Saturday 25 August 2012

I never thought I would see this!

Let's go back through the mists of time...about 22 years, actually. Way back then a new show appeared on the British TV station Channel 4 and it was called Vic Reeves Big Night Out. A teenager at the time, I watched it once or twice and couldn't fathom out how these guys had managed to get on television. Basically the big night out seemed to entail Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and Les (pictured above in the background) doing a series of extremely strange things. Les played his Bontempi organ, dressed as a doctor, whilst staring into space, there was a man in a paper helmet, holding a stick  with random items on the end of it, The Ponderers were two characters with fake chins, wearing underpants, Greg Mitchell was a talking puppet Labrador dog and Wavey Davey...well, he simply enjoyed waving at people. Morrisey, The Consumer Monkey, offered advice about substandard products and Judge Nutmeg span his utterly ineffective Wheel of Justice during every episode. I think you get the picture...

At some point when watching the third or fourth epsiode of the programme the penny finally dropped: in a life full of order and rules this was total and utter anarchy...or at least it seemed that way...and it was both glorious and hilarious! As Vic Reeves Big Night Out caught on it became essential viewing for students and many young people in general. This was a Monty Python for our generation and we loved it! The catchphrases from the show could be heard everywhere for years.
So, imagine my surprise when I heard that the music of Ash Ra Tempel would be included in the first episode of Vic and Bob's new Channel 4 show, Lucky Sexy Winners. Indeed Traummaschine featured in a sketch on Thursday night's programme which you can watch  here for the next 28 days (select episode 1).
The sketch involved Bloy, Estonia's X Factor Winners, and, as you can see from these pictures, it was very interesting indeed. Incidentally I apologise to any blog readers from Estonia, as I very much doubt you've seen anything like this before...or will again.
 Enjoy the show!

Thursday 9 August 2012

MG plays E2-E4 at Dommune free festival

This is just a quick message, wishing MG the best of luck with his forthcoming performance of E2-E4 on 11th August at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, as part of Dommune's benefit concert. This is to help orphans who lost their families in the Japananese earthquake on March 11th 2011. The entry is free and  the concert will be viewable all over the world via a live stream. To make a donation to help the orphans please see here.

Sunday 5 August 2012

MG in MOJO magazine

As some of you may already know the September 2012 edition of MOJO magazine, which is on the shelves now, includes a feature about the 50 greatest electronic records of all time. Unsurprisingly E2-E4 makes the list and there is a very short piece in which MG talks about the creation of the album and its influence. Thanks to the ever helpful Andy King for the heads-up about this.