User: cyberinsekt Date: 2010-01-06 01:50 Subject: Theoretical Girls - Contrary Motion Security: Public

Have you ever wondered what Glenn Branca did in the days before he gathered huge electric guitar ensembles together to perform his wall-of-noise symphonies? Theoretical Girls were pretty much the ideal no wave outfit: arty, abrasive, dissonant and so far underground that it the pressure differential was enough to hurt all but the most dedicated. You can hear the germ of the Branca sound on this recording of Contrary Motion. Listen to the silence that rings out after the abrupt breaks of guitar squall, the hum of the strings dying in the air. This is the noisesome beginning of it all.

Theoretical Girls - Contrary Motion
(alternate download)

User: henry_the_cow Date: 2010-01-05 23:06 Subject: My 2009 Security: Public

It was a pretty good year, mostly.  The things that make it good tend to be the everyday activities.  Getting out once a week with Mrs. HtC to learn Scottish Country Dancing is most welcome, as are the regular gaming sessions.  The book circle continues to be a good way to keep in touch with people and to widen the range of books we books.  Sadly, the DVD club was laid to rest in December, having been pretty much dead since sometime in 2008, but other things are filling its place.  M has a much livelier social life that he used to, which is great.  I still help out with the school chess club and Saturday football (in neither case does this reflect any skill of my own).

The biggest downers were our friend Alison's death from cancer, and the ongoing illness of Mrs. HtC's mum, who is in a nursing home and looks set to stay there.  This has caused a lot of stress within her family, as one might expect.

Notable events included an excellent holiday in Northern Scotland. Birthday parties for Jane, Carol and Noelle were all very enjoyable.  And I relished a weekend away at the Manorcon games convention.  We hardly went to any concerts but oldies did a reliable job: Hawkwind were great fun and so were Ry Cooder & Nick Lowe.  We've been to a couple of ceilidhs; with the dancing classes, this is something we want to keep up.

There were a few major family events, including two  weddings and also passover with Mrs HtC's family.  My parents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, for which my siblings, nieces and nephews clubbed together and bought them a new PC.  Mum and Dad weren't going to have a party but changed their mind about a week in advance, which left me no time to arrange time off and travel!

I'm not travelling nearly as much for work as I used to, which is a relief.  I did have one excellent trip to Denver and the Rocky Mountains.  One major work trip a year is enough, thanks.

If there were a prize for the most irritating occurrence of the year, it would go to our cats for peeing on our bed.  This is not the behaviour we want, furry guys!

My goals for the year were to design a board game and take it to a convention; to arrange music lessons for M; and to ride my bike more.   I didn't finish the board game, mainly due to lack of time, but I'm still working on it; I went to the convention anyway.  M is learning the piano and seems to be enjoying it.  C, A and I did have some enjoyable bike rides and I've now bought a new bicycle which is more suited to this sort of thing, so I hope we can have some more rides this year.

I'm still glad that I've got a stable job.  Work is actually quite interesting but I don't blog about it here.  As I said at the start, it's mainly the activities with family and friends that make my life enjoyable and content. 

User: cyberinsekt Date: 2010-01-05 01:57 Subject: Bernard Parmegiani - Ponomatopées Security: Public

One of the pleasures of exploring electroacoustic music is that you never know what to expect. You're going to hear sounds you've never heard before. It may not matter what they are or how they are made, it is music that respects the act of listening.

One of the downsides of exploring electroacoustic music is that rather a lot of it turns out to be unlistenable tosh.

Ponomatopées is one of the good ones. It may well be one of the great ones. Parmegiani, a former mime artist, was a pioneer of electronic music. This 1970 track takes as its sonic base manipulations of the human voice, and from this produces storm clouds, insect swarms, boiling kettles and vast murmuring crowds. It's a genuinely thrilling journey, cracking along a right pace. I suspect this may be something of a classic.

Bernard Parmegiani - Ponomatopées
(alternate download)

User: henry_the_cow Date: 2010-01-04 22:00 Subject: And so that was christmas... Security: Public

Actually, the holiday started with a birthday party.  It was Mrs. EvilCheeseScientist's 40th and it was celebrated in style (red shoes, red jewels) with family & friends at the Voodoo Rooms.  We mainly chatted, drank fizz and ate canapes, although eventually Nessa did sterling work to fix the sound mix (despite determined opposition) and enabled dancing to occur.

For xmas itself, we were joined for the traditional meal by CAT&S.  This was third time lucky.  The first time we invited them to xmas, I fell ill and A was heavily pregnant, so we thought that was too risky a combination.  The second time, A herself was ill.  So we were all slightly surprised when nothing untoward befell us this year.  C bought M&T matching DS games, which made them happy and content for the afternoon.

And there were presents!  Of course.

On Boxing Day we hosted again, with A&S and JA&A. 

Most of the rest of the holiday was fairly quiet.  We were mainly arranging visits from M's friends, although I did organise a day spent playing a long board game while Mrs HtC and M did other things.  I had to spend a day or two doing work-related matters, which may or may not bear fruit in the next month or so.

Over Hogmanay the situation was reversed; rather than hosting, we were the guests at parties.  And very enjoyable they were.  We also went to see the Big Man Walking - a giant puppet on a JCB, in Holyrood Park.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the time off.  December was rather frantic at work, which combined with the xmas preparations to make a rather stressful month.  I'm already looking forward to the next holidays!

User: tchernabyelo Date: 2010-01-04 19:58 Subject: Meanwhile, elsewhere on the BBC... Security: Public Tags: tv review

Demons.

Any show that actually tries to use the line "I'm getting too old for this" with no hint of irony (it would be funny if, say, the Doctor used it, or some teenager used it) should be taken out behind the bike sheds and soundly paddled with a cricket bat.

And yes, we get that the MC likes wandering around his house without a shirt (though he lives with his mum... bless!   How many late-teen kids really wander around their mum's house without a shirt on?   Hmm?).   Not really sure that you're going to attract the gurrl audience this way.   And must we have the "she's been my mate since we were kids" sidekick routine again?  

Sorry, but that's the last episode I'll watch.   Stop trying to pander to an audience where you've got way too much competition (the late teen into-fantasy crowd); it didn't work with Robin Hood and if the pilot is anything to go by it won't work even more with Demons.

User: tchernabyelo Date: 2010-01-04 19:53 Subject: The End Of Ten, part the final Security: Public Tags: doctor who, tv review

Yes, well.

As expected (because he does this every time), all RTD's huge and heavy hints were red herrings, and the actual "prophecy" comes completely out of left field with no real foreshadowing at all.   Pay no attention to the man in the radiation-proof (but not airtight...) booth!

The dive out of the spaceship was... stupid.

The turning back and forth between the Master and the President was... stupid (especially when unplugging/switching off a mahine was all he needed to do... which is what the sonic screwdriver, notably absent, is normally called into play for.    Admittedly both "Get out of the way" lines were good, but overall the face-off (with the President mysteriously reluctant to use his GLOVE OF DOOM!!) was just rubbish.

And then I realise there was still nearly hafl an hour to go and I realised what was going to happen and I wept, oh, I wept.   Not because of the heart-rending emotion of the long-drawn-out farewells, no.   Because it was way, way worse than what had gone before.

Mickey and Martha married?   Right.   Of course.   Wasn't she engaged and/or married to some other guy?

Saying farewell to the lookey-likey grand-neice or whatever?   Excuse me?   TIME MACHINE, you fuckwit??!?   Why not go say farewell to the actual person?!   Especially since you went to the trouble of getting the same actress!   Answer - because you could put this scene into trailers and use it entirely as a red herring.   Enough with the incarnadine fish, already!

Winning lottery ticket for Donna?   Puh-lease.

And Rose?   Meh.

I can understand RTD wanting to say his farewells.   I can understand Tennant wanting to say his farewells.

I just don't want to have to sit through them, thank you.


And so, farewell RTD, who annoyed me more and more with every episode, I think.   Farewell David Tennant, who did not - personally, I have thoroughly enjoyed his Doctorship.  

Hello, Moffat and Smith.   Let's see what you can do.   It's a clean slate, to all intents and purposes (River Song excepted, and clearly that IS going to be addressed).   Try to do wonderful things with it.   Don't up the stakes and shatter the Universe every season.   Just give us a sense of wonder back.

User: henry_the_cow Date: 2010-01-04 14:55 Subject: Like a tea-tray in the sky ... Security: Public Toonz: John Surman, "Brewster's Rooster"

We don't own a sledge.  In a city where it hardly ever snows, what's the point?  It's not as if we have a garage or a shed in which we could keep it out of the way.

But it snowed again this weekend and we're still on holiday for a couple of days.  So we carried an old tea-tray up Blackford Hill and slid down the slopes on that.  It was great.  It gave most of the speed of a sledge while lacking most of the control.  And so we ended up covered in snow and smiles.

User: cyberinsekt Date: 2010-01-04 01:58 Subject: Frank Sidebottom - Panic (Ace Mix) Security: Public

If there's one thing that Alan Bennett really hates, it's being nice all the time. The world sees him as some sort of wry and cosy ambassador for teacakes and Northern decrepitude. It wants to be reassured by his presence. So very easily understood. He's man who writes about death and misery and mankind's inability to face these things, and yet we get the warm fuzzy Hovis nostalgia every time we hear his name. Can't blame him for wanting to indulge in some shockingly bad behaviour, really.

Frank Sidebottom never had that problem, at least not to the best of my knowledge. But then Frank never claimed to be anything other than what he was: a man with a large papier mache head and a Casio keyboard who liked football, Paul McCartney, Queen and The Smiths. There is a bit of the Alan Bennett about him, though. Here's one of his interpretations of The Smiths' Panic, relocating it to a world of Radio 1 roadshows and leek pies. Frank never pretended he understood the world, any truth contained herein is entirely coincidental.

Frank Sidebottom - Panic (Ace Mix)
(alternate download)

User: cyberinsekt Date: 2010-01-03 01:55 Subject: Omar Faruk Tekbilek - Village Song Security: Public

The first time I ever heard the raucous honk of the crumhorn I was more than a little startled. It's an instrument that sacrifices subtlety for raw skronk. I'll try to find some good crumhorn tunes for you in the future. You'll love them.

In the meantime, here's Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek playing the zurna. A traditional double-reed woodwind, it's an instrument that shares the crumhorn's ability to shock, and is one of the classic sounds of middle eastern music. Village Song is lively and spirited; the zurna, which sounds as if it should be as manoeuvrable as an articulated lorry, turns out to be amazingly sinuous and flexible. From the 2000 release Dance into Eternity, this is a real treat.

Omar Faruk Tekbilek - Village Song
(alternate download)

User: henry_the_cow Date: 2010-01-02 21:48 Subject: Goals for 2010 Security: Public Toonz: Greig, Piano Concerto

There will be a couple of significant milestones this year, assuming no disasters happen to us.  For one thing, M will turn 12 and therefore start high school, for which we'll need to give him lots of support.  (I'm glad that Scotland has seven years of primary education and six of secondary rather than the other way around that you get south of the border.  It's worked well for us so far).  For another, Mrs. HtC and I will both turn 50 and we hope to have a joint centenary celebration of some kind.  (We just have to get around to organising it).

Apart from that, I'm hoping mostly for "more of the same".  I've got a steady job, Mrs. HtC and I get out to dancing classes, I get to play board games, and we managed some small-scale walking and cycling in the summer.  We're hoping to have another holiday in Northern Scotland with a few friends; we may not get such good weather as last year but I hope we'll manage to have a good week away in any case.  In general, We managed to see friends reasonably often, although it's always good to see more of people if we could. 

I'm still designing the 18xx board game that I was working on last year.  I didn't get as much time on it as I had hoped and that won't change this year, but it's still an activity that I'm enjoying.

My one new resolution is not to buy any books but to read the ones I already have instead.  We have shelves full of books and I don't see the point of keeping them if I don't actually re-read them.  I do cull them infrequently but the shelves are full again.  This will be a hard resolution to keep.  (I will allow myself two exceptions to this rule: books for the book circle and any books I need for work).

User: nonesuchhouse Date: 2010-01-02 11:49 Subject: End of Time pt 2 Security: Public

Despite comments to tchernabyelo about enjoying part one (I just ignored the super powers bit)
Despite tweeting my excitement at the prospect of last night's episode
Despite the fact I was determined to keep an open mind

It was TOSH

Twaddle, Pony, a load of old b@#ls.

What a terrible way to say goodbye to one of the best incarnations since Tom Baker

Despite this, I will continue to keep an open mind for the 2010 DW

Happy New Year

User: cyberinsekt Date: 2010-01-02 01:49 Subject: Eddie Henderson - Nostalgia Security: Public

The recent reissue of Eddie Henderson's 1976 jazz funk album Heritage has seen it get a lot more appreiciation than it received first time around. There's more love these days for electronics and killer grooves. Even so, no-one seems to be picking up on the spectral beauty of one of this album's quieter, more restrained cuts. Nostalgia, with its hypnotic bass riff, long slurred trumpet tones and delicate percussion is a thing of otherworldly beauty.

Eddie Henderson - Nostalgia
(alternate download)

User: cyberinsekt Date: 2010-01-01 02:17 Subject: Terry Riley - Happy Ending Security: Public

I don't know about you, but I reckon the United Kingdom had a pretty fucking awful 2009. It seemed to go more than a little mad. Electing racist thugs to the European parliament, indignation about someone else getting a fridge on expenses, hysteria about talent shows; an embarrassing and nasty side to the national identity on display for much of the year. Good riddance to it.

Here to slam the door unceremoniously behind the old year is Terry Riley, with an extended piece from one of his 1970s soundtracks. Happy Ending comes from the film Les Yeux Fermes, and while this is familiar territory for Riley, this meandering, summery organ and saxophone piece is a welcome addition to his catalogue.

Terry Riley - Happy Ending

User: henry_the_cow Date: 2010-01-01 00:22 Subject: Happy new year! Security: Public

Have a good one, every one.

User: tchernabyelo Date: 2009-12-31 21:59 Subject: OK, that poll? Security: Public

The answer "Something else which I shall explain in comments" was intended to mean that if you had any other suggestions of what you would like to see in my blog, you should let me know...

User: nonesuchhouse Date: 2009-12-31 19:21 Subject: Happy New Year(s Eve) Security: Public

Either, I'm staying in for a hopefully relaxing evening, eating, drinking and being merry in front of some catch up viewing...

Or, I'm popping out in a bid to rid the universe of eldritch horror's latest plan to destroy mankind.

I'll keep you posted (or not)

User: tchernabyelo Date: 2009-12-31 17:25 Subject: 2010 plans - part one Security: Public

OK, it's THAT time of year again.   Pure artificiality, of course, but artificiality has its conveniences.

I think I need to change things around next year, in terms of my web presence.   Part of this will almost certainly involve me finally putting that long-promised website together.   I may blog on/via the website, but I'd like the blog there to be pretty much restricted to writing issues.   My lj blog is more personal, and so more wide-ranging.   But I'd like to know what my flist readers are interested in seeing on my blog in the future.   So, let's have a poll:

Poll #1505568 What would you like to see on my LJ in 2010?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

What would you like to see on my LJ in 2010?

User: henry_the_cow Date: 2009-12-31 10:47 Subject: Snow Security: Public

I've never known so much snow in Edinburgh. It reminds me of West Country winters when I were a lad.

It's turned to ice now, but the couple of photos below show what it was like a few days ago.


( Winter pictures... )

User: mhw Date: 2009-12-31 06:29 Subject: O(rff) RLY? Security: Public Mood: irritated Tags: music, rant

Apparently BBC Radio 2[1] has had a list compiled of the most-played[2] "classical"[3] music of the past 75 years. It's predictably commonplace, as you might expect, and you can see it here. You can see the BBC News article about it here, too.

So much, so dull.

What amused/irked[4] me beyond belief, though, is Stephen Fry's comment about "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, which came top of the list. As reported in the BBC News article, he pronounced: "For some reason, it almost sounds satanic, although it's actually a religious piece."

Howls of derisive laughter, Bruce! Religious? It's a setting of a poem about the capriciousness of fate. The text is here, if any of you should be unfamiliar with it.

I know that some of you happen to be Twitterers, so if any of you want to twit Fry about this, get composing your pithy one-liners. I can't wait to hear him blustering "But Fortuna was a Roman goddess, you know!"

[1] For those of you not in the know, Radio 2 is not normally considered to be a "classical" music station; that would be Radio 3.

[2] Most-played, that is, on TV, radio, online streaming and in public places such as shops. Background music for advertisements and elevator music, in other words.

[3] See rants on this passim: the Classical period in music runs roughly from J S Bach to Beethoven. Just about everything on the list is actually from the later Romantic and Modernist periods (with a few honourable exceptions including JSB, Vivaldi and, my goodness, Zipoli). Calling every piece of serious music "classical" is about as egregious as calling all architectural columns "Corinthian" would be.

[4] There should be a single word for this feeling.

User: cyberinsekt Date: 2009-12-31 01:32 Subject: miRthkon - Congratulations Security: Public

miRthkon - who seem to have some seRious caPitalisation isSues - have received some attention this past year following the release of their debut album Vehicle. They've been likened to acts from Henry Cow to Frank Zappa, and while this is all well and good, the piece of the picture that always seems to be left to one side is their playful humour. It's expressed musically in some of their more intricate mathrocky moments, and it's expressed much more directly in the album's opening track Congratulations. Well done, they tell the listener, on the purchase¹ of this wholly remarkable album. Well done, and prepare yourself for the many gifts this music endows upon you. Prepare yourself for a lifetime of curing cancer, ending war and achieving personal transcendence. And yes, it would appear it really is that good. After all, miRthkon aren't going to lie to you, are they? Are they?