Bzangy Groink

Year: 2005

  • Albums Of The Year 2005

    This list has taken me bloody hours. I had to narrow down from 60-70 albums to this final top forty. None of the following are losers, in that respect. Whether they’re 40 or number 1, they’re this year’s essential albums. Unlike every other big list you’ll see, this is completely un-influenced by labels or advertising…

  • You And Me Both

    So there you have it. I’m black and I’m brown and I’m a brother and I’m Indian and I’m Jewish and I’m Muslim. White people have told me I’m white, too: after all I went to Oxford and I talk properly, don’t I? Wherever I go, I can fit in. So I’m everything. But I’m…

  • Made In Sheffield

    Above is one of my Christmas pressies: Made In Sheffield. Of course, I’m going to love this DVD. It’s my generation, it’s the pop music that I loved as a teenager and that shaped the music I make myself. For a couple of years, music made on guitars seemed completely irrelevant and outdated. Everything exciting,…

  • Happy Christmas!

    Seasons wotsits to you all, be you Christian, Muslim, Jew, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, pagan or atheist. (Not agnostics though – you can bugger off, you indecisive bastards.) If you’d like a music-related pressie, pop over to the White Town site, I’ve just uploaded a nostalgic goodie, love and kisses, Jyoti

  • 10Meg Broadband… Maybe…

    Today, after a day (and two hours last night) of wrangling, I finally got the new cable modem to work. And it says I’m getting 10 megabits per second: But when I go here I get this result: Hmmm…. where’s my other 6.5 megabits per second, eh?

  • Bless Playlist 20/12/05

    A very Christmassy night tonight, much busier than normal and quite a few old requests (hence the Kraftwerk and Prodigy tracks). Also cool to be asked for The Chalets! Berlin funboys, Modeselektor Tonight’s best new tune was Modeselektor‘s ‘Dancingbox.’ It’s from their lovely album ‘Hello Mom’ and it’s a flippy, boppy, bippy masterpiece of dreck…

  • Monomachine vs. Walter Benjamin

    I’ve had my Monomachine for a while but I didn’t truly start having fun with it till I used it when I gigged in Sweden recently. When I was programming songs into it for Sweden, something happened. Although I was using simple, stripped-down arrangements, the Monomachine was making them sound fantastic. It was playing them…

  • 14 Most Evil Corporations

    Tis the festive season, when we splash our money around money on gifts, choccies and fripperies. But how evil are the companies we’re buying products from? Will your box of After Eights help fund killing babies? Will that economy-sized barrel of Coca Cola funnel money to a company that murders trade union organisers? Is the…

  • Boy On A Stick And Slither

    Via Marie: Click here to see more wonderment.

  • How The US Killed The Truth

    A boy weeps as others survey the damage caused by a US air strike on Fallujah. Picture:AFP A 30-year-old Oxford graduate with no public relations experience has been handed a $100m contract by the Pentagon – to plant false stories in Iraqi papers. (Source: The Independent) I wrote previously about the totally unsurprising revelations concerning…

  • Today In Town

    …I was standing by the Flowerpot and a rather smartly-dressed bloke came up to me. He said: Excuse me, do you speak English? I replied: No. He thanked me (in English) and walked off. And people wonder why I think Derby is a strange city.

  • Who’s The Brains Of The Outfit?

    …my mrs.! 🙂

  • Bless Crimbo Party

    Agadoo! This morning I received two emails wanting to know where the pics from last night’s Bless Crimbo Party were. I find it edifying that the young men of Derby should be so interested in the welfare of really fit barmaids an important local pub, venue and social nexus. Click here to see the piccies!

  • Bless Playlist 13/12/05

    SKWBN, rocking like bastards Tonight’s top new tune was yet another Swedish indie combo, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. It was the goirgeous ‘Loop Duplicate My Heart’ and it’s yet another example of how Sweden is now the king, queen and kong of all things indiepop. Because I love you, you can be lazy and…

  • Christmassy Pics

    I didn’t take any Christmassy pics last year so today I nipped into town and got some festive snaps. The German market always looks super-Christmassy when it’s dark. Hmmm… maybe I should get some long exposure shots of that windmill? Click here for the piccies!

  • Population Map

    Via BoingBoing Have a look at the map above. Each country’s area is mapped to their population. I can’t help but think that the US looks too small and the UK too big. India looks enormous! Big, slightly more legible version here.

  • Arrested For What?

    Maya Evans, 25, this week became the first person to be convicted under the new laws banning demonstrations near Parliament. She was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 in costs after being found guilty of breaching Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. Her “serious” crime was to…

  • Pinters Win Prizes

    As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq…

  • Taxes For Old Rope

    The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for 11 websites, including what may be the least-visited on the web. UK World Heritage Sites (www.ukworldheritage.org.uk) managed just 77 unique visitors last year, Richard Caborn, the minister responsible, told parliament. The site’s top news item announces a seminar taking place in May this year. Another…

  • Bless Playlist 6/12/05

    The Bristols… ahh, how we loved their vintage rocking Bit of a different night tonight as it was the Komakino Xmas Party/Gig night. So, my playlist is a little more indieish than usual, a little less hip hop, much longer and I actually play two songs by the same band! Yes, it’s my pet hate…

  • Save The Vic

    The Vic Inn. Soon to be yet another office block? I’ve not blogged about the threatened razing of The Vic Inn because I’d heard too many mutually contradictory rumours. Now, I’ve received this link. So you can find out exactly what’s going on yourself, straight from the horse’s mouth. If you head over to the…

  • Charlotte Church, Heretic?

    Charlotte ‘BLASPHEMER!’ Church. BURN HER! I’ve just heard Charlotte Church’s new single, ‘Even God Can’t Change The Past.’ And it raises some interesting philosophical points. Years ago, I used to invite the Jehovah’s Witnesses in to talk about religion. After a while, they got fed up and started avoiding me. Yep, they avoided me. One…

  • No Xmas For Sony

    No Xmas logo by Gisela Sony have deliberately infected millions of computers with spyware. The state of Texas is sueing them for this, in fact: “Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers,” said Attorney General Abbott. “Consumers who purchased a Sony…

  • I’m A Happy Spudboy!

    Devo first performed as the “Sextet Devo” at Kent State University in 1973. Co-founders Gerald Casale, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Bob Lewis were students at Kent State at the time the National Guard shot and killed students at a protest against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia–the ‘pivotal moment’ in their founding, according to Casale. The original…

  • US Paid For Good Press

    The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents’ misinformation. In a statement, the command said the program included efforts, “customary in Iraq,”…

  • Bless Playlist 29/11/05

    Tonight’s best new tune was the glacially calm ‘Broken Monitors’ by B. Fleischman. It’s one of those songs that never labours but builds gently into a twinkling clockwork lullaby. You can have a listen to a clip of the track for yourself at the Morr Music site but you’ll need pesky Flash installed. 🙁 Mr…

  • Sir Ian Blair: Liar

    Never trust a copper Britain’s senior police chief is to be investigated over complaints that he gave misleading information about the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber. The conduct of Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and his staff, will be…

  • Another Republican Criminal

    Randy “war profiteer scumbag liar” Cunningham A Republican congressman pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy and tax charges – tearfully resigning from office, after admitting he took $2.4m (£1.7m) in bribes to steer defence contracts to co-conspirators. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in US District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud…

  • Rentacops Murder Iraqis

    A “trophy” video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could…

  • Some Tramps

    It’s getting near Xmas. In this season, we should spare a thought for those less fortunate. Not in January or the rest of the year, fuck ’em then, just for the next thirty or so days. Doing my bit, I found the above tramps in the city centre. They were obviously crackheads, they were muttering…

  • Good Point, Well Made

  • Fatherland Security Strikes Again

    One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal…

  • Bless Playlist 22/11/05

    Tonight’s top new song was Cats On Fire’s ‘Higher Grounds.’ Part of the new wave of Scandi superindiepop, Cats On Fire make effortless, breezy pop music. It just rolls into your life and into your heart. Plus, their guitarist Ville is a pretty good dancer when you stick Jonathan Richman on. 🙂 Again, if you…

  • First Front Cover!

    If you buy this month’s Sound On Sound magazine (and, if you’re a techy musician, you should), then you’ll get a copy of the SOS Live supplement. And on the cover is a pic I took of Dead By Dawn. It’s actually this pic. I’m extremely chuffed to get my first magazine front cover. Plus…

  • iTunes Beats High Street

    iTunes has become the seventh largest music retailer in the US, competing with high street music stores. New research from the NPD Group shows iTunes climbing from last year’s fourteenth place to become as powerful as most music stores on the high street, and predicted the service would edge out more stores by the end…

  • Download ‘Things To Come’

    The War is neverending. Sound familiar? Courtesy of Paul ‘Durruti’ Sellars, click here and you can download, totally legally, ‘Things To Come.’ What’s that, you may ask? Things to Come opens with a near-future forecast of Christmas 1940 in the metropolis of Everytown (obviously London), a city threatened by world war.Pacifist intellectuals, such as John…

  • Stiff Upper Lip

    I’m watching Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, which I taped yesterday. A man just fell into a room, clutching his neck. As he was helped to a chair, he said, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” I love the fact that he’d been stabbed in the neck but was apologising for his rude, un-announced entrance. Now, that’s a…

  • British Trained Torturers

    British-trained police operating in Basra have tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows of “alleged deaths in custody” and other “serious prisoner abuse” at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the…

  • Here Is America’s Torture

    This weekend Amnesty International is holding a conference in London which brings together the biggest gathering of former “war on terror” detainees. The first interview is with Moazzam Begg, one of nine British men who were held at Guantánamo Bay. He was seized in Islamabad in February 2002 by the CIA and initially held at…

  • Killer Cola

    I’m just watching a BBC 2 documentary about Coca Cola and its current downturn. Nutritionists, lefties, anti-globalists, even Arnie is anti-coke. Yep, The Terminator is anti-Coca Cola! All of which makes me wonder about Jack White’s decision to do an advert song for Coca Cola. Is he: 1. So fucking stupid he doesn’t realise the…

  • Cornstarch Weirdness

    Via BoingBoing, have a look at a video of cornstarch behaving extremely strangely. The above grab is from the end of the video, where it became an unholy monster. I’m hoping it’s a CGI-fake but I suspect the truth is that cornstarch actually is an evil demon, merely waiting for a bit of water and…

  • Mystery Jets Live!

    On Monday, I popped into town. As I was ambling past Superdrug, I saw a lad walking past. Looked familiar. Hmmm… then I realised it was William Mystery Jet, as on the right in the pic above. Well, of course I accosted him. He looked a bit startled but remembered me from the last Vic…

  • Bless Playlist 15/11/05

    Very quiet night tonight, I think the pre-Crimbo lull has kicked in. Either that or everyone’s got avian flu. Despite that, I still got some requests! One for Arcade Fire and one for The Lucksmiths. The Perceptionists. Definitely not keen on Dubya. The best new track tonight was actually released in March, during my DJing…

  • Bored With Post-Emo Singing

    Bobcat Goldthwaite. Should be sueing as many bands as Gang Of Four. I’m currently wading through new music, trying to find gems to play tonight when I’m DJing. Maybe it’s post-Sweden malaise but I’m finding fuck-all new non-Swedish indie that’s worth much. Everything has got that kitchen-sink production, layers of crap over everything. And over…

  • More Free Music!

    This just in from Matthew Rozeik: Aloha, Ylid has just released his “Saccade” ep on Cactus Island recordings and a downloadable remix album to tie in with it, for all and sundry to cherish. I have contributed a remix, along with seven other mighty fresh remixes by: Broca (Cactus Island), Twocsinak (Float records), Maps and…

  • Bishops Bash Bush

    Bishop Kenneth Carder of the United Methodist Church Ninety-five bishops from President Bush’s church said Thursday they repent their “complicity” in the “unjust and immoral” invasion and occupation of Iraq. “In the face of the United States administration’s rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent,” said a statement…

  • More Swedish Gig Pics

    Just popped over to the Cosy Den webhome and found some more pics from the gig on the 29th October. Click here to see the pics. I’m assuming these pics were taken by the two lads running round with the SLR and flash unit. It looked they were triggering it manually rather than wirelessly. If…

  • Free Music! Legal And Everyfink!

    One of my favourite bands anywhere, who just happen to live in my hometown, are Plans And Apologies. I could wax on (and off) about why I like them, love them even. Could be the rocking gigs, might be the fact the singer doesn’t have a ridiculous fake American accent. Maybe it’s the occasional facial…

  • Butcher Blair Crushed

    Tony Blair suffers his first defeat as prime minister as MPs reject plans to hold terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days, but he insists his authority is intact. In a vote on a key piece of legislation he not only lost his large majority but he was roundly and convincingly defeated –…

  • Our War Crimes Don’t Count

    A heroic US soldier, valiantly defending Iraqi democracy It was a household survey – of 988 homes in 33 randomly selected districts – and it suggested, on the basis of the mortality those households reported before and after the invasion, that the risk of death in Iraq had risen by a factor of 1.5; somewhere…