...doolittle

The fact that its been 20 years since Pixies released their seminal album Doolittle makes me feel a tad old. Not that I was listening to Pixies in 1989, I discovered them a few years later.

I think they are well described as 'musician's musicians, achieving success through their enormous influence rather than mainstream popularity. As a teenager learning guitar, they absolutely stunned in their ability to demonstrate what is possible. Double octave bends, harmonic distortion, fantastically oddball beats, Black Francis' cockatoo-like vocals mollified by Kim's sexysweet vocals, all with a zesty latino hint, all in kooky 2-3 minute parcels of audio bliss. They are my favourite surfer/latino/surrealist/punk/space/pop band. An acquired taste but to this day, I can't ask for more.

I just got tickets to their Melbourne gig next March, and I just heard they are releasing a studio album after 19 years. Woohoot!

Here's a clip from their follow up album Bossanova. Aren't they cute! All fresh faced and optimistic. Nowadays they look overweight and bit hagged... a lot like me. The sound on the following vid is a bit awful. This is in fact the only 'official' filmclip the Pixies ever made, a 20 second clip of the band running through a quarry slowed down. It was always about the music.

hold my head
we'll trampoline
finally through the roof
on to somewhere near
and far in time
velouria