upside downer

Cricket puns for Latvians? Doubt the humour will work over there in the Bailtics.

These chaps have done some damn fine instrumentals.

There's a dog barking incessantly nearby. It seems to have a glut of woofs.

Why the American avant-garde collective felt the need to stick their oar into the dispute, I'll never know.

Enigmatic new band name right there. Bagsy first dibs on it.

Here's mine with four days to spare! Probably because it only has two instruments on it. And now, some pretentious twaddle about the tune 😁 A meandering, sometimes uplifting, sometimes melancholic melody that weaves through our lone hero's introspection on another of those nights where he is lost in time and space alone with his thoughts. First outing for the electro-acoustic Irish bouzouki using a dash of delay pedal and subtle strings supplied by the Yamaha YPT-240 keyboard.

Those band names in full! Bigue Bigue Binker - the name inspired by Sigue Sigue Sputnik, basically it was me and a mate twatting about on keyboards and getting nowhere. The Pogoers - short lived 4 piece that would've had quite an unusual sound for a punk band seeing as the singer turned up one day with an accordion to go along with our three chord thrashings. Hammerheads - directionless 3 piece with angsty Morrissey-lite lyrics written by a chap who had one massive, protruding nipple. The Fly Agarics - first lot that actually gigged. Short, sharp, punky-pop combo that lasted a while until the guitarist tried to set the singer on fire. Muddy Eye - Psych stoner rock which was a lot of fun that only ended when both the drummer and guitarist naffed off to India for 'a spiritual journey'. Lionel Blaircuts - enjoyable guitar duo playing covers named after the play on words in a Harp lager advert. The Keith Floyd Project - pub covers. No one in the band called Keith, it was a 'homage' to the regularly soused TV chef. The Nylon Brothers - 3 piece with yours truly in the middle keeping the peace between the warring drummer and singer/guitarist. Named after three, madcap Australian brothers encountered by the drummer's girlfriend on a trip to Oz. Wazzymadal - covers, curious name conjured up by the singer because he used to shout it at an eccentric local shopkeeper. No one could pronounce it properly so we soon chopped it down to... Wazzy - after a particularly saggy rendition of Sabbath's 'Hand of Doom', our Hallowe'en gig at a WMC was paused whilst the singer was asked to judge the children's apple bobbing contest. Fantastic drummer left soon after to earn big bucks with quality tribute acts. 6th Sense - top-notch covers that ran for 8 years, was a bundle of fun until a lack of rehearsal made the last year a chore and is where the story ends bandwise for now. What's next, I wonder...

Same here. Saw him and his superb band the Invaders of the Heart just before the first lockdown in Nottingham. If they're anything like they were that night then we're in for a cracking evening.

My process for the monthly Composition Challenge runs as follows: Stare at picture for somewhere between five and ten days. Hear something, somewhere, get inspired (waddaya mean, "pilfer"?) Grab nearest stringed instrument and thrash out basic chord sequence into phone voice recorder. If no strings to hand, hum tune into phone voice recorder. Hum something more recognisable into phone than the out of tune farrago that was the first attempt. Think about lyrics. Pick up stringed instrument. Spend hours and hours and days and days fleshing out, re-writing, moving bits about, re-writing, moving bits back, re-re-writing, adding something else and taking out that bit that never really fitted in the first place. Find drums from Looperman or program own effort using Hydrogen open source drum machine. Or, record bashing machines at work, pots and pans, tables, chairs and tin cans and spend far too long trying to make that sound half decent. Think about lyrics. Once drums down, usually rhythm guitar next instrument, but not before spending an absolute age mucking about with pedals. Then bass with, sometimes, keyboard to follow. Hey, this one will sound great with a brief interlude of Syrian oud! Reach for Syrian oud. No, still can't play it. Put Syrian oud back on stand. Think about lyrics. Guitar solo? No problem! Shouldn't take more than...two days. Argh! Think about lyrics. Am I happy with that solo? Answer is you'll never be happy with that solo. Like Elsa, let it go. Then, either a) finally write lyrics or b) sod lyrics, add extra instrument (saz, bouzouki etc) instead. If a), 'sing' (HA!) and then fail miserably to get the vocal to sit in what I suppose must be called 'the mix', although this mixing business remains elusive thanks to my hamfisted, lo-fi approach to all of this. Post final effort into monthly Basschat Challenge with little time left until deadline for entries. Rest for a week until voting is finished then repeat process. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sublime.

Thank you, you lovely people. And well done to my co-champ the good @Doctor J! New image on its way to @lurksalot shortly 👍

How lovely to hear the dulcet tones of Fat Harry again! I did hear that he wanted his very sexy lady friend foxy Fiona to play his 35" Lakland bass on the track but it would appear that Fiona is having trouble coping with Harry's extra long instrument. Hmmmmm, baby!

Here comes another straggler staggering over the finishing line with hours to spare 😁 BLURB A lolloping, lazy saunter with a vaguely hip(po) hop groove. Mucking about at night is all well and good but, c'mon, the blazing sun is on its way; let's get ourselves in the refreshing water. It's been a few months since I did any lyrics and this is the best I could come up with. They're straight out of the 'June-moon-spoon' rhyming book for beginners. I apologise once again for inflicting my usual flat timbre upon you good people. Same old, same old with the recording gubbins - Westfield violin bass, Epiphone guitar, Yamaha keyboard, drum samples from Looperman, Vivlex echo pedal, Apogee Mic+ condenser mic, Roland cube amp, M Audio Fast Track Pro Interface. Recorded with Audacity and Wavepad. One day I'll try a different DAW but I'm struggling to find the time to get my head around the intricacies of the things.

It's a real toe-tapper, ain't it? 😵

Are there any professional counsellors on hand? I need help to recover from this mindscrew.

Not the Rocking Vicars, but here he is in the late 60s playing guitar with Sam Gopal and having a lovely jaunt along the Thames. "I am the Lizard King, I can do anything, including wearing a lovely cardigan". Jim Morrison before he discovered leather trousers.

The wonderful Melike Şahin used to sing live with Anatolian psychedelic rockers Baba Zula.

If only they had a decent singer... 😁

It's a hard life lesson for us, eh? 😁

Well done to the fab four 👏👏👏👏 penalty shoot-out to decide photo choice?

Can we get back to complaining about how awful Diana Ross was, please?

Saw these in Nottingham on Thursday and they were great! Have posted a review in the sadly underused 'The Gig Reviews Thread'.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD Rock City, Nottingham, 23rd June 2022 It's the last date of PiL's UK tour and the crowd have been warmed up nicely by a spirited set from Brix Smith and her all-female band promoting the new album 'Valley of the Dolls'. The main attraction enter the stage and go straight in with the first album polemic Religion II. We're less than ninety seconds in and John Lydon is reprimanding someone recording the moment on his phone. "Put that f__king thing down and listen to the band!", he tells the bewildered punter. The opener features the now familiar plea from Lydon to the soundman to "turn up the bass" which shakes the room and, no doubt, a few bowels of those who have imbibed too much ale. A might fine take on Memories is next up followed by The Body and Warrior, which is the first of several tracks to feature some sterling work from Lu Edmonds on the electric saz. A smattering of varying quality tunes follow from the more recent albums released since the band reconvened and then comes the extraordinary Death Disco from 1979 masterpiece Metal Box. A funk-punk howl of anguish, Scott Firth's pounding bass sits underneath Edmonds' chiming guitar workout. Lydon's on top form and seems more focused than on previous tours when he's been somewhat ragged in his approach to song structures and has had his bandmates doing a hell of a lot of nervous eye contact and nods to hold things together. After a mixture of different era songs we get to highest PiL chart single This Is Not a Love Song from 1983 which has had a radical and welcome live reworking, Edmonds' saz to the fore again. First single and statement of intent Public Image brings the set to a thundering end and a halt for a fag break before the band return for 2015's sweary tribute to Lydon's old man, Shoom. Leftfield collaboration and Hollywood-haranguing Open Up is last but one for the evening and there's a raucous cheer for Bruce Smith's drum intro to the superb Rise, one of PiL's career highlights. "Anger is an energy" the crowd sing along and, when things are wrapped up at the end of this highly entertaining evening, give the band a really appreciative ovation, which Lydon seems quite moved by. There's a lot of love in the house. I heard quite a few people on the way out saying it's the best they've seen the band play and I couldn't disagree. A minor quibble? I'd like to have heard a couple of more 'classic' tunes like Poptones, Flowers of Romance or the epic Ease but that's just me nitpicking. Apparently some studio time is booked so we can look forward to another PiL album.

She's just co-written an album with Youth, who has produced it too, called 'Valley of the Dolls'.

Brix has just finished, pretty good set. No sign of Mr Hanley as Brix has an all female line up including ex-My Bloody Valentine members Deb and Jen.