Christmas Beard Radio!!!

Skip forward about three minutes at the start of the listen again feature. I can assure you that ghastly NME indie turd was nothing to do with us, although the Bad Seeds song beforehand was pretty sweet.

Aaanyway, IIIIIT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Join Matt and Stew in the Beard Christmas Grotto, along with Stevie Nicks on tambourine, for an hour of Christmas cheer and favourite tunes from the past year.

Yo La Tengo - It's Christmas Time (Matador)
Low - Just Like Christmas (Rough Trade)
Harvey Milk - Death Goes To The Winner (Hydra Head)
Hercules and Love Affair - Time Will (DFA)
Marnie Stern - Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need No Roads (Kill Rock Stars)
Beat Happening - Christmas (K Records)
Ghostface Killah - Ghostface Xmas (Def Jam)
Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs - Corner Of The Season (Sonic Oyster)
Meshuggah - Pravus (Nuclear Blast)
Flaming Lips - Christmas At The Zoo (Warner Bros.)
Darlene Love - (Christmas) Baby Please Come Home (Impression)

Beard Radio 8.12.08

It's a family affair, as Beard co-founder Neil Jaques returns with his super-cute toddler in tow! Stew, Neil and Lucas bring you songs about sharks and porpoises and other sea creatures and much, much more besides!

Highlight of the show is Lucas's amazing live improvisation with our special guest, Dutch free-uke maestro, Dick Van Grobschnitten!!!! Channelling the primitivist third eye spirit of such cosmic travellers in eternal throat majesty like Yoko Ono, Derek Bailey and Spongebob Squarepants, the pair deliver an incredible, once in a lifetime throwdown of radical thought and expression!!! Available tomorrow on art edition 10" vinyl from Beard Records, a snip at £29.99!!!*

All that and toe tappin', Scottish country dance band synth freakouts (no, really!) in the background from the Billy Anderson Band, as salvaged from a charity shop bin by your crate digging Beardsters.

B-52s - Rock Lobster (Island)
Vaselines - Molly's Lips (Subpop)
John Coltrane - Sun Star (Impulse)
Robert Wyatt - Stalin Wasn't Stallin' (Rough Trade/Domino)
Xhol Caravan - Planet Earth (Hansa)
The Replacements - I Hate Music (Twin Tone/Rhino)
Yo La Tengo - Season Of The Shark (Matador)
The Monkees - Porpoise Song (Columbia)
Kanye West - Love Lockdown (Def Jam)
Kultur Shock - God Is Busy (Koolarrow Records)
Beach Boys - Steamboat (Brother)

*That last bit may not be strictly true

Love & Rockets: New Stories

Los Bros Hernandez - Love & Rockets: New Stories (Fantagraphics Books, 2008)

Now into its third decade, the Hernandez brothers’ Love & Rockets is firmly established as one of the great art-comics and an important expression of Mexican-American art. Hip, sexy, beautifully drawn and, above all, brilliantly written, Jaime’s Locas stories and Gilbert’s Palomar saga raised the bar for independent comics in the 1980s, and their work continues to be full of vitality and imagination.

Following the final issue of Love & Rockets Volume II last year, the comic has switched from a periodical pamphlet to an annual trade paperback. The new format suits them: Jaime presents the first instalments of a new adventure featuring his Locas characters, while Gilbert and occasional contributor Mario experiment with one-off stories and bizarre humour.

Jaime’s gorgeous cover art, depicting a giant female superhero lifting the roof of an art deco office building as if it’s the lid of a teapot, is a playful hint towards the book’s content. In contrast to the ironised, even dismissive attitude towards mainstream superhero fare in some art-comics, Jaime unapologetically celebrates them, while playing with their conventions. Although the sci-fi trappings of Jaime’s earliest Locas stories were dropped in favour of realist stories about Maggie Chascarillo, a bisexual Mexican-American, and her friends and lovers, the author continued to express his love of comics, wrestling and punk through his characters. His new Locas story, ‘The Search For Penny Century’ begins with Maggie poring over issues of Ti-Girls, a second tier female superhero comic, with her room-mate, and possible lover, Angel. (Jaime has a gift for gradually drawing out details of characters’ relationships and histories. Angel is a relatively new character, and he has been careful not to give away too much too soon). The twist, which Jaime has been setting up for some time, is that the universe of these comics exists alongside that of Locas. We learn that Penny Century, Maggie’s reckless bombshell friend, has finally realised her dream of gaining super-powers, but in the process has lost her two daughters. In a neat take on the La Llorona legend, she travels the universe searching for them, leaving mayhem and destruction in her wake. After the complex treatment of memory and ageing in recent stories like Ghost Of Hoppers, this sudden leap into the realms of fantasy might seem a little trite. But by exploding Penny to cosmic dimensions, Jaime dramatises her grief and reminds the reader how she’s reinvented herself, from a working class Chicana to a billionaire’s wife. It also humanises her: for possibly the first time, we see Penny in tears, a vulnerable, lonely woman struggling with a terrible loss. Coming to her aid are the Ti-Girls, of whom Angel is revealed to be a member, even though she has no super-powers. She is joined by the middle-aged Espectra, and the statuesque Alarma, who, prior to this, we had been led to believe was playing at dress-up. As with any superhero universe, there is a hierarchy, and the Ti-Girls are very much the working-class outsiders in relation to the snooty WASP sorority girls, The Fenomenons. As with his mid-period stories about women wrestlers, Jaime proves himself to be an acute observer of female power relationships.

The art is stunning, with the clean lines, inspired composition, and mastery of body language Jaime is renowned for. Yet he retains the ability to dazzle with new tricks, running wild with Jack Kirby-esque motion lines in the action scenes, creating an almost psychedelic array of swooping, swirling trails around his heroines.

Gilbert’s stories are much more inscrutable. Stepping away from the Palomar universe, his stories present a travelling salesman suffering from a bloated stomach, a gay man leaving his lover to explore frozen wastes, two Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis analogues slaughtering aliens, and a kangaroo scoring big in Vegas thanks to some coin dispensing humanoid penises. The first of these, ‘Papa’, is the most successful, a magic realist miniature that creates sublime effects through Gilbert’s expressive landscape work. The second, ‘Victory Dance’, feels like a fragment, yet on reflection, its ambiguity is quite affecting, leaving the reader to speculate on the characters’ history and motivations. There is also a surreal strip entitled ‘?’, where the camera, as it were, floats through a house to reveal two cheerful ducks and a floating orb drinking from a bottle of wine. Thick, rounded lines and stylised interiors make it look different to the rest of his work, and the results are both funny and unsettling. Gilbert also draws a brief farce penned by Mario. It’s not one of their finer moments. While his strengths lie in extended narratives (the intense serial killer drama Human Diastrophism, the sprawling portrait of Los Angeles in Love & Rockets X), Gilbert’s shorter pieces allow his imagination free reign. Neither he nor Jaime has been known to bow to expectations and this latest incarnation of Love & Rockets is no exception.

Stewart Smith

Beard radio: Nightmare Before Christmas Special!!!

An ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas Special, featuring tracks from some of the acts appearing at the Mike Patton and Melvins curated shindig!

With our very special guest co-presenter, the one and only Guanoman!!!

Fantomas - Charade (Ipecac)
The Melvins - Oven (Boner)
Os Mutantes - Ave Lucifer (Luaka Bop)
Taraf de Haidouks - Untitled (Crammed)
White Noise - Here Come the Fleas (Island)
Junior Brown - My Baby Don't Dance To Nothin' But Earnest Tubbs (Curb)
Meat Puppets - We're Here (SST)
Double Negative - Redshift (Blazed Up Records)
The Locust - Wet Nurse Syndrome Hand Me Down Display Case (Gsl)
The Damned - Stab Your Back (Stiff)
Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Karin (Pias)
Zu/Mats Gustafsson - Over The Furnace (Atavistic)
Dalek - 3:46 (Hydra Head)
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - Burning Rubber (Antilles)
Bernard Parmegiani - Matieres Induites (INA-GRM)
Mastodon - March of the Fire Ants (Relapse)
Leila - Time To Blow (Domino)
Vocal Sampling - Mi Guantanamera (Sire)

Beard on Subcity Radio 24.11.08

William Parker

This week! Music! Mumbling! An MV&EE diss!

Lokonon Andre and Les Volcans - Mi Kble Dogbekpo (African Scream Contest, Analog Africa, 2008)
William Parker - Morning Mantra (Double Sunrise Over Neptune, Aum Fidelity, 2008)
Arthur Russell - Habit Of You (Love Is Taking Over Me, Audika, 2008)
Bruce Haack - Electric To Me Turn (Electric Lucifer, Omni, 1970)
Baby Dee - Compass Of The Light (Safe Inside The Day, Drag City, 2008)
Directing Hand - What Put The Blood (What Put The Blood, Dancing Wayang, 2008)
Robert Wyatt - Gharbzadeghi (Old Rottenhat, Domino reissue 2008, orig 1986)
Burning Star Core - Challenger (Challenger, hospital, 2008)
This week's background music: The Best of Martin Denny on Liberty Records

Hinterland 2009

Finally, Glasgow gets its own one-ticket, all venues festival!

Hinterland will showcase established and upcoming Scottish talent as well as some of the UK and Europe’s best emerging and well known bands. The visual art element of the festival will provide a backdrop to the entire event in venues and en route. About 50% of all performers at Hinterland will be Scottish and the Hinterland Committee will advise upon the final line-up. Bands will run from 7-11pm and will be followed by DJ sets and guest appearances in clubs running into the early hours on both days.

Looks promising, and with Glasgow School Of Art and Rock-A-Rolla magazine involved, the lineup should hopefully be pretty diverse.

Taking place between 30th April and 1st May, it may just be the thing to plug the gap left by Triptych.

RememberRember Interview

The Royal We and Sexy Kids bassist, Multiplies synth wizard, Mogwai auxiliary, Flying Matchstick Men axe-smith…Graeme Ronald’s musical CV is impressive to say the least. But it’s as RememberRemember that Ronald has come into his own, spinning guitar loops and found sounds into densely beautiful compositions that suggest a post-rock Steve Reich, or Mogwai making mischief with Eno’s ambient works. His debut album, on Rock Action, is out now and the launch party takes place on Sunday at Glasgow’s Brel bar. To recreate the dense layering of the album, Ronald is playing with a special 10-piece ensemble.

For those who know you as a member of Multiplies or TRW, the sound of RR might come as a surprise. When did you start making RR music and why?

I don't think anyone, particularly now with the rate and manner in which music is consumed, listens exclusively to one type of music. I love pop music, and the Royal We was a great pop band, really fun to be involved with. Multiplies, for me at least, was all about repetitive rhythm, circular melody, propulsion and movement. I think the connection to RememberRemember is more evident there - slowed down a lot though, obviously! I've always doodled away on tunes in my bedroom whether it was tracking with two ghetto blasters, four track tapes, or computers. It was in the midst of the maelstrom that playing with Multiplies kind of became that I started developing these ideas a bit further, about four years ago I suppose, but it took me another couple of years to have the confidence to start playing them live.

Do you use loops and delay as a compositional tool or are they just a way of creating the arrangements?

I bought a looping pedal when I was in America with Mogwai and it was a godsend to me. I think they are the greatest invention since the television! I find writing music on a computer quite tedious and time consuming, now whenever I have a melody in my head I just stick it right down with my guitar and instantly start imagining what other melodies and textures could complement it. I actually find looping a truer rendering of the music that my brain is imagining because it's almost like being able to sing or play 20 melodies at once, which is quite hard to do in real life.

You also use toys, stationery and other gadgets as sound sources. What’s the thinking behind that?

Partly it's just a fun gimmick, it's hardly tremendously original, Matmos being the first obvious example that comes to mind, but I just like the idea that anything can be an instrument. I use the toys and everyday objects mostly to create rhythms, because I can't play drums and they just sound a lot cooler than drum machines. I also really enjoy those happy coincidences when you're listening to a record at home and somebody’s cooking in the room next door, or some building work is going on outside, or like now, I’m tapping the keys on my dad's laptop. So you hear all of those sounds alongside the music and it almost becomes part of it. There are a lot of "everyday" sounds on my record because I want people to be listening to it and not know if what they’re hearing is on the CD or happening in their house somewhere.

To what extent are your live sets improvised?

Since all the sampling and looping is done live, the sets are never identical performances, there's always some new mistake that ends up on a loop that has to be accounted for! The improvisation comes in as a response to making the mistakes into not being mistakes anymore. Every song has a set of four or five melodies that I really like and try and make sure I remember to play them at some point.

The live set has evolved from solo performances to a trio with violin and saxophone – how has this come about and what are the aims?

My very first couple of gigs were actually improvised "happenings" with random assortments of friends. I wasn't taking it particularly seriously then. When I wrote some pieces that I really liked, and realised I could do it on my own, I started playing solo. I met James (saxophonist) randomly smoking outside (Glasgow music bar) Nice & Sleazy's a while ago and we got talking about music and after a while started playing together. He can create some really rich, beautiful tones. Joan (violin) was in The Royal We and we'd been talking about working on Remember stuff for ages. I've been in too many more or less traditional "rock" bands, and wanted to incorporate tones that just can't be created with a guitar or a synth. I still play on my own from time to time though. I see RememberRemember being more of a fluid collective than a band, where people are free to come and go whenever they feel, apart from me, obviously.

Tell us about the album.

I worked at Green Door studios with Sam from Mother and the Addicts engineering. It was an extremely productive session. All of the gear in there is analogue, and it was recorded mostly to tape. I wanted all of the long looped sections to be played continuously live, so it was hard work...it sounds like it paid off and I’m super excited about it. The instruments, apart from the obvious sax, violin and guitar, range from mobile phone keypads to a Chinese harp, with a lovely smattering of Rhodes piano too! It's going to be fucking impossible...I mean quite a terrific challenge to recreate live!

Beard Radio 17.11.08

The Brotz brings the motherfucking skronk with the aid of his enormous horn.

IT'S A BRONTOSAURUS SEX PARTY!!!

Minutemen - The Glory Of Man (Double Nickels, SST)
Rolo Tomassi - Oh Hello Ghost (Hysterics, Hassle)
Brotzman/Gustafsson/Nilssen-Love - Bullets Through The Rain (The Fat Is Gone, Smalltown Superjazz)
High Places - Visions The First... (High Places, Thrill Jockey)
Brian Eno/David Byrne - Regiment (My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, EG/Ryko Reissue)
Extra Life - I Don't See It That Way (Secular Music, Planaria)
Beach Boys - 'Til I Die (Surf's Up, Brother)
Sunhil Carguly - Ajhoun Na Aye (Bollywood Steel Guitar, Sublime Frequencies)
Kleenex - You (Angry Side) (Lipstick Traces, Rough Trade)
Mika Miko - Capricoronations (CYSLABF, Kill Rock Stars
Yeasayer - Sunrise (All Hour Cymbals, Now We Are Free)

Plus the not exactly wonderful Moog Party Time playing in the background as bed music. It's high time I made use of all my dodgy charity shop records. Watch out for more easy cheesey sounds in coming weeks.

Beard on Subcity Radio 10.11.08

Gil J Wolman


To paraphrase Fontella Bass's scatalogical exclamation in tonight's first tune, this show is like a low fart that's music to your brain. In the best possible way.
We've got some hot jazz, existential art-song, Lettrist sound-poetry and a novel take on a Jewish melody. There's a Bollywood synth and steel guitar wigout and some tranced out excursions for organ and tape delay. We also celebrate Neil Young's loopy cinematic folly Human Highway by playing an awesome cut from his unfairly maligned electro-rock opus Trans and a rare, but super-catchy apocalyptic hoedown from Devo. Enjoy!

Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Theme De Yo Yo (Stance A Sophie, Soul Jazz reissue 2008)
Gil J Wolman - Megapunies: 24 Mars 1963 (Lipstick Traces, Rough Trade comp, 1993)
Secret Chiefs 3 - Akramachamarei (Xaphan: Book 9 of Angels Vol 9, Tzadik, 2008)
Scott Walker - Psoriatic (The Drift, 4AD, 2006)
Gautam Dasgupta - Duniya Mane Bura To Goil Maro (Bollywood Steel Guitar, Sublime Frequencies comp, 2008)
Neil Young - Computer Age (Trans, Geffen, 1982)
Devo - It Takes A Worried Man (Pioneers Who Got Scalped, Rhino/Wea)
Terry Riley - Anthem Of The Trinity (Shri Camel, Sony, 1978)


Terry Riley

Beard Radio - US Election Special

It's our US Election Special!

Songs about politics, race and protest, as well as some comedy clips, old and new.

We also pay tribute to the late, great Yma Sumac, and Mother Of Invention Drummer Jimmy Carl Black.

James Brown - Funky President (Polydor)
Nas - Black President (Columbia)
DVDA - America Fuck Yeah! (Atlantic)
Bill Hicks - The Elephant Is Dead! (Rykodisc)
Tom Waits - Hoist That Rag (Anti)
Yma Sumac - Ataypura (Capitol)
Mothers of Invention - Concentration Moon (Rykodisc)
Richard Lewis - Election Rant (dailyshow.com)
Parliament - Chocolate City (Casablanca)
Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan (Columbia)
Richard Pryor - Bicentennial N****r (Warner)
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet (Def Jam)
Extra Golden - Obama (Thrill Jockey)
Charlie Haden - We Shall Overcome (Impulse)

Here's Richard Lewis's glorious election/penis rant on the Daily Show in all its glory!

Even More Sounds of Death and Terror: It's The Vault of Horror!!!

Absolutely chuffed to be part of this jolly shindig! Hang on, that's not very Halloweeny is it? Let's start again. There's been a murder on the dancefloor! Shake your severed limbs and watch you don't slip on the pools of blood as a beastly line up of musickal deviants commit horrific acts upon your ears! Can you handle the Vault Of Horror? Bwah ha ha ha!!!

HALLOWEEN LINE-UP:

Vom

Plaque Terror (Hockyfrilla/Nackt Insecten)

Bridget Hayden (Vibracathedral Orchestra)

Nalle

The Radiation Line VS Mills & Boon

PLUS film screenings, visuals

DJ sets from John Cavanagh, eva, Stu from Beard magazine, and Anne from BaNG!bAnG!

Friday 31st October @The Flying Duck 8pm til 3am £6

It's the bloodcurdling Beard Radio Halloween Special!

Egad! It's the Beard Halloween Special!!!!

With Shocking Stew of The Suppurating Wounds joined in the studio by Monstrous Matt The Vile Necromancer of Partick and Rancid Reuben The Mad Monk of Harrow!!!!!

Horrorcore! Horror jazz! Horror Soundtracks! Nasty Japanese Death Metal! Camp variety! The freakiest of freak beat! Electronic horror! And terror so unclassifiable it will rupture your spleen!!!!

Black Sabbath - The Wizard
Gravediggaz - Diary Of A Madman
Ronald Stein - Spider Baby
Sun Ra - Halloween In Harlem
Delia Derbyshire - Wizard's Labratory
Coffins - Buried Death
Douglas Byng - I'm A Mummy
Jason Crest - Black Mass
The Tango Saloon - Dracula Cha Cha Cha
Runhild Gammelsaeter - Collapse (Lifting The Veil)
The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black - I Believe In Halloween
Superfine Dandelion - Janie's Tomb
Roky Erikson - Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)

Spooky sound effects from Disney's Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of The Haunted House
Nasty sounds of torture from BBC Sound Effects 27: Even More Sounds of Death and Horror, produced by the mighty Mike Harding.
B-Movie Trailers from Wavy Gravy: For Adult Enthusiasts Vol.1

Also, check out Subcity's new spoken word show, Rara Radio!

Beard Radio 20.10.08

I'm joined this week by my good chum Colin Ferguson, who selected the tunes in the second half of the show (Eddie Marcon onwards). New stuff from DSP, No Age and Christina Carter, some utterly beautiful Japanese drone-pop from Eddie Marcon, spooked Ethiopian jazz, neo-psychedelic pastoralism from XTC and genius DIY dada-pop from The Homosexuals. We mark the demise of unlamented Austrian far-right scumbag Jorg Haider with MDC's Nazis Shouldn't Drive.

"They should've paid attention in driver's ed
Instead of hating foreigners, queers and reds"

Death Sentence Panda - Untitled (Insects Awaken, Upset The Rhythm)
XTC - Yacht Dance (English Settlement, Virgin)
Girma Beyene - Set Alamenem (Very Best Of Ethiopiques, Manteca)
Karate Party - Pressure (Moo-La-La)
No Age - Teen Creeps (Nouns, Subpop)
Christina Carter - Capable Of Murder (Original Darkness, Kranky)
Eddie Marcon - Amime (Shining On Graveposts, Preservation)
Washington Phillips - Lift Him Up That's All (Goodbye Babylon, Dust To Digital)
Hasil Adkins - Chicken Shake (Norton 7")
MDC - Nazis Shouldn't Drive (Magnus Dominus Corpus, Sudden Death)
The Homosexuals - Prestel (Astral Glamour, Messthetics)
Marty & Elaine - Stayin' Alive (Private Press)
Deluxe Folk Implosion - Daddy Never Understood (Domino 7")

Beard on Subcity Radio 13.10.08

Japanese disco bliss!
16 minutes of DOOM!!!!!
Shouty punk rock!!
Math-pop joy!
Free jazz in praise of culinary excellence!!!

It can only be another exciting episode of Beard Radio!!!

Triple School - Sniffin' Glue (Autoconstuccion CD, CCA, 2008)
Mercury Rev - Trickle Down (Boces, Beggars Banquet, 1993)
High Places - Storm (High Places, Thrill Jockey, 2008)
The Cecil Taylor Unit - Pots (Mixed, Impulse, 1961)
Foxface - Tortillas (Autoconstuccion CD, CCA, 2008)
Times New Viking - No Sympathy (Stay Awake EP, Matador, 2008)
Asva - Game In Hell Hard Work In Heaven (What You Don't Know Is Frontier, Southern, 2008)
Mariah - Shinzo No Tobira (Japan 1983)
Marnie Stern - Ruler (This Is..., Kill Rock Stars, 2008)
Gummy Stumps - Succulent (Autoconstuccion CD, CCA, 2008)

Check out the wonderful 20 Jazz Funk Greats blog for more about Mariah.

This week we celebrate Abraham Cruzvillegas's exhibition at the CCA, Autoconstruccion, by playing some of the songs he co-wrote with Glasgow bands. The CD is available from the gallery. We strongly recommend you visit the exhibition, take a ride on the soundsystem bicycle, and pick up a copy of the CD.

Apologies for the massive fuck up, ie the dead air for the first few minutes of Asva. I left the fader on cue, so I could hear it, but the listeners couldn't. A completely basic error, I really am a numpty. So if you're listening again, skip forward a few minutes when Asva is supposed to start.

Beard Radio 6.10.08

Joe McPhee

Francisco Lopez

On this week's show we preview Kill Your Timid Notion, Dundee's pioneering festival devoted to exploring the borders between sound and vision. Brought to you by the good people behind Glasgow's Instal Festival and The Music Lover's Field Companion in Gateshead, KYTN brings together experimental music, performance, art and film, making for an experience that'll open your ears, eyes, and mind. While we can only represent the sonic side of the festival, we hope our selections will have you intrigued - expect to hear sounds electric and acoustic, digital and analogue, human and animal. We're not joking about the animals by the way.

All that plus the usual mix of miscued records, overuse of the word "awesome", and new tracks from some of our favourite artists.

I must apologise for my ridiculous banter. I'd just been to a postgrad meet and greet, where wine did a flow quite freely. So there's a very relaxed presentation style this week, as well as some impromput microphone stand spring improvisations. Well, they made some great resonant tones!

Playlist in full:

Cato Salsa Experience & The Thing with Joe McPhee - The Witch
Antony & The Johnstons - Shake That Devil
Lucky Dragons - Morning Ritual
Keith Rowe - The Room (excerpt)
Gang Gang Dance - First Communion
Tattie Toes - Ximon
Vivian Girls - Tell The World
Francisco Lopez - La Selva (excerpt)
Shonen Knife - Top Of The World

Beard on Subcity 29.9.08

From hurricane lashed Texas to a dreich Glasgow, Beard co-founder Neil Jaques is back for our latest show! And he's brought some amazing old records from his father-in-law's collection with him. Meanwhile, Stewart will be dropping some recently acquired bombs. So after a barrage of new releases for our first show, we fancied going for a kind of new old theme this week. So we'll be winding back a couple of years, then back to the 1940s, before beaming right back through time again, like music geek timelords.

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - I Love You Big Dummy (Lick My Decals Off) Reprise
Rammelzee - Pogo (The Bi-Conicals Of...) Gomma
Yes - Beyond and Before (Yes) Atlantic
Jelly Roll Morton - Dead Man's Blues (compilation on Bluebird)
Kelis - Good Stuff (Kaleidoscope)
June Tabor & Maddy Prior - My Husband's Got No Courage In Him (Silly Sisters)
Olivier Messiaen - Liturgie De Cristal
(Quartet For The End of Time - Deutsche Gramophon recording with Daniel Beironbom)
Laura Nyro - New York Tendaberry (New York Tendaberry) Columbia
Ornette Coleman - Free (Change Of The Century) Atlantic
Charlie Feathers - Uh Huh Honey (Uh Huh Honey) Norton
Minor Threat - Betray (Out Of Step) Dischord
Nas - New York State of Mind (Illmatic) Columbia

Beard Radio on Subcity 22.09.08

Tributes to the late, great Norman Whitfield and Rick Wright. Some very noisy stuff from two of our favourite Glasgow acts! Some very pretty music! Some nonsensical banter. It can only be Beard Radio!

Gather round ye feral children and worshippers of Pogon. Fire up the crystal set and let Beard Radio lift you heavenward on radiant beams of feedback and breath. Or in other words, tune in to hear Stewart and regular guest Matt, aka Guanoman, mumble and miscue some very good records. Huzzah!

Temptations - Psychedelic Shack Tamla Motown
Pink Floyd - Paint Box EMI
Abe Vigoda - Dead City PPM
Zach Hill - Dark Arts Ipecac
Mick Barr & Zach Hill - Desert Glass Bubble Kill Rock Stars
Baby Dee - Big Tittie Bee Girl Drag City
Desalvo - Tongue Scraper Pts 1 & 2 Rock Action
Rolo Tomassi - I Love Turbulence Hassle
Fred Frith - King Dawn Tzadik
Kasai Allstars - Kafuulu Balu Crammed Disc
Made Out Of Babies - Peew The End
Kylie Minoise - Neck Brace Art Appreciation Club Kovorox Sound

Desalvo's album launch takes place on Sunday 28th September at Stereo. Support comes from the equally mighty Kylie Minoise!

The Return of Beard Radio!

Yes! Your favourite follically minded radio show is back back back on Monday 15th September at 7pm on Subcity Radio.

We've got a summer's worth of musical discoveries to share with you, as well as some hot new releases. Not quite sure what Monday's show will bring, although there's a fair bet we'll play some of the acts from Colour Out Of Space, as well as new tunes from some Beard radio favourites.

Look forward to new jingles, special guests and our hapless attempts to get to grips with the station's new mixing board!

Colour Out Of Space

Behold the Lovecraftian beast emerging slobbering and shrieking from the English channel this weekend! Yes, it's Colour Out Of Space in Brighton this weekend. Organised by Dylan Nyoukis [of Decaer Pinga, Blood Stereo and the label Chocolate Monk], it's one of Britain's best underground and experimental music shindigs, featuring noise both psychedelic and harsh, dadaist sound poetry, free improv, DIY scuzz and all kinds of uncategorisable brain wobble and throat gush. Did I just write that? Anyway, ignore my sub-Coley guff, and know this: Colour Out Of Space is fucking necessary. See you there.

Save The Common Place!

Posting this on the behalf of Dom of Leeds collective Chinchilla and the mighty CHOPS. Leeds has a healthy underground music scene, renowned for its drone based improv and noise rock, and is a key part of the UK's DIY infrastructure. So the potential closure of one of its best venues is more than a local matter. Sign the online petition and leave your comments. Take it away Dom!

The Common Place is a volunteer run venue, activist centre, meeting space and vegan cafe in Leeds.

Chinchilla have put on a load of gigs there, including involvement in the monthly Funder Strikes x2 bands and club night.

The Council have revoked The Common Place's Club licence, which is the major source of funding for rent, etc. The Council believe that the Club does not satisfy the conditions for being a ‘qualifying club’ in relation to a qualifying club activity to which the certificate relates (section 61, Licensing Act 2003). This doesn't exactly give a reason for why they have revoked the licence, but it probably has something to do with The Common Place showing a film called 'On the Verge', which is a film about Smash EDO, an anti arms/anti war campaign from Brighton. "The film has become notorious, not so much because of the material it contains but because of the reaction of police forces and local authorities to it. Made for less than £500, the film tells how a small but committed group of activists, smashEDO, are taking on the Brighton base of an international arms manufacturer and, in the process, their local constabulary. The police, who are not shown in a good light in the film, intervened to stop the movie's premiere at a cinema in Brighton, and since then police officers and council officials have been paying calls to venues across the country where On the Verge (so called because the smashEDO protesters were confined for a while to a narrow grass verge opposite the factory they were targeting) is due to be shown, suggesting that it is not a good idea to show the film." (The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/27/ethicalliving.activists).

We believe that the Council's actions are totally unwarranted. The Common Place is the only independent, self-financed community, cultural and political space in the city centre. As a private members club, it serves as a vital resource for hundreds of local residents as well as supporting voluntary and community activity, particularly around homelessness, housing, environmental, womens' and asylum issues.

By revoking the Common Place's Club Premises Certificate, the Council is removing the Common Place's ability to generate much-needed funding through licensed events, meaning almost certain closure. We believe this is exactly the kind of venture Leeds City Council should be supporting to increase active citizenship in the city.

If you could spend a minute of your time signing this petition to the Council, it could help make the difference.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/thecommonplace

http://www.thecommonplace.org.uk

Student Radio Awards 2008

Beard Radio is delighted to be one of Subcity's nominations for Best Specialist Programme in the BBC Radio 1 Student Radio Awards. We're very flattered to be chosen. You can listen to the clip we've submitted, as well as those of the other nominated Subcity shows here.

Hopefully we'll be back with more Beard radio in the new term. In the meantime, we're working our little beardy socks off to bring you the long-awaited Beard issue 7. Huzzah!

Live! Tonight! Team Brick! RememberRemember! Guanoman! Noma!

We're not promoting this, but we're great fans of the artists involved, so we're only too happy to spread the word. Yes, tonight sees Team Brick return to Glasgow for his first solo show here in almost a year. Team Brick's debut album proper is due for release at some point this year on Geoff Barrow's label Invada. Like his live show, it's hard to know exactly what to expect, other than total brilliance. Psychedelic noise, looped and delayed instruments and objects (whatever he has to hand really), heavy riffage, manic skronk are all a possibility. One certainty, however, is his intense, hugely powerful vocals. He's a Bristolian Mike Patton, a West Country C Spencer Yeh!, intoning Biblical threats, projecting stentorian odes and screaming blue murder. Whatever, he rules and you don't want to miss him. Here's what he did in Glasgow last year...



RememberRemember, signed to Rock Action, needs no introduction. Beautiful minimalist post-rock, spun from loops of guitar, glockenspiel, toys and whatever else he has lying around.

Super psyched about the live return of the mighty Guanoman. It's been a year since his last show, but this bizarro rock thunder beast has been busy concocting new prog-doom epics and siring a Guanochild. Huzzah!

Completing the bill is Noma, creating buzzing drones and ambient brain massage with a guitar and reclaimed home electronics. Watch out for his pink vibrator!

Diskant is ten!

Glasgow based music and pop culture website Diskant is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a fabulous all singing, all dancing party at the CCA. Live music comes from much fancied bliss-popstrels Findo Gask and existential electronic punks Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element, while I'll be manning the decks for one of my mildly shambolic, but hopefully funky and righteous, DJ sets. And what's more, there's an indie tombola, where you can get the chance to win some top prizes. See you there!

W'Owfi Fest

Beard fully supports Wo'Owfi, a fantastic day of underground music and DIY fun in aid of Organisation For Women's Freedom In Iraq.
There's live music from Kylie Minoise, Skeleton Bob, Gummy Stumps, Jer and Shane, Mills & Boon, Mike & Solveig, James William Hindle and Calvin Halliday, Johnny & The Entries and some Taiko Drummers. Plus DJ sets from Katrina of the Pastels, Dep from Monorail, Simon from Lucky Luke, What's more, there's a zine stall, a food and book swap and a raffle, featuring prizes donated by Alisdair Roberts, The Pastels, Euros Childs and many more good people.

It all kicks off today at 3pm. Sorry we didn't post this sooner, we're useless disorganised mooks. Should be a great day. Photos and stories to follow.

Beard hijaks the Halt Bar Hijack! (for a couple of hours at least...)

Now then, now then, there's a fine FREE event a-happening this weekend (Fri 13-Sun 15 June) at the Halt Bar on Glasgow's Woodlands Road and yours truly has been asked by the marvellous young gents running it to spin a few top pop tunes. I'll be on from 5-8pm on Saturday, so come down and say hello.

The Halt Bar Hijack features Beard faves Kylie Minoise, Nackt Insecten, Noma, Vom, Super Adventure Club, Triple School, Plates (featuring Howie from the mighty Tattie Toes), Wounded Knee, Sparrow & The Workshop and much, much more. And did we mention it's FREE? Yes, we did, but it bears repeating.

The last Beard radio! (for now...)

Our last show! Myself, Neil, Guanoman and Chris. We can only apologise for Chris's offensive banter. He is a bad, bad man.

Sparks - Dick Around (Hello Young Lovers, 2006)
Cheap Trick - Surrender (Heaven Tonight, 1978)
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing (1955)
Clipse - Mama I'm Sorry (Hell Hath No Fury, 2006)
Dananananaykroyd - The Greater Than Symbol And The Hash (Cissy Hits, 2008)
Shellac - Prayer To God (10000 Hurts)
Yo La Tengo - Did I Tell You? (Fakebook, 1991)
Fleetwood Mac - Sara (Tusk, 1979)
Erin Koray & Ter - Hor Gorme Garibi (Hava Nargile
Eat Skull - Punk Trips (Sick To Death, 2008)
THe Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace (Hairdryer Peace, 2008)
The Open Mind - Magic Potion
Patty Waters - Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair (ESP Disk, 1966)
Bo Diddley - Diddy Wah Diddy
Meshuggah - Combustion (Obzen, 2008)
Beach Boys - Solar System (Love You, 1977)
Gorguts - Nostalgia (Obscura, 1998)
Sparks - I've Never Been High (Exotic Creatures of The Deep, 2008)
Harvey Milk - The End (Special Wishes, 2003)
Robert Wyatt - Sea Song (Rock Bottom, 1974)
The Tornadoes - Telstar (Decca 7", 1962)
Velvet Underground - Afterhours (The Velvet Underground, 1968)

And then Black Static Transmission, with added Guanoman and Beard. Not for the easily offended. Again, we can only apologise...

VALET - Kehaar [ 'Naked Acid' ]
MOUTHUS - The Final Tribes [ 'For The Great Slave Lakes' ]
MELVINS - Dies Iraea [ 'Nude With Boots' ]
APPLEBLIM - Gold & Silver [ 'Soundboy Punishments' ]
FRACTION - Get Out of Her [ 'Moon Blood' ]
GROUND ZERO - Those Were The Days [ 'Plays Standards' ]
SKULLFLOWER - Fak Revolt [ 'Ponyland' ]
KASTANETZ & KATZ SINGING ORCHESTRAL CIRCUS - Rumble 69 [ 'Quick Joey Small' ]
ALICE COLTRANE + PHAROAH SNADERS - Journey In Satchidananda [ 'Journey...' ]

Beard Static Transmission - final radio show!

Yes, that time has come: the final Beard radio of the term. Hopefully Subcity will let us come back for more shambolic broadcasting mayhem in the Autumn (when I'll actually be a real live student again!), but in the meantime prepare to wrap your lugs around a very special final show. This is no ordinary edition Beard radio, but an epic three hour jam with Black Static Transmission, who are normally on right after us. We'll do our normal show from 6-8pm, but with added noise mayhem and offensive banter from student radio legend Chris Storey (his Grind Your Mind show won an award for best specialist programme), before hanging around to invade his airspace from 9pm. We'll also have our good chum and jingle co-creator Guanoman in to drop some heavy bizarro rumbles and massage your third eye with some esoteric nuggets.

Doing the radio show has been an absolute blast, so we want to go out on a high. We'll be playing stuff we've always wanted to play along with some favourites from the past year. And we're taking requests! Bring it on: beardmag@yahoo.co.uk

No Age

Photo: Jeremy Hogan

Apologies for the lack of posts and radio show this past week - I've been jumping around to popular beat combos at Barcelona's glorious Primavera Sound festival. More on that coming soon, but in the meantime, here's something from No Age. Their Sub Pop debut Nouns is out now and it's chock full of scuzzy noise-pop gems. The LA duo werebitchin' at Primavera - catch 'em when they roll up in your area!

This is the full transcription of the interview with No Age I did for The List. I would liked to have asked more questions, but it was only for a short piece and I had limited time. But hats off to Dean Spunt for the righteous and fun things he has to say. They've played Glasgow by now, but hopefully they'll be back soon. You can read the published article here.

Tell me about how No Age started.

Dean Spunt:It started with Randy and I thinking about the type of music we wanted to hear. We wanted to make music we could listen to. Our first proper show was at the smell in April 2006. Randy and I love to play music together and it happens so natural that we decided to make it a two piece, instead of adding more members. The first songs we wrote were Dead Plane, Get Hurt and Neck Escaper.

The Smell scene has been gaining a lot of attention. How has being a part of that shaped you as people and as a band?

DS:The smell, for us, has always been a place we admired, so the attention is due i think. The amount of attention has nothing to do with us as people or as a band, we would still be doing the same thing (because we were!) if nobody had heard of us or the smell. In my mind the smell has been the coolest punk club around for the past ten years, so i have always seen it the same way, mystical and awesome. The Smell hasn't changed a bit either.

You have great merchandise, especially the bandanas. Any new lines being introduced for the next tour?

DS: We made a NEW ERA hat for the magazine FADER, designed shirts for the skateboard company ALTAMONT, a shirt for ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION, some sunglasses with a no age / void logo... void was a hardcore band from the 80's if you didn't know, one of the best bands to ever exist. Only the glasses will be on tour, everything else will be in stores or are super limited items..

Some bands "are all about the music" but for you there's so much more - art work, personal politics, a DIY ethos. Do you think it's important to represent something?

DS:It is important for us to represent ourselves, to be honest and just make music. The other things are important because they are what we do, and become what we are. We are both vegan, we enjoy playing in places other than rock clubs, we like art, punk rock, etc. don't get us wrong,
we are "all about the music" too.

Your live shows are inclusive and joyous. As you progress to larger venues and festival stages how will you maintain that quality?

DS: By doing the same thing! Trying harder to make it more fun, and hopefully we will be able to.

Along with Times New Viking, you favour a scuzzy lo-fi sound. Is this a reaction against increasingly slick indie-rock production or more of a reflection of your influences?

D: Both. But mainly for us it was because we couldn't afford to be in a studio. All we had was our friend who recorded some stuff on 1/4 inch tape for us and we had a digital twelve track. The new record was mainly recorded in studio's on very, very nice equipment. That was exciting for us, a new challenge. That didn't stop us from bringing tape recorders, broken microphones, mini disc players etc into the studio with us to record stuff as well, all that stuff ended up on the new record too.

Your last Glasgow show, with Mika Miko was a blast. Are you looking forward to playing Optimo?

DS: we are looking forward to it VERY MUCH! since Glasgow was our favorite show of that whole tour by far.

Beard goes to Primavera 26 May 2006

OM!
Lord Kitchener

Bit of a Primavera theme this week, with most of the show taken up with tracks from acts appearing at the Barcelona festival this week. But there's still room for Archie Shepp, Lightning Bolt, Bill Wells, Faust, Siouxie, Lord Kitchener, some Kiwi pop and Ethiopian jazz.

The Sonics - Strychnine
Public Enemy - Night of The Living Baseheads (It Takes A Nation of Million, 1988)
Lightning Bolt - Dracula Mountain (Wonderful Rainbow, 2003)
Faust - It's A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl (Faust So Far, 1972)
Six Organs of Admittance - Jade Like Wine (Shelter From The Ash, 2007)
Om - At Gaza (Conference Of Birds, 2006)
Bill Wells & Aby Vulliami - Black Christmas (Loathsome Reel Book, 2008)
Archie Shepp - Girl From Ipanema (Fire Music, 1965)
Tindersticks - Travelling Light (This Is... 1994)
Cat Power - Cross Bones Style (Moon Pix, 1998)
The Fall - 50 Year Old Man (Imperial Wax Solvent, 2008)
Look Blue Go Purple - Circumspect Penelope (Tuatara: A Flying Nun Compilation, 1986)
The Chills - Satin Doll (Dunedin Double EP, 1981)
Lord Kitchener - My Wife's Nightie (London Is The Place For Me)
Mulatu Astatqe - Yekermo Sew (Very Best of Ethiopiques)
Young Marble Giants - Choco Lono (Collossal Youth, 1980)
Throbbing Gristle - Almost A Kiss (The Endless Not, 2006)
Animal Collective - Water Curses (Water Curses EP, 2008)
Siouxie & The Banshees - Slow Dive (Kissing In The Dreamhouse, 1982)
Edan feat Dagha - Rock N Roll (Beauty & The Beat, 2005)
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Shotgun Willie (Real Emotional Trash, 2008)
Shangri Las - Out On The Streets

Beard radio 19.05.08 - win tickets to Le Weekend!

Evan Parker

Hamid Drake & Raymond Boni

This week I'm joined again by Mark Haydn, who has brought his lovely tunes and dulcet Northern tones for your aural stimulation. Listening back to the show I realise we forgot to turn the jingle channel off during our opening bit of chat. Oooops!

We're previewing Le Weekend, Stirling's No Limits Music Festival, which kicks off at the Tolbooth on Friday 23 May, with a smattering of tunes from acts performing at this year's festival, as well as highlights from previous years. So that means William Parker, Hamid Drake, Evan Parker, Bill Wells, The Pastels, Thurston Moore and Borbetomagus. Tasty!

Win a Le Weekend festival pass!!!

Which of the following artists has Evan Parker not worked with?

(a) Robert Wyatt
(b) Charlie Watts' Big Band
(c) Michael Parkinson's House Band

Email your answers to beardmag@yahoo.co.uk

Here's our playlist, with Le Weekend connected artists highlighted.

De La Soul - Buddy (Three Feet High and Rising, 1989)
RZA - A Day To God is 1000 Years (Birth of a Prince, 2003)
Richard Thompson - Roll Over Vaughan Williams (Henry The Human Fly, 1972)
Ennio Morricone feat Edda Dell'Orso - Alla Serentina (Dell'Orso Sings Morricone, 2005)
William Parker & Hamid Drake - Sky (Summer Snow)
Tape - Sponge Chorus (Mileu, 2008)
Ex-Models - Chrome Hearts (Troubleman 2005)
The Blow - Fists Up (Paper Television, 2006)
Microphones - Bass Drum Dream (Song Islands
Roland Kirk - I Say A Little Prayer (Volunteered Slavery)
Tim Buckley - Starsailor (Starsailor, 1970)
The Pastels - Leaving This Island (Illumination, 1997)
Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble - Drawn Inward (Drawn Inward, 1999)
Richard Crandell - Etude in E (Spring Steel, 2007)
Reiko Kudo - Mrs Wheeler - (Rice filed silently riping in the night, 2000)
Noviciat de Soeurs Missionaires de Notre-Dame d'Afrique & four religious drummers - Yesu Mkwbaze (Lipa Kodiya City Council)
Jackie De Shannon - When You Walk In My Room (Her Own Kind Of Light, The Best of)
Thurston Moore - Neverday (Trees Against The Academy, 2007)
Alex Chilton - Alligator Man (Like Flies On Sherbert, 1980)
National Jazz Trio Of Scotland - Phantom Pain
Borbetomagus - Pink Pants

Beard radio 12.5.08

Mats Gustaffson & The Thing

Charlemagne Palestine

The Subcity Radiobot has now updated the links, so you can listen to the latest show right here!

Ably assisted by my good chum Gary, we bring you some face melting Egyptologist black metal, vampire porn soundtracks, golden age hip-hop, heavy jazz action, Portuguese fado, some gorgeous minimalism, neo-prog from Richard Youngs and Andrew Paine, sweet pop, molten Japanese noise rock, and other curiosities. Yowza!

Keep an ear and an eye out for our competition to win a pass to Le Weekend, Stirling's Outer Limits Music Festival.

Erik B & Rakim - Microphone Fiend (Follow The Leader, 1988)
Divine Styler - Ain't Sayin' Nothin' (1988)
Beat Happening - Noise (You Turn Me On, 1992)
Pissed Jeans - Ice Cream (Hope For Men, 2007)
Boxcutter - Mya Rave (Planet Mu/Plan B comp 2008)
Carlos Ramos - Torre De Belem (Victrola Favorites)
Jonathan Richman - Corner Store (Jonathan Goes Country, 1992)
The Vampire Sound Inc - The Lions and The Cucumber (Vampyros Lesbos OST)
Portishead - Hunter (Third, 2008)
Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath - Nick Tete (Eclipse At Dawn, 1971)
Ivor Cutler - Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol 2 Episode 12
Melechesh - Tablets of Fate (Sphynx 2005)
Charlemagne Palestine - Excerpt 2 Duo Strumming For Two Harpsichords(Continuous Sound Forms, 1974)
Bill Wells Trio - Inadvertently Stolen (Live at Banchory, 2006)
Keiji Haino & Boris - From The Distance, with their own gentle eyes always fixed on us, they are affectionately gazing at the Black Implication Flooding (Black Implication Flooding, 1998)
Invisible Conga People - Cable Dazed (Italians Do It Better 12", 2008)
The Thing - Chiasma (Action Jazz, 2007)
Teiji Ito - Tenno III (Tenno, 1964)
Ilk - Honour's Prospect (Canticle, 2004)
Diamanda Galas - Iron Lady (Live, 1998)
Birthday Party - Sonny's Burning (The Bad Seed EP, 1983)

Beard Radio 5.5.08

I'm joined this week by Mr Mark Haydn, who has brought in some marvelous tunes from Bill Callahan (in wonky Afro-pop mode no less!), Orchestre Regional de Kayes, Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Luftkluster and more! Today's show also featured further goodies from Dust To Digital's amazing Victrola Favorites collection, as well as kick ass new stuff from the Fall, some slow disco from Glass Candy and Chromatics, and some beautiful calypso from Lord Kitchener.

Guided By Voices - Tractor Rape Chain (Bee Thousand, 1994)
The Fall - Wolf Kidult Man (Imperial Wax Solvent, 2008)
Ramones - Gimme Shock Treatment (Leave Home, 1978)
Lord Kitchener - London Is The Place For Me (London Is The Place For Me, Honest Jons comp)
Bill Callahan - Taken (Diamond Dancer EP, 2007)
Orchestre Regional de Kayes - Nanyuman (S/T, 1970)
Charles Mingus - Freedom (Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Chromatics - Night Drive (Night Drive CD, Italians Do It Better 2007)
Mico - I See A Soul (Monika Barchen: Songs For Bruno, Knut & Tom, Monika Enterprise 2008)
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Arkansas Coal (Did You Ever?, 1971)
Religious Knives - The Sun (It's After Dark, 2007)
Parliament - Little Ol' Country Boy (Osmium, 1970)
Howling Hex - Activiy Risks (All-Night Fox, 2005)
Glass Candy - Computer Love (2007)
Luftkluster - We Pulled Roots (Oscillatone Records, 2006)
Noble Sissle Orchestra - Basement Blues (Victrola Favorites)
Tav Falco's Panther Burns - She Wants To Sell My Monkey (Pantherphobia, 2001)
Blind Mamie Forehand - Honey In The Rock (Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music)
Tara Jane O'Neill - Phoenix (To Trace A Raveling, 2007)
Vishnudan Shirali - Tabla Taranga (Victrola Favorites)
Babenzele Tribe - Four Voices Song (Bayaka)
Tom Waits - I Don't Want To Grow Up (Bone Machine, 1992)