If you haven't seen this yet, worth having a few. Some may say this type of thing is only for "the kids", whoever they may be. But watching this on Thursday gave me the sort of glee and actual laugh out loud moments that telly seems to lack so much these days.

Sort of Pythonesque / Milliganesque in its use of costumes and silly characters with different voices, NFLC is genuinely like nothing else on telly at the moment. Made to look like it had a production budget of a tenner (mostly spent on Noel's hair), it has the same wide-eyed charm of the Mighty Boosh. Unsurprisingly of course, but it is in the same ball park if somewhat less story based.

In the first episode we are pitched with the eternal conundrum in life, does the drawing of Pele holding a tea cup show him kicking a ball or the saucer? It certainly blows Andy Warhol's mind.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, and I suggest it should be everyone's type of viewing, it can be viewed on 4od. Good times.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/noel-fieldings-luxury-comedy/4od#3281...

Greetings good people of the Massive,

Today my iPod is refusing to sync. It still plays, all the files are still there, but plug it in and watch with amazement as it tells me that it is connected (I left it up to 15 mins at one point) without it succeeding in actually syncing the pest. Whilst attached it knocks iTunes out of use, as if it were trying but sadly doesn't succeed. Lame.

Checking in the computer's device manager the Apple Mobile Device USB driver is working fine, but the iPod section under Portable Devices says this:

Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

On clicking "Check for solutions" it says simply that it couldn't load driver software.

Any suggestions and ways in which to avoid throwing it across the room in a fit of rage gratefully received. So angry at it for simply doing nothing that even the backdrop of a baby monkey hugging a dove is not enough. Bah!

Not sure if anyone's posted about them before, and I've put this in the Nights In section as a proper review, but at the moment I am really enjoying the new album by Smith & Burrows, the guy from Editors with the ex drummer of Razorlight. But better than that implies. So thought I'd put it here just in case people miss it elsewhere.

Simple songwriting, some lovely harmonies and a warm sound make this a very enjoyable album.

Below is one of the more Christmassy songs, for those who are sick to death at this time of year of "Do They Know Its Christmas" and that Wizzard song.

"As The Snowflakes Fall"

Have a listen, you never know, you may enjoy it!

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/The-Doors-Sing-Reading-Rai...

Late to the party as always, but I thought I'd reshare this spectacular clip from Jimmy Fallon, as sent out as part of the Word's Something For The Weekend last week.

Funny if you know the Reading Rainbow theme tune, if not, its quite outstanding just how good a Jim Morrison impersonator Jimmy Fallon is. If you close your eyes the vocals are uncanny. This genuinely could have been a true Doors outtake. The lyrics fit neatly into Morrison's oeuvre as well. Not that I'm dissing the Doors. I think they're great, but this pastiche is flawless. Really surprised me.

Seemingly Fallon is everywhere at the moment, and its easy to see why with output like this.

I can't see it written about anywhere else on here. Maybe I'm blind, or have been relentlessly busy for two weeks and haven't had much time on the Massive.

Either way, the current Bowie special, as published by the pre-circumcision magazine Uncut is really good. Extended looks at all his albums, plus an absolute wealth of old articles and interviews, particularly around the mid-70s period, cocaine, peppers and all.

As Bowie is currently number 1 on the Word Magazine group's chart on last.fm I thought it would be worth sharing. Pricey with a cover price of £7.99, but well worth it. It is after all the length of a book at 170-ish A4 pages. Definitely recommended. Even if it was produced by the competitors.

Oh and for the Massive's chart:

http://www.last.fm/group/The+Word+Magazine

Like Tescos, rodents and politicians, it seems everywhere has them, even if they don't necessarily ask first. They come in all shapes and sizes, talents (mostly lack thereof) and are seen on every high street plying their wares. I would imagine to little avail in most instances.

Buskers are everywhere, whether they be tortured 16 year old guitarists further torturing "Wonderwall", Peruvian folk bands, saxophonists playing to backing tracks, fiddle players or Badly Drawn Boy, it seems everyone's at it to varying success. The be-hatted one famously only made £1.60 when busking for 90 minutes whilst filming the "All Possibilities" video.

I was "entertained" today in Andover High Street by four twenty something aspiring folk musicians playing a sort of improvised klezmer / folk jam. The drums consisted of a child's cymbal and an empty tin of quality street, thwacked to within an inch of their lives. The music was fairly generic, but on the second time walking past, I noticed a tune! Yes, glam fans, they were playing a Balkan folk version of "Coz I Luv You" by serial hair offenders Slade. Which by the time I was at the other end of the high street had seemlessly morphed into "Kashmir" by the Zep. Obviously. Enjoyable stuff, but I doubt they'll make a living out of it.

I'm sure the Massive have all encountered these semi-mystical creatures, particularly during the Edinburgh festival, but I thought I would share mine first, as it was a genuinely unexpected musical turn. Any other experimental free "gigs" you've unwittingly walked past?

Today as approximately none of you know, I went for a job interview in the commuter belt village of Hartley Wintney to be a Worship Pastor at St Johns Church, which is on the A323. Good day, thought the interview went ok, the band sounded good when I led them etc, but sadly didn't get the job. Which I suppose in the current economic climate is not too much of a surprise, but still hurts the male pride when someone tells you, effectively, to bugger off as you're not wanted. I suppose out of 4 interviewees that was always a possibility, but it still sucks.

Oh well. Stiff upper lip and all that. Except not quite. After 3/4 of a bottle of 2006 Spanish Rioja, the idea of revisiting the ten year old child that is "Origin Of Symmetry" by Muse. And blimey, whilst wine had been taken, it was an amazing testament to the Teignmouth three that the album doesn't seem to have aged a day. Still as forward-thinking as it was when it came out, Muse's second album still delivers at volume, its mix of rock, classical, mariachi and space-age paranoia created something new at the turn of the millenium that, I think, has taken a large amount to beat.

It certainly cheered me up after such a crushing disappointment. Or maybe it was the wine. You can never tell with these things.

Anyway, all best, etc. Thought I'd get it off my chest while I could. Keep on truckin'.

Alex

Hi all,

I know there are a few fans within the massive, but just a note to say that the new Gemma Hayes album, "Let It Break" is available to buy from the HMV website. And its fantastic. Quite spooky, ambient and ethereal, but beautiful nonetheless.

Will put a review in Nights In, but thought I'd pass on the heads up.

Thanks.

Seemingly, of late, I have lost all of my mirth.

One reason. The pesky iPod scrobbling appears to have slapped me royally in the face.

Whilst I admit that Libyan military uprisings, tsunamis, global financial meltdown and the continued lifespan of Akon continue to trouble me, over the last week it has really annoyed me that over 70% of the things I've listened to on my iPod, my computer has chosen not to scrobble. A thoroughly modern concern. I listened to 50 tracks yesterday, when I synced-up this morning (sync no problems) it deemed only 5 worthy of scrobbling.

Any suggestions that I could put in place to help me overcome this and get back to the more important worries of life?

Please help, I'm a Radiohead fan, lists make my life, and the last.fm list is unrepresentative at this time of my listening habits. Probably more help should be seeked regarding this, but any technical suggestions regarding iPod scrobbling would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex

For those who may not be aware, this is Mos Def. The boogie man. Black Jack Johnson. I'm going to come out and say it. I have something of a hetero man crush on the little hobgoblin. And I'm not sure why. Yes he's a gifted individual. But I think its his status as something of an underdog (at least in this country) that secures his place in my life.

Discovering the track "I Against I", Mos' collaboration with Massive Attack in 2003 when watching the second Blade film, I thought I'd track down some of his music. I got a couple of Mp3s but I didn't really feel it. I wasn't into hip hop at that stage. I too was towing the party line that it's just music with talking over the top. It wasn't until my first year at university when I heard "Sex, Love And Money", one of Mos' singles that year. The fact that a rapper had a flute sample was fantastic, the drums were superb, and Mos Def's weird way with words had me hooked. I needed more. The leak/release of 2006's "True Magic" secured his place in my record collection. As well as the controversial "Katrina Klap", this record was unlike anything else I'd come across at that point. This wasn't just people talking over music (here's looking at you, Snoop), this was the utilisation of the voice as a rhythmic and melodic instrument, getting across a positive message, as well as sharing the usual bragadaccio that defines all rappers.

Whilst Mos is critically acclaimed, his music never seems to cross over into the mainstream. As much known for his acting as his tunes, Mos Def has carved out a place in the artistic landscape of our times. It seems that everything he gets involved in bears his unique stamp. "The Ecstatic", the fantastic album from 2009 got such widely supportive critical acclaim that it really was a shock that it didn't sell more. "Quiet Dog Bite Hard", as performed on Letterman accompanied by kettle drums and drum kit was a highlight of a nearly flawless album that despite its 16 tracks never outstayed its welcome. It even brought back Black Star (of sorts), collaborating with Talib Kweli on the Mary Wells sampling "History", going back to the essence of traditional hip hop, discussing life in the ghetto, one foot in the past, one foot in the future.

Perhaps best known for his collaborative work with others, the aforementioned "I Against I", "Tinseltown To The Boogiedown" with Scritti Politti, "Six Days" with DJ Shadow, and most successfully on the BlakRoc and Gorillaz' "Plastic Beach" albums, Mos always seems to feel the vibe of the song, never seeking to overpower the original authors on the song. His contributions are always unique, incorporating his singing and his rapping.

It isn't just his music that leads me to love Mos Def just a little too much. His place in film history I think is secured for his understated but effective portrayals of a variety of characters. An alien, a surgical technician, a video store assistant, a detective, a petty criminal, explosives expert with a fetish for shoes, south American drug smuggler and Chuck Berry. But every time he brings something new to his roles. Rather than the simple "little boy lost" persona with which he has been described as acting, Mos Def's acting is a subtle beast, but ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous.

In the Emmy winning TV movie "Something The Lord Made", Mos is outstanding in his portrayal of the incredibly humble surgical technician and heart surgery pioneer Vivien Thomas. Never overblown, its a great study of someone who helped make a massive change to modern medicine without ever having been to medical school. In "Be Kind Rewind", Mos plays Mike, the video store worker who has to try and cover up wiped tapes, but ends up pulling a community together to create something great. In "16 Blocks", he's a petty criminal talking about suits and cakes getting chased by crooked cops through the streets of Manhattan. And most importantly (or should that be Mos importantly) he plays Ford Prefect in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Yes I'm aware its a film with its doubters (many of them here in the Massive), but I love its overarching weirdness, and many of the best bits of the film are with Mos playing up to the fact that he may be human shaped but he's definitely an alien.

Here's one of my favourite scenes, with Mos and Martin Freeman in the pub (the "awkward" bit at 2:19-26) is particularly good.

Mos Def is a one off in this day and age. He looks to a time past (check out "It Ain't My Fault") as well as pioneering some of the most forward-thinking hip hop of the past few years ("Life In Marvellous Times"), and I think overall, that's why I love Mos Def. He may not be the originator, but he remakes things in his own image. He's a maverick, and a visionary. But to sum him up, let me quote the man himself - "M-Def the black, fantastic raw dynamic, True Ecstatic ghetto, outstanding classic active every place, I have the skill, power, passion to raise your red lantern".

Thanks.

Don't know if anyone else is aware of him much around these parts, but the bassist / multi-instrumentalist Gerard Smith, from the band TV On The Radio died of lung cancer last week. I found out this morning and there didn't seem to be any other post.

Sad news for fans of the band.

(He's the chap in the check shirt behind Tunde the singer)

Ok, so some of you may have noticed the unusually bright object in the sky of late (and no I'm not talking about the one in Japan). For a nation of supposedly grey, rainy drudgery, the summer appears to have come early. This is categorically a good thing. Everything seems that bit more positive, the green fields shimmer, and ladies seem a whole lot more attractive all of a sudden.

All of this and its still only the beginning of April. Good times.

Consequently I have put together an hour's long playlist of songs to bring you (or at least me) joy in the sunny times. I'm in the office today, so get to look at the sun from afar, but these tracks put me in a summery mindset. So I thought I'd share.

That is all. As you were.

http://open.spotify.com/user/badger_king/playlist/5qD5v57Q6Ykr1GtJJy8bCj

I've been listening to a fair bit of Eagles' "Desperado" album this week as well as the new Radiohead marmite opus. Mixed in with blog pictures for the new Johnny and the Razorlights, there seems to be an increasing trend for anyone and everyone to go through a cowboy phase.

Certainly the Beatles had theirs around 1969/1970 when recording Abbey Road and promoting Let it Be (or being photographed in a park with cowboy hats on...) The new Razorlight clearly has somebody pretending to be a cowboy. When the second Raconteurs album came out (that sold about 5 copies), it was accompanied by cover artwork that depicted the band as a western saloon band. The Eagles seemed to base their entire career around it.

So why oh why do bands seem to think that rummaging around in the dressing up box, pretending to be Ned Kelly (*cough* Jagger *cough*) or some other misbegotten ruffian in a western (*cough* Dylan *cough*)? Surely times have pushed forward to the state where dressing up like an alien sex pest in the style of Bowie or a carnivore's wet dream like Gaga is to be praised? Its just a bit more inventive than simply donning a stetson, recording a muffled guitar and creaking for that good ole southern muzak realism, surely?

Maybe I missed the memo. I thought musicians liked to posit themselves as purveyors of the real. But dressing up like a cowboy to further your art when you're a Samaritans worker from Abingdon, or a former French school art student from Muswell Hill, is just a bit sad isn't it?

This may seem quite depressing, but as of yet, I have not experienced a Valentine's Day with a girlfriend, they've always come (and gone) at other times during the year. Consequently this very commercial of festivals, ostensibly to mark the saints day of an ancient martyr about whom very little is known, has always passed me by.

But any opportunity for sharing the music of Mr Thomas Alan Waits is always to be grasped firmly and exploited for the scores of people who have yet to appreciate his genius.

"And I cut my bleedin heart out every nite
And I die a little more on each st. valentines day"

When you're all out enjoying a nice meal with your spouse or significant other spare a thought for me, having to be at work until 11pm tonight. Lame. Have a nice day!

Graciela Maria - proof that you can never have too much of a good thing. I've just discovered her with this song. Its the sort of electronic / alternative kooky pop thing that seems to be quite popular at the moment. Definitely one to watch, and substantially better than all the other new artists out at the moment. I look forward to her debut album on the basis of this track. Great stuff.