Basement Crates: Discovery 6

Spiritualized: Run (Dedicated, 1991)

Me and Silvana went to see Spritualized's Jason Spaceman doing an acoustic show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last week and he was, well, brilliant.

The last time I'd seen him, we had only just met and afterwards I fell in a cab - properly gig drunk - and raced straight round to her flat in Camberwell where I got her out of bed and we drank vodka and smoked cigarettes and played records loudly.

This time I drove and we went back to our house, paid the baby-sitter, watched a bit of telly and went to bed. That's life, right there, that is.


I didn't think I'd actually ever see this clear vinyl 7" again. I was convinced I'd lent it to someone, or just lost it in one terrible move or other. But there it was, hidden behind a Blood Uncles LP.

I interviewed Jason in a bar in Shoreditch once. Mindful of his reputation as the needle-slinging wild-man of space-rock I put on my best Serious Rock Bloke demeanour and prepared for the worst.

In reality, he couldn't have been any nicer. We laughed our heads off once or twice and smoked fags and talked about wives and work and all that sort of stuff. I actually had to tell him to shut it, get up and leave because I was off to a gig in Brighton - The Avalanches, not really worth it in retrospect - and, like the charming bloke he clearly is, Jason said we'd catch up on the phone another day.

Of course we didn't. But it doesn't matter.

Bonus Post

Tortoise: Whitewater (Soul Static Sound, 1995)

I heard this on a CD compilation recently, but [*assumes achingly dull nerd persona*] this original Soul Static Sound vinyl version is actually improved by its collections of soft pops and clicks. They are perfectly in context.

I went to see Tortoise the first time they ever played in England. It was upstairs at The Garage. I remember it being incredibly good, but upstairs at the garage was also doing some full-on drinks promotion that night, so my strongest memory is of a room full of jazz-bearded nonces bobbing their heads to Ry Cooder and me not being able to see straight.

Next week in Things I Did Fifteen Years Ago I'll recall the hilarious time I had a haircut inspired by a film starring Keanu Reeves.

No, really.