Dee has been a friend of mine for years now and an Inspiration.  He helped me write my engagement song and has always impressed me with the ability to knock up a tune in minutes that would take me an eternity.  Things that I have in my head but cant reproduce are no bother to him!  He amassed many a demo, both bedroom and studio recorded but always sat on them, never released into the wild.  So I forced them upon him a few months ago by compiling them and pressing up a dozen copies on a lightscribe cdr.  He was impressed and touched.

Here is a little video I knocked up for him today:

Hit the jump for link to the album ..

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I guess I’ve been thinking about old gigs recently.

I’ve always enjoyed getting drunk at gigs… they go hand in hand with me and always have done.  From when you are 15, a gig in Belfast and a carry-out seemed like the best thing ever.  Getting out of the home town and prying eyes and catching a band and getting drunk, whats not to like!  Never one to be a trouble maker the only negative side of getting lit up is that usually, you don’t remember the end.  At a recent Josh Ritter gig I got full and don’t remember the end of the show at all and my wife send me packing to the back as i was annoying her!  Tee Hee I still had a brilliant night.  Fuck it I’m much to old to change my habits!   I suspect the majority of any gig reminisces will be like this, half remembered.  I have to admit, I don’t remember too much of the end of this gig, but at the time, it was monumental.  To the fans and to the band.  Lets hear from Kurt first:

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Villagers in the Black Box and im pretty damn excited!!  I only started listening to the album 2 weeks ago and I’ve been hammering it ever since.

Vintage production and songwriting style, the songs love to build and snake a little, with time to breathe.

It makes me think of Sufjan Stevens in the way he tells a tale, This certainly sits proudly next to Illanoise.  In fact its better than all Sujfans post Illanoise output.  But I’ve only listened to his new EP once so should not be so quick to Judge.  For now, this is a Villagers post and it’s the best album I’ve heard in MONTHS!

http://www.openhousefestival.com/

Now this is a bit niche so excuse me for it in advance.  Its a country song I wrote with a friend regarding our old game server ‘the bolthole’, that we enjoyed many a game of Wolfenstein on back in the day. The house shown is the original Bolthole, we still party there today!

I’ve wrote a few tunes with Damien so will get them up eventually and maybe do a feature on him too!

I don’t really want to knock fattakin’s podcast off the top of the page but…

It pains me even more to post this when it looks increasingly likely that I’ll not be going to Electric Picnic AGAIN this year but, they have announced further additions to Electric Picnic 2010, but not just on the music side, also on the comedy side. Hit the jump to see what’s new!

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I thought of this long before Zane Lowe but just got round to doing it recently. The idea was to have a tenuous link between songs, but overall have some kind of wandering mix trough my music and someone else. Kind of trying to re-capture that idea of 2 guys sitting over a bunch of Vinyl and playing tunes to outdo each other. Brooks is a friend in work with class taste in genres i normally only dip into and hence is great to talk to and take recommendations from. I have another 2 on the boil with mates that are shaping up to be excellent and hit me up in the comments here or on facebook if you want to be number 4.

Yes i cannot find the hash key, this is the first mix done on my first mac so im really finding my feet here.. you’ll hear the mac volume button being pressed loads on this mix but as it was all ripped from grooveshark in a live take, I couldn’t really face fixing it once I learned to turn that off..

You can download here (right click/save as)

*new* You can download an ipod / itunes friendly version here that has the album covers as each track plays..

Here is the original Grooveshark mix we put together over email

Click the link below to stream and read some ramblings:
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The Electric Picnic line up has advanced since the last update, adding a few names to the main line up and the dance tent. A few more interesting additions here. Hit the jump to find some youtube links to the new acts.

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So I’m off to the brother-in-laws on Saturday for a lads night.  There will be a BBQ and copious amounts of beer.  So I thought it was time to do a drinking mix that can be stuck on to get people fired up.  I laughed when showcasing the tunes to my wife and she kept telling me not to include certain songs as we’d “go buck mental”  to them.  I saw this as a good sign and included them!

You can download here or listen here:

Thanks for the suggestions on the new facebook page and Darren, I forgot to include some Hendrix, sorry!

Ah, the EP.  from 4 to 8 tracks this can be a classic, record label obligation or an experiment gone wrong.  Digging through the Vinyl I have, I would happily say they are usually a success.  Bands like Fugazi deliver solid slabs of vinyl while others pay lip service and just record some crap.  Pavement produce what I think can be called their definitive work and my favourite ep ever in Watery Domestic.

By the way the terrble ‘scratch’ in that Vinyl pictured is my new Josh Ritter album, a pressing bump.  I was gutted but getting a replacement for free!  Bigup Road Records

Either way I think it makes for good listening, so click on the jump below for the write up & pics or just have a listen here:

The Write up, pictures  and mp3 download are right HERE or over there on the podcast page —–>

Tracklisting:

Therapy? – Meat Abstract

Fugazi – Burning Too

Mudhoney – If I Think

Sonic Youth – Dirty Boots (live)

Fugazi – Waiting Room

Therapy? – Potato Junkie

Minutemen – Take Our Test

Pavement – Shoot The Singer

Kilgore Trout – disposable

The Lemonheads – Ride With Me (acoustic)

Beth Orton – Lean On Me