Mould

Last Tuesday morning I had a Huskies-filled walk westwards, today I had the pleasure of Bob, Grant and Greg's company once again as I headed eastwards for a few photos and errands. This was the first ever track I heard by them and it pretty much had me hooked (it was on a tape that the local vicar's daughter did for a mate of mine - full of Husker Du, Black Flag, Billy Bragg, Sisters Of Mercy and The Cure - she was the school alternative and in upper sixth when we were lower, we admired her a lot, but that's as far as our appreciation went, honest, we were naive and innocent young things).

So, on the basis of that one track I went and bought the debut album, Land Speed Record, thinking I'd start from the beginning. Well, that was very a different beast entirely and, apart from the first time I ever played Psychocandy on the family turntable, provoked the strongest reaction I'd ever heard from my dad. "No Dad, it's meant to sound like that. No Dad, I haven't broken your needle." But I had to agree, it was an absolute racket, albeit an exciting and invigorating racket, and I was straight into town the next day to pick up the more palatable yet still beautifully noisy Flip Your Wig. And, just reading all this stuff, sometimes I wonder if LPs were incredibly cheap back then or whether I have grossly exaggerated my wages from my shelf-stacking job in Grandways. Still, I don't think I spent much on anything else. Pre-pub days and all that.

Enough music, well enough of old music anyway. Some bunch I'd never heard of before got album of the week on Friday on three different websites I subscribe to. They're called Peaking Lights and they sound like some funk/reggae/indie/Factory/electronic outfit from 1985 (so it is kind of old music after all, I lied...). Their CD arrived in the post today. I've had one listen. In a word - magical.

Addition: With all this music chit-chat I forgot to mention earlier that I saw the film Four Lions (the Chris Morris directed 'comedy' about suicide bombers) again last night with a fellow blipper. If anything, it was even more brilliant, daring and profoundly affecting than the first time I saw it. Two more free screenings at Edinburgh and other Cineworlds on Wed (1800) and Thu (2045) if you download the voucher from the BAFTA website.