Sunday, June 05, 2005
Androgenous Pirates, Cats and a Nice Kitchen.
In the past couple of weeks I've discovered the joys of shopping for used CDs on Amazon. I've bought a couple of CDs which I always meant to get, but never got round to - and I've done it on the cheap. Very nice. I'm very proud of myself.
This week I have been mostly listening to Marion and Ultrasound. I 've been indulging in a bit of late 90s nostalgia you see - ahh yes, back when I was a trainee teacher and everything was...well, it was a bit crap actually... but the music, THE MUSIC, they don't make 'em like that anymore... well, actually they do, but even so, etc etc.
Marion were a two hit wonder band between 1996 and 1998 - but were, in fact, rather good. They made poppy but melancholic music - imagine a depressed Shed Seven. They were too good to leap onto the Britpop wagon (whereas lesser bands such as Sleeper jumped right on and rode it for all they were worth like the shameless things they were) and got rather left behind. So anyway, I got 'Mikayo Hideaway' over Amazon 'cos it reminds me of Cambridge - in fact, for some bizarre reason it reminds me of the kitchen in the house where I used to live in Cambridge - must have first heard the song over the radio there or something. It's strange how a tune can bring back very vivid memories. I listen to the tune and I'm there in that kitchen in 1998 making my dinner - why would I get nostalgic about a kitchen you ask? I don't know - although it was a rather nice kitchen.
Ultrasound (another two hit wonder guitar-pop band) were fronted by a sexually ambiguous, and rather impressively portly, gentleman, who dressed up like a pirate. Quite inexplicably they never made it big - you'd have thought a large androgenous pirate singing indie-pop would have gone down a storm. Some people just have no taste. Now, Ultrasound reminds me of the charmingly named Trumpington Street in Cambridge where I used to have me PGCE seminars. It also reminds me of a black and white cat. No idea why.
So anyway that's what I've been doing. Where was I going with this? Can't remember. Something about pirates and cats and nostalgia and the unreliablity of memory and stuff - it was very clever. Never mind.
This week I have been mostly listening to Marion and Ultrasound. I 've been indulging in a bit of late 90s nostalgia you see - ahh yes, back when I was a trainee teacher and everything was...well, it was a bit crap actually... but the music, THE MUSIC, they don't make 'em like that anymore... well, actually they do, but even so, etc etc.
Marion were a two hit wonder band between 1996 and 1998 - but were, in fact, rather good. They made poppy but melancholic music - imagine a depressed Shed Seven. They were too good to leap onto the Britpop wagon (whereas lesser bands such as Sleeper jumped right on and rode it for all they were worth like the shameless things they were) and got rather left behind. So anyway, I got 'Mikayo Hideaway' over Amazon 'cos it reminds me of Cambridge - in fact, for some bizarre reason it reminds me of the kitchen in the house where I used to live in Cambridge - must have first heard the song over the radio there or something. It's strange how a tune can bring back very vivid memories. I listen to the tune and I'm there in that kitchen in 1998 making my dinner - why would I get nostalgic about a kitchen you ask? I don't know - although it was a rather nice kitchen.
Ultrasound (another two hit wonder guitar-pop band) were fronted by a sexually ambiguous, and rather impressively portly, gentleman, who dressed up like a pirate. Quite inexplicably they never made it big - you'd have thought a large androgenous pirate singing indie-pop would have gone down a storm. Some people just have no taste. Now, Ultrasound reminds me of the charmingly named Trumpington Street in Cambridge where I used to have me PGCE seminars. It also reminds me of a black and white cat. No idea why.
So anyway that's what I've been doing. Where was I going with this? Can't remember. Something about pirates and cats and nostalgia and the unreliablity of memory and stuff - it was very clever. Never mind.
