gareth bouch :: stuff & things

Just got the Stick out of hibernation today. Something else I have neglected a bit. Been checking all the music software is up to date and in good working order on the Mac so I can spend some of the long winter nights doing some useful noise making…
Results will be posted here.

Oh and this is my first post from the WordPress iPad app, so I hope it comes out nicely formatted. Or there’ll be trouble….

El Pescao – Castillo de Arena from Watergun on Vimeo.

Got to post this. One because I love it, and two because I’ve not posted in way too long. Again.
Anyhoo… This is the video to “Castillo de Arena” by El Pescao, the pet project / sabbatical project of David Otero from El Canto Del Loco. (Album in September I believe).
It’s in my head in a big way and runs the risk of being the sound of my summer; which I must admit I’m okay with ;-)
Enjoy.
And if you like it then you can get the song on iTunes by clicking your mousey here….

I think I’m generally known now as a bit of an El Canto Del Loco nut, happily raving about them to whoever will listen, and running www.elcantodelloco.co.uk to spread news about the band around the English-speaking globe.
One thing that’s frustrated me hugely – particularly now I’ve managed to see them in concert in Madrid – is their absence from any concert venues in Britain.
There’s clearly fans here, witness the Facebook “UK Fans” group for instance, and it’s clear from films/clips such as “De Cerca” that they’re as comfortable in smaller venus as they are in large ones. So why not try and encourage the band to come over and play some kind of mid-size venue? – Although the lighting rig for the “Personas” and “Hasta Luego” tours was superb, they don’t actually need it to put on a kicking show….

So I’ve set up a petition over at www.elcantodelloco.co.uk to try and get as many names online as possible to back a UK show (or shows…) Please show your support and add your signature; it would be really good to get enough momentum going for Sony BMG and the boys themselves to take the plunge and give us a treat. CLICK HERE FOR THE PETITION…

Oh, and please spread the word and share the link too.
Thank you!

artvinyl.com – a company specialising in display systems for album covers – has just announced the winner of the 2009 Best Cover award. Industry experts produce a liast of 50 nominations which are then voted on by the public. It’s good that the art of the album cover isn’t dead in the age of downloads, given that it’s such a tangible, physical thing – something currently on my mind with the recent post on the aesthetics of “Avatar” and the album artwork of Roger Dean – and a good choice for this year’s winner; “The Resistance” by Muse.
You can see all 50 nominations at artvinyl.com

Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be enough good news around at Christmastimes… Don’t know why – (maybe it’s because we tend to try and happy ourselves up for the occasion and the world doesn’t stand a chance of living up to that), but there just doesn’t. And that’s broadly been so this year too – ongoing whitewashy shambles of an Iraq inquiry, total cop-out and big finger to the planet from Copenhagen – but at least today has flagged up two stories that have really genuinely made me incredibly happy.

The first is pretty obvious – Rage Against The Machine taking the Xmas number 1 slot from some vanilla X-Factor prettyboy singing some crappy banality at the order of his master.
Thank Fuck, quite frankly. Brilliant news.
The X-Factor may be enjoyed by millions but that doesn’t make it good of course (and it isn’t good – it’s fucking evil) – and contrary to the bafflingly poor thinking of some absurdly biased BBC newsreader/interviewers over the past days, it does NOT set up winners in long and glittering and important careers; so far they’ve been largely shortlived. For which one can only be thankful given the tripe, pap and worthless formulaic shite they put out. The BBC people actually were pretty annoying – completely glossing over the Rage profits going to homeless charity Shelter, having been corrected on a point about making money from the single, and also accusing the song of not being about Christmas…. er, like the X-Factor song then… Muppets.

Anyway – they did it. WE did it. Brilliant. It’s not a cynical act (as described by the cynical Simon Cowell in an act of breathtaking cynicism even by his own magnificent standards) – it’s a genuine authentic act of championing authenticity over cynicism. And I hope it’s only the beginning.

I also hope it’s only the beginning for more coming out and acceptance of gay sports stars following the announcement by the Welsh rugby star – Cardiff Blues player and the most capped player for Wales and former British and Irish Lions captain, Gareth Thomas. Sport can be a macho and misogynistic animal, and of course homophobic too. Yet statistically, it’s blindingly obvious that there should be quite a few gay sportsmen out there – who knows, maybe great ones – great role models. And that one of them has had the guts to come out is great news…
“It has been really tough for me,” he told the papers, “hiding who I really am, and I don’t want it to be like that for the next young person who wants to play rugby, or some frightened young kid. I don’t know if my life is going to be easier because I’m out, but if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to Childline, then it will have been worth it.”

Let’s hope this might just be a moment of genuine shift like the Rage Xmas number 1. Today has definitely been a good day. Hopefully the reasons why it’s been a great day can lead to more great days to come.
Good on you Gareth Thomas, good on you Rage Against the machine – and good on you all who bought the single :-)

REFERENCES:
Rage Against The Machine article
Gareth Thomas article