Free Comic Book Day

It's free comic book day so go get some free comics! I got 'The Amazing Spiderman', 'Green Lantern', 'The Tick', 'The Mighty Thor', plus a few more all for free!

So to celebrate getting stuff for free here's a superhero themed mix i just made.

Spoiler Alert! - Booster Gold
Hefner - Trouble Kid
Tullycraft - Superboy and Supergirl
Ladytron - Black Cat
Art Brut - DC Comic and Chocolate Milkshake
The B52's - Hero Worship
Beach Boys - Heroes and Villains
The Kinks - Superman
Yea Big + Kid Static - We've Built A Time Machine That Runs On Beats. We Shall Only Use It For Good

Deep Blue, in '97 I voted for you...

"Deep Blue, In ’97 I voted for you, As Sports Personality of the Year I thought at least, You’d get the Overseas ‘cos when all’s said and done you’re not like some of these Bad losers on Yahoo Chess"

Half Man Half Biscuit have just announced a long overdue return to Cardiff in the coming summer, scheduled for the 25th of August at the Cardiff Millennium Music Hall. The news sent me scampering back to the last release: 'CSI: Ambleside' with joy in my heart. I found out about the gig somewhat fortuitously, having stumbled upon this the other day (nice list but Bob Wilson Anchor Man has to be top of the league?) I decided to check the website and what do you know it’s been updated! With 6 fixtures announced a new album must surely be imminent?

Song For Today #4 - Beach! - Summertime

It's just great when you wake up and there's not a single cloud in the sky! The sun fills me with a great excited energy, I want to burst down every fork in every path that lays ahead at the same time, I want to go to the beach and look out at the sea, I want to climb mountains and look at the great views, go on bike rides with friends to anywhere, talk to lost eccentrics who no one takes notice of anymore because he doesn't have anything to say about the soaps on tv, but has forgotten more great stories than all of them together could ever live, and catch trains to far off mythical kingdoms!

http://thisisbeach.tumblr.com/

Countdown to Christmas

There’s nothing quite like snow covered mountain tops at Christmas, it’s the icing on top of the sweet, sweet cake that is serving up delicious lumps of disbelief amongst the lifeless couch potatoes, starving them of their daily fix of pathetic nothingness as the signal fails to reach the satellite dish.

Whilst people were “moaning at the snow because their cars wouldn’t go” I put together a Christmas mix cd, which contains mostly the same gems as every other year but with a few new sparkling snowflakes that have just reached me.

So go grab your hat and jumper that your granny just made you, go get your friends off the phone to sky, and kick up a fuss and have some fun! And don’t forget to put glitter and a keytar on your Christmas list, because theres no substitute for Glam at Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas!

A Winter Story – Symphonika
Countdown to Christmas – Glam Chops
Frosty the Snowman – The Ronettes
Pipers Piping – Lucky Delucci
Fairytale of New York – The Pogues ft Kirsty MacColl
Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight) – The Ramones
December Boy – The Loves
Abominable Snowman in the Supermarket – Jonathan Richman
Kiss you in the Snow – The School
Heavenly Christmas – A Smile and a Ribbon
Tyrannosaurus Rex for Christmas – The Lovely Eggs
Christmas Wrapping - Waitresses
I took some time for Christmas – Belle and Sebastian
I’d like you for Christmas – Julie London
Red Santa – Lucky Lucky Pigeons
Lonely this Christmas – Carter USM
What’s this? – Nightmare before Christmas
Christmas is Cancelled – The Long Blondes
Stop the Revelry – Shrag
It’s Clichéd to be Cynical at Christmas – Half Man Half Biscuit
Christmas Teardrops ‘Neath Mistletoe – Just Joans
Santa Claus is coming to town - Crystals
Lords Keep Leaping – Silence At Sea
The Christmas Song - Raveonettes
Run Rudolph Run – Chuck Berry
Hey Turkey – Turkey Basil

Winter on the Moon

Autumn's sparkling skies fade behind the deep cloud as November's moon empties its pockets, sprinkling the ground with glittering snow, ready for the birth of December's moon. And to accompany its arrival are two slices of Wales’ finest Pop, which along with a homemade woolly hat and some fine ales, will warm our hearts through the winter months.

The Loves ‘December boy’ shimmers and bounces along with Pipette like vocals over a stunning festive sound borrowed from the past master Phil Spector. Simon Love has recently announced that as of February 2011 the band will be no more, it would be a fine nugget to go out on but I’m sure Simon and the Loves will be back at some point in the future, with a pocketful of 60s drenched Pop slices.

And so as one journey nears its end, in the true spirit of pop, another is just beginning. Josef Prygodzicz’s innocent tales of love and friendship have always captured little moments and betrayed them in the truest most beautiful way. Lucky Delucci’s latest release ‘Winter on the Moon’ (due for release January 2011) is no exception, it ebbs away on Josef’s trademark guitar sound with his subtly enchanting lyrics portraying a poetic beauty and a sad loneliness that the winter can bring. And it’s probably the best video I’ve ever seen.

Lucky Delucci, the Loves and the School play some Christmas gigs at the Luminaire, London on the 4^th of December and then at Buffalo Bar, Cardiff, on the 5^th December. This is to be the Loves last ever Cardiff Gig so not one to miss.

Lucky Delucci - Winter on the Moon from Bubblewrap Collective on Vimeo.

Soundtrack to my Summer

So the summer has slipped into hiding once again, and in the blink of an eye the freshness of autumn has arrived to ease us into, hopefully, another freezing, snowy winter.

Here's the Soundtrack to my Summer:

Catch – Art Brut

Guide to the shortwave radio – Ballboy

Another likely story – Au Revoir Simone

Teaching the obvious 2 the idiots – The Bobby McGee’s

Crush on you - Brakes

Out of my league – Darren Hayman and The Secondary Modern

Heavy artillery – Django Reindhart

Superglue – Everybody was in the French Resistance Now!

Something Lost - Flipron

Sympathy for the Devil – The Indelicates

Bucket and Steam - Ivor Cutler

Egyptian Reggae – Jonathan Richman

Deceptacon – Le Tigre

I’m in Love with Destruction – Let’s Wrestle

Have you ever heard a digital accordion? – Lovely Eggs

Take your time – Love is All

Souls of the Northern Lights - Ooberman

Pull Shapes – The Pipettes

Pony - Race Horses

Miss You Miss - Ooberman

Song For Today #3 - Ooberman - Flashing Light At Sunset

"Shooting star at midnight, leaves a trail across the sky / Icy clouds and halo stars, silently pass by / And it starts with you, and it's ended here with you"

Last night I was like Sir Patrick Moore, minus the monocle, plus some 3D glasses I got from the cinema. I just lay there looking at the stars for hours, every now and then a light would come from nowhere, elegantly cutting across the night, then disappearing forever. I thought about someone a million miles away then went to sleep to the sound of Ooberman's 'Running Girl' EP. So really it should be a song for last night, but whatever.