Check my French

Yeah my shirt got a fuckin’ wolf on, what you know about that, hipster muthafukka?

Following the nod from Benny, The Fader and now Wire magazine, it looks like Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All are going places real fast – that said, the places they go will likely involve hard drugs, sex crimes, homophobia, murder and skateboarding.

Welcome to the world of a bunch of teenagers with 8 free albums available on their homepage who combine the depravity of Gravediggaz with the swagger of N*E*R*D’s skate-rap aesthetic and Cadence Weapon’s distinctive enunciation with a bit of ’98 Eminem chucked in for jokes yo.

The quality of the work, all released in the last few years, is staggering, with huge bass, incredible lyrical dexterity and jaw-droppingly horrendous subject matter followed by pantaloon-crappingly horrendous subject matter.

This is not for the faint-hearted. Conversely, if you enjoy hearing about nun-rape, this is for you.

And to be fair, if you’re easily offended, you probably don’t have a lot of hip-hop in your collection though, eh?

Seemingly made up of a collective of angry character-playing California kids (Hodgy Beats, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Mike G, Casey Veggies, Taco, Jasper and producers Left Brain, Tyler the Creator and Super 3 along with a few others) they have produced some astonishingly accomplished hip-hop with the usual interlude bits, messy youtube channel and a refreshing DIY attitude.

Get over to their site, download the albums (Domo Genesis has a new one out now called Rolling Papers) and get stuck in.

I’d recommend Earl himself as a starting point. He’s 16. Prepare to vomit.

Fuck Steve Harvey.

http://oddfuture.com/

Return of the Redeye? Jed-eye? I’m back?

Thanks to events in the real world, I have been seriously lacking in effort with regard to these pages. Interviews, busy days, weddings, funerals. It’s all been going down. I suppose all bloggers are constantly looking at life as ‘content’ for their little online diary and for those who blog specifically on music or film, this stuff can spew forth at regular intervals.

The problems begin when one is not exactly a blogger of anything specific but rather someone who blogs on random odds and ends. And then when it becomes clear that one cannot blog on certain things (i.e. ALOT of things) without ‘giving the game away’, people reading who probably shouldn’t know certain things, that kind of piffle….forgive my cryptic ramble please. And apologies for the self-referential claptrap and for apologising for not blogging in the first place which I know can grate…erk….

So enough. I am in love with Chickatees again. Ah yes, Chickatees. How many do you think you actually swallow when you pop open a bag? Fuck all, I’d wager. They’re all in your teeth. For the diet-crazy amongst you, perhaps this heralds a new form of food non-ingestion therapy. I mean, you don’t ingest Chickatees really.You’ll eat a bag in a minute or two and then pick them all out of your teeth. The key could be to resist the urge to swallow this congealed ball of mulchy Chickatee and plop it in the bin. However, this is more difficult than you think; it tastes bloody great.

AND you can buy them in monstrous bags of 30 or 40 for a few squid too. That, combined with Spar meatballs (amazing) and some Pot Noodles – sure you’re essentially a thrifty Gordon Ramsay producing instant classics upon demand. True your salt intake would probably rival that of a large, floating whale gulping down huge waves by the hour but anyhoo.

I’m also currently sporting a rather fetching ‘tache as you may or may not know. Tis for Movember (donate here) but I can’t see myself getting rid of this badboy too quickly. The amount of action I am getting down darkened alleyways on Camden Street is outrageous. I’m raking it in. The binmen are mad for a bit of ‘tache loving. And I love the feel of their cold black jackets, the smell of Carrolls on their breath…ahhh yes…binmen….

Been busy enough beavering away for a few online publications you are probably familiar with and incoming is State mag’s top 20 albums of the decade…or is it top 100…or is it best albums of the decade in no particular order but with a non-specified number cap…jesus. Anyway, I know I’ve left Smog/Bill Callahan off one of these reeeeally difficult lists and I am going to make it up to him by doing my next post about him and most likely about A River Ain’t Too Much To Love, I think.

Also, Christmas is coming and I fucking love Christmas so, to quote a great man, BABY I’M BACK. I think I’m feeling motivated by R’n’B super-lech, R.Kelly’s banging new single

Actually banging. And without the use of contraception it would seem. Shuddering yet?

A gentle reintroduction through the medium of summat new…

If there’s a blogeur equivalent of ‘doing a Pink at the VMAs’ and metaphorically dangling myself upside down from a buff acrobat, banging away on the keys of a keyboard thing to impress you, the agog reader, then this is it.

Shiny and new like the Ceann Comhairle’s expensed, and expensive,  Pringle jocks (no little holeage in the front to pee out of for FULL support and maximum expense…haven’t you ever had a pair?) this is There Will Be Blog 2.0…for the moment anyway.

I’m not sure what the advantages to the switch might be but I fancy a change and if it does go tits up I’ll scurry back over to Blogger like a crab seeking a latrine after a hot curry. I am reliably informed that ‘WordPress is better’ and ‘Blogger is balls’ by ‘culturally relevant internets people’ (I’ll stop doing that now).

I guess if I ever wanted to bag a heap of nominations for blog posts and consistency, well, I’ve blown it now.

If you are going/gone to the Jesus Lizard in the Button Factory then you are a lucky motherfucker – I just can’t stretch to it. At least they melted my face at Primavera this year and will most likely melt, or completely kick off, your face tonight. A tasty night of tunes awaits this Friday though when Nodzzz arrive in Whelans (with the wonderful So Cow in support), fuzzing up the night, and over at Twisted Pepper there’s a Richter Collective Singles night with Not Squares, Jogging and a DJ set from Jape himself. Bi-location will be a necessity.

Me? I’m trying to settle into a working week that now consists of four days and a smaller paypacket so the recession has landed home at last. The dog even bit me the other day. He must have felt I wasn’t quite bummed-out enough. It felt like the equivalent of your girlfriend inadvertently insulting you in front of your mates. It just wasn’t expected. Luckily he’s a Shih Tzu so my lengthy recovery took about 5 minutes of looking at my ‘wound’  and looking at him and looking at it and looking around the room. Thanks Chirpa. Thanks for hurting our friendship with your gnashers.

Anyway, the laptop’s back so it’s time to catch up on all things music, film, TV, blog and otherwise.

sleigh bells ringing

And so, it’s time to head away to the countryside to see The Family and The Friends in Galway. I’ve a week off (which for a journalist, I think, is pretty good seeing as how last year I had about 3 days off and enjoyed a festive dose of animosity with ‘management’)
The home time visit will also, hopefully, give me a chance to post up end-of-year blog stuff, just like everyone else.
I’ve spent most of the year finding my feet with this blogging stuff, taking riotous abuse from my friends for having a blog in the first place, met some great dudes and dudettes (and simply corresponded on t’internet with some too)and discovered what I think are a friendly, knowledgeable, cool bunch of people, all doing different kinds of things with their blogs and all providing me with hours of entertainment, music and laughs.
This is not my last post for a few weeks or anything (unless I am grabbed by ‘Xmas cheer’ and disappear off the grid for a while) but I’ll just wish all of you readers, commenters, browsers, visitors and peeps in general a Happy Xmas and I’ll raise a glass of red wine to you all in the next few days.
I’ve left you with a classic Xmas picture that all the kids will defo enjoy. Ho ho ho Santa, you crazy, disgusting lush.
Have a good ‘un.

100 posts all over your face

Tis the 100th post (of sorts) of There Will Be Blog and allow me to raise a glass to my reader(s). In the last few months, I have regular blogs I dip into, I’ve met a few peeps here and there and all in all, despite the jaded outlook of a few other blogs out there that I have stumbled across, I’m still new enough to all this to just enjoy it and have a bit of craic with it. I have perused various blogrolls, lamented the lack of There Will Be Blog on some, shouted ‘huzzah’ at the presence of it on others, posted plentifully and not so plentifully, had comments a-plenty and comments a-fuckall. As a celebration, I will be making a There Will Be Blog 100 post compilation soon and it’ll be stuck up on rapidshare for download. It’s been emotional and long may I continue to enjoy it. It’s weird though. It starts to occupy a large part of your time as you wonder whether or not to blog on certain things, feel guilty about not blogging, write, re-write, comment, reply. Anyway, it’s cool to have a place to ramble and rant so this drink is for anyone of you that have read this. Cheers.

Seven songs for seven bloggers

The song kinda version of that meme thing from a while back plopped into my lap from the always clued in ctrl/alt/delete
This is the deal:

“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre,whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.”

And here’s my selection, which I now realise is quite…em…mellow. The temptation to cherry-pick the ‘cool’ songs has been avoided.

Missing One – Bonnie Prince Billy (from Lie Down in the Light)
A gorgeous track from a gorgeous album with Oldham’s voice in the best shape it’s ever been. Try not to sing along when he sings ‘But I wouldn’t trade my life for someone’s millions’, I dare you. Melancholic gold.

re:Stacks – Bon Iver (from For Emma, Forever Ago)
The haunting conclusion to one of the finest albums I’ve ever heard. Lump-in-the-throat delicacy.

Lucky Man – Sun Kil Moon (from April)
Instantly recognisable Sun Kil Moon sound that paints the image of Mark Kozelek onstage, head back, eyes closed, demanding undivided attention. Brilliant song.

Basic Instinct – Quasimoto (from The Unseen)
Madlib’s alter ego drawling out a short track that’s a nod to tha ol’ skool. Just a cool sound to it and the album’s great for that sunshine vibe.

Paris – MSTRKRFT (from The Looks)
Banging. If you are not dancing from 2:29 into this song then you are clinically dead and should donate your organs to someone who needs them. Turn it up.

Amberscene – Halves (from Haunt Me When I’m Drowsy)
From their new mini album, this one wears its influences on its sleeve and ends up being very much their own. This lot have something very special going on.

Two-step – Low (from Secret Name)
One of my all-time favourites and one I keep going back to. They played it at their gig in the Village and didn’t play it in ALT, apparently. I had to miss the latter gig unfortunately. An amazing song in its simplicity. I listen to it an awful lot.

Download my selection here if you feel like it.And now to make with the tagging:
Sinead
Benny Nayoffherrocker
Geese
Gan ventricle
Compostheap

Packing in blogs

There has been a few rumblings of bloggers finishing up in the last few weeks (well..two I think) and Sinead Gleeson has actually done just that. On top of that, The Butterfly Explosion broke up, Ireland voted no to the Lisbon Treaty and there is a lot of negativity in the air. I know all three of you loyal Therewillbebloggers are wondering and I promise I will not leave you stranded. Never.
My inane pointlessness – infrequently published along with some gig reviews, album reviews, domestic titbits and the like – will continue, unashamedly poisoning your eyeholes for as long as I can possibly manage. Some blogs are filled with hard work, dedication and research – this is not one of those. Instead, this is a place where the effluent runs freely, gushing from the synaptic activity of my addled mind right down into my fingertips and onto this very site. There is no retirement plan here. Keep your pantaloons on.
Not blogging was the new blogging. Now blogging is the new not blogging. That’s how I roll.

The World Wide Web of viruses and spyware

Events have been conspiring against posting on this blog for a while. The laptop is officially riddled with an assortment of viruses/spyware/adware/underwear and keeping the internet connection alive long enough to do anything at all is proving incredibly difficult. Is it possible to leave it in somewhere to be ‘cleansed’?
Anyway, the new patio/garden is working out well with all this bank holiday weekend sunshine, so evenings have been blending into days as the wine flows, the sun shines and Ease Down The Road plays in the background.
Guitar Hero is now up and running on the borrowed PS3. It’s unreal and amazingly addictive as Jaysus..
Tomorrow will be Bon Iver in Crawdaddy, a venue I would have chosen above any to see him play. M. Ward and Cadence Weapon have been highlights for me in Crawdaddy and I reckon it could be perfect for Bon Iver too.
Enjoy the rest of the sun, my friends. And if you are not going to the gig tomorrow, you should be. Adios.