And when the next wave is the last wave

A girlfriend and I were having a quiet Sunday in. Well, as quiet as can be expected around this part of the world, in this stage of our lives. We were both fairly fragile from the night before, so we had settled on getting DVD’s and eating pizza, smoking far too many cigarettes and having a giggle. Anyway, you need to know that, because it will give you an indication of why we hired This Is England, a critically acclaimed movie, produced (at least in part) by Warp Records. Because there is very few things as enjoyable as a remakably confrontational, disturbing or messed up film to make one feel far less fagile.

Shane Meadows directs this beautifully shot look inside the Thatcher-era small town rise of the National Front white power movement, with the central charachter being a little boy who’s father had died in the Falklands War. Its cute, rough, ugly and bright all at the same time but the bit that made me melt into a warm, gooey mess was a scene at the beginning of the film, where the little boy was getting montaged about bullying or something like that, and the guitar from Gravenhurst’s “Nicole” slide in. And as we get emotioned away by the fantastic collection of shots of the English towns of the 80’s, I start breathing the words ” Oh, Nicole! From the moment we met we let it get out of control”

Gravenhurst is really special. His first album on Warp was a tweaked collection of gorgeous accoustic songs – well, gorgeous until you actually hear what he has to say. And then it hits you – this man has the most amazing sense of impending doom! A spine and heart shattering finality to his psyche. But sung in such a lullaby way that you just cant help but drift happily to sleep. Adding band members, and amplifiers, for Fire In Distant Buildings, the sprawling, addictive morbidity and loathing gets swept along by truimphant guitars, rolicking drums and really driving passionate music. So it was great pleasure to find out that a new Gravenhurst album has come out. I’d suggest you go and listen to it right now (and buy it if you want). As that is what I will be doing all week.

Introducing, for the first time

A lovely friend of mine exclaimed that the excitement she heard in my voice, as I described the awesome of some gig or another a few months ago, that I should really have a blog. And as the rain tumbles down on my new city, instead of me just putting on and attempting to mix some turn of the century “progressive house” records (as I usually do, as rainy days are the only days appropriate for such records), I figured I should actually start one up. So today, I get to tweak settings, ponder directions, alter fonts and layouts, and see moods shift with different colour schemes.

Before I tell you about myself, I want to pop down a bit about why I want to record my experience in this way – my manifesto for this blog, and a slight map for its direction. It will be about popular culture and my experience with it. Probably, mostly, it will be music related. Kind of ‘indie’, ‘underground’, ‘art-wank’ style music. Not exclusively, mind you – I’m sure I actually have more than enough posts bubbling inside me about the trials, tribulations and occasional triumphs of boy bands and pop princesses, but I think it will be another rainy day before I post up an article entitled “Skanky Tart Comes Good”. I don’t want this to be a repository for the latest leaks and retrospective mp3’s – I find blogs that do that far too often get their taste melded to that of their blogs – my taste is far wider than this blog will ever be, and similarly, I am precious about it, and won’t risk it for the sake of cyber-music-hawks. So if you read here, and want to find a song I’m talking about, its up to you to google, torrent or whatever it is you scavengers do.

Who am I then, to be putting down all these rules?

Whilst this isn’t livejournal, I think a personal introduction will help. My name is Darcy, I live in what the rap boys call “Syn City”, others “the inner-west”. I have been in love with music since I was about 14 years old, though I remember music from when I was little, and so have a massive love for dodgy eighties pop. My favourite bands have changed throughout my life, but The Beatles, Oasis, Blur, Elastica, Pulp, Supergrass, Dead Kennedys, Coldcut, Princess Superstar, Sleater-Kinney, a week where Tegan & Sara were totally it for me, The New Pornographers, Black Mountain and this week I’m really liking Low. My 15 year-old self would be completely embarrassed by the amount of ‘rap’ and ‘techno’ I listen to as a 25 year-old, but know this – hip-hop and electronica are equals, and superiors in some respects, to guitar-based music, and this attitude means I get to have a great deal of fun at a great deal of shows.

So intro-post out of the way, now I can see how this looks! Any questions, just leave them in the comments, but actual content will come along when I have the place looking nice for visitors.

xDarcyx