Thursday, May 29, 2008

Cambodia rocks

Some time back, I eulogised about Cambodian pyschedelic rock music, as heard in a cool coffee shop in the hipper-than-thou Williamsburg district of Brooklyn. On Tuesday evening I went to see a fine band who are bringing this sound to the people: Dengue Fever. They are are group of alternately beardy and baldy Angelenos gentlemen with a beautiful Cambodian singer up front. It shouldn’t be effective but it really was fun, in fact one of the best things I’ve seen for a long time. Last song of the night was the amazing ‘Chnam oun Dop-Pramp Muy’ (I’m Sixteen), originally recorded by Ros Sereysothea.

I’d heartily recommend that you read this about Sereysothea. The next time you find yourself feeling sympathy for Doherty, Winehouse, or another such musician whom feels they have been victimised, think of this courageous woman, who was married into the Khmer Rouge under duress by Pol Pot and was then ‘disappeared’, like so many others.

The Bank Holiday weekend started well. On Saturday I popped to Brighton to visit Ms. Magee and beau at their spacious new flat for a housewarming barbeque. We had a very pleasant time chatting to people about stuff that didn’t really matter. Sunday and Monday were so wet and drizzly it was hard to conjure up enthusiasm to do anything: I did manage to net up our blackcurrant bushes on Monday night, which I have to say, was the last thing on earth I wanted to do at the time. I’m pleased it’s done now though.

Following a quiet few months, things are beginning to gather pace now that it is technically summer. We have three gigs (Gong, Yellow Magic Orchestra and My Bloody Valentine) and a classical concert (Satie) to go to in June, plus lots of birthdays and requests for general get-togethers are coming up.

Other stuff:
I am becoming increasingly bewildered by the half-assed attempts at a line-up for the Mighty Boosh festival. Strictly for the hardcore fan I suppose, which is fair enough.

Happy 15th anniversary, Bust magazine!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Are these the years of laughter and forgetting?

This past day I have found myself humming songs from David Sylvian's back catalogue. I was a bit of a Sylvian fan in the early 90s. There was a time when his gentle, melancholy songs soundtracked my days. I don't remember the names of the songs anymore but I do recall snatches of lyrics (like this post's title).

I'm suffering from hay fever again. To get to sleep every night I'm taking a strong drug. This means it takes me a lot longer to wake up in the mornings and I fall into a deep sleep where I'm troubled by some quite odd dreams. I suppose you could say that I'm not really feeling myself just at the moment. I hope this will pass.

Work is still OK. There's a distinct lack of work to do at present, but this won't last, and I'm looking forward to having more to do.

Last night we watched Die Hard 4.0, which despite a relatively interesting storyline about hacking into the US government's IT systems, I found depresssingly violent and not even funny (despite a cameo by Kevin Smith). Last week I watched Black Book, which was infinitely better.

Summer's here, here's hope it's staying.