Now showing at the GFT...

Dialogue avec mon jardinier directed by Jean Becker. Go see it.

I'm not saying anything else about it....well apart from if I know you and you don't like it don't tell me cos I'll think less of you. :D

Just a quick follow up...

I forgot to say earlier in the week that I got my Jaguar back from Jimmy Egypt's repair shop. If you ever need any repairs done and you're in or around Glasgow I'd just like to recommend him. the standard of workmanship was top notch (as ever), the quote was uber reasonable and spot on (unlike certain other Glasgow repair shops, you know who you are!) Jimmy and the guys were friendly and helpful as usual and they also don't put you under any pressure when you're in asking for some advice. Most repairers don't want to talk to you until they're on the clock.

I even took in my '68 for some work. I'll let you know how that went when I get it back next week. Here's a sneak peek at the '68 and the '66 reissue that I just set up. Can you spot which is which?

40 years old vs 4, which is the golden oldie?

Fuzztacular

As some of you might know I've been getting back into music in a big way. I've made some choice purchases over the last couple of weeks and today I'm going to tell you a bit about one of my favourite pick-ups to date.

As a guitarist I suffer from a compulsion to try out new effects pretty much constantly, and over the years this has lead to me owning quite a few 'drawer warmer' stomp boxes. These pedals eventually get given away, traded out or sold. More often than not it takes something really special to snag a spot on my pedalboard. This week I was introduced to something that was special, very special indeed.

I have never found a Fuzz pedal I like, and believe me I've tried quite a few so when I stumbled upon the Shortscale guitar forum I was chuffed to discover that there was someone on there who was based in the UK and builds their own effects pedals. Some are origina designsl, some are clones and some are classics with an added twist. The latter is the one that interested me.

So this was my introduction to guitar FX 'Made by Mike' aka Mike Livesley. I was very impressed by his obvious exuberance for the build and his work ethic. My design was decided on, built and under my foot in about a week. It even came with a battery already installed, now that's customer service!! When it arrived I thought that I'd have a go with it for a few minutes then get back to Mike with some feedback but this didn't happen, no sir I couldn't put my guitar down for a good four hours.

Like I said previously, most pedals tend to leave me wanting, this Fuzz left me wanting more!!! The response from the slightest tweaks to the controls were spot on and the variety of textures it is capable of producing simply blew me away. This pedal is like classic vintage greatness but it doesn't suffer from the usual problem I have with older FX ie rather than lacking controls this has them in spades. I normally use Fender Jaguar guitars, The Jaguar is capable of many different tones due to it's myriad of swithching combinations, this makes for big fun when coupled with the Fuzz pedal. One part of the Jaguar circuit that never done anything for me is the frequency cut switch (known as the strangle switch) but it combines in a surprising manner with the Fuzz offering far less dirt and gaining a more punchy percussive timbre. In this setting I could imagine using it for a more biting clean sound that I would've previously used a low chorus setting to achieve. This makes that vibe possible without 'sweetening' the sound like a chorus tends to.

The following is a little bit of info from Mike, it's better that you find out what he's all about from the man himself rather than my half remembered ramblings. :D

"I've been building pedals for nearly a year now, what started as a project started by Aen, of shortscale.org and chief noisenik at Dwarfcraft Devices, to build a series of Boost pedals at cost for the members of Shortscale.org, a forum inspired by (but not exclusively devoted to) Fender's shortscale guitars; the Jaguar, Mustang et al.

Aen handled US production, while I built the pedals for the European shortscalers at first, and when stuff at Dwarfcraft picked up, I ended up building pedals for a bunch of our US folk also. The run of 14 boosters really helped me hone my skills and process, and build up a stockpile of components - while also learning about finishing cases. Early boosters were wired with stranded wire and featured shortscale stickers for decoration. I soon graduated to colour finishes and solid core wiring, and soon started experimenting with other pedals and designs. Since the booster days I have diversified into building Overdrives, Fuzz and Distortion boxes, Tremolo's, Vibratos and also switching boxes like True Bypass loopers.

I generally build to order, and will either be tweaking existing designs, making straight clones or selling my own designs. My profit margin is extremely modest, and I build pedals mainly for the joy of creating something that someone will be able to make joyous music or a racket with. The feeling I get hearing people's feedback, sound samples or seeing my pedals on people's pedalboards is a massive kick. I studied electronics at The University Of Southampton and I am a Leading Electronic Designer working in the 3D Graphics field at present. The pedal sideline is a marvellous distraction from my dayjob, and I love it. "

Made by Mike; a true seal of quality . Buy one. Want more.

Here is the official specs for the noisemaker Mike made for me.

"This Fuzzface design I made is a complete clone of the Fulltone '69 Fuzz, which is a Germanium FuzzFace using AC128 pnp transistors. Mike Fuller doesn't build these anymore as he says the transistors don't sound good enough, but I find that careful gain selection can yield wonderful results.

The standard Fuzzface controls of Fuzz and Volume are augmented by Bias reduction and Contour controls, to shape the sounds on offer. The Bias control is effectively another volume control inline with your guitar, before the Fuzz circuit, and can be used to dial out some of the inherent beefy low-end at high Fuzz settings, while the Contour control is a really ingenius filter which allows you to sweep from a stock scoopy fuzztone (at minimum) through to a rich midrange bitey tone full of harmonic overtones at maximum. When combined with the Fuzz and Bias controls the Contour control allows a multitude of sounds to be dialed in."

You see? Much more eloquent than me. All I really know is that I stand on the box and it makes my guitar rock harder, that's all I need to know...Well that and that I want another one.

The build quality and finish are A1 here. The look is classic and elegant, combining a metallic silver box with a blue LED and black/silver screw shaft control knobs with a retro flavour. Check it out.

MINE!!!!!

If you're tempted by one of these little wonders drop by Shortscale and get in touch with Mike. The Shortscale community are very welcoming so there's nothing to fear.

Gettin back to my roots!!

well, Root...erm actually I'm talking about Root Designs. They're a Newcastle based company that launched in 2007 with the intention of bringing high quality Slipmats with fresh designs by great designers (Yuck and Jon Burgerman to name but two!) to the market.

So if you're spinning some records or know someone who does and they're fed up with naff hash leaf dogspuke inducing mats I'd suggest you try Roots Designs out. I recently bought a pair for a Friends birthday and the quality of the product and the service really blew me away. You can also buy from them on ebay (like I did)

I opted for the Yuck 'Let's Fight' for Pete's birthday.

Each design is limited to just 100 pieces so don't cry if you wait too long and you miss out on them!! I believe that they also do custom mats too, so I think that's definitely worth a bit of investigation too. :D

Make your own fun!!!

As a follow up to yesterdays post I thought that I'd put out a little more info about LBP. There are a few key elements to the game.

First up is the game itself. I've only played through the first 4 locations so far, but there seems to be a good standard of platforming and easy puzzles here. Throughout the game you'll unlock items that you can use to create your own content.

This is the second (and my favourite) aspect of LBP. You can create your own level and share it with the online community, and of course you can play other peoples levels too. When creating your own levels you can also put prizes in there for people to collect, I read on Jeff Green's blog Greenspeak that someone had put a photo of him as a prize in one of their levels in the beta, dunno why they did it but the fact that you can is really exciting. (They probably did it cos everyone loves JG). You can also create your own enemies in the levels and give them fully customizable behaviours.

The last cool thing is that you don't actually have to make a game level, you can make an interactive birthday card, a Powerpoint free presentation (as demonstrated by sony at a recent games conference), a comic, ANYTHING! The sky really is the limit here.

Here is a link to a 2h hour time lapse of a group making content.:.http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/09/24/little-big-planet-24-hour-timelapse-video/. There's also a ton of videos on the 1up.com games videos section.

LBP Sackboy in the flesh

I spotted this on tinterweb and thought it deserved a little big post. On of the developers of the game posted pics of a real life Sackboy made by their mother (aww sweet!)

Anyhoo here is the computer generated version:





And here is the home made version:











Pretty impressive huh?!

Little Big Planet

I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of LittleBigPlanet last week (thanks to someone who needs to be sainted!) This is especially cool as the official release date has been pushed back due to the fact that one of the songs in the game had 2 references to the Qu’ran.

The game designers Media Molecule had this to say:



"We learnt yesterday that there is a lyric in one of the licensed tracks which some people may find offensive, and which slipped through the usual screening processes. Obviously MM and Sony together took this very seriously. LBP should be enjoyable by all. So within 12 hours of hearing about this issue involving a lyric (in Somalian, I believe!), we prepared an automatic day 0 patch and had a new disk image ready; however a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support of people with noonline was to replace existing disks. They assure us that they are doing everything in their power to get things straightened out as fast as possible, and will announce dates soon."





What a load of old cock and bull. All this OTT PC crap really gets my goat. I don't know if the references were simple references or slanderous and designed to get peoples backs up, but since the track is from a Grammy wining world music artist I don't think it can be too bad, this is probably just one of those knee-jerk reaction type situations.

I wonder how the fact that they're scrapping all of the disks they've already pressed will put a dent in the games sales figures...or maybe this is where we;ll fing out that blu-ray discs actually cost next to nothing to produce, either way it's still terrible that this game that people have been anticipating for two years already will be delayed just a little longer. One thing I can asuure you is that it is worth the wait!!

Oooft!!!! What a GAME!!!!

The cull is over!!

Early last week saw the end of my 'collection thinning' when a van load of vinyl sped off into the sunset (well Whitley bay). It actually feels quite cleansing when you have a good clear out, one thing if for sure there's a lot less colour in the flat.

A few select pieces have stayed like the original Jamie Hewlett Gorillaz pieces and some customs I've picked up, but things are restricted to a new 'one shelf' policy. The Minion (o Doom) was quite surprised that I wasn't too bothered about getting rid of it all but it's one of those situations where when it stops gathering momentum I just lost interest along with it. I'm sure I'll still be picking up the odd thing, but I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. Though I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of window shopping/Internet drooling.

The other aspect that made the cull easy to stomach is the fact that it has enabled me to do some things that I just wouldn't have been able to do in the current economic climate, but more on that later.

Fiasco-a-go-go

Well I actually made it to Fiasco on Friday despite being somewhat under the weather (my voice was similar to Oscar the grouch). Even though we arrived pretty early the place was pretty packed already, the crowd was pretty diverse too. There were young hipster types, traditional pub dwellers and a wide smattering of age groups. I prefer this kind of mix on a night out, it keeps things interesting.

Now when it comes to music, well this type of music I'm not the best choice to write about it (maybe I'll ask Pete if he wants to contribute...) It's not the sort of stuff I listen to on a daily basis but fark me it's great for a night out!! The most exposure I usually get is Saturday at the Sub Club, and I do really like it but the Fiasco boys blew them away on Friday, it was just so.....danceable (and that's coming from someone who doesn't usually dance all that much, was ill AND totally sober!!) The guests that night (Inland Knights) were good too, but I'm no house aficionado so I don't know much about them, either way I still much preferred the tunes touted by the regulars. I know nothing of the history of the music, I just knows whats I likes!

Well done to Ed and Frazer, it was a cracking night and it seems to be going from strength to strength. Methinks they'll be needing a bigger venue soon. One thing is for sure Fiasco is definitely a night to keep your eye on.

I'll be updating with their upcoming events as well as some photos from Friday night. :D

Fiasco....but in a good way.

If you're free on Friday 17th of October then get yourself down to Fiasco in the Brunswick Hotel. If you're looking for a great night out with some of the funkiest people you're ever likely to meet then this could be the night out you're looking for. Here's the skinny on the boys and the beats...

This month Fiasco, brings you their Ten Ten Ten party, and with it, the greatest deep house outfit the UK has ever produced...none other than the mighty INLAND KNIGHTS!!!!

The knights consists of Andy Riley and Lawrence Ritchie who met in 1993 through their involvement Dj'ing with the legendary UK free party crew - Smokescreen sound system.

By 1998, Ritchie moved to Nottingham with what little studio kit he'd had in Sheffield, joined the To ka Project studio and began to put together the Drop label whilst producing closely with Riley.

The Drop Music catalogue now has 56 releases to its credit, and is renowned in the dance music community for the quality and consistency of its work.

Drop is celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year and the guy's are touring to let thier fans get a piece of the action.

After having not visited Glasgow for nearly 4 years, we at Fiasco are honoured to be the only Scottish date on this prestigious Drop tour.

TICKETS: This event is non ticketed, and is likely to be the fastest sell out we have had so far at Fiasco and we urge you do arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Look forward to seeing you in there for the usual Funky Fiasco Frolicks!

With a combined experience of over twenty years behind the decks, and having not teamed up since Ibiza '05, Fiasco residents Ed-FM! and Frazer Devine take to the wheels of steel to create their own unique clubbing experience.With Ed's original jackin' "Chicago" sound being rare among the Glasgow clubs, it is a welcome sound to all who are lucky enough to catch a funky earful.Frazer on the other hand creates his own soulful blend of new york vocal house mixed in a way that is clearly his own.These two self made DJ's coming together, brings a whole new environment to the intimate basement club of Glasgow's Brunswick Hotel, Basura Blanca.Rather than a big space between the DJ's and the crowd, this venue has been chosen so that the DJ's can get involved, and have fun with the party goers.This is looking to be one of Glasgow's most fun, friendly and successful new nights for years.

I'll be popping along on Friday night and I'll be sure to report on events.

"Oh my god have you tried their food? It's the bestest!" etc etc etc, that's all I ever heard about 'Where The Monkey Sleeps' so I decided to give them a taste test earlier in the week.



WTMS has become pretty well known for providing cutting edge good food without all the modern sandwich shop cool-than-thou-vibe trappings, the food does the talking, not the decor and that's how it should be. That's not to say that it's a dump, the decor is basic with LP Sleeves adorning the walls and there's plenty of comfy sofa seating. I especially enjoyed spotting all the old metal albums in the collection. Like the food, the premises falls on the right side of real Vs plastic and over-prepared. It feels comfortable and relaxing.

They offer a comprehensive menu which you can customize 'til your hearts content, which is great for me cos I'm a picky git!! I opted for the 'Loggins' pannini which consists of: Goat's cheese, char grilled peppers, olives, red onion, pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, rosemary oil and balsamic vinegar. Is your mouth watering yet? It should be cos the food is even better in the mouth that it sounds on the menu (sadly that's not always the case in most places I've tried). The actual pannini bread was good too, I always look out for that, there's nothing worse than good filling on low quality bread!!



You know how people reminisce about the first great love of their lives and how nothing has ever compared? well I used to frequent a sandwich/pannini shop back when I was at art school and it has always been the measure for every sandwich I've had since, and last week the old faithful was bested for the first time. (OK it wasn't great love or anything so grand, but it was a great sandwich but you get the idea!)



The staff member who was on while I was in was very helpful and friendly too. I like it when people are chatty without being forced or too pushy so that was the icing on the cake. I'd definitely recommend that you try out their rub-a-dub-grub. It just might the #1 nibble in your lunchbox for a long time to come!



:D



Where The Monkey Sleeps
182 West Regent Street
Glasgow, G2 4RU
Tel: (0141) 226 3406 E: info@monkeysleeps.com

Images stolen from www.monkeysleeps.com

Ta-Waaaang!!!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, you see I'm gonna set up my ultimate guitar. For almost as long as I've played guitar I have always wanted a Lake Placid Blue Fender Jaguar with a bound neck and block inlays, it has always been my dream guitar. Well recently I managed to pick one up from a very nice man for a very good price. Not only that but the guitar had most of the modifications I would have done to it already installed, so I saved myself a packet right there.

My 'main guitar' is off getting fixed at CC Music (courtesy of Jimmy Egypt) so I have to mold the other so that it's just right. I'm having a full-blown geek-gasm just thinking about it!! I have another project planned for my guitar pedals after I get this done, but that's a subject for another day!! :D

In other news, the Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik is now out on Rock Band as a full album download!! (so you might not hear from me for about a week! :D)