“Sick of deep fried arteries” – Play! Night, Long …

“Sick of deep fried arteries” – Play! Night, Long Fin Killie and my ashtmatic cat

“Sick of headcase racist jibes
Sick of deep fried arteries.”
(Long Fin Killie)

I had been ebay-abstinent for ages but yesterday I bid on LONG FIN KILLIE’s awesome ‘Valentino’ album and I will kill anybody who bids against me. I’ve also bid for a strass bracelet but you can’t write as much about bling as about one of the most neglected indiebands of the 90s. I had bought my original cd on one of their shows.. I think at least… well, 9 years ago? Not sure. I’m bad in remembering dates. According to the quality of the tape I’ve made for my walkman back then and to which I’m listening a lot over the last weeks it must be at least 9 years. Sadly whomever I lent the cd some years ago didn’t return it to me. LONG FIN KILLIE were definitely one of the most breathtaking live bands I’ve ever seen. They were technically brilliant (which was helpful as their music was rather complex and I hate it if bands try complex music but can’t play it. Yes, that’s directed at you, my dear 90% of chaoscore bands!). LONG FIN KILLIE’s songwriting was awesome. They had beautiful haunting melodies over some of the most rhythmically diverse song skeletons of that time, and they had great lyrics, insistently executed by Luke Sutherland, sometimes whispered, sometimes sung with his sexy crooner voice. He also seemed to play any instrument and switched from violin to guitar to sax, whatever. I love how the bittersweetness of the music contrasts with Sutherland’s biting lyrics that often were directed against homophobia and racism. Somehow comparable to Morrissey, yet he had found his own way to sway between bitter cynism and beautiful poetry. Luke Sutherland also writes books but I haven’t read any yet (though my rediscovered love for LONG FIN KILLIE made me order one of his novels now). After LONG FIN KILLIE split he formed other bands, (first BOWS, then MUSIC A.M. with a guy of TO ROCOCO ROT), but their music carried too much boring triphop influences to keep me interested. He also plays violin for MOGWAI. My favourite LONG FIN KILLIE album definitely is VALENTINO, although AMELIA isn’t really any worse. VALENTINO is the angrier one. If the world was just everyone would own albums like this instead of The Beatles or other boring canonised pop.

* _ *

At the PLAY! night in Erlangen, where I dj’ed two days ago with Tobi and Stefan of the Sophisticated Boom Boom crew, there sadly were too few people to fill the two rooms and the area inbetween. Instead there was too much advertising for LEE jeans. Posters, video screenings and jellybeans with their logo would already have been too much for my taste but what I really hated was that the stamp people received on their skin at the entry was also the LEE logo. That was over the top. I understand the nice aspect of keeping financial risks for a party low but I personally would chose to not organise the night if the ads were so dominant.

CHIKINKI were not bad but I wish they had spent one or two more years on a small label and played small shows. They sound like they have potential but they haven’t really found their style yet. It’s sad that bands who get all that attention too soon won’t be there for long. Big labels don’t care about supporting the development of a band’s creative potential. There are no long-term considerations any more. It’s enough if a band sells one or two seasons. I hate it if that happens to bands I like. Or rather: if bands I like let this happen. Cute and stupid like lemmings.

I really like those CHIKINKI songs where the music is a bit sparse and dry. Live there were too many songs flooded with an organ layer that destroyed the drive somehow. Their singer’s looks and posing reminded me of Adam Green, so it somehow was no surprise that he complimented Stefan on his Moldy Peaches Shirt later that night. Maybe the problem was that they played a ‘show’ while I prefer bands that really get carried away with their music. When CHIKINKI kicked mic & cymbal stands at the end of the show it seemed strangely out of place cause there wasn’t the breathless ecstasy that usually leads people to that. Oh, I’m sooo looking forward to the WIVES & SHOKEI & WRITTEN FROM NEGATIVE show this Thursday!

Richard Davis played in the other room and he was much better than I had expected from the one song I had heard before. He has a minimalistic approach to techno and has a nice presence and his vocals add dreamy wave melodies. HELLFIRE CLUB played a nice mixture of indie tunes and we were in charge for the electronic music in the other room. Gladly I was drunk because there were some really annoying people. Tobi opened with a Prince tune and there was instantly one guy complaining ‘people don’t like this, can’t you play something different’. For the first couple of tunes it was as if they didn’t even listen. One guy asked for Goa, another one asked if we had a tape player because he had such a cool mixtape… arrgh! After 20 minutes it finally worked, people danced and the first guys came up asking for the name of tunes we played cause they liked them.

I was really surprised that the audience on the whole night was so totally different from the crowd in Nürnberg. Erlangen is a university town and that cliche really kicked in on that night. Less taste more filling.
Still it was a fun night until we drove home. Then I realised that my weird exhilaration on that night wasn’t only to blame on alcohol but that I still hadn’t overcome Friday’s little breakdown. Isn’t overestimation of one’s own capabilities the sweetest sin? So there I was, breakdown #2. Tobi is such a sweetheart – he drove and consoled me and all. Mucho thankyous.

Sunday was one of those non-existent days. I hardly worked on anything but even that felt like everything was too much. Especially everything that involved thinking. I hardly slept last night. I felt like OD’ed on green tea although I hadn’t drank anything with coffein. Arrgh! Those lamenting blogs suck. Hope my mood will change soon.

Another worry that’s on my mind: my cat started coughing more often than usually. From what I know that kind of coughing when cats try to choke up those hairballs is normal. The kind of coughing I’m talking about seems the same. He ducks on the floor and stretches his neck as if he would choke something up but he does this as reaction on getting excited by something. And he does it far too often. Rest of the time he seems okay, eats regularly, roams the streets, cleans his fur, does all the things cats do. From what I found out yet it could be an asthmatic thing. I’m not sure if I should visit a vet with him. Poor little old tiger. Any experienced cat persons around?

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