The Gods of Awesome smile on us for once - it has been announced that the legendary Italian soundtrack band Goblin will be appearing live in Glasgow next February, as part of the Glasgow Film Festival! Some of us have been awaiting this moment for years. Goblin provided the soundtrack to horror classics like Dawn Of The Dead, Suspiria, Phenomena, Tenebre and many more. Here is clip of Goblin performing "Tenebre" a couple of years ago, a song famously sampled by French electro act Justice for their hit "We Suck Massive Donkey Knobs":
This truly is a time to rejoice my friends! More on the Goblin gig here. In other news, there seemes to be a mini-Giallo revival going on at the moment, what with Darren Aronofsky's The Black Swan said to be heavily influenced by Dario Argento, and the film "Amer" being even more of an hommage. Apparently it is like a filmic tone-poem and features no dialogue - I for one am intrigued:
Let's face it, Britpop was rubbish. As someone who lived through it the first time, I can look back now and safely say it was a victory of hype over talent. It was, in effect, the last dying gasps of British guitar-based "independant" music as it was swallowed whole by the major labels, and turned into a cookie-cutter pattern that could be used over and over again with diminishing results.
Having said that, there were a few good bands, a noble and select few who weathered the media storm and managed to outlive the Britpop tag. Top of that list is Pulp.
News is coming through today that the original Pulp line-up (including oddbod guitarist Russell Senior, who quit at the height of their fame in 1996) are going to be playing some live shows next summer. So far confirmed is a headline slot at Wireless, and I would stake money that the band will appear at Glastonbury too:
I'll be there Jarvis. And I'd just like to give a quick mention to this tune, in my opinion one of the best break up songs ever, the bitter and beautiful "The Trees":
I just got back from Bestival on the Isle of Wight. It's a nice wee festival with some great bands playing in a pretty valley, and thankfully the rain held off (mostly). Unfortunately, there was one major problem - the audience. 95% of the crowd was made up of middle-class, white, trust-fund hipsters who came from either East London or Brighton. I know this because we were working gathering names for a good cause.
For a festival that's all about dressing up and acting like a freak for a few days, there was a surprising lack of communal atmosphere. In fact, any kind of "this is a special moment" atmosphere at all.
Where were the older folks? Where were the scallies? The Northerners? The people of colour? The trannies (Giles, wearing a dress on the Saturday doesn't count)? I know there's nothing the organisers can do about it, but now I have been I have no major desire to return and have to mingle with lots of pampered, privileged kids who have never been to festival before. People like this:
FESTIVAL TIPS FOR HIPSTER NOOBS:
1) Don't wear your "loik totally wacky" (and very large) hat into a crowd who are trying to watch a band. Obstruction of view will cause permanent wacky hat removal.
2) If leading a conga line of people through a large tent which is rammed shoulder to shoulder with folk, DON'T be Facebooking on iPhone at the same time. It's not about the danger of injury - it's about not looking like a twat.
3) Don't speak on your iPhone ALL THE WAY THROUGH a set by a legendary 70's glam-pop/art-rock band and then heckle them with shouts of "Oh hurry up and play Virginia Plain! We're waiting for the Flaming Lips". If Wayne Coyne heard you say that he would punch you in the face.
4) Don't sit on the ground while in the middle of the mosh pit, or anywhere within the vacinity of the first 150 rows of people. If you get trodden on, it's your own fault!
5) The point of a mosh pit is to, yes, mosh, but also to look out for your fellow moshers and PICK THEM UP if they fall over. Also, you can expect to get your clothes and hair dirty at an outdoor festival, so shut up and stop moaning about it.
6) Go to T In The Park and THEN tell us Bestival isn't a very posh festival. You'd be lucky to come out of Scotland with your teeth/hair/glasses/trainers/iPhones/Macbooks/dignity/horsey accents intact.
7) Don't be called Tarquin/Imogen/Pheobe/Tamsin/Jeremy.
"The worst festival I’ve ever been to was Boardmasters in Newquay, which I was forced to review. It was on a beach with a surfing competition running concurrently as a load of inane bands played their depressing noise to tanned men in Hawaiian shirts who’d rather be watching Sublime or high-fiving their reflection in the mirror. As bad as it was, I am sure I can imagine a festival that’s at least 400,00 times worse than this. Let me now, in my mind, curate the worst festival the world has ever seen. It will feature the following."
"With the two parties edging towards an agreement, Lib Dem sources say the Tories must demonstrate their commitment to progressive values by having lunch every day with an absurdly flamboyant gay man who will litter the conversation with repulsive double entendres."
