Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Jaime Presley/Buck 65/Republic of Trees

Jamie Presley



Now if you're like me you're probably more used to seeing Jamie looking like this playing the adorable trailer trash ex wife Joy in 'My name is Earl' What I didn't know is that she's been a model, appeared in an Aerosmith and Marilyn Manson video, she's been in The Pussycat Dolls, has her own lingerie label and was once Drew Barrymore's body double.

Yeah, I didn't get the last one either.

She's next appearing as Tina Armstrong, the wrestler wannabe supermodel, in DOA: Dead or Alive the forthcoming movie based on the popular video game.

Buck 65



Buck 65, the Tom Waits sounding ex hip hop artist also known as Richard Terfry, is given the MSTRKRFT treatment on this track. God only knows what he's singing about though. Something to do with the urban legend that JFK singlehandedly destroyed the fedora hat industry.

"And we're surrounded by assassins, phantomas, mutantes and serpents, werewolves and sex fiends"

MP3:Buck 65 - Kennedy Killed The Hat (MSTRKRFT Remix)



Sam Taylor - The Republic of Trees



Four children, Michael, Louis, Alex and Isobel, escape their ordinary lives by running away to a forest to create their own utopian community. The arrival of newcomer Joy however soon plunges their dream like lives into darkness. Billed as a modern day Lord of the Flies crossed with 1984 this is the first novel from the former pop culture correspondant for The Observer newspaper.

(Read Unread Reading)

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Charlotte Church/The Knife/Hotel California

Charlotte Church



Charlotte Church: Voice of an angel, body of a welder.

Or at least this was how I percieved the welsh Lindsay Lohan until I saw the Guardian magazine's photoshoot with her from October 2005 (Front Cover image above), easily the best photo of her that I have seen, why does she insist on looking like this when she can look really iconic, like above?!
Don't even get me started on that dreadful 50's karaoke song she sang recently dressed like a corseted drag act!

Charlotte is soon to present her up and coming Channel 4 show 'The Charlotte Church Show' which will undoubtedly start up the Welsh bandwagon, building on ground already trodden by both Glynn and Imogen from Big Brother . Say goodbye to the regional northern accents that have dominated Channel 4 for so long!



The Knife



"Trees there will be, apples fruits maybe"

Even though The Knife's album debuted at number 1 in their native Sweden and they have received the equivalent of a Swedish grammy they are no Abba. 'We share our mother's health' is a freak of a song, a house style dance track with bizarre lyrics about apples and slightly nightmarish (check out the masks) but beautiful vocals.

The whole song sounds a bit like you're being yelled at from another room in another world.

This verison is remixed by my 5 year old daughters favourite band 'Ratatat'

MP3: The Knife - We Share Our Mothers Health (Ratatat Remix)


Hotel Califonia - Barney Hoskyns



Former NME and Mojo journalist Barney Hosykns takes us back to the late sixties and early seventies to tell the real story behind the vibrant LA music scene of that era. Via interviews with all the key players of the period he sets the scene for the rise and rise of the Geffen empire and the inevitable chaos, corruption and drug fuelled creativity that ran alongside it.

A rival record producer on speaking to David Geffen was quoted as saying , “You’d jump into a pool of pus to come up with a nickel between your teeth!”

this book reveals both the nickels and the puss.

(Read Unread Reading)

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Abigail Clancy/Vic Twenty/Vibrator

Abigail Clancy



Abbey Clancy could possibly be Britain's next top model, however she won't ever be Abbey Crouch.

After being unceremoniously dumped by fax just before a Richard and Judy appearance by the Lurch of the footballing world Abbey recently insisted they were still an item.
However Peter Crouch's PR were quick to distance themselves yet again from the cocaine shamed wannabe.

A dead cert for next years Love Island, see her on the Living TV site here as a contestant on 'Next Top Model'


Vic Twenty



Taken from the Vic Twenty album Electrostalinist 'I sold your heart on eBay' is a bouncy slice of retro 8-bit heaven. I love this song, my kids love this song and it'll be rattling round your head by the end of the week whether you like it or not, it's that catchy!

"Who wants guitars and Coldplay, when we've got stars on eBay"

Also worth checking out the website here for a version of Bjork's Army of Me that puts all the fun back into the icelandic imp's song.

MP3: Vic Twenty - I Sold You Heart On eBay


Mari Akasaka - Vibrator



A spark of impulsiveness leads Rei, an alcoholic bulimic, to climb into a truck with a man she doesn't know. Together they embark on a sexual road trip away from loneliness, isolation and the voices in Rei's head.
Vibrator explores the themes of liberation and entrapment as the two charcaters wrestle with their own middle class demons on a road that ultimately leads nowhere.

Vibrator was made into an acclaimed film in 2003.

(Read Unread Reading)

Friday, August 04, 2006

Kate Lawler/Shout Out Louds/How I Live Now

Kate Lawler



Kate Lawler, big brother winner, tv presenter, celebrity wrestler, ann summers model, and now if her website is anything to go by, Dj?!
I went to see Kate when she was a presenter on the ill fated RI:SE on Channel 4, this meant being in a studio above a shopping centre somewhere in London pre 6am! I was amongst a number of that years big brother evictees and was witness to both Kate’s great legs and her quite frankly dismal capacity to present. At one point my head was visible between Kate’s and the other presenter head in a lingering close up. apparently a friend of mines sister was watching RI:SE in the gym and promptly fell off the running machine on seeing me.

Find out what Kate will be trying her hand at next by visiting her website


Shout Out Louds



The band of Swedes, having been hyped up as the next big thing last year, has all but disappeared. Once described by Pitchfork as the “Emo Strokes” they have a new Ep out entitled ‘Combines’ which contains remixes from their debut album. It contains the Ratatat remix of ‘The Comeback’, but personally I still prefer the remix below

Check out their website for full details of the release: here

MP3: Shout Out Louds - The Comeback (Tommy Sunshine Radio Edit)


Meg Rosoff - How I Live Now



How I live Now is one of those few books that accurately captures the awkward tribulations of youth, narrated by a 15 year old girl, Daisy, and set in the near future it well deserves the praise heaped upon it in 2004. It tells the story of Daisy, who having been sent away to live in the country in England becomes wrapped up in an exceptional journey of self discovery amidst a worn torn Britain, struggling to stay alive, find food and protect her new young friends. It also deals with loss and creates some of the most understated yet poignant relationships put to print.

(Read Unread Reading)

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Katie Holmes/Ratatat/Jpod

Katie Holmes



Katie Holmes: Dawsons Creek geek magnet and missus to Christian Scientology pygmy Tom Cruise, with child in tow and numerous bad films under her tiny waisted belt it’s hard to find reason to like Miss Holmes these days. That would be the case, however she starred in the brilliant 'Pieces of April’ for which I applaud her. It’s an incredibly simple yet wonderfully constructed slice of suburban life and will always have fond memories for me as it’s where I first heard Magnetic Fields music. It’s hard to explain how good the film is, especially when it’s central premise is about cooking a turkey, but Katie shines in it and it’s also to be noted that it was the first time she was cast outside her homely (pun unintentional) persona.


Ratatat



Ratatat is a collaboration between lead guitarist Mike Stroud and bedroom producer Evan Mast, and the new album "Classics" is scheduled to hit stores on August 22nd In the run up to this they will be releasing a series of limited edition 12” singles as well which will no doubt become future must haves.
The music is instrumental and moves across like a creeping shadow of joy, stimulating yet calming without being mainstream. Like a car crash between Zero 7 and the warp label.

Get more music on their website here

MP3: Ratatat - Loud Pipes


Douglas Coupland - Jpod



Douglas Coupland, the man who gave us generation X, brings us a fusion of J-pop and the Ipod in this his follow up to novel to microserfs. The younger siblings of Generation X now work in an electronic arts sweatshop producing mindlessly trival computer games whilst soul searching amongst the jargonistic world created by their mircoserf pioneer forefathers. It portrays today’s Google culture, whereby shopping on Ebay and trawling the net for ever more meaningless titbits becomes the only form of escapism from the daily grind.
The plot itself is broken down into smaller bite size plots that are as tantalising incongruous as making a random Google search, the characters are cartoon like but absorbing in their hyper-banality, and this type of writing , this insight into the consumer culture we strive for but don’t really want is where Coupland excels.

(Read Unread Reading)