October Playlist.

Guten Abend fellow music lovers, artistes, bohemians and general steeds.
It's been a while now since my last post (July), and the new month of October is about to roll in. Where the fuck has the year gone eh? But a lot has happened for me this year, and I mean a lot. Ive gone places, Ive done things, and more than anything, Ive generally progressed as a person.
So on account of this, the October playlist is going to be a selection of music that has pretty much catalogued my year, that I can identify precisely with each month, hey, its gonna be an eclectic mix.

January: Joy Division- I Remember Nothing

February: Jesus and Mary Chain - Inside Me

March: Suicide - Frankie Teardrop

April: Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound 12" mix

May: Grauzone - Wutendes Glas

June: Graf+Zyx - Away to Freedom

July: Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue (Coldwave Mix)

August: Vice Versa - Artist at War

September: The Doors - The End

October: Velvet Underground & Nico - All Tomorrow's Parties.

Until the next time chaps,

Bonsoir.

July Playlist

This Month's Obscuro Flavours:

1. Graf+Zyx - Away to Freedom
2. Ministry - Over The Shoulder
3. Monopol - Weisses Haus
4. Jean Jacques Burnell - Do The European
5. Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue (Coldwave Mix)
6. Units - Digital Stimulation
7. Wolfgang Riechmann - Wunderbar
8. M.f.M - Agoraphobia
9. Bottroper Hammerchor - Jupp Putta
10. Les Visiteurs Du Soir - Je T'ecrit d'un Pays

S E R P E N T I N E

Serpentine is coming soon.
Serpentine shall be processing waves of creativity, obscurity and thoughts through the form of a handmade magazine and a radio station that is being launched as we speak in conjunction with Dolores La Valley.
We will be bringing you the newest bands, most innovative sounds, and will be the forefront of a new youth music movement.
Our radio station will be showcasing obscure music gems and the latest underground talents and soundwaves.

Stand by for further instructions.

perils of suburbia.

They always say, good times will always hurt you in the end. There is always a comedown from the day before, and it truly does hurt.
Today was the perfect example, and today I had an epiphany.
Last night, I went for a fantastic meal with family, then spent an evening drinking wine and watching cult films with a fellow bohemian.
We awoke this morning to cloudy skies and a feeling of impending doom. The day could only get worse.

Tomorrow Throbbing Gristle are playing at Heaven in London, for which I have a ticket. The one thing I don't have are the funds to get myself to London tomorrow.
I racked my brains for things to earn money, but alas, nothing is potentially do-able by 9am tomorrow. Ive always been lucky in bad situations, as someone has saved me from them, but this time no one has come to aid.
So, going on the misery of not being able to see one of my favorite bands in concert, I have been pushed into a blank reverie. I can observe quite well my surroundings in this state. So over dinner, the epiphany arrived.

Sitting watching "Worlds Funniest Pets", eating fish and chips, and being content at that really shocked me.
Its good to have some old comforts, but this just wasnt comfort. Not when put into perspective. There are so many more interesting things you could be doing with your life and only a handful of people are doing it.
There are 50 houses in my street, that probably means 200 people on average, now think of them, all doing something similar, actually terrifies me.
I feel that i've outgrown my surroundings, and seen a bigger world through the past year, I've seen so many things to do, and anything less would be a dissappointment and would bore me to null and void.

There is a bigger life outside suburbia, so go and fucking live it.

Lowest of the Gene Pools.

Today, upon the return journey from the weekly club for alternate sexualities, we decided to take the trip home upon the bus, to minimise costs for the group, what with the taxi costing £50 a trip and them paying for it.
Things went smoothly upon arrival at the bus station in Taunton, so we got on the bus, assumed some seats at the back of the bus (as is usual).
Last on are two of THE MOST REVOLTING human beings I have ever encountered (i have seen some pretty unssavoury people in my life).
Case One was about 17 and wearing a baby pink flanelette hoodie, with the hood up, and INCHES of cheap make-up plastered on.
Case Two was equally bad, but clad in black velour, also...with the hood up.
So minding our own business we listened to music. Out of the corner of my eye i notice Case One eye up the contents of my bag and pockets. Noticing this, and the stench of Poundland Eau de Toilette I carefully informed my dear friend of these ratscallions by text message...discreet? yes.
The journey pressed on and our messages went on incognito and totally unnoticed.
Then their beef was sprung upon us when we were called "sad twats" for trying to exchange new music between ourselves.
My ears pricked up every so often as i recognized words commonly associated with abuse towards myself and friends. I made nothing of it, and realised quickly "say NOTHING and don't even acknowledge their insults because then they cannot even start to craft another set, and they will cease to do so".
As we reached Langport, the lady on the back row of seats with us got off the bus, giving Case One the bright idea for her and Case Two to fill the empty space.
Quickly they scuttled into place, Case One hesitantly sitting by my side. The putrid odour of unwashed clothes, stale fag smoke and very cheap perfume got the back of my throat.
Both of them fixated upon myself and my friend, as we sit there innocently listening away to music. They occasionally uttered acid words about us, thinking that we couldnt hear.
Shortly after we became engaged in conversation about philosophy,which involved of course, them listening into our conversation (probably trying to work out if our big wordy sentences were some kind of alien language). They probably thought we were Polish.
Their mouths gained new levels of wideness every time i quickly glanced over in their direction.
As we reached our destination I said to my friend "okay, we are getting off at the hospital bus stop to avoid them bloodying us in town"
Instantly as we approached said stop, Case Two stuck out it's wirey arm and pressed the buzzer. "Oh fuck" I thought to myself, they WILL get us for "starting" on them.
Case One ran off the bus, but Case Two slinked slowly out of the bus, with a slightly drugged gate. We got off the bus, cowered behind a bus shelter, and waited for the undesirables to scuttle off somewhere that wasn't our route home. Luckily, they headed off towards the hospital and into the scummy end of town.
Panic over, we evaded the most awful things I have ever encountered on a journey.
Never, ever will I sit at the back of the bus in an evening.

T H R O B B I N G G R I S T L E

I was introduced to Throbbing Gristle when I was just 13. By my best friend's Mother. She drew the curtains and dimmed the lights, as she dropped D.O.A The Third and Final Report, onto the record player. My friend came and sat on the bed with me, and her Mother disappeared into another room for some time. The sound began oozing out of the speakers, a motorik roar, and an ominous subsonic kick drum vibrated the furnishings. She had started the record on "Hamburger Lady", the vivid and somewhat disturbing tale of a burns victim. Genesis P Orridge's delay soaked vocals filtered around the room, massing into a terrifying wall of sound. I was fascinated. However, it was about 6 months later that my interest for them grew. Their music was like another world to me, a world that I could only listen to during the day because of how sinister some of their music was.
At huge contrast to the walls of industrial noise they created, their minimal electro-pop songs such as "United", "Hot on the Heels of Love" and "AB/7A", show the versatility of their music.
They broke ground, blended art with music, and sparked one of the biggest controversial reactions from the public in music history. And there probably won't be a time in my life, when the swoop of the Gristleizer, the screams of Genesis and Sleazy and Chris's distorted electronics will be missing.


DISCIPLINE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8klW9trVTQ

Nostalgia

There comes a time, when you realise there is music out there that has totally changed the way that you view your life. Today I had this epiphany. Memories linked to particular tracks suddenly come rushing back to you and their true sentimental value is revealed.
I'd like to start with a bit of an odd one...I don't think this is at all expected to be in my music taste but here we go.

1. Marilyn Manson-The Golden Age of Grotesque

I was 14 when I first heard this album, and it was one that I bought out of curiosity. I was one of those bohemian teens that sat around in their room with dim lighting, pondering and drawing late into the night, thinking about different places and alternative ways of living. I found this CD in the library, and had been a secret fan of his for a year or so. This album holds so much character, and racous energy. It's symbolism and witty lyrics, all inspired by 1930's vaudeville really opened my eyes and soundtracked a memorable part of my life.

I think the next post is back on track with my usual tastes, but this one is where they themselves really began.

2. Kraftwerk-The Man Machine

Christmas 2005. I had just come into rather a lot of money. I was vaguely and hopefully looking for a particlar song, not from Kraftwerk at all, and it still remains that I have no idea who the song is by. I bought random CD's that I thought it might be, and in doing so I discovered Royksopp and Tiefschwarz. My Aunt was visiting that Christmas, and saw what I was listening to. Then she recommended an album that changed my taste in music forever. Picked up for £6 in the HMV sale, the Man Machine is and always will be my favorite album. Washes of cold synth, minimal metallic drum beats, and robotic vocals, paved the way for everything that I wanted to listen to in the future, and strenghtened my love affair of anything German.
And so began my love affair with Synthesisers.

3. Joy Division-Unknown Pleasures

JD had been a blip on my music periphery for a while. Love Will Tear us Apart being a regular fixture of my listening. I collected various Joy Divisions songs over roughly a year, but it wasnt until last October that I purchased this full album on 180 gsm vinyl in London, and let the sounds unfurl out of my stereo. I had already heard every track from this album, but never listened to them all at once. The power of Ian Curtis's voice, the energy of the guitars, and the cavernous drums, lusciously fed through an AMS Delay created one of the darkest listening experiences of my life. However, this album is multipurpose. Listen to it when you're sad, and it will make you sad, but listen to it when you are ecstatically happy, and it will give you amazingly positive energy.

4. The Smiths-The Very Best of

For years, I loathed The Smiths. They were force fed down my throat by my Father when I was a child, and because of this I did not like them. However, a short while ago, "This Charming Man" was played on a radio show I had accidentally found one evening. Memories suddenly came flooding back, of times gone by. This spurred me on, so I re-listened to their music. Song by song. The moment I heard "Hand in Glove" for the first time in a good 10 years, I instantly recalled speeding down the A Roads over Salisbury Plains as the sun set one summer. Having heard pretty much all of their material, I have to say a Best of CD is the best way to get across their music, and perfect for a party. Wine, friends and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" make for one hell of an evening.

Then I have collected bands that will always be with me.
13th Floor Elevators: the finest 60's psych band, swirls of sound that lull one into a guitar driven trance.

Bauhaus: The original Goth band. Every song a landmark of music history.

Gary Numan: The searing Polymoog and dystopian lyrics set light to the stereo, and The Pleasure Principle will never lose it's magic.

The Horrors: Changed the way I dressed.

The Jesus & Mary Chain: Give me attitude when I walk down the street and make me fearless in the face of adversity.

Klaus Nomi: Speaks for himself.

Placebo: hangover music.

This is my soundtrack, and always will be.