hear that it is a very good song, I think it is a very good way to start the album because it's very rocking and puts you in the mood to hear more.
           After Hot Grave is Octave Dokkter and this one is a bit slower than the last one but it's still quite good, the singing on this one sounds a bit like somebody who is very angry having a row with somebody. Again though it is hard to make out the words so I made up a story about a man who doesn't want a baby being told that he is going to have a baby by his girlfriend and he is shouting at her to go to the doctor but I don't think that's what the song is about really I just think that is something people would argue about - I don't even know much about arguing though because I've never argued in my life with anyone, not even my mother and father or brother and sister. I liked this song a lot and thought it was quite relaxing even though it is noisy and has lots of shouting in it because of how slowly it goes.
          The next song is called How to tell the time with Jesus which is a bit of a funny name innit? I don't know why they've called it that but I suppose it's as good a name as any for a song. This one starts of by going duh duh, duh duh over and over and sounds like a didgeridoo and then the guitars start and it gets louder and louder and then the singing starts and it's softer singing than on the other songs but I still can't make out what the words are and then another voice starts shouting over the soft voice and then then there's another voice and a noise which sounds like farting which I thought was very funny. After the farting it all sort of stays the same for a while before really getting loud and wild - one of my favourite bits was someone screaming Aaaaaarrrrgghhhh!! as if they were getting killed or maybe as if they had jumped off a high building - I liked this song a lot, it made me laugh and there was lots of good things to listen to in it.
          After How to tell the time with Jesus is a song called Leather Lake and this is another one with lots of guitars and shouting in it. I liked this one a lot because it has a noise in it that sounds like a hearing aid makes when it's broken, I have hearing aids but I don't wear them very much because they keep falling out my ears and I don't think I really need them that much because I can hear fine without them.
         Next up is English Flesh and I think this might be about if you were dead and they sent you abroad and fed you to the vultures. This song starts off all fast, loud and rocky and made me think of a lot of people running in a street riot because there is lots of angry shouting in it but then it slows downs and gets softer and a bit weird, I liked this one a lot.
          The last song is one that starts off all slow and soft with nice guitar and some whooshing space noises and then it goes really quiet and the singing starts and was a bit different than the rest of the record because I could make out what the words were. It stays all quiet then for quite a bit and then the voices come in again but they are more shouty so I couldn't make out the words again and then it all starts to get louder but not as loud as all the rest of the record because this is quite a soft song and I thought this was a good way to end the record after all the noisier songs.
           Overall I would say I enjoyed this record very much and I was glad to listen to more Hey Colossus because I think they are a very good band and I hope they keep making records for a long time and get very famous because I think a lot of people would enjoy them. I would give this record 10 out of 10.

Rum Committee - F%*k Up The Party / Boozetown.

Rum Committee - F%*k Up The Party / Boozetown (Rum Committee/Bigger Than God Recordings)

A nice cartoon picture of Rum Committee drawn by
Bukioe who is also in Rum Committee.

This time I am record reviewing a rap record by a rap band from Brighton called Rum Committee. I've not heard much rap music except for there was a man called Michael who used to work in the house where I live and we used to listen to some together because that was the sort of music he likes. To help me with this record I got my friend Darren, who also comes here to the Gate, to help. Darren also likes rap music and he makes his own music where he calls himself 2Decks. Darren told me rap music comes from New York and first started out in the late seventies and it started off when a DJ called Kool Herc used to have parties in New York and he used to get MC's (which is what you call rappers) to chant over the songs and then later this became rapping. Rapping to me is very interesting because it's like talking a song instead of singing it.

            The band on this record though are not from New York because now people make rap music all over the world, even in the UK and as I said Rum Committee are from Brighton - I was interested by this because I thought it was just Americans that made rap music but I think it's very good that it caught on so that lots of different people can do it. I think it's interesting that this band are from Brighton because I like Brighton very much because it is a very good place to go to and I've been many times; I like going on the beach and to the pier and to the DVD shops there. Another thing I think is interesting is that there is ten people in Rum Committee which seems a lot but I suppose that it's a good thing to have a lot of people in your band as long as you all get along.

Pete & 2Decks with the
Rum Committee record

          The first song on this record is a very good one called F%*k up the Party, the word f%*k is a way of writing fuck without really swearing but I think it's okay to swear sometimes because everybody does it and it doesn't mean you are a bad person it just means you like swearing - I don't swear often though because I haven't got much to swear about but I don't mind if other people do. The song starts off quite slowly with a piano bit but then the drums come in and somebody starts singing (not rapping) the chorus in a dark voice and it isn't all slow any more because it goes all funky. After that comes the rapping and the chorus again and then the song goes on like that to the end. I couldn't really understand what is being said because it's very quick and i'm not that used to listening to rapping but there seems to be a lot about drinking and partying which I think is very good thing to sing about and I wish I could go to one of their parties because it sounds like they like to have a good time - Only thing is though that I don't drink much and only really drink coke when I go to parties but I don't mind other people drinking because I think drunk people are funny and I suppose I could have a couple of rum and cokes just for a change. At the end of the song is a bit that sounds like reggae where they sing "Rum Com singalong" and I think this is because the F%*K up the Party is like a singalong especially the chorus, you can hear what I mean here because there is a video you can watch:

            The song on the other side of the record (because this is just a 7" single with one song on each side) is called Boozetown and I think Boozetown must be a place where they drink a lot of booze but I think it must be a made up place though when we looked it up to see if there was a really place called boozetown we did find out about this place here which is a place that a man once wanted to make where all anybody did was drink but he didn't make it in the end - maybe this is the place that Rum Committee are rapping about.

            Boozetown starts off with a train whistle and somebody says BOOOOOZETOWN and then the rapping starts, this one isn't as fast as the last one and not as dancy so I don't really think it's a party song and maybe it's a song for playing on a train after a night out drinking. I liked the music on this one because it reminded me of the music on old westerns and I like to be reminded of old westerns cos I like them very much especially The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and Chisum. You can watch a video for this one too though this version is a bit different from the one on the record. Here is the video:

           Overall I think this was a very good single and I liked listening to it a lot but my favourite is F%*K up the Party which I like because of the swearing in it but I think Boozetown is very good too. I was interested to learn a bit about rap music and I would like to learn a bit more - I would give this record 10 out of 10.

Sam KDC - Synesthesia (and an interview with Sam KDC himself)

Sam KDC - Synesthesia EP (Veil)

This time I am doing a record review of a twelve inch single called Synesthesia by Sam KDC. I was sent this record by Sam himself after he read a review of another of his records that I did and liked it - I am very happy that I got this record and also with the very nice letter that I got with it and would like to thank Sam very much for sending them to me.  
          When we did the last record by Sam KDC we tried to find out some things about him but we couldn't so this time because he got in touch we decided to ask him some questions about himself and his music, here are the questions that we asked and the answers we got, I am very pleased that he answered my questions and I would like to thank him for doing this too: 

How old are you Sam? I'm 25

And are you married? Not yet. I'm not keen for that to change anytime soon either!

Where do you live and do you like it there? At the moment, I'm living in Cambridge. I've been here for about a year now. I've lived all over in the UK really. I was born and raised in Cambridge, but for the last 10 years, I've moved about on my own quite a lot. Whilst I was living in London, I met my girlfriend, who ended up going to Cambridge University and moving there, so I moved back up too. It was strange at first to be back there, but I really like it there again now. There's a lot of strange people in Cambridge, so I kind of blend in nicely and get away with being un-noticed most of the time. 

How long have you been making music and do you have another job?

I've made music for as long as I can remember really, in one form or another. I had a guitar as a child that I was always playing and writing little songs. I started making music electronically when I was 15, but never really took it seriously until a couple of years ago, it was more like therapy to start with. I've had to have jobs in the past to make sure rent was paid, but luckily that's not the case anymore and music is pretty much my full time occupation, which is really a dream come true. I still have to do some work on the sidelines, a couple of days here and there, but still stuff I can do from home, data entry and admin / IT stuff, just to top up the funds if they get low. With the money from music, it's so unpredictable, some months I can have more than enough to be comfortable with and even afford some new clothes and stuff. Other months I can barely afford to eat, and having a vinyl addiction really doesn't help matters! Just to have a warm place to sleep and work from, enough food in my belly to keep me alive and a few new records here and there is all I really want for, so I'm very thankful to be able to have that from doing something I truly love.

what type of music do you like listening to?

All sorts really. I have favourite pieces of music that lie in nearly every genre. I mostly listen to bands and singer / songwriters. I've got really into girls with guitars lately, I used to be so picky about female singers, but I've just found a string of amazing ones recently. I love psychedelia music, artists like Steve Hillage (which my Synesthesia track is sort of an unwritten tribute too), Gong and Ozric Tentacles. I'm a massive Frank Zappa fan. I also love Shoegaze, Grunge, Punk, Folk and even a little country & western. Electronic music wise, my favourite genres are ambient & experimental techno / IDM stuff. But really, I'm open to anything, if it resonates with me, then so be it.

          I hope everybody who reads this will find these answers as interesting as I did. I was especially interested about the types of music that Sam listens to because I thought he might just listen to electronic music because that is what he makes but I think that it is good to listen to all types of music. We listened to some of the music that was talked about in the answers in our music group and I think my favourite was Gong because they are a bit funny, here is a video of Gong from 1973 when I was 29 that I liked a lot:

         One thing I thought when I read these answers is that it is a shame that he doesn't get more money and I think he should get enough to live on properly and buy a lot of things because he is a very good musician and I think it is probably expensive to live in Cambridge because there is a lot of posh people there - I have never been to Cambridge though but I would like to and maybe I could go round to Sam's house and listen to psychedelic music with him. I asked a couple more questions but they were about the songs on the record I am now going to write about now so I will put them in a bit later. 

          As for the record I will begin with the first side which is a song called Synesthesia and it is an electronic music song because as I've said before that is the type of music that Sam KDC likes to make but to me it sounds a bit like classical music too because it is kind of slow and relaxing like the music of a small orchestra or something. I was interested in the word Synesthesia because I have never heard it before and I like learning what new words I've never heard mean so I looked it up and found out that it means something about seeing colours when you hear sounds and other strange things like that - I think this would be a very good thing to bit able to do but that it might get a bit confusing. I think if this song were a colour it would be a light blue or maybe light green and I asked in my questions what colour Sam thought it would be: 

Very good question! I'm really not sure. I'd like to think it was like a kaleidoscope. I think maybe greys and blues, but I'm not sure if I just think that now because of the colours of the vinyl it was released on!
   

The grey and blue record on
The Gate's new record player.

I think Synesthesia is a very nice mellow song and that it would be a good on to put your feet up to after your dinner. At the end of this song is a short bit which doesn't sound like Synesthesia so I think it might be another secret song, this started off to me sounding a bit like the gongs at the beginning of J. Arthur Rank films but then it went on and it reminded me of someone on breathing apparatus in a hospital. I liked this one too and because it doesn't have a name I think I'm going to call it the J. Arthur Rank Song.
       The next song which is on the other side of the record is called All Roads Lead Somewhere and I think it is called that because it is the sort of music you would listen to in a car or a lorry or a van or a coach going down a long road. In the questions that I asked Sam I asked if this song was music to listen to in the car and he said:

I think it's definitely music for travel. I don't drive so I'm always on a bus or a train, but music is a must for a journey.

This one is another mellow one and I can imagine people dancing to this one in an old dancehall like they used to have when I was young except they never had electronic music then that I know of. I used to go to these dancehalls with my friends so it is nice to be reminded of them.
         After this song is a song called Captured which is another mellow song which reminded me of a ship sailing because it sounds a bit like the sea, there are even voice sounds like radio messages being sent from the ship. It is a very atmospheric song and I liked it very much.
           Overall I would say that this was a very nice relaxing record that like I've said before I think would be good to listen to after work once you've had your dinner and want to relax. To buy this record you can click on the link at the top of the review and you can also get some more of Sam KDC's music by clicking here. I would give this record 10 out of 10 and would like to thank Sam again for sending it to me.

Honig - Duze Zwierze

Honig - Duze Zwierze (Yrusmtsim)

This time we are record reviewing a seven inch record by German heavy metal band Honig. The reason I am doing this record is because Martin and Christoph who are the two people in Honig came to the Gate (the arts centre where I do these reviews) to do a concert and to be in an episode of Video Drama (You can see the video below) and while they were here they gave me a record so I thought I could write a review of it.

Honig @ the Gate 20.11.12

          The concert was a very good night indeed  and really great fun, the band played their heavy rock music and lots of the people from the centre got up to sing with them - I didn't though because I was just listening and watching instead. I thought Martin and Christoph were very good people and that it was very nice of them to come and play music for us because they are a very good band.

  

               The record that Honig gave me is a seven-inch single but instead of having two songs on it like other seven-inch records it has eight songs, they are very short songs though and it is a bit weird because the songs on it don't have any titles.

               The first song on side one of the record is 39 seconds long and starts of with Christoph singing "mozamy, mozamy" or something over and over and then the guitars and drums come in and it is very rocking but then it slows down a bit - I think it is very funny that this is such a short song but that that's ok; I thought it was a nice way to start the record off.
                The next song is a bit longer because it is 1 minute 37 seconds long. This one starts off with guitar that sounds a bit russian to me and then the drums come in and a voice that goes "argh, argh" like someone getting stabbed. Then the guitars come in and noises like a monkey in the jungle - I liked this one a lot because I thought it was funny.
                The next one is a minute long and this one reminded me a bit of The Who or another sixties rock group except with screaming instead of singing, I liked this one too.

Peter mit Honig.

                After this is the longest song on the record which is 2 minutes 23 seconds which is still a very short song. This one goes and then stops and then starts again all different and is quite a fast song that sounds very modern to me. I thought it was very interesting how the song kept changing and that this was a very nice song to listen to.
                  The last song on this side of the record is 1 minute 15 seconds long and had a nice shouty bit that reminded me a bit of a nutter shouting in the street; this made me laugh.
                   The first song on side two of the record is just over two minutes long and it is another shouty one that is very rocking indeed and very noisy and I liked it a lot and then after that is a song that is just under 2 minutes which was a bit less rocking at the beginning and reminded me again of sixties bands from around 1968 or 1969 but after a bit it gets very noisy indeed.
                     When the last song on the record on the record started off it reminded me very much of the start of Honky Tonk Woman by The Rolling Stones - here is a video of The Stones doing that song in Hyde Park so you can see what I mean.

The rest of the song doesn't sound like Honky Tonk Woman though because it is another heavy rock song with shouting in it - it is a very good song though and I thought it was a very good song to end the record.

           Overall I would say that I think Honig are a very good band and very nice people and it was lovely to meet them and see them play, hopefully I will see them again sometime if they ever come to the gate again. I would give this record 10 out of 10.

Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

Scott Walker - Bish Bosch (4AD)

This time in my record review I am doing Scott Walker's new record that is called Bish Bosch. I have been a fan of Scott Walker since 1965 when my brother first played me Love Her by the Walker Brothers which is the band that Scott Walker was singing in then. Other songs that I like by The Walker Brothers are No Regrets, The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More and Make it Easy on Yourself - I have a compilation record with lots of songs on but I have never listened to his modern stuff; I thought he'd stopped making music ages ago but he hadn't he just started making different music on his own without the other Walker Brothers. Here is a video for No Regrets so you can hear what he used to sound like.  This record Bish Bosch though is very different to the records he made with the Walker Brothers records and I guess this is because he got a bit older and wanted to do different things which I think is a good thing because anyone would get bored of doing the same type of thing all the time and want to do different things. The main differences are that he doesn't really sing soft anymore and the music is a lot different too and not really pop songs like he used to sing and I don't even know what I would call this type of music because it's not really like other music i've heard before, it's not really rock and it's not really pop and it's not really classical or anything else though maybe it sounds a bit like the sort of music you hear in a play in the theatre but it would have to be a very strange play to have music like this in it.

             The first song on the first record (there are two records because it is a double) is called "See You Don't Bump His Head" and it starts off with very fast drumming a bit like a machine in a factory and over the top then Scott starts singing about "plucking feathers from a swansong"and some other stuff that I couldn't really make out. After a while of this guitars start but not for long and mostly it's just the hammering drum and Scott singing and I thought this was quite interesting but a bit mournful and scary - I liked it though and it made me very interested to hear the rest of the record.

              Corps De Blah is the next song and this one starts off with just Scott singing on his own - I think Scott has a very nice voice even if he doesn't sing soft anymore. After a bit of singing on his own other noises and instruments start to come like violins and dogs barking and banging and then there is a very funny bit with farting on it, I have never heard farting in a song before and I thought it was very funny. After the farting the music gets a bit more chaotic and it sounds to me like the sky is falling in but then it gets quieter again with soft guitar and more dogs barking and then the guitars get louder and there are noises like it is pouring with rain and ships coming in to port. I think it is very interesting how many different sounds there are in this music and how it changes all the time. The end of the song I thought was especially interesting because it ends with a sound which sounded to me like swords being sharpened. I liked this song too.

              The next song is called Phrasing and it starts with Scott singing "pain is not allowed" over and over again with not much going on in the background. I thought it was a bit strange that he was singing about pain because with his new voice he does sound a little bit like he is in pain. This song I thought was a bit more normal than the other songs and sounded to me a bit more like a normal rock song with normal drums and guitars - it is still a bit strange though. At the end of the song he sings "here's to a lousy life" and it made me think maybe he isn't that happy which i think would be a shame because I think life is ok really and that it is a shame to be unhappy and I hope Scott isn't really unhappy and is just pretending. I think it's ok to have unhappy music though because it's good to have all sorts of music.

Shipwreck Kelly, A Flagpole Sitter.

           SDSS14+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter) is next which is a long song that takes up up the whole of the side of the record. At the beginning of this one there is lots of quiet and then every so often Scott sings funny stuff like in a voice that sounds like he has just lost his girlfriend or his friend - there are bits in this song where he sounds like he's gone a bit mad. The music is a bit mad sounding too and sometimes it sounds like a swarm of bees and sometimes like party music and sometimes like a phone ringing and sometimes like sad sounding classical music and sometimes like a crowd of people. When we were doing this song we looked up what a flagpole sitter was and it is someone who sits on top of a flagpole for a long time which I think is an alright thing to do but it might get a bit boring after a while, I wouldn't mind a go though but I'd probably fall off.
             The next song is Epizootics! and there is a video you can see for this one, the video is very good and I liked it all very much especially the couple dancing and the Hawaiian lady with the funny teeth and the maggots on the rose. Here is the video:

          I liked this song a lot though like all the other songs it sounds a bit sad and I think it might make you cry if you listened to it too much but I think that's okay and that it's alright to cry because after a cry you always feel a bit better than you did before. At the end of the song it doesn't sound sad though because it ends on a nice bit of ukelele which I thought was a nice way to end the song.
           The next song is called Dimples and this one sounds quite eerie like Scott is walking through a bad snowstorm while singing - it is a nice song though because it has a voice like an echo in it that I liked a lot and it's not really as noisy as the other songs so it was nice to have a change from all the noisier stuff.
            After Dimples is a song called Tar and this one starts of with a steam whistle and sounds like knives being sharpened. It seems to be a religious song because Scott is singing about God - I'm a very religious man and go to church every sunday morning because I think it's important, I like the people there because they are nice and friendly and I like singing the songs. I thought that it was quite a strange song because you don't get many songs where people are singing over knives being sharpened so I liked this song a lot.
             Pilgrim is next and this starts off with rattling drums and singing that is a bit like a red indian's singing, this is a short song so there is not much more to say about it though other than that.
             The last song on the whole record is called The Day the "Conducator" Died (An Xmas Song) and it a song that sounds a bit more normal than the rest of the record because it has normal instruments in it like guitars and bells, the bells are on it I suppose because it is a christmas song and that's a good thing because it's near christmas now and it's good to have music for christmas because then you can play it at parties but i'm not sure this would be a good christmas party song and it would probably be best to listen to it if you were on your own for christmas.
            Overall I would say that I thought this was a very good record and I thought it was very nice to hear what Scott Walker is up to these days because I have liked him for so long. I would give this record 10 out of 10 but if it was out of twenty I would give it 20 out of 20 because it is that good.