how cool is berlin ?

after our trip to gallerie kaufhof i would say not that much , some sports socks and badminton rackets dont make a place cool !
i guess the glitcherati dont hang out there .......

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loft

backstage in the loft ............the glamour , the superstar lifestyle , its all there :)

one coathanger , actually a trouser hanger loiters looking for a friendly pair of slacks . sadly it was too cold !

but the gig was great , super deep and big rodders was down the front the whole night . i think he was on drugs.........

taxman a cometh

flu ridden , burnt out from fabric and 4 days left to get my miserly tax return in .......been hectic last month gigs in watergate, berlin , pauza krakow (very cool town) loft barcelona and i mustnt forget izmir .......

i always had a good time in turkey but this time i was taken for a ride !i met the friendliest promoter i have ever come across ,though somewhat a bit suspicious of his actions , one should always run on first impressions i feel ! he was a grade A scammer ......only the second one i have come across in this nightclub business i may add !
after a fairly crap night in a dull club , the f***ker ( i mean promoter) had the audacity to run off with me hard earned euros ! claiming his great business partner would wedge me up the next day , i lost and my turkish aint so good ......anyway totally bad karma and i hope he enjoys the money while it lasts , cos it wont last very long ........running two iphones you twat ! enjoy the moment . i have a good mind to publish his phone number on here .but then he will think he is popular !!!!!

on a lighter note we are awaiting the impending birth of our good friend richard davis's first offspring "laurence" due any day now ! in fact we thought astrid may give birth in gallerie kaufhof on saturday , while we tucked into a latte machiato after watergate .......we always hang in the coolest berlin spots :)

it is better to give than recieve

So i pop out for an onion after lunch, walk up past my local 2nd hand record shop and lo and behold there are about 1000 classical records outside on the pavement with a sign saying 'SERVEZ VOUS'. So i did, a fine haul indeed and not a euro left my pocket (apart from the onion). Im going back for more with the kids later. HA

James.

barcelona report 17/1/09

Just back from a lightning trip to play in barcelona. A fine 1982 talgo train creaked, rattled and bounced me in extreme comfort from home to the catalan capital. Arrived at the ornate franca station and whisked of to a strange beast of a hotel. Hooked up with mr brown and dived in the metro to seek some fine fare downtown. A fine trend resto awaited us and with tasty baby octopus and bad music.. we then met up with el roddero for some pre-sound check chat. The icy chill of our dressing room was in contrast to the superwarm welcome we got at the lolita club. We played a sweet little set that was in turns dubby, technoid and deep. 2 hours sleep then back on the very same talgo that had brought me with headphone filled with warm analogue vinyl.... thanks to broon, rodders, john green and all at razamatazz. JAMES
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vinyl resurgence

'sometimes you have to go backward to go foreward' my pal JC once said to me. well since the end of last year it rings true to me. after many years of cd buying and downloading, ive started buying vinyl again..... but only classical music. the 2nd hand vinyl market generally is overinflated in all genres thanks to ebay and discogs, but i find at my local store that all classical vinyl is between 1 and 2 euros per LP. thus im starting to trawl a rich and rewarding seam of music that is the perfect antidote to tinitus and overcompression of electronics, plus its cheap!

time was i would buy old funk LPs or fusion for next to nothing in london. now all thats left unwanted seems to be crap french pop or classical music. so as i dive into todays finds of arnold schoenberg and erik satie (1.50 each) i leave you with thoughts of well kept slabs of black plastic.

be seeing you
james

My G5 leaks gunk

So after a massive delay in the remastering schedule I finally get into the Greta Studio hotseat. Hit go on the mac... and nothing. Try a few more times... hmmm, better take the side off. What do i find? Green gunk and dried 'matter' all over the inside of my mac.
Bugger
Apple are taking it off to be fixed - for free... how long it is going to take them remains to be seen. Problem. all the stuff that is due to be mastered/is mastered is on that Mac.
I got Snooploops here on a backup laptop that I have lashed into my studio rig. will have a go on that project for now... not to mention the eternal quest for a hi-res version of the Cat on Head logo...

Matt

info famine

hello.

in order to try and bring you some actual news of real humans we have gone to this supersexy blog for swayzak.com . we are not going to tell you what to look out for, cos we dont know what will be posted here,. suffice to say theres gonna be frequent posts from all of the swayzak family. forget your facbook and myspac.. this is proper.

love swayzak