Oliver Carter

General musings on Popular Culture 
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February 3, 2010

I'm not a real doctor, but I am a real worm

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January 22, 2010

Linger on, your Pale Blue Eyes

I recently saw Adventureland (Greg Mottola, 2009) and was surprised to see this Velvet Underground song used.  It's a good film but this is an even better song.  The lyrics and simply perfect and the lead guitar riff is hauntingly memorable.  Here's a video of Lou performing the song a few years back.  It is almost as good as the studio version of the song.

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January 1, 2010

My favourite albums from the past decade

This was a very difficult choice.  In no particular order:

  • Beck - Sea Change (2002)
  • Dashboard Confessional - Swiss Army Romance (2000)
  • Death Cab for Cutie - Plans (2005)
  • Doves -  The Last Broadcast (2002)
  • Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (2008)
  • Glasvegas (2008)
  • Preston School of Industry - Monsoon (2004)
  • Rival Schools - United By Fate (2001)
  • Stephen Malkmus (2001)
  • The Strokes - Is This It? (2001)

                   

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October 28, 2009

Wilco - I'm Always in Love

A happy song. Taken from the wonderful documentary I'm Trying To Break Your Heart (Sam Jones, 2002).  I have just managed to source a copy of the out of print region one two-disc edition DVD on eBay.  My idea of mint condition is obviously differnt to that of the seller.

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March 22, 2008

Silver Jews - Random Rules

Perhaps the greatest opening lyric of all time? Ladies and gentlemen, the legend that is David Berman.

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September 26, 2007

Happy Birthday to me

I celebrated my 27th birthday on Monday 24th September. I usually find such occasions to be nothing more than just another day as they tend to take on another meaning once you get to a certain age. But this birthday was quite special as Brian Wilson, the creative genius behind The Beach Boys, happened to be performing at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. I regard Pet Sounds as one of the greatest albums ever written and list the track 'God Only Knows' as my favourite song of all time so his being in town on my birthday was quite a nice surprise. I had seen Brian Wilson perform two years ago at the National Indoor Arena and it was a wonderful experience but the Symphony Hall is a much better venue with incredible acoustics.

Our seats were five rows back from the front with an excellent view of the stage. Wilson and his band, that features some very talented musicians to say the least, did around 36 songs all together and performed for around two and a half hours. I was happy to hear all of my favourite tracks performed to perfection, the two standouts being 'Don't Worry Baby', which was sang flawlessly by band leader Jeffery Foskett, and 'Then I Kissed Her' which now seems permanently stuck in my head. But the real highlight of the evening was their performance of 'That Lucky Old Sun', a thirty minute musical presentation on a day in California recently written by Wilson. This could possibly be his best work since Pet Sounds and demonstrates that he has not lost the creativity that made him so unique. It was also nice to experience the concert with my mom and dad and my girlfriend. A real perfect way to spend a birthday that was certainly not just another day in the week.

Below is a YouTube video taken from the Manchester gig performed on Sunday 23rd September. It contains short clips of different songs from the evening and serves as a nice little highlight reel until the woman who was in front of me at the Birmingham show decides to upload the footage she sneakily recorded. Enjoy!


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July 18, 2007

Ian Love

Ian Love's self-titled debut album was my favourite album of last year. Here is a video of him performing 'Sky to Fall', the best track off of the album in my humble, yet biased, opinion.

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May 11, 2007

Come on let's go

It dawned on me yesterday that I have not made any reference to music on this blog. I listen to a lot of music each day, whether it be in the car , in my office or at home and was surprised to find that I have not mentioned it in any posts. It is time that this changed. I have quite a varied taste in music, to identify one genre I enjoy would be far too difficult. The musicians I find myself listening to the most are Pavement, Preston School of Industry, The Ramones, The Clash, Rival Schools, Cardia, Ian Love, Wilco, The Smiths, Alice in Chains, Idlewild, Old 97s, Nightmare of You, Velvet Underground , Silver Jews, Quicksand, The Shins...shall I keep going? I suppose my music taste could be categorised as 'alternative' but I am open to anything providing it is not dance or today's pop/chart music.

On Wednesday night Sam and I went to see Los Lobos at the Warwick Arts Centre. Like many people in the UK, I first became aware of Los Lobos through their contributions to the La Bamba film soundtrack in 1987 when the title track was number one in the UK charts. But they should be known for much more than Richie Valens covers. They are an accomplished band who adopt a number of different musical styles ranging from rockabilly through to Mexican/Latin. It was disappointing to see such incredible musicians playing to such a small crowd, there could have only been a few hundred people present. A bad thing for the band but a good thing for us as it meant we could have a central, front row view. Initially the band looked most unhappy about the poor turnout but enthusiastically began the set with some traditional Mexican music before they progressed to the more 'rockier' songs.

It was an incredible gig. As it was such an intimate show due to the low attendance they willingly took requests from the audience and thankfully played the Ritchie Valens cover Come on Let's Go, my favourite Los Lobos song. I usually find that when I go to a gig the band never play the one song I want to hear so it was refreshing to hear this so much so I attempted to record it on my new mobile phone (more on that later) only to find that the sound quality was atrocious. In fact, the sound quality for the entire show was very poor. I am not sure whether it was because we were so close to the front or that the levels were messed up but the vocals were drowned out by the guitars. Not knowing much of their work as I amazed to see what incredible musicians they are, David Hidalgo is one hell of a guitarist. It was amusing to find that they did not play La Bamba, the one song they are most famous for in the UK, and hear the upset audience members moaning about it after the show. After such a great a performance they should have appreciated them as more than just a Richie Valens cover band. Sam said to me before the show that you should experience a band such as Los Lobos in a rundown TexMex bar not an arts centre. I agreed.

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