1. new noise – refused

refused were like a weird blip in the landscape of hardcore music for me. i used to regularly buy music magazines which came with free cd’s and one day this was on one of them, from metal hammer i think (who incidentally reviewed a demo of my band, giving us a respectable 6/10, not bad considering being 14). the album ‘shape of punk to come’ is considered quite a classic. there’s bits of jazz, ambient, sampling, stuff quite unheard of in the genre they were associated. ‘new noise’ has that element of revolution about it that i’m a big sucker for too, it was new noise.

2. o-o-h child – the five stairsteps

another thing i’m a sucker for is buttery smooth vocals. this song, roy ayers -’everybody loves the sunshine’, maybe tribe called quest and faith evans ‘stressed out’ – those kinds of souful female voices i like a lot. this one just reminds me a lot of when i used to spend summer evenings skating, i think it may be on a skate video and that’s why i associate it with that too. though lyrically it’s addressing a low point, i like it’s uplifting mood.

3. muzzle – smashing pumpkins

smashing pumpkins were probably the first band i ever really loved (up until ‘ava adore’ then i lost interest). they were the reason i started playing bass and ‘tonight, tonight’ was one of the first songs i learned to play along with other people. i remember performing a vocal-less version of it in my front room on new years eve to a group of irritated looking adults. i’ve put ‘muzzle’ on as there’s a bootleg version of it live from australia somewhere that i used to own which had such a good rendition of this song on it. i liked it so much more than the album version, which had seemingly passed me by. after i sold the bootleg and was unable to listen to that version again i had to force myself to appreciate the album song, which i like, but it’s that live one i loved really.

4. midnight in the perfect world – dj shadow

if you’re listening to the playlist you’ll realise that i’ve snuck ‘why hip hop sucks in ’96′ on too. i just prefer ‘midnight…’ with that intro than without. ‘midnight in the perfect world’ could be one of dj shadow’s most obvious songs if you were going to put it on a mix but i don’t care, it’s a great song. shadow provided enough soundtracks to about 8 years of my youth, i could’ve picked any really. i don’t think he’s quite as good now but this album got sneaked into school lessons on illegal walkman’s, through gcse tests, chewed in the tape player of my first car (first album that got played when i passed my driving test actually), beginning and ending beach parties, all that kind of stuff, good stuff.

5. foreign film – will haven

i like walls of sound. will haven do this very well indeed. you can do a lot of stuff to this song and album – bang out a gym session, run, punchbags, all aggro type stuff, but then at the same time you can strangely relax to it, or i can at least. i think it’s the immersive nature of the sound, like being underwater and blocking out all other noise. i’ve fallen asleep to this. but i’ve also used it to wake myself up, physically and metaphorically!?

6. daylight – aesop rock

as far as the line between poet and lyricist goes, aesop rock is equal parts both. he’s a large bearded white guy and originating out of the alternative def jux school of rap, he’s probably not what you think he’d look like. his lyrics are what draws me to him. abstract, long, much unfathomable, but so original. i wish i could string regular sentences together even a tenth as good as aesop, never mind musical ones. he throws in references and word-plays better than anyone i’ve ever heard.

7. three days – jane’s addiction

‘three days’ has one of the finest bass lines, i could never quite play it perfect. jane’s had four of the most talented musicians: my favourite drummer and bassist combo in any band, dave navarro who’s an excellent guitarist and then one of the most original frontmen ever in perry farrell. this desert island i imagine is going to feature some prime lying-on-your-back-looking-at-clouds spots and this is a perfect song for just that. it’s floaty and trancey with the kind of swirling, reverberating vocals that drift you off in big crescendos and wave-like motions. see, perfect for a sea-lapped desert island.

8. the book of love – peter gabriel

well if you were at mine and jen’s wedding you might have noticed this song played as we walked out of the registry office. there is almost too many reasons to choose this. 1: we played it at our wedding, that’s a biggy. 2: the reason we played it was because we both love the magnetic fields version (which is on the spotify list as the peter gabriel version isn’t on there) and had listened to that endlessly when we first got together (for the 2nd, most successful time). 3: this song has been famously used to mark the leaving of jd from my favourite tv show, scrubs, in series 8 amidst an emotional home video of all his best times (check the youtube link – sneaked that in too) – not many tv shows make me want to cry but this one almost got me. oh yeah, it was quite emotional at my wedding too, but not as much as jd going.

my luxury item: i’d take a really powerful microscope. there’s always loads of bugs to look at on hot islands.

book: well i haven’t read enough books to really have a favourite, so i debated over picking some epic classic like ‘ulysses’ or ‘war and peace’, neither of which i’ve read (tried ‘ulysses’ – doesn’t everyone?). but in the end i figured i’d pick a book based on entertainment and the fact that i’ve never managed to complete this book no matter how many times i’ve tried. so if i’m going to have loads of time on my hands i may as well have ‘where’s wally?’ to entertain me. it’s the bobble hats off that little dog i can never find. if i could push it for the whole set that’d be good, then i’d be guaranteed never to run out of stuff to look for.

the problem with the eight record limit is not really selecting the records, but on what criteria to make the selection. james and i have discussed this on more than one occasion when we really should have been doing some kerning (apologies to whoever’s poster wasn’t quite as typographically sensitive as it might have been that day).

from a practical point of view, you may not want to just take your eight favourite tunes but rather a selection that will keep you entertained for the coming months or possibly years. in this respect, people who decide to take classical music do rather well, being allowed entire symphony’s that span several discs, whereas those who enjoy a bit of pop could easily find themselves with only 20 minutes of music. and those who grew up in the album era feel the rules are grossly unfair as they don’t allow for albums which really need to be heard as a whole rather than singling out one track – my selection of desert island albums would certainly be different to the selection below (although i have managed to sneak in a whole album under the above symphony rule).

there’s also the issue of choosing for memories as well as music. this is actually something of a relief for those of us who take our music listening seriously (well, some of the time) as it means our desert island selection isn’t necessarily a perfect cross-section of our musical taste. that’s my excuse anyway. thankfully as none of us are running for government office we haven’t had to include anything really popular and vaguely of the moment in order to look with-it, trendy and worthy of your vote come the next election. although of course, i absolutely love coldplay and james is a massive lady gaga fan.

anyway, enough waffle, kirsty will be getting annoyed with me for wasting time. here’s mine. james and rebecca’s to follow. (click on the song titles to listen to them)

1. in pursuit of happiness. the divine comedy
as we’ll be playing these to each other in the studio, i’ve put the tracks in the best order for the mix tape. yes, tape. get us with the retro music delivery methods. so due to using a full orchestra and, being scored by pop musicians and thus sounding a thousand times better than ‘real’ orchestral music, this is a great opener. *sentimentality alert* the divine comedy are fixed in my mind as the soundtrack to my and rebecca’s courtship, so that’s the main reason for this. but it’s also a fab song. neil hannon gives it loads on this recording, it’s sentimental, witty and because neil can see the bittersweet in everything, has a slightly unsettling end too. hey, it’s not throbbing gristle or anything – this is as unsettled as i want to be on a desert island.

2. sidewalk surfer girl. super furry animals
SFA are the best pop band since the beatles. and for that reason the whole album this comes from (rings around the world) would be with me on the island if the rules could be bent. oh, and the title is a nod to the beach boys who sadly didn’t make this selection but i feel brian is here in spirit.

3. do you believe. webster lewis feat. the post-pop, space-rock, be-bop, gospell tabernacle chorus and orchestra BABY!
i didn’t choose this just for the name of the band, honest. it’s just one of the most fabulous pieces of music i’ve heard. it does, of course, feature lots of hammond organ.

4. a love supreme. john coltrane
as this is one work spread over four movements i figure i can have the whole album. and really, everyone should. unless you don’t like jazz, or take issue with the religious overtones. but really, it is an album everyone should own. but not play very often because really it’s just too good to listen to too regularly. funny that – i listen to other albums i don’t consider anywhere near as good a lot more often than i do this. what’s that all about? it’s for the same reason i’ll drink the blended whisky more often than the good stuff. of course, i’ll be distilling my own whisky from coconuts or something on the island, but i’ll drink more of the rather rancid cuttlefish liqueur i also knocked up because the coconut stuff is just too good for everyday.
(btw on the mixtape i just put ‘part 2 – resolution’. the whole album is just too good to put on a mixtape).

5. interlude/theme from jack johnson (from agharta). miles davis
at this point i’ve just realised there’s no room for any bowie, which has come as major disappointment. anyway, i still don’t know what to make of miles davis. back in the days of disposable income i bought a big chunk of miles’s recorded output to try and figure out what the fuss was about – this was in the days before you could buy almost anyone’s entire ouvre ‘used – like new’ on amazon for £1.27 so i’m talking a decent investment of cash. i’m still figuring it out. which, i think, is why i’ll take this. this is from miles’s psychedelic cocaine-funk period which many jazzers think is his absolute nadir. i however, am with julian cope on this one. besides, the coltrane album was a hymn to god in thanks for him kicking his heroin habit (tranes’ habit, not god’s) so i’m evening things up a bit here.

6. hit me with your rhythm stick. ian dury and the blockheads
this is possibly the best pop single ever made*. everyone on this single is playing a different riff and each one is the greatest riff ever heard. genius. and it features an atonal sax solo. double genius.
my mate richard said he heard an interview with dury who said this was a song about someone going slowly mad. which is what might be happening to me on the island.
my 7 year old son also says this is the best pop single ever made without any prompting. although i did play him it every day between the ages of 2 and 5.

*(see also ‘video killed the radio star‘ by buggles, ‘hey mickey‘ by tony basil, ‘rio‘ by duran duran and ‘don’t you want me‘ by the human league. oh, and ‘since you’ve been gone‘ by rainbow. and anything released by the KLF under a pseudonym.)

7. like a rolling stone (from ‘the bootleg series vol.4 live 1968.’). bob dylan.
it has to be the live version to get the “judas!” moment in, but also for the sheer intensity of the performance. i once put my head too close to the speakers listening to this with the result that the blistering heat of dylan’s scorn melted my entire face. true story.

8. hey jude. the beatles.
for dylan, my son, who is named partly after the scornful one above. this is ‘his song’ (it’s his middle name) which he denies strenuously whilst drumming a duet version at ferocious volume. of course, it’s not the best beatles song, or even the best paul mccartney song but there had to be some beatles on the island somewhere. unless i can take ringo as my luxury which would free up space for another record?

the disc i’d take if i could only take one? – ‘good to your earhole‘ by funkadelic.
what?! (looks around all innocent, like)

the luxury: a piano.

the book besides the bible: complete songs of david bowie. a book of sheet music isn’t cheating is it?

a superb end to our [tiny] poetry series last night with rapper james koppert. james was honest, funny, angry, political, questioning, self-depreciating, heart-breaking. the evening finished with some freestyling in which james took us from a play on words with ‘electric angel’ to a fly on the gallery wall and out to the yorkshire coastline.

john allsopp was in the audience and took some footage – you can watch it here.

it’s been hugely enjoyable to put our gallery to use as a [tiny] performance venue and the enthusiasm of the poets and audience has been fantastic. question is, what shall we put on next…

thanks to wordsmiths felix, mark, john and james and to all who came. good, good evenings.

btw, you can catch john w clarke performing by the grotto as part of the crescent gardens art trail tomorrow. he’ll be reading for about 20 minutes at 10.30 and 12.00.

“… a rap artist and a street poet using words and rhythms as a vehicle to express anarchic musings and unstructured passions to challenge the listener to challenge their own thoughts. a recent review described the poet as being “an angry chav crossed with a modern day Shakespeare” who rather than reads his poetry explodes his words directly (sometimes literally) into his audiences faces”

click here to hear james in action: www.myspace.com/theedgerhiphop

8.30pm. drinks on the house.

thursday evening, as a dreary, misting of dank weather engulfs the town, a small gathering of surfers, designers, poets and artists got together for the second of our ‘tiny poetry’ gigs at the electric angel gallery – tonight was the turn of landscape poet mark dickinson.

mark’s work is intrinsically linked with his surroundings, his time spent in the natural environment, be it fishing or surfing. he says more important to his poetry than these activities is walking. his great knowledge of natural environments, geology, history and words create orchestral poems that build and ebb and flow as if a part of the landscape themselves. mark read from a decades worth of work ending with the epic trods which follow.

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our next poet, john clarke, attended (who you can see next thursday, 26th august), along with local filmmaker ollie banks, who works with mark on many surfing related projects, and james koppert, another of our poets who’ll be performing on thursday 9th september.

two weeks in to our tiny poetry gigs and they seem to be going down very well indeed.

what’s the point of having space if you’re not going to use it? ok, so we only have a tiny little space but let’s use it anyway. so as seen as our current exhibition is all on the walls (literally – see here) we thought it would be fun to use the gallery floorspace for some poetry gigs while it was on. there’s the loose theme of the sea/surf/coast to tie in with the exhibition, but we’ve told the poets ‘do what you want’ and we can’t wait to hear what they do.

for full details download a flyer here.

coastival sees the welcome return of scarborough’s festival of light [which i think was our first design work for create]. we’ll be converging on the rotunda museum for a lantern parade on friday 13 february and will certainly be checking out other light goodies such as video installations in the south bay underground car park and in the crypt of saint martin’s church on south cliff. there’s also something called the chroma van which promises ‘a unique exploration of colour perception in the comfort of a remodelled caravan’. how can you resist that?

i’ve also been invited by poet kate evans to apply typographic interpretations to a series of haiku’s as part the peasholm magic lantern. the lantern will take place in the faux-oriental pagoda on the island of peasholm park and features haiku’s by kate, photographs by mark vesey and an original composition by amaya huntley. kate showed me the first draft of the complete sequence yesterday – i think it’s going to be something rather special. the music is wonderful and the whole experience reminds me very much of some of the more immersive alt.worship experiments we instigated in bradford.

the images above are from felt – our little book of treatments of poetry from 2 years ago. this haiku makes an appearance as part of the magic lantern – you’ll have to come experience it for yourself to see the others.

back as part of digital scarborough 06 we organised a creative coast event – the 5 minute pitch. we invited a panel of investors and creatives to hear three local creatives pitch an idea, dragon’s den style.

the ‘pitchers’ received training on speaking in public from lizzie of raised eyebrow and duncan from business link. ollie green was the youngest of the participants – still in school at the time – and impressed the panel with his idea for an internet radio station showcasing local music and his enthusiastic & slick presentation.

forward-wind 2.5 years and olllie is now at music college and has just released his first album ‘hold on’. it’s a free download so you can enjoy it too: http://ollie.bandcamp.mu/

the tracks are as infectious as ollie’s enthusiasm was back at the sjt in ’06.
if you’re local, look out for an interview with ollie in next month’s issue of scarborough’s future.

miles davis, olympia 1973
miles in his post-bitches brew stop-start chuggery. ‘jazz fans’ often hate this stuff. but if you like it there are lots of live performances from this period available on the net.

charles earland, leaving this planet
tight group with stellar soloists often heading for the stratosphere.

tony williams lifetime, emergency!
where jazz really meets rock. frantic, distorted, kinda scary.

fela ransome-kuti and africa ’70 with ginger baker
funk jive goodness.

a quick mention…

for the punch and judy puppets exhibition opening tomorrow at scarborough art gallery. maybe see some of you at the launch this afternoon?

for seafest for live music, boats, seafood, fireworks, real ale and other good things in and around the harbour this weekend. it’s free. [as is the wifi]

for rachel howfield‘s installation in the coffee lounge at scarborough art gallery which opens on saturday.

and for the bbc proms which begin tonight with a blast of brass and there’s plenty more of that in this year’s programme. i’ll offer my pick of the proms next week [like you're the least bit interested...]

have a good weekend y’all.