A podcast...

Welcome to Maggie Osterberg's International Underground - a podcast featuring independent artists in their own words.

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This edition:

"The music, wit and wisdom of Sp3ccylad.

From the wilds of Huddersfield, UK comes avant-pop savant Sp3ccylad ("speccy-lad"), who talks about his approach to making music, living life and being "The Hendrix of The Kazoo."

Don't miss his masterclass on how to record kazoo with GarageBand!"

Who? Oh, just listen. It's good.

Old song? New song!

I went back to one of my old songs today - a song that I have a lot of affection for, but was never pleased with the final outcome. I'm quite chuffed with it now.

Hey, You! (revisited)

It's a funny old song - tips a hat to vintage soul, and in the original had a slight sound of Len Barry's 1-2-3. It now sounds more like Instant Karma!, and it's all the better for it. Enjoy!

STOP PRESS!

Radio play (proper radio, with transmitters and all!) coming up for this song soon! I'll tip a wink as it gets closer.

STOP PRESS! AGAIN!

The reviews are in:

"Time well spent! Nice work!"

"Excellent stuff! This is a fantastic, well-crafted song with a great hook and feeling to it. Especially liked the backing vocals."

"Poptastic sp3ccylad. Very well put together, great layering. I love the horn section, your vocals are most excellent and those girls sure know what to do!"

"I'm just going to go listen to this perfect noughat nugget of pop again."

"sp3ccymania!"

"What a great throwback while simultaneously remaining remarkably "today". I'll just round up what everyone else has said and second it: great hook, great lead vocal, great backing vocals, great arrangement."

Phew.

William Shatner reaches new heights of irony

Where, in a laudable attempt to raise some money for a well-worthwhile cause, he flogs a kidney stone.

It's an odd world.

The real irony is that I'm blogging about a renal disorder while sitting in a bar drinking a pint of Schneider Weisse.

Dirty, dirty Sp3ccylad

Find out how much of a slut I am: here.*


*Not much, actually.

Invisible Chinese Bloke Puzzle

Here's an odd one. Some bloke goes to a police station, tries to get an ID photo... and can't. Read more here. It's like some bizarre comedy sketch. Or he's a vampire. Or something.

What goes around comes around: or "It's like Germaine Greer never happened"

Boys will be boys, I suppose: and if you ever wanted proof this is it: a pair of Rover badges, advertised toplessly by a seller from London.

Needless to say, it ain't safe for work: although it's hardly pornographic. I leave the last word to the seller:

"HAVE MANY OTHER INTERESTING PARTS FOR SALE NOW, SEE MY OTHER ITEMS LISTED."

I bet.

He shall have music whenever he goes....

With this handy iPod dock and toilet roll holder.

Sheesh.

Quick Vibrating Lockpick

Oh, what have I done now? Yes, I've posted a link to an online guide to making a Vibrating Lockpick out of an electric flosser.

Next - Sp3ccylad gets burgled.

An insight into my evenings...

Or, more to the point, my musical evenings. I'm an enthusiatic consumer of live music, as well as a sporadic provider. To this end, you reader(s) may well remember me mentioning The Scaramanga Six. They're an odd bunch, with a performance style once described by this very writer as "like being harangued by a bunch of psychotic English teachers".

That's a genuine compliment, by the way. Sp3ccylad REALLY likes The Scaramanga Six.

So you can surmise that I was dead pleased to read that a blog in Albuqueque, NM carried an interview with one of the Morricone brothers (the one that definitely reminds me of an English teacher).

Ah, Albuquerque. Never been there, but I've been to New Mexico. Biggest bats I've ever seen outside a zoo: which kind of suits The Six, I suppose.

Read the interview with Paul Morricone here.

I hereby doff my cap to The Great Beyond.

How to hypnotise rabbits

Look, don't anyone ever tell you that this blog doesn't give you the odd useful lifestyle tip. So next time you feel the need to entrance a bunny remember who tipped you the wink.

Look, there's a Paypal button on this page! Show some gratitude, dammit!

The Google Images Storyteller

This has done my head in. So, in turn, I submit it to you.

You know how oddly random Google Images can be, yeah? So: imagine putting a story in and having Google Images turn it into an illustrated story. The effect is rather like being trapped in David Byrne's head about 20 years ago, or having a slideshow brought to you by Jenny Holzer.

The odd image it pulls up is Not really all that Safe For Work, but if you can deal with that, the utter aleatory* nature of it all is quite beguiling.

If you have no material to input, it loads with a bit of Lewis Carroll. Recommendation: it adds a whole new level to Charles Dickens.

Take it for a spin...

*Ooh, get me!

I'm that kind.

What Kind of Drunk Are You?