First up a really in depth interview with David Berman, singer and lyricist of the Silver Jews. The guy writes some really nice lyrics, and has a cool method for doing so.
Then there's a nice micro documentary on Public Enemy, all in byte sized embeddable chunks. Really like the second part talking about digging.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Facelift
After ages and ages of thinking about what to do I've given the YANU blog a facelift - hope you like it!
Monday, July 07, 2008
Ethical Guitar Video
I've just made this video about an 'ethical guitar,' made by Simon Lee Guitars, featuring Tom Jarvis of Reverend and the Makers. The vid is for ethical superstore in case the subtle branding passes you by.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Gig went well
Was a fun night, but poorly attended (town was dead!). Wojtek was awesome, Vespertines very good too. We played a very relaxed set which was nice, more like a practice than a gig!
Link to more photos in the post (thanks Chloe!)
Link to more photos in the post (thanks Chloe!)
Friday, May 23, 2008
Mompou plays Mompou
Wicked gig tonihgt - wodjek godzisz (or however it's spelt) was ace
now I'm about to go to bed but listening to the relaxing tones of federico mompou
Monday, May 19, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Live version of 3over4
We finally got our hands on the recording made of our Louisinana gig in December. I've done a rough mix of 3over4 and it is now uploaded to our myspace page. You can download it from there if you'd like to.
We'll get more mixed and uploaded soon.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Pedal Fix
You may recall that I bought a lovely new Dan Electro echo pedal last year. Tonally and effect-wise, it was great, but it kept cutting out on me in the middle of practices. I did a bit of background reading and discoveed that Dan Electro pedals have a bad reputation for the quality of jacks used in their otherwise brilliant pedals - the build quality of the unit is sturdy and reliable, the jacks are made of plastic and prone to failing.
Danelectro Dan-Echo
I couldn't return my pedal because I got it cheap and unboxed, so Simon and I set to work repairing it. My plan was to hard-wire some make your own George L patch leads directly onto the circuit board and lead them out of the jack holes in the pedal housing, then fasten replaceable George L jacks at the other end, so the pedal could be plugged directly into other pedals/units. Simon has the electronics skills so I let him figure out how to do it.
Inside the pedal the jacks are conveniently located on a small easily removable circuit board. A ombination of solder, four hands, and elbow grease saw the end of the retched plastic jacks.
Simon solders the joints of the plastic jacks
One down
After successful removal of the Jacks we then had to figure out which part of the George L lead was the signal and which was the ground - we guessed. After soldering the right bits to the output part of the circuit we discovered our guess was good.
Fixing George L to the circuit board
Fixed
The second lead was much harder to replace - trial and error saw us solder the signal and lead to various permutations of points. I think the complication was in the fact that jack triggered a power switch when a a connection was made - I'm sure Simon can explain better. We got there in the end though.
Impotent evil - the second jack pwned
Possibly the winning connection - I can't remember
Next we put it back together and shoved the exposed wire ends through the jack holes before screwing on the George L jacks.
The coolest looking pedal I own
I've now filled in the holes with blutack to stop the leads getting wrenched off the board. The good thing with George L is that if the connection goes at the male end of the lead you can snip off some wire and re-make the connection.
Danelectro Dan-Echo
I couldn't return my pedal because I got it cheap and unboxed, so Simon and I set to work repairing it. My plan was to hard-wire some make your own George L patch leads directly onto the circuit board and lead them out of the jack holes in the pedal housing, then fasten replaceable George L jacks at the other end, so the pedal could be plugged directly into other pedals/units. Simon has the electronics skills so I let him figure out how to do it.
Inside the pedal the jacks are conveniently located on a small easily removable circuit board. A ombination of solder, four hands, and elbow grease saw the end of the retched plastic jacks.
Simon solders the joints of the plastic jacks
One down
After successful removal of the Jacks we then had to figure out which part of the George L lead was the signal and which was the ground - we guessed. After soldering the right bits to the output part of the circuit we discovered our guess was good.
Fixing George L to the circuit board
Fixed
The second lead was much harder to replace - trial and error saw us solder the signal and lead to various permutations of points. I think the complication was in the fact that jack triggered a power switch when a a connection was made - I'm sure Simon can explain better. We got there in the end though.
Impotent evil - the second jack pwned
Possibly the winning connection - I can't remember
Next we put it back together and shoved the exposed wire ends through the jack holes before screwing on the George L jacks.
The coolest looking pedal I own
I've now filled in the holes with blutack to stop the leads getting wrenched off the board. The good thing with George L is that if the connection goes at the male end of the lead you can snip off some wire and re-make the connection.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
More kit
Just had a shit day at work so cheered myself up by ordering this in the mail:
It's an all valve Fender Blues Junior combo amp with a modest, but punch-packing, 15Watts of output.
It should arrive in time for the next Yanu practice session and definitely in time for the May gig.
It's an all valve Fender Blues Junior combo amp with a modest, but punch-packing, 15Watts of output.
It should arrive in time for the next Yanu practice session and definitely in time for the May gig.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Gig news
Two gigs coming up. Full details soon, but here's the main bits:
Thurs 22nd May @ Louisiana
Friday 11th July somewhere in Bath
Looking forward to going back to the Louie - enjoyed it enormously last time.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Geezer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w7o82kWTHY
Joao Gilberto doing some ace guitar playing. Today I'm listening to Neil Young.
Joao Gilberto doing some ace guitar playing. Today I'm listening to Neil Young.
Classic.
" Few names in music are linked with artistic integrity as often as Steve Albini's. And few folks wouldn't know artistic integrity if it started eating their eyeballs quite like Scott Weiland. Yet ying and yang have come together to birth, yes, the next Scott Weiland solo album."
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50204-steve-albini-recording-new-scott-weiland-album
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50204-steve-albini-recording-new-scott-weiland-album
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
forsaken dubstep
http://www.divshare.com/download/3468770-57e
here's a mix from yanu massive (whether he likes it or not) buddy Forsaken - if you're lucky you might hear a few guitar licks from yours truly secreted away between those dubplate grooves. ;-)
here's a mix from yanu massive (whether he likes it or not) buddy Forsaken - if you're lucky you might hear a few guitar licks from yours truly secreted away between those dubplate grooves. ;-)
Monday, April 07, 2008
We're a bunch of wasters...
Yanu is now available for your delectation on Radiohead's new internet dating site thing called W.A.S.T.E central. Here we are: http://www.waste-central.com/profile/YANU
Come and be our friend! Then perhaps wonder why you bothered..
Today I'm listening to The Who's "Tommy" and trying to think of an excuse to buy a Rickenbacker. Great sleeve!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Photos from the croft
Monday, March 10, 2008
Raaargh
I've recovered from my weekend hissy fit about tempos and volumes and decided to blame it all on the sound engineer. listening to this today: it's awesome
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Croft Gig
Last night was fun. We had the biggest audience we've ever had, fumbled our way through the new material, raced through the rest, and redeemed ourselves with a fine rendition of Iceberg Girl at the end. We'll post up some pictures soon. Thanks to Jeff AKA Manic F for recommending us to Light of Words, and thanks to Light of Words for having us. Both the other bands were great, but Jeff, AKA Manic F, despite skipping CD, was awesome.
Manic F
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Rockin band practice
Was good fun today, razzed through the old tunes and worked on a few new ones which include a sort of country/punk thing by Jimma, an explosions type tune by Simon, my pop, Simon's "New World Order" and a verse and chorus thing which I'm calling "70s". Because it sounds kind of 70s. When is ali going to write a tune?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I've only just managed to work out how to
Log into this thing.
Anyway, we have some more gigs! First one is on March 8th at The Croft in Bristol, supporting another band.
Which is nice.
I'm listening to albums by Fela Kuti, Pat Metheny, Vincius Cantuaria and The Mars Volta. But not all at the same time.
Anyway, we have some more gigs! First one is on March 8th at The Croft in Bristol, supporting another band.
Which is nice.
I'm listening to albums by Fela Kuti, Pat Metheny, Vincius Cantuaria and The Mars Volta. But not all at the same time.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Clearing out my attic I found this:
.jpg)
Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf' from Britten's series of guides to the orchestra for young people.
A gem from my childhood. Awesome music and David Bowie narrating. I think the Wolf's theme is my favourite - the opening to St Vincent's "Paris is Burning' sounds a lot like it - but I don't think the similarity is deliberate. This is actually what made me think of digging out the tape and listening to it, but when I went to my tape drawer it was gone. Only on Tuesday as I was sorting through some boxes to make some loft space, did I find it.
.jpg)
Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf' from Britten's series of guides to the orchestra for young people.
A gem from my childhood. Awesome music and David Bowie narrating. I think the Wolf's theme is my favourite - the opening to St Vincent's "Paris is Burning' sounds a lot like it - but I don't think the similarity is deliberate. This is actually what made me think of digging out the tape and listening to it, but when I went to my tape drawer it was gone. Only on Tuesday as I was sorting through some boxes to make some loft space, did I find it.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Happy New Year / 2007 Look Back
Happy new year.
Yanu's year has started off quietly, but we will be getting the audio from our Louisiana gig online soon.
Meanwhile, we thought we would let you know what we thought the highlights of 2007 were.
Ben:
Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage
Pinch - Underwater Dancehall
Burial - Untrue
Steve Swallow/Robert Creeley - So There
Roots and Echoes - The Coral
Philip Glass - Violin Concerto
Simon:
Iron and Wine - Shepherds Dog
Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks
The Radioheads - In Rainbows
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land
Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Ali:
Kings of Leon - Because of the times
Bonobo - Days to come
Fink - Distance and Time
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Feist - The Reminder
James:
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Grinderman - Grinderman
Radiohead - In Rainbows
St Vincent - Marry Me
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
The big disappointment for me was The Good The Bad And The Queen - but then this 'super-group' only had two great musicians in it, Damon and Tony. Tony was woefully under-used, and Damon sounded like he was stuk in a rut. I was also left feeling deflated by Portishead's comeback - which I totally didn't expect. Given that they've never made a song I don't really like, I'd have thought that gig would be one of the best of the year - it ended up being the worst (for me, but loads of people loved it and Simon thought they were brilliant at ATP).
I also wondered if I was missing something by quite liking, but not loving MIA and Clark's albums, which the rest of the world seems to have gone absolutely spazzy over this year. But then wouldn't it be boring it we all liked yadda yadda yadda...
The highlights for YANU:
Playing our first gig
Supporting Qui
Buying more toys than we needed or could afford
Playing the Louisiana
Yanu's year has started off quietly, but we will be getting the audio from our Louisiana gig online soon.
Meanwhile, we thought we would let you know what we thought the highlights of 2007 were.
Ben:
Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage
Pinch - Underwater Dancehall
Burial - Untrue
Steve Swallow/Robert Creeley - So There
Roots and Echoes - The Coral
Philip Glass - Violin Concerto
Simon:
Iron and Wine - Shepherds Dog
Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks
The Radioheads - In Rainbows
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land
Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Ali:
Kings of Leon - Because of the times
Bonobo - Days to come
Fink - Distance and Time
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Feist - The Reminder
James:
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Grinderman - Grinderman
Radiohead - In Rainbows
St Vincent - Marry Me
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
The big disappointment for me was The Good The Bad And The Queen - but then this 'super-group' only had two great musicians in it, Damon and Tony. Tony was woefully under-used, and Damon sounded like he was stuk in a rut. I was also left feeling deflated by Portishead's comeback - which I totally didn't expect. Given that they've never made a song I don't really like, I'd have thought that gig would be one of the best of the year - it ended up being the worst (for me, but loads of people loved it and Simon thought they were brilliant at ATP).
I also wondered if I was missing something by quite liking, but not loving MIA and Clark's albums, which the rest of the world seems to have gone absolutely spazzy over this year. But then wouldn't it be boring it we all liked yadda yadda yadda...
The highlights for YANU:
Playing our first gig
Supporting Qui
Buying more toys than we needed or could afford
Playing the Louisiana
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