Summercase 2008: final review

Yes, as Grey said in his comment on my brief binary review, I was warned. I seriously doubt that I'll go back to Summercase. Here's my Last.fm review (links point to last.fm pages).

==

In over 11 years of regularly attending pop festivals, Summercase 2008 was by far and away the worst organised and most blatantly commercial event I've ever attended.

The lineup was poor and got worse with the loss of mia and Santogold, among others. A group of low-quality English pop groups (Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Sex Pistols, The Verve…) dominated the lineup and left little room for decent local or international break-through acts.

Also, the organisers' addiction to Disneyfied 1970s acts (Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Stranglers…) made for further dull concerts as large groups of 20-somethings mumbled through the lyrics to PlayAtomic, a song which was fist performed before any of them were conceived. Incidentally, Blondie's guitarist also managed to mess-up the guitar-part for Atomic, despite it being one of the most celebrated riffs in pop history. Give you a clue: it's not good enough to just play the notes in the right order… you need to get the rhythm right too.

The thing is that, of what I saw, the only truly great concert was by Cornelius (easily the most experimental artist playing at this MOR event). Pretty much everything else was just rubbish.

As to the general organisation of the event, we were shocked and dismayed at the rudeness and generally low level of service offered by the Summercase team. Part of this was to do with the alleged policy of festival organisers to employ staff not from Barcelona, in order to prevent the normal issue of 'free drinks for friends' happening. What this resulted in was a service team of rude and aggressive non-locals who spoke neither Catalan nor English, and who were quite clearly unhappy with their work. Added to this, the females were forced to wear very tight pink t-shirts (men were in brown), and the festival succeeded in making itself not only a gross display of consumerism but also perfectly happy with breaking Barcelona's modern conventions on language, culture and gender equality.

This year, I decided not to attend FIB because I thought the lineup didn't justify a trip down to Castelló… especially when I had a festival on my doorstep. I won't make that mistake again. And it looks like, with a huge drop in attendance, Summercase needs to sort out its act or clear off altogether.

Summercase 2008: 0

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July 23, 2008 | Filed Under Crap, Music, Review | 8 Comments 

Summercase Day Two: yeah, yeah

We managed to drag ourselves out to the second day of Summercase yesterday. We didn't see anything that beat Cornelius. Review:

Kings Of Leon - 1 - but only just

The Stranglers - 1 - too Disnified but Golden Brown's a great song

Mogwai - 0 - scheduling fuck-up

CSS - 1 - I still love Lovefoxxx

The Raveonettes - 1

Neon Neon - 1 - the only performer to utter a word in Catalan. He's Welsh, after all.

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July 20, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Music, Review | 2 Comments 

Musical Torture

No, this isn't a review of the new Coldplay album. There's a great article in today's Guardian talking about the use of music in torture at Guantanamo Bay.

I can say this for sure: it would only take about two repeats of Barney the Dinosaur's I Love You before I confessed to everything.

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June 19, 2008 | Filed Under 'Terror', Review | 1 Comment 

Updated: GTA IV: I may be some time - now on sale

Those of you not au fait with the world of interactive computer entertainment (games), probably don't have the date Tuesday April 29th 2008 burned into your brains like I do. Tomorrow sees the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, arguably the most eagerly-anticipated videogame release of all time.

The game, which is already receiving 10/10 (that's 1/1 on thebadrash.com's binary review scale) ratings everywhere, is set to be more than just another jaunt in the GTA world. It's set in Liberty City, a through-the-looking-glass version of New York City, rendered to an incredible level of 'living and breathing' detail.

As I said, the game is released tomorrow so assuming the PlayStation 3 version on sale in Spain includes the 'versión original' English, I intend to be enveloped in its pillowy embrace for the next few weeks. Baby, it's cold outside.

Grand Theft Auto IV - reviewed in the New York Times.

UPDATE: The game is now on sale in GAME shops in Spain. I've just picked my copy up. If you get one and want to play before midnight, it's probably a good idea to make sure you're disconnected from PSN or xbox Live. I've heard that some online accounts have been suspended for playing the game early.

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April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer, Review | 3 Comments 

Album review: Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners

Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners

I'm a big fan of country music. Not the real, commercial 1990s shit, but the fake and made-up 60s and 70s country produced by Gram Parsons and the Rolling Stones. So I wasn't disappointed to see that Neil Hamburger's new album, Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners (SCW from now on) is just what the title suggests: a collection of country songs, sung by one of America's greatest comedians.

The songs range from The Recycle Bin, an expletive-ridden piece about recycling and failure (more on this later), to a new interpretation of Hamburger's popular classic, Zipper Lips. But pervading the entire album is a sense of sadness, depression and bizarrely, jubilation.

Naturally, the lyrics are very funny. In Please Ask That Clown To Stop Crying, Hamburger recounts an episode where he witnessed a children's party in a local park, ruined by a clown who, instead of entertaining the kids, slumps at the table with 'a cigarette and a shot of gin' and cries. The clown, of course, is Neil Hamburger. Meanwhile, in Jug Town, we hear of the solace a man can find in 'a jug of wine' down in Jug Town. At Least I Was Paid is a tribute to Hamburger himself, who has chosen to work as a hugely unpopular comedian sometimes paid in casino chips - but at least that's payment.

For me. the big hit on the album is Recylce Bin, a song that combines a forceful rebuke to those who put unrecyclable items in recycling bins ('You pricks, you fucking pricks') with a heartbreaking ode to the things that just can't be recylced ('Not everything goes into a recycle in: a shattered dream, a divorce? Those are just waste').

Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners probably started its life as a joke. But the final product will immediately be rated as some of Neil Hamburder's best work. I'm obviously a fan and I think it's fair to say that his material will mainly appeal to drink-soaked, single, depressed, male fans of sick humour (which obviously excludes me: I'm married). That said, I really believe that with a bit of effort, anyone who enjoys really good comedy could learn to love Neil Hamburger. The 'Great Moments At Di Presa's Pizza House' as well as the numerous 'live' albums, along with the original 'Great Phone Calls' are all indicative of a great talent which will probably only spoil if it gets too much recognition.

Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners - 1/1

Out now on Drag City Inc.

And here's a video of Jug Town:

YouTube Preview Image

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April 26, 2008 | Filed Under General, Review | 3 Comments 

2007 in review

2007 was in essence a pretty nondescript year. Gemma and I were lucky enough to travel a fair bit (Amsterdam, Seville and about 5 trips to the UK for weddings/new year). We also had a near perfect holiday in Benicassim, the principle highlights of which were seeing Iggy Pop play live and the enjoyment of a metaphysical state known only as Ginferno.

In terms of statistics, it has been 'another record breaking year' (which makes me feel like I'm at work!). One day I had about 7000 hits after a link to thebadrash was posted on the Popbitch messageboard. Unfortunately, I didn't have any ads on the site which would allow me to profit from such a large volume of traffic, so I've now prepared myself for the next spike and the inevitable river of gold which Mr. Google will give me. I also had one post which received 48 comments, a new record for the site.

Some more stats:

All in all, I had about 90,000 visits on the site which is quite a good number.

My visitors came from: USA, Spain, 'unknown', Great Britain, 'European country' and Australia (and then loads of others)

Apparently, 89% of visitors came into the site directly (via a bookmark or typing the address in)… not sure if this is true but if it is then it's very good news.

Top keyphrases: Reverend Goatboy, Most evil people in history, Max Carlish, badrash, pimp my Myspace, The Vagina Institute. Barcelona did quite well too.

2008 promises to be a fruitful and enjoyable year and I've got several big web projects in the pipeline which will, I hope, be of some interest to at least some of my visitors. We'll be back in Barna tomorrow, so there's nothing left to say except that I hope that most of you have a pleasant, safe 2008. Oh, and roll on the US elections!

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January 1, 2008 | Filed Under Home, Review, Site news | Leave a Comment 

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