Moustaches!

Badamsinh Juwansinh Gurjar , owner of a fantastic moustache

There’s nothing better than visiting your favourite music blog to find out that they’re talking about moustaches, is there?

To an extent, that’s what happened to us when we visited the Times site the other day, as we were treated to their article The Top 25 Moustaches In Pop.  Don’t worry, Freddie Mercury is in there.

November is also of course Movember, an excuse for men to grow a moustache but to also to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity.  So if you know anyone who’s growing their lip rug, make sure you sponsor them to raise money for the war against cancer.

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Live Review! Bellowhead

This review comes from Colin Coates, who didn’t have to pay to get into this gig in exchange for some flyering, as he is a member of our street team.

Bellowhead – Norwich Waterfront – Tue 20/10/09

Another wonderful evening in the company of Bellowhead, and again thanks to Andy and Jon at Properganda for getting my mate and I on the guest list.

Belshazzar's Feast

The support were Belshazzar’s Feast (one of Paul Sartin from Bellowhead’s other projects), clever, musically astounding, and very smutty at times!  (An example of this was how in the past the letter “f” was used instead of “s”, so Paul said they would “suck it and see” how a tune would work out.)  I bought their album Frost Bites as a result, and highly recommend it.

Bellowhead themselves were on for 90 minutes or so with two encores; the set was mainly from Matachin, with the arrangements looser giving the band a chance to show off their musical skills.  Highlights for me were Fakenham Fair (it had to be, me being from Norfolk), Kafoozalum, and Whiskey Is The Life Of Man, the number they started with, Jon toasting us with apple juice!

Bellowhead

A few new numbers, the best being the ‘begging song’, and old faves like Haul Away, Rigs Of The Time, The Rochdale Coconut Dance but sadly no Jordan.
As ever great to watch, the “posing”, the “dance”(!) routines and how they seem to be having as much fun as the audience is.

A GREAT evening, and look forward to the next time they play Norwich, one of the best gigs this year.

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Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba On Jools Holland!

Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba, at the BBC, in the future

At the time of writing, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba will be appearing on Later…with Jools Holland in the future.

On the Tuesday show (20th October) and Friday (23rd Oct) the Malian band will be performing songs off their new album, I Speak Fula.  (In case you’re wondering about the significance of whether one can or cannot speak Fula, you will have an opportunity to read all about it in the upcoming issue of Properganda magazine, due to hit the streets soon).

 

Live Review! Baddies

Baddies – Borderline, Tottenham Court Road, London – Mon 12th Oct ‘09

[This review today comes from Jonathan D Anger]

Photos by www.taylorassignments.com

Having found refuge from the cold October air in the pub before the much-anticipated Baddies gig at The Borderline, I saw a face I recognised. It was Michael Webster, front man and all round good bloke from the band, who was himself seeking refuge before the gig. After the initial greetings, I found myself confused and in an awkward situation. I didn’t actually know whom I was talking to. You see, Michael’s identical (I mean really identical) twin brother Jim also plays drums for the band and I couldn’t be sure. I bit the bullet to save myself further embarrassment and said, “I’m sorry, I literally have no idea who you are.”

 

A Child Who’s Very Good At Playing The Guitar!

That snappy headline pretty much says it all.  This is nothing to do with Proper but my mate Steve showed me this video the other day and i thought it was very impressive.

The boy is called Sungha Jung and he hails from South Korea.  As usual, with anything internet related, everyone else probably found out about this years ago but there might still be some of you who’ve never heard of him.

The sheer volume of other songs he’s got is also fairly staggering.  Click here to see.

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Win Baddies Gig Tickets!

Photo: Steve Baker

Essex-based post-pop-punk band Baddies are once again busying themselves with playing loads of gigs.  But for now they are, unusually for them, sticking to within the British Isles for their October leg.

The nice folks over at 7Digital are running a competition so that you can win tickets to any of their upcoming shows.  You will find their Baddies competition page by clicking the link.

You can also, until Monday 5th October (2009) download their entire album Do The Job for only £5!  Our rumour mill also has heard whispers of a free track download for a limited time, commencing Friday 25th Sep.  Stay tuned for more details.

Or, you can wait until Monday 28th September and buy the CD.

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Matt & Kim Win Best Video Award!

Lessons Learned by Matt & Kim has won the Breakthrough Video award in MTV’s Video Music Awards.

Unfortunately you can’t watch any of the videos if you’re outside of the USA but i have put the video down here for your viewing entertainment.

Quite why they have felt it necessary to blur out Kim’s back is a mystery to me.  Also, make sure you watch it to the end.

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On our stereo: Fri 14/08/09

Iron Maiden – Rock In Rio (EMI)
Live album from ’80s screech metal band (Unfortunately we had to turn this off as the CD was scratched)

Les Paul & Mary Ford – Greatest Hits (Primo)
Jazz/blues guitar maestro plays a mean guitar and then multi-tracks it and speeds it up.  (Some people in the office found this annoying but i think it’s unfathomably awesome)

Golden Smog – Blood On The Slacks (Lost Highway)
Not as good as Les Paul

fun. – Aim And Ignite (Nettwerk)
Quirky synth-pop

The Storys – Town Beyond The Trees Special Edition (Angel Air)
Delectable indie-pop

Engineers – Three Fact Fader (KScope)
Slow-burning electronic rock

Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly (Crammed Discs)
Beautiful down-beat indie alt-synth-bluegrass

Fact of the Day:
I once tried to play the Iron Maiden drinking game.  The idea is that you watch a live Iron Maiden video / DVD and you have to drink every time Bruce Dickinson punches the air.  I lasted about 2 minutes.

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On our stereo: Thu 13/08/09

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk (Warner Brothers)
Late ’70s indie pop

Zeep – People & Things (Crammed Discs)
Almost folkish pop

Guy Clark – Somedays The Song Writes You (Dualtone)
Skilful guitar playing in this slightly moody Americana record

Grandaddy – Sumday (V2)
Lo-fi indie alt-rock

Tommy Castro – Hard Believer (Alligator)
Deep, upbeat blues

Tumbélé! – Various Artists (Soundway)
Biguine, afro & latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74

Echaskech – Shatterproof (Just Music)
Squelchy, spacey electro with a robot singer

Conquer The World – Various Artists (Philadelphia International)
Compilation of awesome ’70s soul

Fact of the Day:
ZEEP also stands for Zero Emission Energy Plants, a system that proclaims to use traditional fossil fuels in a way which reduces the CO₂ output by a process called gasification.  (I have no reference for the scientific accuracy of these claims but hit the link above to take a look at their website if you’re interested.)

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On our stereo: Wed 12/08/09

Chris Garneau – Music For Tourists (Fargo)
Laid-back but somehow bouncy ambient alt-pop

Nightmares On Wax – Car Boot Soul (Warp)
Chilled out electro hip-hop jazz

Caribou – The Milk Of Human Kindness (The Leaf Label)
Psychedelic rock/hip-hop

Halou – Wiser (Nettwerk)
Experimental ambience with occasional hip-hop beats

Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly (Crammed Discs)
Beautiful down-beat indie alt-synth-bluegrass

Portico Quartet – Isla (Real World)
More from the hang-playing jazz band.  This one sounds a bit more ambient than the last one, and a bit darker

We Fell To Earth – We Fell To Earth (In Stereo)
Lo-fi other-worldly electronica

Benjamin Biolay – La Superbe (Naïve)
Upbeat francopop with smoky, husky vocals

Fact of the Day:
If you were to fall to earth from 1km or higher (assuming you are a skydiver in a free-fall position) you will reach terminal velocity, where the drag caused by air resistance will be equal to the gravitational force on your body, meaning your acceleration will be reduced to zero.  You will accelerate up to 120mph, or 55m/s.

V_t = terminal velocity
m = mass
g = acceleration due to gravity (approx 9.8 on most places on Earth)
C_d = drag co-efficient
ρ = density of the fluid the object is falling through
A = projected area of the object

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