Rent a Groupie

What Do I Do Now?

2009-07-20T19:46:00.003+01:00

Holla.

The end is nigh.

At the end of summer, I will no longer post on this here blog so, presumably, it will never see fresh words, attempts at sharp wit (and the subsequent failures) or ramblings about that-band-that-I-love-more-than-life,-yeah? again because NO ONE ELSE EVER POSTS ON HERE. Apart from Kirsty's recent Oxegen review, which you should all read. In effect, its all gone sour. No point in airing dirty laundry on here, but lets just say its not what it once was. The Rent a Groupie dream is done and dusted.

Anyway. That means we have exactly two months and a bit (September counts as summer because I'm a workshy student, mmkay?) to fill this to the rafters with exciting music and beautiful people aka the only two things I ever think about.

Today, we bring you a new Metronomy song concerning the departure of Gabriel Stebbing AND THUS combining my two main thought processes rather neatly. Yayz. What Do I Do Now? is beautiful, almost Knife-esque, like the come down from Nights Out. Mornings After, if you will. Try and make out the lyrics if you like, but don't fool yourself into thinking you can get far. This very nearly made me cry when it was unexpectedly unleashed near the end of the set at Glastonbury. I know, I know, I cry at anything but this is powerful stuff. It'll give you the chills everytime you think of it, let alone listen to it.

Listen here

In a nice inter-connected link, go listen to Stebbing's new band, which, I just relearned, features his BROTHER. I don't know how I didn't process this info months ago when I first read it but flicking through old issues of Kruger, I stumbled back upon that fact and was sent reeling. Amazing. Anyway, Billionaires is like pop gold. I defy you not to at least feel a little bit happy whilst listening to it. Also, at the 1:40ish mark, does anyone else get the urge to do some fight-poppy shouty backing vocals? No? Just me then. Meh. Still. I have just learnt that Your Twenties are playing at the Let's Wrestle album launch in Camden tonight which I was going to attend but now can't because a) I have no bus fare and b) I am ILL. Massively well gutted because now I have to wait until august 4th til I can see them again and I tell you this is not good. I am a YTaholic and I need a fucking fix. Sigh.

Yeah. So listen here and then go find them on twitter and laugh.

Oh yeah, finalement. New issue of Kruger out NOW! Yay.

BYE

Oxegen, 2009

2009-07-19T14:01:00.003+01:00

It seems like no time since Oxegen 2008; a festival whose offstage antics became shrouded in mystery and all of a sudden it was less about the music and more about the violence. It was these goings on, along with the rubbish credit crunch, that probably attributed to Oxegen falling well below the sell out mark this year. However, those who did attend were not going to let anything get in the way of their weekend away. It does, after all, only rear its naughty head once a year, may as well make the most of it, yeah?
Hmm...maybe not. Because, as I’m sitting here now, I too have fallen suit to the bad press of last year and credit crunched times of this year. Therefore, I did not attend the festival on the Friday. Shock horror and gasp, I know I missed Blur, and it pained me to do so, but part of me doesn’t really know if I would have wanted to see them reform anyway. I know this may sound a little naive, but in my head they were one of the greatest bands of their time, almost unattainable, and to see them now would perhaps taint my thoughts and memories a little. Excuses excuses...
So, I headed up to the festival on Saturday morning, the 11th of July, ready to catch as many bands that was humanly possible. Here are the snippets of what caught my eye, made me dance and provoked me to scream my lungs out...

Saturday 11th July

For some reason, the Saturday just wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be for me. There was a real sense of depression in the air, probably due to the fact that it rained pretty much the whole day. That didn’t stop me from seeing all the bands I wanted to, just put a bit of a dampener on everyone’s parade really.

Jamie Woon, Red Bull Music Academy Stage, 2pm
I have to admit, Jamie Woon was one of the only acts that I stayed to watch the entirety of. I was simultaneously entranced and engrossed by this boy, and what made the set even more special is that I don’t think he knows just how amazing and touching his music is. The beautiful melody of ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ acted as a poignant part of the set and the haunting harmonies of ‘Spirits’ echoed through the small crowd that had gathered. There was no band, no distractions and no gimmicks; which is something that can be hard to find these days.
I honestly cannot think of a more beautiful way to kick off my festival experience. If this guy doesn’t make it, there’s no hope for anyone. Shame on you if you missed it. As a friend of mine said “This isn’t Jamie Woon...this is Jamie Swooon.”

Passion Pit, Hot Press New Bands Stage, 6pm
I didn’t really know much about this band before going to see them. Of course, I’d heard the hype that they had created, but for some reason I never really stopped to take too much notice of it. If I hadn’t been dragged along by my friend I probably wouldn’t have gone. Thank goodness I was. Now I know what all the hype was about! Bursting onto the stage with a flurry of passion, these boys obviously knew how to party, and got the entire tent dancing; their hit single ‘Sleepyhead’ receiving the greatest reaction. Although with only half an hour to perform, it felt like their set was cut short.

Patrick Wolf, Hot Press New Bands Stage, 10pm
This is probably one of the funniest set line up’s that I have ever seen, and it was to Patrick as well “I’m not sure what to think of this...it’s good in a way, makes me feel young again, but after 7 years it’s a bit odd to be back on the New Bands stage!” This unfortunately only allowed him to have a small half an hour slot that weekend, but it didn’t stop him from doing what he does best. Strutting onto the stage in a large feathered coat, it’s really hard to take your eyes off Patrick, who really is such an intriguing character. Playing songs off the new album, as well as his new single ‘Hard Times’, Patrick really proved to the crowd just how amazing and talented he really is. Ending with his classic ‘The Magic Position’, the whole crowd sang along and a sense of awe filled the air. It all seemed to be over in a blink of an eye, yet the best things always do seem like that.

Sunday 12th July

Woke up on Sunday morning feeling a whole lot better! The mood from the previous day had been well and truly lifted and the sun was rearing its sleepy head from between the clouds. To be honest, I had seriously toyed with leaving the festival. This is no reflection on the bands; every single band I had been to see the previous day had been amazing, it was just the general mood of the festival. However, the seriously good line up of Sunday made me think otherwise...

Noisettes, Heineken Green Spheres Stage, 2.55pm
I was majorly excited about seeing Noisettes again, it had been quite a while. The first time I saw them was around three years ago as they made their way around the UK supporting Muse in their stadium tours. Obviously they’ve made their own mark since then, and I was really eager to see just how they had progressed. As I have said time and time again, Shingai is one of the most intriguing women in the music business and probably one of my all time heroines. She really is someone I look up to, not just because she has the most amazing voice I’ve ever had the privilege of delving my ears into, but also because of her brilliantly quirky fashion sense and the amazing and graceful way in which she conducts herself.
Opening with ‘Wild Young Hearts’, Noisettes quickly staked their claim to compete as being one of the best live bands of the day. Then, to really get the crowd going, Shingai lurched into one of their most famous songs to date, ‘Don’t upset the Rhythm’ with enough passion and flurry to feed the five thousand. By this stage the tent was surely completely packed out, and it was almost getting difficult to hear the strong vocals over the screaming lungs of the crowd (me along with everyone else!). As Shingai admitted that she loved the front row but just couldn’t see everyone at the back of the tent, she proceeded to get herself a closer view by climbing up the side of the stage, much to the amusement of the security who were quite frankly so excited they looked as if they might just wet themselves. Shingai stayed up there for quite some time, slinking around the side of the stage like a snake, but not looking uncomfortable or unsteady, just very natural, as she sang the beautiful lyrics to ‘Atticus’. The alluring rhythm of ‘Don’t Give Up’ again allowed the fans to remember just how brilliant Noisettes first album was too. Ending with ‘Never Forget You’, allowed the crowd to sing their lungs out to a familiar tune for the last time. I think the entire tent could have stayed there and listened the whole day.

White Lies, The o2 Stage, 5.10pm
Oh. My. God. I had heard a few things about this band and their live performances, but I’m so glad that I saved my judgement to see them live myself. And I’m glad I did that, but they were astounding. The anthem like ‘Farewell to the Fairground’ provoked the Irish crowd to scream their lungs out, and the incredibly emotional ‘Unfinished Business’, which gets me teary every time I hear it in record, managed to do the same thing live. The upbeat rhythm of ‘EST’ sent the crowd into orbit as they sang ‘I always hoped that I’d learn how to fly, In my dreams I’m there’. Absolutely breathtaking.

Friendly Fires, Heineken Green Spheres Stage, 5.15pm
Friendly Fires are just one of those bands that would manage to make even the world worst dancer go crazy to. Their strong rhythms and catchy lyrics are served up to the crowd on a bed of scrumptious beats that make them, quite frankly, irresistible. I got really quite depressed by the fact that I had managed to miss a good chunk of the set (bad time keeping, lack of a watch, not too good). I did, however, manage to walk in just as they played the, somewhat classic, ‘Paris’. ‘Every night, we’ll watch the stars, they’ll be out for us’, the band sang as the crowd were sent into some sort of fantastic trance.

Maccabees, Hot Press New Bands Stage,6pm
Again, poor planning and even worse time keeping meant that I missed the first song in Maccabees set, yet I still managed to push my way up to the front. The oddest thing about the Maccabees this weekend was where they had been selected to play...in the new bands tent? Maccabees are certainly not a new band, so it was a tad odd to see them up there. It also meant that they were only given a time of 30 minutes, which really wasn’t too good at all. Of course, the band excitedly played most of the songs from their new (and quite frankly amazing) second album, with ‘Can You Give It’, providing one of theme tunes to the weekend. The entire band seemed happy and content with the large crowd that had gathered. Ending with ‘Precious Time’, the band really knew how to make their mark on the weekend, however short the set managed to be. Watching the crowd walk out of their tent singing along to ‘Can You Give It’ with wide grins on their faces proves that Maccabees were one of the best bands of the weekend.

Foals, Heineken Green Spheres Stage, 6.30pm
This is coming from a person who doesn’t really like Foals that much. I don’t know if it was the atmosphere of the day or just some sort of doubt that lifted in my mind, but Foals really impressed me this weekend. ‘Cassius’ made me dance like a complete loon and I suddenly back in love with a band that I haven’t particularly liked for a few years. I take my hat off to you boys.

Of Montreal, Red Bull Music Academy Stage, 8.05pm
Probably one of my greatest surprises of the weekend, I felt like I was high on something incredibly strong the whole way through. I have to admit that I didn’t really know much about this band before coming to see them, so I was really impressed and at the end very excited to be able to say that I had witnessed it! With a number of characters joining the band and dancing to the songs, it was a bit like a comedy sketch that I just didn’t want to take my eyes off (ironically)! Quite frankly amazing, I don’t think I every danced so much in my life and, to be fair, I’m not really much of a dancer!

Glasvegas, Heineken Green Spheres Stage, 9.05pm
Again, Glasvegas were one of the acts I had been most looking forward to seeing over the course of the weekend, my wait was just slightly prolonged due to the fact that they were on pretty much last on the Sunday. Surprisingly, the tent was nowhere near as packed as I thought it might have been, probably because most of the crowd had buggered off to go and see Florence and the Machine (in what was probably the smallest tent I had ever seen). I knew I had definitely made the right choice though, as the almost uplifting rhythm of ‘Go Square Go’ got the crowds pulses racing as ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart that Makes Me Cry’ sent the sentiment back into everyone’s eyes. You could see that Glasvegas were enjoying this set and it managed to be one of the longest I had ever seen them play. I’m just glad I was there to witness it, because it was only last year at this very festival when I had literally been ten minutes late and missed the entire set. This surely made up for it. The emotive lyrics of ‘S.A.D. Light’ and ‘Geraldine’ nearly had me blubbing all over my friends; it was less depressing, more moving.
Ending with the incredibly emotional ‘Daddy’s Gone’, Glasvegas provided the perfect ending to a somewhat challenging weekend. I shed a bit of a tear and thousands of pieces of tape streamlined their way into the crowd. On that note, I left with a happy heart, knowing that I had just witnessed something truly amazing.

What about the rest?
Okay, so there were other bands that I went to see over the course of the weekend but somehow, everything I wanted to see clashed with something else, so a few tough decisions had to be made. I managed to catch a song or two or St. Vincent who was of course amazing as she played her hits from her newest album ‘Marry Me’. Unfortunately I also tried to steer clear of the Main stage, just because I prefer to be where the smaller bands are. I did however, manage to catch a fair chunk of Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were of course amazing, but Karen O’s voice just seemed a little drowned out on the big stage. I also caught most of Bloc Party’s set, which made me very happy considering that I am such a big fan! However, the intimacy just wasn’t there and I managed to be placed behind a huge t-shirt stall, so really didn’t get to see much. I also managed to catch around three songs by Regina Spektor, which were really astounding, including the sensational ‘Fidelity’. ‘You’re a really beautiful crowd, aren’t you?’ Why, thank you Regina. Bombay Bicycle Club also made quite a big impression as they played on the New Bands stage. Quite the spectacle, they sang their little hearts out to a very pleased crowd.Other than that, I literally cannot believe that Oxegen is over for another year. Again, rumours and speculation are floating around, including those of deaths and violence, but for some reason everything is clouded by this big sheet of mystery. Goodness knows what will happen to the festival; in the three years that I have attended there has been no real progression, and even a sense of regression at some points. Although the line up gets bigger and better every year and that is, of course, the most important part of the festival, there just seems to be something missing. Let’s just hope that the cloud can be lifted, and Oxegen festival can start breathing again once more.

2009-07-09T10:27:00.003+01:00

I am toying with the idea of splitting from RaG.

*bombshell*

Last night, after a Maccabees instore and Passion Pit sighting on Bishopsgate, I went to the newly re-opened Garage in Islington for a sort of album launch party in celebration of the release of Bombay Bicycle Club's debut album. Having only ever seen them at festivals (and an instore on Tuesday evening but its pretty much the same as a festival isn't it really? The crowd is never made up completely of dead-on hardcore fans of the band, usually mostly people who want to check them out but don't want to pay on the off-chance they don't like it), last night was my first proper Bombay headline show. I only got there in time to catch the last two songs of Bongo Fury's set but I liked what I heard. Go listen to them here. Thanks.

Anyway. Essentially, the show was one of the best I have seen all year and maybe ever. I'm not sure on that last point but what makes me think it might be is the fact I spent the whole bus journey home itching to write and making creative decisions for my magazine. Sadly, I have no internet access in my room at the moment so I couldn't act on this when I got in. All that thought and desire though was brought on as a result of watching BBC absolutely kill it under the hot stage lights. I think if something can inspire that much creativity and ambition within you then it must be pretty great, right? Right. And I can remember most shows that have had that effect on me, and there's not that many of them, relatively speaking.

I'm considering the name Thamesbeat. You know, like that ill-fated NME scene that all of the bands who were apparently involved with it completely denied the idea that there was such a scene? It seems quite appropriate. I moved to London for the music, all I ever used to dream about was living in London for the music. I don't know. Good name? I'm awful at coming up with names for things. Comments would be welcome. Ta. Anywho. Why not just make a hard copy of RaG? Er, because no one takes us seriously under this moniker. And I very much want people to take me seriously please. Even if I don't, someone else should yes?

Finally. Flashguns new EP Matching Hearts Similar Parts is my new found favourite record of the moment. They're having a launch party tonight at Ginglik in Shepherd's Bush. You should go because I can't. I'm off to Ireland in a matter of hours for Oxegen festival, where upon my return I shall no doubt ramble on more about Bombay Bicycle Club. Sozzzz. xxx

Glastonbury 2009

2009-06-30T18:43:00.003+01:00

Ahoy, groupie renters. I write this from the box bedroom of my parents' house in Essex. Top floor, far right window as you look on us from the outside in. The curtains are closed or I would wave. Sorry about that. Anyway, now is the time for a break from catching up on giving the people who read my beloved Kruger free things. It seems summer is the time give things away. The sun makes us more generous souls, I believe. But yes. Not only this but it is also time for a post-Glastonbury analysis. A dissection of the good, the bad and the "do you know who I am?" brigade. My heart and mind remember the weekend just past as one of utmost excellence, although my feet and knees would tell you a rather different story, could they form words and that.

For the most part of the weekend, I wore a bright orange high-vis tabard. This was not a fashion statement, more an obligation should I wish to remain on site. I would like to tell you that Michael and Emily Eavis have introduced a Glastonbury law which says all festival goers must dress in such a way but alas, it was because I was working. Simultaneously raising money for charity, dancing like a psychiatric patient to new and old bands and making sure none of you blaggers and chancers got entry to the festival. Thank you Oxfam for letting me do so, although I would like to take back some of that thanks for making me work through both Maccabees sets. The cheek of it.

But. On to the more important matter of who I did see. The highlights of this seemingly endless list were as follows:

Two Door Cinema Club. So good I watched them twice. Northern Irish synth-pop. Maybe signed to Kitsune. Maybe not. If they are, I want to be them. Perhaps I shall marry them instead. Watch out for maybe some exciting future announcements about Two Door, some other Norn Iron bands and RaG in the coming months. We may have something up our sleeves.

Kap Bambino. French electro. Is my life. Or a vast majority of it anyway. Yeahhhh.

Metronomy. First time without Le Stebbing. Ohhhh Stebbing. Twas good though, apart from the fact their lights are no longer push lights. And that the PA people cut the power before they could play Radio Ladio. Bastards. On a Stebbing related note. I spent most of my second shift making eyes at Michael Your Twenties, who was wristbanding for Festival Republic. I don't think he noticed my eye-making, or at least I do hope else that'd be well embarrassing, innit?

Golden Silvers - Another Universe made me bawl my eyes out whilst outside relentlessly heavy rain killed my tent.

General Fiasco. More Norn Iron-ness. Included in the watch out announcement 2door statement above.

Rumble Strips. Why can't I love you in London? A new song to add to the this-is-how-I-feel-about-Goldsmiths catalogue. Its getting quite expansive.

The Big Pink. Whom I also saw twice, and both occasions without meaning to. First on the way to see Animal Collective, I was diverted by the reverberations of their synthy noise which never fails to make my body shake with excitement. Second, whilst queuing to get a copy of the Guardian the next morning, the acoustic strains of Velvet made me squeal rather loudly OHMYGODITSTHEBIGPINK. And thus, I stayed and watched them and marvelled at how I could actually hear Robbie's voice for once, what with it being acoustic and synth-less and all.

Bombay Bicycle Club. Whom I am now interviewing tomorrow eve. But sadly only, it transpires, over the phone. With Jamie. Who. Is Kirsty MacColl's nephew. INSANE. This is probably good that I'm not interviewing Jack as he does make me literally weak at the knees a bit. Anyway. Park set. Good times. I was loving life whilst burning my face. Yayyy.

Hockey. Good dance routine to Work, is all I'll say.

Passion Pit. Beatzzz. Jarvis Cocker dedications. Sleepyhead.

Klaxons. In fancy dress. I LOVE YOU.

GoodBooks. Last ever show. I got strangely emotional and actually cried in the first four bars. In full view of Max. Low point.

The Soft Pack. Kept giving me strange looks. Ohhhh dear. Blistering garage-rock watched by pretty much no one as everyone else was being stupid and watching Karen O. Soft Pack > YYYs.

Nick Cave. SEXXXY.

Blur. Obviously... the best thing I have ever seen. Somehow two rows away from the front. Odd. But also sweaty and wet and ewww but also, in the words of Oasis, mad fer it. Badhead and Jubilee and Oily Water and Trimm Trabb and NO ESSEX DOGS. Sad times. Damon crying made me cry (even more). Graham did a VERY sexy dance to the slowed down drum intro of Song 2 which they have apparently failed to broadcast to the world via the BBC. I would complain if I were you. It was hot. Ending on The Universal obviously had the predicted effect of making me weep my tearducts dry. I love you Blur. A million times more than anyone could ever understand.

I return to the old London tomorrow afternoon, phone Jamie BBC, go to Asda to stock up on strawberry cider because I don't think I can handle going cold turkey, maybe go see Deerhoof or maybe instead go see Jamie T. Who knows. You will. After it has happened. YEAH.

It really really really could happen

2009-06-20T22:14:00.004+01:00

If you've read only one of these hear self-indulgent ramblings then you will probably know how excited I am about the Summer of Blur. On Monday, I woke to the news I might've yet again missed out on getting a ticket to an tiny intimate show. Picture this: I'm still half-asleep having just awoken at 1:30pm on a sunny afternoon in New X. I lazily reach out for my mac and check my emails from my bed. Out of force of habit, I click onto the NME home page and then wake the fuck up at the Blur secret gig headline. And then I read the article and feel deflated. 170 wristbands, first come first served, Brixton Academy, 11am. 2 and a half hours ago. Blur. 170 wristbands. I came to the conclusion that they'd all be long gone. Just in case, I checked Graham Coxon's twitter. And then Brixton Academy's. And their home page. And the Blur website. And the Blur forum. And there, there came my flicker of hope. Just about 45 minutes previous, someone had posted saying they had got the 75th wristband, with only ten people behind them in the queue. Could I make it in time? I don't know.. it takes 45 minutes and two buses from New X to Brixton. I had money though, I could get the train and tube... I toyed with calling Brixton Academy but decided against it because otherwise I would stay in bed moping for the rest of the day. And besides, the sun and fresh air would do me good.

So. I raced to Brixton, got annoyed at slow people on the tube (whhyyyy do you walk so slow when you're in a city. You can't be living at country pace in the city. Especially not when there's Blur wristbands to be got) and legged it down the road to the Academy. There was probably about 4 people in front of me when I got there and a very nice steward who mocked my studentness and music journo ambitions, and gave me a slip of paper with the number 170 on. The. Last. Wristband. Halle-fucking-lujah. 'Twould have been embarrassing to have collapsed on the Academy's steps in fits of tears. Probably the one occasion I have been glad to live south of the river. I knew it would pay off one day.

Anyway wristband safely fastened around my wrist (fittingly, the one with my Blur-related tattoo on), I went about my business until it was time to head off to Rough Trade East for the show. Some sexy boy with slicked back hair and one hoop in his left ear offered me a "snout", the first time I'd ever heard someone refer to a cigarette as such. He looked fairly young and I'm not sure of his actual age (so this may become slightly paedophilic but such is life..) but I do believe that I would like him very much. Sadly, I lost sight of him and now we shall never know what would have become of us. Oh yeah, and Blur played and it was probably the best thing I've ever seen. Maybe. On a par with that Pete&Carl Hackney reunion thingymabob. Or slightly better. Its hard to tell when you're older, wiser, more mature, less emotionally unstable etc etc. But anyway, as it was to celebrate the launch of the new Midlife compilation, the set was mostly tha hitzzzz, but with Advert and This is a Low thrown in for good measure. I did some crying during Tender and almost during Beetlebum, End of a Century and perhaps a couple of others. Alex James might have seen me crying (low point) and given me a sympathetic smile (high point). In between his trademark side-to-side fringe flicking, natch. And now... now, I cannot listen to, read about, watch, play anything but Blur in anticipation of next Sunday somewhere in a field in Somerset. Kind of over the Goldsmiths thing... haha. All I wanted was a special bit of intimacy. Would have been nice if it was somewhere that meant something to me but there you go. Maybe I should take it as a sign. We'll see. In the meantime, can we all keep our fingers crossed for Essex Dogs at Glastonbury, for that would truly make my life. If they do play it, there will definitely be tears and tattoo stroking and I'll probably come back and call it the most life-affirming (cliche, ew) moment of mine and anyone else's life, ever.

Oh yes, and in case you were wondering. My tattoo reads as such: 'You'll catch the flu or you'll catch the city...' Its a line from Essex Dogs aka my favourite song ever, about people from Essex and how there's only really two main paths they take in life. The flu - Essex4Life, born there, live there, die there; or the city - make your escape to the Big Smoke as soon you can. Its like a reminder that if I fuck this up I'll be catching the flu, cos there's no way in hell I can afford to stay in London. Oddly, since I got it done I've been getting better. There's been less twatting about and more trying to sort my life out. Apart from Monday night post-Blur when I ended up in hopsital, but that's another story for another time, as they say.

Maccabees mini-Irish tour 09

2009-05-31T17:10:00.002+01:00

A couple of us went on a mini-Irish tour this week. As a result, I'm now suffering fun times withdrawal. Argh. Crying on the 45 when you've just left a one day festival of weirdo electro underground obscure freak-noise early is not a good way to spend your Saturday. Anyway, I wrote a little tour diary sort of thing. Follows.

Dublin, May 27th.

I am an idiot. I think this is a fairly indisputable fact. On the plane over yesterday, I decided today would be a nice day for a spot of drinking. So. Down two alcopops and then a huge bottle of red wine. And then, well... this would all be fine apart from the fact I then decided it was a good idea to go talk to Felix White aka A BEAUTIFUL MAN WHO I RESPECT VERY MUCH. Fuck you, Beaujolais. I think I forced myself on him a bit. Can't really remember. Not sure. But quite certain. The lovely George wrote my name +1 on his Blackberry and I squinted very hard to check he'd spelt it right. Idiot.

We (myself and sober Sarah) went back to Sharon's halls in the supremely-better-than-Goldsmiths Trinity, where I threw up and fell asleep. When I awoke, Sarah made me coffee (which I hate at the best of the times) and I had to leg it to the bathroom for round 2. By this point Sharon had gone somewhere so we left too. Stumbled back to the Academy where we found New Amusement supporting. We both found this slightly strange seeing as we saw them support the Rascals at Whelans almost exactly a year ago. Odd. I fell asleep on a sofa at the side of the room and awoke to find Sarah wasn't there. Massive low point. Feeling hugely better though, I managed to sit up and on Sarah's return managed to go and stand in the crowd in preparation for the show.

I love the Maccabees, right. Seriously. Stupid amounts. I paid £30 (to a tout, natch) in to their Electric Ballroom show at the start of the month and worried that maybe it was a bit of a bad move. Pfft. As if. They make me feel more alive than a shot of adrenalin straight to the heart. Anyway, tonight's show has made it a pure rock solid concrete fact that they are in my top 3 favourite bands of all time. Super duper aces, as per. Now I know the new songs almost as well as the old, it all fits perfectly, coherently...

After, we saw little point in hanging round and thus legged it catch the last train to Gormanstown and then back to Sarah's fairy tale house in the middle of the desolate Irish countryside for proper beds, tea and toast. Lush.

Belfast, May 28th.

Having woke up surprisingly unhungover, we set off on the four mile trek to Gormanstown in the somewhat vain hope that we would catch a bus to Drogheda in time for the only bus to Belfast. Thumbing for a lift most of the way, our mood plummeted as our disgusting sweatiness escalated. Classy. Luckily, we turned up at the bus stop just seconds before the bus and thus made it to Drogheda on time for the one o'clock coach. Winner.

Two hours down country roads and one international border later, we arrived and met the one and only K Hole before walking down to the appropriately named Katy Daly's bar, next to the venue. Dodgy looking men were sat outside and tried to engage us in conversaton. We refused and instead went and apologised to Felix for my behaviour the previous day. Thanks to Sarah for telling him about me falling asleep at the gig. NICE ONE. George waved us over a bit later and put us on the list and then we went and got much needed food in the same place we went after I interviewed Dirty Pretty Things last year. We found some steps opposite the venue where we sat and talked absolute rubbish as per, smoked, redid make up and tried to work out if security were ID'ing on the door. Not quite sure why but I loved the steps.

Supporting at Spring and Airbrake was Cutaways, essentially a twee-er Johnny Foreigner, with more focus on synths. They were quite good, but the underlying feeling that I recognised them from somewhere was kind of annoying. After, I thought I saw my number one favourite Northern Irish boy WITH A GIRL so we had to go and check that out. Luckily, I was wrong. Phew. Maccabees came on a little later and owned it. I always get a bit teary when the crowd go mental for them so I spent most of the set fighting back the floods. And then they played Mary. One or two drops might have made it through.

With hours to kill until I had to catch the coach to the airport, we hung around for a bit and had a pretty surreal chat to Orlando about McDonald's, prostitutes, hairy legs, and Billy Bragg. Nicest guy ever. We thanked George and Felix for the list and then went to sit in a kebab shop to kill time. Some guy came in and tried to talk to us but we couldn't understand a word he was saying. We think he tried to tell us a joke. I think its probably quite hard to be funny when you have your ear safety pinned to your head. Literally. We vacated the premises soon after his arrival and went to get the coach to various places. I had some vague form of sleep then sat in the airport for two hours listening to all my Maccabees on my iPod and watching the sun rise, whilst drinking a cup of tea from Starbucks with half a bag of sugar in it. Gross. Oddly enough, I wasn't even too excited about coming back to London. For all the freaks and weirdos we'd had to endure over the last couple of days, it'd been hella fun and the end felt more than a little premature.

Sad.Face. Since I've been back, I've distracted myself by listening to these beauties:

Jack Penate - Everything is New

Pagan Wanderer Lu

Jamie T - Sticks and Stones

Lissy Trullie

Emmy the Great - First Love

Blur - The Great Escape

The Virgins - One Week of Danger

Concerning freedom, summer and East End vacuousity

2009-05-24T17:04:00.002+01:00

Yo!

Twenty days and no posts. Sozzzz. Exams and summer fun got in the way a bit. Anyway, exactly 8 months after I moved to the LDN I finished my first year of university. Staring at my desk ticket waiting to be dismissed from my last exam, I realised the exact length of time I've been here. It struck me as a bit weird, but then so did most things, wired as I was on Sainsbury's cheap imitation of Red Bull. 5 cans and only a slight tremor. Couple of days previous, 3 cans of the real thing and some pretty hardcore shakes. Pays to go for the more expensive option, sometimes.

Anyway. Since being free, and indeed in the period leading up to freedom, many many exciting things have happened. Stag and Dagger for one on Thursday night in my favourite area of London, ShoHo/Hoxditch/the place of ridiculous haircuts and everyone being super-ironic and cool. Love. It. Walking through Hoxton Square after getting our VIP wristbands at my favourite ever church, St Leonard's Shoreditch, two "trend researchers" stopped us and asked if they could take photos of our outfits. Ultimate validation right there. I still can't quite decide if it's better, worse or on a par with the time at Metronomy's show at the Macbeth some girl told me I wore my dress well. Hm. After this excitingly vacuous occurrence, we dined at the Bar & Grill aka one of my favourite places, like ever and then went to the Legion to see Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. Will Blondelle was playing bass, I was a bit distracted and jealous. I interviewed MBAR on Tuesday at the Lexington and he was very lovely. Buriedfed is third most played on my iTunes, and thus I was expecting great, great things from him. Sadly, he wasn't great, just good. I should probably stop thinking everyone and thing is going to be mind-blowingly out of this world.

Disappointment reigning, we went to the Horse & Groom on Curtain Road in an attempt to watch the Voluntary Butler Scheme, stood there for a second, got fucked off at not being able to get in the room and left for Vibe Bar and the Mae Shi. Saw Veronica and Ximon TEETH!!! before hand, sweated a lot, loved the rainbow sheet perhaps a bit too much, sweated an awful lot more and then rejoiced in the cold cold air outside afterwards. One thing though, why were there only 3 of them? Most importantly, WHERE THE FUCK WAS JEFF AND HIS SHINY KAPPA TRACK JACKET? These, clearly, are very perplexing questions that need answers, goddamnit. Instead of answering them though, we ran back to the Legion to watch Maps, where we found new questions to ponder. Like, what the fuck has happened to Maps? We stayed for about ten seconds, bumped into a very drunk Joe Kruger and legged it over to White Denim at the Bar & Grill so I could forget that the whole Maps fiasco had ever happened. Worked, obviously.

White Denim, yeah. Had a queue of people down the street trying to get into the show. Wasn't expecting that one. Luckily, our super awesome passes let us skip the queue. I was loving my life at that point. Then there was another queue inside which we couldn't jump and had to stand getting pushed around in for half of WD's set. Yayz. Eventually got in and they were well worth the bruises that appeared the next morning. The next day, I got to interview and assist on a shoot with the boys and, in keeping with their good guy appearances, were lovely as. Good times.

Now, I'm drinking coke floats, listening to Blur and loving New X in the sun. Quite looking forward to spending the summer here. I bought a book the other day called London: A Social History because I'm a massive geek. But also, the whole preface is about New X (the author grew up here) and there's one comment in it that made me laugh for ages... "No one wants to live in New X Gate". I guess its only funny if you live or have lived here. Or if you're me... but I found it hysterical. It could be worse though, it could be Peckham...

"You never finished the chapter but you finished the song..."

2009-05-04T18:55:00.003+01:00

I tried reading Stuart Maconie's latest literay release but then some twat in the flat below decided to put on Babyshambles full blast. Now, don't get me wrong, I am more than a little partial to a bit of the Doherty but I cannot read and listen to music at the same time. Instead of concentrating on the words on the page in front of me, I find myself trying to interpret those pouring into my ears instead. So, the book got laid to rest and 6Music turned on to cover any sound of Fuck Forever. The dulcet tones of Steve Lamacq greeted me and presented me with the new problem of how I will never be the female version of the great man. Lammo (along with Blur, obviously) is my hometown hero, being a fellow Colchestarian. At Reading last year, I stood 5 yards away from him and shook a bit. I would've spoken to him but he was deep in conversation whilst taking a break from compering the NME/Radio1 stage. 'Twould have been rude to interpret for the sake of a few bits of advice and me going more embarrasingly fangirly than I would do over any musician.

This week was mostly spent recovering from Camden Crawl, "dancing" into May (although drinking would be a more accurate description of activities) and losing my Vietnamese cuisine virginity with TEETH!!!

On Thursday, one of my favourite venues played host to the NME/JD/Adidas House Party with the Rifles, the Rakes and Young Fathers. Except it wasn't in the tiny room most 229 gigs are held in, but in some bigger room next door that felt more like a school hall than a concert venue. Strange. Young Fathers are a Glaswegian hip-hop trio with the best dance moves this side of Metronomy. Dance moves seem to be the in thing at the moment, don't they? No complaints here. Then, unfathomably, The Rakes played. Meaning the Rifles were headlining. THE RIFLES, for gawd's sake. Sub-sub-sub Jam rip offs who no one actually gives a flying fuck about. Headlining. Over the Rakes?! Insanity. Apparently they headlined Brixton academy a few months back too. The world has gone mad. Not that the Rakes are the greatest band to ever grace the Earth but seriously, if you had to choose, you would totally choose them right? Not content with confusing the fuck out of me, Joel from the Rifles then came and stood in front of us and proceeded to suck the face off his girlfriend for THE WHOLE SET. Jesus. Just go put on a Rakes CD and do that in your dressing room and leave me to watch Alan Donohoe's awkward stage movements in peace, yeah? Needless to say, we left after the Rakes had finished and went off to Ally Pally for the turn of the month celebrations.

Friday, I headed up to Camden to interview aces fuzzy noise purveyors TEETH!!! in a bus shelter on Delancey Street, before joining them for Vietnamese on Parkway. I am not very good at chopsticks. Tofu is good though, and TEETH!!! are excellent company. Sunday, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, was Gaslight time. Anto Dust played a couple of her sombre lullabies before Kieran Leonard enthralled us with one of, if not the, most impassioned and, at times angry sets I have ever seen him play - raw, unadulterated emotion combined with poetic melody that had me on the verge of tears at more than one point. For once, I think this is not because I am somewhat emotionally unstable but because it was truly, astonishingly moving.

And that is that. I have spent much of this Bank Holiday Monday sleeping, which I suppose is what they're there for. This week holds reunions and instores and training for Glastonbury, which, by the way, is only 6 weeks away. Exciting times ahead.

"...with your chin on your knees like you belong"

Listening to this week:

The Maccabees - Wall of Arms

Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor

Bombay Bicycle Club - I had the Blues But I Shook them Loose album sampler

St Vincent - Actor

The Big Pink - Velvet

Camden Crawl

2009-04-26T14:38:00.003+01:00

I ache. A lot. I think my knees have been replaced with my grandma's and my feet with massive slabs of concrete. Camden Crawl, innit?

Yes. For the past two days I've been racing (or, indeed, crawling) around the streets of Camden in the name of music and now I'm paying the price. Still, worth it for a weekend of secrets, surprises and sonic indulgence. Friday started with cramming onto the roof of the Hawley for drinks and smokes and the killing of time, before we headed off to the Edinboro Castle for a pop quiz. Pop quizzes are my life. Aside from the viewing of live music, I don't think there's anything better than sitting in a pub and answering questions on obscure music trivia. Alas, we didn't win, but we did play under the name Toothpaste Quizzes, which can only make us winners in my eyes. Halfway through everyone got a bit overexcited because Madness turned up to do one of their "guerilla" gigs. I sat unimpressed and waiting for them to sod off so I could get on with the serious business of pop quizzing. I hate Madness, I do.

Anyway, we didn't win and we didn't lose, we just performed mediocrely. Disappointing, I'm sure you'll agree. So with that in mind, we went to find something less mediocre than ourselves. Namely the following bands:

The Von Bondies - yes for US garage-rock! New and old songs that all sounded ace, but none as much as C'mon C'mon aka song of 2003.

Man Like Me - grime + brass + dancing boys = a hella load of summery fun. Single Dad reminds me of back home in the badlands of Essex. Aw :)

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - it has been decided Lewis is 'the shiz'. True story. Yeah, they're good fun but I spent most of the time clock watching so we could get back to the Electric Ballroom in time for...

The Big Pink - we missed most of the set. I felt sad. Some obviously-fucked guy bumped into me and then gave me death stares for a long time which was quite frightening. No one really seemed that into the band and stood quite far back chatting, for the most part. I was saddened. The Big Pink are aces, I don't get how people can't see it. I stumbled across them at Concrete & Glass last year whilst looking for Steve Lamacq and fell in love, quite by accident. I think they suit the Macbeth more than the do 'leccy Ballroom, mind.

James Yuill - was surprisingly good. I think I was expecting more of a Newton Faulkner gone electro vibe but it was more Maps gone acoustic. And as Maps are wonderful, so was James Yuill.

Your Twenties - can't you see I'm feeling over the top? OUI. Joe and Oscar from Metronomy were watching Stebbing's new band, which was sweet. The floor of the Enterprise scared me a bit, cos it felt like it was going to fall through. YT were lush though and not scary at all. YES YT.

Teeth!!! - LA electro-punk is one of my favourite things. As are screaming, jumping frontwomen in fuck-off cool leggings. I want to be in a band like Teeth!!!

Plugs - pleasant surprise. Morgan DIOY,Y?'s "new" band. Better than DIOY,Y? by a long shot.

Selfish Cunt - MY LOVES. Don't suit Koko one bit. Too big. Martin Tomlinson didn't seem to care though judging by all the cavorting he was doing on stage. What a guy. Another band I don't understand the hate for. Although I think there genuinely is something you have to be able to "get" with SC, moreso than the Big Pink anyway.

And then. Bus home. 5am. an hour's sleep. Do it all again. Saturday was calmer in some respects, but others a hell of a lot more frantic. I had been told by NME acquaintances that Blur were to play a secret gig at the Spread Eagle at 3:30pm. So. I sat in the Spread Eagle all afternoon, getting ridiculously excited, miserable and fucking tired. In the meanwhile, we saw:

Roses, Kings, Castles - yeahhh. Good banter.

Meme Love - fuck off. Please. You look awful, you sound offensively bland and you can't throw cake for shit. Get. Off. The. Stage.

The Barker Band - made me lose my will to live.

Tim Ten Yen - started off good then got progressively worse. Also, what's with calling all your songs beautiful?! Strikes me as a bit arrogant and like he loves himself a bit too much. Beautiful? A corpse could compose better.

Graham Coxon - Blur didn't play. Graham did. At 5:30pm. ARGH. I had to stand on a table to see though, which was obviously well fun. Yes for table standing. I love Graham so I wasn't that upset that it was just him. He played songs only from his new album and was on top banter form. Johnny Borrell was there too; I laughed.

Alessi's Ark - only caught a few songs but she was quite sweet. I fear she could get a bit mundane if watching/listening to her for too long but in short bursts, she's ace.

The View - I don't think any one band has such annoying fans. Seriously. Being in the Roundhouse with 2000 of them is like hell on earth. And Pixie Geldof was there watching them/waiting for Kasabian. How uncool.

Blk Jks - were whack, we went back outside until they'd finished and got mocked by some guy who'd been kicked out. Fun times.

The Big Pink (agaiiiin) - I love them. More than life.

So, no Blur and some very aching limbs. My ears are still ringing far too loudly to be considered even remotely healthy. Tinnitus 4 life! At some point soon, I shall get some proper sleep but not tonight for it is Gaslight Sunday and then all-nighter so I don't miss Blur Goldsmiths ticket announcement at 9am tomorrow. At some point I might fit in some work. But I doubt that very much.

National Record Store Day

2009-04-18T23:49:00.006+01:00

Today is National Record Store day, a celebration of independent record stores across the UK and hopefully a reminder of how bloody fantastic they are that will jolt people into spending a bit more dollar in them. I went down to Pure Groove this afternoon, soaked up some Farringdon sun and watched Patrick Wolf perform dressed as Dracula, if he were a biker. It's been a while since Patrick released anything and his live shows can range from the astonishingly brilliant to the terrifyingly disappointing. Today fell into the former category, with a handful of new songs that make you think, if they sound so... perfect in a record shop instore then how mind-blowingly out of this world are they going to sound in a proper venue/on record? Seems like the Wolf is back on form.

After, we got interviewed by a freelance journalist (who also goes to Goldsmiths, yay us!) about our record store habits. He was Scottish and nice and let me ramble on about kids today, download culture, how record stores have to have more than just records to get people through the door and how I had more money to spend on records when I was at school than I do now. Good guy. When I was 13 and read the NME for the first time, I realised people actually get paid to listen to records, go to gigs, talk to bands and then write about it. Hey, and they get free records and don't have to pay in to shows. Perfect job. I decided pretty snappily that that's what I wanted to do, but even though I thought I could probably get whatever records I wanted without spending a penny, I still thought I would buy copies, so I could have the full artwork etc. Alas, I'm far too skint to actually do that, which is a massive shame because talking to that journo today made me realise how long its been since I actually bought a record with my own money. I see CDs/vinyls on merch desks at the end of shows and think I need to own that record but I could probably do with that £5 or however much so I can get trashed or get a bus or something. Besides, I can just email the PR company and get a link or a CD-R, right? And that's me, who's writing about bands and (hopefully) introducing people to them and making them want to go out and buy their records, so what about everyone else? Most people go on the internet and find a link where they can download a record for free and then sit back and enjoy, guilt-free, without paying a penny. I hate this new download culture where everything is so accessible and immediate, where people think there's nothing wrong with downloading it for free and then not going out and buying a physical copy. Where no one cares about the artwork or the colour of the vinyl, or even what label the record's released on.

I hate this new download culture because its changed how we consume music in terms of money and the environment in which we access it. Now, you can get the new Art Brut album (before its even out) from the comfort of your own home and record shops are having to provide other services to get people coming in to their stores and spending money. Pure Groove is essentially a coffee bar now. There's hardly any records, and what stock they've got are on the wall behind the bar. I remember going into the shop when it was still on the Holloway Road and spending ages flicking through boxes of vinyl in a tiny space crammed full of music and thinking it was heaven. I almost applied to London Met on the basis that halls were on the Holloway Road thus my local pub would be Nambucca and my local record store would be Pure Groove. And then Nambucca burnt down and PG moved to Farringdon, cut its stock to a top 100 records and lost its charm a bit. My love for it is deep rooted and will last forever but its just not as good now. Especially not now the emphasis is on serving espressos rather than selling the new No Pain in Pop compilation. I had to deliver some issues of Kruger there the other week and it was the first time I'd been in since they'd started serving drinks. I didn't even notice the records behind the bar and went back to the office more than a little confused.

This wasn't meant to turn into such a rant but the subject angers me greatly. I just want to be able to sit in a grubby little shop and search for new records to fall in love with, not some flash joint full of rich kids desperately trying to be cool sipping on lattes where I can't even touch the things I want to buy.

Graham Coxon played later and was amazing. Only new album stuff, which was nice. Folky and beautiful. It was good to be able to hear Graham talking in his hushed Essex tones too. Yes. Coxon makes me happy, very much so.

Otherwise... I went on a massive Blur kick yesterday due to the warm-up show announcements and then looked on the GCSU site late last night and almost cried with happiness at the implication that Goldsmiths students might be being offered tickets somehow. All doubts I had about coming here are now erased. Yay Goldsmiths. Also, um, sorry for whining on the internet about not being able to go. Woe is me an'that. Sorry. I am a spanner. Contrastingly to that "yay Goldsmiths" bit there, I made myself upset earlier reading the No Pain in Pop interview in Loud & Quiet in which it is revealed the Amersham Arms (aka coolest pub, like, ever) has stopped putting on live music until the East London line is back up in 2010. I don't even understand. Surely Goldsmiths kids will go to gigs there? Fuck non-NewX-ers if they can't be bothered to travel. Give me my New X dream back! Oh, Amersham. I think I really have missed the boat on this one. What I would give for someone to come along and give us our scene back. And now, I can't wait until next month when I can move to somewhere with good things happening rather than being stopped.

This week we've been listening to:

The Big Pink - Velvet (single. of. year)

Blur/Graham Coxon

Chairlift - Bruises

Patrick Wolf - Vulture

Boy Crisis

2009-04-17T23:52:00.000+01:00

I have been MUGGED. OFF. Couldn't be fucked with walking down to Sainsbury's (although had to go to the cash machine so walked all the way up to uni when there's one right outside the JS) to get essentials (read alcohol, cigarettes & frozen veg) so I thought I'd leg it across the New X Road to Iceland instead. MISTAKE. Ended up buying things I don't even need (hi, coleslaw) but thought my luck was in when I spied a litre bottle of vodka for £7.50. Win! Or not. Whilst studying the bottle once home, my eyes fell upon the tragic truth - it's only 22% abv. If I'd gone to Sainsbury's, I could have got 70cl of 37.5% for just £6 and got drunk quicker for less. If ever there was a moral tale about the perils of being lazy it would be this.

At the end of my bed there is a stupidly sharp knife (for cutting cake. Obvzzz), a dirty wine glass, the newly purchased fucking 22% bottle of vodka, some sleeping pills and a pile of books about suicide (for an essay I still haven't done). Might want to sort that out before bringing any males of the species back here, I think. Wrong impression, much? When Irish girls came to visit I got to make some amazing joke about the suicide books being a bit of light bedtime reading, which made me happy though, so every cloud and all that. I like telling jokes and generally being funny. Most of the time I unintentionally make people laugh though which makes me question myself a little bit. Either that, or I say the filthiest thing I can think of and then go "I'm from Essex!" when people look disgusted. If I had a catchphrase it would definitely be "I'm from Essex", no two ways about it. My favourite three favourite jokes, like, ever though have nothing to do with smut, mind. Behold:

1. A seal walks into a club... [/end joke]

No one ever gets it and that makes me sad, for it is literally amazing. A friend of a friend told it on the night I almost got killed by a fire extinguisher in Mile End to a crowd of 5 people. I was the only one who laughed. I like to think this is because I am intellectually superior but is probably because I have a rubbish sense of humour and its not really that funny, in reality. Hm.

2. Q: What did Batman say to Robin before getting in the Batmobile?

A: Get in the Batmobile, Robin.

My flatmate told me that in our kitchen at 4am, one bitterly cold night. I almost spat my tea everywhere (attractive) and then practically gave myself a hernia laughing. Literally amazing.

3. Q: What did the cow say to the pig?

A: Hello

Literally!!! I made that up myself when I was 3. Child prodigy, I'm sure you'll agree. I was an almost winner of a child, I even painted the most amaze picture of an Olympic skier, which actually surprisingly does look like someone skiing. Sadly, I've lost my artisitc touch and can't paint for shit now. Or make up good jokes. My parents should blatantly have got Max Clifford to do my PR and whored me out as some comic art genius. Would've been minted.

Friday nights are a bit whack, aren't they? When no one is around/everyone is skint/no one gives me guestlist for Johnny Foreigner, anyway. Today has been a successful day of amassing list for various shows, well befriending nice PRs and not listening to the same Big Pink song on repeat for hours. The past three days have been fairly ace, in fact. Weds - Mile End. Pizza & Curly Fries. Parks. Loz. and then the Wave Pictures & Planet Earth at the ICA, followed by a walk down to Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch and night bus home past Oval. (Oval makes me happy). Thurs - Big Pink listening. Phone calling. Arranging of assisting on photo shoots. Asking for guestlist for exciting things. Today - the aforementioned and hair cutting.

Plans for le weekend = early morning charity shop shopping and then Patrick Wolf & Graham Coxon for free in Pure Groove in celebration of National Record Store day tomorrow. I want to tell you to come but then I don't want to not get in so please don't come until I'm there. Thanksss. Sunday is going to be a lazy day ending in Gaslighting and probable vodka hunting, as per. Definitely come to the Gaslight, yes. It is good and fun and in a basement full of nice people and Sunday nights are rubbish anywhere else really so come.

Concerning Blur, Goldsmiths and the start of a new mission

2009-04-17T11:16:00.005+01:00

Blur have announced two tiny warm-up shows for their contrastingly massive festival appearances and Hyde Park extravaganzas. June 13th sees them going back to their hometown of Colchester and the East Anglian Railway Museum, then on the 22nd to Graham Coxon and Alex James' former university, Goldsmiths. Tickets were made available to the fan club this morning and have SOLD. OUT.

Picture this: I'm lazily surfing the net from the comfort of my bed and head to NME.com for a catch up on some music news. The first headline I see is 'Blur announce dates for intimate warm-up gigs'. CLICK. Colchester's there as has been suggested by the band for a while now but there's another one.. GOLDSMITHS? I sit up so fast I make myself dizzy and scream so loud the cleaner literally turns off the hoover and says something that vaguely resembles "are you okay?" Um, no. Blur aka one of my favourite bands (easily top 3) are playing at Goldsmiths? Like, not even 10 minutes walk from where I'm sitting now? I am most certainly not okay. Especially not when I find out its already sold out a few minutes later. I could cry.

I already had plans to go to the Colchester show, once announced. Before my parents decided it was a good idea to move to some quaint little market town in the middle of nowhere, North Essex, we lived in Colchester. I lived there, Blur lived there. So I saw it as an opportunity for not only them to go back to their roots but for me to do the same. Ace. Goldsmiths is an entirely different situation. Alex and Graham studied here in 1988, where they met and formed Blur. Essentially, I am a bit ridiculous and base all major life decisions on music-related things and so when it came to deciding where to go to uni, chose Goldsmiths purely because of the Blur factor (and because of No Pain in Pop and the scene based around Angular Recording Company and their 'The New Cross' sampler. But mostly because of Blur). Before I came here, I was really excited. I thought there'd be loads of amazing bands playing in our SU and everyone would be really cool, take music far too seriously and dress like they were on the catwalk even when they were going to Sainsbury's. Alas, I was wrong. Most people I've met are nothing like that and I've only been to two gigs at our SU (South Central/The Ghost Frequency & Those Dancing Days/Sky Larkin/La Shark). Blur playing there is like the stuff of dreams, even with its dodgy lighting that makes everyones faces go a shocking pink colour that is guaranteed to sketch you out when you're fucked and the bastardo security who ask you if you have a ticket and when you say you're on the list assume you think you're better than everyone and insist on acting like cunts just so you know you're not. In short, if I don't get into this show I will cry. Sure, a week later I'll be seeing them at Glastonbury but its not the same, is it? I'm hella excited about watching Blur in a field with 120,000 other people but watching them in the dingy GCSU with 300 other people would be far more magical. I could pretend it was 1989 and they were still called Seymour, that it was the beginning and not 20 years in.

The mission to find Blur's PR and charm my way onto the guestlist starts here. In the meantime, I'm going to stare at the building they'll be playing in from my window, feel very sorry for myself and listen to the whole back catalogue until I can take the torture no longer.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson... & Edie Sedgwick

2009-04-13T13:37:00.002+01:00

Hi hello. Let us introduce you to a couple of new artists we've spent our weekend listening to.

1. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

Like some fucked-up version of Willy Mason infused with all of the angst from early Bright Eyes works, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is our new favourite person. He's chosen super-hip label Transgressive to release his songs over here, further adding to our theory that Transgressive have never released anything other than musical gold. His debut UK single 'Buriedfed' is a hard-hitting account of MBAR viewing his own funeral that demands repeat plays, lights dimming and pillows to be sighed into.

Listen here

2. Edie Sedgwick

Not the socialite that died decades ago but a "transgendered reincarnation" of Andy Warhol's friend and muse. Essentially creating forward thinking electro, 'Edie' sounds like the American cousin of our own Selfish Cunt, but with less filth and shock tactics and more focus on art. 'Martin Sheen' and 'Sissy Spacek' are arguably the more coherent of her songs available on her MySpace page, which also details a handful of tiny UK dates including Brixton Windmill. Attend and view something very special indeed.

South East, East End and the North (update 5)

2009-04-12T08:45:00.004+01:00

Happy Easter! Personally, I'm not a fan. Chocolate hurts my teeth. Sad times. I opted for the newest TANAOU 7" as a pain free substitute though, which is pretty ace seeing as it comes with Kapowski and An Escape Plan covers on the B-side. Although it does make me miss Northampton more than it should.

This is going to be kept brief otherwise it'd turn into a novel to rival War & Peace. In terms of length, not quality. I don't think I'm up there battling it out with Tolstoy just yet. So.

Irish girls came over for a weekend of adventures and hijinks, and of those there were plenty. Sunday was market day and we walked all around the East End, fighting through crowds and soaking up the sun. Petticoat Lane, Brick Lane Up Market, round the corner in Truman Brewery (Rough Trade!) We thought we spotted Mik Whitnall of Babyshambles non-fame but then realised the Mik wannabe in question looked far too healthy for this to be even in the slightest bit possible. Hah! A few vintage shops later and we emerged on the Bethnal Green Road and made our way up to Columbia Road. Trying to get down that road when the market is on is like trying to get from the NME tent to the main stage at Reading when its time for the headliners to play. But worse. Oh my life. We were on the hunt for gladioli so I could pretend to be Morrissey but alas, we found none. Instead, I bought some tulips and decided they would be a suitable replacement. At some point they got christened Morrissey, I think after I'd ingested alcoholic beverages but I'm not sure. I hope it was otherwise I am essentially more of a spanner than I thought. Anyway, we also visited some old school sweet shop where they still sell sweets from big plastic tubs, like the good old days and then did some sightseeing in Bethnal Green before stopping off in Hackney for some lunch. A good East End day. Later in the evening, we trekked up to Alexandra Palace to take in the views and then walked back up to Muswell Hill, visited some woods (which don't look half as bad as some people make out, half of RaG included. Drama queens, the lot of you) and then walked down to Archway for the Gaslight where Kieran Leonard played with a full band and I started to really like the way his EP (or what I've heard of it at least) is sounding. Its taken me a while, when I first heard it, it made me a little sad because I really disliked it. Maybe because its so different to how I usually hear those songs played, maybe because I find him with just a guitar and his lungs more powerful and moving. Its starting to grow on me though, which is an entirely good thing. Anto Dust played a couple of songs too, both of which seemed inherently sad and brought me down a little.

Monday, we went to Regent's Park and then Camden before heading to Moorgate to go on a Jack the Ripper walk. Which we then didn't do and just went and got frappucinos and sat in Spitalfields instead. Two of us went to Islington Academy, where we found boys with good arms in bands called Canterbury; the other two went to the woods and got scared. Hah. Canterbury are a funny thing - all the time we were watching them I felt like I shouldn't like them but then there was this huge underlying feeling that I did, and that in actual fact I kind of love them. The confusion. After their set we decided that love is ok, even when it feels a bit wrong. So. We love Canterbury! But not as much as we love Johnny Foreigner. Aw. New songs and new songs and a few old ones for good measure, and we can honestly say JoFo are one of our favourite bands, live or otherwise. They were our headliners of the night even if they technically were only main support; we left before Hundred Reasons because they're whack. On the way home, we got barked at by men in a white van. How hilariously predicatable.

We visited Mick Jones' Rock&Roll Public Library the next day before Irishers went home, as well as St Paul's and a Salvation Army cafe, but that is another blog for another time. After recovering from all the adventuring, I went to Canary Wharf and fucked off the people in Pizza Express good and proper by ordering only tomatoes and doughballs, and then only giving them a 15p tip. Shouldn't have tried to ignore me and seat City boys behind me first. Bastards. And then. Disaster. Dancing round my room to the Clash, I tripped on my chair and spilt vodka and lemonade all over my laptop. Which then died and refused to turn back on. I should probably never dance ever again, something always goes wrong. I am obviously dance retarded. So, I write this to you from a shiny new MacBook Pro, yay! Thank fuck for insurance. After a little (read: massive) cry, I dusted myself off and headed off out to see Official Secrets Act at the Borderline. Good show, good atmosphere, and surprisingly I really enjoyed it. I was introduced to Lawrence from OSA afterwards who is basically a winner. Anyone who initiates high fives two minutes after they've met me is clearly a good guy.

And now, I am back in Essex, working my way through a mountain of promos for review. Worst one so far is far and away The Saturdays. I have never wanted to cut my ears off so badly as when listening to that. Its some Red Nose Day charity single, which makes me even angrier because if people will only give money to charity when buying overproduced dirge such as this then we are truly doomed. Instead of buying it, a more charitable thing to do would be rid the world of no-hopers like the Saturdays. Jesus. Its not all bad though; I've got Dan Black's new single and something from the Jessie Rose Trip (who're going to be getting compared to Amy Winehouse a fair amount, I'd imagine). And Marianne Faithfull. Otherwise, I've been getting re-obsessed with the Maccabees and continuing last week's Bombay Bicycle Club love-fest. That is about all, having been without my iTunes for most of the week. Sad face.

Anyway, I'm going to go and watch my family eat too much chocolate and wish I was back in London. Tonight I'm missing the Gaslight AND a house party. I hate you, Essex. Frohe Ostern etc etc xx

If I Follow the Light That I Deem the Brightest... (Update #4)

2009-04-04T08:51:00.005+01:00

This week has been action packed. You're in for a long one...

Shows attended this week: 1 - Kieran Leonard at the Gaslight. A fairly quiet night, where Kieran played with no support and, thus, ended up treating us to pretty much every song he's ever written plus a few covers. Lush. Our dear friend Virginia has some videos up here (as well as lots of Carl Barat, Drew McConnell, His Lost Boys etc etc) so go watch them and see what you're missing.

New records listened to: 100000. Well, not quite. But nearly. Lots of new music this week. Toddla T's debut 'Skanky Skanky' is probably going to be my summer album this year. I listened to it whilst walking from Angel to Farringdon and back again in the sun yesterday and it was sunkissed dutty riddim perfection.

I've also been listening to the sampler for 'I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose', aka the long awaited debut from Bombay Bicycle Club. When I first saw them at Camden Crawl, I thought they were a bit boring. Then I saw them at Reading and they were aces. And had a panda dancing onstage with them. The 'How We Are' EP is pretty much flawless and so it seems this album will be too. New single 'Always Like This' is heading straight for the top of my most played on iTunes. Cerys Matthews played it on 6Music the other day so I turned my stereo up way loud and had a little dance. Unfortunately, I then didn't hear the maintenance guy who'd come to descale my shower head knock on my door, unlock it and then open it. Embarrassing.

Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard - 'Em Are I' = fantastic, in case you were wondering. Recommended. Aur Revoir Simone's second album 'Still Night, Still Light' is also off the scale of wonderful. Check out 'Shadows' if you're looking for a new favourite song. I'm only halfway through listening to the new Metric album as well but so far, it's brilliant. And that's coming from someone who isn't normally too fussed with Emily Haines.

Just going back to something I mentioned earlier about Bombay Bicycle Club. Thinking on it, I reckon it wasn't BBC that were boring at Camden Crawl, but rather the crowd. If you consider that there it was an over 18s crowd whereas at Reading, the tent was packed with underagers... well, its kind of obvious isn't it? It seems as soon as you hit 18 you suddenly look down on those younger than you and abhor the idea of looking like you're having fun. I miss being 15 and older folk making snide comments or throwing me dirty looks for daring to get lost in the music. Now, I just feel old at 14+ shows. I'm 19. I think this needs to be rectified.

So, on Wednesday there was the G20 protests. To be honest, I don't really know what its all about; I'm too skint too buy a paper, don't own a TV and would rather waste my time on the net watching trash. Soz. One of RaG went down but left before it got violent. I went on an early morning mission to buy new headphones and then decided to make the most of the sun by taking a walk around Shoreditch. On the way, I inadvertently got caught up with protestors. I got a bit scared, hah. Luckily, I managed to make my escape and carried on upon my way to be ignorant about world politics. I walked up Shoreditch High Street, sat in St Leonard's churchyard for a bit and then wandered the back streets to Columbia Road and then on to Ion Square. Columbia Road is currently my new favourite street. Its got so much character and looks so beautiful in the sun. Two thirds of the Irish RaG contingent are coming over for a few days so I'm taking them down to the flower market. Expect floral gushing next week. Anyway, I quite like the protestors for causing a diversion on my journey home as it meant I got to go via Waterloo Bridge, which always looks at its best when the sun is shining.

Lots to look forward to this week. As previously mentioned, Irish girls are coming over and we have many adventures planned. Johnny Foreigner at Islington Academy on Monday. Official Secrets Act at the Borderline on Wednesday. And then, I'm off back to Essex on Friday for Easter Weekend. Which I'm actually not sure is something to look forward to... hm. At least on the drive there and back I can go past the Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant in Greenwich and laugh to myself. I'm easily amused.
xx

Ohai, Sentinels (RaG Weekly Update #3)

2009-03-29T10:59:00.003+01:00

Dear reader,

I write this from under my covers, having now been awake for a full 43 hours. I took some sleeping pills; they made me feel more awake. The irony. Anyway, I'm ridiculously happy because, for the best part of 24 of those hours, I have been internetless and now, finally, I am not. Thank you Goldsmiths IT geeks for apparently working on a Sunday.

This aside, this week has been pretty ok. We've handed in dissertations, discovered how to walk from Brick Lane to Liverpool St (and not via Aldgate! Success), spent far too long listening to one song, actually literally dreamt of Glastonbury and done a bit of political debating too. Win.
Shows attended: 2. First, Official Secrets Act at Rough Trade East. The best thing I can tell you about this is Lawrence's make up is fucking amazing. That, and er, the album's, like, well good? Yes. Maybe a bit overlong, but good nonetheless. Secondly, Instigate Debate at the Boogaloo. Politics and music combined. Essentially, good for the fact that we actually got well into our given topic (inequality) and had a proper nice discussion, which, let's face it, is not likely to happen next time we go down the pub. Alas, we didn't win the gig at our house or a "flip camera" (whatever the fuck that is) but we did get to see Kieran Leonard (best bit = WILL YOU FUCKING LISTEN), Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (not that great, soz) and Fionn Regan (beautiful beautiful beautiful) play short sets. After watching the Jungle episode of the Mighty Boosh last night, I would like to point out how much Fionn Regan looks like Tommy but, y'know, with less cheese and more hair. This is not meant to be an insult. But it is. I think.

Last time I went to sleep, I had a literal dream about being at Glastonbury. It was quite bizarre. I was wearing a tshirt not dissimilar to my newest Tellison one (green with pink image/text) apart from it said Alexander Lee Perry on it. I have absolutely no idea who this is. Peter Doherty was headlining the Other Stage. The wristbands were blue. You had to pay a pound to get a wristband. I somehow got through without getting one and set up my tent then had to go back and when I returned to my tent found some randomer sitting in it. Which didn't bother me in the slightest, I just pretended they weren't there. I met some girl and she gushed over my tshirt. I went and lay in front of the Pyramid Stage and woke up. On the basis of this, I'm predicting blue wristbands for this year. They looked pretty lush in my dream so I hope I'm right.

Talking of which (kind of), Reading & Leeds line-up announcements tomorrow! Rumours are Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead are headlining. Opinions: KOL - not bothered. Never seen them, can't be fucked now they've gone all MOR FM arena rock. Arctic Monkeys - never seen them due to utter ridiculous reasons like family holidays, age restrictions and shit internet connection at the worst possible time. Would very much like this rumour to be true. Radiohead - not a fan (cue everyone looking absolutely shocked because.. what? I have an opinion of my own and it is that Radiohead are mostly overrated and boring? Sue me). So. 1 out of 3 ain't bad, I suppose. I mean, last year I didn't watch any of the 3 main stage headliners so its an improvement. Anyway, the smaller tents are obviously where its at. Los Campesinos!/Johnny Foreigner in the Carling tent last year was fucking beyond belief incredible. Which moves us on to...

I think I mentioned last week about new JoFo songs. Ghost the Festivals is officially my new favourite song. It reminds me of the last night at Reading and going to see JoFo at Club NME at the Rivermead and then walking back to the campsite in the early hours feeling so very much in love with that band. I do kind of miss waking up with my face wet from the condensation on the side of the tent and how you hardly even think about eating all day for near enough a week because you're far too busy having a wicked time watching bands. Summer can't come soon enough.

Right. Listen to new Johnny Foreigner then, and Line & a Dot, My First Tooth, Jose Vanders and the Big Pink. I'm off on a culinary adventure. Just before, mind, a tip - porridge, strawberry jam and banana is a bad idea. I'm about to try out tuna and cheese omlette so I'll let you know about that one.

Kisses.

RaG Weekly Update #2

2009-03-21T14:41:00.003Z

Hiiiii.
First, a question. Does anyone know how to make a pretty design for this here blog? I am technologically retarded and do not like any of Blogspot's offered templates. This one included. Shit, innit? Anyway, if you do, please get in touch and we'll talk visions.

So... weekly update number two eh? This week has been largely boring. Sorry. Noteable things that have happened though include me getting a 2:1 in an essay about Riot Grrrl, the discovery of Raspberry Pavlova ice cream (the meringue bits on top detract from its awesomeness slightly, mind) and my BRAND NEW WEEK OLD flip flops breaking. Fuck you, Primark.

Our friend Grete went to see Findlay Brown and then accidentally wrote us a review in a Facebook message. There's a lot of Elvis comparisons and some wicked photos taken by the girl herself. Read it here.

I went to a grand total of er.. no shows this week. This is baaaad. I have this (stupid) thing about going to more shows each year. At this point last year I'd been to 16. Currently this year I've been to 18. So marginally ahead. Argh. The best one of 09 so far has got to be Selfish Cunt at Hoxton Bar and Grill. I have a deep love for Martin Tomlinson, the sexy bitch, ever since that full page photo in the NME back in the day. The one that shouldn't be so hot yet for some reason turns me wrong every time. What a guy. ALTHOUGH. I ordered a SC shirt off t'net TWO MONTHS ago and I still haven't got it, nor has their manager replied to any of my mails. Thanks for essentially robbing me of £19. Not like I could use that money to not be completely skint or something. No. Not AT ALL.

Anywahey. Since I've not been to any shows, I've spent most nights sat in my room with a mug of tea and various versions of I'm Going Down blaring through my tinny laptop speakers. I'm replacing my recent Leonard Cohen addiction with a Bruce Springsteen one. Soz Leonard. I'm Going Down is fucking heartbreaking. Seriously. "I remember back when we started/My kisses used to turn you inside out" makes me weep every time. Particularly on the Kid Harpoon/Florence and the Machine duet. I still don't quite know where I stand with Florence. I saw her at Standon Calling in the summer and was completely put off by the "I'm well wacky, me" drama student vibe that exuded from her. Then, I saw her at the Moshi Moshi 10th Birthday thing at Matter and it was completely different. Odd. And then there was the Glasvegas collab at the NME awards where she essentially repeated the same syllable a million times and fucked me off again. She writes pretty good songs and has a killer voice, but there's this whole contrived feel to it most of the time that makes me a bit suspicious. Like how White Lies changed their name from Fear of Flying, started dressing like Editors trying to be the Horrors and then writing songs to match and are now consequently huge. Makes me think there were other motives involved other than wanting to play a different style of music. Or I could just be being a huge cynic/conspiracist. Who knows. To Lose My Life is annoyingly catchy though, and not in a good way.

I've listened to a grand total of 0 new records this week. Bad times. Like I said, mostly been getting down to the Springsteen. Occasionally, mixed things up with new Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Zero, Heads Will Roll and Hysterics are easily the standout tracks) and old Futureheads. In visual terms, I've been reacquainted with America's Next Top Model. I literally watched all of Cycle 11 in a day with the help of youtube and am now up to speed with Cycle 12. Recently, I finished watching every episode of Sex and the City and am now on the lookout for something new to watch instead of doing work. Recommendations welcome, bearing in mind I like throwaway TV that is almost certainly a waste of my time but will make me feel good and probably includes plotlines involving relationship issues and amazing clothes that I can covet longingly.

Talking of which, LOOK AT DIOR'S SUMMER COLLECTION! It makes me die inside to know I won't own any of those pieces.
Also. I want this hat and these shoes

Essentially, I would like to be Carrie Bradshaw. Thanks.
Finalllly. I've been thinking alot lately about moving to New York. No, really. When I'm done here at Goldsmiths, I want to go to NYU and do a masters in Magazine Journalism.
I was looking at the website earlier and its based near Greenwich Village, Broadway, Fifth Avenue... using that Google Streetview thing I took a virtual stroll around and it
looked fucking lush. I could see myself there. Also, the course looks/sounds amazing. Only problem is it'd cost me like $20,000, if not more. And I have no idea how much that is
in £. So that'll probably remain just a dream. I did promise myself that if I did badly on a couple of essays I had to write before Christmas I would drop out, get a job, save up
some dollar (literally) and move to NY next year. I got a third and a 2:2, which is a lot better than I was expecting so I kind of can't drop out based on that. Hm.

I'm going to go listen to some songs that make me think about New York and then maybe watch some TV that is set in New York and after that, who knows, I might actually do
some work.
Au revoir mes cheries
xx

Feed Me a Box of Words

2009-03-21T03:50:00.004Z

Hello.
Its 4am and I've exhausted my limited DVD collection. Tonight I've watched Brick (yeah... what? I don't get it. Just... why?), Girl, Interrupted (Winona Ryder singing Petula Clark = win) and my all-time favourite, Almost Famous. After all this, I cannot sleep. Bad. Insomnia drives me to iTunes and searching podcasts for something good to watch/listen to. And I find...

BeatcastTV.
Basically, mostly live videos of aces as bands, the majority of which seem to be filmed in Kingston. I've just finished with watching Tubelord at the Luminaire (not Kingston..) and Sam Isaac at the Fighting Cocks. They've also captured Johnny Foreigner, Dananananaykroyd, Pulled Apart by Horses, Pennines... essentially most of the bands I'm feeling right now. Thus, I'm now firmly of the opinion Beatcast is ace.

If not just for the wealth of video and audio footage, but also for the fact I'm now on a full-on Tubelord binge. I've still not seen these kids live and I really need to. I almost did once. I saw two songs of their set at the Macbeth in September, supporting Metronomy, but then PRs and journalists invited me up to the roof for smokes. Like a true pro, I abandoned Tubelord and stood in the cold night air trying to convince Artrocker's Reviews Editor to listen to the TANAOU album, simultaneously flirting with a PR guy whilst discussing Micachu and the Shapes. THE SHAME. I hate the feeling I'm turning into some stereotypical stand-at-the-back-talking-to-yr-industry-friends hack. Note to people who know me: never let me get like this. If I do, please either make me snap out of it or kill me, whichever is easier.

Anyway. Tubelord have two shows in Camden in the coming weeks for me to rectify my deserting, and y'know, you probably should go too. I hear they bring it live.

Listen to them here. Start with Propeller. It is truly amazing. Never fails to give me goosebumps. One of my favourite things is when bands can make you feel alive in just three minutes. Tubelord do this better than most.
x

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, if you HypeM search JoFo, there are some really old songs come up, as well as a couple new. In case you were wondering. 'Ohai, Sentinels' is pretty darn gut. Yes.

Findlay Brown @ The Lexington, 18 March

2009-03-19T00:28:00.005Z

Our good friend and guest reviewer Grete introduces us to the 21st Century Elvis...

[My friend and I] were talking before the gig and he told me he'd be big in a year, like Brixton Academy big, and I wide-eyedly said "Really?" and thought nothing of it. "I better go down front and see if I can get some good pictures," I said, halfheartedly, might-as-well-ly. My friend nodded seriously. I was starting to freak out...what's going on here?

My friend had mentioned something about a quiff. Yeah whatever. I don't even know what that is. There was someone on stage with long be-you-tifful hair. Nope, not him. That was the guitarist. And the guitarist had a be-you-tifful Gretch! Man... I lusted after that Gretch.
But then a man walked on stage...and yes, THAT's a quiff so it must be him.

I'd listened to his tunes on myspace and they were nice but I wasn't impressed. Not my kind of music really. Bit too sugary, bit too...not my thing. But live, the sugar was gone. There was treacherous honey instead. There he was - an objectively handsome man on stage in front of me (yeah, that don't impress me much), with bucketloads of charm and charisma (I wasn't born yesterday, I can handle that - to an extent - but yeah, I think I can). And yet I was turning to mush and in the most spectacular of ways. There is no helping that. What else was there to do but to give up and give in? His whole body is music. The way he sings, dances and moves. With a bit of show(off) thrown in, but it's healthy and enjoying itself as well as laughing at itself.

As I was heading home I was in shock. I bloody well looked like I'd seen Elvis or something. And I had! His name is Findlay Brown.
And perhaps humiliatedly I thought "I wonder if this is because I'm a woman? Am I just charmed by...charm?" But no, my friend was pretty bloody impressed with him as well. Then my mind wandered off...I wonder if Elvis did to men what he did to women? Turn them into a mush, I mean. Well, Quentin Tarantino found him to be beyond his heterosexuality ("If I absolutely had to have sex with a guy it'd be Elvis") so who knows.

But I think it isn't just the charm; it isn't just because i'm a woman. This guy is fucking incredible. The songs are good, the delivery is fantastic and his band is ace, by the way. He behaves like a legend. He plays like a legend. He is a legend. We'll be hearing from him.

All photos © Grete Anton 2009

The Gaslight

2009-03-14T18:37:00.002Z

Alright lovers?
RaG spend pretty much every week counting down the days til Sunday. It's the new Friday, y'know. Of late, we've been spending our Sunday evenings in our respective homes longing for our regular folk&blues entertainment to be returned to us and, at long last, it has. Hurrah!
The Gaslight is a lush as night of acoustic wonderment, hosted by our fine acquaintance, Mr Kieran Leonard (who always delights our ears with his beautiful and often dark poetic tales of love and all that sort of thing, as well as fulfilling his compereing role in a frankly delectable manner), held from this Sunday onwards at the Hideaway on Junction Road - just a few minutes walk from Archway underground station. Those of you who attended the night at its former home, The Wishing Well in Hornsey, may have caught some of the following performing (and those of you who didn't missed out on...): Billy Bragg, New Rhodes, Anthony Love, Grainne O'Neill, King Dog... plus more other delightful musicians and wordsmiths.
For the relaunch, The Gaslight welcomes Babyshambles' bassist, Helsinki frontman and Mongrel founder Drew McConnell to add some extra value for money to the already-totally-bargain-tastic £2 entry fee. Come down, show some love, let's stop there before I start quoting The Feeling at you...
Click attending on the below facebook event invitation thingy and magically invite all your friends/acquaintances/enemies without even having to say a word to them. Yay for social networking and its actually quite anti-social paradoxes. Oh, join the relevant groups as well an'that, yeah? WICKED.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=54658522383

RaG Weekly Update Nummer Eins

2009-03-13T13:19:00.006Z

Oh hm. We've been neglecting this blog a tad, haven't we? Sorry. Don't report us to the necessary authorities, yeah? We promise to take better care of it in the future. Starting now.
Its been all go lately for RaG. Somehow we've managed to do reasonably well in our various educational establishments, keep to most of our deadlines for other publications, make our debut on the indie DJ scene, fly across the Irish sea a handful of times and head on a mini-road trip up north, whilst simultaneously being completely out of boxes for most of it. Hence, why this blog hasn't seen much action.

Our first ever RaG DJ set took place at Shoreditch scenester hang-out, The Old Blue Last, last month as Offset took over the downstairs bar. We played a fuckton of tunes, a complete list of which you can find over on the myspace blog.. After we'd finished owning the decks, some guy told us it was the "best DJ set ever". Glowing recommendations and free drinks are our favourite things, so obviously this and Offset's drinks tab made us ridiculously, ridiculously happy. We're keen to do some more spinning of records asap so if you need cheap and cheerful DJs for your party/club night/gig/other shindig, hit us up. When I say cheap, I mean we'll do it for a bottle of vodka, a bottle of rum and some mixer. CHEAP.

If you've looked outside your window lately, you might have noticed the sun's been shining on a much more regular basis of late. This makes RaG happy for a variety of reasons; a) we can wear massive fuck off sunglasses without looking like complete wankers (although the dimmed view of natural light does make me a bit para on occasion that I'm actually be-shaded on a very gloomy day), b) it's almost summer!!, and c) we can coordinate amazing summer outfits to wear whilst listening to our favourite new and old sunkissed songs. Yay!

Talking of the latter, I'm sat here writing this with The Virgins entered in the search box on the Hype Machine, wishing the clouds would fuck off away from New Cross for 3 minutes at least. Please? Teen Lovers is making me think of beach scenes in 80s New Romantic videos. If there was sand anywhere near here, I would go frolic on it in my flip flops and new dress that is more revealing than first thought, with this blaring from some old school ghetto blaster.

Summer summer summer. Not long to go. I don't know about you, but as soon as January comes I start making plans for warmer months. Don't get me wrong, winter is aces as, but nothing beats watching the sun set at 9:30pm in the middle of a field with your closest friends. This year is all about working at festivals. Since becoming a fully-fledged tax-dodging work-shy student, I'm far too fucking skint to be able to afford to get a coach home, let alone go to a festival. Which obviously is bad times, if not just because I hope to achieve my aim of going to more festivals each year than I attended in the one previous. 2007, my first year of festivalling, saw 3 (Latitude, Secret Garden, Reading). 2008, 6 (Camden Crawl, Glasto, Oxegen, Standon Calling, Reading, Concrete & Glass)... so the aim for 2009 is at least 7. How the fuck am I going to manage that on no money? Simple - WORK. So I've signed up for Oxfam stewarding at Glasto (I'm willing to bribe people to swap shifts so I don't miss Blur) and Reading (I've got a feeling working here will make me feel even older than I felt last year, damn 16 year olds). I'm considering applying to work at Isle of Wight and Secret Garden too. So that's four already! I'm hoping press passes/guestlist can be obtained for a further three, fingers crossed.

In other-publication news, the newest issue of Kruger came out on Tuesday. Its been relaunched in a new format (bigger and better), with new regular features and is now bi-monthly. Wicked. Its still free, and includes a feature on the Soft Pack, amongst other exciting things, written by yours truly. Thursday also saw the new issue of Disorder hitting the shelves, which I haven't seen as yet, but has N-Dubz on the cover. I want to know what's going on there, to be honest. Its not free but it is hella good, and features me fawning over Frederick Blood-Royale in a very obvious manner. Oops.

Otherwise, we've been listening to new albums from Micachu, The Rakes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and sporadically HypeM-ing Little Boots, La Roux (still not entirely sure what to make of either of those) and Golden Silvers. Following last night's utterly ridiculous episode of Skins, Maps' We Can Create has also found its way back on to the stereo, whilst I sat reeling from the fact I haven't had a Skins-induced emotional breakdown for the past two episodes. I think the key is to not drink copious amounts of cheap vodka whilst watching it, to be fair.

Anyway, I have a mammoth cleaning task to execute now. I've been sleeping on the floor lately, cos I'm too lazy to move things off my bed. Probably should sort that situation out, like. So ta-ra, RaG readers. Wishing you good weekends an'that,
xx

Emmy the Great @ Crawdaddy, Dublin 7th March

2009-03-08T14:29:00.000Z

Emmy the Great, accompanied by a full band, brought an extended tour to a close in Crawdaddy, Dublin. After memorable shows in both Belfast and Cork, the band concluded their tour with an unforgettable performance in the intimate surroundings of the Harcourt Street venue.

Renowned for their prominence in the popular London anti-folk scene, the band released their debut album ‘First Love’ in February this year. According to the NME, the album ‘could give Thomas Hardy a run for his money’, and through its honest and candid lyrics, offers fresh view of the world through the eyes of young yet insightful musicians.

Kicking off the set with the single ‘First Love’, the band were enthusiastically received by the crowd. ‘We Almost Had a Baby’ and ‘MIA’ were applauded, following brief anecdotes, as narrated by Emmy, of their seemingly strange visit to Cork! The band played many songs from their debut album, including ‘City Song’ and ‘Easter Parade’ and even presented the audience with a rendition of a Pengilly’s song, as suggested by fiddler Ric. Ending the set with an outstanding encore, the band were met with an appreciative reaction from the fans and the performance was without doubt the perfect conclusion to a successful tour.

RaG takes on Old Blue Last

2009-02-22T14:28:00.001Z

Hello one and all, a very happy Sunday to you. We hope your Saturday night out was suitably fabulous and the hangovers aren't too unbearable today. We find the best cure for those is to just carry on drinking. Not sure if we should be recommending that but never mind...

Anyway. On to business. If you by chance were gracing Shoreditch's Old Blue Last with your presence last night, you probably witnessed (aurally or otherwise) the debut DJ set of RaG's London based founders. We had an awesome night and hope you did too. Special thanks to the guy who said our set was "literally the best DJ set ever". Knows where its at. For those full of curiosity and intrigue, here's what we played:

David Bowie - Let's Dance
Mousse T vs Dandy Warhols - Horny as a Dandy
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Tick
The Mae Shi - R U Professional (4 Xtian)
Gang Gang Dance - Princes
We Smoke Fags - Canape of Love
Your Twenties - Annie
Devndra Banhart - Lover
The Grates - 19-20-20
Deichkind ft Nina - Bon Voyage
David Bowie - Dance Magic Dance
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Aztec Camera - Somewhere in my Heart

Basically, we have winning taste in music. Now we've mastered the decks, we're on the look out for more places to drop by and spin our tunes so if you know of anyone, anywhere looking for DJs to get the party started, hit us up.
Watch out, London. Maxxximum love,
RaG xx

Sound of 2009

2009-02-06T12:15:00.007Z

I had written half of a 'Sound of 2009' article for your reading pleasure but I just deleted it without completing it. Why? Er, it's February?! Yeah. That would be going against all industry rules. I mean, come on guys - tipping new bands when it's not January? Like we're going to do that...
Actually, the real reason I scrapped it wasn't because I want to fit with mass media's limitations but rather that at the back end of last year I swore to myself I would never write a 'Sound of [insert year here]' piece. As you might have gathered, I do not agree with the idea that you need the start of a new year to be bringing new groups/music to the attention of the general public. No, I'd rather just be able to tell you about things that excite me as and when, rather than saving it til next January and then hyping them beyond belief, to the point where no one actually wants to listen to them anyway because you're fed up of all the superlatives and hyperbole.
Instead (and to save myself from writing a 1000 word rant on mainstream media and their ridiculous business ideals), we're going to list some bands we think you should listen to. We don't think they'll shape the sound of 09 (hey, they might but we like to think they'll be important past then), we won't call them THE BEST THING EVAH!!!11 and then pretend we never liked them a couple of months down the road and we sure as hell won't be writing about Little Boots or Florence & the Machine. Some are new, some are old. Get over it, kids.
Peruse, listen, fall in love. Do what the hell you want. As follows are Rent a Groupie's current objects of affection:

Your Twenties - if you're ever invited to my room a) you should feel fucking honoured and b) expect to hear the three YT songs I own, a million times over. They sing songs about Annie from Elastica and make videos that make me feel sick. There's a photo of their single on myspace with a cat. A CAT. Plus, they're playing a warehouse in Whitechapel next week. Get yo'selves down.

La Shark - New X's finest macabre cabaret assaillants. How Patrick Wolf would have sounded if he went to an Arts College rather than running away to the country and killing sheep (ALLEGEDLY). East London art hipsters will think they've died and gone to heaven.

Spinnerette - at least two of RaG will scream at you until they're blue in the face about how much they love Ms Brody Dalle. There's been a hole in our lives since the Distillers split so it is with much jubilation that we can recommend her new band, Spinnerette. Hurrah! Slicker and not quite as brash but still with the raw energy and attitude that made us fall in love with the Dalle in the first place. Consider us excited.

Official Secrets Act - our new favourite pretenders to the Smiths' throne. We've just heard that drummer Alex has been in a road accident so here's hoping to a swift recovery on his part. In the meantime, we're getting very excited about the release of their debut album 'Understanding Electricity' - we've heard it, it's ace. Now we can't wait for you to hear it too. They're currently supporting the Rakes on a short tour of the UK, which brings us nicely on to...

The Rakes! - it feels like 2004 never went away. Which could be a good or bad thing, but is definitely good when you consider it means we can pretend the Rakes' second album never happened. Ok, ok, so it's not that bad, but it was missing that certain je ne sais quois that was so apparent on 'Capture/Release'. It was with fingers crossed and hearts in our mouths that we first allowed ourselves to listen to new single '1989', so thank fuck it was good else we'd all have choked to death by now. Things we like about said single: 1) the chorus the first time round is entirely made up of "la la la la"ing 2) "punks were hanging out in the park" 3) Alan's voice, basically 4) how it sounds like it would just fit snugly on the end of 'Capture/Release' 5) 1989 is when I was born. Good choice of year, lads.

Apollo Sunshine - we spent a whole week in November watching these guys wow Ireland with their psych-pop epic wig-outs. It never got boring. Think the whole Brooklyn psychedelia scene (MGMT, Amazing Baby, Chairlift et al) but less corporate and more interesting.

Tubelord - I'm a bitch for the Kingston scene. No, seriously. I LOVE IT. If I didn't live completely the other side of London, I would be there, like, THE WHOLE TIME. Amazing. Tubelord make "pop songs for rock kids", write hilarious blogs and are generally wonderful, in an infectious "fight pop" sort of way. We heart them much.

White Birds & Lemons - if you're from New Zealand, it's probably a good idea to keep away from RaG's Irish contingent. They'll capture you in a net and then use you to act out their sexual fantasies. This is why I worry for White Birds & Lemons, should they ever be in the same room. There are other reasons why we like them, obviously. We are all about the music, after all. Hit up their myspace to hear clips of demos of their emotive melancholy rock.

Toy Horses - I did have some amaze description written out for these before I stupidly deleted everything. Fuck. Essentially, I called them the British equivalent of Bright Eyes (but with two instead of one. Value for money) and made some racist slurs about the Welsh. Sorry Welshies, I love you really.

Kieran Leonard - Singer/songwriters are pretty much two-a-penny at any moment in musical history, this decade being no exception. What’s rarer though is a visionary, someone with a gift of writing moving, thought-provoking and, above all, imaginatively poetic songs that transport you from the room where you sit to another world entirely. Kieran Leonard is one such curiosity, rising through underground communities to entertain the fortunate who are exposed to his music.

Rolo Tomassi - We heart screaming girls. Not in the Beatlemania-we're-twelve-years-old-thus-would-like-nothing-more-than-to-hold-hands-with-Paul-MacCartney sort of way, mind. More in the I'm-in-an-amazing-hardcore-band-and-am-going-to-show-these-so-called-hard-boys-how-its-should-be-done way. Eva Spence is pretty much one of our favourite female musicians right now, Lord bless 'er. I took some friends to see t'Tomassi at Camden Crawl last year and they were FUCKING SCARED, and if you can't watch a band that you know will terrify your mates, then what have you really got in life? Nothing, that's what.

Brontide - maaaaath roooooock. Hi. We don't really like much music without vocals. We're a bit into words and lyrics an'that, and can't really get to grips with things that don't have witty puns that make us laugh our faces off on the N21 after a night on the lash. What, Brontide don't have vocals? Fuck. Luckily, they make such brutal melodic goodness that we don't even actually realise until, like, the fifth listen or something. Ace stuff.

Line & a Dot - Last summer, one of RaG interviewed Line & a Dot for another site. In that interview, she said her "main goal is to make a song that somebody else can include themselves in and maybe I already have one and don’t know or maybe I’ll get one or never but I just want to be able to make something out of Line & a Dot where I’ve written this song but it isn’t so about me that you can’t run your own movie reel to it about yourself. I want to have a song that somebody can apply to their own lives, nothing to do with me, and appreciate it in that sense but I think it probably will take me a bit of time." I don't know about you, but I think 'For a Long Time' is that song.

The Maccabees - Finally, they return. Our favourite band of 2007 have finished their second album and are heading back out on the road next month, preceding that with three low-key London dates (Camden Barfly, anyone?). At Standon Calling in August they played a set laden with new songs, all of which sounded pretty killer from where I was stood. Zane Lowe's got the first play of lead single 'No Kind Words' on Monday (Feb 9th) at 7:30pm so y'know... turn on, tune in, drop out an'that.

Little Joy - Strokes' drummer blah blah blah. Ignore this minor factor of Little Joy's make-up please. Instead, concentrate on how lush LJ's music is. YUM. It's like being transported to Hawaii in the 60s - not a bad thing at all, in our book. Apparently they're on the wanted list for Glastonbury this year. Glastonbury is sold out. Someone send us some press passes please? TA xxx

Support your local INDEPENDENT record store: Closure of Road Records, Dublin

2009-01-18T14:30:00.000Z

Support your local INDEPENDENT record store: closure of Road Records, Dublin

Everywhere we go right now we’re being told there’s recession, no one has any money. Not even the millionaires…

Mostly I amble along in my own world and don’t pay any attention. I’ve always been penniless anyway. But when I do have money I buy records, piles of obscure vinyl dug out from shelves in small indie stores in the city. So needless to say I was saddened by the news that Road Records was closing. A stop in there was a must whenever I was in Dublin. Right now independent stores need your support. The message from the staff of Road Records below should give some insight into why these places are closing and what you can do to help. Buy independent. Always.

Road Records - A message from the staff
Lads and Lassies

First of all, thank you all for your kind words about our store and us personally, we really do appreciate it as Road has always been about a personal approach from day one.

I am very sad to say that we will in fact be closing down the store in the next 2 - 3 weeks as things have just become too difficult for us to proceed, we basically have no money left and as it is just a small shop run by Julie and myself we can longer afford to fund it. Belive me if we were at least breaking even each week then we would continue on in hope but as we are continually losing money, and have been for at least six months, we cannot carry on as any losses incurred will have to be personally paid for by us. We have put enough of our own money into the store in the last year just to keep it afloat but I am sad to say we really don't have anything left at this stage, if we continue to trade we will just continue to lose money that we honestly do not have any more and thus we will end up paying off bank loans for the rest of our lives. I know a lot of people think if you have your own store that you have money behind you but believe me that is just a myth.

Its been an absolutely amazing eleven years for us and neither of us regret one single second of it, when we close I will not be looking back on wasted time in any way.
We have made some amazing friends through the shop and have had the pleasure of dealing with some truly fantastic bands [and their members].
Without blowing my own trumpet I do think Dublin will be a worse place without us as I think from day one we were always the most approachable store for Irish bands and their independent releases, it was one of the main reasons for setting up the store [some of you may remember the fact that I spent most of my youth plugging away in bands with nowhere to sell our music] and we have always tried to be as supportive to local music as possible, mainly because people in this country make music as good as if not better than anywhere else but have never had a proper outlet to sell it. We have always had a policy to make sure to play Irish music in the store so people in here can hear it and understand the quality and diversity of music being made in Ireland. If we heard something that excited us then we would always go out of our way to promote it as much as possible both in the store and on the site.

The reasons for the downturn are many and varied and if there was just one then we could try overcome that in some way but its no longer possible to pinpoint just one.
I will try list some of the reasons I see for the death of the small shop and I really do hope I am not right in thinking that many more will go the same way, I have always been optimistic that this city can sustain a couple of smaller indie shops but I no longer believe that to be true, again, I really hope I am wrong with this opinion but the way people go about buying their music these days does not instill me with too much confidence.

1. Regardless of what I have thought over the years downloading has effected our business, probably more so the illegal side of things, filesharhing and the likes. I speak as a shop on this one but god knows how much small bands suffer because of this aswell.

2. Below cost sellers online, everybody wants a bargain and its hard to take the moral highground on this one, but everytime a purchase is made to the likes of Play etc is a nail in the coffin to the indie store, these online sellers don't care one hoot about indie bands and music, they just need to sell in bulk and as quickly as possible. They will never put any money or effort back into indigenous music, try asking them to sell 50 copies of a beautiful hand made cdr release.

3. The city centre just does not have the same volume of people walking around it anymore, its a simple fact, less people means less sales. We have noticed a massive downturn in the amount of people visiting the store in the last year.

4. Kids don't buy music anymore. That sounds like a fairly broad statement to make, I know there are still some out there but we don't see any young people in the shop anymore so as we lose older customers we don't gain any new ones.

5. Obviously this country is going through a recession at the moment so it would be stupid of me to claim that this wasn't having an effect on our business but having said that things were already beginning to change long before that.

6. The deal with selling independent local releases always had to be a two way exchange for us, we never made much money from local releases [and that was never the idea] but we always sought the support of bands. By that I mean if we were selling your music then we would always appreciate the bands making a purchase in the store in return, sadly that did not always happen, and before you jump at me for making this statement I do accept that plenty of you out there were very supportive of us but take if from me we did have quite a lot of bands coming in to us with their own release to sell whilst also carrying a hmv bag with a purchase they had just made, simply because it was cheaper there.

7. The cost of running a store in this city has increased dramatically in the past 4 / 5 years, rents have gone up so much, insurance increased, bank costs and so many other things that over the years it has become increasingly more difficult just to meet our costs on a week to week basis.

8. Whilst this one may not seem so obvious the cost of an average cd or record in the store is now less than it was 5 / 6 years ago and that is a good thing to the consumer but it has also seriously dented our chances of making a living in any way, it just means we have to sell more to cover our costs but as I mentioned with less customers coming through the door that has not been possible.

As you may gather from this piece we are both very very sad about the prospects of closing down our shop, this is our only way of making a living and now we are both back to square one with pretty much no money [and a brand new baby to support], I don't know what either of us are going to do from now on but I'm sure we will survive.

I say this from my heart that I really hope the last few remaining indie stores will survive in the city and I hope you can take time out to visit them and make a purchase, otherwise these stores will not make it through these times either, and don't leave it for a couple of weeks, do it today as they really do need your support and its only when they are all gone that you will then miss them.

Again, thank you all for your kind words and to anybody out there that has supported us in any way thank you also, we have had so much pleasure over the last eleven years doing what we do.

Dave and Julie

So long Astoria; farewell PUSH Saturdays

2009-01-16T14:32:00.000Z

Before entering the sticky-floored and dodgy smelling Astoria2 last night, I was trying to think of fitting obituaries for Push and already starting the mourning process for messy Saturday nights on the cheap. Sure, there's probably other club nights with free for students deals but are they as good as Push? Almost certainly not. Thus, the thought of no longer having this weekly indie disco haven to run to struck the fear of God into me and resolutions were quickly made to have one final epic banger of a night out at The Final Push Ever. Luckily, posters inside informed me a new venue that isn't being knocked down to build a fuck off massive train station has been found and Push shall continue forevermore (well, for the forseeable future, at least).
My first Push experience was way back in September 07, when myself and three of the RaG circle attempted and failed to blag our way into The Holloways show next door. Resigned to our fate we set ourselves down on the doorstep of Ghetto (still don't know what lies beyond that door, y'know) and proceeded to do what all underage kids do on a Saturday night in the city, and drank cheap vodka and filled our lungs with smoke. Somehow, from somewhere, Metronomy appeared in a car. The details are hazy. Anyway, after a little chat, those three kind souls offered to put us on the list for their show at Push and so we thought our night was set. Unfortunately, the door staff at Astoria2 are quite vigiliant with their ID checks and so we failed to get in there too. But the glow of the lights reflecting on the mirrored walls and the names on the flyers were enough to make me vow to come back one day.
And come back I did, time and again, taking full advantage of the godsend that was free entry for students before midnight and £2 whiskey and coke deals. I danced to disco hits and 80s indie til my feet were numb and developed a deep love for a number of bands - Bombay Bicycle Club, Video Nasties, Hatcham Social, to name but three - along the way. Push is not just a club night to me, but a part of my musical education.
Recently, I spent my 19th birthday at Push, enraptured by Titus Andronicus and perpetually squealing at every electro-pop future classic banger dropped. That night ended messily - Push nights always end up that way - with me dancing barefoot on the beer soaked floor, swinging invisible gladioli to This Charming Man. At the Dirty Pretty Things aftershow last month, I spent the first hour jumping on one of my RaG co-founders, practically crying with joy every time a new, fabulous song started.
Last night was no different to all those other times. We danced, we drank, we stumbled from room to room talking to boys that make us weak at the knees and bumping into other Push regulars we somewhat awkwardly recognise from huddling together whilst queuing in the cold. There was the usual line up of exciting bands with Loverman, Cajun Dance Party and Good Shoes, the latter of whom had the tiny room 2 absolutely rammed. We danced right next to the speakers and found the cage around the sound desk in the middle of room 1 far too fascinating than could be considered normal. Time flew by and at some early hour of the morning, a dreadlocked reveller decided to climb the rigging and swing his way halfway across the room like a five year old on the monkey bars in the playground. Security grabbed him before he could get past midway and everyone carried on dancing, but with a renewed sense of youthful mischief and a spark in their step. Things carried on until 4am (or just after, who knows. I was too busy cutting some rug to be clock-watching) and then, the final song that shall ever reverberate around Astoria2's dimly lit walls was played. "Do you remember the first time/I can't remember the last time..." seems a fitting way to end it, don't you think?
But wait, it's not the end entirely. No more Astoria2 means no more Push Saturdays. But! Salvation has been found in the form of Fridays at Bar Rumba on Shaftesbury Avenue. First one's on Jan 30th. See you there for more of the same?

Kieran Leonard

2009-01-08T14:33:00.000Z

If you haven't yet done so, head over to http://www.kieranleonardmusic.com/ and don't forget to sign up to the forum.
The wonderfully talented Kieran Leonard will be releasing his debut EP in early 2009. Have a look on his website and myspace and let us know what you think!
Kieran will be hosting and performing at 'The Gaslight' at the Wishing Well in Hornsey, North London on Sunday, 11 January 2009, 7pm.

© HML

A Christmas Missive from Rent a Groupie

2008-12-25T14:39:00.000Z

Oh, Christmas Day. I still don't feel all that festive. In an attempt to rectify this saddening situation, I turn on the television for a seasonal edition of the axed British institution that is Top of the Pops. Does it work? Does it fuck, it only serves to make me angry – with my sister's dwindling music taste (I am a massive snob, sue me) and the general public. Leona Lewis performs her cover of Snow Patrol's breakthrough smash hit 'Run'; I sit and clench my fists at the travesty of it all. To me, covers are supposed to imaginative, different and exciting. Lewis' "interpretation" is a slowed down snooze ballad, with sparser instrumentation than the original probably to put all focus on the X Factor winner's amazing voice. Now, I'm not a massive Snow Patrol fan nor am I against pop music of this ilk (one of the two acts I enjoyed on TOTP was '90s boyband Take That), but General Public – ARE YOU SERIOUS? How can you make this version of what is actually a quite beautiful song both number 1 and the fastest download in the UK? It's fucking boring (I know Snow Patrol aren't exactly the life and soul of the party either, but still). There's no magic there, just the sound of Lewis' bank account swelling.
As previously mentioned, I quite enjoy Take That's performance. Other than them, however, the only other artist that makes me smile is Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris. I don't know what I am expecting, maybe a few more credible/good bands to play seeing as indie is now very much a mainstream genre, but fucking hell, do I feel let down. Kaiser Chiefs for some reason are allowed to subject spectators to their criminally bad social commentary on the state of the youth today, 'Never Miss a Beat', with its horrific lyrics "What do you want for tea/I want crisps". So soul-crushingly awful it's not even funny. A magnificently dressed Sam Sparro plays his synth-dirge hit 'Black and Gold' and proves just how style over substance he is. Girls Aloud perform what is an anomaly in their usually stellar back catalogue whilst looking like they are dressed in bacofoil. I leave the room before this year's X Factor victor murders Leonard Cohen classic, 'Hallelujah', leaving my elder sister waxing lyrical about Coldplay's latest long player and Katherine Jenkins' "inspired" operatic reworkings of pop songs. Excuse me if I don't just burst with excitement at hearing her sing '(Everything I Do) I Do it for You' in Latin.
At two intervals during the hour long special, we're treated to a look back at 2008. Could the BBC make it look any worse? I'm not entirely sure what this says about the corporation but it must be the only reflection on the year to not even mention MGMT in passing. Half of me wants me to give it endless kudos for such a move, the other half wishing they'd fucked off the Ting Tings and given 'Time to Pretend' a whirl for five seconds. At least then I wouldn't have the Most Annoying Song of the Year™ stuck in my head right now. Its all well and good me slating all and sundry on what is admittedly a programme that is probably not aimed at me anymore, but what exactly have I been enjoying this year? I often find it hard to remember when records got released – was it this year or last that the Cribs released Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever? - but a handful of records have latched onto and stuck with me over this past twelve months. Late of the Pier's debut, 'Fantasy Black Channel', is undoubtedly the best album I have heard all year, a collection of complex, intelligent electro-pop, that engages with your feet on first listen and your head on the second. Los Campesinos!' second album in six months, 'We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed', shows a fast progression from cheery pop songs to the perfect soundtrack for emotional breakdowns. Frank Turner converted all my thoughts into melody on 'Love Ire & Song' whilst Johnny Foreigner made an undeniably great punchy pop record with 'Waited Up 'Til it was Light'. Metronomy's second, more band-focused effort, 'Night's Out', is pop genius personified. Dirty Pretty Things farewell record 'Romance at Short Notice' is an emotional journey to keep close to your heart. Vampire Weekend produced an album full of hits, with every song sounding like a bona fide radio smash, whilst still keeping it all so interesting and clever; meanwhile Bloc Party's surprise return is a triumph for progression and non-conformist music.

My Christmas vitriol is fading slightly. Probably something to do with the litre bottle of cheap vodka by my side. Mm. The Verve have just come on the radio but I cannot be bothered to turn it off. They remind me of some of the past events of 2008, mostly the reunions of otherwise deceased bands but also my first Glastonbury and hearing the opening notes of 'History' on the Sunday night as I wandered aimlessly from stage to stage, drinking in the atmosphere and crying at the thought of leaving such an amazing festival the next morning. Usually by the end of the weekend I'm glad to be out of a tent and back in a proper bed, but I would live under canvas forever if it meant Glastonbury happened every day. I attended six festivals this year (if you count the urban shindigs that are Camden Crawl and Concrete & Glass), all of which were wonderful experiences. Camden Crawl was a massive two fingers up at everyone who says who can't plan who you're going to watch and you'll be stuck in queues for half the festival – perhaps the trick is to go for the bands you really want to see rather than the ones other people say you should. That and skipping the last-act-of-the-night queue like you're just too important to queue. Sorry to all those who spent ages outside the Underworld waiting to get into the Noisettes show but, seriously, use some initiative next time. Glastonbury, as you might have guessed from the above, made quite an impression on me. Oxegen might not have been as good if it weren't for our VIP access, although MGMT's set could probably have erased any ill-feeling I might have had towards the festival or its crowd. Standon Calling was the perfect "boutique" festival with plenty of memorable performances from Johnny Foreigner, Glasvegas, The Maccabees and Late of the Pier. Reading was full of surprises although it's a little worrying that at 18, I felt fucking old. Concrete & Glass was a veritable scene-fest, with anyone who believes themselves to be anyone hanging out in Hoxton (if not East London)'s best pub, The Macbeth. Here's to next summer, only 6 months to go.
If you've read this far then well done, sorry for the length – I guess writing this is keeping me away from food I don't need and arguing with my family. We're nearing the end though so don't worry. I suppose I should give a quick overview as to what singles have got me going this year, seeing as they are quite different from the list of albums above. Kings of Leon's 'Crawl' is the first to spring to mind (mainly because I'm listening to them now…). Seriously, try walking down the street to this song and you'll understand. It's one of the most uplifting, powerful feelings. It'll probably make you strut like a massively arrogant wanker but fuck it, eh? Tilly and the Wall, Hot Chip and Born Ruffians all made me go mental on the dancefloor with 'Beat Control', 'Ready for the Floor' and 'Hummingbird' respectively, whilst Razorlight made me actually cry laughing upon hearing 'North London Trash' and the unintentionally hilarious line "I've got a hot body girlfriend". The pause before the last word is what makes it so damn funny, in case you were wondering. God bless J.Bo. Lastly, Chairlift's 'Bruises' has had me staring out of my kitchen window, sighing nostalgically for god knows how long now.
All that remains to be said is happy Christmas and New Year, and keep an eye out for the following in '09: Little Boots, The Virgins, Your Twenties, Rose Elinor Dougall, Right Turn Left, Tellison and the rumoured return of geek-wonder, Tom Vek.
Kisses, Rent a Groupie xxx

"You're loved and you are able, shall we write that on your grave..."

2008-12-21T14:45:00.000Z

Last night saw the official end of an era, a line drawn in the sand and a fresh start on the horizon; Dirty Pretty Things' final performance.
We at Rent a Groupie are honoured and privileged to have seen and spent time with the boys a fair few times and already miss them now they're gone. No matter what the general public or record sales tell you, DPT were a fantastic band with two albums of material that will hopefully be talked about for a long time yet.
Today is a new dawn, where one is now four and exciting things are happening. With at least 3 quarters of the band heading onto musical pastures new, we await with baited breath to hear what they come with alone/other musicians. We would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the lovely Didz Hammond on becoming a father once again. Well done, sir.
So, to end, our deepest heartfelt thanks for all the good music, good shows and good times. May our paths meet again soon on some new adventure. Dirty Pretty Things, we salute you.

Liam Finn @ Whelan's, Dublin 7th December

2008-12-09T14:47:00.000Z

This was admittedly one of his finest Irish performances yet, his last show after touring worldwide for almost two years. Playing alongside fellow musician Eliza-Jane, Finn captured the audience with an hour and a half of bitter-sweet guitar riffs and frantic drumming from his debut album "I'll be lightning". Accompanied by the appealing vocals of EJ, each tune was executed in Finn's unique style with emphasis on samples and effects. Moments of unpredictable interaction with the crowd, who joined in the vocals of Second Chance, added to the intimate atmosphere of the gig. After a brief and entertaining coversation with the front row concerning his preference of underwear, Finn launched into the mellow chords of Gather to the Chapel.
A highly enjoyable and satisfying performance which left the audience pleading for an encore (which they were given, along with some amusing poetry by Finn's tour manager!) and convinced of the Finn's evident genius as a guitarist, drummer, singer, lyricist and producer.

http://www.myspace.com/theliamfinn

Dirty Pretty Things Irish Tour

2008-12-04T14:49:00.000Z

2:43 on the 453 to Deptford Bridge. 24 hour buses are my saviours multiple times a week. The Christmas lights on Regent Street always make me smile in a state of sobriety; intoxicated they make my eyes blur and dance. Same with the London Eye. When I first moved here it used to change colour every night. Then, it stuck with green for a while. It made me sad to not have a new colour to gaze upon after a night out in Central. The best time I've seen the Eye at night was when I came back from Ireland and was squashed against the window on the packed out bus. I felt miserable and tired - I'd left behind friends and memories, the end of an era was drawing near and to top it off, I was pressed against glass for 45 minutes just so I could get home to the Penthouse and the grimy New Cross streets - but then I saw the constantly changing colours spinning around the wheel. That's when it felt good to be home.

My aforementioned trip to the Emerald Isle was one of the best weeks of my life. A whole 5 days with friends I seldom see, going on adventures and planning more to keep ourselves warm in bus shelters at 3am. A supporting cast of beautiful people and a few from the other end of the spectrum too. It is exactly a month today since we boarded the plane to Dublin, me having almost decided not to go due to lack of funds and a night of no sleep. In the end, it would have been worth missing sleep for a month and having no money for a year.

So I returned, missing Irish rivers, long coach journeys and the constant unpredictable happenings that would occur in every new town. I became even more disillusioned with my programme of study and stopped caring about getting up in the morning. I stayed up all night and slept all day. Ate plates of lettuce leaves and not much else. Smoked too many cigarettes and consumed too many drugs. Found the bottom of the bottle held not the answer but more of the problem. Continued with the bi-weekly minor emotional breakdowns until things started to come good again. Stared at photos of all I'd left behind. Decorated my room with postcards, posters and posers and listened to fireworks raining down outside. Opened post and shut my eyes, dreamt of places far away. I didn't want to leave London, just the timetable I was meant to be following.

Kieran Leonard on DPT Irish Tour 08

2008-11-13T14:55:00.000Z

www.myspace.com/kieranleonardmusic
Kieran also has a website that isn't owned or operated by Rupert Murdoch: www.kieranleonardmusic.com

Snaps from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Greystones and Galway:

Roses Kings Castles @ Lavery's, Belfast

2008-10-31T14:59:00.000Z

Adam Ficek of Roses Kings Castles played a selection of songs from his album including Entroubled, Sparkling Bootz and latest single Horses, before going on to DJ at Thompsons Garage.
Check out the myspace and website: www.myspace.com/roseskingscastles
WWW.ROSESKINGSCASTLES.COM
http://www.youtube.com/user/roseskingscastles

Photographs of his set by Kirsty:

Roses Kings Castles @ Piedescalso Art Cafe

2008-10-24T15:03:00.000+01:00

The Slight Music Against Racism Gig

2008-10-24T15:01:00.000+01:00

The Slight is hosting a Music Against Racism gig on the 4th of November at Pravda, Lower Liffey St., opposite Ha'penny Bridge. Kieran Leonard will be headlining, and very special guests The Good Fight and Boy Prophet will provide support. It's all in a good cause; to create awareness of racism in Dublin through the love of music, so please come down and show some love! Admission is free and doors open at 7.30 pm.
For more details visit www.myspace.com/hereliestheslight