Back to the 90s

After graduation, I ended up drinking with a select group of ex-students, culminating in visiting a '90s theme bar': a horrifying concept to someone who was actually there, man. The corporate bar's version of the 90s was everything I hated first time round: flaming Sambucca and the very worst confected pop bands of all time. I doubt that even 5ive's mothers play their singles.

Last night was a form of anecdote. I cooked a cider-soaked pork joint (take that, the 1/24th Jewish blood in me), roasted some parsnips and had friends round, and we settled on great American lo-fi for the evening: Folk Implosion, Sebadoh, Slint and some riot grrl -  Babes in Toyland - from the days when indie music wasn't merely a celebrity vehicle.









Anyway, enough proto-Riot Grrl: I've a Shakespeare class to teach, and lots of other things on today, so I won't harass you too much.

It's Mumblecore, and it's back!

Actually, mumblecore refers to American indie films whose 'indieness' is mostly a matter of featuring bearded slackers mumbling into their facial fuzz, as opposed to clean-shaven white-toothed Hollywood stars. 


However, I have a huge soft spot for the equivalent in music, and it seems to be the trend of the year: Bon Iver, Deerhoof, Megafauna and co all seem to be taking The Band's hirsute template and stripping out the showmanship. I've long been a devotee of the bands this lot have followed: Will Oldham (Palace, Palace Music, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy), Bill Callahan (aka Smog and (Smog)) and Low (Mormon drug slowcore), so I'm hugely pleased that Callahan and Low have new albums (Apocalypse and C'Mon) out next month, and I can spend spring feeling melancholic. 


I also love this line from Callahan's books, Letters to Emma Bowlcut:

 "I'm not mild-mannered, but you may want to bring a book."

Here's a taster - one of Callahan's most accessible tracks from last year's Eid Ma Clack Shaw, his catchily claustrophobic 'No Dancing' and Low's 'Words'.












And if you like that but think it's all a bit pretty, try some Slint. Mmm… mathrock

Halcyon days of summer

Morning everybody. It's a good day. I've done 56 lengths again, it's a little gloomy, and the rain's beating on the window like a locked-out girlfriend. I'm expecting Daniel for a day's work under my watchful eye, and I'm planning to settle down with a copy of Almanac, the yearbook of the Association for Welsh Writing in English. Other than that, I've a couple of meetings with management as I'm on duty for the union this week and an early manuscript of my colleague Steve's manuscript on Hinduism to look through. Today's soundtrack is Slint (to whom I introduced Neal yesterday) and perhaps some Thomas Tallis.

All in all, it's going to be a perfect day.