The
music soiree known as South By Southwest begins its whirlwind
of bands and performers in Austin, Texas today.
Love it or hate it, SXSW does offer a music junkie an
overdose of performances. No one gets to see all of the
bands on their favorites list but those that try know
it's all about pacing yourself. Discovery is the real
value of this festival with scenester overload on the
down side.
If I could survive a dream fest schedule of music performances,
I'd start with this:
Deer
Tick at 11 pm. Neon Indian
is also playing. This one's a coin toss.
Lucero
or Buddy
Millerat midnight. I'd
probably go see Buddy but doubt that I'd get in.
The
Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Hole
at 1 am? Wow! If I had the ability to witness Hole's stage
entrance on my watch for 6 seconds, I'm there. Otherwise,
my inner-scenester says TPOBPAH.
G'nite!
20 SAT:
Surfer
Blood at 11pm. A buzz band that my friend Jamison
in Hollus
moaned about the other day. My curiosity is on fire! If
I was looking for insanity, I'd run over to see the Waco
Brothers to show a little love to some home
boys also playing the 11-slot.
Big
Star at 12:30 am. I'm going to say goodbye.
REM is part of a tribute show with the
remaining Big Star members. That makes
sense.
21 SUN:
BBQ's,
horseshoes, suntans and hanging… and saying goodbye
to Austin.
PRICELESS
RESTORATION
Valentine's Day blues? Maybe a little Priceless Innuendo
is just what the doctor ordered?
This Sunday our shop debuts Miaow's never-was Factory Records
album. Cobbled together from a few Maxell tapes over 22 years
old (and stored like dirty laundry in an old suitcase), the
long-lost Miaow demos -- recorded in 1987 in Joe Korner's
living room on his eight-track machine and dubbed to recycled
cassettes by Cath -- escape the dust bin and emerge in our
on-demand store and free, music podcasts.
"The blueprints that remain capture
a band creating and performing at its peak. Nearly a quarter
of a century later, Miaow’s debut sounds fresh and vital.
It turns out that Priceless Innuendo was worth the wait. -Peter
Terzian Feb 2010
Read Peter's excellent liner notes, look at some of Cath's
archival photographs (recovered for this occasion) and listen
to the demo work by clicking the cover. We hope your patience
is rewarded. Thanks for listening.
IT ALL LOOKS GOOD ON YOU
Continuing
our streak as two of the worst self-promoting songwriters
in recorded music, it is with great pleasure that Lilypad
releases Cath Carroll's It All Looks Good On You!
How's that for a carpet-bombing campaign?
Want to help us spread the word while you're here? Use that
share button over there on the right from AddThis.
To listen, you can visit any of our pages at Facebook,
Reverbnation, MySpace,
etc,. or at one of our blogs.
Of course, if you click on the cover, you can listen at our
song-page while you read the lyrics and production details,
too.
STUDIO NEWS
Cath finished her vocals for Trembling
Blue Stars' The Imperfection Of Memory
-- recorded at Lilypad over Christmas break -- and word has
it the song is finished! Looking forward to Bobby and Beth's
latest which is being released on the Elefant label.
CATH INTERVIEWED IN INDEPENDENCE DAYS
Independence
Days cover the era's most celebrated labels including Rough
Trade, Beggars Banquet/4AD, Factory, Cherry Red and Mute,
and covers releases by notable acts such as The Smiths, Joy
Division, The Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello, New Order, Depeche
Mode, Erasure, Echo & The Bunnymen, Gary Numan, Teardrop
Explodes, Nick Cave, KLF etc. There is also extensive coverage
of a myriad of less familiar labels and their unique stories,
revealing a fabulous, almost Shakespearean cast of characters
along the way, simultaneously profiling their achievements
and contributions.
From the budget, DIY ethic beloved of many labels and
their audiences to the grandiose packaging of Factory and
4AD and eventual chart dominance of Depeche Mode and New Order,
all the key moments are documented through painstaking research,
analysis and eyewitness accounts. Scheming, rivalries and
fiscal brinkmanship contrast with the optimism and opportunism
- and incredible diversity of music - of a decade when anything
seemed possible.
"Heavy
Rotation" is an engaging meditation on how a discrete
selection of songs can alter a listener's impressions
and identity. An album can provide profound connection
to a specific person, or it can be significant for its
role as the soundtrack to a very particular time or
place. In many of the essays, the chosen album encapsulates
a powerful yet transient emotional landscape in an individual's
personal history. Perhaps this is why several of the
writers compared the discovery of that monumental music
to falling in love. -Los Angeles Times July 19,
2009
HEAVY
ROTATION: Twenty Writers on the Albums that Changed
Their Lives
Click the cover and
you'll head over to the HarperCollins' website.
The Leonard Lopate
Show sat down to talk editor/author Peter Terzian
and two other contributors. And while Peter defended
his love of all things Miaow to a skeptical roundtable
(Thanks Peter!), the conversation turns to
other classic albums that changed people's lives.
Mapping out a
space between criticism and personal essay, writer
and music fan Terzian has invited a double handful
of contemporary writers to expound on the albums that
they love.
Benjamin Kunkel
covers the Smiths, John Haskell discusses the Talking
Heads, Joshua Ferris remembers Pearl Jam's debut,
Sheila Heti considers the Annie soundtrack; their
stories take readers to India, Ireland, Haiti, the
Upper East Side of New York and beyond with consistently
thoughtful, but wildly variant results. These love
letters to albums also examine the inextricable connection
between art forms; of particular note are essays by
Mark Greif (Fugazi's Fugazi), Lisa Dierbeck (Pretenders'
Pretenders), Asali Solomon (Gloria Estefan's Mi Tierra),
Martha Southgate (The Jackson 5's Greatest Hits),
Clifford Chase (The B-52's self-titled album) and
editor Terzian (Miaow's Priceless Innuendo).
Almost without
fail, these essays exhibit a perfect blend of respect
and irreverence, with an intoxicating intimacy; readers
who love music will devour this collection, and beg
for a second volume. (July) -Publishers Weekly
July 6, 2009
The nice folks at
Audiolife have an artist-friendly, widget-based webstore
that seems perfect for our needs. If you'd like to see a
specific custom collection, please drop us a note.
We are able to deliver on-demand CD orders in full color.
Visit our widget at Lilypad's store.
DESIREE WON'T COME DOWN
LILYPAD'S ATOMIC THEORY
OF THE RECORD STORE
IN
MEMORIAM
A FINE TOOTH-COMB:
CATH SAYS GOODBYE TO SWELLS
Steven
Wells died June 24th
after a three year battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Steven was Cath's friend and co-worker
at the NME. Cath left this on his
goodbye blog:
“Heartfelt
sympathies to Swell’s family, I hope you find
peace, Steven was so very special. I worked with him
at the NME in the late 80s and loved how he was always
engaged in life in its every detail, and -beneath the
shouting- always kind. His special grace was his willingness
to be surprised – and when things turned out as
expected (mostly shite), he took infectious delight
in being appalled. He didn’t believe in comfort
zones. Last time I saw him was when he came to stay
with us during an assignment in Chicago. We were just
leaving the corner diner when he decided it was time
to ask a colourfully invasive question, at the top of
his voice. Our fellow diners all looked up. “What?”
said he, as I gave him the I-can’t-believe-you
look “Is it an embarrassing answer?” Then
he turned to the elderly waitress, who had taken on
a look of great alarm in case he asked the same thing
of her. He gave her a brisk friendly nod and just said
“Thank you very much. That was delicious.””
The Guardian's James Brown
wrote this
about the writer everyone called Swells.
Steven's farewell
is posted at the Philadelphia Weekly.
RICH CARROLL
We
are deeply saddened by the death of Richard "Butch"
Carroll who was injured Sunday night, February
22, 2009 after losing control of his motorcycle only to
die the next day (Mon 23Feb) in hospital.
Our heartfelt sympathies go out to Cathy Beaudoin,
Butch's partner in life and business for 23 years. An
unfathomable loss.
Those that attended
our 2001 SXSW performance were treated
to an outstanding rhythm section with Butch
on bass and Dan Massey on drums. Dan introduced
me to Butch in the mid-70s at a jam at his parent's house.
They'd played together since kids in drum corps.
Collectively, we had
over twenty five years of friendship invested for that St.
Patty's Day gig. Probably as close to a family outing
as gigs get. A friend helping a friend, who's helping a
friend help his friend (and wife). The best way I can describe
The Cath Carroll BandSXSW Edition.
So each St. Pat's, please
join us in remembering Rich Carroll,
our friend, bassist and musical brethren, forever dubbed
simply Butch. A tip of the glass to a true renaissance
man. RIP -KK
l-r: St. Patty's 2001 SXSW
at The Ale House with KK on guitar, Butch on bass, CC on
synth and Dan on drums
TONY WILSON
Anthony
H.
To Tony with love.
Your spirit will
shine on like it always has done. Thank you for bringing
the world to us and giving it away, for your vision and
audaciousness, for ignoring the advice of your accountant,
for never a dull moment, for the sublime and the ridiculous
and for having the grace to be human in public.
With love and
gratitude to his family for sharing him with us.-Cath
Tony Wilson died at the age of 57
after losing his battle with the cancer that consumed his
kidney. Read Tony's bio from
the BBC by clicking his picture.
JOHN PEEL
OUR UNCLE IN THE ETHER1939-2004
BY CATH CARROLL
This
sweetly grouchy music obsessive helped raise me- and thousands
like me- and as often happens, it’s not something
you realize until that someone or something is gone. You’re
left trying to identify a feeling of loss more visceral
than you had expected.
Many have suggested the
death of John Peel is like losing a member of the
family- but it’s really not the same, is it? So
is it like losing a friend? No, different yet. Is it sentiment
for the fading symbols of our youth, like seeing the last
Routemaster bus lurch into the sunset? No, there’s
nothing symbolic about it. I think it is more like losing
a part of the self, so deeply had Peel’s presence
been woven into our lives.
Over the years, so many
of us felt, or imagined ourselves to be both outcasts
and prisoners of middle suburbia, screaming inside, tormented
by unremarkable comforts and modest routine, Marks &
Spencers cakes on Sunday and well-heated single-decker
local buses. He befriended us in our isolation, a guiding,
avuncular voice during our most desperate years. Often,
he changed the course of our lives and our loves, how
we saw the world, how we saw ourselves. We found out,
through him, that there were millions like us. John Peel
was our community, our common language and reference point,
a great teacher. He presumed we were all discerning, all
equal, and “your Uncle John”, as
he mockingly referred to himself, treated us with a gruff
and unquestionably genuine affection. We loved him back.
We loved him for the little
things too, that gloriously exasperated way he’d
put emphasis on random spoken words, his passion for the
peculiar, the obstreperous and sometimes even the downright
lovely. However, he was not always a tolerant man, as
some of the daytime Radio One DJs of Aulde would attest.
What’s more, you wouldn’t expect him to have
had time for death. Can’t you hear him? “I
received a demo from DEATH this morning, and apparently
I’m supposed to give it a LISTEN although really,
there are more PRESSING things to attend to, like this
little gem from PASTRY FATE, formerly the Uxbridge ALL
Stars- and you were wondering what happened to them, yeeees,
you were, weren’t you, mmmn?”
I left the UK a few days
before the end of the Eighties. Whenever I visited home,
there was never a question that he would be anywhere but
THERE, muttering away. Now, amidst this feeling of loss
is an irrational feeling of surprise. It never occurred
to me that he might leave. How could that be? Peelie was
always about being mortal and fallible. As long as I can
remember, he was a self-proclaimed old man (although when
he was mocking his aged condition, back in the late Seventies,
he was younger than I am now. Hmph.). However, he existed
for us in a disembodied state, a voice in our heads, so
it seems cruel and unusual that he would be made incorporeal
twice over.
Lord love him, Half Man
Half Guru that he was. How he would cringe at being thus
anointed. But he was our guide, he would encourage us
without letting us get too full of ourselves. If you must
know, John Peel was the key to the ruination of my academic
life. If he alone didn’t inspire me to head out,
degreeless, into what an interfering bank manager, unctuously
scandalized, referred to as “ a world of crooks,
lowlives, charlatans and queers,” *** he had
certainly whispered in the ear of the one who went with
me.
Now, there are times when
I kick myself for turning my back on a completely FREE
further education, but all I have to do is remember the
first night we all heard Feargal Sharkey’s desperate
vibrato calling out across the darkened Irish Sea, or
remember the sound of Steel Pulse at a Rock Against Racism
concert in a Moss Side park, or hear the voice of Mark
E Smith carping through his 2,467th Peel session…then,
yes, then I remember exactly how I felt , and why. And
I know for sure where I would have gone, had he not been
there. I can trace a direct line from John Peel to so
many people I hold dear, to many inglorious mistakes,
to many moments of joy ( hearing him introduce, then play,
your own record- could there be anything more complete,
sisters and brothers?). To having the wit and courage
to step outside of the box. Now, there were times when
I might have stepped back in it again, but the box would
never be the same. Eventually, the box ceased to be. Thank
you John Peel, and Godspeed to you. Ah, Fellow Listeners,
weren’t we always One.
*** He meant
the music business. Boy, was THAT a letdown!
LILYPAD ON SOUNDCLOUD
What's not to like?
Any format, any size file becomes a portable, streaming widget.
Just like this Desiree-player. The perfect solution
for any band or label looking to get their music out there.
(We have no affiliation.) We like Web 2.0 that works.
Visit us on soundcloud
where you'll find our podcasts from The
Pad, our free music podcast hosted by Cath.
Mark
Whitby, DJ for the John Peel-inspired
radio streamer - Dandelion Radio, included
four Lilypad exclusive Miaow
tracks. All restored from original cassettes, Inglorious
Miltons, Viva Che, Angel Spit and Marry
Me Dusty are streaming from Mark's Nov 09 and Jan 10
shows.
The Priceless Innuendo
demo restoration is nearing completion after a long refinishing
nears its final leg. Then what? Glad you asked!
ThePriceless
Restorationscollection will be available for free download
and streaming via our website all of February '10.
If
you need your analogue-hiss and warbly-transport fix,
this may be of interest to you? And if you are a Miaow
fan, this is the Factory album that never-was
collected from demos intended for a proper studio
session.
Brilliant stuff - sounding
really great. Will feature all three tracks in my November
Dandelion Radio show. Good luck with the rest of the restoration
project - a timeless band. -Mark Whitby (via email)
ORBISON / SPRINGFIELD
ARCHIVES RESTORED
Cath
Carroll interviewed Dusty
Springfield and Roy Orbison for her NME
writing gig. After much ballyhoo concerning a restoration
from Lilypad, the work is finally finished.
Part One
of the Dusty Springfield interview is now available from Lilypad
as Padcast #5 and located at our
BLOG.
Over one hour of candid conversation has been edited into
a three-part podcast series. Part One covers casual
handbag worship, Dusty's music and the producers responsible,
the Donna Summer controversy and wildlife
rescues for Big Cats.
Detailing the
interview with Ms.Springfield Cath writes:
She
was kind enough to entertain me longer than she needed to
or should have done. We talked about the Pet Shop Boys, with
whom she’d just released “What Have I Done To
Deserve This?”, and those days in Amsterdam. After about
an hour, a companion stopped by the house. (Dust must have
pressed the emergency buzzer.) I remember this woman being
dressed for tennis, but suspect this may have been my own
projection and she probably just had a healthy tan.
Padcast
#4 is a rare treat indeed. Listen to the music legend,
Roy Orbison, speak to Cath when she interviewed
him in his Montcalm Hotel room in 1985
before his scheduled performance in London.
Lo-fi to be sure, but the audio gremlins are tamed enough
to allow all fans of The Big
O to listen as the conversation turns to
performance nerves, Elvis and the music of
Roy Orbison.
We hope you enjoy
them.
NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN ON SALE
Cath's book,
"Never Break The Chain" was published in
2004 and follows Fleetwood Mac and
their making of "Rumours" (Chicago
Review Press' "Vinyl Frontiers" series
which chronicles classic albums like "Pet Sounds"
and "The White Album" to name a few).
Now on sale direct
from Lilypad for $10 including
free shipping.
JUVENES':
THE JOY DIVISION PHOTOGRAPHS OF KEVIN CUMMINS
Cath
has the honor of contributing an essay to ‘Juvenes’
(To Hell with Publishing), Kevin Cummins’
long awaited book of photographs from his Joy Division
archive. The collection is presented
by To Hell With Publishing and designed by
FUEL and comes as a limited edition. Within
you will find many previously unseen pictures of the band between
1977 and 1980, the year of
Ian Curtis' death. Expanding
on the visual narrative are specially commissioned essays from
Curtis' daughter Natalie, and from Ian
Rankin, David Peace, Nick
Lezard, Alan Hempsall, Pat
Nevin, Matthew Higgs and CathCarroll. Date
of Publication: 1st November 2007. To Hell With Publishing
can be contacted at info@tohellwithpublishing.com.
Kevin, one of the UK’s premier photographers of rock and
popular culture wrote a very illuminating piece for The
Guardian. It followed the passing of Factory's Tony
Wilson and focused on the release of Joy Division bio
film Control. Here's the link.
THE FACTORY RECORDS BOXSET:
Communications
1978-1992
Available
at Amazon (click the cover art).
In tribute to
Tony Wilson, Communications: A Factory Box Set will
be a 10,000 pressed, limited-edition release, spanning
the entire Factory history.
Song selection
by Jon Savage.
Includes liner
notes written by Paul Morley and art by Peter Saville.
And the Cath
Carroll connection? Disc 3 includes Miaow's, When
It All Comes Down. Disc 4 contains the Martin Phillips'
1991 remix of Moves Like You, featured in the
Factory video directed by the Douglas Brothers, conveniently
located below for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks to James
Nice at LTM
for the heads up and all the work coordinating things
for us, too.
