Magic Arm News
I’ve mentioned Magic Arm before, and I hope you were paying attention because he is very, very good. I saw him for the first time at the first Fence Club I ever attended, and then again at Homegame a couple of years later and was really impressed both times. So needless to say the news of a new EP and imminent album release is greeted with much anticipation and joyfulness here at Toad Hall.
Magic Arm is the stage name of Mancunian Marc Rigelsford, and he is another loop pedal master, along with the likes of Toad favourite David Thomas Broughton.  The tendencies of Magic Arm, however, seem to have a little more of a pop-wards leaning than his Leeds contemporary. Bootsy Bootsy is a little less introspective and meandering that his wonderful debut Outdoor Games, from what I’ve been able to make out so far, but whatever the hell it sounds like I am really looking forward to it – just waiting until pay day on Friday!
In amongst his loops, he uses acoustic guitar, electronica, children’s instruments and god knows what else, and this gives his music the kind of improvisational, stumbling narrative which regular readers of this blog will know is like a gentle and loving caress to my oh-so-predictable eardrums. As well as Bootsy Bootsy, there is an album pencilled in for release later in the Spring, I believe, and I cannot wait to hear it.
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Magic Arm – Daft Punk is Playing at My House
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Great sound. Shows what some patience, a good computer and some imagination can lead too. I’m thinking that beck slept with they might be giants and locked there love child in a room with all these instruments.
The version of Daft Punk is Playing is a cracker ..Move Out reminds a bit of Lamacq faves Silvery
Oh and that artwork could be cover of the year and we’re not out of Feb yet..
I certainly think this gentleman has the measure of that elusive pixie known as the groove.
MA was the last thing i saw at Homegame last year and it rounded the weekend off perfectly….then went to a shite party got bored then went to bed…got up the next morning then on the bus back home…sat besides a nice irish lass who left her scarf on the bus….i still have it!
That’s a romantic little story, Chutters.
Maybe you can give it back to her this year, Chutters.
Shut up Dylan…..i could give to someone trustworthy who is going….shame i don’t know anyone who is going and is trustworthy!!!
Sorry.
it’s ok, today, i’ll be mainly listening to The Twilight Singers
Very nice, Tom.
This week I’ve particularly enjoyed listening to The Pictish Trail and Reckoning by REM.
Do you two not have Facebook?
aye….but i just wanted to share some music related stuff
Well, if we’re not welcome here we’ll just have to take our chat elsewhere!
And what quality chat it is too.
Keeps the tumbleweeds away..
you’re the basis of our quaility control Matthew
“you’re the basis of our quaility control Matthew”
Hey! This site is the very epitome of quality control I’ll have you kn… oh, er right. Get your point.
You should also consider that music content of this thread has been of the highest calibre.
Twilight Singers? Pictish? Reckoning? Magic Arm? This thread is almost a podcast in itself!
The Pishcast! A podcast made up of songs randomly mentioned by people talking pish in the comments on Song, by Toad – genius!
Splendid.
Does my mention of Van Halen the other day count?
There will NEVER be any Van Halen.
I accept your challenge!
I shall make it my mission – indeed my very destiny – to someday get Van Halen into a Toadcast.
I am a massive Magic Arm fan, he’s ace and a lovely guy. I have had a copy of the album since last summer too (we share a producer) and it’s brilliant, it’s chock-a-block full of hip-hoppy pop tunes delivered in Marc’s laconic style.
Have been wondering what was happening to the album so I’m glad to see that it’s coming out soon.
Erm, fancy sharing, lovely Turnip gentleman?
I’ll email you with some undignified begging…
I would love to oblige but I’m not 100% sure it’s ok to do that.
We can discuss pursuant to your undignified begging…
Matthew doesn’t share…..TT….so i don;t think you should
Wise words Chutters…
Oi – fuck you Chutney Boy. When was the last time I ever leaked anything I shouldn’t have? Never, that’s when.
not talking about leaking, dear boy…..talking about sharing amongst friends…..point proved……i think
Has anyone heard the new Felice Brothers yet? No. So there.
I think you’ve hurt the Toad’s feelings, Chutters.
I frickin love chutney by the way. I’m really into chutneys with onion featuring prominently.
Can you have a chutney without onion in it? Is it a bit like soup i.e. you always put onion in, even if you’re making curried banana soup, for example?
Turnip, we here on Toad find Chutney to be unbearably tedious. So there.
As long as you’ve got plenty of sugar and vinegar and something that’s going to release a little bit of pectin to thicken the chutney, you can probably avoid onion.
But, as you said, why would you? Where else are you going to get that elusive sweetness and unmistakable tang that only a good onion can provide?
Turnip Chutney?
Hmm.. This blog is rapidly turning into Song, By Delia.
I think we should be nice to Tom for a little while, he’s very sensitive at the moment about the whole Homegame thing.
Shit, did I mention that again?!
hey TT next time i do a batch of onion chutney….i’ll give you a jar!!!
i know someone who has heard the new Felice Brothers album Toad…..and i’m not talking about you!!!….consistency is all i’m asking for……ha ha
No-one has heard it from me, I don’t think.
I would like that Chutters.
Good knowledge re the pectin Dylan. I don’t think Turnip chutney would be very nice.
This is probably the chutney equivalent of saying “speaking of music, I like that song called “Beautiful Day” by a band called U2″, but, Baxter’s make a really pleasing chutney based around onions and cranberries.
I’m sorry about this.
Magic Arm is really good.
Don’t worry TT – it’s far too late to rescue this thread by now. It’s time to release it into the wild and let it roam free. Freeeeeeee…!
yeah he is really good….
On-topic comment is confusing.
That artwork is really nice too. It looks like it contains a sexual undercurrent, on account of the woman’s coquettish half-smile.
Does he do a good chutney?
Where do you enjoy chutney most?
In a sandwich with a good robust cheddar and soft, white crusty bread? A big blob on the side of your favourite curry? Alongside a generous slice of rich, smooth paté and crisp melba toast?..
yeah i see what you mean TT….what kind of style would you call the artwork?
TT – yes, where is that bloke’s other hand?
(You can absolutely 100% always rely on Dylan to wrestle any thread as off-topic as he can possibly manage.)
I thought that’s why it was called Magic Arm.
Ruddy hell so many questions.
I like chutney in sandwiches most but I also do like them in curries. Cheddars are best, blue cheese fight too much with the chutney РI am a massive blue cheese fan though. Grapes or tomatoes are best with blue cheese. Melba toasts and pat̩ are beyond my ken?
I think the artwork is Romantic Impressionism.
His other hand is probably resting on her other hand. Observe his right shoulder: it isn’t far enough round for the hand to be anywhere near the vagine, and her half-smile indicates that she’s being doted upon, rather than about thrown around like an empty shell-suit. Therefore, I think the undercurrent is sexual but respectfully so.
Clever boy Dylan.
Magic Arm. One to remember. I also really enjoy the album art.
Apart from that, I have no fucking idea what this thread is on about.
You’re spot on about chutney with blue cheese, TT; but a blue cheese can still be lifted with the addition of a little bit of sweetness, much like the job chutney does for a plainer cheese like cheddar.
Try your favourite blue cheese on an oatcake with just the merest whisper of honey – it’s even better if you can get that honey with the honeycomb in it. You get that same sweet hit to lift the saltiness of the cheese, but without the complex flavours of a chutney. It’s just like turning up the volume on your tastebuds – brilliant.
I’m not so sure about your interpretation of the artwork though, I think there’s the merest hint of menace there. The man is slightly in shadow, and is taking up a definite dominate stance against the woman, in particular his left arm across her neck. However, she does seem compliant. She’s not ruling out a bit of adventurous hanky-panky, if you ask me.
Maybe he’s about to shove his cock up her arse.
(C&B – do. But I’ll almost certainly be reviewing the album anyway, so there’ll be a remindeder soon enough I expect.)
Maybe he just did – hence the coy half-smile!
Given the lack of any sort of surprise on her face, he must be hung like a green bean.
Toad, so crude.
There is definitely a sexual undercurrent and it is ever so slightly menacing, given the arm across the throat, but her facial expression betrays a more tender relationship (or she could just be a vacuous idiot I suppose). Maybe he’s playing a game with her, an in-joke that they play, after frightening her a little he breathes sweet nothings into her ear. Then, compiance secured, he takes her upstairs and bones her silly.
And the shadow on the man is so that we understand the undercurrent but so we don’t see the man, therefore, we can all imagine that we are that man, about to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.
I haven’t tried honey with blue cheese, it sounds interesting, I shall investigate at my next cheese and wine evening. Note my reference to grapes and tomatoes (only cherry tomatoes can be used) which adds an element of sweetness: I’m not a complete philistine.
I did note and wholeheartedly support your choice of fruity accompaniments, TT. I should have responded, I do apologise.
A friend of mine made a really good banana chutney over Christmas which is fantastic in a sandwich with good cheddar and just some nice crisp lettuce leaves. No other salad needed, just the cool crunch of the lettuce. Lovely.
This whole thread is a fucking fruity accompaniment.
You’re a fruity accompaniment.
I, sir, am a fruity main course.
what the fuck????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Is that outburst just in response to Matthew’s fruitiness, Euan, or to the thread as a whole?
I does neatly sum up any normal person’s reaction to the thread as a whole, I would have thought.
Talking about fruitiness, I kept getting the smell of lemons on the bus to work this morning.
I thought it must have been someone sitting near me, but the people changed during the journey but the lemony smell remained.
Not at all unpleasant, but confusing.
I’m afraid I don’t have a resolution to that little tale. I fell asleep listening to The National and the next thing I knew it was my stop.
thread as a whole. not sure what happened.
i dreamt somebody at work taught me how to tie a tie last night. odd. don’t really know the guy. but he clearly knows how a tie should be tied.
wilco’s new album scheduled for june release. happy days!
Could you tie a tie when you woke up?
That would be cool.
Apart from, obviously, how come you can’t tie a tie?!
I always wonder. I think I used to be able to tie a tie, and I do wear ties from time to time but I don’t think I tie them like he taught me last night. Will investigate this evening and let you know.
I can tie a mean tie, Full Windsor, the whole cannoli.
I can teach you if you like, but obviously not in a dream.
I’d rather not appear in your dreams, thank you very much.
disappointingly, the guy who taught me how to tie a tie in my dream has just been through in our part of the office and is not wearing a tie today. which makes me wonder if he’s full of shit dreamwise.
To be fair to the guy, Euan, how could he not be full of shit dreamwise?
What would you do if he came over to you today in work, gave you one of those pointy-wink-grin gestures and was all like “Hey, Euan, how’s the tie-tying coming along after our little dreamtime masterclass last night?!”
come to think of it. it might have been jamie from the japanese war effort that taught me in my dream. they look similar. though i’m inclined to say it’s more likely to have been the guy i know who wears shirts and ties and not kappa tracksuits and polish retro football tops.
what if the guy actually is jamie and i never say hello to him?! how rude would that be.
Maybe Jamie just thinks it’s funny you haven’t figured it out yet.
Is it my turn now?
WTF?????
Is that outburst in response to Euan only just realising that Jamie from the Japanese War Effort has been sat working at the next desk to him for – like – five years, Matthew, or to the thread as a whole?
This thread Fs the Baby Jesus in the A.
But look at how much we’ve learned!
Someone please just tell me what the fucking T-shirt will say?????
Just that, Tarticles, just that.