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I translate music into words at High Voltage , and also God Is In The TV . So if you're in a band and you'd like some press for your tunes, click here to get in touch with me, or visit the God Is In The TV MySpace page and contact Bill, my editor.
I'm also le grand fromage at Absolute Zero . Ch-ch-check it out!
You're a MySpace member, so it's only natural that you spend too much of your life ... You should go outside, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, and maybe consider making some REAL friends. Alternatively, you could check out these links:
The best music site in the known interweb is God Is In The TV .
The runner's up prize goes to Drowned In Sound . And R*E*P*E*A*T is wonderful, especially if you happen to live in the home counties.
If, like me, you love music and hate racism, visit:
HOLY MOLY! makes me laugh. As does The Man Who Fell Asleep . Very few things make me laugh, so both of the above come highly recommended if you have a perverse sense of humour.
"A friend in need's a friend indeed, a friend who'll tease is better. Our thoughts compressed, which makes us blessed and makes for stormy weather"
[Placebo - Pure Morning]
I'd like to meet:
People like me [opposites don't attract].
Shoegazers and wallflowers.
Fugitives and refugees.
Nihilists and whores.
Anyone who is sick, tired, poor, lost, hungry or alone.
Forty Eight Hour Party People.
And, most importantly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes...
"Let's kill music before it kills us all"
[The Cooper Temple Clause - Let's Kill Music]Let's face it, there are too many noises in the world. On radio and television, at the supermarket, and even in your own home, you're in grave danger of being exposed to shit muzak every single day of your life. So, to help you find your way through this confusing and potentially lethal soundclash, I present to you an A-Z list of 100 songs you absolutely MUST hear. Some quiet, some loud, some old, some new, some happy, some sad, ALL unforgettable:
Aimee Mann - Save Me
Antihero - You Got Nothing
At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor
The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
Beastie Boys - An Open Letter To NYC
Bloc Party - The Prayer
Blondie - Rapture
The Blood Arm - Suspicious Character
Bonde Do Role - Quero Te Amar
Brakes - All Night Disco Party
Breeders - Cannonball
Calvin Harris - Acceptable In The 80s
Cansei De Ser Sexy - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars
Chromeo - Needy Girl
The Cooper Temple Clause - Let's Kill Music
The Cribs - Hey Scenesters!
Graham Coxon - People Of The Earth
The Cure - The Love Cats
Datarock - Fa Fa Fa
Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks Fuck Off
De La Soul - The Magic Number
The Delgados - All You Need Is Hate
Devo - Whip It
Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up Look Sharp [Antihero RMX]
DJ Format - I'm Good
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - I Love You 'Cause I Have To
Duran Duran - Girls On Film
Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter
Faultline ft. The Flaming Lips - The Colossal Gray Sunshine
Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene
¡Forward, Russia! - Twelve
The Freelance Hellraiser - Pound For Pound
Gang Of Four - Damaged Goods
Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Martin Grech - Dali
The Holloways - Generator [Modernaire RMX]
Holy Hail - Born Of A Star
Hope Of The States - Me Ves Y Sufre
Hot Hot Heat - Talk To Me, Dance With Me
Interpol - Evil
Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime Moi Non Plus
Jeff Buckley - So Real
John Cooper Clarke - Beasley Street
Joy Division - No Love Lost
Justice - TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
Just Jack - Writer's Block
Kasabian - Processed Beats
The Kills - No Wow [MSTRKRFT RMX]
Kinesis - The Flowers Are Dead
Klaxons - Golden Skans
The Knack vs. Art Brut - My Sharona Formed A Band
Kraftwerk - Das Model
Ladyfuzz - Bouncy Ball
Lazyboy - Underwear Goes Inside Pants
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
Manic Street Preachers - Patrick Bateman
Metric - Monster Hospital [MSTRKRFT RMX]
Miss Black America - The White Noise Incorporated
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
New Order - Blue Monday
New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
Orange Juice - Rip It Up
Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Pixies - Debaser
Plastic Betrand - Ça Plane Pour Moi
The Postal Service - We Will Become Sillouhettes
Primal Scream - Swastika Eyes
Public Image Ltd. - Death Disco
Public Enemy - Fight The Power
Pull Tiger Tail - L'Animateur
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
The Rakes - 22 Grand Job
The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers
Reuben - Let's Stop Hanging Out
Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches
Roxy Music - Love Is The Drug
Saul Williams - List Of Demands
The Shortwave Set - Casual Use
Shy Child - Generation Y [We Got It]
Simian Mobile Disco - Love
Skunk Anansie - Selling Jesus
The Stills - Still In Love Song
The Sunshine Underground - Put You In Your Place
The Specials - Friday Night, Saturday Morning
Suede - Animal Nitrate
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul
Transplants - Diamonds And Guns
Tom Vek - CC [You Set The Fire In Me]
The Vapors - Turning Japanese
The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs
Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
The Whip - Trash
White Rose Movement - Love Is A Number
The Young Knives - She's Attracted To
X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents
It's official. Research has proven that there are at least 4,176 new and unsigned bands on MySpace that are way more talented than the Frozen Chimps [or whatever they're called!] Here are some of the best:
Attack! Switch Attack!
Beautiful Balloon
Gideon Conn
Daywalkers
Lesser Panda
Lucy And The Caterpillar
Royal Treatment Plant
Summerteeth
The Star Fighter Pilot
Tim's Brother
Whiskey Headshot
Xerox Teens
[DISCLAIMER: I am in no way directly related to the guitarist in Whiskey Headshot. The Star Fighter Pilot isn't on my record label. And I certainly don't work with Tim's Brother. Biased? Moi? No sirree!]
"Violence, wars and killing too, all shrunk down in a two foot tube, but outside the world is a beautiful place, with mountains, lakes and the human race" [New Order - Krafty]
Ben[jamin] does not watch films or telivision. With the exception of BBC News 24. And the occasional documentary.
"I think every reader on Earth has a list of cherished books as unique as their fingerprints. I'm always kind of suspicious of young people who, when asked who their favourite writer is, say Henry James or someone equally as dead. Imagine if you asked a young person who their favourite musician was and they told you Vivaldi. Would you trust that person? I think that, as you age, you tend to gravitate towards the classics, but those aren't the books that give you the same sort of hope for the world that a cherished book does."
[Douglas Coupland - The Gum Thief]
Currently reading...
Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland.
Everything by Douglas Coupland is worth a read. But Generation X is the one that really changed my world. Despite the fact that it has zero narrative whatsoever. Reduce Distill. Purify. Teach.
1984 by George Orwell is my second favourite book, after Generation X. Like a fine, fine wine, it keeps getting better [and more relevant] with time. The same is true of Philip Kindred Dick's The Man In The High Castle, which envisions a German and Japanese victory in World War Two.
Naomi Klein's No Logo is quite possibly the reason that I've just spent three years of my life studying politics. It's a series of precisely argued perception-altering points. Enlightening, to say the least.
So you're female. Men perplex you. You want to unravel their mysterious ways? Try reading Essays in Love by Alain de Botton. No other book gets closer to deconstructing our immature, contradictory outlook on life.
I'm not easily shocked, but The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things by Jeremy 'Terminator' LeRoy reaches terrifying depths of depravity. The same could by said of Michael Houellebecq's Atomised, and The Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau. Dirty French bastards, those two!
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath can be summarised in one unforgettable line: "If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell" . I have something of a morbid fascination with suicides [see also Ian Curtis], and even GCSE English Literature couldn't make me hate her writing.
Automated Alice by Jeff Noon is mandatory reading for all residents of south Manchester. It's a drug-fuelled reinterpretation of Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, set in Didsbury, Fallowfield and Rusholme - Legendary!
Without wanting to sound too narcissistic, Mersault, the central character in Albert Camus' The Outsider could well be based upon me. Read it and find out for yourself, it's eerie! Although I'm probably less likely to become implicated in a racist murder...
Also, the three most disappointing, overated books in the history of literary fiction are as follows:
Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher In The Rye by Jerome David Salinger
"Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me... Most of my heroes ain't appeared on no stamp" [Public Enemy - Fight The Power]If you want a hero[ine] be a hero[ine]... But if I had to pick one, it'd be Miss Helen Jackson , Princess of Grrrlchester! And in the future, people will talk about me in the same sentences as Malcolm McLaren and Anthony H. Wilson.