Bands are annoying me today, blasting me some loud Crass to deal with the anger, I do love a bit of Crass on days like this. Whatever happened to the punk rock way of thinking and doing things? Why does it all have to come with a marketing plan now?  Some of these so-called punk bands and their punktastic websites ate about as punk rock as Phil Collins on a broken pogo stick. Marketing plans and rules and release strategies, washing machines, pinstripe dreams and the rest

Well that was yesterday but it does still annoy today, it pecks away, you wonder why you bother with any of it, why bother with artists, with bands, with curators and art galleries and music venues and the rest? It drains, it angers, why does everything have to be so corporate and marketed? Where’s the spirit of just doing it gone?  Self proclaimed “punk rock” band sends you something in asking for coverage and play and such, you kind of like the band and so you do just that only to have them moan when you do do just that! A Self proclaimed “punk rock” band moaning that it doesn’t fit in with their “marketing plan”, what the flip is all that about? To me punk rock was always a state of mind, a way of doing things, an attitude, it was never a fashion or a genre or a sticker or a hair cut or marketing strategy and a glossy magazine. if you don’t want coverage te ndon’t bother sending it, if you want us to be part of your “marketing strategy” then you’ve come ot the wrong people, you’re onthe wrong website, we’re here t oshare good music, art, underculture, we don’t clurret up our pagesd with advertising and marketing and “premiers” and all that bullshit, we’re just sharing exciting art.  Enough of all this, on with the sharing and blah blah blah

Here’s something new from The Empty Set, a track from their new album our on Thrill Jockey on January 27th (or so the person with the  marketing strategy said in a ne.mail jsut now) , rather like this, like it so we’ll post it….

“Borders represents a new way of working bringing together custom instruments, live performance and the merging of acoustic sounds with analogue electronics. The material signifies the start of a new area of exploration for the project that will be realised through further international live events, bringing the record back into a performance settings and bringing a very human aspect into the sonic lexicon of Emptyset.” so say the band

ORGAN THING OF THE DAY: THE DELIGHT OF TOM O.C WILSON…

Tom O.C Wilson, he of Beetles and such (excellent name for a band that), has a show at London’s Cafe Oto this coming Wednesday. Tom will be performing with Beetles and playing a solo set, details of the gig here

“Tom O.C Wilson is a London-based Anglo-American with an insatiable appetite for musical discovery. His music straddles the line between the classic English pop songwriting tradition (Ray Davies, Andy Partridge, Damon Albarn) and the sophistication of current US acts such as Dirty Projectors and Deerhoof. Yet his musical canvas also draws upon wider influences, be that the exuberance of contemporary jazz (Denys Baptiste, John Hollenbeck), the raw emotional impact of twentieth century classical composition (Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti), or the irresistible rhythmic pull of Sardinian guitarists such as Paolo Angeli and Marino De Rosas.

Tom began making music as a solo act working under the name Freeze Puppy. In this guise he supported the likes of Devendra Banhart, Micachu and the Shapes and Field Music, and released two albums on Pickled Egg Records, both of which gained airplay on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 6 Music. Now operating under his own name, his current group features the dynamic and musically sensitive trio of James Ashdown (drums), Steve Haynes (bass) and Steve Troughton (keyboard). The band’s latest initiative is the night “Pop Composition” at the Windmill, Brixton, where they invite acts with an interesting take on the pop sensibility to perform short bursts of music back to back. Previous guests include Magnus Loom, Paul Mosley, French For Cartridge, and Kavus Torabi of Knifeworld.

Aside from his solo work, Tom also writes and performs with the minimalist pop duo Beetles, and has composed for a host of other performers, including Sudden Junction, Flam Productions, CoMA Bristol and the Ben See band”.

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More of this kind of thing later or tomorrow…. maybe….