It's nice to make contact with my fellow drug-addled. I've just noticed that a track from The Voice of the Taniwha has been included in the latest webcast from Drug-Music web radio. This is the full set-list:
Loop - Eternal - Thief of Fire/Thief (Motherfucker) [00:00]
Space Debris - Krautrock Session 1994-2001 - Nuff & Nunner [09:03]
New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call - I Told You So [12:11]
The Charlatans UK - Some Friendly - Opportunity [18:06]
Seht - The Voice of the Taniwha - Make the Baby Jesus Cry Some More [24:37]
Ultrasonics - s/t - Sweat Leaf [31:15]
Louis XIV - Illegal Tender EP - Finding Out True Love Is Blind [36:03]
Savoy Brown - Looking from The Outside (Live 69-70) - Leavin' Again [40:16]
Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of It Again - It's for You [51:20]
The Flaming Lips - Hear It Is - With You [56:09]
Unfortunately the DJ mispronounces "Seht" as well as "Taniwha" but I'm just excited to have ended up on the same set as two personal heroes, Loop and The Flaming Lips; apart from an awful new New Order track it's actually a really good set, too. Worth a listen.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Tarot
Ever since Rose told me about the MP3-Blogs Aggregator, I've been obsessed with it, and the bunch of MP3-Blogs I've found [more about them later].
So because sooner or later I have to try my hand at everything, I'm going to do the occasional MP3-bloggin' here. Of course, the songs will be posted for evaluation purposes only. I love and support well-made music and make every effort to support the artists I love by purchasing their work; to that end it is my policy only to post what I own, and at that probably out-of-print stuff. To download the songs, right-click on the bold orange link and then select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." to save the MP3 files to your computer. I won't be keeping an archive of the songs, so if it's gone, it's gone. Also, if you own the copyright to one of these songs and would like it removed, please let me know.
Walter Wegmueller And The Cosmic Couriers - Der Weise (The Wise Man)
Walter Wegmueller recorded this album with the Cosmic Couriers - a supergroup of German rock ('krautrock' as it is affectionately known): Klaus Schulze, Manuel Goettsching, Walter Westrup and others - in December 1972 and it was released October the following year on Ohr Kosmische Musik. Wegmueller was an itinerant gypsy mystic and painter and to accompany the album he painted an entire Tarot set of 78 cards; they are repoduced in the CD boxed-set reissue on Spalax that I have.
The album is 22 themed tracks, one for each of the Major Arcana, or trump cards: The Fool, The Wheel of Fortune, the Devil, Death, and so on. Mostly it's rocking funk/cosmic sounds like you'd expect, quite silly but pretty good and really fun to listen through. This track, Der Weise (The Wise Man), is one of the more sedate numbers, and features Klaus "Quaddro" Schulze, one of the pioneers of electronic music, as the narrator/vocalist. It's a piece of pure beauty, and you'll dissolve in bubbling syrup as, at the conclusion and with an apparent complete lack of self-consciousness, Schulze begins to hum along with the melody.
I'd probably write something a bit more coherent about the track if I was in a slightly better condition; The Jarman, Dave, and myself have just spent an enjoyable evening getting toasted, listening to Tarot and performing tarot readings - using Wegmueller's deck - in between bouts of trans-lingual etymological nerdery. You can also listen to snippets of the entire album at TIGERSUSHI.
Oh, and Julian Cope spazzed magnificantly about the album in his Krautrocksampler book.
So because sooner or later I have to try my hand at everything, I'm going to do the occasional MP3-bloggin' here. Of course, the songs will be posted for evaluation purposes only. I love and support well-made music and make every effort to support the artists I love by purchasing their work; to that end it is my policy only to post what I own, and at that probably out-of-print stuff. To download the songs, right-click on the bold orange link and then select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." to save the MP3 files to your computer. I won't be keeping an archive of the songs, so if it's gone, it's gone. Also, if you own the copyright to one of these songs and would like it removed, please let me know.
Walter Wegmueller And The Cosmic Couriers - Der Weise (The Wise Man)
Walter Wegmueller recorded this album with the Cosmic Couriers - a supergroup of German rock ('krautrock' as it is affectionately known): Klaus Schulze, Manuel Goettsching, Walter Westrup and others - in December 1972 and it was released October the following year on Ohr Kosmische Musik. Wegmueller was an itinerant gypsy mystic and painter and to accompany the album he painted an entire Tarot set of 78 cards; they are repoduced in the CD boxed-set reissue on Spalax that I have.The album is 22 themed tracks, one for each of the Major Arcana, or trump cards: The Fool, The Wheel of Fortune, the Devil, Death, and so on. Mostly it's rocking funk/cosmic sounds like you'd expect, quite silly but pretty good and really fun to listen through. This track, Der Weise (The Wise Man), is one of the more sedate numbers, and features Klaus "Quaddro" Schulze, one of the pioneers of electronic music, as the narrator/vocalist. It's a piece of pure beauty, and you'll dissolve in bubbling syrup as, at the conclusion and with an apparent complete lack of self-consciousness, Schulze begins to hum along with the melody.
I'd probably write something a bit more coherent about the track if I was in a slightly better condition; The Jarman, Dave, and myself have just spent an enjoyable evening getting toasted, listening to Tarot and performing tarot readings - using Wegmueller's deck - in between bouts of trans-lingual etymological nerdery. You can also listen to snippets of the entire album at TIGERSUSHI.
Oh, and Julian Cope spazzed magnificantly about the album in his Krautrocksampler book.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Happy birfday to me, innit
I got a bunch of great presents last night. From Dave and Rose a huge skeleton-guy cushion/pillow; from Campbell a beautiful, tragic, beat-up accordion; from Marnie a drawing; from Jo and Matt a drawing and a photo; from Shana a pair of signed 7" records by The Stabs; a bottle of wine and a wee painting from Simon and Anya; and Antony gave me a copy of his new cd.Big ups my mates, then. No really, thank you. I love yous all.
Hare rama, rama rama
Today is my birthday, and in honour of this auspicious occasion we held a long and raucous party last night, which culminated in my dear friend Malcolm bestowing on me another of his now-reknowned 2 a.m. haircuts. I won't go into the gory details, but suffice to say that if I were to obtain saffron-coloured robes, a small hand-organ and a book of annoying songs, and go and hang out at the airport, I very much doubt that anyone would bat an eyelid.I am now the very proud owner of a rat's-tail.
At right is a special celebratory drawing by The Jarman.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Hunter and Painter
This fifteen part daily comic strip, by British illustrator Tom Gauld, appeared in the Guardian between 20th December 2004 and 7th January 2005.It's the funniest thing I've seen in ages. Especially strip 2. Managing to convey accurately and entertainingly the concerns of the modern artist whilst in a Neolithic setting is no small or insignificant feat; Gauld pulls it off with ease.
Hunter and Painter depicts the artist as he struggles to come up with the "difficult second album", music-lore-speak for the less-accessible sophomore effort from a lauded new musician or band, and we are all reminded that, when it comes down to it, more or less we've all "got to keep the customer satisfied".
[Tom Gauld's site].
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
INTP Central
Us INTPs, we've, like, got our own website. It's definitely a good spot to kill a few minutes/hours/whatever you've got to spare.
Some famous INTPs:
It gets worse over at TypeLogic.com: F'shure they add Sir Issac Newton to the above list, which is fine, but then lumber us with such wretches and buffoons as Henri Mancini, Bob Newhart, and Rick Moranis. To top it off, we get C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of Psychological Types, etc.) and Tiger Woods in our team.
Please note that this is all a bunch of supposition and nonsense; most of these people have of course never been subjected to a Myers-Briggs personality-typing test, and if any of them have been, the results almost certainly have never been submitted to the public record.
The cheap and nasty-looking INTP Survival Guide provides, amongst other things, what passes for Humour for INTPs, mousepads and T-shirts. They do reckon, however, that Linus from Peanuts is a fellow INTP:
Finally, TypeTango.com gives us something to get our teeth into: well-known INTP-types are supposed to include Isaac Asimov (author), and Friedrich Nietzche (philosopher), as well as the insufferable Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
PS. Rose will be pleased to note that in this post (I believe) I've successfully managed to correctly combine acronyms and possessive apostrophes.
Some famous INTPs:
CHARLES DARWINI can't say I particularly identify with any of these in particular. Except perhaps Socrates; I have been known to run about the house naked and shouting. And maybe Descarte: "I can think, therefore I've definitely had coffee and a cigarette this morning".
RENE DESCARTES
ALBERT EINSTEIN
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
BLAISE PASCAL
SOCRATES
It gets worse over at TypeLogic.com: F'shure they add Sir Issac Newton to the above list, which is fine, but then lumber us with such wretches and buffoons as Henri Mancini, Bob Newhart, and Rick Moranis. To top it off, we get C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of Psychological Types, etc.) and Tiger Woods in our team.
- INTP U.S. Presidents:
- JAMES MADISON
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
JOHN TYLER
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
GERALD FORD
Please note that this is all a bunch of supposition and nonsense; most of these people have of course never been subjected to a Myers-Briggs personality-typing test, and if any of them have been, the results almost certainly have never been submitted to the public record.
The cheap and nasty-looking INTP Survival Guide provides, amongst other things, what passes for Humour for INTPs, mousepads and T-shirts. They do reckon, however, that Linus from Peanuts is a fellow INTP:
"Miss Otthmar, Miss Otthmar" etc.I think I'm going to go and hang myself, right now.
Finally, TypeTango.com gives us something to get our teeth into: well-known INTP-types are supposed to include Isaac Asimov (author), and Friedrich Nietzche (philosopher), as well as the insufferable Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
PS. Rose will be pleased to note that in this post (I believe) I've successfully managed to correctly combine acronyms and possessive apostrophes.
Good husband material...
Doin' tests... doin' tests... ev'rybody's doin' tests... so yeah, I joined in the game and did some tests. (I can hear Ross P. Kettle choking on his soup from here!)
I'm quite enamoured with my Warmth-14% and Dutifulness-22% vs. Introversion-90% and Abstraction-74% in the Cattels 16 Factor test. Regarding Emotional Stability-26%: I suspect we already knew.
Of more concern is the Borderline-78% on the Personality Disorder Test: "individual shows a generalized pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and observable emotions, and significant impulsiveness." I'm keeping schtumm on the Schizotypal-70% and Avoidant-74%, and I've no real idea where the Dependent-70% came from. For the full wrap check out the Personality Disorder page at similarminds.com.
I've known I was an Myers-Briggs INTP for a while. So are a number of my friends. Estimates of our population proportion vary between 1% and 3.5%. I've got a rare blood-type to go with it, not that I'm suggesting there's any kind of link.
Dunno what to make of the Enneagram results - Sensitivity-73% and Detachment-76%. Cute pictures though.
I'm quite enamoured with my Warmth-14% and Dutifulness-22% vs. Introversion-90% and Abstraction-74% in the Cattels 16 Factor test. Regarding Emotional Stability-26%: I suspect we already knew.
Of more concern is the Borderline-78% on the Personality Disorder Test: "individual shows a generalized pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and observable emotions, and significant impulsiveness." I'm keeping schtumm on the Schizotypal-70% and Avoidant-74%, and I've no real idea where the Dependent-70% came from. For the full wrap check out the Personality Disorder page at similarminds.com.
I've known I was an Myers-Briggs INTP for a while. So are a number of my friends. Estimates of our population proportion vary between 1% and 3.5%. I've got a rare blood-type to go with it, not that I'm suggesting there's any kind of link.
Dunno what to make of the Enneagram results - Sensitivity-73% and Detachment-76%. Cute pictures though.
Cattell's 16 Factor Test Results
Warmth 14%
Intellect 78%
Emotional Stability 26%
Aggressiveness 46%
Liveliness 42%
Dutifulness 22%
Social Assertiveness 14%
Sensitivity 62%
Paranoia 66%
Abstractness 74%
Introversion 90%
Anxiety 74%
Openmindedness 86%
Independence 82%
Perfectionism 58%
Tension 78%
Take Cattell 16 Factor Test (similar to 16pf)
personality tests by similarminds.com
Intellect 78%
Emotional Stability 26%
Aggressiveness 46%
Liveliness 42%
Dutifulness 22%
Social Assertiveness 14%
Sensitivity 62%
Paranoia 66%
Abstractness 74%
Introversion 90%
Anxiety 74%
Openmindedness 86%
Independence 82%
Perfectionism 58%
Tension 78%
Take Cattell 16 Factor Test (similar to 16pf)
personality tests by similarminds.com
Enneagram Test Results
The Enneagram is a personality system which divides the entire human personality into nine behavioural tendencies, this is your score on each...
Type 1: Perfectionism 40%
Type 2: Helpfulness 23%
Type 3: Image Awareness 56%
Type 4: Sensitivity 73%
Type 5: Detachment 76%
Type 6: Anxiety 40%
Type 7: Adventurousness 26%
Type 8: Aggressiveness 23%
Type 9: Calmness 20%
Your main type is 5 "I must be knowledgable and independent to be happy."
Your variant is self pres
Main type
Variant
Your main type is whichever behaviour you utilize most and/or prefer. Your variant reflects your scoring profile on all nine types: so = social variant (compliant, friendly), sx = sexual variant (assertive, intense), sp = self preservation variant (withdrawn, security seeking). For info on the flaws of the Enneagram system click here.
Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com
Jungian Myers-Briggs Test Results
Introverted (I) 77.42% Extroverted (E) 22.58%
Intuitive (N) 56.41% Sensing (S) 43.59%
Thinking (T) 73.33% Feeling (F) 26.67%
Perceiving (P) 59.09% Judging (J) 40.91%
Your type is: INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.
Intuitive (N) 56.41% Sensing (S) 43.59%
Thinking (T) 73.33% Feeling (F) 26.67%
Perceiving (P) 59.09% Judging (J) 40.91%
Your type is: INTP - "Architect". Greatest precision in thought and language. Can readily discern contradictions and inconsistencies. The world exists primarily to be understood. 3.3% of total population.
Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Sloth
Last night I went to the opening of my friend Dave's new solo show at the 91 Aro St gallery. That's him over there in the Drinking buddies. (There are links to his blog and his website).
The show is a series consisting of a very reasonable number of works featuring Dave's creation, the somewhat obviously auto-biographical Skeleton Guy. Skeleton Guy is ostensibly a painter, and appears again and again with the tools of the trade - studio, paint, easel and so forth - but seems to spend very little time actually painting. He rather uses the 'studio' as a private space into which he retreats to do whatever the hell he feels like - and frequently does, with characteristic torpid insouciance. Any suggestions from us that this is less than reputable behaviour and even downright duplicitous are challenged with a deapan stare that a Maltese mafioso would be proud of. At the very least we can expect to have cigarette smoke blown into our faces in a less than respectful fashion if we don't shuddup.
I am reminded of the (good old?) days when I would head for my studio at every possible opportunity to thwart the cloying mawkish clutches of my annoying girlfriend. Popular culture would have us believe that this is a common male behaviour - retreat to the den, the shed, the workshop, the garage, the local bar etc. to avoid the shrill girlfriend, the shrewish wife, the responsibilities of a family life - but I am left wondering what it is that prevents us from confronting the issues head-on and acknowledging our apparent need for solace and escape.
I know in my case the annoying girlfriend would accuse me of outright abandonment if I dared to express my desire for some "solace and escape", hence the utilisation of the convenient 'studio' justification. This is clearly weak, but for the sake of a decent night's sleep, worth it. I hope for everyone's sake situations like this are not common; I fear they may be. We're all doomed, aren't we. Go on, admit it - we're doomed.
The show is a series consisting of a very reasonable number of works featuring Dave's creation, the somewhat obviously auto-biographical Skeleton Guy. Skeleton Guy is ostensibly a painter, and appears again and again with the tools of the trade - studio, paint, easel and so forth - but seems to spend very little time actually painting. He rather uses the 'studio' as a private space into which he retreats to do whatever the hell he feels like - and frequently does, with characteristic torpid insouciance. Any suggestions from us that this is less than reputable behaviour and even downright duplicitous are challenged with a deapan stare that a Maltese mafioso would be proud of. At the very least we can expect to have cigarette smoke blown into our faces in a less than respectful fashion if we don't shuddup.I am reminded of the (good old?) days when I would head for my studio at every possible opportunity to thwart the cloying mawkish clutches of my annoying girlfriend. Popular culture would have us believe that this is a common male behaviour - retreat to the den, the shed, the workshop, the garage, the local bar etc. to avoid the shrill girlfriend, the shrewish wife, the responsibilities of a family life - but I am left wondering what it is that prevents us from confronting the issues head-on and acknowledging our apparent need for solace and escape.
I know in my case the annoying girlfriend would accuse me of outright abandonment if I dared to express my desire for some "solace and escape", hence the utilisation of the convenient 'studio' justification. This is clearly weak, but for the sake of a decent night's sleep, worth it. I hope for everyone's sake situations like this are not common; I fear they may be. We're all doomed, aren't we. Go on, admit it - we're doomed.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
But I'll never go to see Lambchop play again
I paid NZ$54 to see Lambchop play the other night. Lambchop, the darlings of alt.country - almost up there in darling-ness with darling Ryan Adams (ugh) and darling Jesse Malin and The goddamn darling Handsome Family. It was fine, I guess, but I'm never going again. Actually, if you want the truth, it was boring. And nice.
The cost of the experience is especially galling when you consider I had a ticket to give away on my radio show the Monday previous. I should never have given that ticket away, I should have kept the bastard for myself. Then I could have gotten really drunk and had a really enjoyable time, instead of just getting a little drunk and still being cogent enough to not enjoy the band.
Anyway, after all's said and done, I can't rid myself of this unpleasant nagging feeling that Lambchop is somehow the Jose Feliciano or the Gordon Lightfoot of this generation. And that's not a nice nagging feeling. It's the feeling of being duped... by niceness. Nothing against those fellows, but it's all just a little too... nice.
And should I trust my instinct when people I don't like who play in bands I don't like rave to me about how great Lambchop are?
The cost of the experience is especially galling when you consider I had a ticket to give away on my radio show the Monday previous. I should never have given that ticket away, I should have kept the bastard for myself. Then I could have gotten really drunk and had a really enjoyable time, instead of just getting a little drunk and still being cogent enough to not enjoy the band.
Anyway, after all's said and done, I can't rid myself of this unpleasant nagging feeling that Lambchop is somehow the Jose Feliciano or the Gordon Lightfoot of this generation. And that's not a nice nagging feeling. It's the feeling of being duped... by niceness. Nothing against those fellows, but it's all just a little too... nice.
And should I trust my instinct when people I don't like who play in bands I don't like rave to me about how great Lambchop are?
Sunday, March 06, 2005
The Voice of the Taniwha: Promotion
The global promotional campaign for The Voice of the Taniwha has gone into full swing already. The above image shows advertising in Pack Place, Asheville, North Carolina.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
The Voice of the Taniwha
My new album The Voice of the Taniwha is now out. It's been released on the Providence, RI label Last Visible Dog.
Here's what label honcho Chris Moon wrote about it:
Another of the NZ bands that have risen in the aftermath of the mid-90's free noise frenzy, but seht is much more about minimalism, field recordings, and still, beautiful moments. Some tracks here (like Canned Laughter) are quite experimental and outright disturbing while others focus only on solo acoustic guitar. [...] seht demonstrates an all-too-genius use of field recordings, the pinnacle of which being the 10 minute 'St. Valentine's Day 2003' that escalates a found recording of a Salvation Army band to near cosmic proportions!I'm really proud of it and glad it's finally seen the light of day (the release schedule has been somewhat impeded by factors out of my control). Gotta show my gratitude to my brother Andy for his work on the cover design, and the contributors and guest artists too. Oh, and I know I owes some of ya a copy - please rest assured you'll be hearing from me shortly.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
O the shame, the hideous shame
One of the most emarrassing events of my life just happened to me. Y'see, I was in my studio and I was working on a new painting. (That's it there, on the right; its working title is erm Self-portrait as an alien). I had just finished a wet layer on the t-shirt area, and I had decided, contrary to my original intentions, that I was now going to ornamate the figure with - how shall I put it - a cock and balls. To those of you familiar with my work this should come as no surprise; to the rest of you, welcome.Problem was, it's a big painting (1.6 m tall), and I needed an appropriately big model. Not in the interests of vanity or anything, mind - I just needed a decent-sized todger to look at in order to paint one at larger-than-life scale. Now I had a few pictures in an underwear catalogue, but that wasn't going to cut it. So I decided, since there was no-one around, I'll draw myself. A little awkward to *ahem* pull-off, given that I didn't have a mirror, but I thought I'd make do.
So there I was, perched on a chair, overalls 'round my ankles, inspecting my own tackle, when the door suddenly opens and in walks one of the other studio occupants, on his way through to the main door.
Poor guy didn't know where to look. (Neither did I for that matter.) He muttered an apology and hurried off.
I don't want to know what he thought I was doing, but needless to say, I rapidly revised my plan, and went back to work on the torso.
Afterthought: Actually, I've got a reasonable idea what he thought I was doing, because I was kinda playing with it - undertaking a certain manipulation, an auto-stimulation; this was necessary, of course, due to the aesthetic requirement of having aforementioned tackle not in a condition similar to Michaelangelo's David, but rather something approaching the soft, heavy semi-wood of a Playgirl model.
I also feel the need to point out that my familiarity with Playgirl magazine stems from the fact that the fiance of one of my best friends is the former editor; during a dinner-party at 'theirs' one night she got out a stash of back issues for our regalement.
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