The Sisters of Transistors
On Saturday 1st Dec, Mei Yau and I went to see the Sisters of Transistors at the George Tavern in East London. The group are a new project from Graham Massey of 808 State, and their myspace page describes them thus:
The Sisters Of Transistors (S.O.T.) are a Combo Organ Quartet and Ladies Social Club. S.O.T. hold weekly afternoon workshops at the Museum. Members who graduated this year are Sister Wigby Elka Whippany Sister Ragna Teisco Dottir Sister Naomi Doric Pencrest & Sister Henrietta Vox Humana S.O.T. play a selection of fully working exhibition organs with an emphasis on the Italian models from the early 1970s. Accompanied on drums by museum curator, Prof. Vernon World. Repertoire includes a mixture of S.O.T originals in the style of baroque disco prog (B.D.P.) and classics from the golden age of Horror OST (H.O.S.T ).
They lived up to the description. Live, the Sisters of Transistors were mostly instrumental, with six vintage synths blazing and live drums by Massey played over laptop beat tracks. I can’t recommend them enough. I was also thrilled to discover that Die Die Deneuve were supporting, as I saw them at an art squat party about a year ago and they were excellent. They played the gig in a slimmed-down two-member incarnation called Plug, and they were great.
Listen!
http://www.myspace.com/thesistersoftransistors
http://www.myspace.com/diediedeneuve
La Merienda
Hey! We were played on the radio in Spain! Thanks goes to Agustín Fuentes for playing us on his show, La Merienda, on Radio Extremadura.
Agustín had emailed us a few months ago, asking for a CD, and he was very complimentary about our music on his programme. While talking about us, he mentioned Stereolab, Broadcast and Japanese pop so we’re pretty happy.
You can tune in to La Merienda at 18:07 CET, download shows or subscribe to the podcast. It’s a lovely mix of indie pop and, I think, ideal dinnertime listening.
The truth is, I’m completely mad
“My name is John Harrington. I’m 30 years old. I’m a paranoiac. Paranoiac. An enchanting word, so civilized, full of possibilities. The truth is, I am completely mad. The realization which annoys me at first, but is now amusing to me. Quite amusing. Nobody suspects I am a madman. A dangerous murderer. Not Mildred, my wife. Nor the employees of my fashion center. Nor of course my customers.”
We watched Mario Bava’s Hatchet For A Honeymoon yesterday evening as a bit of post-gig relaxation. Wonderful music by Luigi Zito, an opulent setting and plenty of dark humour and unsettling imagery: I loved it. Perhaps one of our future videos will be a visual homage to this giallo gem.
Misty Roses coming soon
I hope everyone is keeping Sunday 18 November free in their diaries because we’ll be supporting the wonderful Misty Roses at the Enterprise in Camden. Also supporting is Sunny Intervals (Andy from Pocketbooks’ solo project) who Tim will be helping out on some guitar duty.
Misty Roses last came to these shores on tour with Patrick Wolf and the duo are sure to wow (woo?) us again with their dark and sensual Morricone-esque sounds. We’ve been listening to their album Komodo Dragons for that lamp-lit, late-night mood and can highly recommend it. Really, we’d be going to this gig even if we weren’t playing it. And so should you.
The Enterprise is right next to Chalk Farm tube. See www.poplookandlisten.co.uk for more information.
Mei Yau has a brand new hat!
BADGES!
We now have lovely Hong Kong In The 60s badges. If you want one, please email us.
South Eats London
On Saturday 27th October we played at the opening night of South Eats London at the Deptford Arms in New Cross. Good night, cool venue, nice crowd (apart from a few creepy drunk guys who turned up later in the night) and we felt it was probably our best live performance so far. We were also able to enjoy an excellent set by our good friends Shimura Curves, and what we believe to have been the debut performance of Dora Brilliant. Unfortunately, no photos have yet emerged of us actually performing, but here is a picture in which Mei Yau and I are (just) visible enjoying one of the other bands:
Sharing A Staircase
I was reading today about a fascinating application developed by UCL that puts surnames into a sort of league table of poshness. Since this combines both my interest in names and snobbery, I was instantly hooked.
It gets its information from a database that plots the frequency of surnames against geographical locations and socio-economic information from the census. Weirdly, the National Trust now looks after or owns this thing (not sure which).
Well, what about a socio-demographic breakdown of Hong Kong In The 60s?
Curiously, only 10% of the population have a more “high-class” name than “Kan” and it’s in the Mosaic category Just Moving In:
“Many people are from minority ethnic populations and in particular from the Chinese community which has traditionally chosen wherever possible to live in recently built accommodation… Choosing to live in the newest types of property, often in the trendiest ‘up and coming’ urban areas, they are nonetheless traditional in some of their values… This belies any notion that such urban lifestyles automatically embrace the bohemian, free thinking existentialism, so often associated in the past, with artistic contemporary loft-dwelling city populations.”
I admit I’m a horrible, horrible yuppie. But at least I’m not a filthy-rich, hedonistic, jetsetting Greenberg (which is a surname so posh that 0% of the population can beat in the class stakes)! “Greenbergs” are most often found in the Global Connections category:
“These people are prosperous, self-confident, optimistic, well-educated, well-informed and ‘cultured’ in the broadest sense. They are driven by performance and the need to achieve… They define themselves according to the choices they make, and less by affiliations to family, community, religion and the other conventional reference points. They consume conspicuously, but this is not a result of any need for approval… These people represent the aspirational group of many others, in that they have ‘made it’. They have all the glittering prizes of contemporary, wealthy urban life.”
Unfortunately, Tim’s humble background is cruelly revealed by his surname: 94% of people have a posher name than “Scullion” and it belongs in the category Sharing A Staircase (potential album title??):
“These people are perpetually worried about money… For routine shopping, which is frequent, discount stores are normally used. Predictably, price is the major criterion for choosing both store and products. These people, like many in similar circumstances, find they have little interest or time for cooking, or for considering dietary requirements carefully. Convenience foods such as oven ready frozen meals are seen as perfectly adequate… These people are fatalistic but they often fantasise about a better life. In truth, their lives revolve around the ever-pressing need to make ends meet and then to search for impulsive and immediate self-gratification which provides an occasional escape from what is usually an unpleasant reality”
You could see Hong Kong In The 60s as a grand social experiment in uniting the dizzy heights, despairing depths and bourgeois middles of British society. How long before we are riven by band set-tos about “dinner”, “supper” and “tea”?
Try it and let us know if you’re Burdened Optimists or Greenbelt Guardians: National Trust Names. Or read more about Mosaic and geodemographics from the ever-erudite Momus.
Live: South Eats London, Sat 27 Oct
We are playing live with the wonderful Shimura Curves at the launch night of SOUTH EATS LONDON, “an odyssey through the happier ranges of human emotion in the form of a club night.” Here is what they have to say:
Saturday 27/10 - SOUTH EATS LONDON at The Deptford Arms, 52 Deptford High Street, SE8 4NR: Another new party to blow your neon socks off. Bands, buns, bingo and balloons! Tonight - shimmery pop wonders from Shimura Curves, Hong Kong in the 60s and Dora Brilliant. Party from 8pm-1am with the resident deck monkeys. Free entry all night.
The Deptford Arms is in walking distance of the following stations:
Deptford BR
New Cross tube
New Cross BR
Deptford Bridge DLR
Greenwich DLR
Greenwich BR
Here’s a Google Map. Deptford BR doesn’t seem to appear on it, but it’s actually the closest station to the venue.
There will be a free CD for attendees, featuring tracks from us, Shimura Curves and Dora Brilliant. Free entry x free CD = worth the trip to New Cross, surely?
The Clientele & North Sea Radio Orchestra
Last night all three of us went to Cargo to see The Clientele, supported by North Sea Radio Orchestra, and both were spectacular. The Clientele’s new album God Save The Clientele has just come out on Track & Field (Merge in North America), and it’s a peach which we heartily recommend.
Try to see both bands live if you have the chance.
Forthcoming Clientele dates
Oct 18 2007 - Academy 3, Manchester
Oct 19 2007 - Academy, Newcastle
Oct 20 2007 - King Tuts, Glasgow
Oct 21 2007 - Glee Club, Birmingham
Nov 11 2007 - Union Chapel, London (acoustic show, with Kurt Wagner of Lambchop)
Forthcoming North Sea Radio Orchestra dates
Nov 17 2007 - The Roundhouse, London
Dec 05 2007 - Union Chapel, London
(Lovely photo of NSRO taken by Simon Parkin)
Super Pop Art
Things have calmed down a bit now so I’d better give a report about the PopArt superhero all dayer. We were rather pleased about how our covers of Brainiac’s Daughter and That’s Really Super, Supergirl went; we worked on them specially for the gig and it was the first time we played them in front of an audience, and probably will be the only time. Two superhero-themed XTC songs back-to-back - what a concept!
Another first for us: our gig got reviewed. It’s strange to realise that one is public property now. I mean, if you put yourself out there, play live, have websites and the like, then people have a right to talk about you I suppose. It’s just very weird to have strangers do it without any prompting from you!
Anyway, more gigs should be coming up in the autumn so I look forward more reviews.
Thanks to Simon Scott for taking lots of great pictures of us! See them here.
indiepages.com Demo Of The Week
I’ve just discovered while searching the web that the fantastic indiepages.com awarded us Demo Of The Week last week! I think we will disappear from the page on September 10th, when a new band will be featured. Until then, point your browser here to take a look. If you’re reading this in the future, then don’t worry, you can still see what they said about us, as I reproduce it now:
This trio plays soft, minimal bedroom pop that at times, sound like they could be Stereolab demos. Pleasant and relaxing…
I like how it ends with an ellipsis, as it suggests that the reviewer has so much more to say, but our pleasant and relaxing music has made them drift into dreamland.
You’re very kind, indiepages.com!
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