Down with the kids.

Popular culture is something that largely bypasses me. Or rather, I am not perpetually on the look out for the next big thing. I don't feed off the words of critics. No need, particularly in music when you can meander through the net and make up your own mind. Good music is timeless. I don't feel I that I am missing much now if I pick up on a band years after they split. It's not as if the recorded body of work decomposes in direct proportion to how hip, 'it' and 'now' a band may have been.
So, a particularly fortuitous chain of events kicked off yesterday. I noticed a piece in the Times about how the Arctic Monkeys genuinely mattered - or some such hyperbole. I want a look at that I thought. There was a review of the new album included and a piece about their lyrics. Remarkably similar to an article about The Streets in The Guardian a year and a half ago - complete with references to Byron, Shelley and even Shakespeare. No surprise, there is nothing the chattering class media love more than someone articulate with a regional accent.
So, I get home and stumble across the Newsnight Review on the box - and lets face it, things don't get much more chattering class than the Newsnight Review. The Arctic Monkeys album was under review. Now, I was aware of this band - they had went straight into number one with their debut single. Obviously there had to be some sort of hype around them - not that I had noticed. I just didn't realise until yesterday the extent to which the London media are coming in bucketloads over this band. All the panelists loved the lp - good debut was the consensus. Predictably one panelist - a very annoying person called Kitty Empire - was proclaiming it a work of genius and great importance (how important can a collection of songs really be these days?).
I had heard the first single a couple of times (I bet you look good on the dancefloor) . On Newsnight they play a clip from the latest single : When the Sun Goes Down. It got me straight away. This is the band that I wanted to go straight into number one when I was 15. They were the band that I wanted to be in when I was 18. A band with straight up no shit lyrics. A band with the energy and no nonsense guitar and drum rhythm's reminiscent of the British bands from the late 70s and early 80s that meant so much in my teenage years. Oh, and as far as can tell, they are still teenagers themselves. It is a long time since my tastes have been in sync with the London media machine. Don't know if this band are going to change the world like some of the verbally ejaculating journalists were proclaiming last night " yuh, and y'know, the best thing is that America is going to 'get' them too" (Kitty Empire). How the fuck does she know ?
Anyway, just happy to have stumbled across them. Not really relevant to The Folk, but I guess inspiration is inspiration.

Time gentlemen please.

Not much to report this week. Some decisions made regarding the recording schedule and starting a myspace account. Rehearsal a little booze soaked due to mix up at practice room. We were meant to start at 6pm, but were delayed until 9pm. Therefore we were four pints better off before starting. We'll get there.
Anyway, a lunchtime trawl unearthed this gem. I have the vinyl 7 inch - the best £1.50 I have ever spent. A good song brilliantly recorded. Belle and Sebastian : Lazy Line Painter Jane. Courtesy of MP3 blog Good Weather for Airstrikes.

Fall song monicker website ah !

A quick 5 minute lunchtime trawl on the web unearthed one of what I assume is hundreds of thousands of mp3 blogs. I am indebted to mp3 blogs - saves me hosting stuff. I just link. Related to music from the web, Spoilt Victorian Child posts this article from the BBC about the effect of music downloads, or more accurately the accessibility and choice that downloads offer. As well as commenting on how discovering new music has lost it's "aura", and on the commodification of music, it goes on to say - " The accessibility of music has meant that it is taken for granted and does not require a deep emotional commitment once associated with music appreciation," said Dr Adrian North, who led the study"
Not sure if I agree entirely. I can still be blown away by hearing new stuff - two gigs this year spring to mind. Any loss of aura I put down to jadedness and having to trawl through an ever increasing amount of the sub standard and mediocre to reach the good stuff.
On the same site I found Stand Down Margaret by The Beat. A song that reminds me of a time when even 7 inch B sides done it for me big style. A clever re working of Prince Buster's Whine and Grine aimed at the then recently installed PM Margaret Thatcher. Great to stumble across it on a Friday lunchtime.

Hello Gadge Gotta New Motor ?

The stuttering has stopped and the singing has started. Well things are getting knocked into shape for the coming gig and the recording is ongoing. No chance for a board meeting of The Folk plc post rehearsal due to Gadgee business in the motor trade. Say no more. Nice photo by the said songwriter in previous post. Hopefully our mugs will be on some soon.
Anyway just popped by to drop off a song Cat Power : The Greatest. Wouldna ken the quine if she jumped oot o ma porridge of a morning, but I gather she's daen a'right for hersel. Very nice track and some fantastic drumming.