Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura chatted about Lloyd Cole and got distracted by her overflowing bath on this week’s show.

TZU – Unnecessarily blue (remix)
Elation – Do it now
Iron On – Keeping up appearances
Sun Hill – Falling out of love (with you)
Julian Nation – Press Gang kids
Belle & Sebastian – You don’t send me
Belle & Sebastian – I’m a cuckoo (Avalanches mix)
Camera Obscura – Suspended from class
Camera Obscura – Tears for affairs
Camera Obscura – Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken
The Pastels – One wild moment (Stereolab version)
The Guild League – Siamese couplets (Two4K remix)
Looper – These things
The Gentle Waves – Renew & restore
Belle & Sebastian – Seymour Stein
The Zephyrs – What voltage is the moon
Nina Simone – Strange fruit
Lester Young Quintet – Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid
Brotzmann/Mangelsdorff/Sommer – Wie du mir, so ich dir noch lange nicht
Yoko Ono – Walking on thin ice
Shining – Aleister explains everything
Kondo Ima – Banana plantation
DJ Krush – Vision of art (Broken mix feat Company Flow)

SEEMS as though someone’s dragged this blog out of the surf, nudged its head sideways, slapped a pair of lips over the air tunnel and started pumping the chest. In short, looks like fortunegrey.com is back on. And not a moment too soon, not as though it’s been dead, just a lot of radio show playlists and not much more. Can’t say it won’t happen again.

I was reading Matt Durutti‘s anniversary special and realised it’s been over two years since I first started this lark. It’s debatable how many flashes of inspiration there’ve been, but it’s kept me company from time to time and connected me up with a few great people too.

Thanks to all of you… most are in the links bar to the right.

If you’re reading this, let me know what you think. It’s probably a good time to look at what I could do better. Plus, this page is kinda functional, but far from pretty, if you’re down with fixing something like this to look sharp then tell me.

I promise this isn’t becoming an indie pop blog, but this song from Melbourne’s Julian Nation is irresistable. Plus you can keep going to Book Club Records for songs from Jens, Lucksmiths, Pipas and more.

I love Camera Obscura‘s delicate indie pop. Here’s a remix of Books written for girls by Synonym and the lovely Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken.

From hip hop to free jazz via an interview with Scottish pop group Camera Obscura. That’s the score for my radio show this week, on FBI.

Do it like me.

Thanks to Wayne for the link.

Here’s what I played this week on the show…

The Lucksmiths – Anyone’s guess
Darren Hanlon – My life a blur
El Mopa – For Flotsam
Decoder Ring – Music Box
Kevin Shields – Ikebana
My Bloody Valentine – I Only Said
Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands
Catnip – Here We Go Again (Ebo remix)
Laura – It’s kind of like the innocent smiles you get at the start of a relationship before you fuck everything up
Ride – Seagull
Primal Scream – Hell’s Comin’ Down
One Dove – My friend
Primal Scream – Country Girl
St Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Andy Weatherall mix)
Sabres of Paradise – Bubble and Slide (Nightmares on Wax mix)
Two Lone Swordsmen – Rico’s Helly
Two Lone Swordsmen – Sex Beat
The Warlocks – Come Save Us
Beck – Black Tambourine
Calvin Johnson – I am without
Old Time Relijun – Her Flies Chill Me
Marty Willson-Piper and the Mood Maidens – Everything Means Nothing To Me
Tom Verlaine – Lovebird Asylum Seeker

I MISSED Anthony Rochester last night. I got to Spectrum late, I was waiting for my wife Polly to get back from sewing class, a good reason for missing Rochester’s set if there’s ever going to be one. He was pretty much the only reason I wanted to go out to the gig (read my review of his last record). So I’m half bummed, but kinda happy too.

I spent the five minutes before Clue To Kalo played telling anyone and everyone how bad they are – seriously, they were so average last time (at the Mandarin) that I was positively hostile, despite the fact that I was a big fan of Mark Mitchell’s earlier CTK and Superscience records – I wasn’t even planning on hanging around, but fortunately I did, because they were fantastic. Mitchell’s first year drama moves distract somewhat, but they’re more than made for by the thrilling variety and beauty in his songs. I take it all back. They even seem like a proper band now, though clearly Mitchell’s still calling the shots.

So many friends were there it was a little overwhelming, I don’t want to seem like I’m big-noting myself, like I’ve got so many friends at cool bars, because these days I invariably don’t know anyone. But last night was really lovely, even the friends I didn’t get to say hello to were great to see, let alone the others. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone live didn’t change my opinion. I love his records, and I loved the live set, but none of the songs were particularly different from the record, or even from the way I expected he’d be. Perfect end to the night though.

Listen:
Anthony Rochester – Metropolitan
Anthony Rochester – Elephants

MUSIC MAGAZINING in Australia’s pretty tough, if the recent toll is anything to go by Hot Press – another heavily syndicated mag, this time sourcing its material from Irish mag of the same name – may have just outlasted Nylon, folding after about a year, according to The Brag. Or have they just moved?

I GOT SCRITTI Politti’s album a while ago. I only knew the band from seeing their name on Club Retro flyers 10 years ago, seeing it there I was never tempted to go further. And first listen to the latest, White Bread, Black Beer, didn’t tempt me to think differently. I would have put it aside, but a K-Punk review describing it as “quietly brilliant” tempted me back and I’m really glad I did. It’s weird and kinda awkward at times, like Pet Shop Boys doing Prince, but with elements of hip hop, sugary over-produced R&B and awkward, self-obsessed lyrics like the desperately bitter edge of Morrissey at his best. It’s lonely (Green’s on his own now, having split with his old post-punk cronies, as well as the ragga and hip hop MCs, according to Simon Reynolds), and sort of depressing, but also fascinating enough to keep going back to.

K-Punk and Reynolds have taken their discussion to very deep levels, hard to know sometimes with this level of discussion whether they’re finding things or making things. Still, hard to tear yourself away.