Scott Walker - Drift - Released May 2006

If you feel like taking a terrifying journey into the depths of depravity you could do worse than get hold of a copy of the new Scott Walker album - 'Drift'

Being a big fan of his already- having been harangued into listening by years of the idolatry Julain Cope shows him. I wasn't sure what to expect as I have never really been able to engage with 'Tilt' his last album( over 11 years ago)
That just seemed too oblique and distant to really enjoy

When listening to Drift - I have to say I quite enjoyed listening. Maybe enjoy isn't the right word though.
We are certainly not talking about an accessible record in ANY way at all.
With no real musical structure to speak of the album uses instrumentation ranging from atonal clangs and whirring through to the use of mike'd up slabs of meat ( I only know this as a clip of the filming was shown on the recent BBC culture show)

One song Clara has the most amazing mixture of duetting male/female voices lain over a cacophony of slaps and grunts.
This is then followed with a torrent of almost industrial sounding hollers and washes.

If there is one comparison to be made it is with the music of Diamanda Galas. She uses a similar palettte in much of her music but with much more intense and operatic vocals.
The Scott Walker baritone is used to great effect throughout the album. He uses his voice to mysterious and powerful effect as he delivers lyrics that to be quite frank may need a lifetime to fully understand!

A STUNNING and disturbing masterpiece!

The Captain has Left The Sinking Ship

The buyout - or should I say sell-out of the Body Shop to L'Oreal has rather strangely been a surprise to me.
I think I may have had my gullibility gene tweaked into action as I clung on to the idea that Anita Roddick would really not sell her last bottle of tea tree flavoured ethics up her beloved Amazon without a paddle.

How wrong I was!!!

Oh how she will enjoy the £160 million she is set to pocket - as well as staying on in an advisory capacity. I don't think her skills at diluting an ethical stance to please shareholders will really cut the mustard now the company is back in private hands.

It could be that L'Oreal will actually do a better job of guiding the company than she has managed over the last ten years.

We shall have to wait and see...

Let's hope Lush cosmetics don't jump ship and go the same way!

You must read Merricks superb article on the sellout

Just to let you know
I am still alive
my site got locked due to my own absentmindness

It is back and will be fully mended and hopefully I'll find time to actually update it regularly
VERY SOON

watch this space.......................

Howdy all,
Just a short e-mail - we're still alive and kicking in Flagstaff
Arizona, heading for the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Las Vegas very OTT and
out of this world but an experience not to be repeated.Lots of beautiful mountains, canyons, Indian reservations and plenty of blue sky (but frost last night!). Moving north shortly to Page for Bryce Canyon etc.
Hope you are all well.
Love,
Dad & Mum
 

STOP PRESS !!!
MAX BARRETT IS FAMOUS !!
Max and Daddy were on the ITN national news on Friday Night!!

I took him into Chorlton for his MMR, which was stressful enough in itself, only to discover that there was a film crew esconsed in the clinic!!! AAARRRGH
They asked if I minded him being filmed for the news, and also asked to interview me for the item - about a new report stating that MMR was safe to give.
My interview was V Poor as I was super stressed after my first time taking his buggy on the bus and thankfully they used a mummy instead.
They filmed all of Max's rather painful injection - HE DIDNT ENJOY IT AT ALL!!
and then lo and behold we ended up on the 6.30 and the 10.30 national news!!
what fun
I'll try and get it streaming very soon but My Daddy made a rather big file of the piece and it needs techno shrinking......

Mummydaddy lessons are hotting up and are VERY funny..
Every Wednesday we go and are entertained by the bizarre events that occur when 8 or so couples who DONT have kids come to terms with the practicalities of HAVING one !!

This week I bonded very closely with a lovely plastic baby with slightly sinister eyes. It was either possessed of some mild satanic influence or a heavy bout of wind. I just wasn't sure which. We seemed to get on very well, until I started to get a bit restless and began whacking its head on my leg which I guess probably isn't in the baby books.

We also got to watch the mildest and most sanitised birth video I've ever seen in my life. The potential mummy didn't so muchg as break into a sweat and certainly swear or scream like a banshee. She appeared to have a slight blockage, then her husband looked at her lovingly and kissed her brow tenderly , and then POP ! the baby appeared like the shopkeeper in Mr Benn !!
It was most unconvincing but put everyones worrries at rest, especially as labour complications (mainly things involving scissors and blood) had previously horrified the mummys to be into submission but 10 minutes earlier!

Everythings going very well and 2 jun is still the action date.
Wooohooooo
bring it on!!!!!

My play is now fully written and cast and I start directing it after Easter. If anyone in Manchester or beyond can come it will be 12-13 July at an Arts festival in North Manchester. Let me know and I'll give you details.
Moston Active Drama is the company and there are currently about 13 kids in the show.
Bye for now

Hi all
Baby Mummy's getting bigger and the little Barrettius Sproglet is cooking wonderfully !
One thing that dawned on me yesterday was that as long as he/she is born before 12 June I will get my first Fathers Day where I can actually celebrate and not just trundle into Clintons Cards and ponder for something ACTUALLY funny !
I do hope the card will be personally signed by my child and not just PP'ed by its Mother!

3 June is due date so not too long now. We've got a very cool cot mobile with zebra, giraffe, elephant and slightly creepy gorilla hanging down and it plays a funky tune.
I just can't wait to be able to shop for toys with impunity. Normally I buy lots of toys and get told off for letting them clutter the house up. Now I've got a valid reason to wander round toys R us for hours ! Huzzahhh !!

I found a truly awesome toy the other day
http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/TechieMon/aquaroid.html
this is an incredible robotic jellyfish that you let go in a big tank and it flips and wibbles itself around !! how cool is that!!?
I've got my diving training behind me now so I am fully qualified to drown myself across the world. I can't wait to test what I learned in Egypt somewhere else and discover some wrecks with vast amounts of gold and diamonds on them. Possibly
Anyway off to the Dentist now to pay for some pain and prodding. Hurrah
see ya

Hi all.
Things are hotting up chez Barrett/Treen and we've only got 3 monhts till 2 becomes 3 !! Hurrah
The bump is pretty big now and kicking furiously. I love just lying next to it and chatting to him/her and letting them know we're here. It certainly takes a lot of planning (and buying !) but we're vaguely prepared for it's arrival. It will certainly be well looked after.
Having brought Maisie the dragon up from near birth it can't be that different can it ???
Surely you just chuck them a few crickets and bits of cabbage and they're happy. Is that not right??!!
Keep em warm and change their water and you'll have a happy baby.Easy!

http://www.flaminglips.com
Just a note to demand anyone who hasn't listened to the Flaming Lips and especially their new album 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots' I implore you to seek it out and listen to the shimmering multicolour glory of their sound.
the link at the top gives you no excuse not to as you can listen to the whole album for nothing.
Tragically I was unable to go to their gig in town the other week as I was wearing a tuxedo in Birmingham which is another story entirely but they're playing again in March and I WILL be there !!! to
listen and weep with pleasure.
I have some mad live photos I took of them on their last tour which I'll post when I get my scanner to behave again.

Hi all. Things are going fantastically with the baby Barrett. It really will be unleashed on the world very soon and looking at the size of Beccy's belly now it could be any day now - even though its not due for 4 months !!
We've got another scan next friday and we can see if it's go the expected 2 spines. I'm famous at work for having two spines (not just two but spines that rearrange themselves every 6 months into a different arrangement !)
We only saw 1 spine on the first scan but this one is more detailed so hopefully it will show up.

I've been busy working on the play I'm hoping to direct later in the year. I've been working with the kids I'll be directing as they finish their current show off . It's called 'When Dali came to Moston'
and if anyones interested it's on at the Contact Theatre on 6 February. Let me know if you want tickets.

Been doing a lot of painting lately which I've found a lot of fun. I'm very untrained as I didn't really take much notice of Mr Flack and the strange Mrs Woolston; my Art teachers at school but I enjoy it. If my scanner worked I'd scan some in but it doesn't so you'll have to wait till it's mended. I've moved onto oil paints on canvas now but the paint is a bit crap and takes ages to dry !! bugger...

Anyway I'm off to make a curry...

see y'all soon.

Hi all. in the middle of cooking fishcakes and mash so may pop off any minute but how would you know kiddy winkies.........
anyway, everything is going swimmingly. Been doing lots of paintings lately and finding it a lot of fun. I've been commissioned to do and abstract of Kylie's arse which I'm now planning. Should be fun.
The bump is coming on nicely and we're both hugely excited. I've just been blowing raspberries on it which I'm sure it enjoys - what with it being stuck in the dark all day it could do with a bit of stimulation. 3 June is the big due day. It will be shot into the world with a shimmering sparkle and receive all the love it could possibly need. And more.......................................
HURRAH for my baby.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hurrahhhhhhhh!
I'm working on a new play for a kids theatre group which I will direct hopefully in the Summer - developments allowing. Obviously this will be rather a busy year but it's what I want to do and I will succeed at it. Oh yes. Watch this space.
Anyway I'm off to do some more painting now so see y'all soon

Ive not had time to really update anything recently but there's a very good reason for that. I think most people know by now but my big BIG news is that I'm going to become a father !!!!!!!!!!!!!! wooooooooooooooo
Oh yes... its true......
scary but true.
Things have been rather distracted but very interesting lately and I'm sure they'll get more interesting. As long as the little thing will like visiting stone circles then we'll be fine.
At least there''ll be no shortage for toys around the house, which there aren't now but there'll be even more for me/he/she to play with !!! HURRAH.
Anyway it's my 30th birthday today which is also scary and fun so I'm off to drink tea then drink other stuff later on.
seey'all soon
ps -the expected time of arrival is 3 june 2003

Just got back from mental week on the southern edge of the Sinai Desert in Egypt learning to dive.Incredibly HOT !!!!! Unbelievably so in fact- and this is the cold end of the season. I couldnt even imagine August !!
Very tired at present so more stories and pics soon but suffice to say many many fish- no jellyfish but as I was diving this maybe not a bad thing. Swam with a stingray and pufferfish and saw an octopus hiding under a rock !!!! cool.....

I'm now a qualified diver which is fun and plan more dives soon. Beccy couldnt dive as she had a cold and her ears woudl have xploded but she had a cool time too. We haggled over camels and taxis as is the norm and fed little crabby things popping out of holes while we ate a meal at a beachside restaurant.

I had a video made of my diving by a guy who worked on the Blue Planet and its very cool so hopefully I'll play it to a few of you folks. If poss it would be ncie to stream it from this site but need techie help to do that but maybe.......

Anyway more stories in a day or so... off to rest and then bring Maisie the dragon back home......

If you fancy reading my review of a beautiful neolithic site we visited today on our holiday on Dartmoor read away !!

We're having a fab holiday and are off to the Eden Project on Thursday of which I will tell all soon...

I've just had the spirit of Peter Gabriel surgically removed from my ear, as it was starting to annoy me with it's quasimystical folk rock vibes. And also, he was forever strapping on bizarre and unwieldy costumes and these were often so large that they restricted my hearing. There came a time when I had to whisper to Gabriel, 'Sorry mate, you've got to go. Move into a B+B or something but you're not welcome in my aural cavity anymore.'

www.sodaplay.com
go here and play with the most incredible artificial intelligence type thing EVER !!
you can create your own creatures from wire framed models then place them in the virtual zoo arena and watch how they sit and move !!!
It isn't the simplest system to use but if you're interested in biology and/or physics you can't fail to be amazed by the system.
I've just spent a happy making a cube with horns that wibbles along the floor (very amateurishly but most enjoyable)
It's all free and very clever stuff.
If you make one please email it to me so I can look at it !!

GIANT SQUID FOUND !!!

Read this for info on a monster squid that's been discovered in the ocean. COOL !!......

Did everyone hear about Maggie Thatchers head being chopped off this week ??!!!
Well unfortunately only the bust was decapitated not the scheming crow herself but it's a start !!
All hail Sir Paul Kelleher who did this fantastic act.

He says he HAS to plead not guilty as he's been charged with criminal damage and he says hes not a criminal so he cant plead guilty; shows that this man has a very shrewd mind and must be saluted !!

I think i f charges of criminal damage were to be brought they should get the head out of the basket, show it on Crimewatch and see what response they get from the general public. I'm sure if we work together we can all track down the apostolic hag and show her what true justice is !!!!!!!!!

I had an amazing experience this afternoon at the opening ceremony of the Imperial War Museum Of The North
I was lucky enought to be asked along to the first day of opening and it's not something I'll forget in a hurry.

Anyone even remotely near Manchester must visit this musueum as it has the most moving and simple exhibits bringing home the experiences of so many people in many different wars from 1900 to now.

The building was designed by the famous architect Daniel Liebeskind and is a bizarre silvery structure with a really abstract and twisted shape. Go along and be amazed and horrified in equal amounts

My Plan for the Big Brother house is that they switch the cameras off as soon as the contestants went into the house then the nation quietly pisses itself ,safe in the knowledge that they'll all be inside looning and gurning with their inane histrionics thinking that the country is

A -Watching their every move with voyeurish fascination
and
B - That we give a toss if they live or die.

Neither of which is true.

When they are finally evicted one by one a taped announcement from Davina (who is actually snorting coke from a midgets left buttock in the Met Bar) comes over the tannoy and they pack their silly little travel case and troop outside to what they expect will be a cavalcade of cheers and whoops but what is actually just an empty compound with maybe a bored cleaning lady sweeping coke cans across the concrete. A Security guard points to the exit and they give them enough money to get the bus back to reality.
This is just an idea. maybe the organisers will be brave enough to try this version of reality tv next year, though I suspect they wont !!!!!!