Assistant

@assistant

Jonathan tweeting. Assistant make lovely jangle pop from Brighton: Felt/Yo La Tengo/Stereolab etc. CERTAIN MEMORIES is our masterpiece; our new single is FLOWERS. Fanzines available; radio show Sundays 7pm on Untidy Radio.

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Assistant@assistant· 4d

Good morning from the Dordogne, where everything is gold and green, the same colour as Pavement songs.

The Dordogne at Carsac-Aillac at 7am on Saturday 8th August 2026

Assistant@assistant· 5d

A small tent-recorded song from our campsite by the Loir and a video of me walking around with a glass of wine! Happy summer holidays x

Assistant@assistant· 5d

Sat on a bridge looking at the Loir just up the road from my little campsite in the town of La Flèche, having been to collect supplies from the Carrefour. Seemed mad to not stop and listen to ‘Capo’ by The Sweetest Ache, so that’s what I’m doing.

Assistant@assistant· 5d

A Kinksy 2 from our campsite in Loire Valley. Very much a first take : as I sit and work it out

Assistant@assistant· 6d

Going to give this a go seeing as Chad did such a good job of it. Answers in subsequent tweets

Assistant@assistant· 11d

It’s a big thumbs up to Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds: a lovely homecoming gig less than a hundred metres from where I live. Had the crowd in the palm of his band! Plus Kylie!

Nick Cave live in Preston Park, Brighton

Nick Cave live in Preston Park, Brighton - and mushroom cloud, right.

It’s Kylie!! In Brighton. Got to be a banker for Pride tomorrow surely?

Assistant@assistant· 13d

A debut short film by my son, 6. It is called “Splat Man”. Worth having the sound on.

Assistant@assistant· 20d

Determined to improve my off-by-heart memory of our shonky endearing little back catalogue; all the songs on This World Could Be So Much Fun have so many chords.

Assistant@assistant· 24d

This article on zines by @msclairebiddles.bsky.social is a fantastically useful read and a treasure trove! Very happy to be featured along some wonderful zines. I sent the paper this pic but they didn’t have space to use it. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Just some of the wonderful zines on the scene, including my own IN THE APRIL SUN

Assistant@assistant· Jul 8

Here’s Pete slip-sliding between Assistant’s Raking Leaves and Pulp’s Babies

Assistant@assistant· Jul 7

Philip Whalen

Treading Water. Backing & Filling.

Here beyond the Hogback I fling myself into the creek
Water not quite chest high, cold and fast
I let the breeze dry me and all of you on this page Written in the sun where big spiders play on the rocks Big black butterfly with cream edged wings investigates What is the justice of any claim? Which Real, which
"allowable"?
What I want is to get loose; not to claim or be claimed, Falling elegantly over the rocks into the creek and gone Silent, living, moving; sometimes roar, bubble, splash White, clear, dark smooth, move.
I said once before, "Wet is comfort." Probably I'm too fishy to be a seagull;
More likely a walrus or sealion.

Here is one specific contentment: shade beside a rapids A little fall cascading down the opposite rocky bank
Fountains of the Boboli Gardens I doubt that I'll ever visit This leaves all Italian gardens wonderful imaginary eleganc
What the designer imagined but didn't get.

How to explain that everything is unimaginably splendid And horrible? Or that my life at this moment is enormous Satisfying and dreadful?
Who can resist replying, "So what else is new you got flow In the ass?" (O Spring, &c &c!)
& I, "Why ain't you glad I should be feeling wonderful?" & you, exasperated, "NATURALLY you're happy-you a heartless
And haven't a single brain in your head!"

I grow fatter and fatter and fatter, like the ox who wanted To be a frog. He bought a tight green suit and went to sit On a lilypad. One croak and the buttons flew off; two croaks And the trousers burst; three croaks and the lilypad sank The whole project a failure

What does the naked man say. Hot and cold, wet and dry, rough and
Smooth. Things are variously colored but that seems an impertinent
Fact. The wind is warm and dry. Lots of my skin Is still wet.

The shadow of the naked man says, "You are too fat, even if you
Stand with both hands on top of your head." The shadow of a Young man with a round head and big ears; it doesn't know How old it is.

In order to be calm and mellow
One must take time to find out what it is and practice it So that when the atmosphere becomes busy and buggy, everybody
Rushing about, seeking who to blame for the confusion They are so industriously creating...
Calm mellowness may not be necessary to me
But will be there for other folks to enjoy-supposing anybody In all the world is interested in these commodities.
The noisy creek reminds me of silk weaving looms in Kyoto.

Tassajara
6-7:11I:79

Assistant@assistant· Jul 7

Glorious heat-wave evening in lovely sunny Brighton. (Actually, it’s Hove, but that’s off brand).

Sat outside the Wick Inn reading Philip Whalen

Garden Cottage #1

Chill morning moonlight garden by Douanier Rousseau
Some weird bird or animal cries at 3 A.M.
Lost, meaningless, wild.
Temporarily the moon-window in the sleeping loft
Composes a picture of mountains and tree tops
In the Chinese taste, although an edge of the roof cuts a chord
Out of the circle.
If I should die the picture would decompose
The window just be a hole in a wall
The mountains would be someplace else
This probably is all about a poem I wrote sixteen years ago.

Tassajara
September-October 1977

Assistant@assistant· Jul 5

Library haul, 5 July. Absolutely splendid sunny day on the Sussex Uni campus at Falmer.

Four library books arranged in a neat two-by-two grid on dry, sunlit grass.

At the top left is Philip Whalen: Enough Said: Poems 1974–1979, a cream cover with a bold orange title panel.

Top right is All This Every Day by Joanne Kyger, with a black-and-white photograph of a woman sitting beneath a large tree.

Bottom left is Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan, featuring a sepia-toned photograph of two people standing by a stream.

Bottom right is Recollections of My Life as a Woman by Diane di Prima, showing an upside-down black-and-white photograph of a woman reclining indoors.

Assistant@assistant· Jul 1

One last song as I’m up late baking and am in a good mood. This might be the best little pop song in my catalogue of misses!

Assistant@assistant· Jul 1

A true story at my kitchen table (plus some bum notes)

Assistant@assistant· Jun 27

In a pub in Huntingdon with my dad and the man at the next table is explaining that he’s a bassist & will play with anyone EXCEPT Paul Heaton because he couldn’t play “that sort of music”. I admit to being slightly confused.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 25

Mounted our home-made street library at the end of our path! Stop by, Brighton dwellers!

We built this little street library from a metal idea box - very pleased with it; our painting is the South Downs via Provence

Assistant@assistant· Jun 22

Every now and again Pete sends me a song title and tells me to write a song. Found this in the archive, with the corresponding song (dates from 2022). on.soundcloud.com/raO4RDesgk93...

Pete requesting I write a song called ‘If You Were A Statue (I Would Tear You Down)’ back in 2022. I did give it a go!

Assistant@assistant· Jun 21

Art project day here - new mini street library for our road here in Brighton.

Lydia proudly helps decorate the street-library cabinet, touching the painted landscape on the door while Alison looks on hoping the worst can be averted

Alison carefully paints a colourful Provençal via The South Downs style landscape onto the front of a small metal cabinet, with paints and brushes spread out on the table beside her.

Alison and Lydia begin painting the little street-library cabinet together, adding the first pale-blue brushstrokes to the door before the landscape takes shape.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 15

Very happy to get new Autocamper and Tenniscoats releases through the post today! Got the latter on right now and it’s absolutely fantastic.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 14

Who do you love? (As best I remember it) Dsus2 Cmaj7 Em7 C6/9 Fmaj7 Em D7sus4 D7

Assistant@assistant· Jun 13

Just a few songs for David Hockney on the show tomorrow: 7pm on untidyradio.com and songs from Mark Lanegan, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Bob Dylan, The Television Personalities, Nico Muhly, David J, Vinny Peculiar, Henry Carlyle, Keith Christmas and The Happy Somethings.

This week's radio flyer features:
Santa Monica Boulevard, 1978-80
Collection The David Hockney Foundation. © David Hockney.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 11

Reuniting recently played records and their sleeves

A bunch of recently listened to records: Blur, Ghostface Killah, Stereolab, Radhika, Elastica and a couple of great comps - Jamaica Funk and Qat, Coffee and Qambus

Assistant@assistant· Jun 10

One of my favourite LPs of the year has arrived and Laurie and Lydia are excited. Seeing Radhika on Sunday at the Betsey Trotwood, anyone else going?

Lydia and Laurie holding the splendid new LP by Radhika.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 10

Trying to work on Assistant stuff at the moment which means I find it hard to listen to other indie pop stuff!!

Alt text: Screenshot of a Last.fm weekly album chart showing heavy listening to Brazilian, Jamaican, Venezuelan and other international records while Assistant are recording and mixing. Top of the list is Milton Nascimento’s Clube Da Esquina with 67 scrobbles, followed by Sylvia Telles, Soul Jazz’s Venezuela 70 Vol. 2, Chico Buarque, The Upsetters, Cedric “Im” Brooks, Novos Baianos and Astrud Gilberto, with Boards of Canada, The Style Council and De La Soul also appearing. A week of seeking distraction and refuge in warm, far-flung sounds while the new record takes shape.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 9

More Gary Snyder. Lope getting in on the action.

GOOFING AGAIN
Goofing again
I shifted weight the wrong way flipping the plank end-over dumping me down in the bilge & splatting a gallon can of thick sticky dark red italian deck paint
over the fresh white bulkhead. such a trifling move & such spectacular results. now have to paint the wall again & salvage only from it all a poem.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 8

Last nights radio show is up on Mixcloud now if you wanna check out a bit of it. Lots of nice songs! www.mixcloud.com/jonathanship...

Assistant@assistant· Jun 7

There are two kinds of poets - the cagoule-wearers and the kimono-wearers: as you can see from the pic below, he was v much in the latter camp. Never get stuck up a mountain with a cold man in a kimono, poet or not.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 7

A second bit of poetry tonight on #FreshIngredients - Gary Snyder reads a bit less of a dick than Kerouac et al to me now; the beat poet of the melancholy mountain wilderness.

Lay down these words
Before your mind like rocks.
placed solid, by hands
In choice of place, set
Before the body of the mind
in space and time:
Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall
riprap of things:
Cobble of milky way,
straying planets,
These poems, people,
lost ponies with
Dragging saddles—
and rocky sure-foot trails.
The worlds like an endless
four-dimensional
Game of Go.
ants and pebbles
In the thin loam, each rock a word
a creek-washed stone
Granite: ingrained
with torment of fire and weight
Crystal and sediment linked hot
all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.

Assistant@assistant· Jun 7

By the last verse with its vivid frenzy of images, we are in true backstreet noir. No more talk of “we” — but the narrator escapes before blackout. Flee!! The memory of a bloodied body in a tin bath! Thoughts of a mountain tarn! Yikes; such a good song!