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My MacBook runs a little sluggish which, considering it’s only a few months old, is not a good thing. I kinda figured it’s because I have a lot of stuff running and when I showed it to the Apple Guy in the shop he did raise an eyebrow. But thankfully memory is relatively cheap these days (or at least it is when you go through Crucial, as recommended by said Apple Guy as a better option than Apple doing it) so I’ve ordered another Gig. But while that’s stuck in the postal strike backlog I thought I’d have a look at the activity monitor and see what’s sucking up my memory.

I was expecting Firefox to be a memory hog. It’s well known that it just guzzles and guzzles the stuff and my habit of keeping 20-30 tabs open at any given time doesn’t help matters. But I kinda need Firefox for my high-falutin’ power user uses so it’s a sacrifice I’m happy to make.

But that’s not the biggest drain on the memory. Neither is Lightroom or the pre-Intel version of Photoshop I run. It’s NetNewsWire, the RSS feed reading program I pretty much live my life around these days. This screen grab was taken after I’d reloaded it. Prior to that there was over a gig in virtual memory.

Now I wouldn’t want you to think NNW has bad memory management. For all I know it’s a well behaved diner at the chip shop. But I can state that when you load it up with, um, well I don’t actually know how many feeds I’m following at the moment. 500? 600? Something like that. If you do that then you’re gonna need a bigger Mac.

Or, as I’m contemplating, moving online to Google Reader. (Bloglines is so 2005 I hear).

If you were ever of a mind to prove that the meaning of words is not fixed and is dependent on context, not that I ever am as I’m not a linguist, but if you were then the phenomena of names given to bands would be a hefty weapon in your armory. Take, for example, the band what I have just seen. Boredoms. Was there ever a name that at one point meant something quite specific but, after three hours, had transformed into quite possibly the complete opposite? Well, yes. The history of rock can attest to that. But this is a rather clear demonstration.

It’s also an indicator of something Julian Cope mentions in the introduction to his quite wonderful Japrocksampler book which I’m currently slowly working through, that the way the Japanese use English words is playful in the extreme, mixing them up in a way that just sounds cool to them. Sure, Wikipedia tells us that the name was taken from the title of a Buzzcocks song but that connection with British punk sounds a little tenuous, though not unrealistic, to me. It seems more likely that they came across the song and thought the word sounded interesting. The established meaning was, I’d imagine, irrelevant and then amusing to subvert.

So yes, Boredoms are Japanese and they’re not boring. They’re absurdly, jaw-droppingly exciting especially if, as I was, you’re right at the front by the stage. Not sure how I pulled that off to be honest but by christ even though I was there it was like being there, only more so.

As the show started and lead bloke Yamantaka Eye raised two glowing globes in his hands I realised I’d seen them before at ATP last year but had forgotten, probably because they were on at the beginning of the weekend and I saw them from the back of a very large hall. This really is an act you need to see up close and personal to get. These globes were, I’m guessing, sort of like theramins. Maybe. Anyway, as he waved them around they created aural sparks of feedback and distortion, accompanied by his un-miced hollering.

Then the drummers joined in. All three of them on full kits. The pounding continued pretty relentlessly for over an hour as Yamantaka built layer upon layer of, well, noise I guess. But it wasn’t noise. There was a purity to the sound no matter how distorted it was or how manic his performance became. With three microphones fed through different effects and a bank of electronics that looked like it was held together with masking tape and gum destruction was taking place, not physically but in some other way I can’t quite describe. Perhaps it was the destruction of preconceptions?

At a couple of points the music suddenly stopped and the audience, being used to to the norms of Western music, did the wild applause thing. But no, they hadn’t stopped. This silence was part of the music. There were no breaks. If there were individual songs then they were part of a continuous whole. In order to appreciate the loud you have to respect the quiet.

The crowning glory of the act was a rack of seven guitar necks which I can best describe by pointing you to the photo in John Coulthart’s review. Maintained by a band member who’s sole job seemed to be to look after them during the show Yamantaka hit them with sticks, each one acting rather like a tuned timpani drum come to think of it, giving out a clanging note of distortion. The effect might possibly have been achieved with one guitar, but I somehow doubt it. Six strings per neck on seven necks… 36 pieces of vibrating wire being beaten by a madman, though during the playing many of them snapped off to be carefully snipped away by the maintenance guy.

But beyond mere spectacle there was something quite transcendental about the sound they made. At times I found myself drifting away, forgetting that I was standing in a packed room listening to avant-noise rock. My senses were both deadened and heightened and when I left got home I found myself unable to focus. No alcohol had passed my lips but something had affected my brain in a quite wonderful way.

Anyway, I could ramble on about how fantastic it was forever. There was a No Camera rule and while I did have permission I decided not to bother and to take this one in as a punter. But here’s a video I found that most closely approximates what they’re like. Doesn’t come close to what I experienced but then nothing recorded ever would. Maybe that’s why they ban cameras.

From a Birmingham perspective it was great to see this gig sold out. By any definition this was not easy listening and that a band like this, regardless of their international standing, can draw such an appreciative crowd warms my heart. Once again Capsule have proved that there’s a market in Birmingham for the experimental and the odd. It just needs to be promoted properly, something they’re doing very well. Thank you Jenny and Lisa. Thank you so fucking much.

The cartoonist Darryl Cunningham is in somewhat dire straights financially at the moment and reading his journal can get a bit painful at times. He’s got to the stage where he’s desperate enough to ask his friends for cash which seems an eminently sensible idea. (He’s offering art in return once he’s sorted but I don’t think that’s necessary - he’s given enough as it is.) Obviously most of you reading this won’t know Darryl from Adam but for those who’ve known him over the years and enjoyed his comics, and who might have the odd tenner to spare, I direct you to that link.

There’s a selection of his recent work here and on his Flickr stream. I’m quite partial to this one:

Again, with the link.

I recently posted on Created in Birmingham some pap style photos taken at an arts event that had been forwarded to me but, in a sly move, neglected to include the one of me. It wasn’t a bad photo, just not, well, too flattering.

I thought I’d gotten away with it but little did I know the gods of karma were watching and, scant days later, this appeared in my inbox.

Thanks Charlotte. I won’t forget this.

(Other bloggers in the photo are Andy Pryke and Stef Lewandowski. We’re taking over…)

And then today this one came through from Kate at Light House from their Flip Festival launch (blogged here). If there’s a lesson to be learned here it’s be aware of your backdrop when posing.

You’ll note the beverage. How hardcore am I!

I’ve got a backlog of GDFAFs to write up which is against the rules but, hell, I wrote the rules so I can break them. I’ll get on to Thursday and Saturday but Sunday’s a fairly easy one to write up because I videoed it. Yes, I’m still dabbling in the art of the moving picture. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to do it properly soon.

As you watch you’ll see Mike in Mono, The Courtesy Group, Calvados Beam Trio, Scott H Biram, Kling Klang and the Black Diamond Heavies. Yes, six acts, but spread over two gigs. At the same time. Let me explain.

The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath traditionally has one gig room with a stage, lighting, a bar and such. It’s been like this for years, probably decades. Next to it is another room usually used by the bands to set up and relax. I’d never seen this room (not having ever had cause to play at the H&H) but it turns out to be quite substantial, about the same size as the main gig area though seemingly hasn’t been decorated since about 1947. So whether by accident or design the powers that be decided to turn it into a venue too. Which means Kings Heath has another space for live music and such and the Hare and Hounds suddenly becomes a much more important part of the Birmingham live music scene (and it was pretty important beforehand).

I say accident as I can’t imagine these two gigs were deliberately scheduled for the same night. Capsule and Curates Egg have, I suspect, something of a crossover audience so many people would chose one over the other. Personally I went for both - a touch steep at £14 for two hand stamps but if I didn’t drink I could afford it.

This did mean I was darting between the two rooms which wouldn’t have been a problem except they closed off the corridor between them forcing us to go back downstairs, through the lounge, into the smoking garden and up the fire escape. If the two events were attracting radically different crowds this would not be a problem but it did get a little tedious.

Still, I managed to catch most of both gigs. Annoyingly I missed a huge chunk of The Courtesy Group’s set who I’ve managed to avoid for over a year now and not out of choice. They’re quite stunning and impossible to pop in a box. You could draw some parallels with The Fall but only out of desperation. Since they put on the Curates Egg nights and play at most of them I’m sure I’ll eventually see the whole set and I can’t wait.

The other two Curates acts were from the US, Austin TX and Nashville respectively, doing that down and dirty blues rock country thang. It was so authentic you weren’t quite sure if it was authentic or a very sly parody until you realised this sort of thing couldn’t be faked. It was scary, exciting and pounding stuff, the effect amplified by some audience members who looked like they’d been on the Moonshine a little too much. If you weren’t there they you missed something rather special. More fool you. Don’t make that mistake again. The next Curates night is 8 November where the mighty Gallon Drunk will be playing. Eek.

It weirds me out slightly to say that the Capsule gig in the other room felt oddly, well, normal. Not by comparison, just because I’ve been to a lot of Capsule and Capsule-like gigs recently. It was still fantastic, uplifting and pounding stuff and to think that this is what I expect a normal gig in a pub to be like these days is a rather nice feeling.

Mike in Mono was doing is bleepy stuff like a retro-futurist organ player wrestling his banks of nobs into submission. Calvados did the pounding noodle post-rock thing to great effect and Kling Klang were monstrous, pouring prog synth into a fermenting jar and giving it a 10 year shake.

If these gigs had been on seperate nights they would have been great but together it was almost too much, like having a perfectly curated festival crammed into three hours. Come midnight I stumbled home with my ears ringing and a smile on my face. Coupled with Saturday’s Jeff Lewis gig the Hare and Hounds, already somewhat on the map, has marked its place with a huge red indelible splat. Magnificent.

Here’s another video of scary man Scott H Biram closing up his one-man set.

(Photos to follow)

I usually try to resist plugging schwag but I really like these little wooden letters sold by viaLetter for £2.50 which were in the goody bags from the Plus Expo party last night. The idea is you send them instead of over-priced greetings cards and, as a bit of a minor league font nerd, I’m pretty much a fan.

So in the unlikely event that you a) want to send me a card and b) actually have my home address, I’m working on the Helvetica Neue 75 series.

Yes it was on Boing Boing TV but, hell, I liked it a lot. Even watched it a bunch of times. So here’s with the sharing.