Griff says; 'Rawr! It's Lady Lioness.'

With the release on bandcamp this month of her third album,'The Glimmer and the Gleam', the time is ripe to introduce you all to the delicate, lo-fi, intimacy of 'Lady Lioness'.Modestly self-described as sounding; "Like cats fighting, babies crying, children whining and tragedy making itself known in a playful manner", 'Lady Lioness' is the solo project of singer/songwriter Erin Cavellier (pictured) who hails from Burlington, Vermont in the US. We here at Streetlamp HQ would, perhaps more accurately,describe her gentle and reflective song-writing style as wistful, acoustic, folk-pop.

In this latest album, as in her previous two releases; 'Where the Current Goes' and 'A Cub and a Den', Erin's distinctive and slightly haunted-sounding vocal accompanies her own light and minimalist playing to create music of genuine poignancy. To see what I mean, I recommend you have a listen (below) to her cover of Goffin and King's classic 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow?'(from 'Where the Current Goes'). I must admit here that, sentimental fool that I am, I personally find almost any recording of this song heart-rending but Erin's stripped-down and fragile ukulele and vocal version is just agonisingly touching in its simplicity. We also include below for your listening pleasure the breathy and sorrowful 'A Cricket Song' from 'The Glimmer and the Gleam'. Finally, as a special treat, we also have available the sweet and playful video for 'Tag, You're It!' (from 'A Cub and a Den') to show you the poppier side of Lady Lioness and to demonstrate that despite all of the serious stuff above Erin's a blithe and sunny wee thing really.

Thanks to icavellier for the video.

Like all of my recommendations on 'Streetlamp', 'Lady Lioness' makes all of her songs available as freely downloadable MP3s. She has also recorded songs in the past as 'Paws without Claws' and as part of the duo 'Boat Castle'. This music is also freely available.

If you want to make friends, Lady Lioness is on Facebook and Myspace.

My Weekend Crush

If you went to movies in the mid-90s, you probably left a theater more than once thinking Julia Ormond was the most beautiful woman in the world. She has the kind of face that statues envy. There is something so classically British about her, that combination of strength and refinement. Also, I’m a sucker for that dark-hair, pale-skin combo (blame Wonder Woman those damn hot pants). For a moment in the 90s it seemed Julia would be our next great big screen heroine. She starred alongside the biggest boys in the business: Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Sean Connery. And then, like a puff of smoke, she was gone.

Of course she wasn’t really gone, she just stopped being the flavor of the month. But she never stopped being talented or gorgeous. In fact, over the years her beauty has deepened. And again, in true British fashion, she has let time ripen her instead of fought it needle and scalpel. Those lines are earned, they speak of past loves and lessons learned. Experience, my friends, is sexy. It means you know things, have seen things, are good at things. One of those things is flirting with Eve Best on “Nurse Jackie.” The scene from this week’s episode crackled with delicious sexual tension. See, she’s still got it. Happy weekend, all.

~Kitten Wine~ #3 "The Cleaners From Venus"

Celebrating The Best Indiepop Records #3:
"Going To England" by The Cleaners From Venus



Escape....

That's what all the best Pop Music is about.....escape. Escape from the drudgery of real life and the grind-to-five. Brain Eno once said that Pop Music allows us to create other worlds, and that's exactly what Martin Newell and Giles Smith did on their wonderful 1987 album 'Going To England' under the guise of The Cleaners From Venus.
"For the next 38 minutes you will be England" boasts the back sleeve....and we are!! But not contemporary England, nor even the England of 1987, but the England of Antonioni's 'Blow Up', of 'The Knack....And How To Get It', of 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush', of Biba, of Mary Quant...
Come on!! Jump aboard and we'll take a trip to a better place....a place we can escape!!


Martin Newell

I can't recall how I stumbled upon The Cleaners From Venus but I am forever glad that I did. The CFV are the brainchild of Martin Newell who, on the back sleeve at least, looks like a cross between Withnail and Jerry Sadowitz. Thankfully he sings like neither! He also plays all the guitars and is helped out by Giles Smith who co-writes a couple of songs and plays all keyboards.
That's the introductions over....let's listen to the album....

The first three tracks of the album all feature girls names in the titles; 'Julie Profumo', 'Living With Victoria Grey' and 'Clara Bow'....all three are WONDERFUL. 'Julie Profumo' sets the tone of the album beautifully; chiming guitars, a driven rhythm and Martin's scene-setting lyrics "Cos this ain't the Sixties// and there's nothing to lose// and Julie Profumo is singing the blues". Oh, but it IS the Sixties surely!! Not the real, probably-quite-dull-really Sixties, but the Sixties from an Eighties rose-tinted nostalgic perspective. And then come's the beautiful refrain accentuating that this is all about escape, "And some day soon I will forget this junkyard// Take you with me if you're going that way// It's a changing world and let me tell you one thing// Time is wasting, shadows waiting...love will slip away". YEAH!!! I'm sold already.
I'm not sure if 'Victoria Grey' is a real person or not, but the dreampop backing that drapes around 'Living With Victoria Grey' brings her to vibrant life. It seems to be a song about a dalliance with a celebrity....not the 15-minutes-of-fame-nonsense celebrities we have today, but from a time when celebrities seemed to fall from Outer Space and were immediate royalty.
Clara Bow IS a real person of course, but back when I first bought this album I had no idea who she was...now she's one of my most cherished icons. The titular song reveals the desire to reach out to the unobtainable, "Clara Bow....I'd love to hear you talking//......but I can't". It may not actually be about Clara Bow of course, merely a metaphor for unrequited love....and it's all played out to gentle bossa-nova beat.
There are two other songs on Side One, but we'll come back to them shortly.



Side Two begins with the kind of faux-Sixties 'BIGPOP' that The Maisonettes and even The Style Council specialised in, complete with Blackpool Tower Ballroom keyboards; 'What's Going On In Your Heart' is like modern day Motown Miracles, whilst 'Girl On A Swing' contains one of the album's best lyrics, "I heard a whisper today// That the world would end on a weekday// Maybe we're free...to take a long weekend".
'A Mercury Girl' is a more gentler track, all tambourines and pianos before another highlight; a song that is SO 1960s it features a sample from a Beatles fan-club-only Christmas flexi, has Captain Sensible on lead guitar and is called 'Ilya Kuryakin Looked At Me'....as the song fades out John Lennon's dismembered voice bids us "Goodnight to ye's all and God bless ye's"....this would seem an appropriate place for the album to end, but there's one last track, 'You Must Be Out Of My Mind', a song that manages to be both trippy and poignant at the same time as it longs for a better world....like the past, or our melancholic image of the past.



So....a good album then? Well, yeah, it would be....if that were all there was to it....BUT, it becomes a BRILLIANT album because of the two songs I haven't mentioned yet...the two songs that round off Side One. If you've stuck with me this far then please keep reading as I'm about to go into PASSIONATE mode!!!

The final track on Side One would elevate this album to GENIUS status on it's own as I think it is ABSOLUTELY WONDROUS!!! The song is called 'Armistice Day' and is a deeply poignant track that recalls Private George from Blackadder Goes Forth and his sepia-hued tales of the Leapfrogging Tiddlywinkers From The Golden Summer of 1914. It's a song about the before and after of World War One, how a generation who basked in the wonders of the early 20th Century were sent off to mindless slaughter in a grotesque class war situation.
The song is very similar to The Revolving Paint Dream's 'In The Afternoon' which I've previously enthused over....the same beat, the same cyclical guitar pattern....you can actually sing 'In The Afternoon' over the top of it....but it's an equally astonishing song on it's own. Check these lyrics(my favourites on the album), "Sister mine// Some damson wine// Where the woods were white in Wintertime// Drink it down and remember how// You could not cry then, but can cry now// They have all gone away.....Armistice Day!!" Then comes the haunting "There is nothing that can make men happy like the sound of a cannon's roar// There is nothing that can make men happy like a war....LIKE A WAR!!" This song is just utterly magical, evoking a world where the ghosts of Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke and John McRae look back in anger, 'J'Accuse' style.

There are songs in my (admittedly vast) record collection that I love, there are songs that I cannot imagine life without, and then there are about 20 or so which transcend all platitudes and become part of my DNA....and the last song to be covered here is one of them. The song is called 'Follow The Plough' and maybe, to the casual or first-time listener, you hear nothing special about it...so let's go back in time and set it in some kind of context:
It was a Bank Holiday Monday in 1988 and I spent the entire day sitting in a girl's bedroom as we drunk ourselves IQ-less on cheap cider and Liebfraumilch(gird your stomach gentle reader!!). We played record after record after record; some oldie classics like Aretha, The Eagle's 'Desperado', 'Heart On My Sleeve' by Gallacher & Lyle(stop sniggering!!) plus modern day favourites like The Lilac Time, The House Of Love, Raymonde, The Shop Assistants etc. Every now and then I'd go back and put this track on....it's a song about deep infatuation, "When I came to meet you now// I followed you like a seagull follows the plough"....the lyrics cut deep as I was infatuated to the point of madness. I would have followed her EVERYWHERE!! The chiming guitar, the wordless backing vocals, the occasional strident chord....all combined to form the headiest of brews. And it doesn't let up, "You are before me// You are behind me// It was predestined that you would find me".
Listening to it now, I'm back in that bedroom, the chords swirling through the air like her intoxicating perfume, the vocals hanging like her cigarette smoke, the empty gnawing in my stomach...kiss me, for fuck's sake just KISS ME!!! The song becomes TOO personal, too painful....but that sweet pain, when unrequited love remains forever unrequited. Memories remain as hollow as the cold, greasy pizza boxes we used to soak up the alcohol....until this song is played and I can vividly recall the temperature in her room, the colour of her eyeshadow, the coarse, scratchy texture of her black cardigan....everything becomes alive again in the 3 minutes 43 seconds of this entrancing piece of music...........

You may think that this album is an odd choice to write about, but those last two songs mean this is an album I cannot live without. I don't play it often because it means too much....but when I do it becomes part of me...a part of my deepest memories, part of my beating heart.

Do you like music? Then you are of no use to me....music is not about 'like'....it is about LIFE, about LOVE, about PASSION...music is not about one thing....IT IS EVERYTHING!!
If you haven't understood anything I've just said, then you don't like music at all.

.....................Leave your soul at the door on the way out.

~Gordon~

The gentleman in the picture that accompanies these tracks is Giles Smith.

You can hear 'Julie Profumo' at the Cleaners From Venus Myspace site here

Gender Fuck Thursday: Just One of the Guys

I’ve decided that my undying love for a woman in a tuxedo can be traced back to one distinct moment in time: The first time I saw the boob flash scene from “Just One of the Guys.” Don’t pretend you do not know what I am talking about, fellow pervs. That one simple scene rocked my preteen I-had-no-idea-I-was-gay-yet world to its core. To. Its. Core.

[NSFW, naturally]

But I think I’m really getting ahead of myself here. In the past week Jezebel has lovingly paid homage to and interviewed the female director of “Just One of the Guys,” the 80s teen girl-in-drag comedy. Slyly subversive yet steadfastly silly, the story followed a pretty student reporter who thinks she is being passed over for boys, so then dresses like one to prove her point. I loved this movie. Part of it was that it was played on a seemingly unending loop on HBO. As a pre-internet kid, I found out about the birds and bees, in large part, from our family’s pirated HBO signal. Let me tell you, learning about The Gay from premium cable can make for many, many confused years.

But that’s why a movie like “Just One of the Guys” meant so much to me, even though my full realization would come years later. It fucked with gender while acknowledging gender inequality and engendered my continual confusion of Ralph Macchio with a dapper butch girl.

As an aspiring writer (yes, even back then), I sympathized intrinsically with Terry’s predicament. The injustice! The sexism! As an aspiring gay (but, again, it took me forever to figure it out), I was unmistakably drawn to Joyce Hyser more in drag. Not because she looked like a boy, but because she looked like a really cute girl in boys’ clothing.

Which brings me back to the boob flash. Holy shit, the boob flash. Teen movies have never been shy about their lusty intentions and love of the jiggle. So a little skin is almost always to be expected. But the unexpectedly feminist narrative behind “Just One of the Boys” makes the scene so very powerful and so entirely unforgettable. In fact, at this moment, when declaring her femininity and love all at once, it almost seems a radical act. Also, damn, those are some really nice breasts. [Again, NSFW – but you know you can’t resist.]

p.s. Don’t even get me started about the Sherilyn Fenn and the sock scene down the pants scene. We could be here for days.

p.p.s. Joyce Hyser, call me. And bring the tux.

~Kitten Wine~ #2 "Emma's House" By The Field Mice

Celebrating The Best Indiepop Records #2: "Emma's House" E.P. by The Field Mice

"Where is that chaos that usually flows from me?"

How can a 7" 4-track EP contain all the clout, imagination, and life-affirming beauty of a triple LP concept album? Simple....when it's the "Emma's House" EP by The Field Mice, or Sarah Twelve to the anoraks!!
This is quite simply one of the GREATEST records ever made....I love it, I absolutely LOVE it!!! This is the record that soundtracked the golden Summer of 1989, the record that created a backdrop of warm twilights, giddy headrushes, broken hearts and melancholic longing.
Let's take it by the hand and walk to the top of the hill....the sun's just setting.......



Five to Six....somewhere it's always Five to Six, and Five to Six is the time I used to leave my house to walk the considerable distance to the only bus-stop in my village where I could get the bus to HER town......and on title track 'Emma's House'; "Five to six that's what the time is//Where you are...." I used to sing this refrain every time I walked that bus-stop. On the way I would pass a run down old house that we always used to believe was haunted; "Emma's house is empty//So why do I call it Emma's House?" The song sounds like pure Summer, strummy chiming guitars, the bass playing a melody of it's own(á la The Marine Girls), and a really primitive drum machine. It can't be any exaggeration that the Summers used to be better when we were young, but all the times I walked to that bus-stop, it only ever rained once!



Since my childhood, and through my teens, adolescence and twenties, I was a ludicrously light sleeper. A goldfish could break wind downstairs and I'd suddenly be wide awake. Whenever I stayed at HER house, I'd spend the entire night lying wide awake beside HER. This is where 'When You Sleep' comes in......
"When you sleep// I listen to you breathing//When you sleep//I listen as the air(pause)....leaves you". As we will discover later, it's the pauses that hammer the nails of heartbreak to the wall.
"I can't help feeling// This cannot last// I can't help feeling// You will break my heart(pause)...break my heart". The pessimists among you will know this experience only too well. If you've ever lay awake beside someone all night, you'll know how deep this song cuts, for it is at these moments that all doubts escalate, and this song captures that sense of hopelessness completely.



On Nick Cave's storming epic 'Do You Love Me', he growls mournfully one of the most downbeat lines imaginable; "I knew before I met her that I would lose her"....OUCH!!
And that could be said of 'The Last Letter'; easily one of the most heartbreaking songs EVER, I knew long before I ever met HER that there would come a time when I would have to turn to this song.
The melodic bass introduces us before a haunting(yet strangely upbeat) piano refrain drapes itself over the song. This is where songwriter Bob Wratten really comes into his own....this song is shot through with so much self-deprecation that the very timbre of his voice stabs you through the heart. The killer line that destroys me on every listen contains the single most heart rending pause; " I never was one// To try// I never was any good(pause)....was I?"
When SHE left, I knew it would become impossible for me to ever listen to this song again.....for a long time anyway. Even now, even though I love the song so much, I tremble before the power it has over me. It's a song I can only ever play if everything in my life is going well, a song of such incredible beauty that I can only wonder how empty my life would be had I never found it.



So what does that leave us with? The wistful coda of 'Fabulous Friend'; a vapour-trail, a faded Polaroid, a glance backwards, memory tail-lights fading....."She WAS my fabulous friend"(emphasis on the word 'was')....and YEAH, that's all SHE was....and this is only a 7" piece of vinyl with some songs on it, right?



It's a record like this that makes me despair of people whose lives aren't dominated by music, those for whom pop songs are mere aural wallpaper, who never feel the emotions of a strummed 12-string crackling and popping on the Dansette.

Emma's House may be empty......but now my heart is full.

~Gordon~

Wrapped around your finger

This is canon. This is not just a ship. This is pinky holding, head resting, sex is not dating maintext. Is it a tease? Of course. But everyone is very clearly in on the game. And, I’ll be completely honest, I love it. You see, I know Brittany and Santana will never be Rachel and Finn or Will and Emma. Nor would I really want them to because, come on, those couples are kind of boring. (Nothing against Lea Michele or Jayma Mays; they’re both delightful.) I’m just overjoyed at the subversive scrumptiousness of two popular cheerleaders secretly going at it like bunnies.

Of course, time will tell if all this teasing is just that, a tease. That Brittany and Santana have slept together is established. If we’ll ever see it, well, that’s entirely another.

Heather Morris (Brittany, or Ms. Dolphins Are Just Gay Sharks if you’re nasty), had some less than encouraging thoughts on the subject when she spoke with The Advocate:

On the big tease:
I’m with you because I’m always anticipating getting a script that’s going to be about our love story line, but I don’t think I ever will. Brittany and Santana are just best friends, and you know how sometimes best friends tickle each others’ arms and hold pinkies?

On if we’ll ever see Brittana makeout:
I don’t think so. I asked Ryan about that and he said there was no way. He said that since we’re a prime-time television show, he didn’t want to do that.

On the Brittany-Santana relationship:
It’s like Brittany’s a lost puppy dog and Santana’s her owner, so she follows Santana around and does whatever she tells her to do because she doesn’t know how to do things for herself. Naya and I have talked about their relationship, and we do think Brittany’s just dumb and crazy about Santana, like, “I’m her best friend and I love her so much!”

No way? Really, Ryan Murphy? Really? It’s not like broadcast television never shows women making out. In fact, around November and May it seems almost every female character comes down with a severe case of the Sapphicitis. But, whatever. It’s your show. Grumble.

That disappointment aside, what interests me most is Heather’s take on the Brittana dynamic. It’s that puppy dog love where you just want to touch and hold and possibly shag with your best friend constantly. Because, honey, that’s not how all best friends act – just pretty much the gay ones.

So keep on holding those pinkies, Brittana. And keep on leaning on your other’s shoulders. We know it’s real. So there.

Start getting real

Oh, kittens. This makes me so, so…tired. I’m already tired. Not that these gals don’t all seem perfectly nice and maybe genuine and possibly even hot. It’s just the packaging, the promotion, the pretty much everything makes me want to go eat a sandwich. In fact, watch this while I go make a sandwich.

I mean, how I’m not sure if you caught it but the preview stresses that these are REAL! LIVE! LESBIANS! No, really, real lesbians – real ones. We swear, they’re real. Look, they even kiss girls. On camera. REAL! But then they pick possibly the least real place on the planet (no offense, L.A., but you know it’s true) to set their show. To wit, almost every cast member – except for Papi Rose – is in this business we call show. So, yeah, just like every other lesbian you know.

But while the behind-the-scenes preview is one thing, the cast bios on the Showtime website are quite another. What aspiring romance novelist wrote this stuff? “Tracy is every girl's dream…” “Jill is the girl all the guys want, but only one girl has.” “But Rose is altar-skittish and may be too wild to be tamed by one flame.” Now that’s some “Sweet Valley High”-worthy writing right there.

Also, when the preview wasn’t emphasizing its realness, it was pumping up its drama. Did you know there’ll be drama? Girls, together, lesbian girls, tattoos – DRA-MAAAAA! But then what would you expect from the true story of six lesbians who live in Los Angeles and have their lives taped for Showtime to find out what happens when lesbians stop being polite and start getting real.

Other interesting statement from the promo:
1. “This has never been done before.”
Um, yes it has. “Curl Girls.” “Gimme Sugar.” Yeah, it really has.
2. “I have faith that the show will really accurately portray who we are and want to celebrate us.”
Wait, you saw “The L Word,” right? I mean, especially that last season – the one with the dead girl in the pool. Celebrate!
3. “I could be fucked.”
So could we all, so could we all.

The only really good thing about promo is it never mentioned Mama Chaiken by name. But they did mentioned it’s “from the creator of ‘The L Word’” twice, so that pretty much negates any semblance of humility. In the end, I’m just don’t feel like I need to see the lives of a bunch of pretty, well-heeled, finely polished L.A. lesbians to in any way validate, illuminate or elucidate my life. Will I watch to see cute girls kissing? Maybe. What can I say, my deeply shallow side sometimes wrests control of the remote away from my dorky PBS side. But both sides insist we fast forward through the drama.

p.s. I know this is probably a terrible thing to say and she is undoubtedly a lovely person, but Nikki (the non-tattooed blonde one) looks like she wants to EAT OUR SOULS. Seriously, she wants to suck them out of our eye sockets and spread them on toast. Toast which she will then feed her dog because, come on, that woman hasn’t eaten a carb since the Clinton administration.

~Kitten Wine~#1: Whaam Records 'All For Art...And Art For All'

The First In A Series Of Blogs Celebrating The Indiepop That Has Shaped Our Lives:

#1: 'All For Art...And Art For All'; Whaam Records Compilation(June 1984):

Compliation albums! Never really given the same kudos as 'proper' studio albums or even 'Live' albums, and yet....there have been a few Compilation albums that have surpassed even the greatest of all studio albums; Lenny Kaye's 'Nuggets' of course, the magisterial 'Pillows & Prayers' and virtually anything on Sarah Records or Bam-Caruso.
But, as far as I am concerned, the most important Comp in my record buying lifetime simply has to be Dan Treacy's Whaam Records catch-all 'All For Art....And Art For All'. This record is one of the very few that ABSOLUTELY changed my life!!

'All For Art....' was released in the Summer of 1984, but I didn't find it till the December of that year. I was going through a 60s psychedelic phase at the time, and when I found this in the record racks I assumed with it's images of Andy Warhol, band names like The Laughing Apple, and song titles like 'Only The Sky Children Know' that this was a collection of obscure 60s tracks. On first play, when I realised it was a contemporary collection, I was a little disappointed, but very quickly the thrill of the music took me over.

This album is bookended by TWO of my Top 10 Favourite songs OF ALL TIME....two EPICS that still make my heart flutter and my head reel furiously....but we'll get to them later.

First, let's deal with The Mixers....their first track on the album, 'Never Find Time' thwacks along driven by a snapping snare that conjures up a tooth-coroding mix of The Jam and The Honeycombs...and is every bit as sweet. Later they serve up 'Love Hurts' laced through with acidic Lalala's....a song SO 1960s it's wearing Cuban Heels.
Next up, The Page Boys.....and a song called 'Honey'. Anachronistic contemporary drum machines and Casio-like keyboards are swept away by a recurring 'Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah' motif(starting to get the picture?). A song that manages to sound 60s and 80s in the same three minutes.

Tangerine Experience's 'Only The Sky Children Know' probably sounds exactly like you imagine. Like some huge Prog Rock anthem played by sussed hep-cats....it's a gigantic, multi-hued explosion of psychedelic wibblery.
It's left up to The Pastels to follow it up. Aaaaah....The Pastels!!! Here sounding SO young, pale and undernourished it's a wonder social services weren't called. 'I Wonder Why' is a song so fey you want to give it a mug of soup! But it's beauty is every bit as comforting.
Ex-Swell Map Jowe Head follows up with 'Lolita', a weird melange of whistling, fractured vocals and erratic guitar playing. It's the kind of song that could probably give David Tibet nightmares. He appears later with a track called 'February' which is even stranger. Like an underwater medieval folk song....it took me YEARS to appreciate his contributions to the album, I was probably just too young at the time.
The Direct Hits contribute two of the very best tracks on the album, 'Girl In The Picture' and 'What Killed Aleister Crowely'. 'GITP' is a beautifully crafted pop song of pure unrequited love as the vocalist sits in his room fantasising about the titular Girl. It could also be about stalking!! I love the swooshy phasing effect on this track. '...Aleister Crowely...' is another perfectly produced mini-masterpiece which ends with the threatening "I can see through Aleister Crowely's eyes..." I have to confess I didn't know who Crowely was at the time I bought the album, and finding out obviously changed the entire song for me.


Dan Treacy's hand is, obviously, all over this record, from producing it, designing the sleeve, running the label, and being the main man in The Television Personalities and it is they who bring Side One to an end with the wondrous 'The Dream Inspires'. I've often wondered if this is a song about Oxford, but it is SO good that who really cares?

On to Side Two:
Kicking off with The Mad Hatters, 'Dancing With The Dead' is almost pure 1967...in fact the intro is reminiscent of (the then psychedelic) Status Quo's 'Ice In The Sun'.
Acoustic strumming, a harp, and the most tremulous voice imaginable...yes, it's Jed Dmochowski and his beautifully fragile lament 'I'm Sad'.
Then comes The Laughing Apple and the brilliant, vibrant, amphetamine hit of 'Wouldn't You', featuring on vocals Alan McGee....yes, THAT Alan McGee. The Laughing Apple would later change it's name to Biff Bang Pow and re-record 'Wouldn't You' in a rather over-produced fashion. This is the better version.
The Gifted Children are next with the brilliant 'My Favourite Films', a song that manages to namecheck Malcolm MacDowell, Albert Finney, Tom Courtney, Oliver Reed, Carol White, Wendy Craig and Rita Tushingham. What? No Terence Stamp or Julie Christie?

Which leaves us with the BIG TWO!
The opening track on this album is 'In The Afternoon' by The Revolving Paint Dream; this is, as I've said, one of my favourite songs of all time. It begins quietly enough with what sounds like the oldest, tinniest drum machine, punctuated with occasional LOUD snare whacks. On top of this is a cyclical guitar pattern, and then the vocals kick in; "Dont Go..." they beg, DRENCHED in echo and reverb. The verse builds and builds until it collapses under it's own overwroughtness into the chorus "In the afternoon....we made love" The song is full of snatches of impassioned pleading, "Sometimes feelings go beyond words....and I don't feel real at all", "Maybe I could make it better?", "Now this lust was always love" "When she goes away....." Eventually the voices become so overlapping and echoey it begins to sound like a Gregorian Chant and becomes so loud in the mix, it distorts....or that could just be my copy! The Revolving Paint Dream would later release a proper album of their own with a re-recorded version of this track complete with female lead vocals....but THIS is the ABSOLUTE mutt's plums!!! It can still make me cry even just writing about it.


The album ends with another Television Personalities track 'Happy All The Time', and WHAT an incredible song!! "She paints an earthquake" Dan mutters at the start before we're off into another cyclical guitar pattern, heavy drums and weird keyboard effects. It's a song about unhappiness, maybe even depression; "Ha ha ha said the clown// As he fell down// And the audience laughed and cheered//But they never saw the tears" sings Dan before the mighty chorus; "And I'm just looking for rainbows//In a star filled sky//And I'm just waiting for the sun to shine//I remember somebody told me//That God is yours and mine//But nobody ever told me that pigs could fly".
After about three minutes the song ends, then comes a bunch of weird noises, the sound of a tape being rewound, and then three false re-starts before the song goes back into the chorus. If Jean Luc Godard ever produced a pop record, THIS is what it would sound like. The false starts and weird edits give the song a poignancy that has stuck with me for almost 25 years now.

This album would always make my list of Top 10 Albums Of All Time, even if it just had those two tracks on it.
The album has never been properly re-issued on CD, but a grab-bag of all of Whaam! Records output was released under the title of 'Whaam Bam Thank You Dan' which contains a good 75% of the tracks that appeared on this album.
You can download it here
I advise you SERIOUSLY to do so immediately!!

~Gordon~

PS: If some of these lyrics are wrong then I apologise, but that's what they've always sounded like to me!!!

UPDATE: The two songs by The Mixers on this album can be heard in full on their Myspace page: here

Griff Says; "Wild Honey. Me Gusta!"

Given the ideals and philosophy of this blog, now seems like a good time to tell you about the latest project from 'Wild Honey’.

This month they have released a new song; ‘Prevent the Road from Being Buried by the Sand’ (listen to it on their website) and have also been playing live as part of the presentation of La Doropaedia´s new issue.

La Doropaedia is a thematic fanzine that features articles, songs and pictures around a single topic. This new issue is about the concept of the Commons. For this issue, 'Wild Honey’ have provided ‘Prevent the Road from Being Buried by the Sand’ ,a song based on this idea, that was written, recorded and mixed in less than a week.

'Wild Honey’ is essentially the project of twee-pop/indie-folk music genius Guillermo Farré (pictured below) and his group of friends and is based in Madrid, Spain.

Guillermo says of ‘Prevent the Road from Being Buried by the Sand’:

“I had to study what Commons really was, a legal and philosophical concept hard to include in a song. What I liked about it was that it has roots in the idea of collective works and in the concept of shared goods and services, which I think is present in many Woody Guthrie songs (and in many other protest songs from that era, of course). I tried to give the song a twist putting it into a different context, writing about the end of the feudalism and the moment when people in villages started to manage their own lands.

In the end, I tried to mix a Woody Guthrie song with a Joe Meek style production, keeping the acoustic guitar but filling everything with noises and tremoloed guitars.”



Here at ‘The Streetlamp’ HQ the idea of a song that mixes Woody Guthrie with Joe Meek makes us quite weak at the knees. We hope you’ll be similarly smitten. For a taster of the ‘Wild Honey’ sound check out the video below (featuring Guillermo, Anita Steinberg and Cristina Gomez).The featured song ‘Isabella’ is track 8 from Wild Honey’s debut album; ‘Epic Handshakes And A Bear Hug’ (released 29 October 2009) which can be downloaded free from their ‘bandcamp’ site.

Thanks to lainformacion.com for the video.



If you enjoyed that and, like me, can’t get enough of sunny folk pop featuring; glockenspiel, ukulele, and whistling then have a listen to two more songs from the same album.

If you want to make friends, then Wild Honey are also on Facebook and Myspace.

Seeing (RED)

I have had very involved, very sweaty dreams that did not result in as much wish fulfillment as this picture. Meryl Streep with Penelope Cruz , no check that – a topless Penelope Cruz. Oh, swoon. And they’re making beautiful picture together for a good cause, namely the international (RED) campaign to fight AIDS in Africa. But it doesn’t stop there. Penelope brought a bunch of her friends together (along with the incomparable Ms. Streep), to help her in her guest editing stint of the May 2010 issue of Vogue Paris. I want to go to there.

To be a fly on that wall. I realized, while studiously pouring over the photo, that all of the assembled actresses have played gay except, I believe, Gwyneth Paltrow (though she cross-dressed in “Shakespeare in Love,” for what that’s worth). So that knowledge makes the pairing even more delicious.

How are we supposed to process all the gorgeous in this picture?

(Kate Winslet & Penelope Cruz)

In this picture Gwyneth is working hard to make amends for not having played gay before.

(Gwyneth Paltrow & Penelope Cruz)

This picture is a perfect example of how a T-Shirt should be worn. Seriously, take notes.

(Naomi Watts)

I can’t wait to see her kiss Annette Bening, even if this picture makes Julianne looks like a lost waif in a wind tunnel.

(Julianne Moore)

And finally, this picture just makes me want to hug Penelope for bringing this much pretty together in one place. Also, for not wearing pants.

(Penelope Cruz)

If I must see red this Monday, this is truly the best possible way.

Os Últimos Embalos da Disco - The Last Days of Disco

Sinopse:

Nova York, início dos anos 80. A era disco está chegando ao fim. Em uma das mais badaladas discotecas da cidade, um grupo de jovens se encontra, dança e se diverte. Charlotte Pingress (Kate Beckinsale) e Alice Kinnon (Chloë Sevigny) são recém-formadas e trabalham em uma editora. À noite, procuram novos amores nas pistas de dança. Alice está de olho em Tom Platt (Robert Sean Leonard), um advogado ambientalista que acaba de romper com a namorada, e no publicitário Jimmy Steinway (Mackenzie Astin), mas seu jeito tímido e conservador não a ajuda muito. Em contrapartida, Charlotte é sexy e extrovertida, no entanto vive dando conselhos duvidosos para a amiga. Quando decidem dividir um apartamento (juntamente com Holly) os conflitos começam e cada uma passa a procurar o seu próprio caminho.

Título Original: The Last Days of Disco
Título Traduzido: Os Últimos Embalos da Disco
Lançamento: 1998
País de Origem:EUA
Gênero: Drama
Áudio:Inglês
Legenda: Português
Duração: 114min
Tamanho: 405,87MB

Qualidade: TV-Rip
Formato: RMVB Legendado

My Weekend Blogiversary

So tomorrow marks my fourth blogiversary. Yep, folks, I’ve been at this for four fucking years. Dayum. They say if you give a bunch of monkeys with typewriters long enough eventually they’ll give you Shakespeare. Well, seems I need some more time with my keyboard. But, hey, it’s good to have goals. My first year, I thanked everyone from all over this big, crazy world who comes to visit every day. My second year, I wrote a completely unsolicited FAQ. Last year, OK, last year I was too busy drooling over Yvonne Strahovski in a tank top to be bothered to commemorate any dumb anniversary. But this year, I’ll address what is one of my most frequently e-mailed questions: Will you post a picture of yourself? The short answer: No. The longer answer: Still no, but that doesn’t mean I won’t at some point – maybe.

There are several reasons for this, but mostly it’s that I am an intensely private person. I was a very shy child, grew into pretty shy teenager and have spent my adult life – through chosen profession and personal work – trying to overcome the inclination. But, believe me, it’s hardwired. Still simple aversion to the spotlight isn’t the only reason. I think when you don’t know what the author looks like, it make you focus more on the words. Now, this could be good or bad depending on the quality of the words. But visuals are so powerful, they make it easy to project personality and prejudge. And finally, I stay anonymous because everyone loves a mystery. Using one’s imagination is hot.

But, in the interest of further disclosure, here are five true things about me that you may (though more than likely may not) have known:

1. I am Asian-American (but then, I’ve mentioned that before).
2. I have long hair. No, really long. OK, not Crystal Gayle long, but long.
3. I wear at least four pieces of jewelry every day: Three earrings and a silver ring I’ve had since high school.
4. I never wear dresses. The last time was to a friend’s wedding – we are no longer close.
5. I have pointy ears. Not Spock pointy, just friendly woodland elf pointy.

So there you have it – a little more about me, your humble host. As always, these kinds of milestones make me stop and reflect. I’ve spent the same amount of time writing this blog as I did in college. Man, you’d think I’d get a diploma or at the very least a bronzed beer bong or something. But, in all seriousness, it still boggles my little mind to think that what started as a whim four years ago has grown into this. I am continually and eternally thankful that you come back day after day and share your stories and humor and disagreements and joy with me. So, thank you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for emailing. Thank you for following me on Twitter. Four more years? We’ll see. But it has been my great pleasure to have you along with me for the last four.

Griff says; 'Check out CLLCT! Do it now!

So, where do we begin? With introductions I suppose. It seems rather formal but we'd like you to know who we are and what we're about and, who knows, perhaps in time you'll grow to love us. So far there are three of us involved in 'the streetlamp doesn't cast her shadow anymore'. There's Griff and Gordon who are lo-fi musicians involved in the indie-folk band 'sighrens' and there's Ray an amateur film-maker. We'll all be involved in producing content for this blog and we'll each of us occupy a special niche. Ray will obviously be responsible for the video content. Gordon will be sharing his love and encyclopaedic knowledge of Indie-pop. In particular he'll be featuring music in the Twee, Shambling, C-86 and Cuddlecore genres. Griff's special areas of interest are Lo-fi, Acoustic indie-folk, Bedroom-pop and Outsider music. Hopefully, there'll be something for anyone with an interest in genuine independent music.
Why are we doing this? Simple, we love music and we love the freedom of the internet as a forum for obscure, over-looked and unsigned bands to get their work into the public domain. At one time both myspace and last.fm were wonderful resources for small independent artists and labels to do just that. It now seems that the corporate types who run music as an industry don't like it when artists remain independent and allow the music to be freely available to all. Changes to these sites has had the effect of further marginalising and squeezing out these small independents. We intend to give them some room here.
Given the above, it seems fitting then that my first post is about the wonderful CLLCT website.

CLLCT is the abbreviated name for 'The Collective Family'. Basically, this is a group of artists loosely amalgamated around the CLLCT website all of whom are happily prepared to just give their music away. A noble idea, I'm sure you'll agree. CLLCT features some well-known lo-fi indie bands such as 'Madeline Ava' 'Tinyfolk' and 'Wisdom Tooth'.
However, a dig around in the lesser known reaches of the site will bring its own rewards. The true indie enthusiast with time on his/her hands and a zeal for the thrill of the new will soon unearth many under-rated and criminally unknown acts of genuine quality. It's the ultimate indie-snobs dream site. Give it a visit and soon you'll be dropping the names of your own private discoveries into pub/work/student halls conversations in the true spirit of indie one-upmanship.

A Secret Owl, who runs the site, sums up his philosophy rather nicely in this excerpt from the CLLCT myspace page:

"The Collective is me and some other friends and neat musicians, and we put up music for free.

Yeah, I know, you want to make money. It's not a crime, don't be ashamed (...okay, never mind, you're not). You have to do some thinking, though. If nobody knows who you are, is some random dude who stumbles upon your myspace (or, okay, maybe you added him, whatever) going to buy a CD or a shirt or something? Pshht, you already know, but HELL NO.

The hard fact is: you're probably not ever going to make much money. BUT WHO FUCKING CARES? Shit, if I wanted to make money, I'd become a fucking lawyer or a doctor or something. I make music because I love it, and you should be the same way.

So, submit your music to the collective, and lots of people will download it. And they'll listen. And you'll be on their playlists, on their iPods, and on their mixed CDs. They'll listen to you when they drive to work, when they go to school, when they drive to the grocery store. Younglings will hear your music, and when they grow older, you'll influence the music they make.
Can you feel that? "


I don't think we need add anything further other than to say; If you're an indie fan check it out and if you're in a band then what are you waiting for? Get submitting!


Griff
xx