Sanguinearts Network Journal

Spiral Architects – as you may have seen/heard our London gig at the Ruskin Arms was cancelled, unfortunately due to yet another music venue being converted into flats… still looking to play outside of Pompey though so if any one is interested in us playing please leave a comment or contact sanguinearts!

We have however recently played www.junkyardshow.com where Cool Banana transformed the Milton Arms Barn into an array of drapes, camo-nets, umbrellas and projections for what was top night of live music and DJ’s details of which are elsewhere on these pages.

It was our first full gig performed as an instrumental six piece since having parted company with our vocalist (cheers Spiral Dan for your support and being very much part of Spiral Architects history). This leaves us room to “develop our musical shit” even further and it seemed to go really well with a lot of positive reaction and feedback from the crowd which was great, as was the Cool Banana set – check them out at www.cool-banana.com and follow other links.

On the back of this there will be another gig with Cool Banana at our home of the Fawcett on 8th November, as well as playing the Alma Arms on the 17th Oct (details of which TBC).

Fawcett Inn - Talking of the pub, Johnny and Matt have now launched the new site www.fawcettmade.com where within the archive section you can still search for past www.somefoolwitha.com/fawcett recordings (just do a search for Spiral Architects for example!). Also please do check out the Emergence set which has recently been posted as this was an amazing set from the India based group – and features Spirals/CB’s Nick on horns.

Mr Teeth - In other news, I have decided to go ahead and make my new demo the “Darkened Sunlight EP” available to those who may want a copy and a future version with extra production/recording is also possibly in the pipeline.

Oh and I’ve just been passed a copy of an Infected Mushroom CD which I look forward to listening to… but for now I must do something else.

I remember a CD floating around our student house by a mysterious figure by the name of Rodriguez. Like a funky, loungey, latin version of Dylan with some sinister-sounding subject matter, there was no sleeve, no information, no track titles; all we knew at the time (and I'm pretty sure Wikipedia wasn't about then) was there was some connection with South Africa.
He was more or less forgotten by me until I chanced upon a review of a record called Cold Fact by an ex-teacher of Mexican parents, Sixto Rodgriguez from Detroit. The track titles corresponded with my recollection of the lyrics: Sugar Man (as sampled by David Holmes), Forget It, I Wonder. There is a Motown influence, not just in that he's from Motor City, but also through those handling the backing music and production. This was his debut album from 1970 and then he disappeared from the scene going back to the class room and other jobs. But his South African following grew underground through the 80s until his was tracked down for a sell-out tour in 1998. This reissue goes back to the original master tapes and there are limited editions with signed posters, full colour booklet etc. http://www.lightintheattic.net/releases/rodriguez/

Some might consider punk rock a disability enough, but check out and be won over by Heavy Load who are playing the ICA on 1 Oct. The documentary film about the last two years of their development is out on 3 Oct. www.heavyloadthemovie.com

Deptford X festival is on now and celebrating 10years. As part of that season there is a programme of films caled Deptford 45s
http://www.deptford45s.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=26
Italian Arte Povera artist Giuseppe Penone is on display at the Frith Street Gallery until 30 Oct

http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/gallery.html
Houldsworth Fine Art have a show called Royal Art Lodge: Learned Helplessness, full of 2" square quirky illustrations by these three artists. On until 25 October.

http://www.houldsworth.co.uk/current/index.html
Gerhard Richter's exhibition 4900 Colours: Version II opened at the Serpentine Gallery yesterday and runs until 16 Nov.
www.serpentinegallery.org

Camden Arts Centre are screening The Cool School, about the West Coast US 1950s scene which featured architect Frank Gehry and artist Ed Ruscha. http://www.camdenartscentre.org/talksandevents/?id=100534 
Other CAC screenings coming up: Easy Rider 22 Oct, Le Sang d'un Poet (Cocteau) 5 Nov

Artists now confirmed for the Southbank's Tribute to Nico include James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers), Mark Lanegan (ex-Screaming Trees), and Peter Murphy from Bauhaus.

Forthcoming Roxy Bar and Screen showings include Iron Man (29 & 30 Sept), and Scarface double bill (5 Oct) www.roxybarandscreen.com

Being a dad seems to be simultaneously making me feel old and young. Permanently tired from lack of sleep and the constant requirements for stimulation, I am also immersed in childish activities, toys and fascinations. The late nights have found me watching popular music on TV (which sometimes paradoxically makes me feel old because it all sounds the same as something that's already been done, blah blah...), time at home listening to the hits on the radio, days out visiting exhibitions; not a lot of time for reading but keeping up to date with the news etc. 

We recently took a ferry trip to Northern France and spent some time with my parents. Whilst there we did some day trips out which included visiting the Scriptorial of Avranches. This houses the ancient documents of the Mont St Michel monks, and currently a nice but patchy Marc Chagal exhibition. My favourite thing was the modern concrete and glass architecture within the ancient castle walls which made for great flow around the museum.

My playlist for the driving included Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire and Biffy Clyro - Mountains (two bands I've never really had much interest in before);  Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone; Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal; Kooks - Shine On; Coldplay - Viva La Vida; Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time; and Keane - Spiralling. On the latter, I never paid any attention to Keane, can't recall anything they've done before. And when I first heard this single I did'nt really rate it. But like good pop music it has eaten its way into my consciousness, with its slick 80s sound. In particular the lyrics sound to me like they're talking about the spiralling, unfathomable process of love, life and death, and destruction; the apocalypse, the revelation, the destruction and creation. Impressive stuff for the charts.

Currently also loving the Tilly and the Wall single 'Beat Control' which Radio 1 will no doubt play to death until we're sick of it. Had enough of Verve, although that happened a short while before Bittersweet Symphony....

New Streets album out on this week. He played a new song on the Jonathan Ross show the other week, something about 'heaven for the weather and hell for the company'. It wasn't bad but he looked pretty miserable (or perhaps that was just Street bravado). I'm still undecided about the current single 'Everything is borrowed', but it is growing on me a bit. Wondering where the energy has gone, seems all a bit introspective. He was interviewed by Jo Whiley on Radio 1 and the idea behind this record is that its more about big issues and less about daily life. From his perspective no one was doing that when he started out, and now everyone's copied him, and anyway he wants to do something new. Which is fair enough I guess. He seemed to be having a bit of a laugh with Jo so I wouldn't necessarily take this without salt, but he was saying he'd do one more album as The Streets, a more electronic affair, before embarking in new musical direction. Sounds a bit Damon Albarn really.

Next weekend there's a show at the ICA which has toured the country called Approximately Infinite Universe, featuring American and Finnish artists together: Kemialliset Ystavat & Axolotl, Es & Fursaxa, Islaja, Blevin Blechtum and others. 27 Sept http://www.no-signal.net/aiu

10 Oct sees Chuck D doing spoken word at the Southbank's Purcell Room.
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/literature-spoken-word/productions/chuck-d-42804
Also on the Southbank that day is US indie-country oldskooler Juliana Hatfield playing songs from her new album.
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/music/productions/juliana-hatfield-42403

The Wire magazine are presenting a couple of nights of music in various venues in the East End 2-3 Oct. Names include Kimmo Pohjonen, Bass Clef, Kim Hiorthoy, Vadislav Delay. http://www.concreteandglass.co.uk

Jazz and Funk fans should check out Plumstead Radical Club's music at www.impossibleark.com

Whitechapel nights include: Red Velvet Curtain Cult on Friday; and Here: Radical Animation Now on Sunday and Monday www.whitechapel.org

Portsmouth-based artist Jon Adams' work Word Wall is on display now at London Bridge station. He's also riding on a bus around Pompey (yes right now), getting people interested in art. Jon's work is inspired by Dubuffet in terms of being hidden away in unexpected places, and he is also fascinated with maps, diagrams and systems.

Projektor Film Fest is on now at the Café Gallery in Southwark Park until Sunday http://www.cafegalleryprojects.com/pdf/2008_Projektor_Colour.pdf

The Hayward Gallery has an interesting Warhol exhibition coming up. Described as a fresh perspective, focusing on his comerciality and integration in popular culture, it opens 7 Oct  and runs until 18 Jan 09. http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visual-arts/productions/andy-warhol-other-voices-oth-41967

Roy Voss' exhibition Pine is on now at Matt's Gallery until 2 Nov. His work features assisted readymades, installations and wallpaper, exploring the natural and artificial. http://www.mattsgallery.org/artists/voss/exhibition-1.php

Rick Buckley's exhibition Facets of Reason is on now at Union Gallery Ewer Street, featuring works on paper which explore man's dark, melancholic interior. http://www.union-gallery.com/

Tony Oursler is on at Lisson Gallery until 3 Oct. www.lissongallery.com

And this weekend is London Open House, so go out to stay inside!

Good evening readers.

Where to begin…

I have recently been introduced to www.watch-movies.net where I have so far seen two movies for free, that’s right ladies and gentlemen you too can watch movies for free. Ok, it’s basically a youtube kinda site purely for films and by all accounts works pretty darn well.

The first I had taken to watching was “Last Days” which unfortunately didn’t get me as excited as the website upon I was watching it. Michael Pitt stars in what I can only describe as a painful 1hr and 40 minutes, the premise of Last Days is the downfall of a jaded drug addicted rock star who is basically representing the last days of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain (although for the purpose of the film the look alike is merely coincidental).

I think the first approximately 30 minutes has no dialogue, it may have been longer and I had fallen asleep who knows, instead it follows the Cobain like statue of a depressed man wondering around not doing much. When dialogue finally kicks in you start to realise why they left it so long for the words are few and far between, and leaving something to be desired… then eventually some rather moving footage of Kurt (sorry, “Blake“) performing a solo track which rightly or wrongly reminded me of Where Did You Sleep Last Night… oh and then he kills himself.

After this I watched the more light hearted “A Mighty Wind”, this I had got very excited about seeing for I had wished to have seen it for many a year. It is Spinal Tap meets Waiting for Guffman and Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean all appear so it’s got off to a good start in my book.

Producer Irving Steinbloom had passed away leaving his children to organise a tribute concert in his name, a fairly simple plot enabling us to explore the trials and tribulations of the three main acts involved. The first of which being The Folksmen, who take the opportunity to make a comeback and are most famous for their only hit “Old Joe’s Place”… lyrically all this and their other songs are very daft, but musically you’d be none the wiser as to their integrity (as with Spinal Tap).

Next up are the Main Street Singers a nine piece who in my mind are reminiscent of real life folk group the Carter Family, their manager a self styled comedian famed for coining the phrase “Wha’ Happened” which to be fair I probably found far more funny than I probably should have done (think “is he ‘avin a laff” from Ricky Gervaise Extras).

Then thirdly we have Mitch n Mickey whose initial relationship is most easily related to that of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and June Carter or Sonny Bono and Cher, and therefore an obvious focal point for the highlight of the evening concert (I started almost believing the whole thing was for real!). Mitch Cohen (played by Eugene Levy) had become an emotional wreck and although it is unclear as to if he will… he does pull through to provide the performance the crowd were there to see - including the kiss that had caused so much tension during a particular song, but was almost as important to the history of make belief folk as that of when Dylan plugged in his electric guitar in real life albeit for different reasons.

So yeah, the mockumentary approach similar to that of the aforementioned Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman was a perfect way to explore the fictitious world of three very different made up folk acts and having discovered it is available to buy from play.com for merely £3.99 it will be one I shall purchase for sure.

…and on that note, it leads me on to where to end, for now I think this is it.

Good night readers.

a href=http://www.thejunkyardshow.com>

It's the 19th SEPTEMBER people.... come forth

Tell your friends
Tell your family
Tell your pets
Tell your neighbours
Tell your local politician
Tell your enemies
Tell yourself
Tell everybody...

...SPIRAL ARCHITECTS play next FRIDAY (19th Sept) at the Barn behind Milton Arms pub as part of the COOL BANANA junkyard show.

I caught  a bit of BBC Three coverage of Reading and Leeds over the weekend: I was up in the early hours trying to get the boy back to sleep, which is probably why I just typed Kedds (as in Senseless Things) instead of Leeds. High point was seeing The Enemy, and Cajun Dance Party were pretty good too, if a little too affected. - Why did it work for Morrissey but looks so lame on anyone else? - Low point was Feeder: I really don't get why this run of the mill rock band are still around when so many better ones have fallen by the wayside. There were lots of young kids doing bull horn signs without being ironic, so I guess somewhere there lies the answer.

I shouldn't like Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' but somehow I do. And I think it would mix well into Sam Sparrow's 'Black and Gold'. I finally got around to watching Duncan's Jack Smith DVD. Maybe I'll even get to see the Rear Window DVD I got from the library the other week.

Still thinking about festivals, the End of the Road festival in North Dorset sounds good - limited to 5000 tickets and featuring the likes of Mercury Rev, Calexico, Tindersticks, Low, British Sea Power (UK budget Arcade Fire, but still worth seeing), American Music Clu, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Billy Childish, Akron/Family, Laura Marling and numerous others alongside trade stalls, cinema, comedy, kids and family stuff etc etc
12 - 14 Sept www.endoftheroadfestival.com

Sat 1 - Sun 9 Sept is KLANG: a tribute to the late Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Southbank. Also there (11 Oct) is a tribute to Nico - artists TBC - and Julian Cope (18 Nov) supporting his new album 'Black Sheep'. 24 Oct is Video Games Live at the Southbank: live orchestra and musicians perform with interactive game play and state of the art graphics. And on 24 Sept Dr Ben Goldacre, from the Guardian's Bad Science column will be speaking.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Mr Teeth mentioned Tilly and the Wall before, and they're playing ULU on Sat 25 Oct. www.tillyandthewall.com

Coming up at the Barbican this autumn are New York No Wavers Liquid Liquid plus some others from Domino Records (4 Oct). Domino are celebrating their crystal anniversary (15 years) and are putting on this event along with Tricky  (6 Oct) and Juana Molina + Max Tundra (5 Oct at the LSO St Luke's).
www.barbican.org.uk  www.dominorecordco.com
Juana Molina is also playing Bush Hall on 28 Oct www.juanamolina.com

the Whitechapel have a open screening night for film-makers on 4 Sept, and the following night is It's About Time: a music night featuring acts 'with a fresh take on rhythm'. www.whitechapel.org

Simon Bookish's long awaited album is due to be released on Tomlab on the 7th of October. Called 'Everything/Everything', it's a departure from his earlier glitchy electro work, employing his impressive compositional skills into a big band song cycle which takes in 'everything' from minimalism to disco, ambient and cabaret. He's also one of the best lyricists around in my opinion, so I shall look forward to that one coming out. www.simonbookish.com
Also on Tomlab is Why? (Yoni Wolf from Anticon/Cloudead) and he's touring Europe: mainly Germany and France, but just one date in Dublin (1 Nov). http://www.anticon.com/index.php?section=artist&target=Why&js=yes

See some exclusive drawings by Daniel Johnston at The Wire website. Also download some great noise/avant garde performances from Fag Tapes.
www.thewire.co.uk

Next Friday (5 Sept) is Late at Tate Britain, curated by Martin Creed whose current piece has people jogging through the Duveen galleries. On the night there will be live music and short films. http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/eventseducation/lateattatebritain/lateattatebritainseptember2008.htm

next week an exhibition of the work of Udomsak Krisanamis opens at the Victoria Miro gallery and runs until 27 Sept. PV next Tues 6-8pm. The work is a mixture of densely layered collagey-paintings, some film installations and large sculptures, arranged in three zones. www.victoria-miro.com

Check out the new single by The Streets: The Escapist.
free download: www.myfreedownload.co.uk/thestreets
video of Mike Skinner walking across France is on You Tube:

Just a quick note to say I've added some of my short phone-films to the website, so check them out here

Anyone on the South Coast is likely to know that its the Stokes Bay Festival this coming weekend, with a bit of an old skool crusty line up featuring the Saw Doctors, the Alabama 3 and the Levellers. I hear that the latter's new record is out in a couple of weeks and is something of a return to form: edgy and political along the lines of 'Levelling the Land'. www.stokesbayfestival.co.uk

Meanwhile in London the Innocent Smoothies Village Fete will be taking over Regents Park. I know where I would rather be, even if it isn't where I end up. www.innocentvillagefete.com

A bit further in the future is a weekend of music on the Southbank celebrating Heavenly Recordings reaching its age of majority. Names mentioned include Doves, Beth Orton, St. Etienne, Ed Harcourt, Edwyn Collins, Dot Allison and more. 12 - 14 Sept www.southbankcentre.co.uk

The Serpentine Gallery's Park Nights (in the Frank Gehry-designed Pavilion) feature a night of lectures, film and live music and performance from artists Steve Claydon, Lis Rhodes and Emily Wardill. 8 Aug from 8pm £5/4 www.ticketweb.co.uk / http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2008/05/park_nights_steven_claydon_lis.html 

Screenings at the Roxy this week include Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Weds 30th 8pm), and a Heath Ledger tribute double bill on Sunday. Thursday night there is their monthly live night with datapuddle, Tom Munday, Matt Stevens and Blinkin' Lab. www.roxybarandscreen.com

The Courtauld will be bringing together all their Cézannes for a show opening in October. Also in Somerset House from 17 Sept will be a show called Wouldn't it be Nice... Wishful Thinking in Art and Design: seemingly a playful crossover between said disciplines, installation environments and objects created by artists in a spirit of experimentation and play. Features Tobias Rehberger, Ryan Gander and Alicia Framis, amongst others. www.courtauld.ac.uk / www.somersethouse.org.uk

Did I mention Johnny Cash already? well anyway, he is the focus of a photo show at the Proud Central Gallery until 14 Sept. www.proud.co.uk

I hope you're enjoying the Sanguinearts Muxtape: www.sanguinearts.muxtape.com This was a mixed bag of things I had to hand from our broad back catalogue (I think it holds together though), but we hope to make more sound files available soon. The sound archive has stumbled a bit as the free hosting got bought out - we're doing this all on a budget you see - but there are other resources out there when I get the time to look into it...

Some Sanguinearts news: the screening at Tate Modern of the film of Duncan Ward's performance 'Antlers' sadly did not come about. We will still be making this available on DVD once edited and it may be screened elsewhere in future. Duncan continues to work on new performances.

More Sanguinearts music news: there has been some progress on the White Cliff Sands 3rd album, as some editing has been taking place of the recordings made last summer, with plans for some overdubs and further recording. On a similar line, we've been working with some of the negative PANDA archive material to put together a kind of best of sampler. We hope to have something to offer later in the year.

I've made some minor changes to the blog design, and there might be more to come, now that the technology and opportunity seems to be available. One thing you might not have noticed is that you can now receive our blog entries by RSS, direct to your computer desktop via gadgets, on your phone or other such readers.

Being at home with the boy has given me some interesting radio time: With Dizzee's danceable anthem currently at no.1 in the UK charts, and Wiley's 'Wearing my Rolex' tune doing the rounds, its like the grime scene has taken a strange old skool trip and reinvented hip house. Meanwhile my next door neighbour has been working on a comeback for the Rebel MC (remember Street Tuff?). I won't pretend to hate McFly's single, but at least its not like that awful Pigeon Detectives rubbish.

I was pleased to find you can read Art Review magazine online from their website for free. I hope a few other art/music magazines follow suit (although how can they make it economically viable? I suppose the advertisers still get the exposure, and it tends to be 1 issue behind the print version in shops).

Auto Italia South East gallery has a new show on until 3 August: A History of 2 Mountains / One the Original / Two a Copy / Both Equally Heavy II; featuring copies of works by Duchamp, Broodthaers and others. Its off Old Kent Road in a former car garage, opens Sats and Suns. www.autoitaliasoutheast.org

Union gallery has a new show called Tonight Forget About Your Houses and Cars, all about the idea of apocalypse. On until 13 Sept www.uniongallery.com

Catch Susan Hiller's The Last Silent Movie at Matt's Gallery this weekend and next. www.mattsgallery.org

See Mat Collishaw's installation show Shooting Stars at Haunch of Venison before 31 August www.haunchofvenison.com

2007 Turner Prize-nominee Nathan Coley has a sculpture/installation show at the De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill on Sea until 14 September www.dlwp.com

See a survey of paintings by Keith Coventry (1990s to present day) in the café of the Hiscox insurance group in the city, until 6 Sept http://www.hiscox.com/ViewCMSPage.aspx?viewmode=Live&viewtype=ViewPressReleaseDetail&pressreleaseID=51f8c51a-7f07-4a9a-b8e1-be2b3d26d87e

Two exhibitions at the Camden Arts Centre on Finchley Road: Chantal Akerman film works and Anya Galaccio's sculpture. Both end 14 Sept www.camdenartscentre.org

The Barbican has some interesting music planned for the Autumn: Tricky plays 6 Oct, and a kind of Scott Walker tribute act: his songs from Tilt and Drift, his band, but guest vocalists ( 13 - 15 Nov incl); Herbie Hancock 19 Nov. www.barbican.org.uk

Those of you who know the East End's George Tavern will be pleased to note it escaped being made into trendy flats; This weekend is the Acid Gallery Festival with 3 days of psychadelic soul-pop-punk; and coming up next weekend is the GoMad festival - "3 days of Music, Art and Performance". Find the George Tavern on Facebook or at www.myspace.com/georgetavern (or something like that, they're definitely on there).

Check out the inaugual Sanguinearts Muxtape: http://sanguinearts.muxtape.com

featuring Sanguine, benjamin_sanguine, New Low, White Cliff Sands, Mr Teeth and Saneman

Ok people, it's been a little while so a few things I wish to mention so hopefully I wont take up too much of your time.

Well last night despite locking myself out the house and taking an unexpected day off as a result was pretty good fun - it was open mic down the Fawcett, my good friend Marsha decided to at the last minute step up for her live singing debut and took to the mic with myself on acoustic guitar along with Nick (Cool Bananna, Spiral Architects, Self Inflicted) on the tenor sax and Paul (Spiral Architects) on conga drum part way through. We played a very short improv set of a bluesy nature and it seemed to go ok so hopefully we can try again another time!

Spiral Architects have also been asked last minute to support Self Inflicted tomorrow night (3rd July) again at the Fawcett. We're planning on playing pretty much all our set I believe, and the last time we did so was the post-solstice party recently to a pub full of people who hadnt slept since arriving back from the previous nights antics up at stone hendge, this also included five of the band. Bizarely from what I can gather we seemed to play really well, for the most part, without the sleep deprived passing out which was a bonus. There is a recording so will advise once available for your listening (dis)pleasure.

More music this weekend also comes in the form of a day on the farm with Neil Young, which I will be attending and is mentioned elsewhere on these pages. Neil Young recently has been playing in the region of 2.5 hour sets combining both acoustic and electric performances, so along with an eclectic mix of other bands playing (Primal Scream, Guillemots, Supergrass, Rufus Wainright and more) it should be a great mini-festival.

The recently attended Ministry gig was, although really good, some what lacking in the cross section of all there material as originally billed - instead focusing mainly on the last three anti-Bush driven albums before ending on the classic NWO. The encore should in my mind pulled out the bag some old school Ministry but instead was a number of covers including What a Wonderful World (which lets face it no-one is ever going to do better than Joey Ramones version!). So fairwell to Ministry.

New music...

Aidan Moffat has released an amazingly depressing yet beautiful album in the form of I Can Hear Your Heart. It's a short story, which you have to read the accompanying book in order to set the scene for the spoken word audio disc. It really is amazing, the guy (who for ten years wrote and performed as one half of scottish miserablists Arab Strab) is a genius and as he is also working on a project with Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai there can only be more in the pipeline.

I had a copy of No Age passed onto me recently too, they are a great band whom prove you can judge some things on appearances. The cd artwork contains lots of old metal bands albums on tape (remember cassettes kids?) and although not a metal band themselves the rawness and catchy riffs make this an album that I haven't got bored of listening to.

Will Oldam has also released a beautiful masterpiece in Lie Down the Light, again under the guise of Bonnie "Prince" Billy this album provides very stripped down songs yet you almost hear something different with each listen.

Sigur Ros have a new album out, which I can't believe I haven't bought yet... I do believe however it will be damn good. It contains their first track sung in English and is produced by either Flood or Youth (I always get those two confused).

Any way, before I start reviewing albums I am yet to purchase I will sign off.

Peace, love, unity.
Mr Teeth

I hope Glastonbury is going well for you. Or any other of the myriad festivals going on right now... I think there is one in my neighbour's garden.... Here's some things to be looking forward to:

Forthcoming Southbank spoken word (as part of London Literature Festival): Mark E Smith (16 July) and Polar Bear (18,19 July) www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Hop Farm Festival in Kent (6 July) looks good: Neil Young, Primal Scream, Supergrass, Rufus Wainright, Guilemots, Laura Marling etc www.hopfarmfestival.com

Hydro Connect festival in Argyll, Scotland (29-31 August) looks good too: Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Sigur Ros, Manics, Goldfrapp, Grinderman, Spritualized, Mercury Rev, The Coral and many others. www.connectmusicfestival.com

There's still just time to catch the Brockley Open Studios this weekend: www.brockleyopenstudios.co.uk

Whitstable Biennale is on now until 6 July. www.whitstablebiennale.com

Visit the AutoItalia South East Gallery (Old Kent Road) before 5 July to see the show Alles Ist In Ordnung. NB: only open Fridays and Saturdays www.autoitaliasoutheast.org

I'm quite excited that a Richard Prince show has just opened at the Serpentine (until 7 Sept). I'm going to have to explore the easiest route to get a baby in a buggy over there on public transport, without it taking a week. www.serpentinegallery.org

The paintings of Chantal Joffe are at the Victoria Miro Gallery until 2 Aug. www.victoria-miro.com

FutureBluePerfect is a group show at Café Gallery Projects in Southwark Park with the unwieldy moniker of 'new relevancy in outmoded ideologies plucked from the historical recycling bin'. Meanwhile Silentium is a sound installation meditating on Benjamin Britten and Arvo Part. Until 27 July www.cafegalleryprojects.org

This Time Last Year is a show by New York artist Danica Phelps at Ritter/Zamet, featuring a 60ft drawing recording her travels bringing together time, space and emotion. The drawing will be divided up into sections for sale at the end. Until 26 July. www.ritterzamet.com

The Barbican has a show of extravagant Dutch fashion designers Viktor and Rolf, until 21 Sept. Also the film Sid and Nancy starring Gary Oldman is showing there on 8 July www.barbican.org.uk

On now at Tate Modern: Cy Twombly, which is an interesting contrast to their other show Street and Studio, so a full day's worth. until 14 Sept www.tate.org.uk/modern

Martin Creed has been commissioned to produce a work in the central Duveen galleries in Tate Britain, open from Monday www.tate.org.uk/britain

If you're in the South West check out Adam Chodko's neo-conceptual works at Tate St Ives until 21 Sept. I met this guy and he was very pleasant and I like his work. www.tate.org.uk/stives

Also in the West, at the Arnolfini in Bristol there is a show on called Far West which turns the gallery into a 'concept store' with an Eastern flavour, exploring the global cultural and commercial shift to the East. There are also off-site events and films as well as an offsite shop in the Broadmeads shopping centre. www.arnolfini.org.uk

There isn't usually much going on in Portsmouth that catches my attention, but there's an event next week at the University (er, where I work) that looks like it should be worth attending.
As part of the 'British Culture & Society in the 1970s' conference there will be a screening of British avant-garde film. It will be introduced by David Curtis and Steven Ball, and will be followed directly by an interview between Ken Russell and Mark Kermode.
This will be kicking off at 4 pm, with the screening finishing at 5 pm and the interview starting at 6 pm. It will take place in Portland Building at the University of Portsmouth. Entry to the screening is free of charge, but I beleive there is a £5 charge for the interview.
Think I might go along to that one, providing they let me out of work early...

I don't get much in the way of new music these days, but I have been enjoying an album called 'V is for Viagra: The Remixes' by Puscifer. This 'band' actually seems to be a solo-project for Maynard James Keenan, better known for his full-time band Tool. Not that fussed about him or Tool, but I wanted to check out the remix work of people like Paul Barker, Danny Lohner and Dave Ogilvie.
Although it's fairly firmly rooted in 'Alternative Rock', the remixes allow the songs to drift into a nice dark electronic space that owes more to ambient dub and more left-field electronic music.
The two mixes by Lustmord are amongst the most played on my iPod right now.

The Baker Boys - Piedmont Log Rolling

Father and son play beautiful old english folk ballads (with a Norwegian twist?) on guitar and ukelele, accompanied occasionally by a lady also of the Baker clan: a real family affair. Even the sepia-toned artwork with old photos and adverts is by a Baker! They list all the original sources including Slim Dusty and English Folk Dance and Song Society. Its a complete package, and a lovely one at that.

Kluster B: Patton

This EP is now sold out, which is not suprising as its very good, but a shame for those who missed out: you'd better look out for new releases by Kluster B. The tracks seemed to be themed around World War Two: the cover comes from sections of old maps of France (my copy has a bit of Normandy judging by the names, and a circle pencilled around Izel-les-Hameau); the first track is portentiously titled 1937 and the title track has a movie sample I'm sure others will know, featuring an American general briefing his troops for battle with the Nazis. I particularly like the Torque remix of this track, so look out for Torque too.

Thanks Alan and Bearos!
http://www.bearos.co.uk/  www.myspace.com/bearosrecords

Coronary Crumpage 3, The Montague Arms SE15

Having very much enjoyed Coronary Crumpage 1, and having the opportunity of a Thursday night free (and not being bothered to treck up to 93 Feet East for some electronica while the East London Line is closed), Duncan and I dropped in to the Montague for some more Crumpage. This time's flyer looked a the drawings from Duncan's Bone Reverie book. We didn't know any of the bands - Normal Gimbal, The Final Terror and Fulborn Teversham - but members of Acoustic Ladyland and Polarbear were mentioned. In fact it was more like the same band with people coming and going: Normal Gimbal had the woman who seems to be kind of partly running things (who might be called Alice/Alison) and another girl who was the bass player in The Final Terror; Also in TFT was a saxophonist and drummer who also were in Fulborn Teversham with the first singer; keeping up? It seems that the saxophonist and drummer are both from Polarbear and 'Ladyland. Is there some relevance to the FT initials?

We both quite liked the NG songs; I thought there were a bit samey with more than a nod to Bjork, but pretty nonetheless and nice harmonies. I really liked Final Terror, Duncan less so but still liked them; such musicianship without being pretentious. They reminded me a bit of Morviscous, although funkier and heavier. The guitarist pulled some slightly off-putting soloing faces but played a bit like Tom Morello. The bass player was fast and hard with a metallic timbre in a late 70s/early 80s vein. Rochford the drummer is in a special class: funky and hard. At the front was a great sax player who was fond of effects, but sometimes I think he twiddled the knobs a bit too much. They played an very tight and intricate Messaien piece (or at least an interpretation), which really excited the crowd. All round impressive. I didn't stay for much of Fulborn Teversham. They were joined by a very nice keyboardist , who was - in Duncan's opinion, as I wasn't there - a good factor in the otherwise mediocre Invisibles, who played at Crumpage 1 and will headline next month. The Fulborn Teversham songs I saw were a bit warmer and more accessible than Final Terror and not unpleasant. I wasn't amazed, and I'm not sure about the singer, but all praise to them for putting on another great event.

Let's Get Lost Bruce Weber's film tribute to the jazzman Chet Baker has been rereleased and is in cinemas now, including the Barbican. Also on there this weekend is a Tribute to James Brown. www.barbican.org.uk

Next Thursday night at the Whitechapel looks like an interesting one (although lots of great things go on there). There is a film programme called In Media Res, plus the music and spoken word event Littlest Birds, featuring some people we know, including Rita Evans DJ set. www.whitechapel.org

the June Coronary Crumpage at the Montague Arms (Queens Road SE15) features another great line of djs and bands, including The Final Terror (with a member of Acoustic Ladyland) and Fulborn Teversham (with Polar Bear's Seb Rochford) . 5 June from 8pm, £6 or go to www.myspace.com/coronarycrumpage for a flyer.

All the month's Tuesdays the National Gallery are having lunchtime talks at 1pm with a hint of English traditional folk music - sounds amusing.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/what/events/jun/0306_hiddenvoices.htm

Duncan is to perform at the closing night of the Durling Ward Gallery - 14 June - but I think its going to be invite only. Also there will be bands and other mayhem in the tiny space.

...well kind of: the film of Duncan's performance may be screened at Tate Modern, along with a live improvised Samneric soundtrack, sometime in late June or July. Only a shame its not something we can invite anyone to...

Nice to see Dave a Keith last night, on their way to a Ministry gig at the Forum: we hope to hear all about this soon. Duncan is in Berlin for the Biennale right now, so hopefully we'll hear more about that as well. I tried to visit the Psycho Buildings show at the Hayward yesterday, which looks quite interesting; except that it only opened today. I did enjoy the May 1968 posters greatly, though. www.southbankcentre.co.uk

This Saturday night Jim Bob and Fruitbat are performing in their various non-Carter guises at the infamous Windmill in Brixton. From 5pm, £5 adv./£6 door inc. free bbq. www.wegotickets.com

Venn Festival in Bristol is on 5-8 June featuring Matmos. www.vennfestival.com

See the classic Donnie Darko at the Roxy Bar and Screen on Sunday 1 June from 8pm, then the Kite Runner at the same time on Monday www.roxybarandscreen.com