Griff says; Support Wikileaks and freedom of information

I know that this is a music blog and that you don't come here to update yourself on my political opinions, but please bear with me here. Since early on Friday morning, it has been impossible to reach the WikiLeaks website by typing wikileaks.org into a web browser because everyDNS, which would redirect queries for the string "wikileaks.org" to that machine address, removed its support for Wikileaks, claiming that it had broken its terms of service by being the target of a huge hacker attack. Without a DNS record, it is only possible to reach WikiLeaks by typing in the string of numbers which, for most web users, is too unmemorable to make it feasible. This type of censorship seemingly carried out at the behest of Democratic governments is a frightening attack on the freedom of information and by extension the freedoms of each and every one of us. As a small response to this, as of today it will be possible to reach the Wikileaks website via a link at the top of this blog page. We will endeavour to keep this 'live' in the event of any further changes. We also strongly exhort any fellow blogger/website administrator to follow our example.
We have done this as a simple gesture of support for WikiLeaks and to signal our opposition to arbitrary censorship of the web by governments and corporations. The free distribution of data, and resistance to top-down evaluation of the merit of that data, is what the web excels at. It is more important now than ever before that individuals are allowed to publish and consume information as they see fit, within the bounds of the law. The world wide web, must be allowed to operate neutrally and independently of governments and corporations, including domain name registrars, ISPs, data carriers and other and infrastructure providers. Everyone who uses the web benefits from such independence, and should promote and support it wherever possible.

Griff

Gordon adds:

As Crass fans it would be downright disrespectful to their legacy if we didn't take some kind of stand against this Orwellian nonsense.
I fully support Griff's decision to make access to Wikileaks available from our site, and it may be worth pointing out that Wikileaks own Facebook page is still active(for the moment anyway) so you can always check it out there.

As Crass would say: "QUESTION EVERYTHING....FREE YOURSELF....BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!!"

Say NO to Digital McCarthyism!!

~Winter Wassailing~#2: 'Welcome Christmas' by Love Spirals Downwards

A Selection Of Seasonal Songs In The ~Streetlamp~ Stylee!

It's a trip to the Dark Side for our Christmas selection today with the enchanting sound of 'Welcome Christmas' by Love Spirals Downwards.
Actually, that's probably a little unfair, for you see Love Spirals Downwards often get categorised rather lazily as a Goth band when in fact they are more of an Ethereal Dreampop band. Let's face it, a quick listen to their music will tell you that they sound absolutely nothing like, say, Bauhaus or Alien Sex Fiend but that they do have the mercurial shimmer of our beloved Cocteau Twins. In fact if I have any criticism of Love Spirals Downwards, it's that maybe they follow the Cocteau's blueprint a little to closely....from the echoey drum machine, to the heavily reverbed and distorted guitars to the octave leaping vocals....BUT, I would much rather live in a world where bands sound like the Cocteau Twins than live in one where they all sound like Oasis, Kings Of Leon or Kasabian!!

And so to their fine festive offering, and it's a cover of 'Welcome Christmas' from the soundtrack to The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. When the song begins it immediately sounds as though vocalist Suzanne Perry is doing the whole Elizabeth Fraser bit and just singing in nonsense tongues, but no....she is actually singing exactly what writer Theodor Seuss Geisel(aka Dr Suess of course!) wrote verbatim; "Fah who foraze// Dah who doraze// Welcome Christmas, come this way!" Built around a descending guitar structure from partner Ryan Lum, Suzanne delivers a breathtaking vocal jumping from lower case honey-glazed Indie murmur to full-on choral afflatus, like a palatable Diamanda Galas. I feel convinced that after you've heard her singing on this track you'll want track down more of their own compositions and pretty soon Suzanne will be one of your most cherished voalists. Mark my words!


This is a wonderful Christmas song that sounds both heartwarmingly spiritual and Winterily Paganistic at the same time. A song from a children's story delivered in such an adult fashion that it taps into the inner child in all of us, and also manages to sound as though it could have been written and recorded in any time period; from the modern era all the way back to almost medieval times.

Christmas....Welcome indeed!!

~Gordon~

~Winter Wassailing~#1: 'Just Like Christmas' by Low

A Selection Of Seasonal Songs In The ~Streetlamp~ Stylee!

And so begins our seasonal look at some Christmas ditties that, normally, we wouldn't dream of writing about in a month of Sundays, but...as we find ourselves snowlocked by the current whiteout we thought we'd gather around the fire, mulled wine in hand, roasting our chestnuts and getting into a Morecambe-and-Wise-Porridge-Val-Doonican-Christmas-Special kind of a mood.

And what better place to start than with what maybe the favourite Christmas song of all time according to the ~Streetlamp~ gang; why yes, 'tis none other than 'Just Like Christmas' by Low!
Now this is exactly what we need on a freezing December night like this....something warm, glowing, intoxicating and slightly chewy.


From the pitter-patter drum shuffle of the intro(drums courtesy of vocalist Mimi Parker....Yes, a female singing drummer! What's not to love already!) we are into a glacial slice of Christmas yearning. What's so wonderful about this song is the sense if travel, and the expectation of it's outcome. Like perennial gruff voiced middle aged musical Horlicks 'Driving Home For Christmas' by Chris Rea, this is a song about getting back to loved ones, friends and family to share that one special day, not even necessarily in any kind of religious or spiritual sense, just that magical feeling that you really have to spend Christmas Day with the ones you love. The song manages to convey both melancholy and optimism in the same breath.
The shuffling beat of the song also alludes to a sense of motion, to a sense of travel, to a sense that everything is going to be alright, in fact damn right magical, once we get to our destination and we meet with our friends for that one joyous day.
Unlike so many Christmas songs, even some of the very best ones, this song never gets to saccharinal or gooey, and doesn't feature any terrible 'Hallmark' imagery within the lyrics.


The band Low hail from Dulluth, Minnesota and have that rural, pastoral feel that bands from New York or California seem unable to replicate properly. They gained some degree of fame when Robert Plant chose to cover their songs, probably seeing them as purveyors of pure Americana. Often rather unfairly dumped in the 'Slowcore' category, Low deserve to heard by a bigger audience, so Robert Plant's patronage was very welcome.
And...as we've already stated, we can't recommend this song highly enough....a possible contender for our most treasured Christmas song EVER!
And if you don't like it, then you simply don't like music! Or Christmas!

~Gordon~

Griff says; The heat of the moment

I've got just the sort of thing that I like to write about on The Streetlamp tonight, and that's an artist that I can't really write about. And the reason I can't properly write about them is that I know very little about them. So welcome to The Streetlamp's latest obscure, yet strangely gifted, music find; Spaceheater. Here's what I have gleaned from my extensive research (30 minutes on the internet);

Spaceheater released the four track Great Suspension EP on bandcamp on 27 November,

Spaceheater is essentially Elsa (pictured), who wrote the songs and plays all the instruments and is also the drummer of The Penfield Mood Organ, a post-punk garage band from Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

According to Elsa's, currently fairly minimalist, blog she recorded the songs last year around Thanksgiving.

Errrmm... that's it.

Well almost. I should also mention that Spaceheater's music is a wonderful, lo-fi, garage concoction which should appeal to admirers of Tiger Trap or The Shop Assistants. Like the latter, Elsa is able to switch nicely between 'hard' and 'soft' modes, as the following two tracks will demonstrate.







I hope you enjoyed those as much as I have. If you want to download the Great Suspension EP you can do so at bandcamp. Alternatively, as bandcamp now rather meanly limit artists number of free downloads, you can download it here.

Griff
xx

My Weekend Crush

The best adjective I can think of to describe Julianne Moore is womanly. Now, I don’t mean this in any sort of outmoded domestic or pejoratively girlie way. I mean it in the way that her face, with its elegant concaves and sweeping curves, reminds me of everything that I love about women. That hair, those freckles – I could stare at them forever. Still, the most astounding thing about Ms. Moore is that she seems to be growing more beautiful with age. In fact, today is her 50th birthday and I have to say she has never looked more lovely. Her features seem to be both focusing and mellowing at the same time. It’s delicious.

Also delicious is Julianne’s obvious openness to playing gay. She has been not once, not twice, not even three times, but four times a lesbian lady for the big screen in “The Hours,” “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee,” “Chloe” and “The Kids Are All Right.” Throughout her career she has been drawn more to the complicated, messy character studies than neat, mainstream popcorn pulp. The results aren’t always perfect, but they are usually pretty interesting. And even if they’re not, well, we always have that glorious face to make everything seem better than all right. Happy weekend, all.

Oh, fudge it

My apologies. I had my hands full last night wrangling Padma Lakshmi & Co. for my “Top Chef All-Stars” recap for AfterEllen later today. And then my laptop came down with a nasty virus that delayed everything this morning. Oh, December, already with the illnesses. Now, I know I talk a lot about my mmm, Padma, Mmm. But she is, of course, not the only Kitchen Goddess I worship. I also like to lay sweet, chocolatey offerings at the feet (well, actually bosom) of the simply scrumptious Nigella Lawson. The thing that is so wonderful about Nigella (besides, clearly, that bosom) is her unfettered embrace of the concept of food porn. No one licks chocolate off a slotted spoon like Nigella. I mean, who else can make pouring condensed milk deliciously obscene? So, with that, please enjoy Nigella making chocolate pistachio fudge. If that doesn’t put you in the, um, holiday spirit, nothing will.

p.s. OK, for the hold outs, here is something else to lift those, um, spirits. You’re welcome.

Why don't you come on over

Now, the other day some of you seemed seriously perplexed at my lack of Brittana/Heya in the SGALGG co-workers post. But come on, kittens, you know I love me some Brittana. I mean I really, really love them. Like more than a person my age should. Like the breakdown of why I watch “Glee” is 50 percent Brittana, 40 percent Jane Fucking Lynch, 9 percent Kurt and 1 percent everyone else. Which, of course, is why this Brittany/Artie pairing (Bartie, or more accurately, Barfie) is starting to really piss me off. They make no sense – none. Brittany hit on Artie to make Santana jealous. Artie still likes Tina. Artie and Brittany have less than zero in common. Remember the no-no boobies finger? You only deny the ones you love. And how could we forget the intertwined pinky fingers? Never, that’s how. And then this episode gave us the all-powerful beckoning finger. Oh, Santana Lopez, what you can do with just one little finger.

[Hat tip, stace_ for finding The Beckoning gif!]

You know, I don’t expect a lot from “Glee.” I mean, I do I expect ridiculously elaborate musical numbers, out-of-nowhere character developments and the continued creepification of Mr. Shue. I watch it for fun and escapism and jazz hands, as I’ve said so many times before. But sometimes, just sometimes, I hope against hope that “Glee” can be more. It has done more, particularly with Kurt (though, come on guys, give that poor kid a boyfriend already). So why not let Brittana be that for the gals, too? Why force them into awkward and unnecessary straight pairings? I mean, Santana and Puck at least make a little sense. They’re both just hot and horny teenagers. But Brittany and Artie? That’s just a deliberate poke in the eye. Look, Ryan Murphy, I know you know that us gay ladies can be sustained on subtext alone for seemingly forever. We’re use to table scraps and sweeps month smooches. But that doesn’t mean that’s all you have to give us. We deserve more, so much more. Though, I am grateful for the ass slap.

Come on, Mr. Murphy, we’ve been very good this year. I think we deserve a big box of Brittana in our stocking this year.