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Cocteau Twins At Coachella
alright! cocteau twins and bauhaus are reforming for this year's coachella festival in the us… should be some uk cocteau twins dates in the summer too. now if only recently rediscovered chimp towers playlist favourites japan would get it back together…
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31st Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Toy Basquiat
chimp north points out you can also get a jean-michel basquiat doll… and for fans of big-in-the-eighties japanese pop bands yes asia also has The Goodbye back catalogue, and some great j-pop band names (Smap, Mr Children, Glay, Dragon Ash, The Brilliant Green etc)
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basquiat
hello the goodbye
do as infinity
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31st Jan 2005 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
shopping tip in from dr chimp:
"With 14 February looming large, why not treat your loved one to some love beads made by Janet Planet, ex-wife of Van Morrison?"
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30th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Where The Humans Eat
Willy Mason is currently topping the chimp playlist with his excellent 'Where the Humans Eat' album. Not sure what the fashion police think of this guy, but for me he's certainly more cool than fool.
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27th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Hush Your Beak
chimp-endorsed Mara Carlyle is back for another
HUSH YOUR BEAK
£6/5 conc, 8.30 pm, Monday 31st January, downstairs @ The Highgate
53-79 Highgate Rd NW5
5mins from Kentish Town tube
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26th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
TV Go Home
enjoyed the pinot noir-fest sideways, but the new c4 chris morris/tv go home show nathan barley gets a big fat zero from chimp towers…
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25th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Chimp Towers
Busy weekend at chimp towers, clearing a data backlog. Watched a couple more episodes of HBO’s excellent The Wire, then The Bourne Supremacy, The Others, Confidence, The Good Thief and most of Eternal Sunshine (again). Also recently watched the Dogtown & Z-Boys doc, and DV-shark-horror flick Open Water. Reviews soon(ish). Maybe.
17th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
FALL on FOUR
caught the upcoming bbc four profile of long-standing chimp 71 heroes the fall, some cool footage in there: playing with michael clark and a giant hamburger, splitting up one version of the band on stage, running through all the 40-odd members, recording their last peel session etc etc...
well worth catching - The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E Smith, 10pm, bbc four, friday
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16th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Keep
(dir. Michael Mann)
Possibly the dumbest film to be shown in the Chimp Towers screening room. Nazi fog, Ian McKellan with a floating American accent even though he's supposed to be some Romanian mystic dude, lots of glowing eyes, and Tangerine Dream testing out their new-fangled synths all over the soundtrack. Almost worth watching to the end to see how stupid it gets.
4th Jan 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 1 star reviews
Best Of 2004
in the spirit of the year of the chimp drawing to a close, here's the first annual instalment of the chimpomatic best albums of the year poll, an extensively researched, highly scientific endeavour…
Chimpomatic's Albums Of 2004
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
as a tribute to ozzy's recent bravery
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
one of those albums you can come back to year after year and still hear something new; this year, it's the production and lyrics that's doing it
The Cure: The Cure
Had almost given up on these guys. Produced by the guy that produces Korn etc… (sketchy data - this might not be an official chart show fact)
UPDATE: Fact verified. He also produced At The Drive In.
TV On The Radio: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
didn't quite live up to the black cocteau twins hype, but still cool to hear someone doing something new
Dani Siciliano: Likes…
insider trading maybe, but this is just awesome
Mara Carlyle: The Lovely
ditto.
GBV: Human Amusements At Hourly Rates
the best of the best ofs since decade. sorts out the patchiness.
Led Zeppelin: Houses Of The Holy
some of the best getting ready to go out rock ever
My Morning Jacket: It Still Moves
thanks to ian c for making us persevere with this one…
Cat Stevens: Mona Bone Jakon
one of those albums you come back to and realise it's even better than you remember.
Bob Dylan: Desire
with some live bob sightings fitted in this year thanks to dr b, this has been a constant in 2004. just edging out love and theft; sugar baby's got to be one of the best things he's ever done... (ie, it makes it into the dylan alltime top 100)
Tindersticks: Donkeys 92-97
anyone that does a good Pavement cover is alright in our book
Hall & Oates: The Very Best Of
great drum machines, surprising to find how many are etched in your brain
John Martyn: Solid Air
one of those classics you must buy that we finally got round to buying.
28th Dec 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Bush Pod
> >From recent 'People' magazine:
>
>"Do you own an iPOD?"
>
>President Bush: "I do. I use it mainly for when I go out & ride my
>mountain bike. I crank it up. Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis are on
>there (You Win Again). It's a great album, by the way".
thanks to dr chimp for pointing out that he picks the one album that's *so* bad that it's the only Van album to be deleted
22nd Dec 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Dzed
nice accidental nod in this month's dazed and confused - and mr crap jobs (and chimp towers neighbour) dan kieran…
15th Dec 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Chimp North
guardian big-up yesterday for chimpomatic-endorsed contemporary composer
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30th Nov 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Ray
Ray Liotta paid a flying visit to Chimp HQ yesterday, shooting a scene from his new movie in the road outside. After speculating they were "probably shooting some pony British gangster flick", we spotted Ray, then learned it was the new Guy Ritchie Pony British Gangster Movie. But with Ray Liotta.
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17th Nov 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Zongamin Live in New Cross
full chimp/accidental outing to see zongamin and riton in possible new chimp hq local, the montague arms on friday. a pub full of nautical memorabilia, stuffed animal heads, ancient marniner bar staff and highly excitable students bouncing around... both acts pretty enjoyable: riton quite electroclashy but fun with it, and good to see sometime herbert vocalist luka on stage again; zongamin supertight, with new accidental houseband drummer leo holding everything down. the crowd exploded in a "JOHN PEEL! JOHN PEEL!" chant after the dj busted out teenage kicks too, which was v cool.
1st Nov 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
scritti
top spot from dr chimp: a 7" of scritti politti's jacques derrida...
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18th Oct 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
1000GB
yes, this is the kind of tech advance chimp towers is in favour of: the 1000 gigabyte dvd... bring it on! lose the shelves!
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28th Sep 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
PJ
On the phone to Apple support today, when the support lady commended my choice of music, which she could hear playing in the background at Chimp Central. To make matters better/worse depending on your standpoint I was listening to No Code.
2nd Sep 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Chimp Towers
We have stolen the plans to the secret battlestation and begun work on Chimp Towers.
27th Aug 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
From Chimpomatic informer IC:
...keep your eyes out for Monkey Business Day on Nat Geo (SKY 558) all day Bank Holiday Monday.
Back to back episodes of the chimp-flavoured programme from Dorset's Monkey
World.
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9th Aug 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
7610
Some new tech has come to light, man. Took delivery of a new phone at chimp HQ which is moving towards mobile nirvana, but still a way to go. 1MP images are pretty good for miscellaneous blogging (see surveillance), but the audio player is strictly for emergencies, being only mono and they only supply a single ear piece (a la 1950). No iSyncing yet either, which is a drag for now, but even worse... no compass.
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3rd Aug 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Tomodachi
3 nights in a row for chimp75's local Japanese takeaway Tomodachi. Nothing like Two For The Price Of One to keep a chimp happy. And full.
29th Jul 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Uptown Chimp
There's been a distinct lack of non HK updates recently, due to the relocation of the Chimpomatic technical HQ to a new state of the art facilty. We're now safely back online and updates should return to their irregular and sporadic schedule.
7th Jul 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Goodfellas
(dir. Martin Scorsese)
Following the day-to-day lives of three gangsters from the 1960's through to the 1980's and their steady decline. Goodfellas is based on the real life memoirs of Irish-American mafioso Henry Hill, who eventually turned snitch and joined the witness protection programme.
One of several peaks in Scorsese's career, Goodfellas is a bonafide masterpiece and a regular in this chimp's top 5. Superb performances from Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci and De Niro amongst others, fantastic music and flawless camerawork and direction make this utterly watchable. Even though I have the DVD, I caught two minutes on TV the other night and ended up watching the whole thing. Again.
20th Jun 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 5 star reviews
Late Show
Ch-Ch-Check out this future classic performance by the Beastie Boys on Letterman.... Click the link and then check the "Big Show Highlights". Probably only online for a short time and Real Player only, but well worth it.
Thanks to Chimp Jnr. for the heads up.
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16th Jun 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Pixies 1
Just got back from the first Pixies gig at Brixton Academy.... totally fantastic show, falling down none of the potential reunion potholes. Cactus, Gouge Away and Debaser were standouts - but almost every one of the 20+ songs was in my top 5 favourites list and they only played a couple of Trompe Le Monde tracks too. Sounds like they've really hit their stride over some of the earlier shows floating around on the net, and the crowd must have helped. Crowd surfing, pogo dancing and other scenes that this chimp hasn't seen since, well.... the early 90's. More on Saturday.
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2nd Jun 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
WOTW
Looks like chimp favourite War of the Worlds is finally getting the big screen treatment. Let's hope it's still set in Woking, not LA.
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slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us
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1st Jun 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Accidental Broadcast
despite the usual ica queue overload and oblique bar strategies, still a great accidental broadcast on saturday - highlights for this chimp included: max de wardener's big glass jars and his booming bass; mara carlyle getting a london crowd to shut up just by asking nicely; a beautiful version of her "i blame you not"; mugison's "whoops i'm 3 hours too drunk oh well here's another blinder"; mara's voice looped into mugi's opening track. oh, and the guy who attempted to interpret mugi's "i'm on fire" through the medium of dance (aka smoking on stage in an occasionally rhythmic fashion)...
17th May 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Van Breaks Down
Dr. Chimp points out that van morrison, fire chief has
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14th May 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
MHBB
full chimp contingent out for the last date in the matthew herbert big band tour last night... top show all-round, with visuals and magic building on the usual accidental genius... great to hear misprints live at last, with dani siciliano putting words into blair's mouth. liking the springy new balloon track a lot, hope that comes out soon.
if you're in scotland this weekend, tune in to radio accidental making its debut broadcast at the triptych festival: mugison, mara carlyle, max de wardener (enjoying his new album at the moment too) and brooks playing in a non-stop relay, plus matt djing.
radio accidental's also coming to the ica may 15
...would love this label even if they hadn't put agent blue out
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radio accidental triptych
radio accidental ics
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30th Apr 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
MHBB
looks like the current matthew herbert big band uk tour is going well - getting v good reports from mrs chimp out on the road, plus dr chimp and now the daily telegraph..!
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17th Apr 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
No Bob
Alright…tracked down some of the remnants of France’s expeditions into Indochine with dinner at a great Lao/Vietnamese restaurant. Very good food, non-fashion prices and some of this chimp’s all-time favourite bierski - Beer Lao.
Back at l'hotel we kicked off the second installment of Back To The Future. Great mind blowing storyline, but not quite as flawless as episode 1. 7/10.
P.S. - That is not Bob from Twin Peaks in the background.
8th Mar 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Fromage
Had a good day at the show yesterday, then found a great set-meal style restaurant on recommendation from a fellow chimp. The serious cheese board needed a 6 foot safety buffer around it, and provided a particularly french LSD style sleeping experience.
No chance to do any kind of visiting in Paris, particularly a second inspection of the concept plane - but tonight there's a big party thrown by the organisers, which should allow for some fashion world surveillance.
6th Mar 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
The chimpomatic world tour of Paris, France has begun!
Deeeep undercover at Paris Fashion week, helping a fashion chimp friend with his stand. Revisited Back To The Future on DVD on the Eurostar. A perfect 10. Also jumped in a Taxi to hear Weezer blasting out of the stereo.... you don't get that in London.
No fashion tips yet.
5th Mar 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Chimp Data
chimps learning how to communicate essential phrases like "coffee"? that's more like it...
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9th Feb 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Snow Report
Allright! Chimp 75 is back in business, with back dated blogness from my travels.... Scroll down.
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20th Jan 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Chimp Styles
Spent a lot of the day in possibly jet-lag induced conversational coma, often finding myself sitting on my ass staring into space for 20-odd minutes. Plus an all over ache and strain from yesterdays unprecedented 6 hours of exercise. Did however manage to reduce my spine crushing body-jar style of snowboarding down to only one direction - so hopefully I’ll be more capable soon and start cruising in both directions.
Led Zeppelin playing on the stereo on the slopes today. In Through the Out Door and Phoenix on the stereo back in the room.
12th Jan 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Snow Mission 2004
Finally hit the slopes after the mammoth trip getting here, and spent most of the day with cramp unless I assumed anything but the tiny airplane/bus seat position. Nailed a few of the basics however, and should hopefully be making better progress tomorrow. North American rock pumping out over most of the lifts, with a good dose of Doors, plus some Creedence. What more could a chimp want.
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11th Jan 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Neighbourhood
pretty full chimp contingent up and out for the accidental night on friday. mugison noising up suits is a sight to remember, with yet another great version of CY (just how many variations will there be? it's probably a maths variables question on the maths syllabus in iceland) and the 3.3 updated version of the mighty noodle-powered 8 doogymoto kicking their superfreshness. could listen to them both for days.
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1st Dec 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet
Dylan Live
dylan at hammersmith apollo w dr chimp last night, v good indeed, even though the set was mainly outside of my limited bob reference:
1. Drifter's Escape
2. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
3. Cry A While
4. Girl Of The North Country
5. Romance In Durango
6. Dear Landlord
7. High Water (For Charley Patton)
8. Tough Mama
9. Floater (Too Much To Ask)
10. Million Miles
11. Jokerman
12. Honest With Me
13. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
14. Summer Days
(encore)
15. Cat's In The Well
16. Like A Rolling Stone
17. All Along The Watchtower
hattie carroll was great, v understated version. and all along the watchtower was pretty rocking. he's doing a weird shuffle dance these days (which the bobheads love) from behind a keyboard, no guitar, and still in his tex-mex cowboy outfit. no stetson this time though. looks like he makes the set up as he goes along, shuffling over to chat w the band in between songs. still got no idea how he remembers all those words.
25th Nov 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet
MHBB at RFH
National Security has been put at risk this week, with both Headchimp and Vice Chimp attending the same event. Twice. Luckily, assassins in London have had other things on their mind this week.
Last night: The Matthew Herbert Big Band at the Royal Festival Hall.
19th Nov 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet
Halloween Special
caught the jane's addiction halloween special at brixton on friday, pretty awesome stuff: everyone on great form, much tighter than they seemed on the relapse tour, after checking the new three days dvd. new stuff standing up well with the classics, though even they can't get the whole audience to shut up for an acoustic interlude. ah well. three days was awesome, went on so long both dr chimp and i thought it had finished about 3 times before it actually did. really starting to think they're one of the all-time greats if they carry on like this. wonder if they're going to do another album after they've finished touring this one. dr chimp even got interrogated by a v bemused indie chick, who seemed astonished that
a. he was there
and
b. was such a longtime fan he'd even seen porno for pyros...
good being undercover in a crowd full of freaks sometimes.
set list:
Up the Beach
Stop!
Ain't No Right
Strays
Been Caught Stealing
Three Days
Everybody's Friend
Just Because (acoustic)
True Nature
The Riches
Ocean Size
obligatory surprise encore:
Mountain Song
Jane Says
2nd Nov 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet
Later
chimp71 and dr chimp make cameo appearances on later w jools "how about a boogie woogie solo there?" holland this friday... jane's addiction, as ever, were pretty outstanding. great acoustic version of just because, hope that makes it onto a b-side soon. and john cale kicked out a v decent venus in furs.
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29th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet