Category Archives: When Big Joan Sets Up

Matters relating to Phil Cope’s show, When Big Joan Sets Up, at midnight as Wednesday morphs into Thursday (UK time)

When Big Joan Sets Up 10/6/10 – Double Time

Hello cheeky. Having given my all standing in for Laura on the BCB Sessions this week, I dragged my exhausted and broken body back in to the studio at midnight for this week’s programme. What do you mean “you could tell?”

Dead Farmers – “Down Low” (LP – “Go Home”) (RIP Society)
Marc Smith – “Where’s The Party At?” (EP – “We Are Hardcore”) (Notorious Vinyl)
Lazer Zeppelin – “Cigareets and Whursky and Wild,Wild Women” (LP – “American Derivitives”) (People In A Position To Know)
Bobby Freemen – “(I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy” (Bri’s Revived 45) (Parlophone)
Scorn – “Insert Waggler” (LP – “Refuse; Start Fires”) (Ohm Resistance)
The Cute Lepers – “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” (7″) (Damaged Goods)
Nic Sarno – “Mana Wasa” (v/a LP – “The Hard Ass Sessions Voume 2) (Enchufada)
Roy Shirley – “Dance Arena” (v/a LP -“Rocksteady Hits The Town”) (Kingston Sounds)
Camera Obscura – “The Nights Are Cold” (7″) (4AD)
Lee “Scratch” Perry – “Dub The Rhythm” (LP- “Mad Alien Dub”) (Great American Music)
Blighters – “Heartbeat” (7″) (Hungry Audio)
Go-Zen – “Go-Zen Grinder” (LP – Hinamatsiri) (Self Released)
P.U.D.G.E – “Elektric Werdz” (LP – “Idiot Box”) (Ramp)
The Keys – “Fire Inside” (LP – “Fire Inside”) (See Monkey Do Monkey)
Pansonic – “Voltus Bolt” (LP – “Gravitoni”) (Blast First Petite)
Fatts and G Maffia – “State of Emergency” (7″) (Studio 91/Gully Squad)
The Sexcapades – “Do The Huckebuck” (v/a LP – “Party Platter”) (Florida’s Dying)
Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers – “The Hucklebuck” (v/a LP- “Blowing The Fuse – 27 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1949”) (Bear Family)
Rolo Tomassi – “Agamemnon” (LP- “Cosmology”) (Hassle)

The BCB Sessions – 9th June 2010

Laura was off this week sipping sparkling elderflower cordial in the swanky nitespots of that London, which meant I got to rummage around in the BCB Sessions archive and play some of my favourite sessions plus some top tunes, and it went like this.

The Bluetones – Carry Me Home
Lazer Zeppelin – Friday Night
The Lodger – I Can’t Stop (BCB Session)
Flying Lotus – Galaxy In Janaki
Alisdair Roberts and Jackie Oakes – The Bloody Fields of Flanders/The Red Haired Boy
The Peppermint Lounge – African Orange (BCB Session)
The Fall – Hot Cake
David Moleon and Tadox – Final Days
Ritchie Spice – Yap Yap
Gun Outfit – My Whole Life
Slow Club – When I Go (BCB Session)
Rox – My Baby Left Me
The Smiths – Hand In Glove
Best Coast – Far Away
Lee “Scratch” Perry – Revolution Dub
Freyed Knot – Wild West Yorkshire (BCB Session)
Blighters – Don’t Want Nothing
Yimino – Q-Bit (BCB Session)

When Big Joan Sets Up 3/6/10 – Some Records

After weeks of specials, guests, featured LP’s and other exciting showbiz frippery, this week we returned to the business of playing some tunes and damn fine they were an’all.

Starting with an oldie, one of the great records and also including the Lazer Zeppelin LP , a record, which when my inevitable mental collapse happens and I am apprehended by members of the constabulary on the central reservation of the M62, naked, saucer eyed, and howling like a dog , I will be clutching close to my chest.

Billy Butler – “Right Track” (v/a LP – “It’s Okeh Up North”) (Sony)
Broken Note – “Channel Zero” (12″) (Prspct)
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – “I Hate The Blues” (LP – “Blood and Fire”) (Black)
Howlin’ Wolf – “House Rock Boogie” (LP-“The Chronological Howlin’ Wolf 1951-52”) (Classics)
The Chap – “Never A Frown With Gordon Brown” (download)
Lee “Scratch” Perry – “Kojak” (LP- “Mad Alien Dub”) (Great American Music)
Lazer Zeppelin – “This Heart Is Just A Muscle in My Chest” (LP- “American Derivitives”) (People In A Position To Know)
The Lodger – “Nothing’s Impossible” (LP- “Flashbacks”) (Slumberland)
Sven Hanke and 1125X – “Gepflegt 745” (EP – “Strichcode”) (Pure Pure)
Kath Bloom – “Let’s Get Living” (LP- “Thin, Thin Line) (Caldo Verde)
Cock Safari – “We Don’t All Sniff Petrol” (CDR) (Magic Crowbar)
Math and Physics Club – “Jimmy Had a Polaroid” (7″) (Matinee)
God Is An Astronaut – “In The Distance, Fading” (LP- “Age of the Fifth Sun”) (Revive)
Shuttleworth – “England’s Hearbeat” (download single) (Minder/Yip Yop)
The Real Sounds of Africa – “Soccer Fan” (12″) (Cherry Red)

When Big Joan Sets Up 27/5/10 – I always wanted a Little Brother …

…and tonight I got one as, the esteemed Dean of The Open Mind University joined us to play some tunes and read some poems. Ivor Cutler once called him a “a very rude young man” and Ted Chippington slept on his sofa you know. That, I have no hesitation in saying, impresses the shit out of me.

Atari Teenage Riot – “Activate” (download single) (Digital Hardcore)
Paul White – “Anchor Records” (EP – “My Guitar Whales”) (One Handed Music)
Macy Skipper – “Goofin’ Off” (LP – “Stax Complete Singles 1959-1968 Volume 1”) (Atlantic)
Omar Souleyman – “Ala Il Hash Madgouga (The Bedouin Tattoo)” – (LP- “Jazeera Nights”) (Sublime Frequencies)
The Melvins – “Hospital Up” (LP – “The Bride Screamed Murder”) (Ipecac)
Little Brother – “Don’t Be A Decade All Your Life”
DJ Hammond – “Rotten To The Core” (V/A EP – “Rotten To The Core”) (Elementz)
Crystal Castles – “Fainting Spells” (LP- “Crystal Castles”) (Fiction)
Lord Buckley – “God’s Own Drunk” (LP – “Buckley’s Best 2”) (Liberty)
Prince Jammy – “42nd Street Dub” (LP – “Strictly Dub”) (Pressure Sounds)
Puffy Areolas – “1981” (LP- “In The Army 1981”) (Siltbreeze)
Old Man Luedeke – “Foreign Tounge” (LP – “My Hands Are On Fire and Other Love Songs”) (Black Hen)
Ed Rush and Optical – “Get Ill (Prolix Remix)” (12″) (Virus)
Little Brother – “Paint Chart Never Won Fair Maiden”
The Johnny Burnette Trio – “Tear It Up” (LP – one of Little Brother’s that I forgot to write down the title of or the label)
Benga – “Baltimore Clap” (EP – “Phaze One”) (Tempa)

When Big Joan Sets Up – 1987, What The Fuck is Going On?

Last week’s tracks all came from 1987 for reasons that are too dull to go into here. This is a fairly accurate representation of what my bedroom sounded like when I was 16. You don’t want to know what it smelled like.

Public Enemy – Bring The Noise (12”) (Def Jam)
The Sewer Zombies – “They Died With Their Willie Nelson T Shirts On” (12”) (Ron Johnson)
Bhundu Boys – “Tvimbodzemoto” (LP- “Tvimbodzemoto”) (Disque Afrique)
LL Cool J – “Go, Cut Creator, Go” (LP – Bigger And Deffer”) (Def Jam)
Prince – “Sign O The Times” (7”) (Warner Bros)
The Smiths – “Sheila Take A Bow” (7”) (Rough Trade)
Rhythm Is Rhythm – “Nude Photo” (12”) (Transmat)
Napalm Death – “Success?” (LP- “Scum”) (Earache)
The Sea Urchins – “Pristine Christine” (7”) (Sarah)
Lieutennant Stitchie – “Wear Yuh Size” (v/a LP – “Superstar Hit Parade Vol 2”) (Teepee)
Beastie Boys – “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” (7”) (Def Jam )
The Butthole Surfers – “22 Going On 23” (LP – “Locust Abortion Technician”) (Touch and Go)
Laugh – “Paul McCartney” (v/a LP – “CD86”) (Sanctuary)
Joe Smooth – “Promised Land” (v/a LP – “Original Chicago House Classics”) (Music Club)
Cud – “You Sexy Thing” (EP – “Peel Sessions”) (Strange Fruit)
The Fall – “Hit The North” (12”) (Beggar’s Banquet)

ATP Festival curated by Matt Groening – Day 3

Matt Groening introducing Daniel Johnston as his favourite songwriter

Matt Groening introducing Daniel Johnston as his "favourite songwriter"

Sunday dawns and Jim becomes my hero twice in ten minutes by making me a fried egg sandwich and telling me he once saw Spike Milligan in a pub in Manchester. Simon rather coyly reveals his affection for Spear of Destiny and I resolve to play the excellent “Do You Believe in the Westworld” on the radio for him, only to forget later and feel like a dick for doing so.

We race to the Centre Stage to see Boredoms again, just to reassure ourselves that we weren’t victim to some kind of mass hallucination yesterday and they are once again, amazing. We then decamp to Reds, the smallest of the Butlins venues to see Viv Albertine’s Limerice who are excellent. Continue reading

ATP Festival curated by Matt Groening – Day 2

Saturday begins with two hours of 70’s kids cartoon Hong Kong Phooey on the excellent ATP TV channel provided for the weekend. Refreshed by the antics of the titular kung fu practicing canine, we venture forth into the unknown. [I ventured forth a little earlier than the others and caught Hello Saferide, in Reds. I was rather impressed by her Swedish knack of finding a good tune, and sentimental lyrics. Ed]

Hello Saferide - melodic and romantic

Hello Saferide - melodic romanticism

Between the four of us (me, Albert, Simon and Jim) we can conjure up little previous knowledge of Boredoms despite the fact that they appear to have been going since about 1942 and have released about half a million records. The notes about them printed in the frankly beautiful programmes (coming with 4 different covers featuring Matt Groening penned caricatures of Iggy, Joanna Newsome, Daniel Johnston and someone we didn’t recognise [either She & Him or Lightning Dust, the jury is still out – ed]) weren’t much help either. In this we simply read a breathless treatise about Boredoms being Japanese, having a penchant for using lots of drummers, and being a bit ace.

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ATP Festival curated by Matt Groening – Day 1

The first thing that hits you when you walk in to the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival is the contrast between the ultra mainstream surroundings of Butlins and the heartening array of freaks who attend. This is demonstrated in microcosm within 5 minutes by a painfully thin young Japanese man wearing a surgical mask and lime green leggings draping himself with impressive languor against a wall featuring a poster for “The Peter Andre Weekend” – three nights at Butlins and a concert featuring the impressively pectoralled housewives’ favourite for a mere £98.

Broadcast

Broadcast - noise, or music?

We will return to bare chested doyens of entertainment in a moment, but our first foray was to see Broadcast, a male/female duo beloved of the hip and the trying-to-be, who amble shyly onto the stage and proceed to stand at two elevated box like contraptions and wrestle out half an hour’s worth of whirrs, drones and howls whist having experimental films “broadcast” (did you see what I did there? ) on top of them. The result is very much an ATP archetype: challenging, startling and beautiful at the same time. The effect is only diluted mid-way through the set when they resort to boring old actual songs. That’s not noise, that’s just music.

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When Big Joan Sets Up 13/5/10 – “So this is what culture sounds like then?”

And with that beautifully arch putdown overheard by our mate Jim from one of the security guards at Butlins Minehead over the weekend (during The Residents, if you’re intrested) I welcome you to our All Tomorrow’s Parties Special programme featuring mostly tracks from artists who performed at Matt Groening‘s ATP festival last weekend.

Wish you’d been there.

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When Big Joan Sets Up – Vote Sutch!

screaminglsWell, if he wasn’t dead you could. Last night’s When Big Joan Sets Up rode a big fat coach and horses through the Ofcom guidlines by playing a record by the 20th Century’s longest serving leader of a politcal party (I haven’t checked this, so don’t pull me up on it – I’m printing the legend), Screaming Lord Sutch which was plucked from the corners of my dad’s records collection , plus, and equally bonkers, in it’s way an epic peice from the mighty Can recorded in 1973. Oh and seeing as though we’re supposed to be a new music prgramme some new tunes too. Oh, and Annie Nightingale is a national treasure.

The Tunes:
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