The Song Fight Bulletin Board

"J$ - I wouldn't buy your album but I would read your book" - Melvin

So 'Lester Bangs Is Still Dead!' is my new blog, in which I post my reviews of albums, gigs, books, bands and other general rantings about the real world that don't really belong elsewhere. I intend to write one a week, on a Saturday, for sure, and maybe more during the week; so feel free to subsrcibe to the feed, or bookmark, or whatever one does to ensure you don't miss a single word of Cashpoint-y goodness!

Currently there are 7 articles posted, (some which have appeared in print elsewhere previously)
you can read:

A review of Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album '5:55' in which I compare it to rubbish 70s horror film 'Demon Seed'

A review of Hot Chip's 'The Warning' and general moany blathering about New Rave

An article explaining why I love Divine

Also articles on The Slits, Carpetburn, The Nancys Rubias and a review of a book on post-punk.

I'm reading these on my RSS feed and they have definitely been entertaining.
-bill

I'm enjoying these a lot as well. Keep up the good work Johnny!

Well, thanks everyone who is giving me good feedback.

I don't expect people to agree with me, I just want to be entertaining to you all and true to myself. The ideal is you don't even need to know the band in question to enjoy my opinions on them!

I have next week's written, already, so I won't be going away just yet

j$

This week's entry is a rant against Ex-KLFer Bill Drummond and his No-Music Day.

Apologies that this is a few days late. busy weekend...

OK a little late. What started out as a quick stop-gap has turned into a giant monster, of which this week's entry is but HALF. I tried editing it down but kept losing the flavour, so you're getting it all, over two weeks - I am however very, very pleased with how it's come out so far.

This Week's Entry is called Would Ya Look at The Rural Idylls On Her? It consists of the first part of a review of 1968 album "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society", but also takes in Christmas, gives Oasis and Take That a quick kicking, lays into the new sitcom from Ab-Fab writer Jennifer Saunders, ponders Greil Marcus' role in the bigger scheme of things, brings up a shameful part of Blur's early history, pulls The Libertines' hair a little, sneaks up on Kraftwerk, smokes drugs with Gram Parsons, then watches Ray Davies burst out of a caccoon, setting it all up rather nicely for part two next week!

Wow - that link sure looks like a 'bot post! Hope you all enjoy it, now!

These journal entries continue to be magnificent. I would say more, but every sentence I put together seems like a third grader's in comparison.

ROCK!

Glenn Case

Thanks

Those of you who were waiting for part two of my Kinks over-view, will have to wait a week longer. Don't worry, though, it's shaping up sweet. In the meantime:

Who's Up For Kicking Kraftwerk In The Never-Regions? A review of Wolfgang Flur's 'I Was A Robot'.

Thanks for that, J$. This is the first of your blogs that I have read in it's entirety, and I must say that you have a grasp of the language. Further, I might add that if I every give up on Octothorpe, my next band will indeed be called Showroom Dummies.

Thanks, Spud! But don't ever quit # - I don't know if I could handle the guilt...

Here's this week's entry, denser, longer and more obscure than ever before, finishing off my article on The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society:

Would You Look At The Rural Idylls On Her, part Two - A Groat with Betty Boop On One Side, Toots Braunstein On T'Other

"Just don’t fall for the indie-gooks trying to justify their lust for a bit of easy anal action by planting Ys in their Top Fives of the Year."

doooooh

The whole "it's a bit same-y" thing is so silly really (I don't mean you saying it, I mean anyone saying it; I remember saying it about Green Day when I was 13 about a week before I rushed out to buy Dookie). Everything sounds same-y to someone who's not into whatever you're listening to, and even if it does sound the same to you it can be all the same and all good. As far as Ys is concerned, there aren't all that many harp players out there so the "unique" sound is only really acheived by default rather than any conscious effort, and if there were tonnes of harp players out there I can imagine them being a lot less imaginative than Joanna Newsom. All the points are valid, possibly excepting the whole Panda bit (but ya gotta keep it interesting, right), and it is an acquired taste regardles of how popular or not we may percieve her to be, but the album barely repeats over the whole 50 minutes which I find astonishing.

I've gone on too long already but I think the main thing worth noting is this. The more rural you live the better Joanna Newsom sounds. It's not exactly London music is it? CSS on t'other hand would sound a bit silly when riding atop your Massey-Ferguson. Possibly. They're cool too though, I've only seen whatever video they had in the last Special Ten.

Furrypedro wrote:even if it does sound the same to you it can be all the same and all good.

This is how I am with Mogwai.

Furrypedro wrote:"Everything sounds same-y to someone who's not into whatever you're listening to, and even if it does sound the same to you it can be all the same and all good. though.

I guess the point I was making was that I tend not to describe things as same-y, I listen to css,they are 'same-y' and I like it. On paper I should love Ys but in reality I find it same-y, which, ergo, must mean it's not 'all good'.

But just 'cos I wrote it doesn't mean I'm right! I guess the bad thing about blogging is also the good thing - it's just an opinion.

The panda bit was pretty much my attempt at Charlie Brooker-ing, my new (living) journo hero. It was meant to be funny. Sorry about that

Yeah, I got that, you do it very well. I'm a bit on the fence about that style of writing; on the one hand it's very entertaining, and on the other hand I start to think "stop talking about yourself and get to the point" but that's cos I'm a mile-a-minute kind of guy, always on the move, somewhere to be? I'm already there and getting ready to leave, I'm so fast I weave between the droplets when it rains, and I'm so busy I have time to write all this crap. I did in fact do I nice logo for 'Johnny Cashpoint's SongWipe!' but I can't host things any more so I guess you'll just have to imagine it. Why don't you have your own show btw? When I get mine I'll give you a 5 minute slot