richardirvine.com

Category: music

  • Links

    Wired magazine has an oral history of War Games, the film that made me realise Dad’s TRS-80 was capable of more than 10 Print: You are a dick and 20: Goto 10. Possibly. That shit’s *still* really, really funny

    Kubrick nitty gritty fans should take an hour to watch this, or the time-poor should read this article. It seems Kubrick would often phone people out of the blue to work with him, totally freaking them out in the process – there’s more of this kind of thing in this book.

    I’m really enjoying the AV Club‘s Primer series – here’s The Kinks, Springsteen, Pixar, the Cohens, and Steven Spielberg.

    Ooooh, and I’ve decided what kind of car I want now.

  • Dress you up in my love

    Here’s a great article on fans who dress up like their idols from Chuck Klosterman.

    It is perfectly normal to love the music of Rod Stewart, and not unnatural to feel that appreciating Never A Dull Moment says something essential about who you are; it is, however, pretty goddamn weird to try physically to resemble Rod Stewart while watching him perform in concert.

    My own awkward attempts to look like a pop star may or may not include the following:

    – Cardigans – perfect for showing off the latest band t-shirt at the gig, these
    – A chain and padlock – single outing, EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Sid Vicious must have suffered terribly from rashes
    – Leather jacket, natch. Urban rumours said you’d be beaten up for them randomly in the street, though
    – Floppy fringes were huge, and got slightly out of control. High school rules stipulated hair must be above the collar – there’s no collar at the FRONT, though is there?
    – Paisley shirt – I resisted the other signature ‘Gurus look of waistcoat over bare chest,  luckily
    – A fawn corduroy Levi’s jacket

    Quite a few of these items had to be rescued from Mum’s attempts to ‘disappear’ them in the wash. I’d be greatly interested in comparing notes with Keith Richards on this.

  • Foo Fighters – Vector Arena 06 May 2008

    I went along to Vector Area on Tuesday night to see the Foos. I’d kind of drifted away in recent years, thinking they’d gone too ‘we are SERIOUS rock band’ – case in point: compare this to this.

    Rock snob that I am, it puts me off that too many people that buy NickelBack records like them now – I mean, there was a Rock FM Dodge RAM parked in front of Vector Area with the Foo’s faces painted on the side. Hey! Dave Grohl used to be in Nirvana, you know! Get your own band, bogans!
    IMAGE_067.jpg

    But – I loved it. I’d forgotten they had so many great songs – and I kind of forgive them for bringing a violin player with them, and playing an acoustic set lasting almost an hour.

    They’ve definitely kept their sense of humour – Grohl’s quite the comedian, and me and me mate were giggling like the schoolgirls we actually are throughout. Sample dialogue:

    “I wanna say one thing…” *crowd goes wild*

    “New Zealand fuckin’ SUCKS!” *crowd doesn’t know what to do with itself*

    “No wait, just joking!”

    Maybe you had to be there. But you know, I was greatly entertained for 2 hours 40 minutes by great songs and great touches like a tongue in cheek blues jam and Grohl embarrassing the lead guitarist with a male stripper for his birthday. It was the last night of this tour, they were obviously having a ball, and had an almost Springsteen-like desire to give the fans their money’s worth – unlike some recent visitors. Thoroughly recommended – it’s hard to stay cynical sometimes, eh.

    Bonus vid – Dave falling arse over tit. I got a great park, too.

  • What’s your top Auckland song?

    Cross-posted from the New-Look Aucklandista

    When I type ‘Auckland’ into my itunes I get exactly, ah, no results. Alright, there’s the Muttonbird’s ‘Dominion Road‘, a great song ruined by homesick ex-pats, and that punk-AK’79 affair about jumping off Grafton Bridge. Dublin must be shitting itself.

    We live in a very pretty city, team, so how come there’s no catchy pop hits proclaiming sunny late afternoons on Ponsonby Road, driving around Tamaki Drive at night, or even a sea shanty to getting pissed down the Viaduct and jumping in the water? Surely we can do better?

    To get us underway, I’m nominating ‘Silverdale‘ by ex-Bressa Creeting Cake guy Edmund Cake as my top Auckland song. Recorded in a secret Gore St lair, Silverdale is an bubbly ode to the joys of tripping around the shops on Saturday with your loved one. The whimsy-ometer goes off the clock on lines like “Driving to Silverdale – Bendon has a sale”, and “I’ll put my hand in your pocket, I’ll keep that docket.” Even Rendell’s gets a special mention.

    Between us, we must be able to expand the Auckland Canon – what’s your top Auckland song?

  • Links

    I’ve just thundered in with a coupla posts on The Aucklandista – Two short points on Auckland bookshops, and I want to ride it where I like. I reckon you should get over there and read ’em, it’s heaps better than this blog.

    Are you too nice? Do you only say ‘no’ to questions like ‘you won’t mind me giving you a Chinese burn and nicking the last sticky bun, then?’. Check out this article. It seems the secret to success is finding your inner Donald Trump. And yes, I can see their point. Dick.

    The best muppet-based heavy metal primer you’ll see on the intenet this week can be found here.

  • Links

    As children we all loved Garfield, only to grow up and realise his “cynical” take on the world appeals mainly to people who live alone with only a freezer full of ice cream for company. So, you’ll love Garfield minus Garfield. Do you think this would work with Wal and The Dog?

    Portishead are back, and The Observer reckons they’re better than ever.

    Spin The Black Circle is a very frustrating game. It reminds me of the games you used to get on fish and chip shop walls, kind of a cross between the golf and the ball pinging ones.

    Popless is Onion AV Club’s Noel Murray documenting a year where he refuses to listen to any new music, instead documenting his (extensive) record collection. He’s a very experienced reviewer and great writer, which is lucky, ‘cos it’s almost March, and he’s only up to C.