GROOVARIUM

Stuff happening in the world of Groovarium, high atop the streets of east London. Find us at groovarium.com or just ask me anything here.

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Our very first Digster session with the fab Hudson Taylor brothers is now live. Have a listen...

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Big up for these guys in Record of the Day this week - "They’ll be supporting Fever The Ghost at London’s White Heat on October 28, for what’s sure to be a hotly attended show." HOTLY ATTENDED, YOU GUYS! Truth.

[thankgodfortaylorswift]

So for the last four months or so, I have taken part in the body positivity movement on Instagram, including posting photos of myself in my bikini and underwear/bra. Keep in mind that none of my photos have ever been sexually explicit or suggestive and that I have always been fully covered. As far...

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A bit of Jacques Brel for Friday...

[davidhankins-deactivated2014080]

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Most of you who have seen Supersize Me will be familiar with the seminal 'Rock 'n Roll McDonald's', but let us not ignore the vertible treasure trove contained within Wesley Willis's oeuvre. I imlpore you all to check out classics such as 'I Whupped Batman's Ass', 'Kris Kringle Was A Car Thief', and my personal fave, 'The Chicken Cow'.

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Mostly been listening to the new Lana Del Rey today. Ooh, that rhymed.

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The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth, from the album Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, released in the UK on Wichita on 23 January 2006.

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The Bronx - History's Stranglers

4 September 2006, Wichita Recordings

Adult faces on little kids' bodies will always be creepy.  See also: Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy 

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Maxïmo Park - Going Missing

18 July 2005, Warp Records

It's difficult to choose a favourite Maxïmo Park track.  Of the three albums I worked on, I always come back to this particular song.  

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Dead Kids - Fear and Fluoride

December 2007

Another of my favourite bands who sadly imploded after a few singles.  They are still around in various guises and still certifiably insane.  If you have the opportunity to see any of Mike Title's live shows, please do.  And wear a helmet.

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Tom Vek - C-C (You Set The Fire in Me)

20 June 2005, Tummy Touch Records

[themuseumofrobynhitchcock-blog]

The character in my painting is projecting a glass flower out of herself. She is beginning to feel happy about her existence, which will not be forever. She will fade away, but the glass flower, if carefully stored, could last for centuries. Years before, her heart was pierced by a dart of ice: it melted, leaving no trace, like a vanished murder weapon - but it chilled her soul and made her difficult to be around. However, the ice left a tiny shard of inspiration that led to the glass flower blossoming out of the woman. She’s all right now.

[themuseumofrobynhitchcock-blog]

For more information and to bid on this painting in the Art in a Box exhibition and charity auction, please see http://eazl.co.uk/art-in-a-box/

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Robyn Hitchcock painting for mental health.

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Jeremy Allen included it in his Guardian piece on music genres that never made it but electroclash still lives on for some of us - hence my and my then-colleague John Rogers (aka johnbrnlvrogers) schoolgirl

squeals at the prospect of working with Wall of Sound Canadian DJ and producer Tiga. Not only is he insanely talented, he'd regularly reduce us to tears of laughter. "Guys, is any of this gonna enable me to buy a Ferrari? Can someone email me when I can buy a Ferrari?" was a typical response to a particularly long and boring chain of emails about various ways of enticing a radio producer down to his 2am headline set that he'd inexplicably been copied into (anyone who's been part of a music promotion team will know what I'm talking about).  Likewise, the official video for the 'Shoes' single was typical of Tiga's twisted, camp sense of humour and didn't disappoint: http://youtu.be/lE2B8PfsvGk.

Then the EPK to promote the Ciao! album came in. For my non-music industry friends, video EPKs (Electronic Press Kits) are mini-documentaries that would be sent out to radio and tv producers to give them some insight into the artist. With the advent of internet promotion, it became painfully obvious how butt-clenchingly dull most EPKs are. Every online PR knows feeling of sinking dread that comes with the words "Can you sort out a premiere for this? The Guardian, NME or Pitchfork would be ideal," especially when accompanied by 10 minutes of single-shot video with the artist and producer sitting next to a mixing desk talking about production techniques. Not so with Tiga. If he ever stops making music, he'll have a fruitful career in satirical comedy. John and I hyperventilated for 10 minutes straight watching this. Click the main video above, and enjoy.

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Oh how I loved you, The Ghost Frequency.  Two superbly-executed 7" singles with incredible comic-gore artwork and the sonic equivalent of an alien tryst with The Clash, the Cramps, Devo and Rage Against the Machine.  And And AND!  String-in-a-can!

I give you... NIGHTMARE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iXMYdplEBA

See also: Never Before Have OI Seen A Man Alive Who Looks So Exactly Like A Skeleton

Keyboardist (Synthist?) Barney is also a shit-hot DJ.