It's not going to surprise anyone at all that I am being an absolute slob today, is it? Mrs. Toad got back from Australia around lunchtime, and after a few hours of pottering about she crashed out with jetlag, so I snuck off to record the podcast. I am sure that soon enough she will wake and start demanding attention and general servitude soon enough, so I better get this over with quickly. After that I am going straight back to bed to watch stupid films while my sweetheart dozes by my side, awaking occasionally to tell me [...]
A tricky delivery, my first born. Thirteen years ago today, he came into the world blue, silent and staring. He did of course make up for it with a case of colic so bad that my midwife friend told me it was the worst she'd ever seen. But hey, ho, he was my first, so I knew no different. Quirky, smart, and incredibly kind, Cam has continued to plough his very own furrow. He has absolutely no interest in music of the ilk that the rest of us mackerels like. Apart from listening to a bit of classical [...]
It's not very often that I can say that I have a genuine exclusive cover version for you, more often than not it's a song that I have ripped from a radio session. Then just likes buses, two come along at once. Last week we had We're Only Afraid of NYC's cover of Tom Waits, and this week we have this little beauty. I honestly feel very flattered to be able to share this song with you, it's a Randolph's Leap cover of 'Everybody Got'. Last week while I was messing about on their Myspace I came across a video [...]
Raconteur, poet, songwriter and humourist Ivor Cutler was a regular fixture on John Peel 's radio show. On a school night, my transistor radio would be next to the bed.. listening in the semi-darkness to Ivor's surreal verbal wanderings and tootling harmonium just added to the strangeness of the tales and my sense of wonder. Recorded live, Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol.2 (1978) is Ivor's magnum opus. There is no Vol. 1. Fifteen droll episodes about Glasgow middle-class family life during the Great Depression - commencing with Episode 2, ending [...]
Ivor Cutler never fails to cheer me up. On "A Barrel of Nails", the late lamented master puts a very tongue-in-cheek spin on the tropes of the traditional folk song, the humour derived from the odd treatment of the imagery ("when a barrel of nails kept a body warm") as well as the insistent repetition of the melody. i get the impression that if you ever saw him perform him this, you'd have cracked up, and then he'd probably have fixed you with a stern, disapproving glare that would have been just as deadpan as the [...]
Errors are coming to the end of their UK and Ireland tour this week with a show tonight in Dublin and tomorrow in Belfast. Their new album was released on March 1 to universal acclaim. Steev Livingstone spoke with us recently ahead of the Dublin show and new European tour dates in April and May. European [...]
The Japanese War Effort From: Scotland, United Kingdom The Japanese War Effort is a one man band, based in Edinburgh. Martin Moog (surely an adopted name otherwise baby he was born to moog!) initially formed the band as probably the world's first ambient joke band on Aprils fools day a couple of years ago and his tongue remains firmly in his cheek. There can't be many bands, even in Scotland, who sound like Ivor Cutler [...]
I popped into the city library in Limerick yesterday and was quite saddened to see the above notice prominently displayed on the counter of the library's music section. Now, it wasn't the content of the notice that got to me as I am fully aware that the music contained on the CDs that I borrow does not belong to me and that I only have the use of it for a certain period of time. No, there were two things about the sign that upset me. Firstly, it is also illegal for members of the library to photocopy substantial portions [...]
On this day five years ago, John Peel was getting ready to present another episode of his radio show. Unfortunately, it would be his last as a heart attack would take his life a few weeks later while on a working holiday in Peru. He had been best known as a disc jockey and champion of the musical underdog on BBC radio. His Peel Sessions gave many bands their first chance of airplay and a load of them went on to have successful careers in the music business. Sadly, I never got to hear his shows as it was not [...]
Decade: 2 (2002-2003)the unknown bomber, Baghdad, 2003Verses 4,5,6; chapters 8,9,10.Ivor Cutler, Once a Fortnight.The Mekons, Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem.The New Pornographers, The Laws Have Changed.Auguries and imprecations: Ivor Cutler, the last eccentric: recorded in 2002, dead in 2006; Mekons on OOOH!, their best LP of the decade, 2002; New Pornographers on 2003's Electric Version ("What
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival began in 1947 with just eight theatre companies taking part. It has expanded considerably since then to include comedy, music, dance, opera and musicals and is worth around 75 million quid each year to the Scottish economy. The Fringe is divided into a number of smaller festivals and each of these make up the Fringe Festival. Over one third of all shows in 2009 were comedy performances, slightly ahead of theatre, while music accounted for one sixth of the shows. In just over three weeks, Fringe 2009 sold (wait for it) 1.86 million tickets [...]
I'm in a strange mood this morning, and I blame Ivor Cutler for it. He's a Scottish Shel Silverstein, and on a whim a few days ago I downloaded every piece of song he'd ever recorded. From the whimsical poetry of "I Ate A Woman's Bun" to a the creepy toy piano of "Yellow Fly" [...]
Of all the posts that have shown up on the proliferous Cargo Culte blog, the one I have gone back to quite often is I Hate Art, Can't Stand It , which provides a nice companion soundtrack to Simon Reynolds' book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. With the permission of the Demagogues of the Cargo Culte, I have compiled 15 more hits from Art Punk's formative years. Some of the bands are mentioned in Reynolds' book; others are [...]
Rooster morning call 'too loud' Rocky the rooster has ruffled a few feathers in a Hampshire village with his early morning wake-up calls. Neighbours living in Marchwood complained to environmental health officers about his loud cockadoodledos. Owner Paul Wilton has had to black out the windows of Rocky's home to keep him quiet or face a fine of up to £5,000. [BBC] [...]
I watched an interesting documentary about Rough Trade records on BBC 4 last night. Rough Trade is most famous for introducing the wonderful music of The Smiths to the world, but their roster also included such diverse acts as The Raincoats, Scritti Politti and Ivor Cutler. The show featured brief performances by these acts and others, as well as archive and new interviews with many of the label's key players, including label founder Geoff Travis and Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Rough Trade began as an independent record store in London just as punk rock hit the scene in [...]
![The blog Mincing Up The Morning—which ... [On The Blogs]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1460107_lg.jpg)
The blog Mincing Up The Morning—which celebrated musicians' birthdays via the power of YouTube clips—has shut down after a year-long run. But its archives are going to live on, thus giving us a perpetual calendar of birthday reminders for 900 people, including the Jan. 15-born Captain Beefheart and Ivor Cutler . [ Mincing Up The Morning ]
To bring the Doklands week of miniatures to a close, it's only proper to include something from Miniatures itself. This extraordinary compilation album was released in 1980, and compiled by Morgan Fisher. It's a collection of 51 tracks, all around one minute long, and with a breadth and diversity of musical styles that would be difficult to find elsewhere. It's a record that truly deserves its reputation as a leftfield classic. Ivor Cutler was no stranger to the miniature. His palm-sized books of poetry, released by Arc & Throstle, are the epitome [...]
DrBoKarma Genre: Acoustic / Folk Rock / Experimental From : Brighton, United Kingdom Eccentricity flows through the blood of the British music scene like a flash flood on a flood plain. The musical archives are filled with records ranging from the ingenious to the ludicrous, the adventurous to the inventive, records by unique and [...]
Another Day Older and Deeper In Debt Woody Allen, Love and Death. Ivor Cutler, I'm Happy. Jack Teagarden and Fats Waller, You Rascal You. Serge Gainsbourg, Vieille Canaille (You Rascal You). Christer Bladin, Wildkatze. DJ Riko, Whistler's Delight. Bing Crosby and Johnny Mercer, Mister Meadowlark. Papa Charlie Jackson, Baby Please Loan Me Your Heart. Ray Bolger and Judy Garland, If I Only Had a
Absent Friends, part 1 Grant McLennan, Ballad of Easy Rider. Jackie McLean, Love and Hate. Love, 7 and 7 Is. Gene Simmons, Drinkin' Scotch. Gene Pitney, Every Breath I Take. Ivor Cutler, Pstola. Dewey Redman, Joie de Vivre. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Handel: Bane of Virtue, Nurse of Passions. Pink Floyd, See Emily Play. Desmond Dekker, Dracula. Gy
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![Looking for Truth with a Pin (Ivor Cutler Documentary) [1/6]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/AmEARHNmsZg_130.jpg)
A-Trak - "Round of Applause" / "Where My Money At" (MP3 Download)
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
Diplo x Usher: ‘Climax’
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
Out This Week 2/14
