wiaiwya - it's the taking part that counts

Town Bike - Tour de Force (Cycling)

2012-03-21T08:00:00.004-07:00

Town Bike are that perfect Ramones, Runaways, Ronettes hybrid, the soundtrack of a montage directed by John Hughes

Sool - Handball! (Handball)

2012-03-14T05:04:00.001-07:00

Sool is Kevin Quinn, Neal Spaulding, and Pete Weiss. These "sool brothers" have been recording and making music together for over a quarter century. After some serious introspection, they decided it best to call upon some of their friends to share the blame. The result is a sporadic collective of top-notch musicians and artists known as "Friends of Sool". FOS consists of John Clarke, Mercy James, Ken Lafler, Inverse Room, Jeff Norcross, Scott McCall, Rich Gilbert, Michael Quinn, Mark Weaver, Jeff Mellin, Peter Linnane, Erich Groat, and many others whose inspiration, friendship and support provide rocket sandwiches in the form of musical creativity

Handball! is POP fun in OVERDRIVE!

"When Sool was invited to create a song about the great sport of handball, we became giddy with fond memories of sunny, late 70's afternoons spent wacking a soft rubber ball against a brick wall. Sort of a "poor man's racquetball, without the racquet." Good times! But... what's this? We quickly discovered that we, as Yanks, were only familiar with the American version of handball! And that there existed many other permutations of the game, worldwide! Turns out that the type of handball played in the Olympics is ultra-cool, mile-a-minute, don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-something great fun! And it does not involve a brick wall! Our music and sport worlds are richer places now -- ALL HAIL OLYMPIC HANDBALL!"
written/composed/produced by Sool
recorded & mixed by Pete Weiss at Verdant Studio, Athens VT

The Leaf Library - Badminton House (Badminton)

2012-03-07T04:19:00.020-08:00

the Leaf Library are an ACTUAL dream, a kraut folk dream of pastoral machines, and mechanical pastors, like blueboy playing hallogallo on a picnic... dreamy...

Some facts about Badminton and our song: Badminton was brought back to Britain in the mid-eighteenth century by retired military officers from India. The sport gets its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, although no one really knows why. Even on the internet. Anyway, that's what the lyrics are about. To get in the zone for making the drum track, Lewis sat and watched online clips from badminton matches. No one knows if he wore a sweatband or even warmed-up properly. I haven't played badminton for years and, whilst admittedly good exercise, our sessions at school were mainly used for hitting shuttlecocks at Ben Allen. The biggest section by far on the Wikipedia badminton page is titled 'Deception'.

Written by The Leaf Library, recorded and mixed by Lewis Young
Gareth Jones: bass
Kate Gibson: vocals
Lewis Young: drum progamming, guitar
Matt Ashton: guitar, keyboard

the Libero - the Regal Drug (Volleyball)

2012-02-29T02:16:00.035-08:00

the Libero is Scott Amore, owner operator of Inner Space Sound labs and keyboard player for the Butterflies of Love (more about them to follow)... the Regal Drug is haunting, lo-fi, atmospheric and pslightly-delic...

Freedom,

Holyoke, Massachusetts circa 1895, the birthplace of Volleyball.

Libero is an Italian word meaning "free".
When we played that game in school, we felt free.
I don't know why we loved the game so much, maybe it was a break from the rigors of school life?
or, bright gymnasium lights and bump-set-spikes.
yet, there was no Libero in said school age matches.

But now!

now this part should be read and/or sung aloud, as in stadium chant style.

The Libero - is a defensive specialist;

The Libero - Remains in the game at all times.

The Libero - is not limited by rules of rotation.
The Libero - replaces the middle blocker position

The Libero - never rotates to the front row himself.
The Libero - Is chosen by the team before the match

The Libero - remains the libero for the entire match
The Libero - Wears a different color jersey than the rest of the team

The Libero - fosters more digs and rallies

The Libero - makes the game more exciting.

The Libero - is a defensive specialist.

- the regal drug.

MassiveAnneFrank - Transition (Triathlon)

2012-02-22T10:00:00.044-08:00

MassiveAnneFrank is a triathlete and musician... both are mysteries to me, but for different reasons...

“The sun is up but we can barely call it morning. The lake is still and hides the pain its about to deliver. I lube my ankles and wrists in an attempted to squeeze into a wetsuit that seems 3 sizes too small. A fellow competitor joins in the game and battles with the back length zip. Breathing is hard now, the rubber squeezing the life out of your lungs. We stand on the pier and look into the dark glass mirror...

All is still…

The siren goes and we hit the water. The lake erupts like a cement mixer, arms and legs everywhere. No time for manners here. A kick. A punch. This is all part of the race. I push on trying to get into my stroke… 1,2,3 breath, 1,2,3,breath. My mind is already on the bike. I will myself through the water and the exit ramp is closing. Out of the lake and I pull the zip down my back and begin to take the wet suit from my shoulders and arms as I ran to transition. This is the heart of the race. Wins are made and losers fall. Transition. Wet Suit off and Bike shoes on. Helmet and glasses. On. I take my bike off the rack and run pushing it by the saddle to the transition exit. Over the line and jump on the saddle. I can see competitors in front of me and I quickly slip down onto my aero-bars and begin to up the revs. Head down only looking up to see if I’m closing. I pass one… another… My legs are burning and I have already forgot about the pain in my arms from the lake. 1 lap down……..three to go…..I push on. 1 mile becomes the next. I see the entrance to transition and dismount, running with my bike to the racks. I rack my bike and throw my helmet on the ground. Bike shoes off and trainers on. 2nd time through the exit of transition and this is the final push. My legs feel tired but the aching is different to before. I grab a drink from aid station, 2 sips and dash it to the side of the road. Its not far now. I stride on, left over right over left, my breathing is quickening now and I can see the finish clock. The seconds tick down….closer…closer.

I collapse over the line.”

Flotation Toy Warning - the Buoys Are Back In Town

2012-02-17T11:50:00.001-08:00

Flotation Toy Warning returned from the Arctic in 2001to make beautiful and slightly skewed MELODY... their debut album, The Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck (2004), was full of twinkles, drops, gasps, wheezes, wooshes, parps, breaks, shuffles, swoons and TUNES... TONS of TUNES... so many in fact, it's not surprising it has taken 8 years to make the follow up, due this autumn... in the meantime MARVEL at their Canoe & Kayak song - the BUOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN:

Flotation Toy Warning - The Buoys Are Back In Town

'Canoeing and kayaking was introduced into the Olympics at some point and is about going fast in very thin rowing boats that go forwards instead of backwards, without sinking or anything. And both oars are on the same stick.

None of us have actually ever been canoeing, although some of us did touch a canoe once, and gave it a quick sniff when we thought no-one was looking.

In the weeks prior to writing this tune we whiled away many hours sat in the bath with buckets on our heads, whilst holding a broom handle with both hands.

It really enabled us to get into the mindset of the canoeist, as is unmistakably evident from the swirling, frothy tones of 'The Buoys Are Back In Town'.

Can you see what we did there? Great.

Enjoy...'

wiacd2012 it's the taking part that counts flyers have gone to manufacture

2012-02-16T00:07:00.002-08:00

wiacd2012 - flyer

DJ Downfall - Shoot It Shoot It (Hit Me Again)

2012-02-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

DJ Downfall has been on the label for 15 years now, made two great albums, and has been working on the third since 2007 (next time you see him remind him to finish it off would you?)... one of the reasons it's taking so long is that last year he took up archery (so he knows what he's talking about)... despite what he says, don't hit him again...

"I shoot. I try and shoot every morning in my house.

I have a stack of foam a metre on each side, known as a boss, which sits outside in the yard and gets rained on. Every morning that I can I drag it inside, put it by my living room wall, and attach a target face with pins; sometimes the familiar ten-ring FITA targets with a gold and an X-ring in the centre; sometimes an offset trio of small targets known as a Vegas three-spot. I usually leave the bow assembled in the cellar, ready and taut and sighted. I attach the long rod, a stick with weights on the end intended to bring the centre of gravity forward and reduce the torque that can come from the hand.

My bow is partly made from wood, but it's mostly made from drop forged aluminium alloy, high impact plastics, Dacron, steel, magnets, carbon and composites and God knows what else. It measures sixty-eight inches from beautiful curving tip to beautiful curving tip. The recurve of the limbs (the parts that bend and store the power) is the graceful genius of man expressed in elegant modern form. To deliver energy as efficiently as possible, to focus the power of the slow arm onto a fast single point. A bow is an expression of what it is to be human; not the fastest, not with terrible teeth or claws or poison to hunt and defend, but with a big brain and opposable thumbs and imagination. What I have in my hand is the culmination of what happened when some hungry Paleolithic man pulled on a sapling tree, watched it snap back fast, and wondered.

Taking all this into account, I stand in my kitchen with my feet side on to the hallway. I pick up one of my arrows, twenty inches of tungsten, aluminium and plastic rather than flint, wood and feathers. The notch at the back, known as a nock, clicks gently onto the string as the shaft sits on a tiny steel rest. I raise the bow, letting the handle push into the webbing of my relaxed left hand, and grip the string with three fingers of my right hand, covered with a leather tab. I swing up and let the sight settle, and start the draw, trying to control; to use my back. At full draw, nineteen and a half inches, there is about twenty eight pounds of weight on my fingers. The longbows they recovered from the Mary Rose had draw weights varying between ninety and one hundred and eighty pounds in weight.

I anchor underneath my chin, pushing the string onto the tip of my nose. Find the gold. The release should be just that. Loose. Let go. Relax. Do nothing. My bow will propel an arrow at around one hundred and seventy feet per second, the huge recurves they use in the Olympics for the 70m distance will do nearly double that. In about one-sixth of a second, the arrow leaves the rest, bending and fishtailing with the excess energy and strikes the target eight and a half metres away. I repeat, and repeat, exploring my concentration, the connection between my mind and my muscles and this beautiful technology, the human spirit: condensed, graceful, lethal.

Anyway, never mind all that. This is a love song"

written, performed and produced by DJ Downfall

Fox - Behind Enemy Lines (Modern Pentathlon)

2012-01-31T13:22:00.000-08:00

well, of course the fifth posting for It's The Taking Part That Counts HAD to be Modern Pentathlon; Simon Fox's Behind Enemy Lines; gentle, warm, melancholy folk of the finest kind

"The Modern Pentathlon is one of the more enigmatic Olympic events, with its own romanticised mythology. It was invented by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games. He called it the Modern Pentathlon to distinguish it from the Ancient Pentathlon in which ancient Greeks competed at five events that were considered the skills for the ideal soldier. Coubertin updated it to mirror the ideal of a 19th century cavalry soldier and the events reflect a mythical story of a Napoleonic solder caught behind enemy lines: to deliver an urgent dispatch, he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight with pistol and sword, swim, and run.

I figured this would be as good a place to start as any, especially when I learnt of the English Admiral of the Fleet and scourge of Napoleon's forces, John Jervis. This was a name-drop too good to miss! To reflect the theme of five events, the song is in 5/4 time, contains 5-line verses covering each of the events (with a victory lap refrain at the end...) and comes in at exactly 5 minutes long! I love it when a plan comes together..."

written, recorded, played and sung by Simon Fox.

original artwork, Ruth Green. Layout, Simon Fox.

One Fathom Down - Exodus (Shooting)

2012-01-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

who are these mysterious men in black?... The psychosurf love child of a dirty three way between Dick Dale, Poison Ivy and Link Wray was born on the sixteenth day of the sixteenth month of the sixteenth year, and grew into the mutated sixteen fingered beast seen only in the echo of the catacombs one fathom down below the Rendezvous Ballroom.

"We like the idea of shooting. Ties in nicely with the guitar don't you think? We're far from "hip young gunslingers" but if Bo Diddley can be one then why not us? When they make 'Firing Silver Bullets fom a Loaded Guitar" an Olympic event we'll be rushing straigh to the front of the queue." - Dan Down

well Dan, you might be interested in Slumber Party Massacre 2

Written by Ernest Gold (from the 1960 film of the same name starring Paul Newman.)

Recorded by Ellis Gardiner at his studio in north London, and mixed by Tony at Tony's Place

Jeff Mellin - Hit Me! (Boxing)

2012-01-15T23:27:00.000-08:00

Jeff Mellin has been around since time began, as a solo artist, a member of Miss Mary's band, one of the Eddies, a writer, an artist, a creative director, and an all round good guy... he is a brother, a son, a grandson, and has recentely added father to his list of achievements... he comes from Philadelphia, so knows more than most about boxing... despite what he says, don't hit him

Is it talking to you? Is it talking to you? Well it’s the only one here. It’s in this corner weighing in at 190 lbs. It’s supposed to take the fall in the fifth round. It’s gonna come out swinging and keep it clean. It floats and stings. It’s a lean mean grilling machine. It’s the heavy from the featherweight division. It’s a southpaw to a glass jaw. It fought the law and the law won by split decision. It ain’t a pretty picture: It’s on the canvas. It’s down for the count. It’s up against the ropes. It’s rope-a-dope. It’s a great white hope. It’s gonna need a bigger boat. It’s saved by the bell. It’s Howard Cosell. It’s Smokin’. It’s Marvelous. It’s Nonpareil. It’s a thrilla in Manila. It’s a rumble in the jungle. It’s so mean, it makes medicine sick. It’s gonna go the distance. It’s gonna fly now. Can it swim? With a name like Rock? It’s got the eye of the tiger, baby. It’s nibbling at your ear. It’ll be back before you can say “blueberry pie.” It don’t pull punches or hit below the belt. It pities the fool. It’s gloves are off. It’s Raging. It’s Iron. It’s Sugar. It falls harder when it’s bigger. It’s what a poor boy can do besides sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band. It killed Davey Moore. It’s the one the authorities came to blame. It’s laying out its winter clothes and wishing it was home, going home. It’s the Greatest, but Vietnam? It won’t go. It’s a million-to-one shot, a steady-cam TKO. Yo, Adrian, we did it. We did it, Adrian. Yo.

Hit Me!
Written, Performed and Recorded by Jeff Mellin
©2011 Jeff Mellin, Sweet Red Onion Publishing, BMI
www.jeffmellin.com

Alexander's Festival Hall - Judo (What We've Been Playing)

2012-01-14T01:44:00.000-08:00

we're sticking with the martial arts with Alexander's Festival Hall's Judo (What We've Been Playing), solid POP from a man with an impeccable pedigree... the Next AFH show (it would be crass to call it a gig) is on January 18th at 93 feet east... see you there

Judo was, of course, just one among many sports about which I knew next to nothing when I began this project. Aside from a passing and rather unsportsmanlike interest in the prospect posed by beach volleyball on the Mall (whose strange non-sequitur locational inclusion of "beach" momentarily sparked the possibility of other more interesting Olympic sports: supermarket fencing, nightclub wrestling, Westfield archery, etc. but I digress...) and despite living about 40 metres from the stadium, I hadn't actually been thinking about the Olympic events at all. A gammy leg as a child (in medical terms a rare condition where your leg decides on balance it could be doing so much better somewhere else...) was one among many factors in rendering sporty-athletic-speedy-lifty feats somewhat distant and dull, all red-faced competition and contestants you can't possibly have heard of. And yet faced with the delicious challenge of writing an uptempo sporting theme, the penny dropped that here, at last, was the perfect occasion to channel some JPOP in the name of a truly fine musical compilation. So, self and collaborator Yazuyo Uemura present for you ... "Judo (What We've Been Playing)". See you on the mat!

Written, arranged and produced by Alexander Mayor

Hacia Dos Veranos - The Way Of The Hand And The Foot

2012-01-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hacia Dos Veranos remain the world's most enigmatic and charasmatic band by following their Hangover Lounge release The Cat & Cucumber, about a cafe in Bermondsey, with The Way Of The Hand And Foot, a song about tae kwan do. Fans of Michael Head and the Strands, The Clientele and Felt - and everyone who's ever drawn the conclusion that Love's Forever Changes is one of the greatest albums - will love Argentina's Hacia Dos Veranos.

They're making their long-awaited return to the UK stage at the hangover lounge on January 22. It's going to be pretty special. In the meantime, have a listen to:

"my older brother used to do tae kwon do some good years ago and apparently he wasn't bad: he even earned second place in a tournament -something that, considering my family's sports record, ranks as one of the greatest accomplishments in our family history. i think this song should be a tribute to him and to all the older brothers in the world who had earned second place at a martial arts tournament, including the bad kid who got beaten by ralph macchio at the end of "the karate kid": he must have had younger siblings as well."

written by ignacio aguiló
recorded and mixed by diego martínez at estudio nomiresahora (buenos aires, argentina, 2011).

it's the taking part that counts

2012-01-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

it's the taking part that counts is a 26 track compilation album of indie, folk, pop, and electronica, celebrating 26 sports, to be released in 26 weeks time... in the build-up to the release you'll be able to hear each of the tracks on this blog, and to start us off here is the draft of the cover art...