Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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When no-one is in a studio, does the audio equipment still make noises?

January 16, 2011

Abandoned and discarded. Someone once cared a great deal about this equipment.

VOX: “I’m so smug. I’m a VOX.”

Roland: “I’m quite smug too, but I can’t top you, VOX. It seems apt that I lie, thus, perpendicular to the ground, whilst you are appropriately upright. I hate you VOX.”

VOX: “I can see all the grit and muck on your wheels. Have you no shame, Roland?”

Roland: “What does it matter when you’re in the room, VOX? I can never be as good as you. I can never carry the warm glorious tones and even if I could, all the kids love your coolness almost as much as Orange. All I’ve got is this old skool logo.”

Roland crawls off, still side-ended, for a little cry.

Blue Chair: “Oh right. Just ignore me then. I mean, I AM actually the only one in this room that contributes anything properly productive in this messed up society by helping with the parking of bums whilst they contribute actual work and thus partake is true wealth creation in this glorious socio-capitalist economy. Whilst you two – YOU TWO! – just ponce it along with the cooler-than-thou indie kids.”

Piano: “Just calm down. You’re all pathetically short-term. What use is a chair or a valve amp or even YOU, Bicycle, when the transhumans take their rightful place as the simians’ overlords. Really, when you think about it, this really IS a very petty argument. Of course, having said that, Piano shall always prevail, just as it always has. I am CLASSICAL for a reason you losers. Ha!”

Bicycle sulks silently. He’s heard it all before and recognises the futility of partaking in Kilroy politics. “No wonder Kilroy lost his mind“, thinks Bicycle.

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Electricity in our Homes: The Sound of Nu-Nu

July 28, 2010

So post-DIY they’re nu – and not even just nu but Nu-Nu, a retro so nostalgic it can only be from the future – Electricity In Our Homes return with an ultra-limited, 300-pressings-only release of their latest hit fandango, You’re Doing So Well, a wicked rambunkous thump with a sinister.

Yes, a sinister.

EIOH: Like Zebras

What great lyrics and mood: it kicks off with “I feel lucky that nothing fell; / roof tiles did not come clattering down.” Talk about damage limitation (I am being lighthearted, but deft, in reference to your lyrics).

What a start.

But, actually, the start of You Are Doing So Well is prefaced with a delightfully cheeky 45 second melodic workout (overdriven, tightly reverbed drums and all, including cheekily delightful guitar twang) before certain chaospheric percusso drums commence their advancement with enough profound menace to be anyone from early Killing Joke all the way to !!! (Chik Chik Chik), leading into guitar like razor wire and vocals reminiscent of early Tripping Daisy, with an eerie backing vocal.

Possibly even the druggiest Lennon springs to mind. Is that bad? He meant well. But that’s no excuse.

Apparently Electricity In Our Homes just want to see people do well (to paraphrase their lyrics). And this appears to moves them to make music like this.

I wonder what happens when THEY want to do well. Perhaps that’s a tale for the future, if they ever choose to tell it…

EIOH have never felt so tight and nor have they sounded so well produced. May their efforts continue to lead into better things.

And this Main Protagonist found his copy arriving all personally-PostItNoted and all. The incredible joy-thrill wow was impeccable: I just had to not only take ye pictures, but in ye a neat context too.

What better place, for instance, to place such a treasured 12″ amidst one’s own guitars?

Where did I put that new EIOH single?

You too can listen to these tracks via your ear receptacles just here: http://www.myspace.com/electricityinourhomes.

BUT: despite all ye listening… see them live, buy their singles, write your own reviews. They are a good and solid articulate madness. And they represent a better way of life. They do.

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6Music: SAVED! For now, at least…

July 5, 2010

The Main Protagonist of this site has been harping on for some while about the proposed closure of the favourite radio station of the Oh Cheers crew, BBC 6Music.

Guess what? We’ve only gone and bloody saved 6Music, Rodders!

Wonder if the mighty Viz will again come up with another suitably worthy strip to honour this triumph of sanity over, er, insanity?

But, oh my dear 6Music fans, please do remain vigilant, however, as it is not yet exactly correct to say the station has been saved with a long term permanence:

The Trust concludes that, as things stand, the case has not been made for the closure of 6 Music. The Executive should draw up an overarching strategy for digital radio. If the Director General wanted to propose a different shape for the BBC’s music radio stations as part of a new strategy, the Trust would consider it.

Vigilance!

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More trouble in the post for ITV

June 21, 2010

In case you didn’t know, beak knows his broadcasting. Why? That’s classified. But hear these writings…

9 days after ITV spectacularly blundered their HD coverage of England’s opening World Cup game against USA, a thorough investigation has unearthed the Gremlin in the system that caused them to cut to an unscheduled advertisement at the exact moment captain Steven Gerrard scored England’s only goal of the tournament.

Transmitter noise has been identified as the source of the embarrassment. Broadcast engineers worked around the clock to fix the fault in time for the Algeria game (thanks for ensuring that one went uninterrupted).

ITV shouldn’t hold its breath: a recent trip up to Crystal Palace suggests it ain’t in the clear yet, BABY!

ITV HD Sabotage - Sponsored by Hyundai*

*Small vuvuzela-loving child will get his Hyun-DUES for his efforts.

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A Pigeon and its Pain Relief

May 24, 2010

beak is back, and he still loves the birds:

With plant fertiliser now illegal, the kids are looking for a new high, and they’re not alone. Codeine can be bought legally and cheaply on the internet and it’s proving popular when consumed with alcohol, for the ecstasy-like effects it gives teenagers. And pigeons.

OC saw one plucky little feathered raver get more than he bargained for, as whilst pecking away at the ground, he happened upon a suspicious looking wrap, and dived straight in.

Within minutes the effects of the opiate had overtaken ol’ birdy bird and he lay there, helpless in his delirium, twitching in the Sun. His mate didn’t hang around for long: he had guestlist at Ministry.

Didn’t affect his appetite, mind you. This is him as he came to Sunday Lunch the very next day:

It was a heavy night beforehand

Fuzzy but Functional

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Training Humans on a Course (with a Horse)

May 20, 2010

The Oh Cheers Main Protagonist has had an unusual week…

Yes, yes. I was on a course this week, as per the requirements of the office employment (note: the details end there due to non-disclosure arrangements).

Who knew training could be so much fun?

Hello old friend[click image to maximify]

Dobbin Horsome makes his mark (not just manure)

Dob Day Sunrise

An intimidating interrogator… [click image to maximify]

Dobbin - Multiple=

Now listen here, fact fans: Dob and his crew intend to attend the final BBC 6Music protest this Saturday (20/05/2010). As made previously clear, we are strong supporters of the 6Music and will be madder than Hell if it is withdrawn. See you there?

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What Kind of Chap Would Want to Axe BBC 6Music? Only a Fuckwitt.

May 20, 2010

Main Protagonist writes…

UPDATE IN ADVANCE OF THE FINAL CHANCE TO MAKE OUR TIME

FINAL PROTEST: SATURDAY 22/05/2010

Ever seen Terry Fuckwitt and Mark Thompson in a room together?

Viz: Razor Sharp Accuracy

All of us at the Oh Cheers crew are big fans of 6Music and consider it utterly absurd it has been mooted for the axe.

If it disappears, what the Devil are its listeners supposed to listen to?

There are a whole host of ways we can support 6Music:

The suggestion to axe 6Music on grounds of competitive conflict of interest is ensconced in hypocrisy upon consideration of the mere existence of BBC Three, a TV channel which has a schedule which reads somewhat like Charlie Brooker’s satirical writings in TV Go Home from yonks ago.

6Music is a burgeoning national treasure, coming from a public service broadcaster famed throughout the world – championed by its adherents, hated by its competitors – for its relative freedom to act independently in highly competitive markets.

The chief operating officer of Absolute Radio, Clive Dickens, reckons his company could buy 6Music and run it commercially. Could this be a bluff to get the press coverage? Is it a reasonable idea? Surely it is simply best to not fix wot ain’t broke.

To great effect, this month’s Viz brilliantly captures the disappointment – no, scratch that, we mean annoyance! – that 6Music listeners share over this proposal.

It’s not the first time Terry Fuckwitt has had a go at controversial BBC developments which can, on occasion, split public opinion right down the middle.

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ReBirth ReBorn

May 3, 2010

ReBirth RB-338, the seminal music emulation software from aeons ago, has been reborn as an iPhone application. Wow.

When stumbled upon for the first time in the late-1990s this bit of soft-kit overawed ourselves, and the primary protaganist of these here Oh Cheers rumblings cheerfully made his foray into beats, blips and squelches, only for them to be lost forever in a drive reformatting accident. Ho-Hum.

C’est la vie, n’est-ce pas?

Anyway, it’s not an exaggeration to claim how this little vid has gotten us all trembly, twitchable and excited:

Wonder if we can incorporate any of this into the Ancients of Noise works or even, dare we mention it, the works of our esteemed partners in crime, E*e**r** Ro***r.

Rabid, Hungry-For-Informations Oh Cheers roar-reader:
“What the twittle are you twaddling about, you bit-blitherer? E*e**r** Ro***r? Ear Roar??”

Vapid, Refuser-Of-Fact-Satisfaction Oh Cheers word-warbler:
“Er, yeah. Wait and visually see. Er, with your ears. See with your ears. Hear! Wait and hear. It’s in progress and it’s another great project which will see its public launch in due course…”

…hence the self-censorship. Let the music do the talking, right? Probably nope.

Sometimes audios. Sometimes performance. Sometimes sense.

Sometimes… just stuff what we like. And sometimes… just stuff we notice.

Always Oh Cheers.

Oh Cheers.

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Have us done a Donk?

April 3, 2010

Apparently there is a new dance craze in the north-west of England, which came to our attention in the Metro. Here’s a good description: “To me the music sounds like hell, five hours of a non-stop fruit machine crossed with a nail factory.”

That sounds pretty good to the Oh Cheers team. Below is a lovely little nugget. From 2008. The Metro is 2 years late in its reportage but what does one expect from a rag freesheet?

Take note, the Oh Cheers Productions audio studio could do with a big orange lunatic oscillator speaker like the one featured in this video. Please let us know via the comments (or any other means) if you have one to donate.

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