The message part two

Those you wanted are returned,
those you didnt know become the substance of your soul,
treading water whilst all around stride on,
then waking up from a half-sleep,
unaware of your dream,
destiny's alarm chimes out,
choices become your own,
waiting ends,
life begins,
suddenly an active participant,
from mindless to elective receiver,
you live the message and it belongs to you.

Pain Agency magic

I felt the urge to say more about 'Sucioperro' and specifically 'Pain Agency' – their new and second album. Their first album – 'Random Acts of Intimacy' was outstanding. 'Pain Agency' takes the joy I felt through 'Random Acts of Intimacy', doubles it, then trebles it and just keeps going. Each listen moves me further and further along a scale of joyousness. I have now reached the dizzying heights of joy of such intensity, I sometimes have to stop playing the record just to come back to earth for a while. Is it possible to supplant lyrics and music into your mind – achieving catchy and eloquence simultaneously, yes it is. It’s all on 'Pain Agency', for your eager ears to enjoy. Do you think I exaggerate? Buy the album and you’ll know the answer. Often catchy and eloquence sit in opposition to each other in music, too much of one, takes you away from the other. That opinion on music is so subjective must make it very difficult for writers and composers to achieve the right balance. Yet 'Sucioperro' achieve this balance perfectly.

Onto a detailed discussion of 'Pain Agency', moving through track by track we begin at ‘Liquids’, and what a beginning, a song of musical intensity, at times gentle and at others hard-edged. In many ways it washes over you like a liquid. You feel the music and don’t simply hear it. Then arriving at ‘The Dissident Code’, uplifting and awesome, the song title alone is an achievement. I find myself smiling upon hearing it. Onto the third track, ‘Mums bad punk music’, I’d already played this track many times before buying the album. Somewhere around the midpoint of the track the music changes, I’m told it’s called the drop b section (for those that understand musical terminology). It’s utterly wonderful. At track four, sadly almost halfway through the album, we reach ‘Are you convinced’. An orchestral intro before the vocal begins, bouncing riffs and harmonies that fit together like a musical puzzle. And I am convinced, convinced of the tracks stupendous brilliance. A powerful lyric snippet is: “What we want, what we need, are one in the same thing”. We reach track five ’Don’t change what can’t you understand’, again I’d heard this before the album many times, the message it conveys to me is one of anger at falsities, how some people in life don’t understand something that is authentic – the effort you have made for them was in vain. At track six we arrive at ‘Hate filters’, the guitars and drums roll in as if on the crest of a wave, then the first vocal “do you feel over unsatisfied “, upon hearing the intonation of the voice you feel the opposite of unsatisfied. Never before have I heard a voice sound so damn sexy. The final striking chords on ‘Hate filter’ may leave you feeling nervous but will also blow your mind in the best way. Track seven moves us reluctantly ever nearer to the end, ‘You can’t lose what you don’t have’, lyrically it seems to speak of love lost and found, emotional awakening, finding something unexpected and wonderful. At track eight, we arrive at ‘Conception territory’, notes slide into each other at times and at others bounce of each other. A samba style beat interlude, then the rousing vocal “don’t leave me here, say that you love me”. There is something for everyone in this track. The penultimate track, ‘No 273’, comes from a dark place, it seems to discuss the tragedy of war, placing terrorism and war as one in the same thing, governmental focus on numbers rather than human life. Though poetic meaning sometimes is transmuted by the listener, this is what the song means to me. The final track, ‘I have reached my limit’ and if I had to choose, just pick one track, this would be it. Quite possibly one of the best songs ever written. I find it impossible to describe (which is unlike me because words are usually my friend). I will just say that, to me, this song is so amazing that it transcends definition. Ten tracks are all too few really but each of the ten is pure quality.

Additionally, the B sides on ‘Don’t change what you can’t understand’ and ‘Mums bad punk music’ singles were more than fantastic enough to reach the final album selection, particularly ‘Crush-ed’. Strangely the track ‘Pain Agency’ was not included on the album that shares its name. A mystery that only Sucioperro can solve.

To utilise a quote from ‘The dissident code’, I listen to 'Pain Agency' and it “makes me feel so good, it makes me feel so positive”. Corny though that may sound, it’s fact. 'Sucioperro' as a band, and 'Pain Agency' as an album would probably be inserted into the rock category, yet it transcends category and label – classical at times, funky at others, you may even say that pop makes an appearance. This concludes my thoughts and feelings for now, other than to say this – buy the album, buy the first album, buy the singles and if you need further convincing check 'Sucioperro' out first on You Tube or at www.myspace.com/sucioperro.

If 'Sucioperro' be the food of love, play on.

xxx

Nancy Wallace

A short description of Nancy Wallace’s cover of Elton John’s ‘Are you ready for love’. She strips back this song to something much purer and certainly infinitely better than the original. Her voice has a depth of innocence to it that you don’t often hear. I hear her sing this song and it makes my soul ache. If you think know it, google Nancy Wallace and listen to this version because you haven’t really heard ‘Are you ready for love’ until you’ve done that.

Computer frustrations

Most frustrating is the pc and the laptop. My laptop takes longer to warm up than someone preparing for the marathon. Trying to click on a profile on facebook took approximately 5 minutes today. In the end I closed facebook. I find myself thinking - is my laptop, unbeknown to me, involved in some vast supercomputer processing activity - perhaps something really complex like ascertaining the meaning of life. Is this why anything I do takes so bloody long. Whilst I am simply trying to open word, my laptop is communicating with millions of other laptops on the theory of relativity. Or is it simply that Microsoft products were designed to annoy and frustrate you. Certainly they were designed to be just annoying enough to suggest that the bigger, better, latest version of Windows will be the answer to all your processing dreams. Of course when you obtain the new version, you realise that it's actually more annoying that it's predecessor. The layout has changed, things that worked well on the older version have been altered beyond recognition. It becomes your processing nightmare. Deep sigh. I am now going to attempt to access facebook again, this I hope will be a seamless activity. Following on from this, I will attempt to get somewhere close to finishing my essay. Procrastination must end.

Duke

The duke has arrived. Yesterday I received my long-awaited second instalment in the life and times of the duke. For those that don’t know (but you really should) – Marmaduke duke is a partnership between JP Reid from Sucioperro and Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro. Called a side project by some, though I would not classify the duke in this way because to do so almost marginalises the collaborative creative genius of JP and Simon. Marmaduke duke, in my opinion, is not secondary in status to either Sucio or Biffy, it stands in equal worthiness to both. The album is an epic achievement. It has been described as dirty pop, europop and dance – whatever description you choose, each song is outstanding. Pulsating beats, catchy lyrics, riproaring vocals (just invented an adjective there, I think), funky guitars, mesmerising keyboards and so it goes on. As you can probably tell, I’m impressed. It’s always difficult pick favourites and perhaps it’s not necessary to do so but none-the-less Silhouettes, Erotic Robotic, Je suis un Funky Homme and Demon stand out. Rubber lover from the same album has achieved justifiably notable chart success. Furthermore, Silhouettes is permanently imprinted in my mind – I can’t stop singing it. An example beautiful lyric from the song is “with silhouettes in summer showers that shine like you do”. And linked to the lyric, which is probably describing a great person – the word ‘shine’ is a good way to describe Silhouettes because shine it does. Skin the Mofo is as terrifying as it is brilliant. There is something utterly strange about a samba beat combined with the chant “skin the motherfucker alive”. It works though, I’m just not sure why.

I loved the first Marmaduke duke album - The Magnificent Duke, after listening to it many times. I loved Duke Pandemonium after hearing it once. Like your first love and the best one-night stand you’ve ever had, you think of them often – they never truly leave you. Magnificent duke I liken to my first love, after a period effort you realise you’re head over heels and Duke Pandemonium I liken to my best one-night stand, after only moments you’re as high as a kite. Though in terms of listening both will be with me for ever. I would say it’s pure genius but it’s probably more appropriate to say impure genius (if you wonder why, go and buy both albums and you’ll find out!). xx

Wedding vibes

My cousins wedding day was yesterday – there was some sunshine, quite a few tears I’m told (I was a B-lister so missed the tear jerking moments) and for many far too much alcohol. My first wedding in a very long time as a single person. This single-status was known to all my family (bride’s side) and it seemed to some of the groom’s family. By the end of the evening, I think it was also known to random passers-by. It became the source of much focus and amusement for my cousins. Oh joyous joy. At one stage I felt as though I was wearing a banner which stated ‘take this woman, she is the wrong side of 30 and needs male interaction immediately - age, personality, appearance, marital status of male is irrelevant’. I exaggerate slightly but sadly only slightly. My fun-loving, confident and terminally loud (yet lovely) cousin made it his mission to get me off with someone. I felt like I was being pimped. I managed to side-step each attempt. I’m happy being single and am fairly well equipped at securing a man without assistance (ahem, I think).

Moving away from Bridget Jones’ moments – I focus on music again for a while. My musical taste, as I’ve said before, is eclectic but it doesn’t stretch to Boyzone / Westlife, Boyz to Men or other pop earache of similar type. I appreciate though, that others love to singalong a Ronan Keating and that’s fair enough. I was quite pleased to hear Beyonce’s Crazy in love – I was on my own in this, no one else got up to dance so I bravely stayed in my chair and toe-tapped. I don’t recall hearing any other music that caused me to feel inexplicably drawn the dance floor. Although I did dance, it was somewhat against my will, forced and dragged as I was, to and around the dance floor, by various family members. Apparently even a toilet break was out of the question.

The venue for the wedding breakfast and evening fun was Crewe Hall – a beautiful stately building. It somehow feels remote even though it is relatively close to civilisation. It’s a perfect location to get married. Resplendent and grand, it boasts an impressively long, tree-lined driveway. I’m unsure on this but I think the building dates back to the 1600’s (corrections welcomed when I’m wrong). On a more negative note, it offers drinks that you need to put a deposit on before you can take them away and drink them. In other words, a tenner doesn’t provide you with much change for two drinks. Family members were prepared - like cubs and scouts from a demon dimension, they smuggled in supplies. These supplies consisted of vodka and whisky. Soft drinks purchased, spirits added to the glass away from prying eyes. Genius. I was trying to drink less so didn’t follow suit, not an effective plan as it turned out. In that, I still drank more than I meant to and definitely spent more than I should have done.

Onto an interesting phenomenon - the hi-five. Now, I’m not known for my hi-five action, however between the hours of drunk-oclock and drunker-oclock I was drawn into quite a few hi-five moments. The required process for a hi-five consists of: the instigator saying hi-five in the form of a question, raising their hand as you might do if you were to wave at someone, then the recipient (me, in this case) raising their hand to meet the instigators hand and create a clapping motion. All protagonists feel wonderfully pleased with themselves before, during and after. It’s a congratulatory gesture which celebrates successfully securing male attention, drinking lots of alcohol, still standing after midnight following lots of alcohol and basically anything else that the instigator deems to be a job well done. It’s an unusual practice, when you stop to think about it and in fact, I would argue that it’s an unusual practice when you don’t stop to think about it but I involved myself in it anyway. Those that know me well will agree that I’m also not known for my hand-eye coordination, so this coupled with a moderate amount of alcohol turned one hi-five into more of a low-four. Luckily the wedding guest on the other end of my low-four didn’t seem to mind, undeterred we had an action replay, which was infinitely more successful. The low-four and subsequent hi-five was closely followed by that marvellous wedding tradition of standing in a circle, arms wrapped around your neighbour, kicking your legs in time / not in time (delete as appropriate) to Sinatra’s New York, New York. Post-alcohol, I’m always happy to get involved in any kind of random dancing, even if it’s the conga, yet I often find a part of myself, the less drunk part, standing to one side and wondering at the craziness of it all. If alien’s landed – no doubt they’d find many earth customs strange but surely this type of collective drunken dancing would chart near number one in its complete nonsensical pointlessness. Apologies to anyone that doesn’t wonder in this way, it’s the sociologist in me (if you study sociology, to say sociologist in me, is practically a contradiction in terms but anyway). I suppose as a sociologist I might also consider that this type of drunken collective dancing relates to our need for human contact, a desire not to stand alone but to be part of something, a demonstration of unity, a collective of people tied by friendship or familial bonds portraying these bonds to all who stand outside the collective – or you may say that it’s a bunch of piss heads demonstrating that they are in fact very pissed. Anyway, as you may have guessed, if you’ve ever been to a wedding, New York, New York symbolises the end of the evening. So following drunken goodbyes, smiles, kisses and thank yous – I went home with my parents.

I have another wedding to attend in a few weeks. The amount of weddings you attend in a year directly correlates with your age. By the end of May I will have been to two and the so called wedding season has only just begun. Erm, oh dear….

Manchester mystery tour and sucioperro

Thought Id take a risk and write something when I've had one or two glasses of red. My Manchester mystery tour and second Sucioperro gig of the year happened on Thursday 7th May. First of all, it's important to point out that this gig was one of the best I've ever been to. I was absolutely lost in musical joy. Sucioperro are a band of three that make the noise of many more. Powerful and epic. I was utterly pleased to experience a preceding gig at Liverpool on 1st May but comparatively speaking Manchester roadhouse was astounding. It wasnt just the music, it was the crowd and something about the vibe that made it as near perfect as you'll probably ever get. Two encore tracks were not expected but received with aching smileyness. Raging riffs, screaming but melodic vocals. As I said, joyous. If anyone reads these words and hasnt experienced Sucioperro yet, I urge you to do so - you won't be disappointed. http://www.sucioperro.com/ and www.myspace.com/sucioperro. I’d like to pick a track highlight but it’s impossible to do so. All songs were delivered with precision. Support bands were good – particularly the second one (whose name I cannot remember) – they sounded similar to 65 days of static. On a different note, I drank far too much - met with the unanticipated possibility of pinot grigio at a music venue lead to over-indulgence of the highest achievement. I attended the gig with Mark, a fellow Sucioperro aficionado, as part of an exclusive board meet - exclusive in that there was only Mark and I involved in it! My first experience of a board meet up. I’d certainly do it again.

I stayed in one of Manchester’s top hotels – it previously sat somewhere near number one on Manchester Evening News’ exclusiveness list. Sadly though, they changed the décor, ambience, staff, added some dirt, broken furniture and re-graded themselves from 5 star to 2 star for my stay. Actually Im being unfair – the hotel was okay (or as we say in Staffordshire – it was oreet). It was very near the Manchester Roadhouse (the venue) and near to the station. Ideal really (from a particular viewpoint). After the gig, Mark and I visited the hotel bar briefly – luckily we were sensible or possibly already too drunk to spend too much money there. Mark went home, I fell into a fitful and dream-filled sleep (after landing in my room, fortunately I was still sober enough not to collapse in the bar).

The next day I awoke, spent some time trying to remove my hangover and create the impression that I was a human being rather than zombie. I checked out and headed into a vaguely sunny Manchester. Decided to make some ethical purchases and was embarrassed to find that my trusty debit card, always so reliable in the past, refused to pay. Red-faced and flustered, I left and attempted to secure money from the cash-machine which was a contradiction on this day because cash was not delivered into my hopeful hand, instead I was met with a server error. A latter phone call with my bank informed me that I was hideously overdrawn (my adjective, not theirs). The luck of the Irish was definitely not with me because I then discovered to my absolute delight (insert sarcasm here) that I didn’t have enough cash to get home! Inefficient planning coupled with an unhealthy desire for spending meant that I spent hours in Manchester waiting for my friend Jase to finish work so that he could take me home. Though I suppose, putting a positive slant on the proceedings you could argue that I was lucky that Jase worked in Manchester because I have no idea how I would have got home otherwise. I left the hotel at 11 am and Jase finished work at 5.20. It was a long and cold day (you can only spend so long sitting in a pub with very little money and only a free paper to keep you company) so I also spent an hour perched on a plastic bench under a bus shelter. For some reason passing drivers found my sitting at a bus shelter very interesting. As if they had never seen a shivering blonde female before. Lots of staring and the occasional peep later I was rescued by Jase. I arrived home to rush around like a women on edge in preparation for a hen party. I went from some of the best music I’ve ever heard to music that I hope I’ll never hear again in the space of a day. It’s an interesting life.

The next time I go to a gig, I will take more cash and check my bank balance before leaving the house. I will also attempt to interject the vodka and wine with some soft drinks. It’s a plan, probably unachievable but definitely a plan. I will now retire to my bed for some much needed sleep (it’s ten to 1am in Staffordshire you know!).