Tag Archives: Robyn Hitchcock

Shorties

New Sparklehorse: Listening to the Higsons

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Video: Sparklehorse – “Listening to the Higsons”

From Bird Machine, out September 8 on Anti-.

In June 1982 Robyn Hitchcock recorded this b-side “on a portastudio in a barn in Sussex…on a full moon.” In the notes on the original seven-inch sleeve he wrote:

Your stereo may need a new needle but the vocal sound is intentional. At the beginning of the song I play a wok (Chinese cooking utensil) 1/3 full of water, tipped through an angle of 40 degrees to vary the pitching. Using my left forearm to cradle it against my chest, I struck it repeatedly with a wooden spoon.

It’s no surprise that Mark Linkous was drawn not only to Hitchcock’s song but to his recording methods as well. What seems a little surprising is that he recorded this cover with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in 2009. Other than a couple of Daniel Johnson songs (“Hey Joe” on Good Morning Spider, “My Yoke Is Heavy” on the Distorted Ghost EP), Sparklehorse didn’t record many covers. It sounds like it was a blast to play though, and it’s nice to hear Linkous being a little silly and having fun.

Sparklehorse: web, bandcamp, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

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Shorties

New Robyn Hitchcock video: Sayonara Judge

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Video: Robyn Hitchcock – “Sayonara Judge”

Directed by Hugh Hales-Tooke. From Robyn Hitchcock, out now on Yep Roc.

Everybody knows that he’s been obsessed with Syd Barrett but it’s weird when Robyn Hitchcock sounds like post-Barrett Pink Floyd. This could almost be an outtake from The Wall.

Losing my face, losing my friends, losing my temper
Losing my place on the map, losing my home

“I first saw Robyn Hitchcock in my hometown, Cambridge, in 1976,” director by Hugh Hales-Tooke told Rolling Stone. “He was playing with a fairly early incarnation of the Soft Boys. It seemed fitting for Cambridge to be the place for Robyn Hitchcock to emerge. He was doing something strong and unique but with a strong connection to Cambridge, the home of Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd psychedelia.”

Robyn Hitchcock: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Links, Shorties

Twitter Roundup #11

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Tweet tweetBelow are the things we’ve posted to Twitter recently. In reverse chronological order, just like Twitter… We’re reposting 195 tweets this time with a total of 108 links to stuff that (mostly) didn’t end up on GLONO.

# RT @seanonolennon: Now they say I’m abusing Lennon fans? Because I’m defending my mother from insults over an advert I had NOTHING to do with!? 3 minutes ago

# How come Paul McCartney never made another album as good or as weird as Ram? about 2 hours ago

# Sad about Haeley. RT @maura: tonight’s ‘american idol’ recap, in which i get to the point: http://bit.ly/csZzTO about 4 hours ago

# “With Paula, you’re never more than a few minutes away from seeing a grade-A display of batshit antics on live TV.” http://ow.ly/1eHYx #idol about 4 hours ago

# Macca to quit touring in 2012; age 70: http://ow.ly/1eI4N about 4 hours ago

# “But yeah, there’s just so many songs about the war,” the one publisher reiterated. “My writers have a bunch.” http://ow.ly/1eHLu about 5 hours ago

# On this day 2001: Glenn Kotche joins Wilco. Ken Coomer out: http://ow.ly/1eHuB about 5 hours ago

Lots more below, and you might consider following us on Twitter if you want to keep up with this stuff as it happens…

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Articles

Robyn Hitchcock and The Venus 3 – Ole Tarantula

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Robyn Hitchcock and The Venus 3 - Ole TarantulaRobyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – Olé Tarantula (Yep Roc)

It all started with the Soft Boys. Somebody made me a copy of their odds ‘n sods collection Invisible Hits, an assortment of leftovers so good that other bands would be proud to call them the main course. My Maxell cassette of that album got so many spins that I nearly wept when it eventually got destroyed in the car stereo of a friend. This was before Robyn got a major label deal with A&M Records, you understand, so Invisible Hits was totally out of print and the friend that made the copy, well, like your pot dealer in college, he was long gone.

Add to this, a chick that I really thought I had a connection with, a music hipster no less, mentioned that she really liked that album after I played it. So like a schmuck, I found a tremendously priced import copy of the album and, are you sitting down, gave it to her as a Christmas gift, an action that haunts me to this day, especially considering the emotional guillotine that is falling in love with someone more than they actually love you.

I stitched my head back on when I found another copy for myself and christened myself a Robyn Hitchcock disciple. He sang songs to me that sounded great stoned and they sounded just as good sober, although the words became a tad more warped.

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