UK Watercooler 20: Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

Æthenor
Deep in the Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light is the debut from the trio of Stephen O’Malley (Sunn0)))), Daniel O’Sullivan (Guapo), and Vincent de Roguin (Shora). Taking its title from The Iliad, the music here is deep and cosmic, completely unlike anything you’d expect from such heavyweights. More in the tradition of Nurse With Wound’s "Spiral Insana" or Klaus Schulze’s "Cyborg" than any contemporary trend, the tracks float along in a masterful collage of activity, where careful scene changes highlight O’Sullivan’s classic but artfully placed Rhodes bombs, de Roguin’s organ, and O’Malley’s guitar. Extraordinary effort has gone into editing, mastering, and shaping these pieces – these are not tossed off improvisations or “side-project” orphans.

I think maybe I should have some coffee. And then go and look at PBW some more, til I get too guilty and feel like a stalker.

On hte other hand, I've just had an iced bun!

Though actually I can't even go home early, as I'm going to the pub.

Wait, why am I sad about that? I'm going to the pub, hurrah!

Nice.

Better drummer than any 12 year old had a right to be.

?!?

But that's just me.

Seasons End = one of the better new UK acts I've heard in a while. http://www.myspace.com/seasonsendmusic for the curious. They sample Disco Inferno = I like them.

Hmm...only vaguely. So is it any good?

Hey Ned, would you like to hear Æthenor?

Why not?

Sixteen Deluxe, where art thou? And Furry Things. And...

Reigns : Entitled 'Styne Vallis', is the tale of a submerged village in Wessex. The Reigns operatives have spent a lot of time there, researching and experimenting. This album is it's story.

Some words to help/confuse:

"A sulphurous, blue-grey miasma hangs heavy over this spoiled reservoir as if the air itself is attempting to solidify to hold the water down. Within it, like spirits trapped in aspic, hover a million flies drawn by the stench of stagnation. If you could see through the fug, through the gelatinous surface of the water and through the shifting green murk, you would see houses, all the dwellings of a forgotten village, pathetically huddled together on the reservoir bed. A thousand silent corridors, landings and hallways, all lost in the gradual act of flaking away.

To the north, the Rectory, its trellises black with kelp. To the west, the war memorial, the names of the fallen devoured by the creeping slime. Now, to the south, the chapel and its new congregation, a thrashing, knotted snarl of eels. Above them, a rusted bell will occasionally slump to one side, emitting a reluctant clank. And somewhere, a page from a sodden calendar comes loose and floats up towards the surface.

This is Styne Vallis. This is where the trail begins."

Scripted voiceover for Eric Eptova's lost documentary "Wessex Faultline: Following the South-West's Supernatural Seam" (1972).

Our sales pitch: Honestly, this album is something special. From the artwork and booklet to the music, this is both haunting and beautiful. Who knows where, or whether, the lines of truth and fiction meet. You need this in your life.

Man, I cannot BELIEVE I didn't realise tomorrow was Thanksgiving. Not like they'd let me celebrate it since I lost my green card. But still. I meant to do ... *something*.

Why *are* Geordies called "Geordies"?

Well, it's a start.

Pash?

I have no problem personally with the Newsom voice*, which is lucky, since I wub the rest of it; the harping, the words etc.

*) I might be wary of putting it on with other people present, though.

An alternative explanation for the name is that local miners used "Geordie" safety lamps, designed by George Stephenson in 1815, rather than the "Davy lamps" designed by Humphry Davy which were used in other mining communities.

This is an outrage. I demand to have my contract reviewed.

What should I ask my mum to bring from Merka? I keep asking her for Bully Hill wine, but she disapproves of duty free as she's a teatotaller. :-(

xp

(I'm just going to pretend my colleague didn't forward it to me.)

He was a miner in South Shields, but still...

I always thought they were a myth.

Argh, I am going to have to walk straight through the EEZOHAD to get to the pub my friend has chosen. I don't see a way around it, except to take a ridiculously circuituitous route. Or maybe the bus. But that would be silly, as I need to get cash first.

I like the look of this flyer:

http://www.circa60-design.co.uk/seventh-swords-flyer.jpg

It looks like the sort of thing I should *definitely* be going to.

When you're lonely and miserable and feeling alienated, it's easy to become bitter and lash out at those who are not feeling the way you are, or offering advice you feel is unhelpful.

What I was trying to say yesterday with my perhaps off-topic diversion is that human beings are social animals. It is the most natural thing in the world to crave sex, companionship, etc. The only thing *worse* than feeling lonely and alienated is feeling *guilty* for wanting or craving sex or companionship or physical contact. That way lies neurosis and a downward spiral of self hatred. Because it's impossible to not think about sex, or at least aquiring the companionship of other humans, and those who try - monks with X-ray vision or whatever - become even more fucked up and repressed.

Stop feeling guilty about being lonely; start doing things that connect you to other people.

-- kate (masonicboom), October 29th, 2003 10:08 AM. (kate)

Low Self Esteem

But then I think about the experiences that happened in those five years, and I don't think it's surprising that I turned out so bitter.

Riding back on the train, great holiday. I seem to have avoided the hangover I richly deserve, but I still feel a little drunk, so maybe alkyhell is coming. I danced like a loon last night to some truly awful music including, I vaguely recall a euro-house remix of money for nothing, I may have done air guitar. Kissed the pretty barmain from the H3nnu stall too. A good night all round.

No further questions m'lud

I checked my work emails last night and it looks like we are living in 'Interesting Times' again. good job I have a few more ideas about grad school and I'd like someone to tell me a little about the GRE.

They've changed the GRE since I did it a few years ago (wow, it was 2001; how time flies), but it wasn't too bad. There's a section devoted to maths, which if I remember right is goes up to A-Level standard in difficulty (but isn't all that taxing), bits where you have to work out equivalent relationships between groups of words, 'fill in the blanks' questions from childhood with bigger words, and I think you have to write an essay now, too. You go to one of the testing sites dotted around the country (I went to the Manchester one), they sit you in front of a computer and it throws up these questions at you for the length of the exam. Afterwards, it sends your score onto the universities you're applying to, and that's about it.

I'd get one of the big GRE books you can find in Borders - they tend to be packed with sample questions and it gives you a good idea about what to expect.

one of my friends took all of last week off with "the flu."

Boy, this stuff is nerve-wracking.

I had a good weekend, which was much needed. Got all dressed up on Saturday night and decided to go out anyway to the Windmill, determined to have a Good Time. Thought "what did I used to do way back when, going to gigs by myself? Oh yeah, I took a sketchbook and drew when I was bored." So there's me sitting in the midst of a prog/psych/drone/kraut night drawing paisley and suddenly every Dirty Dronerock Boy in the world wants to talk to me - and I made friends! (Maybe some day DDB's who don't have girlfriends will talk to me, but one step at a time.) Even got recognised by a Shimuras fan, and Tim asking when I'm going to start gigging again.

The music was really good - Kontacte were lovely kraut/drone/shoegaze over a drum machine. Diagonal were total Kerr-music - prog-jazz-kraut-funk with 7/4 time signatures and stuff. The Falling Spikes were a Velvet Underground tribute band (I'm not sure if they meant to be - though they probably did, due to the name) and Litmus... oh dear lord. Again, treading the fine line between "inspired by" and "tribute band" but they were HAWKLORDS and even did a cover of Astronomy Domine in a Hawkwind stylee which was the best thing ever.

I got rather too drunk because the DDB bought me too many drinks, threw up on myself a little and fell off my barstool. Happy days.

Sunday, when my hungover receded, I recorded two songs. Hurrah.

Things are looking up.

anything happening this week/weekend, apart from sunday, obviously.

I had a bizarre evening on Sat involving a gushing nosebleed that wouldn't stop.

Welcome back, Ed! More skiing stories please!

Details on nosebleed, Dr C?

Will look into this..

I played a bit in the afternoon, couldn't really get into it, though.

Oh how nice, the DDB has friended me on MySpace. They were a lovely couple.

Gooblar, I've demoed the vocals on Meet Market for you, I'll send it over shortly.

me and my teen had fun. god, she can shop. was i like that? i don't think i was. apart from the badge fetish, though mine were all "badge fetishists against the bomb" and hers are all "better pissed off than pissed on". but hey. as we'd predicted, she wants to move into our flat (can imagine it looks like 24/7 fun and even kindlas of glamorous from her perspective).

so yeah. we had a top time in camden (it's nice going there with someone who isn't all "gah, camden, meh, fuckin tourists") apart from getting bloodyfucking ID'ed in sainsbury's but even that was funny afterwards, once it had stopped being irritating. she didn't want to come in the charity shop with me at first - "ugh! no!" - but she came out with 3 or 4 things and me with 0. don't look now totally freaked her out, heheh, it sounds like she usually watches more blockbuster horror smashes than psychological creepouts like this. and omg, i'd completely forgotten what a good-looking film it is. it's just gorgeous, and wicked detailed. after heathers, she has a new crush on the christian slater of 20 years ago, hurrah.

brick lane/spitalfields was a bit more stressy cos it was so crowded, but also she'd spent all her money and more so it was a bit easier. anyway it was a success i think, we're gonna do it again. i am a bit tigered though.

This gives me faith in the younger generation.

AMber does the occassional Brownie Camp Holiday, last time it was a week away. Mum nervous, but she loved it and said a lovely "thank you for letting me go" afterwards. Alice will be of brownie age this year, so maybe they'll both go off for the week later this year. And maybe Mum and Dad might manage to sneak off somewhere ourselves.

Kate, that sounds like a blast - Kontakte added me on myspace and yr description of them sounds so cool. must check out their stuff. Like their name too, derived as it is from a 1970s bbc German language course!

Emma, yr weekend sounds cool as well, glad to hear the teenager had fun!

But oh dear Dr. C, poor you, I was wincing just reading about it!

I had a fantastic weekend. Asia and I went to a Italian restaurant in north Oxford called Luna Caprese...food good, speshly a nummy tiramisu (such big portions of it too!). But oh dear! The decor! Like a British 1970s approximation of what an Italian restaurant should look like (it may not have changed *since* the 70s, thinking about it). This morning I discovered it is also the fave restaurant of our company President!

After that over the road to the Rose & Crown for my friend Ros's 30th. The landlord Andrew is one of those Oxford 'characters'. Bit of a spency pub and full of posh ppl but that's north Oxford all over!

Didn't see Johnney B - BUT DID HE SEE ME?

Yesterday I cooked a salmon stir fry with oyster sauce. One of the best things about being attached after being single for so long is having someone to cook for. I can't be arsed to make an effort just for myself, and I forget that when I *do * make the effort I'm actually reasonably good at it. Oh and omg, Camper van Beethoven is *such* good music to cook to! Speshly all those quirky ska instrumentals they do!

Oh I assumed it was from the Stockhausen piece!

kontakte take their moniker from Karlheinz Stockhausen's infamous 1958 minimal electronic composition - 'Kontakte - fur elektronische Klange (Klavier und Schlagzeug).

UK Watercooler I got 21 seconds to flow, I got 21 seconds to go

haha i dunno. she's pretty sorted anyway i think, her mum's wicked. (you never realise that when you're 14, i guess.) but yeah, i would have loved it too. more than anything i'd've loved someone to sneak me tapes of noisy indie guitar pop and she definitely needs some musical intervention: she got me to download something i'd never heard that she's into and it turned out to be some fuckawful orange-faced-women-provincial-club thing. but she likes lots of good things too, and we played some other stuff and now i know which direction to go in: less abrasive than pixies, more songy than broken social scene, sweeter than decemberists. this is gonna be FUN! she says she loved everything on the cd i made for her last year (looking back at the tracklisting after this weekend's conversations, i accidentally seem to have got it just right). so on to number 2.

my horoscope today says i must get things done and not procrastinate or i will miss the opportunity for the cosmic help that is lined up for me today. so what should i do?