wytchcroft

Among other things, October is the anniversary of Houdini's death which was actually on Halloween ...

Here is a picture of his famous Upside Down Trick - which wikipedia claims is still a mystery...



Well - i have a pretty good idea how it was done and i wonder if anyone else here has interesting theories of their own?

Houdini has of course had a huge impact down the years on popular culture and those within it,
(take a look at the list on that wiki entry - it's enormous!)  from David Blaine to Robbie Williams to Kristin Hersh. 
Her song Houdini Blues and video for Your Ghost can be compared to Kate Bush's song Houdini -
both seem to take escapology as a metaphor and seize on the idea of a key hidden in the mouth or passed by a kiss.... a symbol maybe... as if a gnosis of some sort could be delivered vocally by the artist.



On a more superficial level, escapology can be fun!!... but don't try it at home!

 

listening to Lisa Germano recently has made a million songs of hers bubble again in my brain-pan...
this is one of 'em... and it's lush.


thanks to the uploader!

( lyrics )

Do you keep tabs on ex-boyfriends and -girlfriends over social networking sites? Do you think it's emotionally healthy or dangerous? Amusing or painful?

Sometimes i wonder where these psychotic questions come from.

But i guess that everybody has that chord and waits for it to get played.

There is no gone. There is no forgotten. There is no lost.
But all the same... 
From the silver in your belly to the water on my brain
memory is the whistle on the mystery train
so let's ride. Akiko-chan. One for you. And one = ALL.
( Read more... )

just a voice was rightly called Mighty

from 1965 


.
and yes (as some saw yesterday)  - this - is still stuck in my head... 

one of my favourite films...

one of my favourite pieces of film music...

one of my favourite pieces of music. period.

Tous les Matins du Monde


 

i'm having similar conversations with a few people just now, so;
A couple more songs that changed my life, made me start a band and why i still like guitars!

The Only Ones are best known for 'Another Girl Another Planet' which is a fab enough blast of space pop but there was a lot more to them than that - just as although they are often linked to bands like The New York Dolls, or other glam-punk bands, that don't actually sound anything like them. 
They DO sound like Television (whom i love a lot) as well as the various bands they've influenced in turn such as The Violent Femmes and even Spiritualized, whilst Pete's half-arsed sneery  vocals are everything The Psychedelic Furs tried for...

...and i can't help wondering, is part of their appeal for me just that they were a local(ish) band when i was young and sleepwalking around with my knees nailed together... yet another band with Saaaf London accents in my collection. Hmm. They certainly articulated a world that was very familiar to me. 

Anyhow, they glittered and exploded like few others and had darkness and guitars to die for. It's a minor miracle in fact that they didn't. But they are still around today having reformed not long ago and Pete's kids are in bands now etc etc and time moves on.

When i first heard The Beast i literally fell on my face.
This can happen... i think i've described before how when i first heard The Cocteau Twins i collided with a rack of tapes in a record store and had a pleasure fit. With The Only Ones I got the eerie sensation of listening to a band seemingly created from the sounds and visions in my own head; The riff, the voice and the unexpected guitarmageddon at the half-way mark. 
Oh yes, the stuff of my daydreams right enough.  After that I snapped up everything else by them as soon as possible - and i have to say, i still consider them one of the greats.
The second song here is The In Betweens - which although less immediate than The Beast is nonetheless an epic that pulverizes me to this day. The first track is from their self-titled debut album and the second from Even Serpents Shine, the follow-up.
( Read more... )

 

finally - an official video to the song that's been driving me nuts for months now, seemingly...

this is seriously pop.

 

finally a version that plays! and remember folks -  life is better with a wind tunnel!
le génie dans la bouteille a soufflé la fumée dans vos yeux

 
update: found another fake me, this time on yahoo.
i know, because you told me, that some of you have google-searched me before -
tread carefully is all i can say - and accept no substitutes!!!

So, the obvious - david bowie space oddity - but this is the original and rarer demo version if you care to listen...

Inspired by the movie 2001 a space oddysey, Bowie's music was actually used by the BBC in covering the landing - i can't begin to imagine what a kick that must have given the young Martian from Bromley...
 

Over to you then dave -
( Read more... )

and as i listen
all these wild nightingale crows
sing to each other

from darkest ruins
to bright high mountain temples
they call me onward.

....................................
here

.
ah oui!

DIEU FUMEUR DE HAVANES
Du film "Je Vous Aime"
Serge Gainsbourg & Cathérine Deneuve (France)
( Read more... )

spiritualized 

psych pop the summer!

と目を深
そして、夜のように黒い油泣い
( Read more... )

it's funny (well, to me anyway) how a piece of art, music or writing can be blessed with a whole new layer of association, often a long time after it was created. 
here are two of my current favourites...

Disobedience - A. A. Milne

James James  
Morrison Morrison  
Weatherby George Dupree  
Took great  
Care of his Mother  
Though he was only three.  
James James  
Said to his Mother,  
"Mother," he said, said he;  
"You must never go down to the end of the town, if
you don't go down with me."  
( Read more... )

 

There lived a lady by the North Sea shore
(Lay the bent to the bonnie broom)
Two daughters were the babes she bore
(Fa la la la la la la la la la)

alternating with each of the lines below
As one grew bright as is the sun,
So coal black grew the elder one.
( Read more... )

world party - ship of fools

( sing-a-long )