Killing Joke tour

Having made it to every gig except Exeter I'm having a laugh!
Three to go, then old Europe...
I will write more later when I have less more important things to do.

All Is Illusion:Fuck Glasgow Fema Camp

Psycho bitch from Glasgow
The Empire Strikes Back
Clock turned backwards
The enemy had cut down all the power
Cut Down the CORPORATE ELECT
The government fled from Scotland today
CHANGE!
Guided By ancestral Voices
Heart Foundation Ravens
Cyberpunk Concentration Camp Exit
No Fire Increasing
No Rapists with eyes on me
No Cattle for Slaughter
No Music to March to
No Love (Lost)
Toward the Low Sun
Lets go eat the factory

The Stranglers in Leeds

As I'll probably be missing the Stranglers Manchester gig, I travelled to Leeds to see the first gig on their tour. I'm happy to report that Jet didn't do a Davey Jones and kept a perfect beat in a stunning set that opened with Burning Up Time, The Raven and Sometimes. Dave botched up the start of Sometimes and they had to restart it which got a big chuckle from JJ. The nicest surprise was a venomous rendition of Rise of the Robots and even more surprisingly they resurrected Shut Up! I think I enjoyed Tank in the encore most, and the last song in the set Time To Die was a twangy exit. They also played Hanging Around, Duchess, Walk On By, Peaches, No More Heroes, Strange Little Girl and of course Golden Brown. A ticket on the door was two quid less than the internet rip off price and a couple of fans in the queue told me net fleecers had charged over thirty quid for their tickets! The new songs sounded like their best since Hugh was the singer and I'd go see them again if all the gigs didn't clash with the rapturous
KILLING JOKe
whose new song RAPTURE I am listening to relentlessly now on youtube.com

Mad Thatcher Disease

As buses rush by advertising some old stick who's impressed lots of bores with her policy rusting impression of the odious Thatcher I've been listening to

NEW RELASES

Last Harbour - Your Heart, it carries the sound (out Feb 20)
http://www.littleredrebbit.co.uk/

Soap and Skin - Narrow (Play It Again Sam, Out 19/3)
Father Murphy - Anyway Your Childen Will Deny It (aagoo, out 5/3)

PICCADILLY RECORDS VINYL

Bardo Pond / Calton Melton - Fallen / Slow Growth (Agitated)
Major Stars - etun to Form (Drag City)
Larsen - LLL (Important)
Irmler & Einheit - No Apologies (Klangbad)

VINYL EXCHANGE CDs

Bitch Magnet - 9 song reissue box sampler promo for four quid
Piglet - Lava Land (one for Don Caballero fans to check out)
Throbbing Gristle - The Third Mind Movements (Industrial) rare & expensive
Jesu - Ascension
Howling Hex - Wilson Semiconductors (Drag City promo)
Fred Frith - Allies (ReR)
Land of Kush - Against the Day (Constellation promo) for a mere quid
Gang Gang Dance - Retina Riddim CD&DVD (Social Registry)

Albums I liked in 2011

In approximate order of how highly I rated them and the amount I listened to them, the new studio albums I enjoyed most in 2011 were:

Magazine - No Thyself (Wire-Sound)
Arbouretum - The Gathering (Thrill Jockey)
Enablers - Blown Realms and Stalled Explosions (Exile on Mainstream / Lancashire and Somerset)
White Hills - H-p1 (Thrill Jockey)
Wire - Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)
Bardo Pond - Circuit VIII
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die but You Will (Rock Action)
Sonic Youth - Simon Werner A Disparu (SYR)
Eleventh Dream Day - Riot Now! (Thrill Jockey)
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (Island)
Glenn Jones - The Wanting (Thrill Jockey)
That Fucking Tank - TF (Obscene Baby Auction)
Obits - Moody, Standard and Poor (Sub Pop)
Mugstar - Lime (Important)
Skull Defekts - Peer Amid (Thrill Jockey)
Barn Owl - Lost in the Glare (Thrill Jockey)
Hey Colossus - RRR
Gang of 4 - Content (Gronland)
L0w - C'mon (Sub Pop)
Meat Puppets - Lollipop
Kristin Hersh - Crooked (http://www.cashmusic.org/)
Supersilent 10 (Rune Grammafon)
TV Smith - Coming in to Land
Phil Manley - Life Coach (Thrill Jockey)
Splashgirl - Pressure (Hubro)
The Fall - Erstaz GB (Cherry Red)
Mountains - Air Museum (Thrill Jockey)
Parts and Labor - Constant Future (Jagjaguar)
Rocket From the Tombs - Barfly (Fire)
Larsen - Cool Cruel Mouth (Tin Angel)
Zomes - Earth Grid (Thrill Jockey)
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts (Ecstatic Peace)

I also enjoyed listening to the albums by Josh T. Pearson, Stephen Malkmus, Tarwater, Wooden Shjips, Samson and Delilah, Thee Oh Sees, Acid Mothers Temple, J. Mascis, Qluster, Cave and Factory Star, and probably a few others I've forgotten.

Live albums I liked were:

Wire - The Black Session
Leatherface - Viva La Arthouse
Hugh Cornwell - New Songs for King Kong

I bought only six seven inch singles and three were from gigs at Leeds Brudenell Social Club:

Plank! - Self Harm / Pig Sick (remix) (Static Caravan)
Hot Snakes - Do Not Recusitate / Time to Escape (www.moderncityrecords.com
Part Chimp - You Decide / Big Bird (www.gringorecords.com)
Kogumaza - Sevens / Mara (www.low-point.com)
Kogumaza - Rowan Maeve / Phantom Itch (www.lancashireandsomerset.co.uk)
PJ Harvey - The Glorious Land / The Nightingale (Island)

Two CDEPs: Fennesz - Seven Stars (Touch)
Nasdaq - Dead Peasants (www.privilegedtofail.com)

One 12" EP: Oxes - Bilestbud

One split LP: Mugstar / Oneida

One remix LP: Robert Hampson (Main) remixing Mugstar

Two compilations: Einsturzende Neubauten -Strategies Against Archtecture IV
That Sonic Youth thing with one crap new track and no Lee Ranaldo songs

As I type this I am enjoying listening to youtube soundtracks to A Winged Victory for the Sullen videos, which must be one of the worst band names ever!

Some albums from 2011 that I'd have liked if I'd been albe to fid a copy to but:
Oneida, Guanatanamo School of Medecine, Chris Watson

MOST KICKASS SONG Magazine - Holy Dotage
MOST MOVING SONG PJ Harvey - Hanging in the Wire
MOST VIOLENT Hey Colossus & Oxes
MOST GENTLE Splashgirl & Mountains

Oxes opened a Windle

I struggled all the way across Toxteth on the windiest day of the year I'd been outside. The wind was so strong I couldn't even walk at times! Then I had to walk across Manchester and Leeds to see Oxes again! They had a special nineties dance party after kicking out the jams at eleven and for some reason all the bands played on the floor rather than the stage. After that I went to some more gigs.

8 December Oxes, Bilge Pump and beards at Leeds Brudenell
9 Leatherface, Great St Louis and Fractions at Manchester night and Day
10 Sun Ra Arkestra at Band on the Wall
12 Hot Snakes, Computers, That Fucking Tank and Matadors at Leeds Brudenell
14 PJ Bond, DBH and some other singers at a house in Chorlton
17 TV Smith playing mostly the music of the Adverts at Night and Day
31 Yossarians, Frazer King, Jim Adama and Dirty North at Night and Day

January 9 Purson, Gnod and Evil Blizzard at Gullivers.

Don't miss the Big Sexy Noise gigs in February! They're playing Manchester (15) and Preston (16).

End of Year Gig Mania

So I went to some more gigs then got very tired...

November 25 Wire & Talk Normal at Liverpool O2 Academy
Nov 30 Thurston Moore & Tall Firs at Manchester Ritz
December 1 Wire & Talk Normal at Cardiff Club Ifor Bach
then went to a gig over the road where Tom Lewis played
Dec 2 Wire and Talk Normal at Oxford O2 Academy
Dec 3 Wire and Talk Normal at Sheffield Plug where I had to catch a falling drunk man when they played the fast Underwater Experiences.
Dec 5 Jim Noir and Plank! at Band on the Wall
Dec 6 Grant Hart at Band on the Wall
Dec 7 Oxes, Bilge Pump and the Left Hand at Liverpool Kazimier