"on the pleasure of hating"--an exhibition

its namesake essay

relevant to recent discussions (and recent RIP's too)

the blog of admiral greyscale

c/o FACT an interview with new recording artist Woebot

also Matt musing on Dirty Projectors and Bitte Orca (equal-first lp of 2009, alongside Micachu's Jewellery.... admittedly, a far from densely packed field, but these would shine hard in any year)

"what sandblasted jeans would say if they could talk"

mike powell damns wilco with faint--very faint--praise

ardchive fever (back from the dead)

An actual archive, this time, dedicated to rave culture and electronic dance music, and administered by a mate of mine who is issuing an open call for donations of flyers, music, and memorabilia/ephemera of all kinds. The press release/mission statement can be found here.

radio from the other side

(hosted by the fellows behind look around you)

(tip of the hat to ian hodgson)

woebot mix of ambient jungle c/o FACT

plus

chiming tardily with recent-ish synth talk, vintage vid of synth wizardess suzanne ciani(this via mimaroglu blog)

vivid and touching tributes to sWells from Stubbsy, Studsy, and sundry ex IPC sorts, c/o the Quietus

a cheeky chuckle

a jet of cold reason


a sharp swift thought

some meta matter



at last, the music

RIP Steven Wells

tribute from colleague james brown

swells swatting stroppy whippersnapper

WHEN MATES MAKE BOOKS

latest instalment in an irregular series occasioned by the large number of friends who've got books out this year



Borderline, this one. Not really a book, yet not quite a magazine either. A collaborative venture between Faber & Faber and Domino Records, Loops is a twice-yearly periodical of music writing, deluxely produced on paper stock nicer than any book I've ever had out, and at 224 pages longer than any music magazine I can think of, even some of those really fat Forced Exposures or Melody Makers from the Seventies with special pull-out sections reviewing new instruments, amps, etc. Borderline, then. But the debut issue of Loops is crawling with mates, starting with co-founder/co-editor Lee Brackstone, who's my editor at Faber, and continuing with several of the contributors: Anwyn Crawford a/k/a Fangirl / Aloof From Inspiration, with a piece entitled "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?" about the construction of and projection towards teengirl taste in rock criticism; Matthew Ingram surveying music technology and the sonic state-of-art; Geeta Dayal, offering an amuse-bouche for her Another Green World book due this autumn on Continuum, here looking at the parallels between Eno-in-the-kitchen and Eno-in-the-studio. Oh yes, and if you can be mates with yourself, then I should mention that I'm in it too: "Sonic Fiction... or, If This is the Future, How Come the Music Sounds So Lame?" is the first of a two-parter about science fiction and music, with this instalment looking at s.f. movie soundtracks.

And I'm hoping more mates will be contributing in the future.

Other highlights from Loops Issue 01 include: Hari Kunzru's "Twice Upon A Time (Listening to New York): Reflections on Moondog", Sam Davies's "Not Bad Meaning Bad... but Bad Meaning Good: Hip Hop and Susan Sontag's 'Notes on Camp'", Amanda Petrusich on blues 78s collectors, and Rob Young's "Hearken to the Witches Rune".

Loops is out July 2nd, 2009.

surprised nobody else's mentioned this, but what is up with the look Moritz Von Oswald is rocking in the photo shot for his Wire cover story?



and then in the spread itself:



und der piece de resistance



I've been to Germany and Austria a few times and the neck scarf thing is this very Germanic type look you will see fairly often ... but usually on middle aged ladies

a personal appreciation of Ian Loveday a/k/a Eon by Louise Gray

Q: Is a quadraphonic LP (specifically the Quadradisc format used by companies like Elektra and Nonesuch) going to sound okay when played through a regular stereo system? Or will it sound like how it looks through the wrong prescription pair of glasses?