We're back in the studio, and all is fun and well. Stanley's here too, or at least in the shed out back, painting again. The rats have got in and eaten all his blue paint, and there's blue rat shit everywhere: but at least he's got a good dub cd to listen to while he's working. At least, I think it's good. Let me explain.

There is loads of great music out there that you’ll never have time to find out about. I’m always saying this - boring the arse off someone about this. Partly to make me sound like I know loads of great music that they don’t, and partly to justify why I’ve never heard a note of, say, the Stooges (though I really must, I know, I know...how can I claim to be a an Iggy Pop fan if I've never even heard 'I wanna be your dog'? etc. etc.)

I often glibly add - ‘you could spend 6 months listening to just dub reggae, and it would all be worth hearing.’ I realize that sounds patronising, but I choose reggae because I know so many people who collect this kind of music and no other - which fascinates me - and because it’s mostly unknown to me. Not any more....I’ve just done it. Six solid months of nothing but Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Ken Boothe, Junior Byles, Marcia Aitkin and hundreds of others. It’s to make a compilation which may or may not ever be completed - I hope I’m not just proving a point to myself - but either way, there’s been nothing else on my ipod since April.

There’s something exciting about coming to musicians when they’re just names, when you’ve no idea who Derrick Harriott looks like, or what his reputation is - considered naff by real dub fans, maybe ? Derivative ? Or maybe ground-breaking ? I know the Stooges were ground-breaking - maybe that’s what has been putting me off. The weight of knowing already how good it’s meant to be. With this compilation, I’ve just ploughed through all these faceless names, liking things I probably shouldn’t (covers of soul songs! Spanish guitar solos!) and maybe finding nothing I like by the supposed classics (some of the very empty dub stuff is kind of....tedious) - or nothing I really like on the records I already have. Although Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry seems to me to deserve all respect he gets. His records are just magical. Ditto Linval Thompson, Sly and Robbie, and Scientist.

(Interesting how making a compilation for someone makes you listen to your music completely differently. Endless moments of 'do I really like that track, now I'm actually listening to it for someone else?' It's a great way to get rid of records that you only think you like.)

So it’s great music. If you don’t know any, it’s really worth getting into. There’s more than one speed, one rhythm, one mood - more than one gender, even, than you might suspect. Marcia Griffiths was a revelation. If I ever finish this thing, I’ll put the list up, and invite you to check it out. And disagree. "Ken Boothe ? Theat's not real reggae....Robbie Williams of his day.....might as well put 'I come from a land down-under' on... "

everybodys wasted. expended i mean. energy wise i mean.
all in need of bowl of coco pops.
colins i s playing sleaz bass on mornin' mi lord..
its sounds very heavy. err phat. ..like a freight train...
'the speakers ar e cracking'
ths is the last day of the session.. we start again in a couple of weeks
good,
i need to get away,
six days straight from 11 till late is enough for an old man like me.

need energy!

i dont know. what do people write in blogs normally?
i could write about how im finding it difficult to finish lyrics.
that there are giant waves of self doubt crashing over me and if i could allieviate this with a simple pill ...
i think i would

although it is a necessary part of the procedure. but that would be dull wouldnt it?

i could write about watching V festival.. how i thought Dizzee Rascal stole it..

or ponder the imminent energy crises that awaits us even before our governments get their arse in gear over climate change.

or how amazing the sky is outside with the moon hiding behind fast moving clouds and the bats swooping close to your head.

which? hmm

i have absolutely no idea what i am talking about

jonnys bed for the night

step awaay from the bass

a harder day
sleepy now
11pm
we are pulling out pins at the moment
and hair
then
stcratching heads a little
it is always a good scratch when you get up

rethinking ' suit dont fit'
like a fast bad dream

morrissey stayed in the room im in
ooooo he was here for three months were here for six days

going out on bikes up hill with no gears

talking a lot about The Beat


'yes im counterfeit
im not proud of it'

watched chris cunninghams video with Aphex twin off the net 'rubber jonny'
felt ill

'you wouldnt even know it it came sat down next to you and talked into the microphone'

thom

hello good people its sunday august 21 2005 and we're recording....... let me fill you in a little. so apart from a 3 and a half week tour to the other side of the world in april of 2004 the rest of that year was a dormant one for us
......... we needed a break ....... the end of another 3 album cycle...... they're not planned like that but thats how it seems to be. we needed to be at home with our families ....... lots of babies too. so we reconvened in mid - february and since then we've been trying to kick start the old beast ...... you don't realize once you've stopped how hard it is to regain the momentum ........ you literally get out the habit of doing it........ but often the only way to stop repeating yourself is to stop doing that thing, walk away from it ....... sometimes you have to go away in order to come back..... so here we are in the studio recording and it feels right. its only day 4, its very early days but really good things are happening .......lots of deconstructing and reassembling. we've been working on mornin' m' lud and pigsee.

my friend who helps me at the piano

doing something called piggsee or pigs ear

what was up with the site tonight?
i know not

w e are staying in a very old house.
the rooms move.
their are noises.

the music is a pulse thick and black oil slick

the tides ar e high

close but no coconut
a split second late
you got away with it
but we lie in wait

ed is having a drink. alert the authorities.

goodnight