(CB) MC Brother Culture & Kings Hi-Fi

So here’s the next big thing that I’m excited about.  My good friends Chungo and Bungo are putting on an (almost) all day event at The Courtyard – the very same place where Sunday Circus used to tear it up from mid afternoons.  There seems to be a real increase in popularity for reggae and dub-styles at the moment in Glasgow, and I’m sure these boys have played a part in that.  Guaranteed to be bass-heavy and skanktastic, you should probably get yourself a ticket, they’re going to go fast.

tickets available here

If that doesn’t do enough to convince you, I hear there’ll be hookahs and a barbeque.  You can check out the Facebook event page here for all the information I’m too lazy to type for you an’ ting.

Happy Tau day!

BBC News – ‘Tau day’ marked by opponents of maths constant pi.

Apparently, today is Tau Day – 6/28 geddit? I just don’t know what to believe any more.  It seems everything they taught us in school is being proven wrong, slowly erroding the knowledge we all think we have.  It’s like everyone’s trying to come up with new trick questions for QI.

Only a year or so ago, my friend Gordo pointed out that summer isn’t caused by the planet being closer to the sun for half of its orbit.  You may think this is pretty obvious, given that Australia and the rest of the southern hemisphere have their summer when we have our winter, but it came as a surprise to me.  I guess I could have worked it out – but why bother?  I was told when I was in primary school that the earth had an elliptical orbit and during summer it was closer to the sun.  Nothing about the planet tilting on its axis.  Nothing about the sheer impossibility due to the oft repeated fact that Aussies have Christmas in the middle of summer.  Nope, just lies which I blindly believed for years.  Why bother thinking about it logically?  I’d been told the answer and as far as I was concerned, I didn’t need to think of it any more.

Makes you wonder what else they lied about.  I bet 2 + 2 really does equal 5.

Speaking of Australian Chrismas, here’s a lovely little tune from one of my favourite comics:

Kill People. Burn Shit. Fuck School.

So I’m back into Goblin by Tyler, the Creator.  I’ve had the album for a while, but this past week I’ve not been able to listen to anything else.  Despite the dark lyrics, rape fantasies and homophobia, this album got so much attention when it came out and OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All – yeah, that’s right) are considered to be rising stars.  Even for those who find the lyrical content objectional, there’s been a whole lot of grudging praise for the tight production and the impressive flow.  Personally, I think the lyrics are a great mix of shock tactics and dark humour.  It’s controversial, for sure, and it’s graphic, but only a moron would take it seriously and I feel it’s a shame that the ‘random disclaimer’ which introduces Radicals was necessary.

The only issue I have with Tyler is that he’s this talented and still two years younger than I am.

The track that really brought Tyler and Odd Future to mainstream attention was Yonkers.  Check out the video for a taste:

Like it or loathe it, something interesting is happening here.  I can’t wait to see what comes next from this crowd.

Itch! w/ Russ Yallop – 25/6/11

It’s Friday (despite Rebecca Black’s legal troubles) and that means that the weekend’s here.  I’m probably going to keep it pretty quiet – end of the month blues – but I’ll definitely be putting in an appearence at The Saint on Bath Street to see the Itch! boys party.  Russ Yallop hails from Crosstown Rebels and should put on one hell of a show.  Dave Cuthbertson and Heerah providing back up as well as the usual motley crew of regulars.  It should be another sweaty Saturday night.  Get your bells on.

check out The Itch Bitch! for more

These boys, aside from being great friends of mine, are worth watching.  Matthewonemoretune (also known for Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and The Subclub’s I AM), Gnarlyface (also producing as Mia Dora), Mark David and Chungo (from Chungo Bungo) at last count  make up this interesting collective.  Keep an eye out, it’s going to be big.

Depression is a little bit like happy hour…

So I’ve had this song stuck in my head for days.  I always loved Patrick as the musical genius behind Fall Out Boy.  I especially love his willingness to pull the weirdest faces to make sure he hits the right notes.  I wasn’t sure how the ‘Soul Punk’ sound would come out – admittedly, some of the other stuff I’ve heard sounds like generic chart, R’n’B nonsense – or how Pat would cope without Pete’s help with the lyrics.  I must say though, this is definitely worth a listen.  Better than some of the later Fall Out Boy material, this is refreshing and catchy.  Also, I defy you to watch the video without smiling:

If you’re wondering, I do have some mad skillz of my own, yo’.  That’s a story for another blog though.  I’d definitely recommend checking out some more of Patrick Stump’s Youtube videos, especially the a capellas.

It’s Monday

BBC – Newsbeat – Rebecca Black’s Friday removed from YouTube.

So it looks like it really is Monday today, it is Friday no more.  Apparently not even the worst song in the world is immune from  money-hungry hopefuls or, even worse, lawyers.

In other news, Ryan Dunn’s dead.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.

[http://www.tmz.com/2011/06/20/jackass-ryan-dunn-dies-dead-car-crash-accident-pennsylvania/]

picture stolen from contactmusic.com

Rest in peace big man.

Giraffe Bread

Who is Chris King (aged 27 & 1/3), Customer Manager?  That seems to be the question running all over Twitter this afternoon.  I’ve been watching with some interest, mainly because Chris King is a pretty good friend of mine and I’m beginning to fear for his safety in a very real way.  Maybe I should start at the beginning:

Chris works for Sainsbury’s Customer Careline, answering letters and emails that the company receives.  Mostly, this is a job which deals with complaints, anger and hysteria from irate customers and the odd prankster (it’s a free phone number).  However, last week Chris replied to a letter from a young girl, Lily.

originally posted on threescore.wordpress.com

Chris, being the lovely chap that I know him to be, responded in kind with a letter which has captured the hearts of several twitter fans and bloggers.

originally posted on threescore.wordpress.com

I must admit, I don’t really get Twitter.  Very few people are sufficiently of interest to me that I care about the minutae of their lives.  In fact, at the time of writing, I can only think of one: me.  I also struggle to believe that strangers out there in the land of the cyberwebz have any curiosity about what I ate for breakfast.  Having said that, I’ve been assured that the story is ‘trending’ and being ‘re-tweeted’ at an alarming rate.  Chris’s friends (myself included, I hope) have also gotten in on the act to see how far we might be able to take this.  Will it make the 6 o’clock news?  I’m unlikely to find out – I don’t own a television – but I’ll be scouring the morning papers tomorrow.

Choice quotes from tweets so far include declarations of admiration, love, a proposal and even some jealous infighting.  One tweeter imagined that Chris would be ‘fit and interested in animals’ while another was sure that he’s be the kind of guy your mum would love.  Some people even questioned the existence of such a person.  Some wondered if the whole thing was a marketing ploy.

[For a less jaded world view, check out Shinybiscuit’s blog here: http://shinybiscuit.blogspot.com/2011/06/lovely-letters.html]

Well, who is the real Chris King (aged 27 & 1/3)?  Just a bored Glaswegian sitting at a desk, answering your letters and emails, who hasn’t quite lost his last ounce of humanity (unlike the majority of call centre employees)?  Maybe… or maybe we’re looking at the next Oprah?  Could a TV deal follow? Or maybe – more likely, in my humble opinion – the next victim of an obsessed stalker?  Only time will tell.

That’s where we stand as of now.  I’ll keep you posted.

RGK (aged 21 & 3/4).

The Ghosts of Vaudeville

Once more to the boards
One more curtain call
Give the crowd everything they’re asking for and more

Always make them laugh
Try to make them cry
Always take the stage like it’s the last night of your life

So I finally got my hands on the new Frank Turner album.  I may have slightly ruined this for myself by constantly surfing for live versions of new songs, so there weren’t many surprises.  The last of three bonus tracks, Balthazar, Impresario, is definitely a gem in the rough.  That’s not to say that the rest of the album doesn’t have its charms, but I suspect that on repeated listenings the acapella English folk song – English Curse – will wear a little thin. Otherwise, the singles are stellar and the filler is pretty – just as you’d expect.  Frank is my favourite artist recording today and I’m sure I’ll grow to love every song on this album for different reasons, just as I have with each previous release.  In the meantime, for those of you who care, here’s a video of the song (working at time of posting):

And, because it’s absolutely what makes this song special, here’s that riff (tab from the chorus, as found on UltimateGuitar.com):

e-2------2------3---------------------2--|
B-3------3------3---------------------3--|
G-2------4------0-----0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2--|
D-0------4------0-----2-4-2-4-2-0-0-0-0--|
A--------2------2-----0-0-0-0-0-0-2-0----|
E--------2------3------------------------|

This is not a test.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

If you’re curious, you could read the explanation here.  There’s a slightly more interesting read to be found on The Straight Dope.