A selection of artist that will play ZXZW 2008:

Sun Ra Arkestra, Watain, Wire, Blacklisted, Pelican, Otto Von Schirach, Torche, Z'EV, Cadence Weapon, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Dirge, Pulling Teeth, Kid Carpet, Fractional. Black to Comm, Taint, Gonga, Blurt, Nick Castro & The Young Elders, Ladyhawk, Skinless, The Hong Kong Dong, gay against you, GoldieLocks, Jeremy Jay, Bonne Aparte, The Devil's Blood, Doormouse, Religious Knives, Guapo, Trash Talk, Kid Kishore, Monolithic, Munch Munch, Schlammpeitziger, chris moss acid, Batrider, Vox von Braun, Capsula, Robert Curgenven, Assassin, Stellar Om Source, The Real Danger, Junkie Brewster, Our Brother the Native, Castanets, David Karsten Daniels, Go Back to the Zoo and many many more.

From the 14th till the 21st of September, the inner city of Tilburg will be the center of independent culture. For the fourth time the ZXZW-festival will be held in over 30 locations in the Dutch town. From a squat to the mayors room. From music venue to museum.

The main focus of ZXZW is independent culture. Expect a diverse view on indie culture as a whole, including music, contemporary dance, film and visual arts. In an intimate climate, over 200 cutting edge artists present themselves to an international crowd. The festival gives a stage to pioneers from the past and talent for the future. Black metal next to free jazz. Street art next to academic dance.

Among the pioneers are post-punk band Wire, noise artist Z’EV and free jazz ensemble Sun Ra. ZXZW has a special Sun Ra-program. The Sun Ra Arkestra will play six exclusive shows during the festival, each day focusing on a different period, a Sun Ra exhibition, workshops, lectures and movies.

Young talent can be found in Cadence Weapon, GoldieLocks, Otto von Shirach and Jeremy Jay amongst others.

Besides music, the ZXZW festival also presents dance, movies and art. There will be an exposition on the works of photographer Peter Beste, a concert posters convention presented by the American poster Institute (API) and guerillaknitters Knitta will decorate the city of Tilburg.

Week tickets (55 euro for 15-21 Sept.) and weekend tickets (25 euro for 19-21 Sept.) are available via www.ticketmaster.nl.

Don't get me wrong, I like Sabrepulse and Bit Shifter as much as the next chiptune fan (see how I discreetly added them as connections to get more people to read this), but I'm in a mood right now where I find their unashamedly joyful musical stylings unctuous and cheesy. Worse still, their popularity has spawned equally corny cookie-cutter acts in the 8-bit community. With this this list I want to prove that Gameboy-type music can be done differently.

DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Kids (I would have put the moderately superior
Scotch Grime but it's not free, so it can die of AIDS quite frankly)
Zan-zan-zawa-veia - Lest Thou
Aleksi Eeben - Ground Expansion (Or, if you have the patience, The Grand Rules.)
Mr. Spastic - Spastic Break Fest
Germlin - Youth Pixxell (Featuring guest vocals from a certain Mr. Scotch Egg)
gay against you - Princess Diana Walkman
Role Model - pop5 (see Mr. Bit Shifter? You can do bitpop with subtlety.)
Coleco Music - Honey, We Are Chatting
Crystal Castles - Air War (Ignore the fact that they are popular amongst the indie/dance crowd, ignore the fact that they sampled a single thump on a drum machine from another artist's song and didn't attribute, just, and I know this is downright weird, but JUST LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, and stop letting such trivial matters interfere with your enjoyment of music, or anything else for that matter.)
YTCracker - N.E.S. (There is a particular melody in this song which is brilliant. However, the large majority of 8-bit rap is terrible.)

Oh fuck it, two great ones from the offending bastards in the title:
Hexadecimal Genome
Purple Haze

Hi!

We are glad to tell you Wire is confirmed for ZXZW 2008!
At this moment, 162 artists are confirmed for this years festival.
Here's the list:
Wire, Pelican, Sun Ra, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Constantines, Blacklisted, gay against you, Paint It Black, Skinless, Cadence Weapon, Watain, Doormouse, Torche, Ladyhawk, Otto von Schirach, FFF, Guapo, Trash Talk, Birchville Cat Motel, Steadycam, Ebola, Lakes, Usurper, LFO Demon, Blurt, Taint, Pulling Teeth, Glorior Belli, Schlammpeitziger, Pisstank, pre, Seein' Red, Z’EV, Electric Kettle, Dirge, Ambassador 21, Jeremy Jay, Enablers, Chops, Manatees, Religious Knives, Computer Truck, The Micragirls, Bob Corn, Bunkur, Ladyscraper, Ponytail, Gorath, Gonga, Munch Munch, Throne of Katarsis, Eva Braun, Nick Castro & The Young Elders, Black to Comm, Starving Weirdos, Hey Colossus, Tokota, DJ floorclearer, chris moss acid, Vogue, Gastón Arévalo, Agents Of Abhorrence, Talibam!, The Pharmacy, GoldieLocks, Kid Kishore, Tep, Night Wounds, Tigrova Mast, Aguynguerran, Judith Priest, Thinguma*jigsaw, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ladycop, Thomas Moore, Anonymeye, rAXYOr, Hardoff, Bulbul, Radio Eris, Kylie Minoise, Rhythm To The Madness, gewapend beton, The Devil's Blood, Tapage, seven that spells, gelbart, Peeesseye, Burial Hex, Raxinasky, Potop, Arquettes, Tortuga, Fractional, Speedranch, Tank 86, And Full Stop, sick mormons, Throats, BabyShaker, Penguins know why, Bonne Aparte, This Leo Sunrise, incite/, Nackt Insecten, Bram Stadhouders & Onno Govaert, Agog, Harry Poppins, James Kumo, Two Minute Noodles, The Hong Kong Dong, guRa, black anvil, Pilgrim Fathers, Neurosis Orchestra, Trouble vs. Glue, Deathmaker, Dethscalator, Black Napkins, Koonda Holaa, F.M.G., Jack Beauregard, Blastocyst, Ars Dada, Temperatures, De Haan/Spruit, Punt Uit, Botborg, Gala Drop, Adolf Butler, Bite the Gnatze, Die Pferde, Celano-Baggiani Group, Pu:ppkakkbaggrlull, Company Fuck, Håvard Volden/Daniel Meyer Grønvold duo, Total System Failure, hooghwater, Pessariüm, Nanostrike, TV Buddas, Suckinim Baenaim, Freeka Peeka, Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides, The USA Kings, Knitta, Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg, Marij van Gorkum, Nina van Helvert, Bosgraaf en Elias, DJ Pinchado, Kornreininger
Keep checking http://zxzw.nl/2008/ for all updates!

Ah.. Untill July 15th, all tickets have an Early Bird discount. Here’s a list with the available tickets and the prices:

Dayticket for one day (Monday to Friday):
Early Bird: 5 euro / Regular price: 7,50 euro
Dayticket for one day (Saturday or Sunday):
Early Bird: 12,50 euro / Regular price: 15 euro
Weekticket for all festival days (Monday to Sunday):
Early Bird: 40 euro / Regular price: 45 euro
Weekendticket for Friday to Sunday:
Early Bird: 20 euro / Regular price: 25 euro

If you’re in The Netherlands, you can buy your tickets at the Ticketservice presale outlets: The bigger post office, Free Record Shops, The GWK-banks, AUB Ticketshop and VVV-offices. You can also buy your ticket at the 013 Box Office and Sounds music store. If you don’t want to leave your house , you can also buy your ticket through 0900-3001250(45 ct.p.m. Only in Holland) or order the tickets on www.ticketmaster.nl.

International guests can order tickets online via www.ticketservice.nl.


Cheers,
ZXZW

http://www.zxzw.nl
http://zxzw.wordpress.com
http://www.myspace.com/zxzwtilburg
http://zxzwtilburg.hyves.net
http://zxzwfest.hyves.net
http://www.last.fm/event/361621
http://www.last.fm/group/zxzw

[this is all the fault of sunkeneyedgirl [grin]...]

Get your overall top 10 artists from Last.fm, and find the top 3 of their tracks that you've played the most on your ipod/Media Player. Then see where it comes in that artist's "most-played" lists. The lower the track in the list, the weirder you are...or something to that effect.

01) The Bastard Fairies
Habitual Inmate - 4th
We're All Going to Hell - 1st
Everyone Has a Secret - 8th

02) the northern coast
ain't got no, i got - 12th
song for a film - 28th
ashes of job - 16th

03) M.C. Brennan
I Want You Back - 2nd
I Can't Help It - 5th
Toughlove (alternate demo) - 1st

04) Allison Crowe
Hallelujah - 1st
Lisa's Song - 4th
Skeletons And Spirits - 7th

05) Pixieguts
In The Night (Mix Hieronymus) - 4th
Confuse Me (with The Peach Tree) - 8th
Tripping Up The Mountain (with Corrientes) - 5th

06) of Montreal
Jaques Lamure - 38th
Rapture Rapes the Muses - 12th
Disconnect the Dots - 7th

07) John Cage
Sonata V - 5th
Sonata II - 3rd
Sonata XII - 19th

08) Eugene Edwards
My Favorite Revolution - 1st
The Next Time You Go - 2nd
Is It Any Wonder? - 5th

09) gay against you
Ice Scooter - 2nd
Licquorice Bloodsports - 8th
Princess Diana Walkman - 5th

10) The Shins
Kissing the Lipless - 6th
Saint Simon - 13th
So Says I - 8th


[...#'s 2, 6, 7 and 10 appear to be the ones where I most need to get my act together, no? [grin]...]

Brainlove Festival London part 2:
So, after a trip to the nearest shop that would provide them with chips (in this case liberally soaked in curry sauce, mmmmm) our intrepid band of audiophiles return to the castle of wonders that is the Brainlove Festival London…

Our heroes were then confronted by the tail end of Tim Ten Yen’s set. Throughout this I have been using the word pop with absolutely no justification or qualification to mean ‘sort of light hearted, jolly, not rock’ etc but Tim Ten Yen is closest of all the artists I saw to the genre description of ‘pop’ as I see it. (the genre normal people can enjoy, rather than anything that you might actually have seen on top of the pops). His lyrics were all about love and girls, and mostly upbeat and light hearted. Back this up with simple, happy, fully recorded backing tracks (his live performance was mostly him and a mic) and fantastic dancing routines, combined with a very dapper suit, and you have Tim Ten Yen, a modern day pop success. Possibly a little too lightweight to interest me in the long term, but great listening for that sunny day. Check out ‘When The Song Applies To You’

Next up was Pagan Wanderer Lu, the reason I know who Brainlove Records are and my personal favourite of all their artists. I was excited to see him for the 4th time, but this excitement was tempered with the fact that due to the laptop driven nature of his live work PWL shows can often be quite similar both to his records and his other live performances. Not so today however, as PWL took to the stage armed only with acoustic guitar and two backing artists, a violinist and a girl on melodica/ backing vocal duties. This was to be a Pagan Wanderer Lu and the Volunteers gig, his occasional backing band, who I had never seen live. The sound was so different (and I think possibly the sound man had got the levels wrong a bit at first) that I’m not sure I even enjoyed the opening song The Gentleman’s Game, because I so love the electronic laptop version… However the set rapidly improved as I settled in to this different style, which showcases even further PWL’s lyrical skills, and I was especially happy to hear many less common and older songs which would have been out of place in a more electronic set, all of which I had never heard live. This included some acoustic songs from the now recorded new album, which sounded great too. Then came a 15 minute section of PWL on his own with his acoustic guitar. At this point occurred my best moment of the day, when PWL asked for acoustic requests and I asked for a song he’d forgotten he’d written. Nonetheless, it was one he said he was glad I’d requested because he’d been trying to think of acoustic songs he’d written earlier to fill the slot and hadn’t come up with many… With a friendly ‘if I forget the chords, it’s his fault’ he played it through perfectly. The Volunteers returned to the stage for a finale of The Memorial Hall (the best version I have ever heard of this oft recorded song) and Knight-King 4, which was also incredible due to the brilliant harmonised round added to the end of the song. A brilliant, unusual PWL set.

Following PWL was Brainlove star Napoleon IIIrd who had also equipped himself with a band for the occasion. As with my previous encounter I was distracted by PWL’s set, but Napoleon IIIrd in this new, rockier and more lively configuration really was very good. He is similar to but less political than PWL, and has a much less acoustic sound. As before, great, anthemic music, (especially Hit Schmooze For Me, check out the video!) but not quite great enough to make me want to buy albums from him.

Rudely interrupting the theme of good songwriting and tunes was the hilariously outfitted drunken rabble with a drum machine of Le Couteau Jaune. Less a musical performance, more a theatrical affair, the band leapt, screamed, gyrated and fell on the floor to weird noises, synths and rapid drumbeats. No idea what they sound like normally, but it was fun to watch (and indeed occasionally become a participant in) the band’s random attacks on members of the audience, culminating with about 5 of us in a pile on the floor on top of members of the band…

And so, after much waffle I come to the evening’s headliners, gay against you. Having been primed by my previous experience of them I was not disappointed, and once again their performance was a masterful combination of silly clothing, amusing on-stage banter and absolutely brilliant drum machine, synth and guitar led musical mayhem, providing ample opportunity for band directed dancing, gesturing and general hyperactive moshing and jumping. It is in the nature of a GvsY set that I don’t really remember a single song but just an overwhelming sensation of fun and crazy dancing. And sweat too. A GvsY live experience will blow away your cobwebs and leave you with a massive grin, even if you’re not sure why. The only song I ever remember by name is the brilliantly titled ‘Gay Unicorn’, but search for youtube clips of it as the recorded versions sound often tame in comparison.

All in all an utterly fantastic time was had, the festival was full of great music with hardly a moment’s gap, in a cool venue on a very fine day. And only £8 too! Brainlove Records, long may you continue finding new and exciting things for my ears and feet.

We've been working on the line-up for several months now, and have 116 acts confirmed! In total, more than 200 artists will perform during ZXZW 2008! This means, we've got 50% of the line-up booked

This is the list of confirmed artists at this moment:
Pelican, Sun Ra, gay against you, Paint It Black, Skinless, Cadence Weapon, Watain, Torche, Otto von Schirach, FFF, Guapo, Trash Talk, Steadycam, Ebola, Lakes, Usurper, LFO Demon, Pulling Teeth, Glorior Belli, Schlammpeitziger, Pisstank, pre, Seein' Red, Z’EV, Electric Kettle, Ambassador 21, Jeremy Jay, Enablers, Chops, Manatees, Religious Knives, Computer Truck, Bunkur, Ladyscraper, Ponytail, Gorath, Munch Munch, Throne of Katarsis, Eva Braun, Starving Weirdos, Hey Colossus, Tokota, DJ floorclearer, chris moss acid, Vogue, Gastón Arévalo, Agents Of Abhorrence, Talibam!, The Pharmacy, GoldieLocks, Kid Kishore, Tep, Night Wounds, Tigrova Mast, Aguynguerran, Judith Priest, Ladycop, Bulbul, Radio Eris, Kylie Minoise, gewapend beton, The Devil's Blood, Tapage, seven that spells, gelbart, Peeesseye, Raxinasky, Potop, flu.ID, Arquettes, Tortuga, Fractional, Speedranch, Tank 86, Throats, BabyShaker, Penguins know why, Bonne Aparte, This Leo Sunrise, incite/, Nackt Insecten, Bram Stadhouders & Onno Govaert, Harry Poppins, James Kumo, Two Minute Noodles, The Hong Kong Dong, guRa, black anvil, Pilgrim Fathers, Neurosis Orchestra, Trouble vs. Glue, Dethscalator, Black Napkins, Koonda Holaa, F.M.G., Jack Beauregard, Blastocyst, Ars Dada, De Haan/Spruit, Punt Uit, Botborg,Gala Drop, Die Pferde, Pu:ppkakkbaggrlull, Company Fuck, Håvard Volden/Daniel Meyer Grønvold duo, Total System Failure, Pessariüm, Nanostrike, TV Buddas, Freeka Peeka & Guadaloupé, Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides, The USA Kings

Keep checking our event-page for updates!

More info:
http://www.zxzw.nl
http://www.zxzwblog.com
http://www.myspace.com/zxzwtilburg
http://zxzwtilburg.hyves.net
http://zxzwfest.hyves.net
http://www.last.fm/event/361621
http://www.last.fm/group/zxzw


http://flickr.com/photos/zxzw/2553812832/

I hate gay clubs. I hate gay bars. I've been to alternative gay clubnights that I enjoyed, but never any that I enjoyed quite so much as the alt/indie clubnights and gigs that are the mainstay nightlife for me. For this reason, I was pretty excited when I was given the flyer for Swallows and Amazons, named after the book of the same name, and described as a "a friendly new clubnight in Glasgow for queer, straight and indie friends."

After a drink at the Variety Bar, we went to the Flying Duck early. That the first song I head playing was Lust For Life was a pretty good omen. The place was fairly dead, but then, 9.15 is quite possibly the earliest time I've ever turned up at a club. By 10, the place was getting a bit busier, and the first band were due on. queercore sailor tongue were... drunk. Having never seen or heard of them before, it's impossible to say whether that improved or impaired their performance, but it was certainly entertaining. They were followed by Wake the president, the latest Electric Honey band. They were fun and bouncy, and the crowd (increasingly large by this point) seemed to be getting pretty into them.

After the bands, it was back to DJs. I had to smile when Donna Summer's disco version of MacArthur Park came on. Is it the worst song ever? Or possibly the best? It's impossible to tell. Not long after, they played If Looks Could Kill, which is of course a genius piece of indie pop, but which might have been a little embarrassing for Tracyanne Campbell, who wrote the song, and was the next DJ up.

If anyone was expecting her playlist to be twee and hip they were much mistaken, because she mostly seemed to stick to 1980s pop music. Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Transvision Vamp all made appearances. To be honest, I spent most of this period of the night talking a [straight] guy who seemed to the world's largest fan of The Pastels, a band, who, I have to admit, I was not previously familiar with. At some point I did dance to Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above and A Girl Like You at some point. After a few drinks, these are more or less irresistible songs.

The last DJ was Stewart of Beard magazine, whose set was predictably great. I actually abandoned the person I was talking to, so that I could dance on my own to Hot Topic by Le Tigre. Later, I even managed to get him to join me in shaking about to the classic B-52's track 52 Girls, which I'd requested earlier (though I'm sure Stew would have played it anyway, so great is his love for it). I didn't recognise most of what he played (although I did also notice some Mika Miko, gay against you and Scott Walker in there), but I enjoyed almost all of it. I remain to be convinced by his closing song choice of Party Hard by Andrew WK...

This was the first time I've ever been to a queer night and thoroughly enjoyed just for what it was, and not out of a base desire to pull. There were plenty of hot guys there, but naturally, I convinced myself that they were all straight. Many of them probably were, as the were part of a joint stag/hen night that had bizarrely chosen Swallows and Amazons as their destination. Still, some of them must have been gay. I guess I'm summed up by the the lines from the brilliant Strip Squad song Unreliable Narrator:

he goes dancing at the indie-club every friday / too shy to make a move / doesn't dare to talk

The less said about the rest of the lyrics of that song the better...

You see, it's wayyy more fun to get someone's attention when it's a journal.

Cos you also get annoyed people too! :D

Oh, also, I am going to be spamming this on the grounds that everyone who ever told me to "ghost tag" is an artfag.

Anyway, WINGUS!

yeah, hi.

Seems we've both got new usernames now.

(p.s. I was Machinist_Lemo)

oh, and the artist Aurist.

Who incidentally has gotten 10000000% less shit.

(and if you're interested in any free mp3s not on the site, feel free to e-mail me @ batinsane@writing.com [I have a handful of noise works too])

yeah, anyway.

this journal is pointless.

but it's more entertaining like this.

for me.

now, SPAMLINKS!

MerzbowAdolf HitlerBorisBoris with MerzbowThe GerogerigegegeAphex TwinFall Out BoyColdplayMasonnaMadonnaFranz FerdinandRadioheadThe BeatlesExtreme Noise TerrorShitmatEnvyAnal CuntAtheistgay against youLightning BoltETCETERAZ