The Dark Forest

This is where it's at now...

2009-09-26T12:21:00.001+01:00

Frost/Nixon 5.5/10 Milk 8/10 Che part 1 5.8/10...

2009-01-26T16:05:00.009Z

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a rash of Politico biopics crossing the Atlantic at the moment... full steam ahead are Milk, Che, and Frost/Nixon. All of them decent (to very good) movies, where political conservatism and revolutionary thought and action have been neatly commodified into large screen entertainment. Which isn't a bad thing if you ask me. I have just returned from a stint in the Cuban jungle and feel all the better for it.

Things always seem to make more sense in hindsight especially when real life events are given plot development and structure... There is of course W (Dubya) from the end of last year and The Baader Meinhoff Complex from Germany, and doubtless a few others that don't spring to mind at the moment. Yes, we are living in the age of the Politiflick... Where will we be going next I wonder?.

Celluloid etc 2008 Redux

2008-12-28T21:05:00.009Z

20
08
15

So what a stellar year 2008 has been for movies... this year I have digested and chewed over more celluloid than I ever have, which is quite an achievement, as I am a pretty avid filmgoer/consumer of both underground and overground flicks. Also this year I have seen more foreign language movies at the cinema than in previous years, as I usually get my subtitle jollies via DVD.
My top 10 was so overcrowded that I had to be expand it to 15.
These movies were all released in London during 2008, apart from Wendy And Lucy which I saw at the 2008 London Film Festival.

1. There Will Be Blood

2. Import Export

3. My Brother Is An Only Child

4. Gomorra

5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

6. Mister Lonely

7. Funny Games U.S.

8. Linha De Passe

9. Hunger

10. Wendy And Lucy

11. Happy Go Lucky

12. Cloverfield

13. The Dark Knight

14. The Mist

15. Twilight

The rest in no particular order

No Country For Old Men
Juno
Margot At The Wedding
Be Kind Rewind
Private Property
Caramel
In Bruges
Searching For A Midnight Kiss
Savage Grace
The Wackness
Somers Town
Waltz With Bashir

Vinyl etc 2008 Redux

2008-12-26T17:14:00.021Z

20
08
15

So this has been an SY heavy, mothership and side project year... I'm a HUGE fan and have followed everything, so the list is bound to reflect this... I make no apologies either, so stay for the ride or adiós to you fairweather friends!. I actually thought before compiling this list that in comparison to last year, 2008 has been pretty thin on the ground for great sounds. I was obviously wrong. The 2 SYR releases alone have given me countless hours of oblivion within the Sonic soundscape, and have further established them, after over 25 years of watching... in solid black letters on the large, sprawling map of my psyche.
I am very happy to report that Mr Neil Michael Hagerty is still more than capable of producing albums that have the power to surprise and delight in equal measures... his howling hex keeps me very happy indeed. Neil I salute you!.

But also it has been a year of discovering new craziness... in particular Los Llamarada and U.S. Girls, both have restored my faith in the belief that there are plenty of people out there producing sounds that can make you stop in your tracks and rejoice. It's just up to you to search out and destroy.

1. J’Accuse Ted Hughes
- Sonic Youth

2. Inherit - Free Kitten

3. Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth
- Sonic Youth W/Mats Gustafsson
and Merzbow

4. Secret Earth - The Dead C

5. Hush Arbors - Hush Arbors

6. Gucci Rapidshare Download
- Magik Markers

7. The Door - Religious Knives

8. Gravel Days - U.S. Girls

9. Take To The Sky
- Los Llamarada

10. Sensitive/Lethal
- Thurston Moore

11. Earth Junk
- The Howling Hex

12. All The Stars In The Sky
(Locked Groove Record)
- Lee Ranaldo

13. Keffer/Gordon/Moore Cassette
- Keffer/Gordon/Moore

14. Multitopia - James Ferraro

15. The Holy Master - Poor School

The rest in no particular order...

Introducing... - U.S. Girls
Blindfold - Thurston Moore
Blues For Proposition Joe - Mirror/Dash - Kit split 7”
It’s After Dark - Religious Knives
Resin - Religious Knives
Hollywood Groupies Rule - Oscillator
Don't Move Your Finger b/w Corpse Solo - John Wiese
‘Could You Be Loved’ - Lambsbread
Jex Thoth - Jex Thoth
Newraytheonport - Gary War
Built For Lovin’ - Thurston Moore
One For Merz - Bark Haze
Maelstrom From Drift - Lee Ranaldo
Texas Working Blues - Christina Carter
Raccoo-oo-oon - Raccoo-oo-oon
Physicalities of the Sensibilities of Ingrediential Stairways - The Skaters
Cortney Love Killed Da Cobain - Paul Flaherty/Thurston Moore/Bill Nace
Ragas Of The Culvert/Total Loss Songs - MV + EE
The Second Original Silence - Original Silence
Fabulous Diamonds - Fabulous Diamonds
Clomeim - No Neck Blues Band
Monolith: Jupiter - Bark Haze and Traum
Pwtre Ser - Magik Markers
And Still, Wanting - Prurient
Kobold Moon - Fursaxa
Adult Life - Carlos Giffoni
Challenger - Burning Star Core
Uneasy Flowers - Autistic Daughters
U.S. Ez - Sic Alps
Too Old To Die Young - Tall Firs
Games For Slaves - Teenage Panzercore
Imperial Wax Solvent - The Fall
Rose/Thorn - Charalambides
Lie Down In The Light - Bonnie “Prince” Billy
For The Maples - Gown
Mister Lonely: Music From A Film By Harmony Korine - J. Spaceman/Sun City Girls
Freedomland - Jackie-O Motherfucker
Split 12” - Kemialliset Ystävät/Sunroof!
Chemical Chords - Stereolab
Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
Astral Bleachers/Big Moment - MV/EE W/the Golden Road
Waiting In Vain - James Jackson Toth
X-Plural US - Various Artists
Countless Centuries Fled Into The Distance Like So Many Storms - Lee Ranaldo
Aftypiclipse (For Jazzfinger) - No Neck Blues Band
Mouthus - Mouthus (No Fun Vinyl only)
Osorezan - Mimidokodesuka
Ringlets (Rita Cavallini) / Asphyxiator/Asphysixiated Split - The Rita/Body Collector
A Blossom Fell - Christina Carter
Vaporizer / Feral Cousins - Emeralds/Tusco Terror
A Team Come True - Dreamcatcher
Plays Berkeley - Pocahaunted/Robedoor
Basement Psychosis - Bark Haze
“Western Mass Hardcore Rules OK” - Slither/Thurston Moore/Paul Flaherty split 7”

Autumn Vodka Bobble...

2008-10-26T20:58:00.020Z

...Just got home from seeing Hush Arbors play a sublime set at "In The Pines" in the Kings Cross area. I don't get out much these days so this was a real sunday afternoon treat, choc full of sunday roast vegtables and resonant hums, in a rain soaked late October autumn London. Captured beautifully here by the insanely talented Barnpaulsic. The new album on Ecstatic Peace is a real dark horse, that could possibly slip into my top 10 albums of the year.
Autumn
Vodka
Bobble...

Basement Watch...

2008-10-11T22:11:00.014+01:00

God I love instore performances... I'm not talking major record store events, I'm talking about the hidden, out of the way smaller affairs that take place with twenty or so people crammed into a tiny space... where everybody is gagging with an intense love for the drone/electronics/music whatever you want to call it.
Cramming for soundwaves I call it.
I have just witnessed one of these gatherings... where a profound, densely layered, aural blitz was conjured up by Vodka Soap (Spencer Clark of Skaters fame) and Family Battle Snake
in my favourite basement seventh heaven that is Second Layer Records. This is as close as I'll ever get to the musical 'happenings' that seem to happen every other day in the Northampton/Easthampton MA orbit that I admire from afar via the internet. There is something so inspiring about sharing music in this way... It has nothing to do with money or fashion or record label bullshit.
These tiny jewels are where it's at.

Oxygen canister...

2008-10-01T20:28:00.005+01:00

...So I encountered a real bonafide explosion the other day at work. Glass shattered, the structure of the building shifted... the core of my body realigned itself, my face cringed at the impact. The strange thing is that the actual seismic reaction was really rather beautiful... bladder relieving, terrifying, but still beautiful at the same time. For hours afterward I replayed the scene in my head over and over again, play, pause, stop, rewind.

Ciento Celluloid...

2008-09-28T12:27:00.005+01:00

So this is a groovy little exercise... I have made a list of a 100 movies that I cherish to help fulfill the constant yearning that I feel to make lists of my favourite things. To make life more difficult I imposed the limitation of one movie per director. (not easy... believe me)... there is actually one blatant cheat in this list... see if you can spot it.

Also they are in no particular order because I wish to retain my sanity.

1. Five Easy Pieces - Bob Rafelson
2. Roma - Federico Fellini
3. Faster, Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! - Russ Meyer
4. Night Of The Hunter - Charles Laughton
5. Pull My Daisy- Robert Frank/Alfred Leslie
6. The Virgin Suicides - Sofia Coppola
7. Ju-On - Takashi Shimizu
8. The Brown Bunny - Vincent Gallo
9. Gummo - Harmony Korine
10. Palindromes - Todd Solondz
11. Ken Park - Larry Clark/Edward Lachman
12. Irréversible - Gaspar Noé
13. Inland Empire - David Lynch
14. Chelsea Girls - Paul Morrissey
15. Nashville - Robert Altman
16. Mean Streets - Martin Scorsese
17. Accatone - Pier Paolo Pasolini
18. Rebel Without A Cause - Nicholas Ray
19. Stroszek - Werner Herzog
20. Thumbsucker - Mike Mills
21. Magnolia - Paul Thomas Anderson
22. The Last Movie - Dennis Hopper
23. Zabriskie Point - Michelangelo Antonioni
24. L’Intrus - Claire Denis
25. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Tobe Hooper
26. In The Mood For Love - Wong Kar Wai
27. Last Tango In Paris - Bernardo Bertolucci
28. Elephant - Gus Van Sant
29. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick
30. If.... - Lindsay Anderson
31. Vivre Sa Vie - Jean-Luc Godard
32. Breaking The Waves - Lars Von Trier
33. The Right Side Of My Brain - Richard Kern
34. Stranded In Canton - William Eggleston
35. Scorpio Rising - Kenneth Anger
36. The Blair Witch Project - Daniel Myrick/Eduardo Sánchez
37. Mio Fratello é Figlio Unico - Daniele Luchetti
38. Empire - Andy Warhol
39. Pink Flamingo’s - John Waters
40. Performance - Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg
41. The Servant - Joseph Losey
42. The Third Generation - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
43. Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky
44. The Piano Teacher - Michael Haneke
45. Carnival Of Souls - Herk Harvey
46. Safe - Todd Haynes
47. Interiors - Woody Allen
48. The Science Of Sleep - Michel Gondry
49. From The Life Of The Marionettes - Ingmar Bergman
50. Repulsion - Roman Polanski
51. Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? - Mike Nichols
52. Suspiria - Dario Argento
53. Bad Lieutenant - Abel Ferrara
54. The Last Of England - Derek Jarman
55. Videodrome - David Cronenberg
56. The Edukators - Hans Weingartner
57. The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy
58. Zombies: Dawn Of The Dead - George A. Romero
59. Broken Flowers - Jim Jarmusch
60. Planet Of The Apes - Franklin J. Schaffner
61. Reflections In A Golden Eye - John Huston
62. Spetters - Paul Verhoeven
63. The Honeymoon Killers - Leonard Kastle
64. Play Misty For Me - Clint Eastwood
65. Straw Dogs - Sam Peckinpah
66. Saturday Night Fever - John Badham
67. The Night Porter - Liliana Cavani’
68. Deliverance - John Boorman
69. Jacobs Ladder - Adrian Lyne
70. Johns - Scott Silver
71. Kings Of The Road - Wim Wenders
72. Les Valseuses - Bertrand Blier
73. Battle Royale - Kinji Fukasaku
74. Les Amants Du Pont-Neuf - Leos Carax
75. Before Sunrise - Richard Linklater
76. A Short Film About Killing - Krysztof Kieslowski
78. Dog Day Afternoon - Sidney Lumet
79. The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari - Robert Wiene
80. The Last Detail - Hal Ashby
81. Day For Night - François Truffaut
82. The Exorcist - William Friedkin
83. Badlands - Terence Mallick
84. Freaks - Todd Browning
85. Shock Corridor - Samuel Fuller
86. The Exterminating Angel - Luis Bunuel
87. Rocco And His Brothers - Luchino Visconti
88. The Lost Honour Of Katerina Blüm - Volker Schlöndorff/Magarethe Von Trotta
89. Grey Gardens - Ellen Hovde/Albert Maysles
90. Touch Of Evil - Orson Welles
91. Rushmore - Wes Anderson
92. Bone - Larry Cohen
93. Klute - Alan J. Pakula
94. Last Year In Marienbad - Alain Resnais
95. I Am Curious, Yellow - Vilgot Sjöman
96. Hana-bi - Kitano Takeshi
97. Midnight Cowboy - John Schlesinger
98. Pixote - Hector Babenco
99. The Evil Dead - Sam Raimi
100. La Haine - Mathieu Kassovitz

Japanese edge...

2008-08-02T21:49:00.017+01:00

There are times when I really miss Tokyo. I took these shots when I was having a love affair with the city at the beginning of the 00's

..... the screens

2008-07-28T15:48:00.002+01:00

Once upon a time in London town there was a Sonik window.

light...camera...action. Or a sudden bursting into flame: a sudden outbreak of violence. anger etc.

2008-06-29T18:30:00.008+01:00

Flare-up.

There is something indescribably wondrous and beautiful about sunlight in the 'golden hour'.
That special time when the sun is setting...
The orange and banana light takes my breath away every time.
My earliest memory has me sitting on the hot bonnet of the family car... cast in sunlight while on holiday with my parents.
Clad in shorts.
My legs dangling.
Reflecting on how fantastic the whole sensation felt...
This is truly a very happy memory.

Maybe it was a defining moment because I have based my whole life and career around the pursuit of light.
And the capturing of it.
And the manipulation of it.

I love the way that light deals with the lens. (both still and motion)
I love the way that light reveals the lens with flare.
Lens flare is as important to me as my orgasm.
Refracted light represents ecstasy in it's purest form.

"To burn with a glaring, unsteady light: to glitter, flash; to blaze up..."
"The angle of refraction: the angle of a refracted ray and the normal incident ray of light to the surface."

All rules were meant to be broken and one of my first instincts whilst studying the laws of photography was to shoot into the sun... this is a big no no in traditional formal circles.
Especially when lens flare ensues.
When the medium is exposed for what it is, it transcends itself and all else around it.
It's intrinsic meaning is altered.
Light is honesty.

....... ..... and the Jerks

2008-06-14T23:58:00.013+01:00

So Teenage Jesus and the Jerks played the Knitting Factory in N.Y.C the other night.... (the legendary No Wave band that Lydia Lunch fronted way back in the late 70's) 2 shows for 1 night only and I wasn't there. I wasn't even remotely in the neighourhood, I was stuck in London, England in fact. I have had a long, long love affair with this band.... can't remember whether I first heard them on John Peel or while sprawling on the floor in a friends bedroom while vinyl was being spun in 1978. Thirty fucking years... I have dilligently carried this single around with me from flat to flat for thirty fucking years!, there is something slightly obscene about the passage of time but therin lies it's beauty.

I guess I'm slightly guilty of fetishising various possessions that I own and this is a prime example.. I'm not really down with band reunions though... in fact I'm extremely suspicious to say the least... but when friday (the 13th) came around I found myself pining for another taste of Lydia Lunch. I've had various encounters with her over the years in both a professional and social capacity... (we have mutual friends and I've been commissioned to take her photograph). She has pinched my arse and given me shit in equal measures, but it has always been a challenge and a consumate pleasure. Thank fucking god she exists.
Out of all of the shots that I've taken of her here are some of my favourites...
This was taken in her dressing room at the Garage in London in the mid 90's.
Here she is with the very wonderful Cathi Unsworth at The Horse Hospital in London, where she did a reading from Cathi's book 'The Not Knowing" in 2006.

More to come...

Oh! .......

2008-05-25T16:11:00.005+01:00

Visions of Madrid echo and reverberate around the roof of my mind... the twists, the turns, the joya, the procession, the patience and the bustle of hot nights. It is truly a city of surprises.
I reclaimed Goya and took pleasure in the fervent heart and soul of my partner in crime.
The static and fragrant sweat of the air filled my lungs with an inspiration that cannot easily be quelled.

It's coming...

2008-04-16T22:34:00.004+01:00

...soon

Mr Lonely...

2008-03-16T11:55:00.005Z

Absolutely indefinable...

Wonderful, unnerving. disorientating, funny, tragic, awkward, magical, silly, beautiful, inspiring, uncompromising, exploratory, childlike, transcendental, surprising, brave, problematic, atmospheric, pertinent, wise, accomplished, episodic, hyper-real, adventurous, brutal and beguiling.

Double Grey Cigarette 23/02/08

2008-03-01T11:16:00.002Z

Chopin RIP

2008-01-06T22:24:00.001Z

So I heard that the legendary sound poet Henri Chopin passed away on the 03/01/08... His death will leave a huge gaping hole in the universal psyche of experimentation... this is my little tribute to him. At the beginning of the 00's I was fortunate to spend an hour or so in his company. I was on a mission to photograph him in his home and studio for the Wire magazine. He was warm, friendly, open and gloriously eccentric... and I had an amazing hour or so in his company... shooting the breeze, while he played me excerpts from his sound poetry on a 70's reel to reel tape recorder. I remember that he was particularly frail and unsteady on his feet, but insisted that we adjourn to the garden as he wanted to be photographed next to the mirrors that were installed there. His daughter installed them for him so that he could "reap the extra sunlight" he proudly told me. This was a dream commission (One of a handful that I will always cherish) and we should thank our lucky stars that Henri Chopin existed.

R.I.P.

2007 Celluloid Redux

2007-12-26T16:56:00.000Z

C E L L U L O I D

1 Inland Empire
2 Control
3 The Science Of Sleep
4 I’m Not There
5 A Prairie Home Companion
6 Paranoid Park
7 Bug
8 Sherrybaby
9 La Noche De Los Girasoles
10 Two Days In Paris

2007 Music redux

2007-12-23T20:38:00.000Z

...Phew, this has been a vintage year for music... I have spent a very long time agonizing over my top 20 and the order therein.... the remaining 50 or so are in no particular order.

1 Future Artists - The Dead C
2 Boss - Magik Markers
3 The Bark Haze (Vinyl)- The Bark Haze
4 Trees Outside The Academy - Thurston Moore
5 Split LP - Thurston Moore/Graham Moore
6 Remains - Religious Knives
7 Electricity Ghost - Charalambides
8 Green Blues - MV + EE And The Bummer Road
9 Unmuzzled Ox - Sunburned w/Paul Flaherty C40
10 Saw A Halo - Mouthus
11 Yankee Psychic hygiene 7” - Elisa Ambrogio and Karl Bauer
12 Person Pitch - Panda Bear
13 James And The Quiet - Wooden Wand
14 Shelter From The Ash - Six Organs Of Admittance
15 Feels Like Frenching - Leslie Keffer
16 Z - Sunburned Hand Of The Man
17 Tromatic Reflexxions - Von Südenfed
18 Stereo Mars - Lambsbread
19 Weirdo Rippers - No Age
20 XI - The Howling Hex

The Spring press 12" - Magik Markers
Likeness - Charalambides
S/t - Basalt Fingers
Black Weeds/White Death - Thurston Moore C40
Cataracts - X.O.4
Macannabis - Bark Haze C30
Kumpiny Night - V/a CDR
Dear Companion - Meg Baird
Gilded Splinters: Tape Work 1995-2005 - Bruce Russell
Dark Stars EP - White Magic
Panzer Division Lou Reed - Sunroof!
Reformation Post TLC - The Fall
Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective
Power(Fallujah Version)7” - The Dead C
Dispersed Royalty Ornaments - Skaters
Moonlight In Vermont - Emil Beaulieau
In Brooklyn After Dark 12” - Religious Knives
Jiwana - Jim O’Rourke
There’s No Home - Jana Hunter
The Volodor Dance (Vinyl re-issue) - Magik Markers
Through The Panama - Sightings
“Total Joke Era” - Bark Haze
Load Blown - Black Dice
Behold Secret Kingdom - Raccoo-oo-oon
Split 12” - Panda Bear/Excepter
Reformation Post TLC - The Fall
Hallucination Guillotine / Final Worship - Kites
Follow This House - Mouthus
We Are Him - Angels Of light
Love Is Simple - Akron/Family
People EP - Animal Collective
Mirage Of The Other - Zaimph
Three Sparkling Echoes - Birchville Cat Motel
A Tear for Every Grain of Sand - Pocahaunted
Blood Lightning 2007 - Burning Star Core
Hunted Gathering - Pocahaunted + Robedoor
Split 7“ - Michael Yonkers /Little Claw
The Squid - Aaron Dilloway & C. Spencer Yeh
Carrion - Jana Hunter
Bird Sister Blasphemy - Birchville Cat Motel
Strangle The Wretched Heavens - Charalambides
Everyday World Of Bodies - Burning Star Core
The Valerie Project - The Valerie Project
Ask Forgiveness Ep - Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Excellent Italian Greyhound - Shellac
Gettin’ Gone - MV + EE And The Golden Road
The Acidic Wing - Blood Stereo
Spit and Squalor Swallow the Snow - Little Claw
untitled - Kemialliset Ystävät
Valley Of Fire - Jackie-O Motherfucker
Alone in the Dark Wood - Fursaxa
Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind - Vashti Bunyan
Part Two The Endless Not - Throbbing Gristle
And Their Refinement Of The Decline - Stars Of The Lid
S/t - Liars
Luck 12" - Religious Knives
Alles Wieder Offen - Einstürzende Neubauten

Archivo #1

2007-12-07T21:39:00.000Z

I originally posted this on another blog somewhere OUT THERE on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2006

Today I cried real tears. I did too...
After following a link to view Public Image Ltd performing on American Bandstand in 1980... previously to this I'd seen a brief extract but never the performance in it's entirety... and what a treat it was...
All nine minutes and fourty sumptuous seconds to be exact.
Oh my god! it all came back in one fell swoop...
What it means to be truly inspired and to live your life with courage and audacity...
To have enough attitude to demolish buildings...
Where anything is possible in a Werner Herzog "I will walk across continents in my bare feet just to be able to make my next film" type of attitude... not the attitude culled from false pride, but that which comes from purity of intent and above all integrity. (remember that?)
Now believe it or not I have endeavored to live my live by these ideals...
Ever since I was 15 when I read the first interview with the Sex Pistols in Sounds (1976) and the attitude of Mr John Lydon spoke to my heart and captured my mind like a rush of amphetamine.
The tears came from a sudden realisation... my ducts let forth when the span of time slapped me in the face. I was confronted with my youth and my ideals,
caught off guard in the crossfire...
But do you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. It doesn't matter that every member of this band have since gone on to disappoint so badly... believe you me at the time this was the real deal.
Ladies and Gentlemen watch, listen and weep.

Daydream Curtis...

2007-10-07T15:02:00.000+01:00

The Sun Is Cruel

2007-08-10T06:26:00.000+01:00

July 31 2007

"EUGENE IS NOW SAFELY BARKING IN BOOTCAMP. HE WAS A VERY GOOD BOY ON THE JOURNEY. I'M VERY PROUD OF HIM."

"YES I'M V EXCITED GOT TO GO TO BED SOON THOUGH. GOTTA GET UP REALLY EARLY. HOW ARE YOU ?"

"PLEASED YOU HAD A GOOD DAY... I'M GOING TO BED IN THE NEXT HOUR !. AFTER A CERVEZA OF COURSE. DESPERATE TO MEET YOU IN BARCELONA MAñANA XXOO"

"AAW HAVE ONE FOR ME XXOO"

August 1st 2007

"I'M HERE DUDE !. I'M ON THE BUS + I'M FUCKING EXCITED ! !. THE SUN IS SHINING + I FEEL REALLY FREE AND GLAD TO BE ALIVE. HURRY UP AND GET HERE ! XXOO"

"SI ES CALIENTE !. I'M ON THE BUS NOW WAITING TO LEAVE FOR BARCELONA. ...PHENOMENAL ! XXOO"

"YES I DID ! + I'M SURE THE SERVICE ASSISTANT WAS ENGLISH. IT WAS REALLY FUNNY ! XXOO"

"HOORAY I'M OFF !. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU XXOO"

"I AM SITTING BY THE ARC DE TRIOMPF BAKING IN THE HEAT !. I REALLY NEED TO GET SOME WATER... OR A BEER OR 2 !. I LOVE YOU !!! XXOO"j - "WHERE ?. XXOO""I'M IN DESPERATE NEED OF A COLD SHOWER !. I AM SAT IN THE SQUARE NEXT TO THE HOTEL XXOO"

"SI SI XXOO""IT ISN'T HERE... THE SUN IS CRUEL XXOO"

"IT'S STARTING TO MAKE ME FEEL A LITTLE UNWELL XXOO""I AM GOING TO GO AND SIT IN THE OASIS BAR NEXT TO THE OASIS HOTEL XXOO"

"I'M INSIDE NOW AND FEEL A LOT BETTER XXOO""I AM NOW SAT IN THE SQUARE AGAIN WAITING FOR YOU !. XXOO"

Catalytic Convert...

2007-07-28T21:24:00.000+01:00

It was the perfect moment during an already perfect sunny afternoon by the Thames... I was sitting outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall with my loved one putting the world to rights over a beer or two, both pre and post a screening of the 70's British movie That'll Be The Day at the BFI. We had, had quite a few beers and the discussion turned to our lives together these past 8 or so years... we've been through a lot together you see... and we are still just as strong and maybe even stronger than before... feared by many, understood by few. Then in a moment of pure sun kissed bliss a girl approached urging us to look at a piece of paper that she was eagerly pushing in our direction. On it was a drawing that her younger sister had been toiling over as we were wrapped in close conversation, unaware that we were being observed during our private ruminations. It consisted of a panoramic view of the London skyline opposite, beautifully rendered in early childhood evocation... and there we were for all to see, dominating the foreground space in our mutual euphoria. The mood perfectly captured in infant simplicity. My first thought was that it was the most beautiful drawing that I'd ever seen and I needed to take it home with me as a memento of this wonderful day. But the little girl very wisely declined my request.... reluctantly we then waved goodbye and wished them well as they moved away in the direction of the tube station. The image is however now permanently engraved on my consciousness, never to be forgotten and always to be summoned when I'm standing in the face of adversity.

Lynch travelology

2007-06-23T13:35:00.000+01:00

So it all started with a special screening of Inland Empire at the NFT... followed by a Guardian interview and a Q + A session with the great man himself. I very rarely get star struck but I couldn't help but be moved after seeing the amazing latest installment of Lynchworld, (which in itself is enough to bring me to tears of pure joy) followed by the one and only David Lynch in the flesh onstage. I stood up with the rest of the audience, stamped my feet and heartily cheered, only too happy to gave it up for one of my favourite people on the planet... what a special moment, indeed something to cherish forever. Mark Kermode proceeded to ask questions that struck just the right note, he is obviously a David L fan... I was in rapture and wanted the whole experience to last forever. I particularly enjoyed observing David's silhouette against the big screen as scenes from Blue Velvet, Eraserhead and Fire Walk With Me were projected directly behind him onstage. What an interesting experience it must have been for him to be so close to his creations in all of their grainy celluloid glory.Jump forward to a scorching hot day in Paris en route from our hotel on Rue de Vintimille to the Foundation Cartier pour l'art contemporain on Boulevard Raspail (via the Galerie du jour Agnès B, 44, Rue Quincampoix which had a show by Roberto Martinez called Artistes Encore Un Effort. The previous exhibition had been a collection of stills from Inland Empire, interestingly enough)... I already had a blister on my left foot after a marathon of fevered walking in Barcelona, (which we had just flown in from) and was on a mission to catch David's massive retrospective exhibition "The Air Is On Fire" before closing time as we were due to fly back to London the following day...phew. Anyone with a modicum of Parisian street knowledge and suss will tell you that this walk is epic to say the least... especially when you don't really know where you are going and are stranded without a map in the baking, febrile Parisian heat... we eventually found the Galerie du jour Agnès B in a condition that felt very much like our little British heads were frying on a very large French griddle... there is only so much culture that you can take in, in this state of enforced heat induced torpur, so after a brief visit to the gallery we decided to hop skip and jump onto the Metro to curtail our epic journey and arrive at the alter of Lynchworld refreshed and more attentive.This did not happen however... now I don't want to sound overly dramatic... but I was fucked... literally. The last 4 days had been consumed by Barcelona... constant movement and perpetual sensory overload. So here we were in Paris on the cusp of witnessing something that we had been looking forward to, and had planned for months, barely able to put one foot in front of the other. I distinctly remember handing my euros over at the entrance and then everything going into slo-mo overdrive. Like being trapped in a soundscape by The Caretaker... or the Double Leopards, I was awash in a world without gravity. I somehow managed to move into the main exhibition space on the ground floor desperately trying to keep my balance... this is the closest that I've ever come to complete physical exhaustion. Boy o boy what a state to be in to witness this amazing exhibition.I was in a state of complete shock to add to my exhaustion... a lot of these images were very familiar to me as I have actively followed his work since the early 80's when I first saw Eraserhead in Birmingham (of all places)... I have made sure that every ounce of Lynchian magic has not escaped my greedy grasp ever since... as fast as he produces it... I consume every last drop. (you get the picture?) So actually being able to see these works in the flesh, rather than looking at them in books or on the internet was positively mindblowing... of course there was still a lot of unseen gems to discover as well. It was emphatically transcendental being able to see his black and white photo's up close and personal... especially the snowmen series. The whole building was flooded with a soundtrack that he performed himself at the private view.... and added a suitably Lynchian aural landscape to the garden of earthly delights that was on show. The presentation of the work was very carefully considered and executed by the man himself and it was an absolute pleasure and a joy to get lost in the beauty of it all... his paintings, drawings, photographs... little scribbled notes from notebooks and various napkins. Everything that you ever wanted to know about this man was visible for all to see in his art work. Downstairs there was even a facsimile of the Eraserhead stage set where the lady from behind the radiator danced her beguiling two step, which housed a large screen where you could watch all of his short movies, website projects etc. You could also, quite literally, walk into one of his drawings ... I could go on and on waxing lyrical about this once in a lifetime show... the precious time that I spent there pouring over his unique vision will stay with me for a long time. After fully satiating ourselves we eventually arrived back at the hotel completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the whole experience. There was only one thing to do, get some sleep and dream of future endeavours.Sometime later back in London by pure unadulterated coincidence I found myself back at the NFT in the audience for a 'Masterclass with Mike Figgis'. To my absolute surprise and delight, before he arrived onstage there was an unscheduled screening of a small DV movie that he had made in Poland interviewing David on the subject of DV movie making!. Once again I was plunged into Lynchworld and I savored every single second of it... I love it when life springs these delicious little surprises on you..Which finally brings me neatly back to Inland Empire, which was shot on DV... but you already knew that right!. What a pleasure and an absolute luxury it is to lose yourself in this truly inspiring piece of cinema. At this point in time I feel that it is his most essential work. I defy anyone who has seen it and is open to the myriad possibilities of imagination, not to be stunned and intrigued by the scene towards the end of the movie where Laura Dern is staggering down Sunset Boulevard fatally wounded. She collapses on the pavement between three homeless people and expires... that is the end of that you innocently think to yourself... then a completely off kilter dialogue emerges from the three characters and you find yourself transported to another world. That is the beauty of David Lynch and that is the beauty of imagination... get on it.

Untidy endings

2007-05-28T07:52:00.000+01:00

There is a phenomenon that I've noticed over the years that has separated amazing movies from merely good or adequate ones. This involves the cop out of a nice safe tidy ending.... am I the only person who doesn't need every loose end to be neatly tied up for me, or events to reach a logical conclusion to make me feel satiated, comfortable and happy that I've seen a movie that has everything in the right place... including narrative, characterization and plot development. What has happened to the spiky unpredictable, not always happy or resolved finale that has left me breathless and invigorated, challenged, provoked, inspired and panting for more. I am of course referring to the heady days of the late sixties and early seventies when the art of movie making was all of these things and more and still managed to fit into the mainstream. Which brings me neatly onto Harmony Korine's new movie Mister Lonely... here is a guy who really knows how to make a movie.
I await it's release with baited, expectant breath...

Flower

2007-05-23T22:30:00.000+01:00

...Okay, I'm going to keep this pretty esoteric... in a couple of weeks my life will change irrevocably. It's all very, very, very, very good and it involves the extraordinary temporal universe that is contained within these beauties...

Barceloneta #2

2007-05-07T10:51:00.000+01:00

So I fell in love with Barcelona and saw my future laid out before me like a rather pleasing display of Nigiri-zushi ...amazingly portentous stuff. As I wandered the streets taking in the sights, the smells, the grit, the beauty. This beautiful urban crumble could not fail to both captivate and provoke. I am of course talking about the oldest southern parts of the city... The underbelly that consumes the powerfully devicive side streets and alleyways. The cultural danger of El Ravel... the ancient squares and quarters of Barri Gótic and La Ribera, the dense brown earthy sandland that is La Barcloneta, which literally breathes the hot aromatic air of relaxed mediterranean chaos into your central nervous system whether you like it or not... and delivers you breathless to the brutality of the toilet. That's right I was fucking excited and still am. I had a hardon for my entire stay. The latin way of life seems very exciting and exotic through the eyes of this pasty sensualist wannabe... The strange thing is that I can see myself wandering these dusty narrow streets, or shuffling down to the gloriously industrial Barceloneta beach when I'm in my 70's.... totally relocated, safe and sound, hermetically sealed in the lens of my camera... taking photographs, being touched by bliss. And of course there is the compellingly brusque lyricism of the Spanish language.
My conversion is total.

All of these incredibly beautiful Barcelona photographs were taken by Crisis Deepens

Barceloneta

2007-05-05T15:05:00.000+01:00

las palabras vendrán...

Healing fingers...

2007-03-26T10:11:00.000+01:00

...sending out some healing fingers to Pete Young... get well soon. x

Tulsa goddamn...

2007-03-17T23:44:00.000Z

Cookies and Cream...

2007-03-17T23:02:00.000Z

Cookies and cream vinyl...kinda beautiful... don't you just love it when you hear a record for the first time and it completely blows you away and you are sure that it is the best thing that you have ever heard? well I have just experienced this rare phenomenon with The Bark Haze Lp on Important records... this is my record of the year already... I can't see anything beating it. This essential piece of vinyl works on so many levels... each of the three tracks are hermatically sealed in their own conceptual perfection... all dressed in a sleeve full of Bill Nace drawings... the macro orgasmic power drone of side 2 flutters and fluctuates through a universe chock full of repetition and variation... the clanging sonorous guitars duel in an aspic golden heaven, the workouts circular and perfectly formed.... the sound is harsh, black and indestructable like the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey... whenever I hear an amazing piece of music that shakes me to the core... I'm reminded of an object... and/or a scenario, sound translates into 3D mass... inexplicably. (The Stooges s/t... Pastrami on rye - Bad Moon Rising - Sonic Youth... a 70's transistor radio - Joy Shapes - Charalambides... frozen tree trunks... For Sada Jane - Magik Markers... a summer breeze gently turning some plastic windmills)... also this handsome chunk of inspiration was a gift from the person that I love the most in the world... life just doesn't get much better than that.

Satan, sin and death... a scene from Milton's Paradise Lost...

2007-03-03T13:09:00.000Z

...That's how it seemed to me as I went on a late night trawl through the Current Hogarth exhibition at the Tate Britain. Some friends were performing as part of a series of special nightime gallery openings. To say that it was a strange affair is an understatement... kind of like being trapped in a bad movie... when you get to the vaguely unconvincing hallucinogenic scene that makes you cringe with embarrassment because the art director, cast and crew have got it so, so wrong. Imagine if you will the very staid and stuffy interior of this 'great British Museum'... it's walls dripping with 16th, 17th and 18th century British art juxtaposed with silly middle class art students and the odd brace of 'with it' parents and OAP's running around spilling their wine and controlled abandon in the direction of anyone who was looking... to a soundtrack of Fuck Off "... If you don't want to fuck me baby well baby fuck off." by The Electric Chairs... you get the picture. Actually I had a really good time and my friends looked fantastic in their powdered wigs and 17th century night dresses. We ended the evening in the dressing room where I fought to shield my eyes from a flurry of underwear, tits and smudged makeup... lubricated by alcohol and sweat.

Stereo Mars a go go...

2007-03-03T11:47:00.000Z

...So this is really exciting, the debut Lambsbread platter arrived in the post today and I'm currently listening to side two which is beautifully heady and expansive... Side one starts with a great live vocal exchange before heading off into hard fought oblivion... the Lambsbread speaks!. I have a slight headache which only adds to the delicious freeform din... these guys are really hot at the moment so catch them while they still smoulder. I was lucky enough to witness their gloriously brief appearance at the Thurston Moore's Nightmare Before Xmas festival last December where they were truly spectacular... you can see me here... the taller guy just underneath Zac's right elbow gazing on in rapture... They are reportedly touring the UK with The Skaters in June so get out there and soak it up while you can.(Ecstatic Peace E#105c ...Stop press - as of 03/03/07 there are only 74 copies left!!!... don't sleep.)

Real dramatic stag recording. Rated XXX

2007-03-01T22:25:00.000Z

Stereo 8 or something

2007-03-01T21:22:00.000Z

...Indeed thoughts of Sonic Youth performing 'la Daydream Nation'... can these impossible dreams and surefire aspirations be reproduced in another time and context...? the tinkle of thurston's Providence toy piano fills the room with astonishment and amp fuzz a plenty.... Michael Lavines tungsten drenched shots of the band in the broken alleyways of New York make my heart swoon with wonder. It's impossible for me not wax lyrical about this beautiful period in Sonic Youth's history and indeed my own history... for they were both inextricably intertwined in the same tempestuous sea of hope and fearlessness.