{"id":2706,"date":"2009-09-22T20:59:17","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T19:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/?p=2706"},"modified":"2012-03-10T17:25:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-10T17:25:40","slug":"the-curse-of-the-giant-paw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/the-curse-of-the-giant-paw\/","title":{"rendered":"The curse of the Giant Paw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"730\" height=\"411\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ekWeg5BeQrY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve only mentioned <strong>Giant Paw<\/strong> in passing previously, because it&#8217;s too <em>hard<\/em> writing about mates&#8217; bands. On the one hand you want to big them up, but on the other you feel a duty to remain objective (which is impossible at the best of times, but especially with your friends). Ooh, the emotional turmoil of being an obscure blogger!<\/p>\n<p>So a few years ago there was talk of rehearsals and plans and schemes and suchlike. And then there was a first gig at the Rough Trade Shop in Covent Garden (now gone) and&#8230; several other gigs. And slowly it all seemed to come together. I remember suddenly realising at a gig in that dive bar under Highbury tube station that the band were actually now Officially Brilliant and not just an excuse to get pissed and jig about with a bunch of people I have known for well over a decade (two decades in some cases).<\/p>\n<p>Then they conjured up some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.discogs.com\/label\/Feral+Electronics\" target=\"_blank\">perfectly conceived limited CD singles<\/a> with beautiful silk-screened artwork. And now an album.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/starscoverforadvertcopy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2708\" title=\"starscoverforadvertcopy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/starscoverforadvertcopy.jpg\" alt=\"starscoverforadvertcopy\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I suppose Giant Paw is in the tradition of woozy English psychedelia &#8211; but it&#8217;s not exactly <em>proggy<\/em>. It isn&#8217;t really my field, but I think there&#8217;s more of a punky undercurrent with a splash of yer Krautrock on those long driving pieces. I guess this connects with what I was trying to write about with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/the-tenth-gig-i-can-remember-going-to\/\" target=\"_blank\">Psychic TV<\/a> piece recently.<\/p>\n<p>Lyrically there is a twisted whimsy &#8211; &#8220;Mosquito&#8221; reports on a domestic argument with an insect, whilst &#8220;Flood&#8221; is a dreamlike voyage in a trapped car which is floating through a city &#8211; JG Ballard style. The Paw roped in Cramer (of Bongwater fame) to produce some of the tracks on the album, but they seem just at home tweaking tunes in a studio behind Stoke Newington station, roping in any passing friends and acquaintances to lend a hand.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe I don&#8217;t need to be objective now we are in web 2.0 &#8211; hopefully you&#8217;ve already checked the youtube video at the top and can see where I&#8217;m coming from.<\/p>\n<p>If you need more <em>right now<\/em>, check these links:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.roughtrade.com\/site\/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&amp;sku=310414\" target=\"_blank\">Order the album from Rough Trade (looks like they also have some of the limited editions left!).<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/The-Stars-Are-Ours\/dp\/B001SS1O0I\/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1253515198&amp;sr=8-3\" target=\"_blank\">Or download via corporate overlords Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/giantpaw\" target=\"_blank\">check the Giant Paw myspace for more listening and info<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve only mentioned Giant Paw in passing previously, because it&#8217;s too hard writing about mates&#8217; bands. On the one hand you want to big them up, but on the other you feel a duty to remain objective (which is impossible at the best of times, but especially with your friends). Ooh, the emotional turmoil of &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/the-curse-of-the-giant-paw\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;The curse of the Giant Paw&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5115,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions\/5115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncarved.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}