Backstreets 5th March

Finished the new poster last night... Unfortunately I won't be there since I'll be basking in the Mexican sunshine, but line-up looks set to be a blinder...

Backstreets XIII

It's that time again... new Backstreets poster is done. Hope you can come along, The Winter Olympics are likely to blow the roof off... And if they don't, me and ElectricGoose will be playing music until the early hours afterwards. See below for more info:

Now into its lucky 13th running, Backstreets is a semi-regular night of music featuring some of London's best bands and DJs spinning classics. Great music to get drunk to on a Friday night!

BITTER THINGS (London)
Formed out of the ex-members of the Furies (who played the very first Backstreets!) and bass player/vocalist Lizzi Ford, Bitter Things have gone from strength to strength primarily through word of mouth. They’ve recorded at the illustrious Mayfair studios with Simon Hayes and headlined shows across London and have been compared to a range of acts including The Velvet Underground, the White Stripes, the Pixies, the Strokes and … Fleetwood Mac. This is great bitter-sweet folky-rock with a garage twist.
http://www.myspace.com/bitterthingsmyspace

THE WINTER OLYMPICS (London)
Backstreets’ favourite office workers are back! Inspired by the DIY dignity of Dischord, the daft funk of DFA and the non-ironic, no-nonsense stadium-slaying standards of Def Leppard, they are not like the other bands. Live, the Olympics are an unlikely riot: all loose loud guitars, warehouse sized rave keys and lion-lunged love songs about girls, work and spaceships. They play like five IT guys who happen to be hiding The Stooges inside, they sound like a bomb going off inside a tiny radio.
http://www.myspace.com/winterolympics

THE 45 REVS (London/Leatherhead)
Rock with a punk-edge, these boys play quirky and jumping riffs mixed with wild vocals that will make you want to jump and dance. They stormed last years’ Surface Unsigned Music Festival and look set for even bigger things in 2009.
http://www.myspace.com/the45revolutions

THE HEAVENS (Leeds)
Brainchild of Richard Green, songwriter, guitarist and singer from both Ultrasound and The Somatics. The Heavens are a blend of British and American Psychedelia, Rock & Roll and 90's Brit-Rock and have gone down a treat in the Leeds music scene.
http://www.myspace.com/theheavensband

Plus Backstreets' legendary drunk DJs until late.

More info:
http://www.myspace.com/backstreets_london
http://twitter.com/backstreets_lon

Backstreets

New Backstreets poster done and dusted... should be a good night, great line-up of Backstreets regulars, plus myself and the Electricgoose getting drunk and playing music until the early hours...

Guardian Politics List

...and some great political songs to accompany them...

1000 songs everyone must hear

Politics and protest: part five of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 63 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 141

• I Am the Walrus (The Beatles, 1967)
• Revolution (The Beatles, 1968)
• War Pigs (Black Sabbath, 1971)
• Cop Killer (Body Count, 1992)
• Between the Wars (Billy Bragg, 1985)
• Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud (James Brown, 1968)
• White Riot (The Clash, 1977)
• Running the World (Jarvis Cocker, 2006)
• Brother Can You Spare a Dime? (Bing Crosby, 1932)
• Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, 1970)
• Thou Shalt Always Kill (Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, 2007)
• California Über Alles (Dead Kennedys, 1979)
• Television: The Drug of the Nation (The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, 1991)
• Maggie’s Farm (Bob Dylan, 1965)
• Masters of War (Bob Dylan, 1963)
• The Times They Are a-Changin’ (Bob Dylan, 1964)
• We Care a Lot (Faith No More, 1985)
• Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 1984)
• Respect (Aretha Franklin, 1967)
• Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (Marvin Gaye, 1971)
• What’s Going On? (Marvin Gaye, 1971)
• The Message (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, 1982)
• American Idiot (Green Day, 2004)
• This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie, 1944)
• 19 (Paul Hardcastle, 1985)
• The Star-Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix, 1969)
• The Eton Rifles (The Jam, 1979)
• Going Underground (The Jam, 1980)
• Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon, 1969)
• Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire, 1965)
• Material Girl (Madonna, 1985)
• Redemption Song (Bob Marley, 1980)
• Kick Out the Jams (MC5, 1968)
• Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell, 1970)
• Police and Thieves (Junior Murvin, 1976)
• Fuck tha Police (NWA, 1988)
• Monkey Gone to Heaven (Pixies, 1989)
• In the Ghetto (Elvis Presley, 1969)
• Come Together (Primal Scream, 1990)
• Sign o’ the Times (Prince, 1987)
• Bring the Noise (Public Enemy, 1987)
• Fight the Power (Public Enemy, 1989)
• Killing in the Name (Rage Against the Machine, 1992)
• Street Fighting Man (The Rolling Stones, 1968)
• I’m Coming Out (Diana Ross, 1980)
• Whitey On the Moon (Gil Scott-Heron, 1970)
• Anarchy in the UK (Sex Pistols, 1976)
• God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols, 1977)
• To Be Young, Gifted and Black (Nina Simone, 1970)
• Swimsuit Issue (Sonic Youth, 1992)
• Revolution (Spacemen 3, 1989)
• Ghost Town (The Specials, 1981)
• Free Nelson Mandela (The Special AKA, 1984)
• Born in the USA (Bruce Springsteen, 1984)
• The Man Don’t Give a Fuck (Super Furry Animals, 1996)
• The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II) (Rod Stewart, 1976)
• Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2, 1983)
• We Are the World (USA for Africa, 1985)
• Get Up, Stand Up (The Wailers, 1973)
• My Generation (The Who, 1965)
• Shipbuilding (Robert Wyatt, 1982)
• Harrowdown Hill (Thom Yorke, 2006)
• Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young, 1989)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Politics and protest: part five of 1000 songs everyone must hear

Guardian's Life & Death list

Been playing around with the Guardian's lists. Here's the Life & Death one, my fav's listed below...

1000 songs everyone must hear

Life and death: 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 44 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 131

• Fluorescent Adolescent (Arctic Monkeys, 2007)
• What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong, 1968)
• Yer Blues (The Beatles, 1968)
• Yesterday (The Beatles, 1965)
• Paranoid (Black Sabbath, 1970)
• (Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult, 1976)
• This Is a Low (Blur, 1994)
• Kooks (David Bowie, 1971)
• Will the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By) (The Carter Family, 1935)
• The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 1988)
• If I Could Turn Back Time (Cher, 1989)
• School’s Out (Alice Cooper, 1972)
• Killing an Arab (The Cure, 1978)
• Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode, 1989)
• Sunshine Superman (Donovan, 1966)
• Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, 1973)
• Summertime (Ella Fitzgerald, 1959)
• Regulate (Warren G and Nate Dogg, 1994)
• Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum, 1969)
• Hey Joe (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1966)
• Stuck Between Stations (The Hold Steady, 2006)
• Losing My Edge (LCD Soundsystem, 2002)
• Baggy Trousers (Madness, 1980)
• Safe from Harm (Massive Attack, 1991)
• Fade to Black (Metallica, 1984)
• Lithium (Nirvana, 1991)
• Mo Money Mo Problems (The Notorious BIG, 1997)
• Live Forever (Oasis, 1994)
• Ms Jackson (OutKast, 2000)
• 9 to 5 (Dolly Parton, 1980)
• Another Brick in the Wall, Part II (Pink Floyd, 1979)
• Message in a Bottle (The Police, 1979)
• Glory Box (Portishead, 1994)
• Paranoid Android (Radiohead, 1997)
• (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding, 1968)
• Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones, 1966)
• Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard (Paul Simon, 1972)
• Feeling Good (Nina Simone, 1965)
• It Was a Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra, 1965)
• 100% (Sonic Youth, 1992)
• Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads, 1980)
• Psycho Killer (Talking Heads, 1977)
• I Ain’t Mad at Cha (Tupac, 1996)
• One (U2, 1992)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Life and death: 1000 songs everyone must hear

March of the Idiots

They're coming, they're coming... And as part of their continuing campaign against science, logic and progress, they're complaining about the MMR jab... Listen to this, then go and check out the Bad Science blog to follow the story and hear why Jeni Barnett is wrong. And potentially bad for the health of the nation...

Advertising on the Edge

Here's a link to some work we've just completed at The Economist - posted it on Slideshare and they made it one of their 'Top Presentations of the Day', which was nice.

Not exactly related to the rest of the stuff on this blog, but there you go....

Design classic: London Underground

Apparently it's 100 years ago this week since London Underground introduced the 'roundel' icon, and in so doing created arguably the first true brand logo. The whole point of the roundel was to reassure commuters that, wherever they saw the symbol, the quality of service would be the same, and it would connect to all the rest of the Tube system. Although it changed slightly from its initial inception, the redesign by Edward Johnston in 1913 was pretty much the last significant change to it.

So what better way to celebrate this than a photo of Clapham South in 1926, before the hordes of frisbee-throwers and Foxtons estate agents moved down, and turned it into a suburb of Surrey.