Pogonology (the study of facial hair), rock n roll, free jazz, dubstep, DIY, warped pop, wonky, post-punk, post-hardcore, noise, old school rave, hip-hop, country, folk, psych, psych folk, psych country, crunkstep, freaky music, metal, art rock, techno, acieeeeeed, punk, jungle disco, drone, pop, girl groups, soul, funk, doom, r 'n b, blues, gospel, avant-garde, improv, afrobeat, lo-fi, electronica, jazz, bop, skronkadelia, slocore, hardcore, Scottish literature, Russian literature, wry American novels, picaresque romps, psychogeography, social and cultural history, comics, zines, Nouvelle Vague, Ealing Comedy, US indie films, mordant 70s US comedy, European cinema, Asia Extreme, Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters, fuzz pedals, delay pedals, tremolo, art, Prague, Berlin, Krakow, Granada, Andalucia, Glasgow, the Brecon Beacons, the watusi, the mash potato, the jive, the twist, goulash, fine salami, noodles, tagine, aubergines, crispy pork belly, bau, peking duck, spanish olives, blue cheese, oatcakes and cheddar.
Music
Beach Boys, Can, Shirley Collins, Robert Wyatt, Brian Eno, Serge Gainsbourg, Jean Claude Vannnier, Captain Beefheart Velvet Underground, Deerhoof, Parliament/Funkadelic, Mingus, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, Gay Against You, No Age, Herman Dune, Royal We, The Pastels, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Bill Wells, Mika Miko, The Minutemen, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Fairport Convention, Joe Meek, Fela Kuti, Battles, Jeffrey Lewis, Scatter, Nalle, Fantomas, Arrington De Dionyso, Tinariwen, The Melvins, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Orange Juice, Hank Williams, Bowie, Roxy, Nick Drake, Flaming Lips, Giant Sand, Dylan, The Band, Bert Jansch, Public Enemy, Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Lucky Luke, Sly & the Family Stone, Neko Case, White Stripes, Devendra Banhart, Kraftwerk, De La Soul, Vashti Bunyan, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Missy, Beastie Boys, Edan, Gillian Welch, The Stones, Talking Heads, James Brown, Alasdair Roberts, Belle & Sebastian, Springsteen, Company Flow, Dinosaur Jr, Nirvana, Husker Du, Sparklehorse, Neu!, Arcade Fire, Olivia Tremor Control, Blondie, Solomon Burke, Palace, Cat Power, Aretha, Otis, Caetano Veloso, The Congoes, Ibrahim Ferrer, Sun Ra, International Airport, SIlver Jews, Pipettes, The Fall, Incredible String Band, NWA, Wu Tang, Al Green, Gang Of Four, PIL, Loretta Lynn, Lemonheads, Scatter, Aerial Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Butthole Surfers, Foxface, Stevie Wonder, Holly Gollightly, Dusty Springfield, Scott Walker, SJ Esau, Jeremy Sleeping Jacket, Dirtbombs, Sleater-Kinney, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Delgados, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, Buck Owens, Napoleon IIIrd, Skeleton Bob, Hookers Green No1, Smoosh, Sparks, Lightning Bolt, Afrirampo, BMX Bandits, Big Star, Foxface, Ghostface Killa, The Meters, Konono No1, Tenniscoats, Kama Aina, Kazumi Nikaido, Lee Hazlewood, The Mummies, James Chance, Hidden Cameras, Six Organs of Admittance, Park Attack, Konono No1, Final Fantasy, Gang Of Four, Magazine, PIL, Raincoats, Kinks, The Gossip, Charalambides, Espers, National Park, Louvin Brothers, Nina Simone, Life Without Buildings, Girls Aloud, Francoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, France Gall, Michel Legrand, Electric Wizard, Sunn 0))), Wolves In The Throne Room, Black Dice, Tattie Toes, Triple School, Burial, Zomby, Kode 9, The Bug, Kylie Minoise, Rustie, GAS, Ellen Allien, Cobalt, Gang Gang Dance, Trembling Bells, Directing Hand,
Movies
Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, The Producers (the original natch), All About My Mother, Annie Hall, Crimes & Misdemeanours, Rushmore, Big Lebowski, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Spinal Tap, Singing In The Rain, Purple Rose of Cairo, Weekend, A Bout De Souffle, Happiness of the Katakuris, Weekend, Vivre Sa Vie, Philadelphia Story, Life & Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes, A Canterbury Tale, A Matter Of Life & Death, Fitzcarraldo, Freaks, I Drink Your Blood...
Television
Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Sopranos, Larry Sanders, Simpsons, Buffy, Angel, Father Ted, Spaced, Mad Men, Day Today, Brass Eye, Family Guy, Cheers, Frasier, David Attenborough, Dr Who, C4 News...
Books
Cervantes, Chaucer, Alisdair Gray, Truman Capote, Richard Brautigan, Haruki Murakami, Milan Kundera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, F Scott Fitzgerald, Edwin Morgan, John Donne, John Kennedy Toole, Nabokov, Lester Bangs, Nik Cohn, Peter Guralnick, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Ballard, HG Wells, Iain Sinclair, Stewart Home, Homer, Trocchi, Henry Green, Simon Reynolds, David Toop, Tobias Smollett, Boswell & Johnson, Nabokov, Pynchon...
Heroes
Robert Wyatt, Shirley Collins, John Coltrane, Sun Ra, James Joyce, The RZA, our families
About me: Beard zine - not to be confused with Bearded magazine, grrr - ran between 2003 and 2007. We don't really have the time or funds to do more print issues, but we're still very much alive, covering leftfield music from Glasgow and beyond via our weblog at http://beardmag.blogspot.com and our show on Glasgow University's Subcity Radio.
A common, if understandable, misconception about us is that we are only interested in musicians with beards, even though we've had clean shaven men and women on the cover. The name emerged from a drunken evening spent listening to the music and admiring the facial hair of Robert Wyatt, Dennis Wilson and Will Oldham. We couldn't think of anything better, so it stuck. Since then, the world has been overrun by boring bands with boring beards, which is kinda annoying. That said, a good beard is a mighty thing, a sign of independence, integrity and virility. We'd like to think Beard shares that same spirit, if not its physical manifestation. Beard is, like, a state of mind, man.
Beard 6, starring Vashti Bunyan, Silver Jews, Howe Gelb, BMX Bandits, Jeffrey Lewis, Gay Against You, Danananakroyd, Kaz, and more!
Issue 5 is still available, featuring Neil's fantastic interviews with two of our greatest heroes - Robert Wyatt and Shirley Collins.
For orders message us here or email us at beardmag@yahoo.co.uk
One of the most famous music groups performing in Afghanistan today, the Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawali group is coming to Mono to perform a concert on Saturday 16th May. Entry is FREE or by donation.
The Sham Qawali group has been together for over 30 years and has toured India, Russia, Tajikistan and all over their native Afghanistan. We are delighted and privileged to welcome them on stage for a rare performance of their revered and ancient music, offering the Glasgow public the opportunity to see one of Afghanistan’s most talented bands and learn about their unique history and culture.
With audiences free to come and go as they please and invited to dance and clap along to the music, the sessions aim to reach a state of ecstasy amongst all those involved. This state is viewed by certain Sufi groups as the point at which one is closest to God – the music and dancing is viewed not so much as a performance but as a journey towards spirituality and healing.
The Taliban banned Qawali music along with all other music during their reign and Qawali music was the first to return after their expulsion due to its status as an important form of healing within Afghan culture. Now we can experience this hugely popular Afghan music and gain insight into a positive side of Afghan culture that might otherwise be overlooked.
xNoBBQx Skewer 10" LP (Ltd to 300 copies) - Out May 12th
We first came across xNoBBQx (just call them No Barbeque, I guess) in Piccadilly Records last year when the Siltbreeze vinyl reissue of their first CD-r appeared on its shelves. The Siltbreeze label being a bastion of all that is great in terms of dirgy, lo-fi, transcendental unmusicality, we were thus intrigued to hear this slab. And, we have to say, it was one of the greatest shop-listening experiences of all time. Here was a duo, probably of fully grown men, bashing away at their instruments in a manner that suggested they had never really learned any 'proper' technique. We later read a review, in fact, that put it thus:
"So what exactly is the difference between an xNoBBQx recording and a couple of 14 year olds bashing instruments in the garage with record pressed down on one of their mum’s old tape recorders? Probably not a whole lot, actually, but I get the feeling that’s precisely the point. " (Cyclic Defrost)
Well, yes, that does largely seem to be the point. But it's a helluva point. The Australian duo, in spite of their unabashed simplicity, manage to create sounds that are warm as an old-fashioned blanket, each piece having the ability to induce a state of complete, dribbling mental stasis. It's disjointed, scratchy and 'difficult', yes. But it also manages to be completely absorbing. If you like your rock deconstructed to the nth degree, we highly recommend you dig this.
xNoBBQx will be touring the UK from 10th May 2009. We'll be putting them on in Manchester on 12th May (venue TBC), so keep yr eyes on this page.
We've never been able to quite pin down exactly how the The Hunter Gracchus are going to play on any given occasion, which is a wonderful thing. A shifting unit with Syed Kamran Ali, Fiona Marshall and Jon Marshall at the core, they have recently settled into a fairly stable unit of six, but it's hard to know how long that'll last. Still, while it does, it's producing all manner of magical and highly unexpected performances. The one captured here was recorded at the band's practice room cum gig space, Fagin's Hideout/The Furniture Makers and is a less blistering freakout than some of their recent output, preferring to quietly explore every nook of tonal space. It simmers rather than erupts and, the longer you become immersed in it, the less aware you become of the passage of time. It's a recording that feels like it should go on forever and, when it does come to a close, the silence is shocking. In a time when it's all too easy for a group of improvisers to just go full-tilt in some euphoric pursuit, the Hunter Gracchus provides us with a glowing alternative that draws us slowly in and drowns our senses. This is truly awesome.
Peeesseye I Woke Up and Drank a Bottle of Cheap Kojak CDR
Peeesseye made the scene at Dylan Nyoukis's Colour Out of Space festival last summer and hopped over to Manchester to play a show at the Town Hall Tavern, the recording of which forms the content of this incredible slab of dense droning harmonium, scraping, buzzing, subtly soloing guitar and pulse-free, scatter-drumming. We can't recommend this enough.
This beautiful super-heavyweight LP, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the UK's premier free drummer Alex Neilson, who's played, amongst others, with Motor Ghost, Directing Hand, Trembling Bells, Tight Meat Duo, Josephine Foster, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Jandek, MV&EE, Richard Youngs, Baby Dee and Alastair Galbraith, with Nmperign member Greg Kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as Anthony Braxton's reinvention of the sax was 30 years ago. A screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of Greg's horn, unlike anything we've ever heard and, with the addition of random stabs of electronics, he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes.
This beautiful super-heavyweight LP, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the UK's premier free drummer Alex Neilson, who's played, amongst others, with Motor Ghost, Directing Hand, Trembling Bells, Tight Meat Duo, Josephine Foster, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Jandek, MV&EE, Richard Youngs, Baby Dee and Alastair Galbraith, with Nmperign member Greg Kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as Anthony Braxton's was 30 years ago. A screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of Greg's horn, unlike anything we've ever heard and he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes.
Yes you read right this will be the second to last chance you have to experience the chucklesome multi media electro-nic obsessed wonder that is END ofTHE month CLUB. We've decided to take a break as of the 7th Birthday (but more of that in Feb).
This month we present two damn fine guests in the form of the wonderfully named FUTURISTIC RETRO CHAMPIONS. Who live up to the promise of their name, three girls and a boy from Edinburgh producing the most perky electro pop. Just what the EOTMC ordered.
Also making a return after ages in hibernation are Motherwell's APHRODISIACS with a new line up that has more synths n machines for beats and that was a direction we a glad to join them on.
Plus your decisive hosts BOZiLLA shall pay tribute to Stooges, Ron Asheton, Fantasy Island host, Ricardo Montolban, not a number except for being the first Edward, Patrick McGoohan and the artistic legend and cravat rocker, Tony Hart.
speaking of who if you would like to add a picture to our tribute gallery please upload it here or e-mail it to mrbennet at eotmc. com. Please include the title and your name & age in years and months.
Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, The Producers (the original natch), All About My Mother, Annie Hall, Crimes & Misdemeanours, Rushmore, Big Lebowski, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Spinal Tap, Singing In The Rain, Purple Rose of Cairo, Weekend, A Bout De Souffle, Happiness of the Katakuris, Weekend, Vivre Sa Vie, Philadelphia Story, Life & Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes, A Canterbury Tale, A Matter Of Life & Death, Fitzcarraldo, Freaks, I Drink Your Blood...
Online Now!
