There’s a halfway interesting interview with Guy Picciotto over here. Mainly goes on about his work on the recent Blood Brothers album, but there’s a couple of other amusing questions tucked in there as well:

“The term ‘emo’ certainly wasn’t in circulation when Rites of Spring was a band so I don’t know how the whole correlation came about. We just thought of ourselves as DC punk band. ‘Emo’ is something I started hearing long after we’d broken up, it was intended as a putdown and for as dumb as it sounds I am shocked at the legs the term has.”

And on Fugazi:

“As for the chances of Fugazi working again – my basic feeling is that it is very, very unlikely but you never know.”

:(

It took some effort compiling this list, simply because this year has been relatively shit music-wise at least for stuff that I’m into. Anyway:

1. Giddy Motors - “Do Easy”

By far and away the best thing I’ve heard this year. Shame this will be their last, the world needs more bands like these guys.

2. Hot Snakes - “Thunder Down Under”

Obvious. It would be number 1 but it’s not ‘new’ material.

3. Enablers - “Output Negative Space”

Why more people haven’t heard of these dudes from San Francisco I don’t know. One of the only original bands out there in my opinion. Maybe people are put off by the ’spoken word’ vocal aspect but one listen to a track like “Pauly’s Last Days In Cinema” should instantly change minds.

4. These Arms Are Snakes - “Easter”

They come across as a bunch of posers live, but I can’t argue with the quality of this album. Slightly less abrasive than their last release but just as aggressive.

5. End Of A Year - “Sincerely”

The name of this band should give a pretty big clue as to what they’re about. Remember the old DC sound of groups like Dag Nasty (before they turned shit), Ignition, Soulside and so on? That’s exactly what ‘End Of A Year’ are like.

6. McClusky - “McCluskyism”

Down here for the same reason that Hot Snakes isn’t any higher - this release is awesome but it’s not really anything new. McClusky were about the best thing in the UK for a while and now they’re sorely missed. Like Giddy Motors, we need more bands like this.

7. Isis - “In The Absence Of Truth”

A step back in terms of heavyness from previous releases but still good.

8. Rye Coalition - “Curses”

Dave Grohl’s utterly shit production effort basically castrated this entire album. Fuck that moron.

9. Trans Am - “Sex Change”

Technically this is a 2007 release, but never mind. It’s good, but it’s not ‘The Surveillance’ or ‘Futureworld’. They need to tour.

10. Channels - “Waiting For The Next End of The World”

Not J. Robbins’ best effort (or Zentek’s for that matter) but still a good listen. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by this release even though the EP wasn’t really up to all that much.

While I think about what to do in terms of sorting a portfolio site for my photography - which might take a while considering I’ve still no broadband where I’m living - I’ve started uploading my newer photographs to Flickr. Additionally I’ve amended the bottom bar to display the latest pictures from my Flickr feed, so you’ll see the last 9 pictures down there which currently include some photos of These Arms Are Snakes and Trencher.

Two word summary - fucking superb. Me and Fletch were a bit skeptical at first, the venue was some back-street no-sign art studio affair that had a fucking atrocious ‘avant-garde’ band playing as we walked in, and we then proceeded to pay top whack for room temperature bottles of Budwar whilst we waited for Duracell’s set. After a few ’songs’ they finished, so as the crowd cleared we made our way to the front only to be told that he was playing in a different room altogether. Arse.

Despite that we still managed to muscle our way more or less to the front to watch this French kid - in a t-shirt that said “Laptop Hero” - do his stuff. He kicked off with tracks from ‘Space Harrier’, played the theme from ‘Ninja Warriors’, and then finished with the second-level theme from the Amiga (fuck yeah) version of ‘Turrican’, which was definitely the highlight for me.

There’s something that still gets me stoked about the music from old-school games, so to see someone show their mutual appreciation musically in the most physical way possible (i.e twatting drums) was definitely worthy. He needs to cover something by Rob Hubbard, and considering that in one interview he singles out Commando on the C64 (a game that Hubbard did the music for) as inspiration I reckon it’s definitely on the cards.

Go see this guy if you can.

Update: There’s a write-up of the Manchester gig here, along with a few photos.

Just in case you’re not on the mailing list and don’t check their website too often, here’s their most recent news:

The Evens, “Get Evens” and the Make-UP, “In film/On Video” DVD are both now available in record stores and on the Dischord website. These two are the latest in a string of releases Dischord has presented this fall. In case you blinked sometime in the last 3 months, we released new records from Channels, Soccer Team, The Aquarium, Joe Lally and French Toast.Dischord Records, in conjunction with Inner Ear Studios and Ruffian Records / Swim-Two-Birds Studio is sponsoring a program for young DC bands called The DC Free Recording Project. Together we are offering free, short (five hour) recording sessions at Inner Ear Studio to young, DC area bands/projects that have not yet had experience in a professional recording studio. The sessions will be engineered by Hugh McElroy from Swim-Two-Birds Studio. To participate Bands must be from the Washington, DC area and play original music. Go to http://www.dcfrp.com for more details.

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An update, and it’s about time. So in the past couple of months I’ve moved down to London, started a new contract, and joined the gym. Pretty drastic stuff eh. I’ve had a fair bit more luck than my poor ol’ cuz whose having a hell of a time finding somewhere to live. Managed to find somewhere that’s a ten minute walk to work and just a few stops out on the Central Line to central London - score. Rent isn’t too bad either, although it’s still not cheap compared to living life back up Norf.

Not been up to all that much else really apart from seeing Enablers (more on that in a second), working and settling in. Not checked out anywhere to ride yet - Playstation Bay Sixty6 skatepark is more or less down the road (though that could mean a journey of at least an hour here) so I should make an effort - this is probably the longest I’ve been off my bike that’s not attributable to injury actually :(

So I did manage to see Enablers again at an awesome bar in Camden Town called Barfly. I walked into this place and they had Dirty Deeds on the screen, which is one of the greatest BMX videos of all time from back in the mid-nineties. That was followed by an old Wilkerson Airlines video, ‘Life on the Edge’. Unreal. So I watched both of those and then headed upstairs to see TODD and of course Enablers. I snapped off a few photos [ two, three, four, five, six ] although not too many because there were about four other people there at the front, all vying for decent pictures. I managed to take a few keepers so I stood back after that and just enjoyed the show. Enablers are easily one of my favourite bands.

Photography ‘portfolio’ site coming soon, I promise.