Recently I've had this strange feeling that CDs are over. It's strange because I don't normally care about that sort of thing. For a long time now I haven't bought more than one or two CDs a year, but that hasn't been because I thought CDs were over. Now I don't really feel like buying any CDs ever again. I suppose I will at some point. I'm not taking any vows. But I'm not at all excited by or interested in the technologies that are replacing CDs, either. It's all come to seem like diminishing returns of one damned thing after another. The only thing I really look forward to now is death. I pretty much despise this world.
Anyway, I still play CDs, because most of my music is on CD. There's a CD player downstairs that has five trays, or whatever. You put five CDs in and it revolves them. To be honest, I don't like the design. You can only play one CD at a time, after all. All this design does is encourage you (or me, anyway) not to think about what music you want to listen to. (Okay, let's say 'me', not 'you'.) I can go for weeks with the same five CDs in there, revolving and revolving, and eventually I sigh and decide to replace one of them, or some or them, or all of them. Recently I replaced three of them.
Currently, the CDs in the machine are as follows:
1) Letters from Quentin by Kodagain
Yes, this is the famous Kodagain CD for which I have written the lyrics, and it's great. I'm really not sure how to describe it, except that I think Sasa (singer/songwriter) himself described it as "relaxed and proud", which seems a fairly good description, as does 'majestic'. The restrained production reminds me a little of the Velvet Underground, but the songs are somewhat more melodic than that, often featuring Sasa's layered and eccentric backing vocals. I am going to have to inset videos from two of the album's songs here again, even though I've inset them before on this blog.
This kind of thing could persuade me that CDs are not over, after all, especially as there is a beautifully designed lyric booklet with comments on each song from me. (I suppose that CDs at least still have currency as gifts, things to be sold at live events, and so on, and, in this case, hopefully as collector's items.)
If you want to buy a copy you can always write to Listen Loudest. I understand that this might not be thought of as convenient by some people, though (don't know if they use PayPal). Therefore, I've been trying to work out how I can distribute some of the CDs from the UK. I have a PayPal account, so that's half the battle. I think I might end up just taking orders through my blog (I'm not much of an entreprenuer, as you can tell). Don't make your orders just yet, though, as I don't have the CDs in stock yet. I'm going to work out a few more things – such as costs of postage and packing – then borrow some money from someone who has offered some capital for such a venture, and then I'll let you know.
Can you see my face in the background of that last video?
Anyway, I have a stinking cold at the moment, and can't write as well as I should, but this album is one of the few beautiful gleaming things in the general darkness of my life.
2) Forever Changes by Love
3) Ocky Milk by Momus
4) I don't know what this one's called, actually, or what it is. It sounds kind of Native American, like peyote trance music. I believe it's meant to balance the alpha waves in your brain or something like that. I can't remember.
5) Life Journey by Górecki
I'll try and write something about each CD when I have some energy.
Quentin – I buy far, far to many CD’s – music is a passion – many different types and genres. I am a huge fan of the dwindling presence of independent record shops – in Manchester close to where I spend a lot of my time. Your comments about despising the world worry me. Everything is changing constantly. The room you sit in, the bus, car or train you travel in changes, friends change, what you eat changes, money changes – so that thought can only be about a brief period and not how it was or shall be in the future. If you agree with my view then the world is a challenge certainly but all moods or bad news or events have a beginning, middle and end. This view helps me when life is tough as it inevitably will be. I watched transfixed this morning to Sky News on the TV as almost biblical flooding took hold of Cumbria. Now that really is bad news but little by slowly the region will recover.But back to music … I’ll write more later. I like the subject of this thread. Rob.
Quentin – here is a little of what my senses respond to when confronted with following pleasures – The Stone Roses, New Order, James Brown, lots of punk stuff – Buzzcocks, Warsaw(then Joy Division), The Slits, The Jam, Magazine, Skids, Wire, Wayne County, etc, The Associates, The Rolling Stones, Sun Ra, The Fall, much of the output from the Sonar Kollektiv – which encompasses many nu-jazz artists from Scandinavia to Germany, DJ Hell, FourTet, 24Carat, lots of rude boy ska stuff from guys like King Tubby, Lee Perry, Prince Jammy, Augustus Pablo etc, lots of modern nu-jazz electronica/orchestral stuff like Stonephace; Nina Simone, Domu, Thief and dark drone shit like Murcof – in fact when I have a problem I often turn to Murcof – listen on iTunes and you’ll understand – Jon Hopkins, The Black Dog, Cyclob, Kraftwerk, The Beach Boys, Fripp and Eno, The Smiths, The Specials, Boards of Canada, Slaughter and the Dogs(oops should have been entered earlier), Hawkwind, Ian Brown, Wu-Tan Clan, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Jon Kennedy, Barry White, B12 and many, many more so I won’t bore you … by the way I keep refreshed of current tunes by listening to the Internet Radio station – SOMA FM – from San Francisco – there are about 12 stations – all free to accomodate all tastes … hope your cold goe :drunk: s away ..
I like most of the music you’ve mentioned. Not every single band/artist, but most.More later,Quentin.
Chris Barker writes:QC:[As Edward Tattsyrup from ‘The League Of Gentlemen’.]What’s all this talk of despair and despondency? We’ll have no despair or despondency here. Have you thought about one of these beauties? http://www.brennan.co.uk/I buy far too many CDs. Perhaps ten a month. If you use a website like http://www.find-cd.co.uk you can usually find most things for circa £5 inc delivery. The problem I then have is that I am too lazy to copy them onto my laptop – which only have finite storage anyway – so I keep the originals in the car (where I usually listen to music anyway). Within two weeks I’ll have scuffed the box horribly; after a month I will probably lose the CD inside or it will get scratched; and then I end up with a car full of flawed and scruffy CDs. My biggest regret is selling my vinyl record collection in the early 90s. I have slowly been building up a new collection for five years – mostly acquired from charity shops, occasionally from record fairs – because I plan to return to the trusty old record player one day. What’s more, vinyl holds its value, and some original records are worth hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Nothing can beat the enjoyment of listening to music on a good record player – like tea or coffee making, it can become a ritual. Oh, when I think of the albums I parted with…..first pressings of early Bowie records with original inserts….Cream….Hendrix….The Beatles….The Smiths….obscure punk stuff which is now virtually unobtainable. A couple of years ago, many classical albums – carefully preserved box sets – began to turn up in local charity shops. I snapped many of these up for a couple of quid each when a quick glance on Ebay suggests they are worth circa £50 a throw. It transpired that they came from the collection of the recently deceased composer Malcolm Arnold, who wrote the score for the St Trinians films, in addition to winning an Oscar for his soundtrack for ‘Bridge On The River Kwai’ (Arnold was once a notorious drunk who had been banned from all the local pubs and many in Norwich too). Reggie Oliver made me a CD of 1920s music hall numbers which is curiously addictive e.g. Stanley Holloway, Jack Buchanan et al. I can recommend music like this for its wit and urbanity; rather like reading an A J Alan story (a seriously under-rated writer who manages to inject a surreal, nightmarish quality into his work, faintly Aickmanesque). I can also recommend Tom Waits, particularly Swordfishtrombones, particularly ‘Shore Leave’. TTFN,CB
Your comments about despising the world worry me. Everything is changing constantly. The room you sit in, the bus, car or train you travel in changes, friends change, what you eat changes, money changes – so that thought can only be about a brief period and not how it was or shall be in the future.There’s an old French saying, which I’m sure you know – the more things change, the more they stay the same. I wish there was some kind of change in the world other than physical decay and technological ‘progress’. I don’t know if it’s at all possible, but I’d like to see some kind of… Utopia, to use the word loosely. In other words, a world in which change actually was growth or development or something of the sort. Here are the headlines today: * PC dies in Cockermouth floods * Brown pays tribute to flood tragedy PC * Carjacker who ran over victim faces jail * Man freed after killing wife during nightmare * Vicks spray recalled over bacteria * Police in Peru claim to bust human fat traffickers * Heidi Klum impresses at Victoria’s Secret show * Auction record for umbrella stand as YSL mystique… * One killed in Miley tour bus crash * “New Moon” breaks midnight record at box offices It just goes on day after day.Having said that, I should make it clear that one of the many problems with this blog is the fact that I tend to ‘let it all hang out’ here. I shouldn’t, really. I would probably be better served turning up in the prose equivalent of a suit and tie. You can, at a dinner party, toss off a remark such as, “I’d really like to put a rusty ice-pick through Cheryl Cole’s spleen”, and people will just titter behind their napkins and say, “Oh, how witty”, but when you put this sort of thing in writing, people begin to worry.I think I probably do write that sort of thing from time to time, for instance, about despising the world, which is, of course, a much worse thing to say than the Cheryl Cole example I’ve just given.I’ve been told by at least one person that my blog is exactly like how I am in person, which is a horrifying thought. I can only hope that this is an observation that works exclusively for those who know me in person first and then read my blog, rather than the other way around, since I suppose some knowledge of my personal manner might influence and mitigate an interpretation of my written words. Some day footage of me talking and moving about a bit – such footage exists – will probably appear on YouTube, and one or two people will see it and nod their heads as all becomes clear. I think I was basically put on this Earth to make women and children smile, and men guffaw lustily – much to my dismay.Finally, yes to all the following:Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Jam, Magazine, Sun Ra, The Fall, lots of rude boy ska stuff from guys like King Tubby, Lee Perry, Prince Jammy, Augustus Pablo etc, Nina Simone, Fripp and Eno, The Smiths, The Specials, Boards of Canada, Hawkwind, Wu-Tan Clan, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads.I could say ‘yes’ to some of the others, too, but I tend to be cautious.Have you thought about one of these beauties?
http://www.brennan.co.uk/No. I never even knew they existed. Something like that would make sense for me, though, as I don’t really have a very fixed abode, and my possessions have already become very scattered in the course of my wanderings.My biggest regret is selling my vinyl record collection in the early 90s.I sold some, but not many. I still regret the ones I did sell – The Crumbsuckers, I believe, and Piledriver. One or two others.Oh, when I think of the albums I parted with…..first pressings of early Bowie records with original inserts….Cream….Hendrix….The Beatles….The Smiths….obscure punk stuff which is now virtually unobtainable.I was present when a friend of mine bought a rare Bowie import worth about 500 quid. He purchased it for much less then this. Can’t remember the format, though. Could have been CD.Reggie Oliver made me a CD of 1920s music hall numbers which is curiously addictive e.g. Stanley Holloway, Jack Buchanan et al. I can recommend music like this for its wit and urbanity;I like music hall lyrics. I like preposterous rhymes and so on. Lyrics have become so unimaginatve, largely because a pop song doesn’t have to be about anything.I can’t find a particularly good version of this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIqsMpaTHY0But the lyrics are excellent:We’re public guardians, bold but wary,
And of ourselves, we take good care,
To risk our precious lives, we’re chary,
When danger looms, we’re never there
But when we meet some helpless woman,
Or little boys that do no harm
Chorus:
We run them in, We run them in,
We run them in, We run them in,
We show them, we’re the bold gendarmes,
We run them in, We run them in,
We run them in, We run them in,
We show them, we’re the bold gendarmes!I wish more people still wrote lyrics of such quality. And there’s Noel Coward, of course:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9PiqCeLEmMNo, wrong one. I mean this:No, actually there aren’t many Coward songs on YouTube, just the boring ones like Mad Dogs and Englishmen and (Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage,) Mrs. Worthington. This one’s good, though:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCXwtETzQ9sWomen say we’re tooBored to bill and coo.We smile wearily.It’s so drearily true. Etc.