Dufus - How I Whistle mp3

Dufus
Originally uploaded by macca7174

Dufus have been around for over ten years now, and have toured with literally dozens of members. Their 12th (!) album, King Astronaut was released in December 07, and this is one of the lead tracks from it.

Seth, the mainstay of the group (who also has four solo albums in that time), has indicated that Dufus will probably be slowed down in the next few years, so he can care for his new daughter. We wish him all the best, and hope he can return at some stage with more great Dufus material!

Mp3: Dufus - How I Whistle

Buy Dufus from Iron Man records and their website.

The Bobby McGee's - 'Bambi Eyes' and 'Audrey Tatou'

The Bobby McGee's
Originally uploaded by macca7174

The Bobby McGee's are probably my favourite unsigned band. They affiliate themselves with the London/Brighton Antifolk movements, and play darkly humourous songs of psychotic domestic (un?)bliss.

They also have a mischievous take on instrumentation - a cello being the only 'traditional' instrument on show, amid the toy-looking ukeleles and melodicas.

These are two of their better songs, Bambi Eyes, and Audrey Tatou/Albert Camus.

MP3: Bobby McGee's - Bambi Eyes.mp3
MP3: Bobby McGee's - Audrey Tatou/Albert Camus.mp3

buy Bobby's at Cherryade Records

Yndi Halda - Pinch of Lynch live mp3 "...best thing ever"

Thanks to Fruitier Than Thou for the live recording. I used Switch to convert his wma to mp3.

Zipped Mp3: Yndi Halda - Pinch of Lynch (live) (no pass req'd) - right-click, then select Save Target As (or similar, depending on Browser).

This is a recording from Yndi's November 2007 show in the Luminaire, London. It was their last gig in England of 2007 before they began writing a new album. The track ends with the infamous "That was the best thing ever" rant from the audience.

Buy Yndi from Big Scary Monsters records.
Official site

Update (8 April 2008): The band has asked me to say that this is a work in progress and that the song is not completed yet.

Update 2 (12 April 2008): some people have reported that the file was not downloading. I apologise for this, it was completely my fault, and I thank people that let me know. I have now rectified the situation, and put the file in a zip folder. Unfortunately I've also had to shave off the crowd noises to bring the file size down a bit, so you can't hear the "...best thing ever" rant. Sorry.

2008 Antifolk Winter Festival

I arrived just in time to see the tail end of Suzy Almond's performance, but I was encouraged by what I heard. She has a good voice, and articulates everyday life nicely.

Next up was a young guy, Stuart James, who had to rush off to go to a birthday party, apparently. His style was very rhythmic spoken word - I hesitate to use the word rap, but that's basically what it was - played over an acoustic guitar hook. Unfortunately, I was having difficulty hearing most of the words, but I think he was discussing political issues. The formula grew a bit thin after a few songs, but the guy has forged his own sound, and with a bit of development, he could definately be one to look out for.

Immediately taking over the stage was The Bobby McGee's, decorating the mic stand in fluffy things, and toilet signs, and planting their plethora of instruments in the very limited space. Their first act was to start recklessly hurling lollipops and toy soldiers into the gleeing audience, and party bangers, which they instructed to the patrons to save for the end.



The first thing that struck me since the last time I seen them is a lineup change. Gone was the cellist (which adds a lot of depth to certain songs), replaced by a saxophone player. I'm not sure if this was just a temporary arrangement, because the band often does gigs with differing lineups, including just Jimmy solo.

Another major difference was the makeup was ditched in favour of matching maroon suits (Victorian sailors? My fashion history is hazy). (OK - this was the first thing that struck, but I wanted to appear as if I'm only interested in the music, not the cheesy gimmicks).

Jimmy opened the show with a micro puppet show - a small rabbit teddy quoting the lyrics to Jar Jar Binks. The songs were hilarious of course, and meticulously delivered, despite a few false starts by the new saxophonist when she was handed the melodica.

The noticeable crowd-swelling on the floor suggested they were one of the more anticipated bands (they were who I was there to see), and if work commitments didn't summons them back to Brighton, I'm sure they would have fitted in well towards the top of the bill.

Next up was a duo who were making their debut performance - Thee Assassins. They have an image of a Dickensian lawyer (the late 19th century seems to be well represented). I'm not sure how well they fitted in to the gig, but they acknowledged their appreciation at being hosted for the first time.

David Cronenberg's Wife personally encouraged me to stick around to hear Simon Breed - and I have to say, I was most impressed. He has a very bluesy voice, and writes some great tunes. I intend to keep tabs on on him in the future.

Unfortunately, time caught up with me, so the last band I saw was The Sways. They take a lot of influence from Dufus it would seem, keeping it on the lighter side. They are definately more marketable than Dufus (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way to either party), and will also be on my watchlist for the foreseeable future.

I had been slightly miffed when I saw the lineup as I walked in, because I had only heard of the Bobby's, but as is often the case with these, I was introduced to some new artists I'll keep tabs on to see how they progress. The first Antifolk fest I went to (Spring 06) had a large selection of CDs at the front door of all the artists - a feature that was notable by its absence on Saturday. The individuals did invite you to ask them if you wanted a CD, but I missed a few of the ones I wanted.

John Williams is overrated - here's why

John Williams is a veteran of film composing, and if you are in any way influenced by pop culture from the last thirty years, you can probably hum at least one (more likely five or six) of his compositions because they are so ubiquitous. Therefore, my (unqualified, I'll admit) opinion that he is overrated is sure to cut to the bone of some of his more rabid followers.

As far I am concerned, of all his scores, there are only two or three that stick out as works of brilliance, over the rest of his decidedly average output (for a film composer that is-he isn't as sickeningly average as some of the scum masquerading as 'indie' that makes up the pop charts these days-cf. The Kooks, Razorlight, The View).

When he first broke through (with an young Steven Speilberg, whose career mirrors Williams' exactly), he made a massive impact on film scoring with Jaws. A minimalist cello-led number that sent shivers up the spine of the biggest audience cinema had seen until that point. It won the full round of awards (Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy) and has, rightly, become an iconic piece of music in its own right.

However, since then, he has largely stuck to formula - particularly when teamed up with Spielberg for a overblown popcorn epic comedy-adventure - a catchy motif of about six bars or so, backed up by a full orchestra, with swelling brass and string sections:

• Star Wars (both trilogies)
• Indiana Jones
• Jurassic Park
• E. T. (for which he, perversely, won the full round of awards again)
• Hook
• Superman
• Home Alone
• Harry Potter

Whenever he didn't use this formula, he reverted to the formulaic concept for the genre he was writing for (military drums in JFK, Saving Private Ryan and Born on the Fourth of July, stereotypical jigs in Far and Away) - not exactly pushing the boundaries.
It is unfair to single out Williams for this discrepancy - it is commonplace in Hollywood composers by such as Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer and James Horner.

His best composition, arguably, was the violin score for Schindler's List, showing that, like Spielberg, when he wants to make a serious contribution to the art of film, he can be brilliant - but he is content with churning out the formulae.

Compare him to other composers, who haven't got as much mass recognition. My personal favourites are Danny Elfman (The Simpsons theme tune, Edwards Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas), Alf Clausen (composed the music and songs for each of the 400+ Simpsons episodes, and was criminal overlooked for Hans Zimmer for the Simpsons Movie), Ennio Morricone , Bernard Herrman (Taxi Driver, Psycho), Lalo Schiffrin (although some of his 80s stuff hasn't stood the test of time well-at least he was trying something new, unlike Williams), Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Six Feet Under theme).
Individual films have brilliant scores also (which, naturally, weren't even nominated for Oscars) include The Shining, Requiem for a Dream - both of which pushed new bounds, utilizing a small number of instruments - and Ry Cooder's solo guitar in Paris, Texas. Sometimes, as Williams might want to acknowledge, less is more...