Nuisance Caller

Barry and I put together our first short film of the 21st century a couple of weekends ago. I'm very pleased with it, sure its flippant, simple and limited in its appeal, but it proves we can still do it. It was called Nuisance Caller and will only be 'got' by anyone who is familiar with the BBC's sci fi series Blakes 7, so its not really for general consumption. Believe me, there are plenty more where that one came from....

Lunchtime Aspergers Part Trois

So, I'm sitting here, its been 3 weeks since I last blogged - now I'm back, and, with the absence of any real stories, there's only one thing for it; a round of Lunchtime Aspergers. Take it away...

13. Boards of Canada - Hi Scores EP
Not an album as such, I grant you, but not a single either, so it fits in fine here. My first exposure to BOC was around 1997, when I live with Rich in Werrington. There was a track by them on the Warp 'sampler' compilation from that year called Orange Romeda. I wouldn't say it blew me away by any means, but, it did have a sense of humour and wit about it that appealed to me along with a really original sound - originality means a lot to me. It sat on a compilation of standard Warp fayre, which to be honest now looks a bit dated. I bought Music Has the Right to Children about a 18 months later, then living in London. It was a real revelation to me, and remains so, but Hi Scores remains my very favourite. BOC are now well know for their 'broken' sound, inspired by the 16mm educational films of their youth, complete with badly damaged radiophonic music soundtracks. It would seem that things in Canada are were not so different from a child growing up in the UK, because although we had video at my primary school, we also had a huge amount of BBC radiophonic workshop music on our kids TV. Maybe this is why BOC remain so nostalgic for me. Whilst all of BOC's output is emotionally involving and could be always described as beautiful, Hi Scores is somewhat 'dirtier' and grittier' than later efforts and I think this is why its my favourite release of theirs.

14. Art of Noise - Daft
Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love the Art of Noise. They're one of those core bands that I love beyond all others, and have been with me since I bought my first few singles in the mid eighties. In their case it was Peter Gunn. I never looked back, and I still buy the odd bit of collectible vinyl or rarity. Last thing was a DJ promo copy of Rob Searle's remix of Moments in Love, I got it cheap which at once upsets me and pleases me. Pleases me because I can afford a couple of sovereigns, saddens me because they should be worth so much more and their profile as the innovators they clearly were, is too low. Daft is a compilation of the first album 'Whose Afraid if the Art of Noise', the 'Moments in Love' 12" and the 'Into Battle' EP. In a nutshell then, this is their earliest output, and its also their best. Certainly there will be other AON albums in later editions of Lunchtime Aspergers, no doubt, but this ones different, its not just a good album, its a work of genius! Listen to 'A Time for Fear' - Warp could've released it last week, it sounds like proto Autechre, except it has a sense of humour! They were the antithesis of pop, vowing never to appear in public, or have photo's taken, they were the original faceless techno band, 2 decades early. Outside of punk, what else in 1983 was so noisy?! And with this album, this is what they are, punks, armed with a classically trained musician in Anne Dudley, the worlds best producer in Trevor Horn, Mr Post Modern himself, Paul Morley and the guys behind a million rock albums through the 70's JJ Jeczalik and Gary Langan and one of the worlds earliest samplers, The Fairlight CMI (so expensive JJ Jeczalik was heard to say 'for that price I expect to be able to live in it'). Everyday sounds are captured, chewed up and hurled back as huge, calamitous beats, quirky melodies and snippets of voices provide melodies. Donna - again, a track that sounds like it could have come out last week, seemingly predating Boards of Canada's broken sound by 20 years; A Time for Fear - sounds from a documentary on the war in Grenada, complete with theme tune and political comment, smash together; Moments in Love - still on every chill out compilation CD released today. After this, AON shed some members, had some pictures taken and swapped label, becoming a less gritty, more commercial offering, less of an antipop band, and more of a pop band proper - still brilliant, but never quite so rude again. This remains their real moment of genius.

15. Orbital - In Sides
A band so consistent, its hard to choose an album! Orbital for me, are a bit like Kraftwerk. When you buy an Orbital album, you pretty much know exactly what you're going to get! They have a unique sound and style, but what they do with every album is to give it a different spin, not a whole new sound or take, just a slant on it. There are two Orbital albums that will be appearing on the Apsergers list, this is one of them, and I think it represents their pinnacle. They started off rather inauspiciously with the untitled 'green' album, a hodgepodge of work in progress half baked ideas and one or two rave classics. The 'brown' album is a huge step up, a coherent album of 'duff duff' techno magic, repetitive, and simple, but nice. Snivilisation sees them treading a more complex rhythmical, drum and bass path, with a bit of a poor line up of tunes, bar a couple of exceptions, but with some playful philosophical concepts and themes. Then comes In Sides. You can see the journey they've taken, and here's where they arrive. Everything slots into place very nicely, there are wonderful beats, a natural progression of Snivilisation's complexities, but there are also the beautiful (overusing this word, must find another..) melodies and pads, but boy, this is a DARK album, they take the strange spookiness of Snivilisation and crank it up to maximum. And you can play it in the car.

I saw their penultimate concert in Brixton in 2004 - brilliant. Oh, and did you know they were big Doctor Who fans? They even pitched to the beeb for the theme tune for the new series. There's a story for you. Check out 'The Altogether' to hear how it could've been - they played the concert out with it....shame I had to leave midway to catch the last bus!!

Is it me...?

Mr Tumnus, yesterday.

So that was Xmas....

And it was very nice indeed. Mum and Dad left this morning, seems a good chance to review the fortnight and look ahead.

I would be as bold as to say, this is one of the nicest Chritsmasses I have had in my adult life, certainly for me and Hel I would say THE best. Everything just seemed to work, and of course, it was a real pleasure to have such good company; not just Mum and Dad either, but Barry and Jo made an appearance or two aswell. Oh, and we got snow the day after boxing day - the picture above doesn't do it justice, taken early on it shows our house before we had several inches fall.

The culinary experimentations were a success!! I made a couple of cakes that I was very proud of, and Hel's cooking was as usual very good indeed. Not a single present was opened that wasn't brilliant - so thanks everyone. It really was one of those magical xmas', the ones that go past in a blur and you remember for years.

There were of course a couple of down sides, Greb was ill for most of boxing day and had to retire to bed, similarly Mum was a touch ill. Nan too was unable to make it - she gets frailer every day.

The run upto to christmas was full of games and music and watching the BBC's classic 70's ghost stories. Horror strangely seemed to be a strong feature of the season - with Carpenter's The Thing entertaining us on Christams Eve!

So, 2006 - lots of things will be different. They have to be. 2005 was bad, in every regard and I will simply not allow 2006 to be the same. The last couple of weeks have had me thinking about where I'm going with life, they've had me thinking about who I am and what I want. I wasn't in control of last year - who was? But this year, I want to be making decisions, not floating along, not waiting for things to happen to me.

When I look ahead to Xmas '06, I have no idea what it will be like, and that, is exciting for me.