Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Just The Ticket(s)!

Photo courtesy of Treemeat


Dear Friends, for the price of admission today you get a whole funfair full of wonderful music. So roll up, and prepare yourself for a post full of exhilarating and cheap thrills!

First up, congratulations are due to Heidi, who, thanks to the random finger of fate and a strategically scheduled Greek wedding, is the winner of the "Buy My Sufjan Tix At Cost" contest. She also came up with a rather nifty song title that made me giggle: "Come On! In the Year of the Dog, Let's All Boogey to Workhorses Sufjan and Shara (The Pick-Up line)." If ever Mr Stevens's titular well should run dry, I'm certain Heidi would come running to the rescue with full pails. Heidi, I hope you'll enjoy boogieing to the workhorses. To everyone else who participated, a big thank you (and my commiserations).

I had been feeling somewhat bereft, since putting the Sufjan tickets up for grabs had left me with no upcoming gigs to which I could look forward. Yes, my concertscape was arid and barren. But today I got myself down to Zulu Records and sorted that all out by getting tickets to see The Detroit Cobras on 16 October. Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to a night of dirty garage blues. To be honest, it's lo-fi, hi-octane opening band The King Khan & BBQ Show that I'm really keen to see; I missed their last Vancouver shows, which by all accounts were outta control scorchers, and I'm therefore hoping to make full-on amends.

BBQ - Justify (buy here or e-here)
One half of the KK&BBQ Show, BBQ is the current nom de rawk of Mark Sultan, a fine purveyor of rough-n-ready, gritty, rockapunkabilly R&B.


The Detroit Cobras
- Shout Bama Lama (buy here or e-here)
They've been called "just a cover band" by certain uncharitables, but the stuff they cover (The Oblivians?!?!!) is, as the kids would say, da shizz, and they do it with garagey aplomb!


Moving along, it's Tuesday and therefore you would be safe in presuming that it's Contrast Podcast day. This week Dearest Tim has given us all a lovely present to celebrate Contrast's six-month birthday: a podcast consisting entirely of musicians introducing their own creations. How wonderful! Much more delish than jelly, ice cream, and cake, and waay more fun than pin-the-tail or pass-the-parcel. This is definitely a fantastic carnival of sound that you must must must visit! Do so by downloading the podcast using this direct link or subscribe using the RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ContrastPodcast.

Oh heck, let me unwrap this gift for you - here's the playlist

(00:50) Mancino - Hetchie Hutchie Foochie
Mancino on myspace

(04:44) Earwig - Used Kids
Earwig on myspace

(08:59) Hong Kong Cinema - Good Thing
Hong Kong Cinema on myspace

(12:34) Das Mobius - Ligeia (CP Edit)
Das Mobius website

(17:00) Marianne Dissard - L’Embellie
Marianne Dissard on myspace

(20:39) The Harvey Girls - Screech Beatle
The Harvey Girls on myspace

(25:17) Gabriela Kulka - An Orange
Gabriela Kulka on myspace

(28:24) Country Cliff - Chimbley Wind
Country Cliff on myspace

(34:50) Gypsophile - Marthe
Gypsophile on myspace

(38:42) Desert Waltz - You My Sister
Desert Waltz website

(43:19) Goes Cube - Goes Cube Song 34
Goes Cube on myspace

(48:36) Saturna - Pop Rocks
Saturna on myspace

(53:20) Naïm Amor - Son Grand Sourire
Naïm Amor on myspace

(58:07) Victor Scott - Mareel (exclusive recording)
Victor Scott on myspace

Next week's theme is songs with a political bent, so exercise yer democratic rights and submit an appropriate song with spoken intro to tim.young@rhul.ac.uk.

And both finally and gratuitously, for some reason my empeethree player seems to be full of eighties synthpop at the moment. Don't diss it, Dearest Friends - at it's best it's powerfully evocative, emotive stuff! Here, have a listen:

Depeche Mode - Dreaming of Me (buy here)
Siouxie & the Banshees - Dazzle (buy here)
Berlin - The Metro (buy here)


P.S. The lovely Natsthename also had an 80s moment a few days back right over here - and she podcasted it as well!! Hurrah!


So there you have it, Dearest Friends, a day at the funfair. I hope you feel you got your money's worth.