Oval Office

I haven't posted any mp3s for a while, so let's rectify that right now. How about some glitch-tastic sounds by Oval, those wacky Germans with a penchant for electronic noodling? From their 1998 album Dok on the peerless Thrill Jockey, this is Vitra Desk. For the full holistic experience you can stare at this pic of a Vitra desk, designed by the equally peerless Jasper Morrison.

Download Vitra Desk by Oval (mp3) (deleted Aug 2009)

Brought to book

This is just so brilliant. As are the rest of this photostream on Flickr. Old album covers re-imagined as Pelican books. See more here.

Lookey-Likeys

Stiller

Zola

Separated at birth- Ben Stiller and Gianfranco Zola.

Rebellious jukebox

I'm late to the digital table, I know, but I've finally gotten around to using Spotify this week. And I'm amazed. My jaw is still on the floor. The digital dream that all those Wired journalists have been touting for a decade, where all music ever made is available on-demand at no cost at all times, is 75% here.

I say 75%, and that's my entirely unscientific estimate based on a few days searching of Spotify, but most of what I've looked for has been available to stream instantly, on demand. Some of what's available is exactly what you'd expect from an online music service. Lily Allen. Amy Winehouse. Sam Sparro. Some of it has been a surprise. Alan Vega's Just A Million Dreams for example. Max Richter's oeuvre. ESG's output. Especially surprising (and welcome) is that an artist's singles are often included alongside albums, so you can listen to B-sides, remixes etc.

Of course, there are some obvious refuseniks, for the time being at least: Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin are conspicuous by their absence. And while all the major labels are on board, and a fair few indies (Ninja Tune, 4AD, Mute and Rough Trade, for example), you may be unsurprised to learn that there's no Nurse With Wound, for example. Or any Jandek. And the database anomalies that bedevil any online music service are present and correct, so that anyone wanting to listen to (NY noise merchants) Swans may instead end up with a charming doo-wop group of the same name. Finally, users of the free service have to endure compulsory ads.

But these are minor gripes. Of more pressing concern is the likelihood of artist being adequately recompensed for their work through the service. I can't say whether this will happen. But with the record industry currently looking down the barrel of a gun, services like Spotify offer a model that at least allows users to access music digitally and gives artists an outside chance of payment for their work. In the meantime, Spotify is a bonanza for music lovers and you need to download it now.

Space Doubt

Strange news on Tuesday this week, announced on 6Music at 7.30pm, just as I was doing the washing-up. Marc Riley announced that Tommy Scott of late 90s scallies Space had popped his clogs at the tender age of 37. A great shame, as, while they were never going to change pop history, they were a competent observational pop combo, a little bit like a Liverpudlian Madness.

Searching the internet a few hours later revealed little about Scott's death. I only found one news story (at Gigwise), and the link was broken. Hmmmm.

All was revealed the next day (April 1st, though I think this was merely a coincidence); the whole thing was a hoax, perpetrated by an anonymous prankster. Tommy, very much live and well, expresses his displeasure here, though quite why how he connects the hoax with Hillsborough isn't really clear to this correspondent. One other thing eludes me; why was he reported to be 37, when according to Space's official site he's actually 40?

Anyhoo, to celebrate Tommy's Lazarus-like resurrection, here's a little clip of Space in their pomp.