BritPopCornucopia #18: Jarvis Cocker takes over Kdrama

Holy crap, the worlds collide. So here I am watching an episode of Unstoppable High Kick to get my fix of Jung Il Woo in his younger years, when all of a sudden, I see him sporting a shirt that ostensibly has Jarvis Cocker's image on it (3:34) and in character, clearly evoking this Jarvis song.



So he's a pretty boy who cooks a mean bowl of  ramen



AND likes Pulp? Call me further smitten.

Y'all know I love me some Jarvis. And if you slather him on top of Jung Il Woo, who's managed to be in some of the best shows evar (and hello, Return of Iljimae), then I guess I can have my cake and eat it too.

Now, all I need for Christmas is a Kimchi Kiss under the mistletoe.HAWT.

BritPopCoruncopia #17: Top 3 reasons I wish I was at Glasto this year

Alas, there any many cosmic arguments as to why I should've been at Glastonbury this year. Here are the top three in order of importance:

NUMERO UNO, of course: Blur closed the whole. damn. show. And it was epic.

*Sigh*



Dear blur, please just come to the Netherlands when I'm there, okay? Don't go to the U.S. if I haven't seen you there! It will seriously break my heart. And my tears will fall like those Ghanaian tomatoes, Damon:

Love, Em

Numero dos:

Ah, Noisettes, my new favorite band of the moment. Their frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa (that's her during their performance at Glasto above) is an ultra-ferocious blend of Kathleen Hanna, Bjork, and Lily Allen in her incomparable vocal delivery. I am rocking out to their last album What's the time, Mr. Wolf? and I can't wait for the release of their latest Wild Young Hearts in August. Their dancefloor hit single "Don't Upset the Rhythm" is already shaking the bootysphere in their native England.



Memo to Noisettes: Let's also get the timing right, please. Whether it's Amsterdam or S.F. be there when I'm there. Alright.

Numero tres: The Tong, his bandmates and their ever-lovable antics:

BritPopCornucopia #16: Pleeeeeese let it be true, please let it be true, please let it be true...

Will I finally see Blur live in all their totality? If the word out is true, let us hope the answer is a resounding YES-YES-YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure, I've had Graham Coxon put his arm around my shoulder and do feral things(Ask me for the story if you've not heard it). I've certainly witnessed both the Gorillaz and the Think Tank era greatness that is Damon Albarn and co. But never have I ever seen them on the same stage together all at once. It's about damn time.

Let's party people and make it happen!

BritPopCornucopia #15: Cocker the Rawker

Britpop stalwart, liege of the louche literati, creator of the musical nexus of postmodern boredom and bedroom, Jarvis Cocker has just come out with a new album, Further Complications.

In honor of his second solo album, the Guardian UK has allowed him to take over their music section for the week, including a sampling of his latest offering. Drive-by opinion: classic Cocker with a more guitar rawk edge.

But let's go back a bit into the Jarvis archives for your viewing pleasure. Here's his little appearance on the Ali G. show:



For the uninitiated, there are a few bits of info you need to know for the above segment, if you didn't already. Cocker was the frontman of Pulp at the time they released This is Hardcore. At the Brit awards show he stormed the stage during Michael Jackson's Earth Song. Oh, also SBC's name check on his nan who drinks Zima? Priceless 90's goodness. My dad occasionally brought a six pack 'o that home. But he prob wouldn't want me divulging that incriminating piece of intel...

I close with a verifiable piece of evidence that Jarvis Cocker is coolness personified: My friend Anna-Helga said she saw Jarvis on a plane once. And he flies coach. He really is one of the common people!

BritPopCornucopia #14: Elvis Does Paddy, Damon does Elvis

Some rarefied "my favorites do my favorites" cover treats for you:

One of my favorite Prefab Sprout songs, and indeed one of my favorite songs ever, "Cruel", covered by one of my favorite artists, Elvis Costello.

And one of Elvis's songs, "Oliver's Army", as covered by Blur.

Jesus, this f***ing neighborhood/BritPopCornucopia #13: Everybody wang Chung tonight! (Well, at least Alex Turner will)

Apparently, Williamsburg is the place to be, people. Just ask the folks at Gossip Girl (or not). Go here for an enlightening visual anthropological look at this Brooklyn 'hood. I've been shopping at Beacon's Closet, which I do like there. The gallery showing Simone's art (FMI see earlier post) is also a winner. The rest of it, not so much. But what do I know, poor San Franciscan simpleton that I am.

Nonetheless, its up-and-coming status just keeps on rising. Especially thanks to all the "stars" that have flocked to its cobbled streets.

E.g. English it-girl/TV presenter Alexa Chung just moved there, as she writes in her column.

Fashion "icon" and femme Carson Daly?

Unknown in the U.S. for now perhaps, but when she starts hosting this rumored TRL-esque show for MTV soon, her name will be on many an American hepcat's lips. Mark my words. Could it be her questionable fashion pedigree, her Arctic Monkeys frontman lover, semi-famous pals (like Daisy " I-once-banged-Mark-Ronson" Lowe), or her plucky persona that caused the transatlantic courting? Indeed, that is the winning formula for insubstantial starlets. Although with her dryly irreverent interview style will she prove to be a coup or obnoxious pain? Sub question: Is she the Nylon to Cat Deeley's InStyle?

Disgrasian seems to like her. And props for being human during London Fashion Week. So she may be a refreshing add to the celebscape here. Or another piece of rubbish. Aaaack. I can't decide. Help please, ambivalence overload.

At the very least her bf Alex "Hobbity-hipster-haircut" Turner and his Arctic Monkeys made one quasi-cool song that name checks my fair hometown:



P.S. Next time I promise to cut out the ubiquitous "scare quotes" and multiple-word-hyphen-strung-middle-names-as-pejoratives business.

BritPopCornucopia #12: Banana Bread

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett lift the curtain on Gorillaz in a doccie directed by Ceri Levy (who also produced the Blur behind the scenes drunkfest Starshaped)that takes an insider look at the virtual band, revealing funny moments dicking around as well as insights into the creative process. Levy spent 6 years following them.

Le trailer:



"No disrespect to Pink Floyd, but we've got tunes." Ha.

As the official PR says:

"Babelgum announced last week that "Bananaz",the documentary that removes the secretive, mucky walls of Gorillaz - the cartoon band created by artist Jamie Hewlett & musician Damon Albarn - will have its online and mobile global premiere on Babelgum.com on April 20th 2009.

Bananaz will be available to stream alongside a Gorillaz channel featuring the Demon Days live concerts, videos, two new games, a Go Bananaz fans competition and exclusive preview clips from the documentary

Babelgum announced last week that "Bananaz",the documentary that removes the secretive, mucky walls of Gorillaz - the cartoon band created by artist Jamie Hewlett & musician Damon Albarn - will have its online and mobile global premiere on Babelgum.com on April 20th 2009.

Bananaz will be available to stream alongside a Gorillaz channel featuring the Demon Days live concerts, videos, two new games, a Go Bananaz fans competition and exclusive preview clips from the documentary www.babelgum.com/gorillazgobananaz.

Bananaz is set for DVD release on June 1st 2009 - the DVD extras will include the Bananaz Home Movie Club, which has up to an hour of outtakes from the film including; Clint Eastwood, Live in Japan, The Sneeze, Hello America, Bill Murray featuring The Bees, and Food Chain amongst others.

Bananaz is set for DVD release on June 1st 2009 - the DVD extras will include the Bananaz Home Movie Club, which has up to an hour of outtakes from the film including; Clint Eastwood, Live in Japan, The Sneeze, Hello America, Bill Murray featuring The Bees, and Food Chain amongst others."

My favorites clips from the site so far are the ones with Dennis Hopper. Especially when they talk about the word "castrophony."

BritPopCornucopia #11: You can't go wrong with TONG

Did you know Matt Tong, drummer of Bloc Party, has a father who is a pro chef? Well, they did a little 4-parter vid for Guardian UK Online called "Cooking With (the) Tongs". It was part of the Bloc Party Take Over guest editor series for the website. He is so dry. And the interaction with his dad, who plays the straight man is priceless.

Matty oozes quotables in the first part that's linked, but beyond that I won't spoil it for you. And they make Chinese pork terrine in part 3, which is delicious. My grandma makes it all the time!

Here's a clip of Matt and Kele (the lead singer/rhythm guitarist) in an interview. It's fantastic how clearly apathetic they are about interviews. Way to go, flippin' the bird to the media game, brothers.



Ooh, those shorts...

Check out how checked out Kele is in this interview in Brazil in which they have the gall to ask him how his name is pronounced:



And here's Matt and his bandmate Gordon doing Morrissey:



I watched a few other interviews and I gotta say Matt's wisecracking is the bomb. It totally wins me over, and in addition, his crisp drumming is always tops.

Cool TONG factoid #386: He also went to Bournemouth School For Boys just like Alex James.

What's more, the Bloc Partisans are outspoken feminist allies. Here's what MT had to say on the patriarchy of the rock n' roll orthodoxy:

"I always thought being a musician or wanting to do anything great was recourse to escaping the things about the world that might be hard to digest. I see bigotry all the time in the music industry. It’s still a very macho environment; it’s always been boys in the road swilling Jack Daniel's and womanizing. Rock 'n’ roll and feminine influence have been mutually exclusive. I heartily disagree with that. I constantly meet females who operate in this world who still struggle with archaic and counterproductive attitudes."

It's settled. He's my fave member. All hail the mighty TONG!

BritPopCornucopia #10: Raunchy lederhosen with Coxon

Graham Coxon has quite a wardrobe:



OMG, he's so art school sometimes.

I also love that in Alex James' autobiography he says that Graham got really depressed when Audrey Hepburn died. Aw.

BritPopCornucopia #9: St. Johnny-be-good

Kate St. John is amazing. No one has ever looked sexier wielding an accordion:





I know, it looks like she's barely playing it. But Kate St. John is the real deal. Plus, her backup vocals remind me a lot of Prefab Sprout's Wendy Smith. I'll probably do something on them later.

Ever since I heard the dulcet tones of her oboe on Blur's song "Starshaped" I have loved her. I have loved her before I knew it was her too:



I didn't figure it out til YT put this as related, but when St. John was in The Dream Academy, they did a cover of the Smiths "Please Please Please let me get what I want" and this instrumental version was used in "Ferris Bueller", as you just saw. I remember thinking that tune was so pretty. I love me some oboe (and cor anglais). What an underrated and underused instrument!

Here's another favorite song of mine that also features oboe. Aside from this tune (Jordan Knight?! Really? Yeah, the beats are hawt, there's time signature changes, and Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis production. Almost enough to forgive the sexist lyrics...) and this aural beauty (Wiki says they were an influence on Knight, go figure), I can't think of many others that have employed it so well in pop, except maybe David McCallum's instrumental work with David Axelrod (Again, more musical genius to be addressed later). Anyone else have any good double reed pop examples to shell out?

Watch this interview with The Dream Academy. Nick Laird-Clowes is a bit of a self-indulgent pedant, but the love of music is quite nicely articulated by all of them. In fact, I realize dream pop is a bit of a pansyish thing to like, but their explanation of the new romantics as a reaction to punk makes a lot of sense. The same way Cool Britannia was a reaction to American grunge.

For more on Kate, the Queen of all double reed popstars, go to her website to see all the people she's worked with, including several other Britpop artists.

BritPopCornucopia # 8: The Skinny on Liam

Liam Gallagher wants to make clothes. WTF. He doesn't even make good music anymore. What sort of hubris makes him think he can do fashion?

Oh yeah, this kind:




The line, called "Pretty Green", is no doubt named after The Jam song (what doesn't Liam do that's not derivative?).



Wait! Mark Ronson already ripped it off before Mr. Gallagher.

So Liam, did you say you don't like skinny? May I remind you that The Jam, those who kindly let you shoplift the name of their song, were the kings of skinny?



I hang my head in shame. I cannot believe Oasis was my first rock concert. My teenage self is mourning! Nor is Weller exempt. His taste in clothes may be cool, but he also has a recently-acquired taste for young arm candy that I don't think I can get behind. Really, your backup singer? Could you be any more cliche?

I guess the law of growing up is that the older you get the more you start to realize that many of the rock stars you so heralded as a kid are actually entitled d-bags who aren't as cool as you thought. Love borne out of nostalgia is not as good as bathing in its present light. *tear*

BritPopCornucopia #7: Albarn luv 4eva

This is a great article praising my longest running rock star crush. Do you even need to to ask who it is?

Seriously, I couldn't have written a better tribute.

Not only that, he was also recently showered with Ghanaian tomatoes in the name of fair trade.

BritPopCornucopia #6: Who cares about an unwritten 6000 word paper that is due in two days when this is afoot!

Okay, this is the most promising news I've heard in months about my beloved favorite band!

BritPopCornucopia # 5: He lives in a house, a very big house in the country!

It seems that life indeed imitates art. With a 10 year waiting period.

Yes, it was in 1995 that Blur released the album The Great Escape, which was actually the very first Blur album I purchased, having been addicted to the track "Charmless Man" at the tender age of 12 . It so happens that the same album featured a track entitled "Country House", which when released as a single caused a huge tabloid stir in the UK, ignited a chart war with Britpop on-off foes Oasis.

And it is that song, Country House, which has proved prophetic for Blur's bassist Alex James.

Gone is the hard-partying AJ Sexmeal. Say hello to the Farmer and Cheesemaker.

BritPopCornucopia #4: Wellermania!

In an act of sheer caprice, I decided to buy tickets to see the ever-amazing Paul Weller at Irving Plaza in New York. "New York?", you may wonder. But yes, it is true. Longing to see him live for quite sometime, I seized on an opportunity to buy presale tickets for an evening from his one shot, three-night gig in NYC.

Perennially Cool

Then

and

Now

Undoubtedly this will be a legendary set of shows. While featuring hits from many points in his discography, each night puts a spotlight on a different segment of his illustrious musical output. The first night emphasizes the Jam, the second focuses on The Style Council (which I am attending), and the final evening is a comprehensive retrospective. Some of the material that he will perform is likely to have not been performed live in the U.S. for 20 or more years, until this round of live shows which promotes the release of his career-spanning box set.

The timing was absolutely too good to be true. Right when I have had a personal resurgence of Weller fandom, he launched these very special live dates, and they coincide with my journey to Cape Town. As such, around January 22nd I will be flying out to New York and spending a week there with one of my best friends. At the end of the week, on January 30th, I will catch Paul Weller's show, and probably leave the next day directly to Cape Town.

Whirlwind as it all seems, I can hardly believe I 've taken up the jetsetter's mantle. But this show and getting to see one of my dearest and oldest friends all at once was too good to pass up.

Whoever says that rock stars are a sorry sight when they age, those leery of latter-day concerts from supposed stars of a bygone era, will, I hope, be proven wrong. As far as I can discern Weller is still the consummate performer. And, I would venture he has improved vocally with age. For someone like me who was not even born when The Jam broke up, I would not have been even old enough to see Paul Weller play in those early "glory" days. Thus, given his continued reputation for being even better live than in the studio, and the fact that he and his music have somehow managed to age gracefully in an industry that is generally unkind to its elder statesmen, why should I deny myself a chance to see him live?

In honor of this Wellermania! I have linked here an hourlong documentary about Paul Weller. For the uninitiated this is a perfect introduction. Even if you are not into his music (though I don't know if any readers who have reached the end of this post aren't), I hope it will at least foster in you an appreciation for his artistic process and his intelligence.

For fellow fans, just sit back and enjoy.

BritPopCornucopia #3: Paul Weller, Couture and Coiffure Chameleon

I've been hooked on what the projectionist at the Balboa Theater would call "the N word", Netflix. Having been brought over to the dark side of movie rentals, I recently indulged in putting a Style Council music video collection in my queue. When it arrived I immediately popped it into the DVD player, having never before seen any of these music videos. While some of the Style Council's music was admittedly mediocre, the fashion statements of their fearless leader Paul Weller never were.

Hipster boys everywhere have used Weller as a sartorial crib sheet whether they know it or not. Take one look at him in any footage during his days as frontman of The Jam and The Style Council, and you don't need me to tell you. Of course he borrowed heavily from the mod aesthetic, but whatever he wore, he clearly made it his own: super-fitted pants, sport coats, neat man scarves, skinny ties, brightly colored sweaters, cardigans, pastel button downs--and the Modfather even got away with making white trousers look good. And white trousers don't often look very good. Well, the near-emaciated body frame must've helped. I think Hedi Slimane would agree.

In honor of Paul Weller's incredible style, (and let's face it, if you name your band The Style Council you had better live up to it) I am linking you to 3 music videos that feature his taste in clothes and his ever-changing hair moods:


When You're Young--The Jam: Check out the kick ass jacket! And cohorts Buckler and Foxton have admirable clothing choices as well.

The Lodgers--The Style Council: An example of the white trousers. And the striped top with blazer makes it look as if he was poised to school future fashion imitators even back then. Oh yeah, and Dee C. Lee is wearing such a cute dress!


How She Threw it All Away--The Style Council: First of all, I love that there's a flute solo in this song. Follicle-wise this is a pretty good example of the semi-scary bleach blonde phase, and it's intercut with an example the slick back brunette look. And Weller is unbeatable in his interpretation of suit and pocket handkerchief. To drive the point home, this also features another instance of white trouser genius.

BritPopCornucopia #2: B-Pop Brothers From Another Mother

Here is Jarvis Cocker, lead singer for britpop legends Pulp.

And here is Chad Stuart from the 1960's British invasion duo Chad and Jeremy.

Uncanny resemblance, no?

And an extra special treat courtesy the Chad and Jeremy official website: Chad and Jeremy singing "On Distant Shores" on 60's pop variety show Hullabaloo (real player file).

BritPopCornucopia #1: Kick Horns o' plenty

I have decided to start a series on this blog that features Britpop and its sources, tributaries, and distributaries. It is not meant to be an update on news of the britpop world so much as it is a place to feature little funny observations and factoids about a musical genre that I love. It is also a genre that I have outgrown a little too, but I assure you, the love remains steadfast.

Given that many britpop ditties feature horns or were influenced by horn-using musical acts, and that britpop has a wealth of interesting stuff you can say about it...I think that just about explains it.

Well, this first entry in this series pays tribute to a great ensemble:

THE KICK HORNS

Ah, the legendary Kick Horns. Not only have they worked with Britpop forefathers like the Rolling Stones and The Who, but most essentially in my opnion, collaborated with Blur on their studio albums to great effect during the creative triumvirate, the "Life Trilogy"--an output of three albums (Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, and The Great Escape) that were to set the standard of the britpop aesthetic.

I was lucky enough to catch this kick-ass brass ensemble at the 606 club in London. My, what a treat. It was one of many Blur related pilgrimages I made while there, and I will share some of those other pilgrimages in later posts, perhaps. But I highly encourage anyone going to London the check out a gig at this particular establishment.

A well known jazz club, 606 is an extremely intimate space, and the entry is not readily apparent. In fact, you have to find the entrance and then ring a doorbell to get in. They buzz you inside and you go down a stairwell into a warm cavernous space. There's a kitchen where they serve food and when I was there the audience was a nice mix of the moderately cool looking people, young and old.

Joined by my friend Hilary, we sat at a table for two and soaked up the blast from trumpets and saxes. They did everything from classic improvisational jazz stuff to a heady dose of their famous ska-inflected sound. And that sound so familar to me from listening to the "Life Trilogy" countless times came through much to my enjoyment. Check out their incredible list of collaborators in the full discography.

*Please note that the picture does not feature all of the personnel that have played as a kick horn.