Music... the saviour whilst travelling
BY Jonathan Wilson
Travel, remembering I have an ipod and the love affair of not speaking or looking up whilst cramped next to an overweight old man smelling of London grime on the tubes...
Ahh, a week has passed and I've found myself sitting here and thinking about what, if anything I have to say that may be of interest to you out there in the internerd. Do people have time to read the opinions of nobodies these days? Do they even care? Fuck knows I don't. There are too many people laying claim, and usually in an uneducated way about their likes and dislikes in all forms of the creative world.
Hmm..., I probably should stop going down this path and let you know what's happening in London town. After something like 36 hours door to door I arrived at the house of Shrimps and we hit the town for some much needed coffee. It's been raining here all day everyday. The weather is horrible but if I think about it, really it's just English weather. We're kind of super lucky in Australia that it's sunny and warm all the time pretty much. So I've been belting all over central London doing the rounds so they say with labels, bookers, record stores etc and it's exhausting to say the least.
When you're travelling like a headless chicken on public transport you need two things, a decent book and an ipod.
I hate ipods, I really do, the music is compressed and sounds thin and bad all round. I'm a cd vinyl type of guy. I will say that my ipod comes in handy when I'm away because I need to have all my music at my finger tips when I want it. Who knows what mood will strike going from Spring to Autumn and so on.
So what have I been listening to... It's always a little strange coming here, I find myself filing through old and new albums to fill the sites just right. While sitting in London Fields on Monday morning I put on an old Glide album called Disappear Here and for that moment the weight of the rain and gloom was lifted from shoulders. Glide were Aussies from the early 90's that were hands down one of the most amazing pop bands to ever grace the face of the planet. William Arthur the main singer/ song writer passed away in 99 and I personally think he is and will always be one of Australia's and the worlds greatest song writers. Glide were better than the posies, fuck they were even better than Big Star. If you need a place to start look no further than the single What Do I Know?. That song is perfect start to finish, lyrically it moves and opens up some wounds that would later surface in a much more realistic way. Tangled from the same album, is all moody minor keys till it hits the most uplifting chorus. Why You Asking from the next record Open Up And Croon was almost an extension of What Do I Know and with a fuzzy pre verse that so thick and powerful and an outro progression that is probably the best 30 seconds off guitar pop music I've ever heard. What a fucking band. Do yourself a favor and search them out. They should be respected forever.
It got me to thinking, when will artists, like this that have come before us get the recognition they deserve?
Everyone seems to make reference to the Saints, the go betweens, the church or the Birthday Party, the scientist blah blah blah. While I'll be the first to admit that those bands are hugely influential and are all amazing I'm still a little sad that the next generation of acts haven't yet or aren't being given the same props that they should be. Bands like the Underground Lovers, Gaslight Radio, The Paradise Motel, Sandpit all did it their own way and weren't running a game like any international acts. They stood apart with brilliant songs and powerful performances but it seems to be to no avail. No recognition really in the day and it seems none now either. Maybe it's too early, maybe people aren't interested in history anymore. I am... I have to go now and listen to Glide again.
p.s. I went out to dinner with a friend of mine who is about to sign a record deal for like a billion dollars and she'd just been hanging with Rick Rubin and Leonard Cohen. What a fucking small world.
Travel, remembering I have an ipod and the love affair of not speaking or looking up whilst cramped next to an overweight old man smelling of London grime on the tubes...
Ahh, a week has passed and I've found myself sitting here and thinking about what, if anything I have to say that may be of interest to you out there in the internerd. Do people have time to read the opinions of nobodies these days? Do they even care? Fuck knows I don't. There are too many people laying claim, and usually in an uneducated way about their likes and dislikes in all forms of the creative world.
Hmm..., I probably should stop going down this path and let you know what's happening in London town. After something like 36 hours door to door I arrived at the house of Shrimps and we hit the town for some much needed coffee. It's been raining here all day everyday. The weather is horrible but if I think about it, really it's just English weather. We're kind of super lucky in Australia that it's sunny and warm all the time pretty much. So I've been belting all over central London doing the rounds so they say with labels, bookers, record stores etc and it's exhausting to say the least.
When you're travelling like a headless chicken on public transport you need two things, a decent book and an ipod.
I hate ipods, I really do, the music is compressed and sounds thin and bad all round. I'm a cd vinyl type of guy. I will say that my ipod comes in handy when I'm away because I need to have all my music at my finger tips when I want it. Who knows what mood will strike going from Spring to Autumn and so on.
So what have I been listening to... It's always a little strange coming here, I find myself filing through old and new albums to fill the sites just right. While sitting in London Fields on Monday morning I put on an old Glide album called Disappear Here and for that moment the weight of the rain and gloom was lifted from shoulders. Glide were Aussies from the early 90's that were hands down one of the most amazing pop bands to ever grace the face of the planet. William Arthur the main singer/ song writer passed away in 99 and I personally think he is and will always be one of Australia's and the worlds greatest song writers. Glide were better than the posies, fuck they were even better than Big Star. If you need a place to start look no further than the single What Do I Know?. That song is perfect start to finish, lyrically it moves and opens up some wounds that would later surface in a much more realistic way. Tangled from the same album, is all moody minor keys till it hits the most uplifting chorus. Why You Asking from the next record Open Up And Croon was almost an extension of What Do I Know and with a fuzzy pre verse that so thick and powerful and an outro progression that is probably the best 30 seconds off guitar pop music I've ever heard. What a fucking band. Do yourself a favor and search them out. They should be respected forever.
It got me to thinking, when will artists, like this that have come before us get the recognition they deserve?
Everyone seems to make reference to the Saints, the go betweens, the church or the Birthday Party, the scientist blah blah blah. While I'll be the first to admit that those bands are hugely influential and are all amazing I'm still a little sad that the next generation of acts haven't yet or aren't being given the same props that they should be. Bands like the Underground Lovers, Gaslight Radio, The Paradise Motel, Sandpit all did it their own way and weren't running a game like any international acts. They stood apart with brilliant songs and powerful performances but it seems to be to no avail. No recognition really in the day and it seems none now either. Maybe it's too early, maybe people aren't interested in history anymore. I am... I have to go now and listen to Glide again.
p.s. I went out to dinner with a friend of mine who is about to sign a record deal for like a billion dollars and she'd just been hanging with Rick Rubin and Leonard Cohen. What a fucking small world.
posted by Levity at
3:10 PM
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