Skummy

I agree with everything you said there, other than Millencollin, who I think are vastly over-rated, and the Aquabats, who are just utter shite. I've never seen the appeal. I didn't recommend any psychobilly, though, because I think it tends to lean more towards rockabilly than punk, so it's not the sort of thing I'd recommend to someone just looking for straight punk. Good choices of bands, though.

NOFX have had one good song (Mattersville), they're incredibly generic, and not in any way amusing or interesting, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. And hearing their name attached to the phrase "old-school punk" is both laughable and vomit-inducing. I suggest you check out any of the following (on top of the obvious ones, and what VerbalPuke has suggested): Pussy Galore The Dead Boys The Sick Lipstick Be Your Own Pet The Cramps DGeneration The Fall That should cover most bases, I think, off the top of my head.

I'm surprised that no one's said Björk yet, so I'll throw that name out there. Especially if you like Sigur Ros after listening to them. "The Widow" and "Televators" by The Mars Volta are both somewhat mellow, or at least I think they are, don't know if it's exactly what you're looking for. Also, anything by Pipas.

The Squid And The Whale? Get in.

I really don't particularly like the third album, but I love Happenstance. It's more of the same, a lot of classic metal covers with some originals thrown in, but they're putting their own mark on it a lot more than they did with the first.

I just found this out from a Bill Hicks group I'm in on Myspace, and came here to see if it had already been posted... I don't really know what to say. I hate posting "R.I.P." messages, because most of the time it doesn't affect me, but it seems like for the past two months God has been killing off my childhood/adolescent heroes, so it has been affecting me, and I feel fucking obliged to say something. I couldn't not. Even though I couldn't always relate to what he said, I fucking adore Richard Pryor. I ignored him for a long time, because the blurb on one of his videos gave a quick overview of his material (snorting coke in front of his grandmother, etc.) and about him being an influence on "everyone from Eddie Murphy to Chris Rock", and I thought he'd be the typical Def Jam-style comedian that doesn't interest me at all, but he stayed in the back of my mind for a long time, as people kept on mentioning him. Eventually, I just had to watch him, and I found him fucking hilarious. He was far and away one of the funniest American comedians I'd ever seen, behind only Hicks and Carlin, he totally blew me away, and I'd been in love with his work ever since. It's sad when the laughter dies, but unfortunately it has to happen sometime. R.I.P, Richard Pryor, and I really fucking mean it.

Where's that come from? Cyclops' power is being able to shoot blasts of energy or some other crap from eyes because of his mutated optic nerve. Gambit imbues objects with kinetic energy to turn anything into a weapon. I'm not seeing a particular similiarity there. Yes, I am a geek, thanks for asking I know, but in the context of the films, you know they'll only use Gambit's power to have him throwing his cards, he's not going to use it on anything else. In that respect, it's long-distance energy attacks, which are both fairly similar.

There is when it isn't funny.

Little Britain ran out of ideas after the pilot episode. It just happened that the majority of their sketches, while not necessarily that funny, were eminently quotable. However, by this series you can tell they're running out of steam. Mr Mann is still funny, and has always been my favourite sketch on the show, but even Tom Baker is cringeworthy now, and not in the good Alan Partridge way. It doesn't help that they keep trying to be edgy with their "ironic" racism and taking the "only gay in the village" sketch to near breaking point, either.

Where are you getting that from? I can't see why Marvel wouldn't own the rights to Gambit, that just seems slightly odd. And a solo Gambit movie really wouldn't work if it's nothing to do with Marvel, as he only makes sense inside the X-Men universe. That seems slightly suspect, especially seeing as Gambit was mentioned in the last X-Men film, is consistently involved in X-Men comics and graphic novels and other Marvel franchises.

Last I heard, Gambit may have a minor role, but he's unlikely to be a central character because his personality is too similar to Wolverine's, and his powers are too similar to Cyclops'. I disagree, but that's the official line, apparently.

If you're in need of more Skumfrog vitriolic ranting, I've stuck that post in my Myspace blog, and it's already been the subject of abuse from the local emo cunts. Get in.

If it's about his ex-girlfriend, it's even worse. I have little evidence to back this up, it just angers me. EDIT: And I love Leonard Cohen, and quite like Bob Dylan, but they have their obvious talents that overshadow their weak voices, James Blunt hasn't. And now I feel dirty just for mentioning them in the same sentence.

For a start, it's just Jersey. In the Channel Islands. Secondly, there's plenty to do, but the aural cancer that James Blunt tries to pass off as "music" is worthy enough for me to spare some time for a vitriolic rant. Chances are you shall see the inverse of this rant tomorrow night, when I go to see the utterly sublime Art Brut.

I hated James Blunt before Beautiful came out...I think "High" was the song he released before that, unless I'm mistaken. I saw it played on The Amp and I hated it. I saw him on Later With Jools Holland, and I thought he was utter shite, but I felt safe in the knowledge that he'd never surpass the mold of generic singer-songwriter, when "Beautiful" came out and was whored out and played on every radio station, every TV channel, in every pub, every club, every shop, every coffee house...it was unavoidable, and it was horrible, and the rest of the album's no better. His voice is horrendous. It's whiny, in the worst possible way, it's grating, and it's just utterly unappealing. I don't think he's ever heard the word "melody", let alone is in possession of any. He's ugly. I know that has no bearing on his music career, but it just furthers my disdain for him. Half the emo girls I know love him because his girlfriend died. So fucking what? Oh no, he's upset. Plenty of people die, plenty of people are upset. All he's doing is making me upset by subjecting me to the shite he calls music. Call me old-fashioned, but I'd rather a singer-songwriter get to number one out of two things: singing and songwriting, not some backstory that doesn't affect me and I couldn't give two fucks about, and might not even be true. He can't sing, he's an appalling writer. For a supposed singer-songwriter, those are some pretty major flaws. Let's take the next reason I've heard for peopel liking him...apparently his lyrics are well thought-out, beautiful and original. I'm sorry, but the morons who say that must have never even heard music before. It's the most dire tripe I've ever heard tried to b e passed off as music. It's horrendous, and it hurts me to think about it. Let's take a look at "You're Beautiful", which is his most famous song, and prepubescent girls and moronic yuppies all over the country seem to think is some kind of masterpiece. My life is brilliant. My love is pure. I saw an angel. Of that I'm sure. I'm sorry, but that's the kind of shite angst poetry that you expect out of thirteen year old girls, not a fully grown ex-military professional "singer songwriter". I can't think of many clichés worse to fall back on than comparing a beautiful woman to an "angel", partly because angels are genderless, partly because it's just lazy and over-used. The line "Of that I'm sure" just reeks of rhyming dictionary. She smiled at me on the subway. She was with another man. But I won't lose no sleep on that, 'Cause I've got a plan. "I won't lose no sleep on that"...for a start, it should be "won't lose any sleep", not "won't lose no sleep". I let people get away with that kind of thing if it's blues, rockabilly, anything like that, but emotional ballads? Fuck off. If I were a beautiful girl on a subway, I wouldn't go out with some whining ugly cunt with poor grammar, that's for sure. And he's got a plan? Better lock your doors at night, subway angel, this one sounds dangerous. You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. I saw you face in a crowded place, And I don't know what to do, 'Cause I'll never be with you. Seriously...THIS DRIVES ME INSANE. I honestly can't think of a single chorus I hate more than this shite. This conclusively proves that anyone heralding this cunt as a lyrical genius is nothing short of a moron: "You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful, it's true."...Wow! That's incredible! How long did it take you to come up with that work of genius, James? I didn't write better lyrics than that when I was 11, no siree...it's hardly fucking rocket science, is it? Far from it, in fact. It's lazy, it's awful, it's just horrendous in every way music possibly can be. "I saw your face in a crowded place"...more clichéd rhymes and clichéd subject matter, there's not a whole lot left to say on this, just that he's unimaginative, uninteresting and generally shite. "I don't know what to do, 'cause I'll never be with you"...for a start, you can just repeat the point I made for the previous line. Secondly...you'll never be with her? What happened about that plan you had, James? Or could you not get hold of the Rohypnol in time? Yeah, she caught my eye, As we walked on by. She could see from my face that I was, F**king high, And I don't think that I'll see her again, But we shared a moment that will last till the end. And, for his next trick, James Blunt will shatter whatever semblance of a rhyme scheme he had in the previous verse. Not only that, but he'll impress the world with his lyrical expertise as he rhymes "eye" with "by", and writes more trite angst bollocks that lack any emotion or originality. Not to mention the fact that "again" and "end" are both a cliché and don't even rhyme. And completely un-necessary swearing in an attempt to feign emotion and fit into the new rhyming scheme he's just tacked together? I think that's all the hallmarks of a bad songwriter covered in one verse. You impress me, sir. Oh no, wait, not impress, the other one...disgust. You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. I saw you face in a crowded place, And I don't know what to do, 'Cause I'll never be with you. That chorus again. Excuse me while I vomit. You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. There must be an angel with a smile on her face, When she thought up that I should be with you. But it's time to face the truth, I will never be with you. More of the same shite. "There must be an angel with a smile on her face"...so not only has he used angel imagery twice in one song, he's used in two different contexts. The girl he likes is an angel, brought to Earth by an angel, angel, angel, angel, repeat ad nauseum. Yuck. And "thought up"? What are you, James, six? What kind of a songwriter uses the phrase "when she thought up"...hell, what kind of a person says that? A moron, that's what kind of person. "But it's time to face the truth, I will never be with you"...maybe if you wrote better love songs you'd be in with a chance, James. As it is, you're just shit. So, in conclusion, James Blunt is shite. Any questions?

Precisely. ITV's nothing more than lowest common demoninator programming, and this reflects that. It's mostly tripe, yes, but it's tripe that's sold well, so theoretically could draw big ratings. Nowhere near as many people would tune in to see who ITV prefers out of Architecture In Helsinki and Psapp, would they? That said, if James Blunt wins this, Skumfrog's going on a killing spree.

It's a little off-topic...but who the fuck is LivingTV aimed at? From what I can tell, it's gay ghost hunters.

As far as guitar jazz goes, try and get hold of as much John Zorn as possible. He doesn't always incorporate guitar, but sometimes, and he's my favourite jazz musician. Get hold of some Painkiller and Nuclear Rabbit too, if you don't mind it being fairly heavy. For ambient stuff and trip-hop, check out Explosions In The Sky, they can fall into either category. A lot of the Donnie Darko score makes good ambient music, too. As for electronic indie/rock, try Clor, The Infadels, Velofax, VHS Or Beta or TV On The Radio.

Kid Koala - Drunk Trumpet

Secondededed. I miss Brookside. So much.

How did I forget Mr. Bungle?! Although the respective projects of each member post-Bungle have been excellent, I'd love to see a reunion take place there.

Unless it's with Syd Barrett, I see no reason for a Floyd reunion. They stretched epic prog as far as it could get before it got too ridiculous (a little too far at times), and they did the whole nostalgia thing at Live8. If they were to try and write new material, it would probably be relatively shite, and I have little interest in them as a "Greatest Hits" Show. Yeah, I'm just dreaming of new Syd Barrett material that will never appear. I was hoping they'd somehow get Barrett on stage of Live 8, but alas, it was not to be . Although I did enjoy the set; it was fantastic. Yeah, me too! I was watching it on a big screen in a park, tripping my tits off and drinking Frosty Jack's, and just ranting about how I'd have an orgasm if Syd Barrett walked out on stage, even though it would never happen. I did notice a couple of teary eyes on "Wish You Were Here", and can only hope they were for Syd, though. Mine were.

Unless it's with Syd Barrett, I see no reason for a Floyd reunion. They stretched epic prog as far as it could get before it got too ridiculous (a little too far at times), and they did the whole nostalgia thing at Live8. If they were to try and write new material, it would probably be relatively shite, and I have little interest in them as a "Greatest Hits" Show. Yeah, I'm just dreaming of new Syd Barrett material that will never appear.

Personally, I couldn't give a fuck, as long as it sounds good, which Morello tends to. EDIT: Temple Of The Dog get plenty of love from me, but I think Vedder's voice was stronger on that album than Cornell's. Although they work beautifully together on "Hunger Strike".

No, bizarrely enough, spazcore is considered a legitimate genre. I didn't believe it when I first heard it, either, but I've seen it in more and more places lately. Basically, from what I can gather, it's either what I said before, or just grindcore with fucked up time signatures.