Why Transmission Isn't Transmitting...

Wondering why I haven't posted here for months? There's a simple answer...

My attention has been diverted elsewhere

Hence Transmission will remain dormant for the forseeable future while Liz and I focus all our extra-curricular attention to our Diary Of Always, and the planning of our wedding day and honeymoon. I might still post the odd song up here, however, as and when the mood takes me.

Guerilla Gig Live

It occured to me that I haven't blogged in about 3 months. Slap my wrist. Go on...

The reason for the radio silence over here at Transmission is, quite simply, that I have too much work on right now for blogging. And when I do get time, I've been devoting it to Londonist and BBC Music instead.

Why so much work? You may well ask. It's easier if I show you:



(No, I haven't spent the last three months making that one .jpg)

On 31st March at 11pm on BBC Three, you'll be able to see the fruit of my labours, and those of my whole company: Guerilla Gig Live.

My part in this has been in building bbc.co.uk/radio1/guerilla and myspace.com/guerillagig

Please do tune in if you can, and feel free to play around with your red button during the show if you want. We've got high hopes...

Best Of 2005

I've put together some Top Ten lists of what were the best albums, gigs and singles of last year in my humble opinion.

You can read the full post on Londonist.

Or I could just copy it in right here...

Singles:

Bloc Party - Pioneers
Green Day - Holiday
The Eels - Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)
Weezer - Beverley Hills
Charlotte Hatherley - Bastardo
System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B.
Editors - Bullets
Kaiser Chiefs - Every Day I love You Less And Less
Mooney Suzuki - Alive And Amplified
Head Automatica - Beating Heart Baby


Albums:

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
System Of A Down - Mesmerize/Hypnotize
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me, Satan
Pure Reason Revolution - Cautionary Tales for the Brave
Beck - Guero
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In The Heart Of The Moon
Joy Zipper - The Heartlight Set
Yourcodenameis:Milo - Ignoto


Gigs:

Green Day @ Milton Keynes Bowl - June
Live 8 @ Hyde Park - July
The Eels @ Warwick Arts Centre - May
Battle @ Leicester Summer Sundae - August
Biffy Clyro @ London Astoria - February
System Of A Down @ London Astoria - April
The Pipettes @ 100 Club - November
Moist @ The Spitz - September
Blackbud @ The Borderline - April
Architecture in Helsinki @ The Scala - Novemeber

Time Out

On the way up
Originally uploaded by rickyjbanks.

Happy New Year to you all. Another year over and a new one just begun, as John Lennon once said.

Right now, I feel pretty good. Well rested.

Liz and I managed to get away from civilisation for a few days between Christmas and New Year, and headed up to the Peak District. Up there, the snow was about two to three inches thick. Perfect for long walks and extreme scrambling (I kid thee not). I've put up some photos on flickr if you're interested.

Goals for 2006:
Cut down on caffeine and moderate alcohol intake
Walk more
Write more
Start new creative enterprises
Catch up with friends more often

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'B'

Whilst awaiting my train home at Blackfriars earlier, I realised something so bizarre it could be filed 'quite sinister'. In fact, now that I think about it some more, it's quite appropriate that I had this little epiphany at Blackfriars...

Today, it dawned on me that a big chunk of my favourite music begins with a 'B'. Observe:

* Blur
* Biffy Clyro
* Bob Dylan
* Bob Marley
* Beastie Boys
* Bloc Party
* Beck
* Brendan Benson
* B.B. King
* Bo Diddley
* Bright Eyes
* Bjork

And my two favourite genres - britpop and blues - also begin with a B.

Obviously, I could easily reel off a list of artists beginning with, say, 'F' and then claim that they're all favourites of mine, but you'll have to trust me on this one - the list above contains some of my all-time favourite acts.

Weird, huh?

Transmission #1

I've finally gotten round to making this site live up to its name. When I named my blog Transmission, it was with the intent of releasing some of my stupid songs into the ether.

Nowadays, most of my guitar playing and songwriting is totally unfocussed and fragmented. Practice is a concept completely lost on me, in fact. Consequently, I tend just to come up with snippets of songs, and rarely have time to flesh them out. Middle eights are so last week, anyway.

So, without further ado, here's Transmission #1: Lizbert's Tooth

Yes, I know the mp3 is scratchy and sounds pretty dreadful, but that's kinda the point. Think of it as a flexidisc for the i-generation. I'm determind to keep these transmissions sounding as lo-fi as possible. Comments welcome. Feel free to listen, share and/or delete.

Mr Jingles

Looks like we've got ourselves a little pet, chez nous.

I made the mistake of christening him. Since he is allegedly (I've yet to see him) a mouse, I named him Mr. Jingles, for obvious reasons.

I always figured catching a mouse would be easy. I'm no fan of animal cruelty and neither is my girlfriend, so we opted for a Rentokill Humane Mouse Trap. £3.99 from Homebase, for an inocous black contraption that promises to trap the aforementioned vermin without smashing its brains is. Always a bonus.

This thing reminds me of something Tom would knock up in his shed to catch Jerry. It's the mouse-catching equivalent of painting a big black hole on the side of a mountain and hoping your prey runs headlong straight into it, Road Runner style.

We've been putting down cheese - yes, cheese! and I always thought that was a myth - to determine whether Mr Jingles is still getting in (and out?) of out kitchen. Despite my attempts to block even the slimmest of cracks, Mr Jingles gets the better of us every time. He must be pretty damn fat by now. I can't help but imagine the smug look on his face; he is, after all, getting all the fromage a la carte he can eat.

Just you wait, Jingles, just you wait...

Time to get a cat.