Hello again, it’s great to get some feedback on this blog.

In answer to one or two questions, yes The Cure will feature at some point soon. Go here if you just can’t wait.

Secondly, the photograph was not of myself and family member but of Aidan

Moffat and Malcolm Middleton of the aforementioned Arab Strap. When you click on the link you’ll recognise the photo.

I have been reading other blo

gs – do this, it’s great seeing just where you end up, and see what you come across. Following a link yes

terday on the Hype Machine which is installed to the right of this, led me to a french website, which has some great stuff on it. (My French is not up to understanding it all, but that is nobody’s fault but mine.) This in turn led me to discover a fantastic band I had never heard of before called Canasta. If you like The Arcade Fire or Belle and Sebastian, these should tickle your palette. Apparently they have also played with The Delgados (RIP) and Clap your Hands Say Yeah.

Their cover of Kraftwerk’s The Mod

el is fantastic, taken from an EP call

ed Find the Time which apparently has sold out. They also have completed an album called We were Set Up and there are plenty more tracks posted on the website. Go and check these out.

Canasta – The Model.mp3
Canasta-Slow Down Chicago.mp3
Canasta – Impostors.mp3a

>

You can buy Canasta music here

And to the people who said that they didn’t want to become boring old Radio 4 type farts (nothing wrong with that!), check the following out too:

!!!-‘Hello? Is This Thing On?.mp3’

!!! -or Chk Chk Chk as they were known when I worked in a record store (NB your iPOD WON’T file them under C!), hail from New York. They are fantastic, go check ’em out.

This is from their album ‘Louden Up Now.’ Remember: go and buy it if you like it.

Finally, Yo La Tengo have a new album out on September 4 (September 12 for those in America, apparently) called ‘I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass.’ That’s us told, then. Anyway, whether or not you have ever heard them, give this a listen. And go and buy the album when it comes out (have just checked Amazon; they don’t have a listing for it at the moment). (The compilation ‘Prisoners of Love’ is a great place to start if you like what you hear).

Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair.mp3

For anyone who’s been following this blog as it has developed, you will notice that

the links on the righthand side, both to other blogs and bands has grown. I know that there’s not many

bands there – and some people will argue they’re obvious

(?!). As before…the best things come to those who wait (nearl

y put a link to Guin

ness there, thought better of it).

What I am now going to do is to encourage you to check out some music by a very fine Scottish band; Arab Strap. (Legend has it that one of the band’s Grandmother’s suggested t

hat they change their name to Central Belt as they’re from Falkirk. Bless).

‘The Love Detective’ is from 2001’s The Red Thread, while ‘Who Names The Days?’ is from 2003’s ‘Monday At The Hug And Pint.’ Remember: if you like them, go and buy the albums, whether it’s f

rom Amazon or an independent record store, or a high street store.

Arab Strap – The Love Detective. mp3
Arab Strap – Who Named the Days? mp3

This post kinda flows of from yesterday’s…
There’s many things I like about living in Edinburgh, Scotland. I like the fact that the weather isn;t usually unpleasantly hot, an

d when you get those rare,

warm days you can wander around the meadows. There’s fantatsic pubs and places to go for coffee (my favourite street in the whole of Edinburgh is Cockburn Street, which links the Royal Mile to the station). I like the fact that there’s a decent bus service, and I didn’t have to need to buy a car for ages (until I had to do a teaching placement at a fairly grotty place about twenty miles outside of Edinburgh).

Edinburgh’s music scene is always accused of being inferior to Glasgow’s, but there’s been plenty of great bands over the years -Fire Engines, Josef K, Idlewild (actually I used to work with Roddy W

oomble’s sister, not long after I first arrived), Aberfeldy, the Prats, X-vectors, Jesse Garon and the Desperados (and Shirley Manson’s from here too, even if the rest of Garbage are from the US)…just to pick a few out of thin air. The Venue has, alas, closed – but I saw some great bands here. Funnily enough, I seemed to see a lot of bands here supporting wh

o would go on to eclipse the headliners… The Upper Room supported Easyworld, and The Kaiser Chiefs supported The Ordinary Boys in

2004, and the following year I saw the Kooks supporting the Dead 60s (wasn’t blown away by the Kooks at the time, but both my girlfriend and I have now decided we like ’em after all).

I’m rambling…there’s some fantastic record shops – I worked in at least three of them before I gave up my discount to become a teacher. Wandering into one of them to buy The Pipettes album today, I got chatting with the person serving me. (Record shop and person shall remain as nameless as possible – I don’t want t be held responsible for someone getting stalked across the net). Anyway, in a shamele

ss attempt to promote this blog I swapped blogsite addresses with them.

The band is called Guantanamo Bay, which will no doubt be too political for some, but I think worth hearing. They’re unsigned, but go h

ere and download three tracks.

The Pipettes album is out Monday July 17, and I can’t wait!

This release has been much heralded across the blogs, and I can’

t actually post any tracks from it here. What i can recommned, though, is that people check the following websites to hear a little more about the Pipettes. Obviously; remember, that mp3s are frequenty just posted for promotional purposes, and if you download: SUPPORT THE ARTISTS INVOLVED!

like flies on sherbert has some acoustic

tracks by the band.

The Torture Garden has some b-sides by the band. Certainly I HAVE to admire band w

ho put out two 7″s for

their songs. If you’re gonna multi-format, do it on vinyl, dammit!

Also at myspace/gwenno Gwenno from the band has two mighty fine tracks of her to download. Definitely point your browser here as well. These are great!

What you need to do now is go and buy the album if you like it. You could go here or go and support your local independent record store

.

What I probably should have put in my post yesterday is that one thing you would almost certainly be able to track would be my attempts to learn how to Blog.

I’m still working out how to put things like links and mp3s etc.. up here so be patient.

May I suggest that while I try and work out how to get certain links on here you look at some of the following blogs:

Spoilt Victorian Child

Dance To The Sun

Silence Is A Rhythm Too

Indie mp3 – Keeping C86 Alive!

An Idiots Guide To Dreaming

The Number One Songs In Heaven

Badminton Stamps

I Am Fuel, You Are

Friends

Another Form of Relief

Hello to whoever is reading this. You’ve almost certainly been given this url by me – or someone who knows me, welcome anyway!

FAQ (or question

s you might ask)
Q. Why ’17seconds’?
A.1. 17 seconds is the na

me of The Cure’s second album and The Cure are my favourite band of all time (alright, so The Cure’s second album was Seventeen Seconds, not 17 seconds- but if you’re going to come on my blog and split hairs, you can go away).
A.2. I once ran a club night called ‘Seventeen Seconds.’ If I ever have time, I may just do it again.
A.3. It’s my blog.
A.4. …Why not?

Q. What is 17 Seconds a blog about? The Cure?
A. It mi

ght be. If I chose to post on The Cure. It’s fair to say: it will probably largely be about music. Other things that might be covered include: Films, books, politics, education, rants, cats and dogs, football and recipes. (Those last two are unlikely, by the way).

Q. You said this woul

d be a blog about music! I can’t find

any music on here!
A. Because this is my first blogging post, and I am still figuring out how to do it. Wait.

Q. Do you wear Lederhosen?
A. I’m an Englishman living in Scotland. If I wore a kilt, people might assume I was an American tourist.