Ukuleles ARE cool. And here is why.

It's very easy to hate the ukulele. There's a lot of it going around on telly ads, mostly for phones and insurance and hair and the like, and it pretty much all sounds like the inimitably twee guff-pop classic 'Five Years Time' by Noah and the Whale. Incidentally, their second album, 'The First Days of Spring' was much better than their initial effort. Before this, the ukulele has been often thought of wrongly as a children's instrument or a toy, despite its Portuguese/Hawaiian origins and vibrant history. But the ukulele is an ancient and mystical instrument, so distance yourself from the whistling tweedom and be amazed at its powers as I tell you of my own love affair with the noble instrument.

I first bought a ukulele in the summer of 2008. I was between terms at university and working in a job I couldn't stand, and found myself in a music shop the day I got paid. I needed the money for books and rent and low quality booze, obviously, but was browsing anyway, and noticed the cheap Mahalo ukuleles hanging up. I recall that around the same time I had been to a gig at the Water Rats in London to see one of my now retired musical heroes, Sam Isaac, who was sharing the bill with beautiful electro-magic man James Yuill and the infuriatingly handsome Rod Thomas, both of whom I was unaware of previously. This turned about to be one of the most memorable gigs I have been to for a number of reasons. I was granted the incomparable experience of being introduced to an artists' work by seeing it live with no prior knowledge, and loving every minute of it. This is a rare and profound experience which occurs occasionally at gigs but definitely hasn't happened to me since. I was also given two in one, as James and Rod were both brilliant, as was Sam. James and Rod played alone, and Sam with just a cellist and keyboardist, a set-up which I had never seen him as before and would never see him with again.

Rod played first, and after a sweet, perfectly constructed set of synthy pop, Rod brought out his ukulele and came into the crowd, singing his then upcoming single 'Same Old Lines' unplugged, just standing in the middle of the crowd. It was a beautiful song and he had the room in the palm of his hand. I was struck immediately by the relative fragility of the ukulele compared to the guitar in such a situation, as well as its higher, sweeter register, and these thoughts have stayed with me as the reasons I love the ukulele, regularly reach for it and have just bought myself a new one. An electric one, so that I can gig with it. I can't actually remember whether this gig was before or after I bought my first uke, but for the purposes of this blog's mythology, I'll say the two were linked. It would definitely have made sense.

Rod has since started working under the moniker Bright Light Bright Light, and continues to be great. Here is the video for Same Old Lines, and the live from Balcony TV too. The video is, of course, pretty twee, but it's the right kind of twee. If it recalls childrens' television from previous decades, then that's alright. Nothing beats nostalgia.

The following year my favourite band of all time, Death Cab For Cutie, released the Open Door EP, which had a demo of a song from their most recent album, 'Talking Bird', which was just Ben Gibbard and a ukulele. It is subtly tagged on to the end of the EP, a short, sweet dessert which hints at the track it became but is its own work. This made me sure I should buy a proper ukulele (the £10 ones don't tend to stay in tune for long), so I spent a bit more and bought a better one. The same year I came second in a local battle of the bands, and I don't doubt that borrowing Rod's idea of unplugged ukulele had a lot to do with it. I sang a song about tea and writing and it made people chuckle. I actually can't remember it, which sucks, but I think it's in an old notebook somewhere. I seem to recall some people filming though, so maybe it'll turn up in fifty years' time when I snuff it, or when I'm on This Is Your Life. Maybe. Here's the 'Talking Bird' demo. A lot of people have done cool covers of it on Youtube too. They're worth flicking through if you have time to spare.

In the summer of 2009 I went to End of the Road Festival, which was brilliant. I'd been recommended Dent May by a friend by hadn't listened to him, so again I went to see him knowing very little, except that he played the ukulele. His set was brilliant, a perfect mix of fifties influence, American college themes and vaguely Hawaiian sweetness. His style was captivating, his look was intriguing and his ukulele sounded like no other. He was great, and I vowed to do more writing on the uke. Here is one of his videos.

I started my MA a few weeks later and moved in with Rob Sherman, who owned an electric tenor ukulele, which we both used to write and gig lots over the following year. I always enjoyed it as light relief from the guitar, and as a pleasantly portable instrument which always piqued people's interest. You get the odd idiot who shouts out for 'When I'm Cleaning Windows' if you play it live (incidentally, Formby played a Banjolele), but it always provides a different and individual sound. Some more examples of my favourite ukulele users are Darren Hayman, Jenny Owen Youngs, The King Blues, Jake Shimbakuro and of course, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. There are lots of others of course, but those are the ones which spring to mind. Also, the best song on the new Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly album, 'Morning Light' has a cracking ukulele part in its breakdown. The understated uke begins the climax of the song, and brings it in with dignity and punch.

To break in my new uke I decided to record a cover of one of my favourite songs, 'Thirteen' by Big Star. There are lots of cover versions of this song around, including a stunning one by Wilco, but I've never heard a ukulele-driven one. There probably is so I'm not going to say I'm the only one, but I am as far as I'm aware. You can listen to it or download it free (right click + save as) from the link below.

Paddy Johnston - Thirteen (Big Star Cover)

This weekend I also recorded volume two of my podcast with Rob Sherman and Rob Gordon, The Big Men's Book Club, where we talk about things we like. You can also listen to and download from the link below. Thanks for reading and happy November. It'll be time for winter mixtapes and eggnog latte soon!

Big Men's Book Club Volume 2 - Do Androids Dream of Peppa Pig?

Married couple bands are cool, and so are podcasts.

So I spent a lot of today listening to The Weepies, having recently got their latest album, Be My Thrill. I was on the train home and was struck by how much their music is bursting with love, as sentimental as it sounds. I then remembered that they are a two-piece band and are married, and realised that two of my other favourite bands are two-piece married couples, and that this works in their favour infinitely. In all three bands the love, passion and intimacy of their marriage comes across but does not smother their music; rather, it gives it structure, narrative and weight. So I thought I'd do a little on each of them.

1: Mates of State

Mates of State are an incredible band who have only ever been a two-piece, with Kori Gardner on keyboards and Jason Hammel on drums, and, of course, both picking up the vocal duties. Their earlier albums are mostly distorted organs and schizophrenic bursts of pop bombast, but as they have progressed they have evolved, gracefully, into a mature, piano-driven indie-pop outfit with some of the most beautiful melodies this side of Mozart. The piano has crept into their sound cheekily, in songs such as 'Parachutes (Funeral Song' on their earlier albums, until it opens their most recent self-penned album, 'Get Better', a relentlessly cheerful but still reflective record. Their most recent effort is an intriguing, eclectic covers album entitled 'Crushes', which sees them branch out to include a little more guitar, and also to get their young children to sing backing vocals.

Incidentally, they take their kids on tour, and Kori writes a truly heartwarming blog about it.

Essential album: 'Bring It Back' (2006)

MP3: 'Like U Crazy'

2: Low

I was introduced to Low at the beginning of this year by Sittingbourne's first poet, Alex Hawkins, who recommended them partly on account of my borderline psychotic Death Cab obsession. I'd also read about them in Jeffrey Brown's graphic novel equivalent of a b-sides album, Undeleted Scenes. Low are slow and subtle, beautiful and brittle; the full impact of their beauty takes a few listens to flourish, but when it does it really hits home. Again, they're reflective, but in a more postmodern way than Mates of State. Not that their styles are really similar. 'The Plan' is one of my all-time favourite songs, and essentially just repeats the same phrase over and over, with a bit of added harmony and climax towards the end. It gets me every time. Their voices complement each other perfectly.

Essential album: 'The Curtain Hits The Cast' (1996)

MP3: 'The Plan'

3: The Weepies

I was introduced to The Weepies by my girlfriend earlier this year and was instantly captivated. They're incredibly twee and so will probably sicken you, but they both have beautiful voices and sing elegantly and sweetly about love and relationships. I'm personally pretty sentimental and uncynical when it comes to this kind of thing (although some twee is too much for me), so I realise they might seem like one of those self-consciously beautiful girl-with-voice type acts, but I can assure you they aren't, and are genuinely lovely. Maybe I just like the fact that they were both solo artists but made more beautiful music once they'd found each other. Either way, they make me smile. Search them on youtube as well as they have a lot of great videos.

Essential album: 'Be My Thrill' (2010)

MP3: 'I Was Made For Sunny Days'

The mp3s are included in the hope that, if you like what you hear, you'll by their albums. Musicians need your money, kids. Spend it on the records then stay home and listen to them instead of going out to nightclubs. Bad people go to nightclubs.

In other news I've decided that myself, Rob Sherman and Rob Gordon are going to start recording podcasts when we see each other, following on from the podcast which was made from my show on 87.7 Xpression FM earlier this year. This has been in circulation already but has now moved to its new home at my website, so click here to check out the page, or the link below to download the original podcast. We'll be doing more very soon, so watch this space.

Big Men's Book Club Volume 1 - Moleston or Falseton?

New website is go. E-zines are the future. Let's get festive.

So, with a little help from the unparalleled genius of Will Quick, my webcomic site is up. It's also titled Low Fidelity, not with confusion in mind but rather that I can have a name more than my own associated with my feeble drawings. You can visit the website here. At the moment the comics are only the ones which were previously up on my old combined comic/blog, but there are more on the way soon. The main event, however, is that you can download the first chapter of my fictional comic, Small Town Heroes, as a free e-zine. The best thing about it is you can read it on your iphone or any other smartphone, or one of those e-readers that everyone but me has on the tube.

I'm going to drop these zines gradually. There's a total of five in all, and I'm giving them away free so that people can come to know and love the Small Town Heroes universe before I try and produce something really awesome from it. Currently I'm learning how to draw properly and working bigger and working with adding colour so I can produce a proper rad update of it, but the skeleton is there, and I would love for you to read the skeleton. Have a flick through his bones.

In other news I was overjoyed to discover that London has a comics festival coming up, Comica, and I will most definitely be crashing it whenever I can. There's a whole host of amazing artists attending and rad events going down. My friend Greg, who alerted me to the event, and I are going to the opening this Thursday night at the London Print Studio. Here's the flyer.

I'm also going to shamelessly self-promote and bring some flyers. If you're reading this you already know where the site is but you won't have a super individual drawing of one of the characters from Small Town Heroes delivering a quote what Prince said about how good my comic is. So if you want one of those then come along. I'll have an A6 pad and pen and will draw for you if you like. And go to all of Comica's events. They're offering free lectures on the study of comics too. How totally amazing is that?

Today I got the new record from Bad Books and it's great. They're a super combo of Kevin Devine and the Manchester Orchestra and it's a beautiful, stirring, emotionally articulate record full of warm harmony and carefully crafted climactic points. Buy it.

Weezer come up against vigilante justice

OK, so we all know Weezer have been taking the piss for a long time now. I've resisted the urge to rant about it but I can't hold it in any longer since I read an article in The Guardian about an internet campaign which is offering the band $10m dollars to split up and was surprised to find myself thinking that this wasn't an entirely bad idea.

When asked the all-too-narrow question of who my all-time favourite band are, I have answered Weezer many a time. Their first two albums are still as fresh upon every listen as the first time they stopped me dead in my tracks as a teenager. The Green Album is pretty alright, Maladriot is excellent and Make Believe has a few alright tracks. The Red Album was the last album I got excited about and enjoyed of theirs; I would say the first half of the album is great and the second half is awful. However, since then they have released two albums in two years, neither of which have really had any half-decent tracks on.

This, unfortunately, is the point where I come across as one of those wankers who tries to make themselves superior by saying they 'prefer a band's earlier material' when in fact everyone knows their later material is better developed, constructed etc but more popular. I am, of course, guilty of this crime, but that's a story for another blog. My sincerest apologies for coming across as such, but with Weezer I have had my opinions reinforced by such events as this internet campaign and I now feel compared to share them.

I don't feel that all is lost for Weezer - rumours abound of a Pinkerton tour - but I do think they need to stop messing around and writing inane, vacuous songs in a hurry. Rivers Cuomo has always been a law unto himself and that is why I admire him, but he just has a bit of a weird obsession with pop culture and it's stopping him writing the poignant, blistering love songs he was born to write. Now I like Lady Gaga and MGMT, but I don't need Weezer to cover them, nor do I think the hilarious joke of them covering 'Teenage Dirtbag' is worth losing one of their own songs in a live setlist.

I'm sure they could still write a decent record if they reconnected with their roots and took some time about it. The esteemed critic, social network guru and grime superstar Jonny Rose said that if you took the best tracks from their last four albums, you'd get a brilliant album, and I agree. Now I'm off to listen to Pinkerton and cry myself to sleep. Watch this video and then you can too!



And if you want to get behind said internet campaign, go ahead. I don't think I want them to split up so I won't be giving them any of my hard-earned cash, but good on the man for alerting people to the fact that a once great band are now a bit silly.

To balance the rant, here are some awesome things.

I just finished reading the graphic novel Smile by Raina Telgemeier and it's lovely. As the cover suggests its central theme is Raina's dental treatment, but it's a brilliant portrait of growing up without too much focus on the latter, coming-of-age side of things. Rather, Raina begins and ends the autobiographical comic a child, but learns a lot along the way. And it's in beautiful colour. If you were ever a teenager, you should read it. I know some people deny that they were ever teenagers. I will find these people and their year ten photographs.

My former flatmate and purveyor of slightly unhinged literature and folk music Rob Sherman has a poetry collection out called Valve Works, and you can get it as a free ebook here. It is also illustrated by the marvelously talented Sarah Ogilvie who you should give money to to draw you baboons and such. Free ebooks are pretty much the best thing ever. You can read them on iphones and stuff. Get on it. It's some bizarrely touching and strangely resonant poetry which pervade in Valve Works, but there's all sorts available. I might not sleep tonight.

Finally, The Xcerts have a new record out, and I get the feeling it's a grower after a couple of listens. It's noisier, angrier and even more energetic than their debut, and it's great. You should buy it from Banquet Records because independent record shops are awesome. I saw them play acoustic in Banquet's shop once. That was nice.

The Boy in the Bubble

Good day to you.

Today is a special day, because Dan Gaynor, my new favourite Irish comics artist, has a picture which I drew up on his excellent website, Giant Eyeball. There's a big old speech bubble which is featuring guest artists, and today is me. The picture is of Joel, the protagonist of my series in development, Small Town Heroes, listening to some of his favourite records and hanging out with some spiders. And crying a bit. Maybe. I personally think he just got something in his eye, or that he's chopping onions surreptitiously beneath the frame of the drawing, but you're free to make up your own mind. The spiders won't hold your opinion against you.

Anyhow, Dan is awesome and his work is awesome, some is really atmospheric and some is downright hilarious. One of my faves is his mini series on the excellent web collection Top Shelf 2.0 and is called Ted and the Animals. Go read it, and read everything else on there too. Top Shelf have published most of the comics of Jeffrey Brown, who inspired me to start scribbling, so that automatically makes them awesome.

In other news my comic site is still under construction, I promise there will be more on that when I have a bit more time to dedicate to it. Soon. Soon.

Music wise, my new favourite boy/girl power trio are Standard Fare. Their vocal balance is perfect and they're sweet, melodic and youthful. Have a listen.



Thanks for reading my blog, etc.

New blog. Wow.

Hi there.

So, you might know that I had a combined blog/webcomic thing going on over at wordpress. After a bit of consideration I've decided to separate the two, and to move my blog over to here, whereas the comic will soon be taking up residence on my proper website, which is still under construction. I'm going to blog about all sorts but mostly music and comics, as I think it's about time I started blogging properly.

So here's today's music recommendation. Field Mouse is the stage name of Brooklyn's Rachel Browne, and her debut album, You Are Here, has just become free to download from her bandcamp page. Have a listen and download it here. It's dreamy, ethereal and downright lovely.

Thanks for reading and watch this space for when the webcomic goes up properly.