Now this looks interesting.

Mm, I should probably explain. I’ve been playing bass for a recording of a couple of songs some guys at church have written. Apparently, Redeeming The Arts (some sort of Christian Arts group in Manchester whose name I have certain theological issues with – how do you “redeem” personal expression, anyway? – but we’ll let that slide for the moment) have asked various songwriters across Manchester to contribute to a CD due for release this summer in a Wesley Owen near you. So, Monday night was spent learning, arranging and rehearsing these songs and last night was spent in a tiny (but very well equipped) studio in Chorlton recording them. On top of playing on sunday morning and rehearsing on saturday evening, that makes 4 days of pretty heavy bass playing.

But anyway, yeah. I’m not sure when the CD is going to be out or anything, but the songs sounded pretty good, if middle of the road rock is your sort of thing. I’m hoping I won’t have to buy a copy to find out what I sounded like, but I strongly suspect that that will eventually be the case. Ah well.

See those white blobs on my fingertips? Those are blisters. Really frickin’ big and painful blisters. Typing is an interesting challenge today.

The Arcade Fire – Funeral

Yeah, again, it seems I’m the last person to hear about last year’s hip and cool band for hip and cool hipsters who are hipper and cooler than all their friends. Never mind. Anyway, the album is fantastic – taking the current trend for revitalising the early 80s alt rock sound (Talking Heads, Joy Division, Roxy Music) and blending it with a distinctive modern feel (production influences from bands like the Flaming Lips and Grandaddy are clear through the album) to produce one of the best albums of the last year. This is one of those albums you have to put on loud, lie back and immerse yourself in. Brilliant.

(does anyone else think that Neighborhood #3 sounds awfully similar to Temptation by New Order?)

Hal – Hal

Hal are, by their own confession, seriously retro. They don’t listen to much modern music, and their influences are all much older than they are: Brian Wilson, Van Morrison and Harry Nilsson. The album, therefore, sounds exactly like you’d expect: happy sunshine pop with classic 60s style melodies and Beach Boys harmonies. Comparisons with The Thrills are fairly inevitable (as another Irish band wearing their Brian Wilson influences on their sleeve) but Hal have a much brighter, more rounded and less stripped down sound. As lessons in recreating 60s pop go, you don’t get much better or more authentic than this.

It seems I’m the top result on google for Indie Tits. Which is nice. Although I suspect J. Jacques is probably a little unhappy about that.

Saturday. Went to Formby, which is one of the last places in England you can see the red squirrel in the wild. So, naturally, the only film I had with me was black and white. Brilliant.

Sunday. Went windsurfing. Rigged up, pushed out onto the water, and a front blew in. Pelting down with rain and with the wind gusting up to ridiculous speeds, I came in and hauled everything in tight so I had maximum control over the sail. As I pushed out from the shore to go out again, the wind dropped to a dead calm and stayed like that for the next forty-five minutes.

I looks like all the extremist, dangerously different people in Chorlton, Withington, Didsbury and Burnage are determined to make life difficult for the rest of the country. We have a Lib Dem MP; a huge swing of 17%. And we’re rid of that useless b’stard Keith Bradley. Okay, still got a Labour government but at a local level I’m delighted.

According to this utterly despicable article in The Scum, the Lib Dems are “Extremist” and “Dangerously different” and “will only make things worse”. Well, if my vote has made things worse for Rupert Murdoch and his cronies, than frankly, I’m even happier than ever before to vote for the extremist, dangerously different Liberal Democrats.

I’ve voted. Have you?