Barking Spiders

The problem with Later series 11 to 943 is that it followed a formula of octogenarian that never-was-much-in-the-first-place, 2 or 3 nerdy indie bands armed with four chords, a token soul chanteuse, some worthy 'world music' combo and a weirdo of the week. This has been topped off by Jools' brief and uninteresting wide-eyed fanboi interviews.

Carbon Based Lifeforms are the mutts nuts when it comes to ambient electronic soundscapes.  Check this out 👇

I'm a mahoosive MM fan. Def among my 5 all time fave players. Saw him and his band live at Cheltenham Jazz festival a long way back. Great gig.  I don't normally watch interviews with musicians but I made an exception for this and no regrets. He's a top dude. Nice one B5.

Watched this on catch-up. Bring back Andy Stewart's Hogmanay even if he is no more. At least that would still have more of a lively atmosphere than this dismal and joyless affair. A feast of cr@pitude from start to finish.

Ballcocks to bass stuff. I asked for just booze so got a nice bottle of Glen Scotia Campbeltown, 70cl bottle of cranberries and clementine peel gin from the excellent Sibling distillery, just up the road near Cheltenham, a 1 litre bottle of Kraken Black Spiced rum and a 70cl bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey Legacy Edition 2. Should see me through to new year's day.

The fantastic sophomore album from the very lovely Sigrid. It's a belter. She's by far the best female artist of the last 30 years...IMO that is!

Maxi wrote so many great lyrics that have remained stuck in my mind for decades especially this tune...

Since hearing the sad news about Maxi Jazz I've been playing the EP version of several of their classics. If I had to nominate a greatest dance track of all time Insomnia is very likely it. I've seen them twice, both times at Glastonbury, including the year below. I'm somewhere in that crowd, a bit stoned and dancing like a loon

On 21/12/2022 at 13:57, Frank Blank said:

Thank f*** someone is still talking sense...

 

 

roll on February when the new album drops. On the subject of new (to me) albums are the two excellent 2022 releases from Future Sound of London - Rituals and A Space of Partial Illumination. Here's the top lead track off the former

On 17/12/2022 at 12:09, Joe_L said:

Just read another post about annoying buyers on eBay and I would like moan about another aspect of eBay... And that is buyers paying near-to-new or more-than-new prices for current-model non-rare second-hand gear and robbing me of the chance to grab a bargain!

 

If I'm looking to buy, for example, an effects pedal, the first thing I do is look up it's new price (including postage and availability) and then figure out what would be a reasonable price to pay for a used one. If a new pedal is £200 online, I won't pay more than £140 for a used one. A used pedal may well have been mistreated, smoked, dropped, soaked, or otherwise abused so the £60 I save over the new one comes with a real trade-off: a risk, a compromise of longevity, a lack of warranty.

 

However, I regularly see used pedals, guitars etc being bought on eBay for the full new price! People will pay the same for a used item than they would for an identical but new instance!!! It literally makes no sense!

 

If you could spend just a little bit more, avoid any risk and get a brand new, boxed , guaranteed one, why wouldn't you?

 

(I'm a hypocrite because a couple of years ago I sold two rather ordinary, current model, freely available Boss guitar pedals for more than they could have been bought for, including postage, online - and probably received quicker!)

 

Thoughts?

All sounds good to me as someone who's sold several guitars on EBay😁 for not far off what I paid new for 'em

My right thumb is my busiest digit being used for much despised techniques (on BC anyway 😁) as thumping (to borrow Larry Graham's word for it) and double thumbing. For regular fingering (oo'er missus)  it kinda floats all over the place.

On 11/12/2022 at 20:00, Misdee said:

Regarding collecting basses, my own experience is that I have often bought basses that I absolutely need to own, but in practice don't particularly need to play, if you see what I mean. I must just like the reassurance of having those options available should I choose them. 

 

 

Ah but don't hoarders use that type of reasoning to explain why they never throw owt away? Speaking as the son of a man who was a chronic hoarder, the old line ' it might come in useful one day' is all too familiar. Also, my mum had a compulsion for buying antiques and general bric-a-brac and between them they had 60 years of accumulated stuff taking up space in the loft, the sheds, the garage, the fitted cupboards.... Largely because of this, I'm the opposite so much so I regularly review what I have in the hope I can either sell or give away anything I currently can't justify having. In the cold light of day I sometimes ask myself 'why have I got 5 basses, 4 guitars etc?', 'do I play them all much?',  'am I ever gonna use all these for gigging?', 'am I even inspired to learn more in addition to what I know?' etc. If the answers are all in the negative, onto EBay/Gumtree they go. Within the last 2 weeks I've sold off one bass and one acoustic.

21 hours ago, asingardenof said:

Ugh, the number of people who just happen to conveniently miss the collection only part of a listing is staggering.

 Yep, that's a big pet peeve of mine. I state emphatically that I only do collection or personal delivery up to 20 miles. And yet...how many times have people asked 'can you post it to....'!

On 05/12/2022 at 14:48, Woodinblack said:

 

Although good on anyone that fights against the ticket pricing, the idea of spending £35 on Peter Kay seems about as bad as paying £500 for bruce springsteen!

 

  Then I guess Viagogo's prices for Villa Park of £312-323 standing are a snip?!

A year or so ago I advertised an Ibanez electric guitar which had 12 photos, several in close-up so that viewers could see if there were any blemishes. It was in virtually new condition at a price half that of a new model. Anyway after it being posted and received the buyer sent an email requesting a further 20% refund on the paying price as there was a blemish I hadn't mentioned in my description. On close inspection of my close-up photos there was a tiny scratch adjacent to the scratchplate, all of 1mm in length max. It would've been invisible to the naked eye and a magnifying glass would've been needed to see it. After several email exchanges it transpired he had indeed inspected the bodywork using one and that the scratch wasn't visible to the naked eye. I did not give him a further 20% off. An@l or what?

Recently got Leftfield's  live album Tourism. I'd held off before being such a big fan of the studio albums but I shouldn't have. It's a stonker right alongside Underworld's brilliant Everything Everything

19 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

Im a lightweight compared to some of you folks with only 12 basses, 2 guitars, a keyboard and a mandolinn, but the psychology is simple - playing, admiring and owning them brings me pleasure.

If you're a lightweight then I'm flyweight with now having just 3 basses (all bought new for <£550), 2 electric guitars, 1 x well worn but trusty electro-acoustic, 1 x Yamaha keyboard, cajon, djembe and caixa. Last week I sold a Martin acoustic and one bass for £1,100. All my GAS urges are gone with  disposable income now just for travel and adventure sports.

On 07/12/2022 at 15:43, WinterMute said:

Best way to get your stage shapes right too, try for the classic "foot on the monitor" Iron Maiden stance, the Cliff Williams "like a rock" stance and a decent variation on the "bass by the knees" Ramones/Clash look. 

 

It's very important to look good whilst learning.

 

Never miss bass-players neck day. 😆

Even more important is working on your bassface. The GOAT bassfacemeister to whom we all aspire is ...

Of all the online bass tutors I've tried by far the best is Mike Smith of https://www.talkingbass.net/

Quite a lot of free material https://www.talkingbass.net/lessonmap/

and his courses won't break the bank either.  He covers all styles but I mostly use his excellent funk/slap bass material. There are classic lines you can learn like Pow by Graham Central Station and Marcus Miller's line on Run for Cover. If you like Flea there are quite a few RHCP lines

On 02/12/2022 at 12:47, Nail Soup said:

I couldn't name a bass that reflects that period - but I'm not a hardware person as such.

I'm not sure the audience will be able to either... I think they could just about do : Violin Bass 60's, P Bass 70's, Cricket Bat 80's.

Me neither.  A lot on BC seem to be more into that side of things than me. I couldn't tell you what models came out in the 2000s. For my money it's been all down hill since the StingRay came on the market.

Over the last coupla days I'v been playing the newest release by Plaid. Here's a great and my fave though untypical track

2 hours ago, Fishfacefour said:

The other way to think about it is that they're playing a part or telling a story. No-one believes that nick cave or Tom Waits is the murderer when they sing their murder ballad.

 

Nowt wrong with those. What gets my goat are self-pitying lyrics of the 'i hate myself', 'my life sucks', 'you fcked up my life' sort. And also the sticking to the man /social critiquing variety unless the writers do actually put into practice what they preach.

2 minutes ago, Fishfacefour said:

I've never been one for taking in lyrics. I usually hear them as a sonic element as part of the whole. 

 

Yep that's a good snappier way to put it. 

There are quite a few albums and individual songs I like for the vocal melodies, the singers' voices and the instrumentation but avoid actively listening to and taking in the lyrics because either they're nonsense, cringe-making or just depressing. Yesterday I was listening to The Hurting by Tears for Fears. Most of the songs are great except the theme of the album is primal scream therapy which to me is a load of pretentious, introspective psychobabble. No doubt a middle aged Roland Orzabal would agree. Such is teenage-20 something angst. Similarly I like a fair bit of Grunge but don't care for lyrics about self-hate and all that. It might ring true with angsty teens but now I'm a middle age grumpy cynic I prefer to blot them out. Anyone else feel similarly about some of your tastes?

It boggles my mind that many bands still keep their name even though the original main men have passed away/on. Then these are merely tribute acts. The one that always comes to mind is Dr Feelgood. Once Lee Brilleaux passed away that should've been it, particularly as Wilko and Gypie Mayo were no longer with the band.