The Slow Education Lecture 2 'The Origin of Species'

Key Texts:
1. Happiness Is A Warm Gun- The Beatles, The White Album, 1968
2. I'm A Boy- The Who, single, 1966
3. Feedback- The Grateful Dead, Live, 1972
4. Thirteen- Big Star, #1 Record, 1972
5. Breadfan- Breadfan, Never Turn Your Back On A Friend, 1973
6. Sunshine Of Your Love (Cream cover)- Jimi Hendrix, BBC sessions, 1998
7. Effigy (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)- Uncle Tupelo, Live Oddities, 1995

Recommended Reading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAVhKjsImeI Creedence Live
http://www.matadorrecords.com/stephen_malkmus/video_interview.html
click on 'lodi' you at the bottom and you get CCR and malkmus!!! (he fucks it up though, also did you know malkmus went to school in lodi?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6C_WSp3Lks Bob rocks out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmo9e7DzKlk Kurt C plays VU in Holland!

Review of Dyse at LVC 26/11/09

It is Sunday 29 Nov 2009. I need to write a review of a paper on tonality in various Bantu languages by Mr. Larry Hymen (great name, I know). Unfortunately the 11% beer with which Tom plied me last night has unsteadied my metaphorical pen. Perhaps writing a review of Dÿse (25 Nov 2009 at the LVC, Leiden) will unknot some of the strands in ol’ Duder’s head.

Although less inebriated than for the Vox Von Braun show, I was not sober for this gig. Thus, the same structural conventions are employed (see my last review for a comparison).

“Dÿse and beer”

Equipment: two crazy German guys (tautologous? – self Ed.). According to Lena, who can tell from the German accent on their English, they are from East Germany. They wear a uniform: white and black shirts. The colours are in two blocks, split vertically asunder. I have only seen the film Das Leben der Anderen once, but I’m pretty sure this makes them members of the Stasi. One plays the drums (big ride cymbals, both Zildjian), the other guitar (Fender Strat, a masshoose fuck-off stack).

Sound: It was really fucking loud. Anything loud created by a drummer/guitarist pair who are not Lighting Bolt inevitably sounds like Death From Above 1979. Their sound is better than DFA is two ways: 1) less shitty bass, 2) less Canad.

Songs: Angular, riff-laden, with a good use of the loud-heavy dynamic (an expression pedal was used to control volume). The drummer was solid: some great half-time beats. Rolls were sparsely but cleverly employed. Their encore was real slow and moody. Inescapably, some structures were very similar to those of DFA. Some great vocals – after the heavy section in the song ‘Treppe’, the lead singer panted like a dog for two minutes before launching into this monster riff. Singer’s voice is less whinny than the DFA singer. . I always thought DFA tried too hard to persuade girls to fuck them – they have lyrics like “Sexy woman meet me after work / I wanna show you how I handle business / I wanna show you how the mail-boy flirts”” (‘Sexy Results’). Dÿse don’t suffer the same malady – or at least I think they don’t – actually I don’t have a clue because all the lyrics were in fucking German.

Performance: As an obvious homage to Lightning Bolt, they played on the floor. For the majority of the time the drummer went mental. The guitarist lurched over his microphone for long periods. In the quiet sections of songs he mostly looked at the floor, deciding which of his multitude of foot-pedals to press. Lengthy and irrelevant anecdotes punctuated the intermission between songs. These were indicative of their endearing ‘Crazy-German’ characters. At the end of the performance they hugged each other for an excessively long time.

Overall: As I retired to the bar, my thoughts were thus:

“These guys must totally rock Germany. I mean, what else do they have? Fucking Seeed and Peter Fox. And the Hoff. I paid 5 euros to see this, and I actually don’t feel overly aggrieved.”

“Dÿse and coffee”

The aesthetic of their myspace makes me feel instantly nauseous (black and white stripes). Their songs still sound good, but without the excessive volume present at the gig, something is missing. I think it’s a bass guitar!! Their lyrics aren’t in German after all. I feel pretty embarrassed that I’m losing the ability to discern my native tongue. Fuck. They have a horn section in one of their songs. A bold move: especially considering that it sounds a bit shit.

I would, out of choice, listen to these guys. And unless you’re a total dickface, you should too.

3.75 wobblies.

J. E. Griffiths

B-Movie (set in '93)

We've uploaded better recorded versions of Hyperbowl's songs to their myspace. To celebrate this great day, here's 'B-Movie (set in '93)':

What we've been up to in November...

...well for a start we've been practising!

November began for the LRC with our first proper show in Leiden at Cafe De Tregter on November 6th (check out the poster below). As the poster says, the three LRC bands played - Hyperbowl, The Sex Pests and John Law and the Law Lords.


The night was concluded by a set from very smart looking LRC Covers Band. Thanks to everyone who came, we had a fun (and pretty exhausting) time. Check these guys out - looking good!


We also played at De Twee Spieghels last weekend on November 21st. That was a blast too. Check out the crowd!



Thanks to Wiebke for the photos. We did mostly covers that night, with a short Hyperbowl set. We've also bought a P.A, which is pretty rad.

The next LRC show is at Sub071, a squat venue on Schuttersveld by the train station. It's around the back of the graffitied building you can see from the station entrance. Hyperbowl are playing on Wednesday December 2nd in support of La Ira De Dios, a Peruvian band. Entrance is 4 euros. Just ring the door bell and you'll be let in. Here's the poster:


See y'later...

Listen up all you malnourished muzaks, Lord Round’s Gastro Blog will sort you out. I know it ain’t strictly music but a tingle on your tongue is a good way to complement an earful of vintage rack and roll. So get your pots and pans out, and if you ain’t bashin’ ‘em, whack a curry in ‘em.

http://www.lordround.blogspot.com/

LR

Vox Von Braun at Bar and Boos

Jimmy’s first gig review since “Biffy Clyro at the Plug, Sheffield, UK. 19 Feb 2006” for the ‘Steel Press’

I started that gig review with: “The Action was literally On Fire for Biffy Clyro last Sunday evening, where a small electrical blaze temporarily delayed what would inevitably be a typically whirlwind performance”. That’s cute – using one of the Band’s song-titles to open the review. I bet that made me feel smug all day.

Because I was pissed for the entirety of Vox Von Braun’s set, I will provide two reviews. The first is entitled “Vox Von Braun and beer” (at the Bar and Boos, 14 Nov 2009). The second is entitled “Vox Von Braun and coffee” (midday 18 Nov 2009, my apartment).

“Vox Von Braun and beer”

Equipment: two nice Fenders, both sun-kissed. I thought both were Jaguars. Ben told me one was a Jazzmaster and the other a Mustang (I think…). A nice amount of trebly gain and modulation from a Phaser. A girl bassist with nice hair.

Sound: I thought they covered a Cramps song, but upon questioning the singer, they didn’t. They played psychobilly stuff: a mix of blues, garage rock, rhythm and blues, punk rock, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll. Think The Cramps, The Meteors, The Damned’s slower output, The Trashmen, Dick Dale, etc. It was like Neil Young’s 1983 album ‘Everybody’s Rocking’, but with distortion.

Songs: A constant tempo, sound, discourse and inter-song structure. Very little variation. I told Ben I thought this was an advantage. I believed they were more into ‘mood’ than individual songs. We should, I implored, look at the bigger picture. This picture sounded cool. Cool like the song in that scene in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me where Donna gets her baps out.

Performance: For the most part, pretty static. Very little crowd interaction during songs. Some banter between songs, which was appreciated. My eye was drawn from the men in the band (one of which looks like Viggo Mortensen: which is irrelevant) by the female bassist, whose face I couldn’t see. However, she played bass really well, and she was a girl, and therefore worthy of adoration. As Tim says “sometimes girls can be good musicians too”. True that… true that.

Overall: As I retired to the bar, my thoughts were thus:

“VVB are one of the better bands I’ve seen in Leiden. They have a good sound, and they are tight. They are interested in their own music and not some emerging scene. They are a little taciturn, but that’s cool – they are letting the music speak for itself. Their bassist must have big hands and long fingers.”

“Vox Von Braun and coffee”

Someone has put some effort into their website. Looks prof. They are signed to an Indie Label, and have a debut album called “Something Ain't Wrong", which plays about with the relation of semantic scope between the quantifier and negative particle. It can be interpreted as “Something is Right” or “Everything is Right”. Both are boring statements for different reasons.

Their myspace songs are sludgier and slower than I remember. Still nice and noisy: some great guitar sounds on “Julia”. It drones too much though: dangerously close to Shoegaze: which I fucking hate. The songs are very basically structured. Singer is whack. The bass sounds good though. “When did you become so popular?” is their best track. I would probably play this whilst reading a paper on Long-Distance wh-movement in current syntactic theory. Why? Because both pretend to be more complicated than they actually are.

I still think the ‘Bowl could learn something from their sound though.

3 Wobbly Eggs.

J. E. Griffiths

A Slow Education: Lecture No. 1 ‘Overview’

This is our first broadcast.



Key Texts:
1. Slow Education- The Silver Jews, Bright Flight, 2001
2. I Will Dare- The Replacements, Let it Be, 1984
3. Big Dipper- Built to Spill, There’s Nothing Wrong with Love, 1994
4. Going to Acapulco- The Crust Brothers, Marquee Mark, 1998
(Live cover of Bob Dylan and the Band, Basement Tapes, 1975)
5. Beginning to See the Light- The Velvet Underground, Live at Max’s Kansas City, 1972
6. Revolution Blues- Neil Young, On the Beach, 1974
7. German Studies- The Breeders, Mountain Battles, 2008
8. Cornerstone- The Arctic Monkeys, Humbug, 2009

wow using the computer is a totally slow education

This blog will be used by the Leiden Rock Company to provide info about our bands.

inc. Hyperbowl, John Law and the Lawlords, The Sex Pests, Black Scarf, The Leiden Rock Company Classic and Modern Rock and Pop Covers Band and others

We will big up other bands inc. Rene SG, Holy Water, The Musical Chairs Collective, Vox von Braun, Junior Eats Alone, P.G. Lost, Korakoid, Bitch Picnic, The Eggplants, Hubert Cumberdale, The Deutschmarks f. k. a. Neon Claws, Lost Bear, The Raphaelites etc.

We will provide a radio show/podcast called ‘A Slow Education’ once a week for your consumption.

We will provide gig reviews.

There will be links and widgets and some RSS feeds apparently.

We will talk about nothing else other than music. What else is there anyway?

P.S.
The layout of the blog will soon be much cooler.