Beijing Skinheads

Vice have been doing quite alot of punk related posts recently, especially about the californian hardcore punk scene and punk in Eastern Europe.

Here's a video they posted today about skinheads from Beijing. I just liked the mix of military dudes with SKINS dudes in this video. The songs by a band called Misandao. They are the only OI! punk type band in the whole of Beijing.



Read more on the vice blog Here

They are not a nazi skins band. Everyone seems to get the worng idea when you say skins punk and oi band in the same sentance.

Calender

I know theres so much going on in the next few months, so I decided I better post something to remind me.

Art of Parties with Late of the pier etc October 2nd Arches
Patrick wolf dj set oct 3rd Flying Duck
The streets october 4th barrowlands
Stiff Little Fingers 5th october Liquid Rooms
Gash Import october 9th Flying Duck
The Vibrators 11th October Ivory Blacks
The Fall 12th October Queens Hall Edinburgh
This will Destroy You 13th October Captains Rest
Gash Import October 14th Bar Bloc
Gay vs you October 30th flying duck
Yacht 2nd November Flying Duck
Ghostface Killah 16th November Arches
The Faint 18th November Oran Mor
Mr Scruff 21st November Arches
All Tomorrows Parties 5th 6th 7th december Butlins
Squarepusher December 11th flying duck
The vaselines December 12th abc
Berlin December 14th to 19th
London 20th to 22nd December(hopefully)
Magazine February 13th The Forum London

If you are going to any of these shows let me know.

New look bible

The Crush Agency were given the tough challenge of giving the bible a fresh colourful make over.



It looks awesome, I wonder if the sales will go up or down
alot of people might be put off by the in your face colours. It might be considered unholy.

Who said religion can't look rad. Next they should give the churches a colourful makeover too.

Maw

Hillarious video i found on Super Deluxe titled maw.



I've been browsing videos on super deluxe for over an hour, I can't plan my day yet because I don't no when my friends from London are coming up and where we've to meet up with them.

A Palin Post

Everyone in blog world seems to be posting something funny about Sarah Palin.

Here's my Palin Post:

.

This video was by college humour.

DJ Face Shred'r

I was talking with a friend last night about the name face shred'r and how it would be such a rad DJ name. So I decided that he can use the name when he's DJ'ing at shows or whatever. Keep your eyes peeled. I think he is going to be doing a jungle set on subcity radio soon. I'll post more details when I find out more about it.

So if you do see Face Shred'r on flyers it most likely won't be me playing.

Go Here for mixtapes etc from DJ face shred'r

Or click Here to download his jungle mix.



Duration:

1:04:28

Tracklisting:

Dj Fhantom - Grandad Was a Wife Beater
FFF - Junglist
General Malice - Hands Up
Cutty Ranks - Limb By Limb (DJ SS Remix)
Shitmat - Benson & Hedges
Shitmat - Zagreb
Congo Natty - Yes Selecta
UK Apache & Shy FX - Original Nuttah
The Terrorist - Chopper (VIP Mix)
Redrose & Rebel - Gun Talk (Original Dub Plate)
Cowboy Ranger - Gangster Dont Joke (Drum & Bass Dub)
Tribe Of Issachar - Code Red
General Malice - Junglist Girls Cry
Josey Wales, Beanie Man & Ini Kamoze - Build Me 3 Coffins
Dj Mikey Finn - Jungle Warfare
Admiral Bailey & Mad Cobra - Skin Out (Drum & Bass Dub)

September Weekend

Everyone seems to be off, doesn't really make much of a difference to me because i usually get mondays and fridays off anyway. It'll be good to be out with people that don't usually come out on a Thursday night.

Anyway if your in Glasgow tonight you should get yourself along to this awesome night at the Flying Duck called Croc Madame Vs. Croc Monsieur.



Expect mad noise, dub step and every other sound.

The last time we went was really awesome and they had rad installations like this dude:



If you didn't already know The flying duck is one of the best alternative clubs/venues in Glasgow. Our friends from London are coming up this week, so I think we're going to take them to a night called "You and Me" at the duck.

They've also got some new regular club nights their now so you should keep checking back to their myspace for more info or whatever.

My room has just been painted and the fumes are making me super dizzy. I think i'll upload some pictures of my room when it's finished.

Wizards

I posted the film heavy traffic a while back because I was done trying to describe it to people and to let people know that it was such a rad film. After posting about it I was told about other films that Ralph Bakshi has done. Apart from heavy traffic my next favourite is the 1977 film Wizards. You should click the link to find out more about it because just like heavy traffic this films is really hard to explain too. It's really awesome though so you should watch it.










I think I might make a t shirt with some wizards on it.

Joe Orton

Recently I've been watching quite alot of Arena Documentaries.

I really like this one about modern playright Joe Orton.













I also love the rad theme music it's called "another green world" by Brian Eno.

Fashion Week

I've been kind of keeping an eye on whats happening during fashion week. Yeah some nice designs, good shows and whatever. While browsing youtube I came across this dude called David Hill who just interviewed people during fasion week and made bad/amazing jokes.

Check this out:



"for those of you who aren't into fashion, go fuck yourself"

I was checking some more stuff this guys done, some of it's quite funny. Only so much of him I can take.

All tomorrows Parties

The month of December is going to be an exciting one. I'm off to Berlin with my mum for a few days. Theres so much I want to check out. And at the start of December I plan on trecking down to Butlins holiday camp for the All tomorrow's Parties nightmare before christmas special. This is just a post to ask if anyone at all wants to come down with me.



The line-up looks amazing for this one. I'm extra excited about seeing squarepusher, the dirtbombs, butthole surfers, teenage jesus and the jerks and the damned.

The tickets are only £160. That includes your 3 day ticket and a room in the holiday camp. I know alot of people are usually short on cash around that time of the year but it'll definetly be worth it.

I think i'll also be down in london just before Christmas too.

Can't wait for December to come now.

James Holden

Last night we went to see James Holden at Stereo in Glasgow. It was a sold out show and we managed to get in for free due to our major hustling skills. His set was awesome and lasted about 3 hours. we showed up pretty late so spent the whole show crushed in at the side of the venue.

Stereo is such a rad venue for electronic acts. It just generally looked good as well as sounding good. It looked like something from some early 90's rave film. Bricks in the walls showing and pipes on the ceiling that looked as if they were going to fall at any minute.

Here some clips from last night that some dude posted on youtube.







During the set there was constant "fuck erol alkan" chants. This is because Erol Alkan was playing a set at the arches and alot of people decided to go to that instead. Or maybe just alot of James Holden fans hate Erol Alkan.

Microsoft idiots

Don't know if anyones seen the new series of adverts that microsoft have out titled I'm a PC. Basically saying how PC's are better than macs



The funny thing is these adverts were actually made on macs. What a failure. And they didn't even get anyone good to be in the adverts. Nothing beats mitchell and web in the apple series of adverts.

Goth Rock

After buying that print by French yesterday I got in a crazy goth mood and started listening to some old english goth rock.

Here's an awesome goth rock band I like from the late 70's - early 80's called Bauhaus. This is the bands first single called Bela Lugosi's Dead. I've been listening to this all day:



This is the short version the original lasts about 9 minutes.

The closest i'll ever get to high fiving Michael Jackson

After the post I did yesterday, I had some replies about where to get decent prints and pictures. I'm really up for getting some shoboshobo prints. My friend Steven Hill asked me if I wanted a piece he done called "The closest i'll ever get to high fiving Michael Jackson".



Can't wait to get this on my wall.

Straight up witch-craft

You might have read in other posts that I'm currently "doing up" my room in my mums house. I've decided I'm going to keep things simple with white walls, wooden floor, single bed and couch. No other furniture. No tv. I want it to feel like a hospital or an art gallery but without the strange smell they both have.

I decided I needed some pictures. Even hospitals have pictures, even if there just posters with a dirty lung on it.

I bought my first picture for my wall today. I'ts really gothic and satanic. I think its going to go above my bed.



It was only £5 and it's by a guy called French. He does alot of graphics for skateboard stuff and graphic design for alot of black metal gigs.

I don't have a clue of what other stuff I want on my walls
if you have any ideas or have seen some rad prints or photos let me know.

Magazine Reform

READ THIS

"Magazine, one of Britain’s most influential bands, are to reform for two concerts in February 2009.

Original members Howard Devoto, Dave Formula, Barry Adamson and John Doyle are to be joined by an as yet unnamed guest guitarist, to walk in the not inconsiderable footsteps of the departed, and sadly missed, John McGeoch.

It is the first time Magazine have played live together since 1980.

Enduringly credible, Magazine have always been the connoisseur’s choice and have been frequently name checked by some of the most gifted musicians of recent years including Radiohead, Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, U2 & Maximo Park. This year, NME.com included Magazine in a poll as one of the most influential bands of all time.

Magazine’s front man, Howard Devoto co-formed Buzzcocks with Pete Shelley after the pair had seen The Sex Pistols in early 1976 and promoted the now legendary Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs. Devoto left in 1977, after the seminal "Spiral Scratch" EP had been released, and created Magazine. Their first record was the post-Punk anthem "Shot By Both Sides".

Four ground breaking albums later and the band had parted company, leaving behind an influential body of work which was re-released by Virgin EMI last year to critical acclaim.

The concerts are being staged in association with The Gig Cartel and wire-sound and will be recorded for possible release later in 2009."

This is one reunion show I would love to go to. I don't even mind the £25 ticket charge either. Does anyone want to come with me? It's in london on February 29th at The Forum. Tell me soon. Reply in a comment below if you want to come down.

Last Manoeuvres in the Dark

"Last Manoeuvres In The Dark. Is made up of from a set of terracotta of Darth Vader masks, arranged in a millitary formation, a distant reminder of the XI'an Army =)

It is endowed with an artificial intelligence system, developed to work out the darkest musical hit of all time.

Each mask is fitted with a powerful microprocessor. Connected to a central computer, they operate as a network.

dARTh Vader, the epitome of villainy, is here multiplied ad infinitum, drawing a curve of absolute darkness."

By Fabien Giraud and Raphael Siboni.

Hand me downs

when it comes to the stage where I'm two weeks late in giving people money I owe them I always seem to be greeted with "it's about time" or "Where's my money". But today when I went to give my mate Mark back 20 quid I owed him, he greeted me at the door with a massive bundle of Vice Magazine back issues and the entire Daniel Johnston collection.

The story is that he started collecting Vice a couple of years ago and then moved in with his girlfriend. His girlfriend then through out his whole collection because of not having enough space for storage or something. So he started collecting again. He said that their having problems with storage again and have to much junk. He asked if i'd look after them for a while just incase his girlfriend tries to get rid of them again.

So I did. There's a good few weeks of reading here and alot of the issues are from a few years back that I've never read or seen before. Was such a struggle getting them up the road.

Here's a few issues I layed out across my floor.



I can't wait to get started on these and the Daniel Johnston CD's. If you haven't seen the Documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" you should definetly get yourself a copy.

Here's the trailer:

social groups

Momus did a post today that I was very interested in, about a project called exactitudes. In short this project is about the striking dress codes of various social groups.

This is what their about section on the website says:

"Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek have worked together since October 1994. Inspired by a shared interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups, they have systematically documented numerous identities over the last 13 years. Rotterdam's heterogeneous, multicultural street scene remains a major source of inspiration for Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek, although since 1998 they have also worked in cities abroad.

They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element. "

I've been interested in social groups and other peoples opinions/perceptions of them for a while now. Like Momus said, it would be fun to see what social group the creators of exactitudes would put you into.

I took an hour and went through all the different groups.

I guess I would say the way I usually dress is a combination of pocket monster, geeks and cassettes gang (maybe taking some influence from a few other groups too).

Still Ill

I have the flu. All day yesterday I was in bed watching re-runs of old programmes on channel 4 and browsing youtube for rad documentaries. I spent an hour trying to find that Red Road film on the internet but couldn't track it down. I ended up watching a documentary on science fiction novelist Philip K Dick. The guy is pretty awesome so you should watch it.

Here's the first part:



here's some mad stills from it I like courtesy of Bean Butler on flickr







I'm still quite ill but i'm going to try get some fresh air today. I've been too ill to eat so my energy levels are pretty low. I'm annoyed that I missed the Weenliz and GATR gig that happened last night. If you went I hope you enjoyed it.

Capsule toy machines

Remember those machines that you could find outside shops or in the amusements. The ones that took a pound off you and gave you really bad toys or bouncy balls back. They were pretty bad, but sometimes the machines were designed to look like creepy characters. On a recent bus trip to London I found a few capsule machines that were in the shape of Snoopy and Charlie Brown. This made me want to find some more rad capsule machines. I like the ones that come in amazing colour combinations too. Bright purples with yellows and greens. I think now there actually giving out better toys, well ones that are Disney themed and maybe not as easy to break.

Here are my favourite ones.

Lack of posts

I've been on a horrible bender for the last 2 days. Just home now, feeling really unclean and achey. I should do that alot less. My throats raw, soar and i have the cold . No weekend for me I think. I'm just going to sit in, eat pizza and watch old episodes of Peep Show.

Majestic Dragon

Yesterday I posted the Ashes to Ashes video that was made by momus and Jordan Fish.

Jordan Fish is the dude that does alot of the design and animation stuff for MGMT, plus a whole lot of other web stuff too.

I tried to post the MGMT videos that he done here, but the embedded codes have been disabled on youtube. The songs get played so much on music channels anyway so everybodys probably seen them already.

Out of all the stuff I've seen of his, the Majestic Dragon series is by far my favourite. I can't stop laughing at how laidback the majestic dragon is. He done it with one of his buddies Victor Vazquez who wrote all the words for it.

Song of the week

My favourite song of the week is by far the cover of David Bowies "Ashes to Ashes" that Momus and Joe Germlin did for the Recovery Box Set.

.

The video was made by Momus and Jordan Fish.

I've heard so many versions, remixes and covers of David Bowie songs and this is by far my favourite.

Momus and Joe continued collaborating after making this song and on November 24th they are releasing an album together called Joemus.

I don't think this cover is going to make it on to the album. Click here for the full tracklisting and to see how their getting on.

I'm looking forward to this release and also Joe's other releases which are due out pretty soon.

His new solo album "thrash'r" is due out pretty soon and also the new Gay Against You album titled "RIGHTEOUS SIGNALS, SOUR DUDES". Both being released on adaadat.

Plans never work

For this first time in a while i actually have plans set out for the weekend. It's probably not going to work out. Money won't be an issue as pretty much all of it is free.


This is on Friday and should be quite an awesome night.
click Here to apply for the free tickets.


and this on saturday. Ballers social club is a regular Glasgow event and it's their first birthday so get yourself along to that. It's at the Ivy which is right next to the mitchell library.

And Sunday GATR and Weenliz are playing at the 13th note. Come along for a noisy night.

I met the walrus

Most people at one point in their life have had some sort of Beatles obsession. Even if it's not with the music. For a while I was obsessed with the views of John Lennon, I used to spend hours browsing youtube for old john lennon interviews and footage.

This is one of my favourite videos I've found and the animation that goes with it is pretty awesome too.



The story behind the video is:
"In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit, and timeless message."

Give me some of your views on Lennons thoughts

Get Wet

I've had a thing for street animations for a while now. The one that got to me and made me think what the fuck the most was probably that one by Blu.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I love how much time and effort went in to this piece. You can tell by the changes in the sky that it obviously took him a good few days. But the end result was totally worth it.

Another street animation that i found equally inspiring was this piece by Sam3 titled "Water Kiss". I don't no about anybody else but i've never seen anything like this before. The music that goes with it is pretty rad too.



On another note it's my friend Bobby'sbirthday. So happy birthday Bobby

Refreshing Rails

It's really rare these days that I watch new skateboarding videos and footage that get me really inspired in the way that it used to. Everyone seems to be following the trend in skateboarding of skating tight/whippy banks in some amazing foreign country or blasting around a park at 90mph doing slash 5.0's and big bonelesses. All the credit in the world to the people doing that stuff, but no matter how big the ramp or rail it just doesn't get to me the way it used to.

Today though my friend Ian told me about a Japanese skateboarder called Gou Miyagi and linked me to his part in a video titled "Overground Broadcasting"(which i now know is a film by the far east skateboard network). In this part he shows so much creativity and board control. I've never seen someone have this much control on round rails. Even if you're not a skateboarder you should definetly watch this video part and try and appreciate how much skill this guy has on a skateboard. He also looks like he's generally having fun, which is pretty rare these days too.



Notice how perfect the spots and general architecture looks. So much nice looking marble.

Heavy Traffic

I'm probably one of the worst people at explaining movies in the world. Usually after explaining the plot of a film to someone I can tell straight a way that they definetly don't want to watch it. I don't no if it's because I stutter when saying it or maybe my description of the film is just generally bad.

One of the films that i find really hard to describe is Heavy Traffic. There is so much about this film i love, like the way it uses live action with animation as a "metaphor for inner city life".

so I've decided I'm not ever going to try and explain the plot to people again as it ruins the movie.

So don't ever ask me about it, just read about it Here and watch it here:

Can't get enough of colour

I am in the middle of decorating my bedrooom at long last. My first thoughts were to keep it very minimal and simplistic. My idea was to have no cupboard, shelves or drawers and just have a single bed, a couch and a coffee table. The walls i decided were going to be white all over.

However since seeing some DEKI Yayoi pictures from the YAMAMOTO GENDAI collective i have totally changed my mind.








Off to B and Q now to by some tins of greens, pinks and blues. This could turn out awful but i'm really up for some bright colours.

Youtube Anger

I think on a whole I get angry about once a week. Last week it was because my local shop changed it's sign. The new font and picture of someone doing their shopping is pretty disgusting and makes you not want to buy their over priced apple juice.

This week however my anger is aimed towards youtube. Everyone loves browsing youtube for hours. I don't even watch tv anymore, I just use youtube when ever i want to watch old episodes of peep show etc. For me though the best thing about the site is reading peoples angry comments. Especially when it's angry teenagers who think their totally in the right and that nobody elses points matter. I like when their youtube arguments go into caps lock, that shows major rage.



This fun is all over now. Youtube have decided to ban all comments that contain abuse. You won't even be able to do the classic habo hotel swearing as they've banned all misspelled words too.

I think this will have me on a downer for at least half the day. I hope i can still enjoy my lunch.

Comic to stop kids File sharing

The National Center for State Courts have produced a ridiculous comic to stop kids from downloading and sharing music on the internet. I bet they were sitting thinking "oh we have a problem here with kids downloading music, how do we get them to listen? Oh I know kids love comics, that'll work". Kids love comics about super heroes saving lifes and getting the girl. Not about a girl called Megan who ends up in court after downloading her favourite music. Whats worse is that they are trying to make a profit from this by selling the comic. Well they have made it viewable in a PDF file, but still I don't think this comic will encourage kids to stop downloading music.

Still the judge in the comic does have an awesome beard and one of the characters has a jacket that's identical to mine.

Here's a scene from the comic



Peer pressure megan, download that Cruel Mantra album for free.

Flat Wanted

My friend Jinty and I have started looking for a two bedroomed flat in the Glasgow area. If anyone is renting or knows of anyone that is renting out their flat please get in touch.

This is a pretty big step for both of us as neither of us have lived by ourselves before.

I think i'm getting ahead of myself as i'm already thinking of ikea furniture and we've not even been for a first viewing.

For most people when thinking of buying furniture ikea always seems to be their first choice. I started browsing through catalouges and noticed something that momus had posted a while back. I think he's totally right and i decided to repost the chain of adverts ikea had out a while back titled "stop being so english" as i find them pretty funny.



Anyway as I said i'm in desperate need of finding a two bedroom flat in Glasgow, preferably an area near a subway stop or bus stop with a good/regular service.

Bike rack attack

Last week i went thrift and record shopping with my friend Chris along byres road. I came across the first Talking Heads album that had been produced by Brian Eno. "More songs about Buildings and Food", i then started thinking about what David Byrne was up to these days.
Last thing i heard was that he had created a sound installation called "playing the building"
In short he turned a building in new york into one big rad musical instrument.



After googling him for more than two hours and re-obsessing over Byrnes awesome solo stuff i came to learn that he was a cycling enthusiast. Like me he was annoyed at the fact you end up having to chain your bike to rusty lampposts and school railing where raging 12 year olds try to steal your wheels and handle bar grips. The goverment are encouraging people to cycle or walk to work instead of taking the bus, but the lack of bike racks doesn't help much.

He decided to team up with the new york city of tranportation and design attractive looking bike racks for the city.

Here are the finished products





I wish someone would do something like this in Glasgow, would look tonnes better than the little black bike racks that are almost always full.