The Spider Hill

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'Where a painter starts with a blank canvas and starts painting a picture, a photographer starts with the messiness of the world and selects a picture.' - Stephen Shore.

[spiderhill]

The best 20 albums of 2012

Time for the traditional end-of-year list to be read by five people, but mostly for my own personal records. Speaking of which, looking back at last year's brilliant list, I can see that though I've bought quite a lot of new stuff 

this year, as a whole the year's been much more ho-hum in terms of new music. It was tough to pick a top five records this year not because of the competition but because there's been lots of decent stuff, but not much that's made me LIKE WOAAH. 

Still, having said that, here are 20 records from 2012 that are more than worth your attention, and a mix of tunes from them for your enjoyment. 

The 20 best albums of 2012 by The Spiderhill on Mixcloud

1. Sigur Ros - Valtari

A new Sigur Ros album is always an event, and I think they got everything right with this one, from the accompanying artwork through to the amazing range of videos to support the record. I found it a stunningly-rewarding listen, and surprisingly warm and summery-sounding. Fewer obvious epic 'Hoppipola'-style epic tracks, but it works brilliantly together. What a generic and predictable number one, eh?

2. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

I'd missed out on anything by Fiona Apple for years, but happened upon a couple of tracks, and it's deliriously-bonkers stuff that doesn't sound like anyone else. Heartbroken, symphonic, virtuosic, experimental, unashamedly pop - all these things, frequently at once. 

3. Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

Speaking of not sounding like anyone else, Dirty Projectors continue to fire off down their own utterly individual path. I find it incredibly hard to describe their music, which is entirely to their credit. Longstreth = insane genius. 

4. Martin Eden - Dedicate Function

This year's equivalent of The Field in the 2011 list - a new record by Matthew 'Eluvium' Cooper, now recording under the pseudonym of Martin Eden. It's another record combining shoegaze and electronics, and I'm a total sucker for those. Warm, enveloping synths over glitchy beats and the odd distorted vocal. Great stuff, but I'm still waiting for a follow-up to the last Eluvium record, which was frankly amazing. 

5. Bersarin Quartett - II

Neatly symphonic electronica crossover record from band with irritatingly wilful spelling error in their name, for which I just about forgive them for producing a record that's equal parts Cinematic Orchestra and Clint Mansell soundtrack. 

6. Turing Machine - What Is The Meaning Of What

Turing Machine and Maserati raid the past to create the instrumental music of the future, and new albums from both of them this year! I can't help but bracket them together for their matching waves of arpeggiated synths, galloping rhythms and barrel-loads of energy. Worth a hundred post-rock-by-numbers imitation bands, and Turing Machine are just that little bit harder and faster so they come in above Maserati in the list. 

7. Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At A Distance

I ignored this album for half the year, passing it off as pleasant background music that's easy to ignore. But listening to it closely one day revealed that it's a real beauty under the surface, full of beautiful sounds and texture that reveal themselves more fully with every listen. Deerhunter are a formidable proposition when their side projects include Lotus Plaza AND Atlas Sound. 

8. Mark Eitzel - Don't Be A Stranger

A new Eitzel is always a landmark for me, and recent offerings have been really patchy to be honest, but this is up there with his best solo work since 60 Watt Silver Lining. It's rare to hear someone grow old so gracefully - these songs sound old, resigned to life but with a glint of humour and acceptance in their eye. There are a few absolute gems in here, especially among some of the verse lyrics, though oddly Eitzel's not landed a real killer chorus line in a few years now. 

9. Beak> - Beak>>

ANALOGUE SYNTHS. LOTS OF THEM. THANKS GUYS. 

10. Aesop Rock - Skelethon

Incredible, dense Rorschach test of an album. Lyrical flow defies belief at times. 

11. Cinematic Orchestra - In Motion #1

The best moment from Cinematic Orchestra since Man With The Movie Camera, easily. Conceived as a series of soundtracks to short films, but works well on its own too - some really lush stuff in here. 

12. Maserati - VII

See Turing Machine. 

13. Land Observations - Roman Roads

You can tell this record's by James Brooks from Appliance - the attention to crispness, clean lines and detail are shared here and honed down from what his first band were trying out a decade ago. Beautifully simple and spacious music. 

14. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

Worth it just for the twenty-minute 'Mladic', which sees Godspeed redefine epic once again, on their own terms. 

15. Felix - Oh Holy Molar

Felix bypass the 'difficult second album' problem by simply dropping another album of the same - gorgeous piano-led kitchen-sink dramas that bring a tear to the eye and a wistful smile to the face at the same time. 

16. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz

Somehow you knew that if there was one band that wasn't going to follow a massive commercial success with an accessible 'sellout' record, it'd be Animal Collective. Follows on from the What Would I Want Sky EP by being an insane collage of sounds, like a long acid-fuelled nursery rhyme. 

17. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II

Propulsive, abstract and sometimes violent pop music from San Francisco. Extraordinary live band, and 'Lupine Dominus' is among my most-played songs of the year.

18. Baltic Fleet - Towers

Krautrock, updated for 2012 with monster synths and beats. 

19. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure

Oh, the beats! The production! Beautiful. 

20. Il Teatro Degli Orrore - Il Mondo Nuovo

Italian band drawing inspiration from the likes of Shellac and Fugazi, throwing in a rich baritone of a voice and some fabulously righteous political lyrics. 

[spiderhill]

Just uploaded The 20 best albums of 2012 to Mixcloud. Listen now!

[spiderhill]

Christmas spacerock

Here's a mix I did on Christmas day for my amusement, featuring lots of lovely things including Neu!, Baltic Fleet, Beak>, Maserati, Walls and Lotus Plaza. 

Christmas Spacerock by The Spiderhill on Mixcloud

[spiderhill]

Just uploaded Christmas Spacerock to Mixcloud. Listen now!

[spiderhill]

"A minute in the world's life passes! To paint it in its reality, and forget everything for that! To become that minute, to be the sensitive plate... give the image of what we see, forgetting everything that has appeared before our time..." - Cezanne. 

[spiderhill]

"Every day people follow signs pointing to some place which is not their home but a chosen destination. Road signs, airport embarkment signs, terminal signs. Some are making their journeys for pleasure, others on business, many out of loss or despair. On arrival they come to realise they are not in the place indicated by the signs they followed. Where they now find themselves has the correct latitude, longitude, local time, currency, yet it does not have the specific gravity of the destination they chose.

They are beside the place they chose to come to. The distance which separates them from it is incalculable. Maybe it's only the width of a thoroughfare, maybe it's a world away. It has lost its territory of experience.

Sometimes a few of these travellers undertake a private journey and find the place they wished to reach, which is often harsher than they foresaw, although they discover it with boundless relief. Many never make it. They accept the signs they follow and it's as if they don't travel, as if they always remain where they already are."

- John Berger, 2007. 

[spiderhill]

Visit Original Link

'For Danny' by Rothko - from A Negative For Francis (1999), one of the lost classic albums of post-rock/drone/ambient/whatever the hell you call it. A really special record - now deleted - from a band whose lineup consisted of just three bass guitars. 

[spiderhill]

Drive Like Jehu. Do you compute?

[spiderhill]

New spacerock mix

Beware of unattended spacerock by Thespiderhill on Mixcloud

Here's the long-overdue second in my series of krautrock/spacerock mixes for you to enjoy.

The tracklisting is as follows:

No Drums/The Voice Of Energy - Tim Hecker/Kraftwerk

Aguirre I/Ii (Lacrima Di Rei Edit) - Peter Kruder Remix - Popol Vuh

Guitar Improvisation 6 - Final

Four Fifty One - Mark Beazley

Soft Rain In The Spring - I'M Not A Gun

Wash It All Away (King Midas Sound Remix) - Pale Sketcher

Shangri Last - Kandodo

First Half/Vacuum - Drums Off Chaos & Jens-Uwe Beyer/Fennesz

Maus-Mann-Motiv - Michael Rother

Mono-Poly - Hannah & Kate

Galactic Joke (B) - Cosmic Jokers

Yoo Doo Right - Can

Yoo Doo Right (3p Mix) - Can

Respond In Silence - The Oscillation

Death Dies - Goblin

Kekse - Harmonia

[spiderhill]

Visit Original Link

Here's a live recording of 'All Aboard The Andrea Doria' from our London Social show. Complete with SOME APPLAUSE at the end. 

[spiderhill]

Tour diary: 12.05.12 - The Cellar, Oxford

HOMETOWN SHOW! 

Feels a bit weird writing about a gig in The Cellar as part of a tour, given that I've played there about 200 times in several different bands, plus there was a week gap before this, but never mind.  

Not much to report, as there wasn't a journey to speak of, and it was pretty nutter-free, being Oxford, but still lots of fun. Local music mag OMS promoted it, and Nought and Wild Swim were excellent in support.

Unfortunately for us, since one of the support bands played for over 40 minutes and there was a tight curfew, we had to drop a song from the set and we were denied an encore though the audience wanted one so that STILL COUNTS IN MY BOOK. 

We landed our new song 'Baychimo', having spent much of the same afternoon in rehearsal finishing writing it, but it was an amazing surprise to see so many people so enthusiastic during our set. Not only that, but someone came from London to the show and agreed to put out our next record - more news on that soon. 

The clip above is a tiny live shot from 'Then Venice Sank', just to give you an idea.

Setlist:

Equus Ager

American Steam Company

Baychimo

Alba Adriatica

The 100 Gun Ship

Then Venice Sank

[spiderhill]

Tour diary: 18.05.12 - The Cavern Club, Bristol

Video clip - tiny extract from 'Alba Adriatica' live in Bristol

Last night of the 'tour', a week later than the Oxford show, and my third show in Bristol, having played twice before with Sunnyvale Noise Sub-element, both for the same promoters. The Cavern's a lovely dingy little underground rock pub-type venue beneath a pretty standard city centre pub, and the show is fabulously DIY: the soundman is still unwrapping the brand new PA he's borrowed for the night from its original plastic wrapping when we get there. 

The promoters, from the wonderful band Big Joan, go back a long way with me, having done several Oxford-Bristol gig swaps in the past and introduced me to amazing bands like Ivory Springer, Geisha and Sammo Hung over the years. Had an idea this would be a busy, well-run show and true to form it was a blinder to close the tour. Longest soundcheck we've ever had, with the soundman adjusting aspects of everyone's sounds to the PA and the room, and possibly the loudest we've been in an enclosed space. They ran the show like a club night, with 45 minute DJ set changeovers, first band on at 10pm and bands till 3am. Oh, and the first act happened to be the excellent SJ Esau, as a special treat. 

The last show was also Mike's birthday, so we gave him his birthday card during the set and the audience were kind enough to sing him a full version of 'Happy Birthday'. A joyful way to end our little tour. 

Setlist: 

Alba Adriatica

American Steam Company

All Aboard The Andrea Doria

Melusine Romance

Baychimo

- Happy birthday Mike break - 

Equus Ager

The 100 Gun Ship

Then Venice Sank

[spiderhill]

Tour diary: 04.05.12 - The Blue Room, Blackpool

Yep, Blackpool. Do you know how far it is from Brighton to Blackpool? No, nor did we. Especially when it's bank holiday Friday and you hit M6 hell. Cue an eight hour drive, during which:

- Jim became 'Mystic Jim' by being able to predict what card you'd picked from the deck EVERY TIME (sample base = 1 attempt)

- A game of Ships Top Trumps lasted for over one hour, sending at least two of us insane. The other two were sent insane by a game of 'band name and football team mashups' that lasted for two days. Fiorentina Turner?

- We took approximately six hours of footage of the road, the van interior, each other asleep, our own faces etc.

Onto the show - a very rough and ready affair (ahem, much like Blackpool), with two stages at opposite ends of the venue, and the theory being a constant flow of bands from one to the other. And this was a festival held for six days over two bank holiday weekends. Seventy-two bands, an epic amount of stress for a promoter to take on, and surprisingly few hitches actually.

We ended up being one of the hitches by the sound engineer being surprised that we needed any DIs, despite using three synths and a sampler, so they had to run upstairs and dig one out of some dusty crate or other. Doing this run of gigs in random situations, often without soundchecking, has made us much better at dealing with potential problems and how to cope with them, and tonight we just played on the floor in front of the stage. It went OK, though the reaction was hard to gauge, and driving TWO THOUSAND MILES to play five songs is quite funny if you think about it for too long. 

Good things about Blackpool: seeing our friends Alright The Captain playing an awesome set; fish and chips for three quid; the beach and the sunset (provided you were facing away from the town centre).

Of course, the one thing you can't prepare for is the audience - must have been over 100 in the venue when we played, but at least seventy of them were HAMMERED by the time we played. Seriously, I bought a round for four people and it cost eight quid. No wonder everyone in Blackpool is permanently drunk. 

The evening took a more serious turn when someone got stabbed in the fried chicken shop over the road from the venue while we played - three police cars, an ambulance and a police cordon, and later the CSI unit. Bought the Blackpool Gazette the next day to see if there was anything in it about the stabbing, but it was just full of stories about other stabbings on other days. Scary town. 

Setlist:

Equus Ager

American Steam Company

Melusine Romance

The 100 Gun Ship

Then Venice Sank

[spiderhill]

Tour diary 03.05.12 - The Hope, Brighton

Not far to tootle down to Brighton, though it took us about as long to find parking as it did to drive there. Seconds away from just ploughing the van into the sea and running off down the beach. 

Brighton was our favourite day all round, I think. An early trip down there gave us plenty of time to see what being on tour is all about, i.e. pissing around in interesting places while you wait for soundcheck. Cue cliched list of Brighton activities - zombie shooting in the arcades, trying to avoid the horrifyingly-aggressive seagulls divebombing us for chips, a spot of record shopping and a couple of hours wandering round junk jamboree Snooper's Paradise, trying to unearth some treasures from a warehouse-sized jumble sale. Came THIS close to buying an autoharp, but thought better of it.

As for the show, it was the first ever gig that our friend Shaun had put on, but it didn't show in anything other than his massive enthusiasm for it (no jaded promoter cynicism here). The Hope is a great little venue, lovely sound, great soundman, and the show was packed. Shaun's band Wrecktheplacefantastic kicked off with a raucous set of intelligent punk tunes (I got the impression they'd listened to some Fucked Up somewhere along the lines - a good thing), with local experimental hit-the-fuck-out-of-guitars-and-drums trio Kellar improvising until the lights came up at the end. 

Best heckle of the tour - upon being asked to buy a CD so we could afford the fuel to get to Blackpool the next day, a drunkard shouted 'I'll give you petrol'. We tried explaining it was a diesel van. He just kept shouting 'I'll give you petrol'. So did we for the rest of the night. 

And we got two more offers of people to write lyrics for our songs. This now seems to be the most common interaction with any audience members. 

Setlist:

Alba Adriatica

Equus Ager

American Steam Company

Melusine Romance

All Aboard The Andrea Doria

Then Venice Sank

The 100 Gun Ship

[spiderhill]

Tour diary 02.05.12 - Casey's, Canterbury

An early start due to being lobbed out of the hotel, an elaborate egg-based breakfast at a swish Spitalfields cafe, and on the road to Canterbury in the bleak, grey May rain. Personally, my first attempts at driving the hilariously-massive van, which could easily have ended in disaster given that we only had to pay the first THOUSAND POUNDS of damage on the insurance excess. Rock n roll.

Anyhow, an entire afternoon in Canterbury, spent in tea rooms, looking at the cathedral from the outside (£12 to get in? COME ON CANTERBURY) and finding a shop specialising in nautical, and therefore Listing Ships-themed goods, and a pub with the UK's finest array of specialty rums. That round of Krakens before soundcheck not a good idea.

One of the gigs on the tour had to go not so well I guess, and this was it. The venue was a tiny enclosed bit of an old Irish pub, which we entirely filled with kit - a kind of wood-panelled fishtank for bands. 

Attempted the new song in soundcheck - sounded absolutely hideous. Resolved never to play it again. Eventually we got a decent sound out of the PA, and the whole thing was very pleasingly DIY - hats off to Alex for making so much effort to put on shows in a town where there seem to be no venues and, at least on a wet Wednesday, precious little appetite for live music. 

Also a delight to play with Canterbury's only surf-doom band Speedwitch (unless there's a surf-doom scene down there), a colossal sheet of riffing audible right across the city centre, punctuated by incongruously meek mutterings of 'thanks very much' between outbursts. 

Audience of about twelve people, I reckon, and two images to leave you with. Firstly, a drunk girl dressed as a nurse staggering past the van as we loaded out in the rain and slurring 'maximum respect for playing at Casey's'. And secondly, drinking rum in a Travelodge on the A2 out of plastic cups as the rain came down outside, and yet still thinking to myself 'this is the life'. 

Setlist:

Equus Ager

Skipper's Daughter

Melusine Romance

Alba Adriatica

Then Venice Sank

The 100 Gun Ship

All Aboard The Andrea Doria

[spiderhill]

01.05.12 - 93 Feet East, London

And so on to the 'tour' proper - we'd just been driving home after the last few shows, so they were really just a bunch of gigs close together. Now we'd hired a van, booked some crappy hotels and were travelling together for the next week. Would we drive each other mental, kill each other and/or split up before the week was out? Only time would tell. 

Pretty bad start - it took us two and a half hours to get the van from five miles away, with one of the band (who shall remain nameless) forgetting their driving licence and thus ESCAPING driving duties for the entire week. Still, we got to the venue by the allotted 4.30pm time (when will we ever learn to turn up at least an hour after we're told? It's an unwritten rule) and promptly lost the soundman for an hour. Much mirth on and offstage shortly thereafter when he asked uber-complex jazz-experimental band Nought to 'just play a verse and a chorus' from one of their songs. We'd picked the lineup for the night, which meant we got to play with long-time favourites Nought (who would join us for the Oxford show too), Oxford neo-prog mob Flights of Helios and the flu-struck though still delicately-gorgeous Rome Pays Off. 

Great show for us - big, booming sound through a PA designed for club sound, so it made our synths sound like lasers shooting the sides out of battleships. A few fans (i.e. people NONE OF US ACTUALLY KNOW) turned up before doors opened, bought CDs and T-shirts, and then asked for photos with us after we'd played. That's never happened before. Much merch sold, a potential single release discussed,and a late late curry - this is the way all shows should work out. 

Though the evening ended in abject failure to find a late drink even in East London - thus, our aftershow party was conducted in the exquisite surroundings of the Liverpool Street Travelodge bar, open till 5am every night to show repeats of Morse to alcoholic and insomniac businessmen.

Setlist

Equus Ager

American Steam Company

Then Venice Sank

Alba Adriatica

All Aboard The Andrea Doria

The 100 Gun Ship