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The show: Reduce me, seduce me, dress me up in Stüssy*

secrets - Hell is round the corner
secrets - Hell is round the corner

1995 seems like such a long time ago.

That’s when Tricky released his debut album “Maxinquaye“. At the time it was released it was a dark, brooding, decaying and paranoid affair. I listened to it the other day and it has aged quite well.

The closest I have ever heard anyone get to its moodiness are the M.I.A., Burial, and Kode9 albums. Tricky is also the only artist I have ever heard cover a Public Enemy song (“Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”) and match it (and arguably surpass it).

In a way, Tricky seems like an impossible artist to cover.

But you’d be wrong. I was.

The other day I was lurking around bandcamp.com and noticed that secrets aka Fraser Austin had done a cover version of “Hell is Round the Corner”. Damn well shat myself when I discovered that it was true in spirit to the original. Must be something about the Christchurch winter that lends itself to paranoia. Or secrets is taking lots of cough syrup at the moment.

*ERRATUM: Curses. As ever I got the lyric wrong. Instead of “Seduce me, seduce me…” it should have been “Reduce me, seduce me…”. THX Hairdresser on Fire for inadvertently alerting me to my error.

And here’s the playlist in full…

12pm – 1pm

Download 12pm – 1pm here (m4a / aac file) – Technical difficulties for the second week in a row. So, apologies, no spiffing m4a / aac formats. Scroll down to get the mp3 version instead.

1pm – 2pm

Download 1pm – 2pm here (m4a / aac file) – Technical difficulties for the second week in a row. So, apologies, no spiffing m4a / aac formats. Scroll down to get the mp3 version instead.

Alternatively, this is the raw, unpasteurized version of the show in mp3 format. No chapters, pictures or links. Slightly less quality. Otherwise the audio content is the same as the two files above. The choice is yours…..

Technical difficulties also meant the first song on today’s show is missing from the podcast.

Download 12pm – 2pm here (mp3 file)

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Mount Pleasant “The Flood” LP

Mount Pleasant "The Flood" LP

On the show last Saturday I was being a little bit cheeky when I described the new Mount Pleasant LP “The Flood” as being the perfect soundtrack for David Lynch’s remake of “American Psycho”.

In hindsight I don’t think I was too far wrong. This album pushes my buttons. Jonathan Phillips is sneaky like that. “The Flood” comes across as more of a sketchbook than the final, finished article and that’s why I like it.

With woozy cover versions of songs that I really hated in my childhood (Bruce Springsteen’s “On Fire”, Stevie Nicks’ “Sara”, and Phil Collins’ “Sussudio”) but now sort of like (not in an ironic way – it’s more like Stockholm Music Syndrome), lots of loud/quiet dreamy pop (“In The City”), dropouts and cutouts, glitches, snares and keyboards this is my kind of (un)easy listening.

The kicker for me is the final track on the album – a cover of Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” – one of my favourite songs of all time. I can still remember the first time I saw Dean Stockwell camply and menacingly mime the song in Blue Velvet. I was terrified and had strange dreams for weeks afterwards. It was my initiation into the weird universe of David Lynch. I have a hunch that Jonathan Phillips resides in a corner of that same universe.

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The show: Back from the brink of obscurity

So, yeah, we attempted to keep the show on the straight and narrow today because  The Herb Whisperer thought we may have been too obscure with the music selections over the last few weeks. However, we resorted to type and went all over the place (much to Sasha’s chagrin) once again. Doesn’t look like we’ll ever make it in the commercial radio market. Oh well.

And here’s the playlist in full…

12pm – 1pm

Sorry, there’s no fancy schmancy m4a versions this week. Just the mp3 below.

1pm – 2pm

Sorry, there’s no fancy schmancy m4a versions this week. Just the mp3 below.

Alternatively, this is the raw, unpasteurized version of the show in mp3 format. No chapters, pictures or links. Slightly less quality. Otherwise the audio content is the same as the two files above. The choice is yours…..

Download 12pm – 2pm here (mp3 file)

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Tono and the Finance Company “Fragile Thing” EP

Tono and the Finance Company "Fragile Things" EP

I was at Galaxy Records yesterday on the hunt for the Tono and the Finance Company 2008 EP “Love and Economics” when I discovered that Dave had the newish “Fragile Thing” EP in stock. So I bought it (#147 of 300 I’ll have you know).

Damn nice EP too. Throughout I hear faint traces of  Paul Banks, Stephen Malkmus, and Graeme Downes (… the curse of a music geek making comparisons sorry). “Tuesday Afternoon” has been getting a thrashing on RDU lately. Title track is fantastic. And “Politics Will Make You Miserable” is possibly the best Smiths song that Morrissey and Marr never wrote.

I’m not usually one for “singer/songwriters” (I honestly have real trouble hearing lyrics in music – I usually tune into the bassline) but something about Anthonie Tonnon really appeals to me. Perhaps it’s because he has balls to keep things loose and slightly rough around the edges (don’t tell him I said that last bit okay)?

Reviewers describe him as being “ironic”. Can’t stand that term myself. I prefer “witty”. At a stretch “quirky”.

Here’s the recent Cheese On Toast interview:

More info:

As a bonus, here’s that freakish video for “Love and Economics”…

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OMG – my Human Centipede Sock Puppet wish almost came true!!!

Last Tuesday The Herb Whisperer, Sifty Shane and I took a gamble and went to see The Human Centipede at the NZ International Film Festival.

Despite all the hype it wasn’t too shocking, just a little silly in places, but really may have been “100% medically accurate”. If anything, it reminded me of all the tedious corporate team building courses I’ve been subjected to in my life. All in all, the sort of movie sorbet that everyone needs once in a while.

I was hoping for a sequel eg: “The Human Centipede 2: Sock Puppets” but today I discovered something better.

Today I saw the Sock Monkey Human Centipede on Boing Boing (the designer is Lori Muffinface):

Sock Monkey Human Centipede via Boing Boing
Sock Monkey Human Centipede via Boing Boing

 Maybe more movies should be done as soft toys. It would save us all a lot of time.