Litres and Grams..

Fancy a quick pint?

2011-03-29T06:58:00.001-07:00

Last saturday i gathered together a bundle of cash and a friend and went in search of pubs in Brighton id never been to before. We went to 10 in total and this is just the beginning. Part II is already in discussion. For each pub we wrote a short bullet point review using the back of old flyers id never got round to giving out.
Here's what me and Jack got up to:

2:11 pm
Prince of Wales
This is that strange pub next to Churchill Square (next to the burger stand/JD sports). This has been here forever, yet no-one that i spoke to had ever been in there. There is a definite reason for this. Upon entrance my hungover stomach was turned by the sight of two old men struggling through a plate of sausages, chips and beans and the whiff of dementia. It was so bad infact, that i had to leave and let Jack get the first round in. Before i turned though i did manage to see some odd WWII pictures that adorned the walls. It said stuff like "NICE TRY ADOLF!". The pints we had were sour and the entertainment consisted of an old hippie wailing through Plan B songs with an acoustic guitar outside. I did see an 8 year old kid jump a flight of steps on a Micro Scooter though. Big ups.

According to our notes this got a 0/10 but the 'Nazi Shit' got a +2 so..

Overall - 2/10

3:07pm
The Iron Duke
After a brief stop in Primark for some shoes and sunglasses, we walked to Waterloo Street in Hove to this boozer / hotel due to being told it showed the football, which it promptly did.
Was a nice vibe in here, although a few too many children for our liking. However that said, it did manage to have a pool table, 3 big screens and a function room without being a shithole, which i suppose is some kind of achievement. Plus Peroni on tap which is always a bonus.

We gave the Iron Duke a 7/10 but Jack started moaning later in the day and this was turned into a retrospective...

Overall: 6/10

3:50pm
The Paris....Something
At half time in the football we decided it was time to move on. Tried to go to CAPS SPORTS BAR on Western Road but it wasnt showing the football. Worst sports bar ever? So after i threw a little strop we decided the football was rubbish anyway so went to a newly refurbished The Juggler; which is now called The Paris Something. The first thing we were greeted with was a basket of baguettes and croissants. If you know me and jack this was an automatic +1 for us. When it came to ordering drinks though, we were promptly told they "only sold half pints". Rubbish. Interior was acceptable, even if it did feel a bit like laurence Llewelyn-Bowen had been let loose in a Cafe Rouge.

According to our notes the lack of whole pints got them -5 but an extra point for making our hands look bigger.

Overall: 4/10

4:30pm
The Conquerer
Found this pub my mistake while looking for a different pub. Its located behind The Old Market venue was we were pleasantly surprised. It showed the football, was in a nice quiet location and food sounded like it might actually have been tasty.

According to our notes the carpets to the toilet were 'springy' and it got a +1 for having a "friendly dog with big balls". Plus Jack liked the fact it held a Meat Raffle there every sunday.

Overall: 6.5 / 10

5:26pm
Robin Hood
Had never been here but had heard good things. All profits from this pub go to charity once all bills and wages are paid, which even in my cynical brain is still a definite nice touch. We were starting to get a bit drunk by this point so the notes get a bit more obscure. We got very excited that there was bunting hanging off the walls apparently, and the barmaid got a +1 for knowing that Jack fancied her. The size of the place surprised us, as it looks very small from the outside and the decor was comfortable, albeit very "standard Brighton pub".

According to our notes we very much liked the fact they sold Rizlas and Filters here. Although that was probably just because had been Jack poncing both off me all day.

Overall: 6.5/10

6:21pm
Rock'n'Roller
This definitely isnt a pub but we were both dying for a piss so were forced in here by our weak bladders. This is a Pool hall / restaurant / bar for West Street types who have grown tired of the Gammon and Chips at Wetherspoons. Its situated opposite Waitrose on Western Road and is actually a lovely building that has been many things over the years. Paid £10 for an hour of pool but left after 25 minutes. Barstaff were very friendly but apparently "Jack felt nervous as he entered". Also all pints were served in plastic glasses which meant an automatic -5.

According to our notes the toilets were "missions/out of breath"

Overall: 3/10

6:56
Prince Arthur
Hadnt even known this pub had existed until we (literally) stumbled upon it after finding the similarly situated Shakespeares Head closed on a saturday night? No idea what was happening there. The Prince Arthur looked inviting as we walked up the road (Just up from Mcdonalds on Western Road if memory serves) with nice benches, flowers and lights. Jack even marked the pub a +1 for the "nice lights" so they must've been fucking good lights. Walking inside was a different kettle of fish however. Was extremely sterile and also extremely empty, except for two queens propping up the bar. Got our drinks and sat outside. We were quickly joined by the landlord who in fairness, was extremely friendly if slightly defensive about his pub. We told him we were writing a review and he offered us a free roast if we came back on sunday which was very kind. Dont think we'll be taking him up on his offer however.

According to our notes the selection of beer was shit and the clientele was marked as "none". Being next to Mcdonalds got it a +1 though.

Overall - 5/10

7:47
Kings Arms
At this point in the evening we were joined by Nick, our "Cock Friendly" friend. With this in mind we decided to head into Kemptown to sample some more of what the Brighton gay scene had to offer. I actually have no idea whether this is a gay pub or not actually...it all gets a bit hazy at this point. I'll let the notes do the talking:

- Gay Bar at Butlins -1 (!?!)
- Nicks here +2
- Old Dj + 1
- Not sour beer
- BANKSY -20 (The walls were covered in banksy prints, i remember that much)

Overall: 3/10

8:35
The Queens Arms
Now we actually cheated here, cos we'd all been to this gem before. If you've never been to the Queens Arms before (which really wouldnt be that surprising, even if you are gay) then let me break it down for you: Its a cabaret bar situated opposite the Kings Arms off St James St. The name of the road escapes me but its up from the Starbucks. It has a plethora of critically acclaimed cabaret stars, such as my favourite; (who we had missed unfortunately) Robbie. Its camp beyond belief and also slightly scary for gay and straight alike. I remember it had huge Oscars all over the place for some reason, and also quite possibly the least convincing drag queen i have ever seen. Not for the squeamish, but definitely a laugh.

Heres the notes we took - I dont really know what we were on about:

- Atmosphere +9 (!)
- Weird Bloke +10 - Then crossed out and changed to +3
- Decor +5
- Friendly Guy +5
- General Wrongness +10
- General Wrongness -10

Overall 7/10

9:20
Marine Tavern
We went here because the landlord of the Prince Arthur had told us it was the smallest pub in Brighton. However he was clearly chatting absolute balls. All i remember from being in here is having an absolute screaming arguement about Gay Saunas and the landlady asking us if we wanted a microphone. Im gunna have to let the notes do the talking here again, not that i can really make any of Jacks scribblings out. They really are the scrawlings of a madman:

- Arguments +6
- Decor Fucheng (...)
- Being looked at by everyone +5
- Conrad being here -8

Overall: 5/10

At this point, we left and carried on our arguments in the street. Jack ended up starting on me and Nick 'cos he thought we were calling him right wing. We then went to meet some less than impressed friends at Fitzherberts and finished the night falling over in the PavTav. Classy.

Jack ended up throwing up in his bath and i woke up £120 out of pocket.

Sunday was the worst day of my life.

WINNER = THE QUEENS ARMS (somehow)

Banjo or Freakout

2010-07-22T20:09:00.001-07:00

For some reason i literally cannot stop listening to this song. Although to be honest, i think the girl in the video helps...

Dom

2010-07-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

Im not gunna pretend to know a lot about this lot but i cant stop listening to their new track "Living in America". They hail from Massachusets and apparently play post-modern synth pop with some great results, although you didnt hear that from me. This new single seems to be catching some attention, and has record companies banging at their door. Its hazy yet hard-hitting at the same time with its dirty synth backdrop and looping lyrics and has "Summer Anthem" written all over it. Basically, fuck off...I like it.

Dom - Living in America

TEETH!!!

2010-06-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

It seems theres a helluva lot of good bands coming out of the London underground right about now (although i spose, when isn't there?) and heres another one for ya! Teeth hail from Dalston although vocalist Veronica So is from sunny California. Bet that one was a bit of a culture shock eh...Musically they make playful synth-punk and the comparisons to Crystal Castles are no doubt endless. However they are far less annoying than their canadian counterparts with their slurred spacey bleeps and vocals that mix nicely into the background as opposed to screamed at you until you get a migraine. New single "See Spaces" is out on Moshi Moshi in a few months and will no doubt have THE BLOGOSPHERE shouting over the top bollocks for a while. Like i'm doing now i guess. Its a perfect summer tune which people could pigeon hole into the "Chillwave" category but personally, i think thats the gayest term ive ever fucking heard so i wont. In my opinion it also offers a lot more than that anyway. B Side "Time Changes" is more of a challenging listen with a harder electro-punk beat but grows on you like no-ones biznizz. Im sure it wont be long until we see these lot down here in Brighton and i, for one, will be there wiv bells on!

Check out both songs (aswell as some pretty dire remixes) on their myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/teethdance

"Raucous joyous skronky dancey whatever-wave with more ideas than time and more pep in its step than a five-year old on a Pixie Stick high" – Pitchfork.

"If Girls Aloud did a duet with New Young Pony Club.." - The Guardian

Yuck

2010-02-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

Holy fucking shit - New semi-interesting band for us all to talk about for a bit! Yuck are a stupidly new project, only setting up their myspace a few months ago, and already have a shitload of hype surrounding them, including a whole NME wankfest thing recently. Yuck comprise of two members from Cajun Cunt Party, some bird and some fat bloke. Thankfully they sound nothing like the previous band they were in and instead play a kind of early 90's dreamy grunge ting. New single "Georgia" and personal favourite "The Wall" are perfect lo-fi pop tunes with great melodies that thankfully never become too cheesy, unlike bands they played with in the past...
With some gigs lined up with fellow HYPESTARS Egyptian Hip Hop and Dum Dum Girls at places like The Old Blue Last and all those shitholes on the horizon, im sure they'll be getting 'nuff props in the coming months. A little bird told me theres a BTN gig in the pipeline so keep your eyes and ears peeled lads and ladettes...

http://www.myspace.com/yuckband

Songs i want played at my funeral...

2010-01-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

So 2010 eh? A new year and that. So what better way to celebrate than to get depressed about getting a year older and still pissing around like a drunk spastic. With this in mind ive got all morbid on yo' ass and have come up with ten songs i want played at my funeral. Ok so im only 24, but say i died tomorrow - at least id have a fuckin good tune to listen to whilst i descend to hell...

10 - Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring

The ultimate nostalgia song. Full of whimsical nods to times gone by and parties attended throughout the years. This is bound to have people collapsing into frenzied heaps of sorrow all over the shop, which i guess is the point. I want this played if i die aged 60 after a few years battling with alcoholism and minor dementia.

9 - Pulp - Sorted for E's and Whizz

"What if you never come dowwwnnnnn..". This is what i want if i die of an overdose.

8 - Nick Cave - Your Funeral, My Trial

This is the song i want played if im murdered by a close friend. Hopefully it'll make him feel so guilty that he admits to the whole damn thing and is arse fucked in prison for the rest of his days. Tosser.

7 - Oasis - Live Forever

I guess this one is pretty self-explanatory..

6 - Arthur Brown - Fire

I want this one played if i die aged like 90 or sumfink. Obviously this has to go hand in hand with a cremation, it wouldnt really work at a burial. I've chosen this because its kinda funny but not too dark or offensive for my 90 year old mates (as if).

5 - Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic

This one is for a death in a road accident. However if its me thats driving, then it could also be "In My Car" by Madness or "Cars" by Gary Numan, although please not the fucking Fear Factory cover...Remember that!? Theres probably loads for this death actually so feel free to adlib if you think of a better one. Ta.

4 - Joy Division - Love will Tear us Apart

Easily the most obvious inclusion, but i think im just really fuckin arrogant and narcissistic 'cos i just want people literally pissing tears at my funeral. Is that so much to ask?

3 - Stone Roses - I am the Ressurection

This has to be for a church funeral. And i want the priests face when this is played put on Flikr.

2 - Tupac - Thugz Man$ion

If my life takes a sudden turn for the worse and i end up dying in a gang related shoot out, then it has to be this. I actually fucking hate this song but its here for pure comedy reasons. It would be pretty funny...

Ain't no place I'd rather be
Chillin' with homies and family
Sky high, iced out paradise
In the skyyyyyyyyyy...

Couldnt have said it better myself.

1 - Blondie - Heart of Glass

Heart attack. See also; The Strokes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Cringe.....

2009-12-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Maccabees & Roots Manuva - Empty Vessels

The Xx @ Audio

2009-11-03T04:55:00.000-08:00

So the ugliest band that have ever lived (Magic Numbers aside..) came to our fair shores last week to play a sold out gig at Audio, put on by our dear friends at Lout Promotions. It sold out so easily that another gig in March is already booked in at the Komedia and if you missed this show, i recommend getting a ticket.

Support came in the form of brighton band Esben and The Witch. I was quite looking forward to seeing them as id heard nothing but good stuff about their goffik reverb shenanigans and although i wasnt disappointed as such, it wasnt quite as good as id thought it might be. The songs all seemed quite shambolic and unfinished, and 2 minute moments of brilliance would be followed by 7 minutes of pissing about with FX pedals and banging a floor tom over and over. Basically it was quite pretentious but at the same time, they were pretty mesmerising and there is definitely some potential there. The birds quite fit aswell...

The Xx album, simply titled "xx", is quite possibly my favourite record of the year so far so i was really looking forward to this gig and they didnt let me down. The Xx have had an extremely quick rise to fame since their album was released by Young Turks in late August and have since toured with The Big Pink and Florence WENCH to name a few. They also went to the same school as Hot Chip, Fourtet and Burial which is kinda quite cool i guess....

They came on to 'Intro' which was to be expected and continued to play the album song by song which definitely seemed to work in this case. It was basically a perfect rendition of the album without any surprises or new bits and if im honest, this was exactly what i was hoping for as i love the album so much. If you havent heard it yet its full of insular, glacial pop tunes which are hauntingly brilliant and weirdly uplifting at the same time, id even go as far as to say its the 'Dummy' of the Noughties... Goosebump moments were "Crystalised", new single "Islands", the Chris Isaac - Wicked Game-esque "Infinity' and the amazing cover of 'Teardrops' by Womack and Womack so all in all pretty much spot on. Im looking forward to March already...

The Xx - Islands - Live on Jools Holland

For sufferers of saturday night fever everywhere...

2009-10-21T09:17:00.001-07:00

So Liam Maher from early 90's baggy outfit "Flowered Up" died yesterday aged 41. The drugs dont work ladies and gentlemen. Anywho, it reminded me of the classic 2 part video for the rave classic "Weekender". It was directed by W.I.Z who went on to direct videos by Oasis, Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and Dizzee amongst others and while its pretty fucking dated and cringe looking back, it was a pretty epic video at the time (over 15 minutes in total). Flowered Up were dubbed the "Cockney Happy Mondays" but were never quite as good and after some hype and NME / Melody Maker covers they disbanded a few years later. I digress, i just thought id post the videos up on here. Makes you wonder exactly where the makers of Human Traffic got their inspiration from....anyway, RIP and all that lad.

Let us never be cured indeed...

Mumford & Sons @ Komedia

2009-10-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well i hate to say it (i dont, i fuckin love it), but i said these guys would make it big this year in my "top 10 bands to watch in 2009" ALL the way back in december. Their album 'Sigh No More' came out this week and went in at number 1 on iTunes which they followed with this sellout show at the Komedia the day after. I love being right.
If you dont know, Mumford & Sons are a four-piece folk band from the Big Smoke who play lovely irish-tinged ditties with accordians and banjo's and stuff. I think they're dope and it was only a matter of time before they crossed over into the mainstream and made middle class mothers cry into their glasses of wine after reading about them in the Observer Music Monthly. They were personally invited to support The Pogues at their christmas shows last winter and any band who can manage to wake Shane Macgowan out of his whiskey and cheap hash slumber for long enough to actually make a judgement on their music gets some props from me.

If my slightly drunk memory serves me correct they opened with "Awake my Soul" and started plouging through favourites such as "Little Lion Man", the new single that is on BBC6 seemingly every 5 fucking minutes. It was a lot dancier than i was expecting which was definitely a good thing, but halfway through they brought the tempo down and started playing some new songs. GREAT. Nah, new songs sounded good but it just seemed an odd setlist in my opinion. Things picked up at the end though and they even used a real life drumkit in a few songs (!). They finished with the brilliant "Roll Away My Stone" and although they didnt play "Liar", this was only a minor glitch. Id been wanting to see this lot for ages now, having missed their last brighton gig exactly a year ago and it definitely wasnt a disappointment. It seemed like a band on the cusp of something pretty special and they've certainly got the songwriting talent to take the potential further. Expect some pretty impressive festival shows next summer id imagine...

Its funny, i really dont see myself as a folk/acoustic fan, but two of my favourite shows of the last year have been this and Bon Iver...Maybe im becoming a middle class mother? Oh well, rather that than some brainless little twat who's still banging on about dubstep i guess....

Thugs battered by cross-dressing cage fighters..

2009-10-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

God this is good..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218651/Thugs-attack-men-dresses--turn-cage-fighters.html

Passion Pit @ Concorde2

2009-09-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

It must be a weird feeling being pretty much certain you'll only be famous for 6 months. Whether Passion Pit actually know this or not is another matter of course, i was just thinking out loud.

This gig sold out pretty easily as can be expected i guess and was full of "cool" parents standing at the back and "cool" 15 year olds jumping around and drinking cheap vodka out of water bottles. Oh to be 15 again...

Anyway, onto the music. Passion Pit started gettin some recognition with the release of their 'Chunk of Change' Ep last year with its "pop gems" and its perfect-for-adverts beats. Personally i was really underwhelmed and slightly irritated by the record, but that was nothing until i heard the full length LP 'Manners'. Ok, so i do like 'Sleepyhead' but since when was fusing Friendly Fires, Mika and the worst parts of Nu Rave a good idea? GROW A PAIR LAD. The live performance was hit and miss. Songs such as the aforementioned 'Sleepyhead' and 'Ive Got Your Number' werent the worst live renditions ive ever heard, and i even found myself bopping my head to songs like 'The Reeling' but mostly i stood there generally hating the general public and wondering if 3 cigarettes during one 40 minute set was too many.

Passion Pit? PASSION THE PITS MORE LIKE. MAD LOLS.

Cherbourg @ Prince Albert

2009-09-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Went to this gig on a tuesday after a particularly heavy Bank Holiday weekend and almost didnt go, but im glad i did as it was exactly what i needed. It was in the small venue of the Prince Albert pub and thankfully i managed to grab a chair and a couple of drinks to see me through. A band called Karran and the Wolfnotes were supporting and did their thing pretty well. It was poppy new-folk stuff as i expected, with accordians and ting. The songs were good and his voice is strong, but some of the lyrics left something to be desired. Cherbourg are a london folk-band who have toured with Mumford and Sons recently, which gives you an impression of their style of music. They opened with one of my favourite songs at the moment, Man, which was amazing and continued to play songs off the two EP's 'Into the Dark' and 'Last Chapter of Dreaming' as well as a batch of new stuff. While they do have some great songs such as 'Let Yourself Love' (some of the new ones sounded great aswell), it can all get a bit dreary and heartbroken for my liking sometimes. Thats just a side note though, all in all this was a really nice gig and perfect for my suicide tuesday...

Cherbourg - Man

Secret MGMT show @ Digital

2009-09-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

So MGMT chose our fair city for their festival warm up show (mainly 'cos last time they were down here they were given a massive bag of drugs and "had a blast"). It was announced two days before and tickets sold out online in 10 minutes, so i guess people still care about these arrogant electro hippies. Support came in the form of 5 manc lads who's name escapes me. They played Primal Scream-esque sleazy physchedelic indie, and to be fair it was pretty good although ever so slightly underwhelming. MGMT came on to 'Weekend Wars' which is one of my favourites off their last album and it was obvious they've grown as a live band since i last saw them. All the singles sounded a lot fuller and 'anthemic' if you'll allow me to be a bit over the top for a second. This was also a chance for them to play a load of new material which was to be expected i guess. It seemed to me that they seem to have got a bit more indie-schmindie but i guess its hard to tell with live performances, especially as the production was such an important part of the last record. Once 'Kids' had finished, i assumed the set was over but they carried on for another half hour seemingly making songs up on the spot and noodling shit guitar solo's for days. Everyone got a bit confused at this and half the crowd left, and the other half just stood there wondering how long this was actually gunna go on for...It was certainly a weird way to finish a gig, but i spose it wont do them much harm. Reactions to the new stuff were mixed from what i gather, so the jurys still out on that but judging on the crowd during the crowd favourites from the first album, they could probably get away with touring that record for another year at least, and why not eh?

Photo by Sam Hiscox - http://partiepartie.blogspot.com

Level Army

2009-05-20T08:58:00.001-07:00

Pointless big up...

Over the last 6 months or so, mates of mine from darrrn Tha Lev' have been compiling nuff skate footage and compiling them into some pretty sick vids, culminating in the full length video "Brighten" which had a viewing at the Sallis Benney theatre which had pretty much every cunt in brighton being a pissed idiot. It was fuckin hilarious and KICKED OFF BLAAAD. Heres a couple for your enjoyment:

Teenage Wasteland:

Brighten promo:

The Brighten Premiere:

"Brighten" Available now from 'Another' SkateShop or www.levelarmy.com

Great Escape 2009

2009-05-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ah the Great Escape, everyones favourite attempt at drinking as much and sleeping as little as possible over a weekend. This year i was stuck working for the festival at Audio so unfortunately pretty much all of this review will be bands that played there..but piss off...

Kicking things off on thursday we had Video Nasties with their distorted post-punk thing who i had never heard and was reasonably impressed. Ive since checked out album 'On All Fours' and while not particularly exciting, its certainly not the worst thing ive heard all year. Following them it was Mika Miko who were a female 5 piece who play bouncy riot grrrrl stuff. A bit like X Ray Spex crossed with Operator Please. They were quite cool but not really my bag maaaan. Next on were scottish band Danananakroyd who despite their awfully gay name, were and are actually pretty good. They play arty post-hardcore but with more indie vocals which i know sounds terrible, but they have a few good songs up their sleeves. Check the album 'Hey Everyone' if you care...So with the crowd having been warmed up by these bands, the kings of the overrated came on - Black Lips. Its not that i think this band are shit, i just never understand how they manage to have SO many fans...They were cool though and the crowd was pretty mental. They do manage to put on a good show fo' sho'.

Friday was by far the worst day line-up wise, but first band on To The Bones still pulled a good crowd with their skewed take on grungy rock. Chew Lips filled the venue with their hype thanks to recently signing to Kitsune and being touted by NME as "the next big thing" (although, who fucking isnt these days?). They played their bleepy, shouty crystal castles thing with varied success. New single "Solo" was good anyway. Dinosaur Pile-Up were next but i cant for the life of me remember what they were like since id chosen Friday to really take advantage of the free Red Stripe on offer. On record they sound a bit shit though, sound like some weird early 90's "alternative" rock band which isnt the hottest look ever in my humble opinion. Last band, The Twilight Sad are some moody scots who play "atmospheric" indie stuff and managed to clear most of the venue because its not really what you wanna be hearing on a friday night. The sound was gash as well. The highlight of the day was the singer of Twilight Sad getting into a fight with an audience member while on stage, who then turned out to be one of the sponsors...good times...After work i went to check out Metronomy at the Corn Exchange which was pretty good but again, i dont remember much. The drummer was HAWT though. You cant beat a fit female drummer, they make sex faces while they drum.

Music on Saturday started off with a "secret" gig on the terrace of Above Audio. Dont think it stayed secret for very long though because there was a queue of people with Babyshambles t-shirts on queueing up outside all day...So the king of the smackheads-who-should've-died-a-while-ago turned up and did a 20 minute set for probably about £20,000. Opinions were mixed and while i didnt think it was a good gig (i dont like Babyshambles either) it was certainly surreal and enjoyable in a "christ, this is weird" kinda way. Music downstairs started with Rogues who are an "Up and coming" band who make camp indie with 80's pop ideas thrown in the mix. Definitely a bit of Duran Duran in there. I thought they were pretty gay really but what do i know, apparently they're gunna be massive...Only caught a few songs by Fight Like Apes but they did their irish punky-synth thing im sure. I was really looking forward to next band, Soft Pack, because they had sounded great during soundcheck but they actually ended up being really disappointing. They have some really great guitar hooks and melodies, but his voice is just so "meh" and theres always just something missing from their songs. Still, early days i guess. Hockey finshed off the weekend with their dancey indie stuff which the huge crowd went mental for. They're currently touring with Friendly Fires which makes sense. I think they're ok but the show was wicked and was a good way to end The Great Escape.

After this i went to see Erol Alkan who was obviously dope, but i fucked off pretty early to go and do too much sniff for no reason and stay awake until late into sunday. GOTTA BE DONE YO! maybe...

If you read that, you're a fucking loser x

Bon Iver @ The Dome

2009-05-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

So anyone who reads this might have noticed that im not one for gushing over-the-top rave reviews, probably because im a bitter twenty-something who takes solace in the fact that if i ever stopped being a lazy cunt and actually started a band then we'd obviously be better than all these other cunts...But fuck it, occasionally a gig/album does deserve mad props and this gig was definitely one of them. It took me a while to realise how good 'For Emma, Forever Ago' actually is and although i didnt spunk on it from a 5th floor window like most people, its still a pretty dope record. However i was quite apprehensive about how the album would come across live, especially in a venue the size of The Dome. I thought it could end up being weak and underwhelming but when i saw them setting up the stage i realised i shouldnt have worried. With two guitars, a bassist, two keyboards and two drumkits, this wasnt your usual wanky folk-fest. They opened with a few songs from the EP 'Blood Bank', the best one being the title track, but soon settled into playing the crowd pleasers from 'For Emma..'. Songs like 'Skinny Love' and "For Emma" were goosebump moments to say the least, and an acoustic interlude for "re: Stacks" was fucking intense. Due to the fact the gig was seated, you could literally hear a pin drop which was a weird and quite overwhelming experience. Anyway enough sounding like a tit, but if i see a better gig this year, i will have seen something pretty special....

Bon Iver - For Emma (Live)

iSnort

2009-05-13T05:20:00.000-07:00

I officially give up on civilization.

Unifest 2009

2009-04-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

So this was some small one day "festival" on Sussex Uni campus that i wasnt particularly looking forward to, but thought id head up anyway seeing as the weather was amazing. The set up was two large tents and 3 indoor "arena's". Im assuming the use of the word 'arena' was ironic in this case. Anyway the line-up was hardly spectacular but caught Peggy Sue and the Pirates early on who i usually cant stand and have spent many a time at the bar during sets of theres, but they've added a drum kit and i actually quite enjoyed them this time around. After this i drank beer and sat in the sun taking in all the student dickheads and god-awful dubstep. Possibly the funniest moment was when some dj dropped the Skream/La Roux remix and the students actually pissed their drainpipes and ran from all corners of the festival. As a result, the dj rewound the tune about 6 times so it actually lasted about 20 minutes. Christ. At some point Noisia came on and played a really standard d'n'b set, with the only highlight being when a beachball landed on the deck and fucked up his mix. Loefah followed with some dubstep set so i set off for the bar and spent the next few hours wondering about aimlessly, eating sausages. At some point Kissy Sellout came on who'd i never actually seen who was quite good in a 2-many-dj's-does-bassline kinda way, but it was hardly mindblowing, so i mugged it off and went to go see Andy C. All day id been planning to miss him simply because ive seen him about 300 times, but im pretty glad i did cos the fake mdma id been doing had kicked in and he played a pretty sick set full of old skool classics that the students blatantly didnt get. Good times. After this we got the bus back and got jawache in various clubs. It was actually a really good day, so props to UNIFEST!! that fucking name though....

Nick Cave - Disco 2000

2009-04-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

Surf City

2009-04-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Surf City hail from that obvious hotbed of shoegazey lo-fi indie, New Zealand! Formed in 2004 i think they only have one EP out to date, recorded in various bedrooms and living rooms. The name is a reference to some obscure Jesus and Mary Chain b-side which makes sense as they definitely have that 80's sound down, with definite nods to Sonic Youth et al, but with a more contemporary pop sensibility to them. Songs of note from the Ep are Mt. Kill and Free The City and the EP is up on spotify if you use that. They also have a myspace an' dat: http://www.myspace.com/killsurfcitygo

Check em out if you care...

Surf City - Records of a Flagpole Skater:

The Virgins/Chew Lips @ Digital

2009-04-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Dont like The Virgins at all but ended up workin this gig so thought i might as well BLOG DAT ISH. Support came from Kitsunes latest signing, Chew Lips (geddit? say it out loud...its fuckin clever..). Id never heard them before but had heard all the bloody hype so was interested to check them out. They were ok in a lets-rip-off-La-Roux-and-watch-NME-spunk-all-over-us kind of way. Lots of synths, drum machines and high pitched female vocals. Nice guys though so i'll let em off. The Virgins came on to a barrage of screams from 15 year old girls who had heard them on the Gossip Girl soundtrack. Maybe their bandname is a reference to their target audience..? Anyway they were pretty shit. To be fair they had a fuller sound than i was expecting but its still weak pop-indie stuff with this weird funky edge...its quite hard to explain. Its like if Stock, Waterman and Aitken decided to put together a band that ripped off Vampire Weekend. Now theres a strange thought...Their t-shirts were really nice though so props for that i spose.

Foals @ Concorde2

2009-04-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

So i know Foals are a bit gay with that whole "every 14 year olds favourite 'experimental' band" vibe they got goin on, but ive always harboured a soft spot for them, and anyone that can get weird angular math-indie songs about triangles onto the Radio1 playlist must be doing something right. This gig was, as can be expected, fuckin rammed but they had no problem with turning the concorde into a proper sweatpit. This was the third time ive seen Foals live and i do believe that you have to see them in the flesh to appreciate how good they can actually be. Songs like Cassius, Two Step, Twice and especially Red Sox Pugie really come into their own live and you realise how talented a band they are. They played a few new songs which seemed pretty "dreamy" compared to the first album which left the audience slightly bored on occasions, but ive got a feeling they will sound good on record. Apparently Blood Red Shoes filled in to do a support slot at the last minute which i missed annoyingly but hey ho. Anyway this gig was pretty sick and a perfect friday night warm up...didnt play Mathletics though...wankers.

Red Sox Pugie (live on Later..)

Top Tens

2009-03-10T18:01:00.001-07:00

christ i didnt realise we were 11 days into a new month...how did that happen? anyway that means its time for yet another fucking amazing "Top Ten". This month its:

Top Ten most annoying cover versions! No particular order

Ordinary boys - Little Bitch
Oasis - My Generation
Mark Ronson - Stop me if you think you've heard this one before
Hundred Eeasons - How soon is now
Limp Bizkit - Behind blue eyes
Gallows and Lethal B - Staring at the rudebois
All Saints - Under the bridge
The Saturdays - Just cant get enough
Atomic Kitten - Tide is High
Jessica Simpson - These boots are made for walking

To be honest, this list could be a LOT longer...

The Walkmen @ Concorde2

2009-02-24T09:37:00.000-08:00

I decided to go to this gig instead of Black Lips at Audio and i actually think i made the right decision. Ever since i saw the video for "The Rat" by this band on MTV2's "120 minutes" programme one stoned early weekday morning, ive never got bored of it. I think that song has managed to stop this band slipping into obscurity and means they can still sell 250 tickets for gigs, and as annoying as the shouts to "PLAY THE RAT" every 5 minutes by pissed up tossers must be, they can hardly be surprised as it is far better than any song they have ever written. That said however, they do have some other great songs in a more distorted, lo-fi indie vein. As a band i find them extremely hit and miss, and this was evident in the gig. Some songs had you totally fixated while the next had you thinking about whether you should get a Grubbs burger after the show or not. To be fair though, this is probably just my personal taste in music and as a gig i couldnt really fault it. Annoyingly, ive never really listened to the newest album which most of the material was obviously from, so im gunna lose points for not name dropping which album tracks were good or not but i dont really care 'cos its not as if anyone ever fuckin reads this thing is it....

PLAY THE RAT!!!?!?!

The Maccabees - No Kind Words

2009-02-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Theres a new Maccabees single coming out and you can download it for free, if you care, on their website:

http://www.themaccabees.co.uk

It sounds alright, a bit more brooding than earlier stuff. Could be a "Grower"..

Rihanna got merked..

2009-02-09T12:31:00.001-08:00

http://www.heatworld.com/Article/8963/Rihanna+/Rihanna+was+%e2%80%9cassaulted+with+a+deadly+weapon%e2%80%9d+by++Chris+Brown

Apparently, R'n'B has its gully moments as well...

Top Ten #2

2009-02-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

This months stupidly interesting "Top 10" is: Shit indie songs i know i should hate, but unfortunately quite like...No particular order

10 - We Are Scientists - Its a Hit
9 - The Killers - Jenny was a Friend of Mine
8 - Kubichek! - Roman is Better
7 - Von Bondies - Cmon Cmon
6 - Hot Hot Heat - No, Not Now
5 - The Hives - Die, Alright!
4 - Guillemots - Trains to Brazil
3 - Cajun Dance Party - Amylase
2 - Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline
1 - Bluetones - Slight Return

christ, i feel so much better having got that off my chest..

La Roux @ New Hero

2009-02-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

For an artist who is touring with Lily Allen (cunt) next month, it was quite a coup for Somewhere In The Universe to book the "Next Big Thing For 6 Months" at the intimate venue of New Hero. The gig was a bringing together of all the unashamedly scene wankers in Brighton to stand at the back and drink Bulmers while not really sure whether they should enjoy this gig or not, due to the fact she could become quite uncool in a few months. Personally, i didnt think it was that interesting. The set was under 30 minutes long and the sound was bloody awful (not her fault of course). The crowd was generally quite uninterested, apart from the 3,000 "photographers" at the front of the stage and a personal highlight was a little scenester ruck that kicked off for about 3 seconds. Quicksand was obviously quite good, as were a few other tunes, but anyone who introduces songs by saying "Now, lets get ready to rave!" in 2009 should probably be shot. I dont know, maybe im being harsh on "the future of pop" because the soundsystem really didnt do her any favours, but shes hardly the new Kate Bush is she...

The Lonely Island - Jizz In My Pants

2009-01-31T18:33:00.000-08:00

For once, im actually completely and utterly fuckin lost for words...this was on MTV2 today!??!!? No wonder there are terrorist organisations who's sole aims are to blow our culture to shit, just look at what we've become! This country...

Mumford and Sons - White Blank Page

2009-01-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

Ive really gotta see this band live soon..

Rex The Dog - Bubblicious

2009-01-16T06:31:00.001-08:00

Not a big fan of Rex The Dog really, but this video is brilliant:

Animal Collective @ Concorde2

2009-01-16T06:15:00.000-08:00

"Oh hi, my names Oliver. I work in Resident and i put Animal Collective albums in every "favourites list" i ever make". Chriiiiiist. So basically i thought id try and win some scene points by goin down to see this lot last night, and i wish id never fucking bothered. Since when did this band sound like an hour and half long Orbital build up on a cocktail of Quaaludes, ketamine and whiskey? I think i went for a record number of fags during a gig ever last night, this was literally such a pointless and boring show. To be fair, im not really into them on record which probably had something to do with it, but i still didnt expect it to be this bad. None of their songs went anywhere, and even when it sounded like they were about to, they'd just change it cos to actually write a good song might be deemed "commercial" or something. Everyone there had goatees and glasses and i saw some people with their eyes closed, shaking their heads as if they were in some psychedelic trance...FUCK OFF this isnt the 60's, this is the age where everyone is too fuckin vain and scared to look like they might even be close to expressing themselves...get with the times everyone? At the end of the gig, all the flannel shirted cunts all tentively asked each other whether they enjoyed it, and the brave few puffed their skinny chests and announced "Yeh it was amazing". Upon hearing this, all their friends would agree wholeheartedly. This either means i was at a different gig to everyone else, or simply im not a stupid fuckin wanker taken in by the idea of "cool". I was pretty pissed though so maybe its the former...

South Central

2009-01-14T06:21:00.001-08:00

Ive known about this band/DJ act for years now, having been managed by my old lecturer at music college. I even worked with them for a few months, and it seems they're finally getting the real recognition they deserve, with BBC6 picking up on the song "crystalling" and inviting them on for interviews and the like. As a DJ act they're a two-piece using laptops and keyboards and basically, they fucking kill it with their mix of glitchy electro and indie remixes. They also have use a live band for own material and have toured with the likes of Pendulum (for some reason), Does it Offend You, Yeah? and The Whip. They've also remixed bands like Maccabees, Van She, Metronomy and made an infamous bootleg remix of Klaxons - The Bouncer that the sniffed-up stalwarts of the Nu-Rave craze werent entirely happy about...Anyway, id just never done a post about these brighton lads so thought id better do it now before they get bigger and i look terribly uncool. If you ever get a chance to see them DJ, definitely take it. Theres apparently an album finally dropping in 2009 as well.

http://www.myspace.com/southcentralmusic - theres loads of shit on here including videos and mix downloads innit. check it out fassys.

Top Tens

2009-01-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

So with a slight nod to High Fidelity, ive decided to do a "top ten songs for a certain situation" every month. I can see on your faces that you're all FUCKING EXCITED so heres the first one..

Top 10 songs to drink red wine on your own at 2am to (in no particular order):

10 - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Nobodys Baby Now
9 - Pulp - I Spy
8 - The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
7 - Belle and Sebastian - Dylan in the Movies
6 - Jesus and Mary Chain - April Skies
5 - The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
4 - The Cure - Lovesong
3 - New Order - Age of Consent
2 - The Chameleons - Second Skin
1 - Echo and the Bunnymen - Killing Moon

Fascinating stuff im sure you'll agree. More Top 10's coming soon...

Ones to Watch 2009

2009-01-05T10:14:00.001-08:00

TWO THOUSAND AND CRIME! whats good?

1. The Soft Pack - Formerly known as The Muslims, The Soft Pack are a garage band from San Diego who are gettin quite a bit of hype at the moment. Sound a bit like a stripped down Black Lips with more melodies.

2. Foamo - Along with Fake Blood, i can see Foamo being one of the breakthrough DJ's of the year. Hes only 21 and is already making some interesting bassline-heavy electro shiznit. Havent seen him yet, but i intend to!

3. The Virgins - I dont actually like this band, but i reckon they might do pretty well in 2009 and i guess thats the point of this article...The Virgins have been knockin about for a few years now, but have only really come to people attention after featuring on the Gossip Girls soundtrack. Rock 'n' Roll or what. Its just pretty rich kids playing watered down New Yoik new wave with a bit of a FUNKAY edge. dope.

4. Yo Majesty - Yo Majesty are two dykes from Florida who make "Party Hop", which basically just means rapping over electro influenced beats, a la Spank Rock et al. They supported Neon Neon on their recent tour and have people queuing up to work with them, Bassment Jaxx being just one of them.

5. Little Boots - Ive already spoken about this electro synth-pop goddess already, just check that article innit.

6. Mumford and Sons - Finishing the year on a definite high (supporting The Pogues at one of their christmas gigs), 2009 is set to be big for these lads. Having already toured with Laura Marling, the folk band are gettin some real critical acclaim with just two EP's out. Expect to hear the name a lot when the album drops. They're meant to be incredible live as well.

7. Violens - Check article Below.

8. Chairlift - Being mates with MGMT, Yeasayer etc will never hurt your press release and it seems to have helped this lot. You probably heard (or read the lyrics on someones facebook status update) the single "Bruises" which threatened being a big single earlier this year. They make slightly gothic 80's style pop music and if they have other singles like Bruises then they could easily be a Guardian Music Monthly darling in the next year.

9. La Roux - La Roux is a little red haired woman who makes electro pop in the vein of Eurythmics/Depeche Mode but with the modern twist of having grown up in Brixton in the DIVERSE "noughties". Quite similar to the whole Little Boots/Ladyhawke thang. I like.

10. White Lies - You've probably already heard these 3 london lads pretty much ripping off every 80's indie band ever with their "gothic", "dark" and "brooding" indie that actually sounds a bit like The Bravery... They've already sold out gigs at the Manchester and Glasgow academys so its safe to say we'll hear more of these guys this year.

Gigs of 2008

2008-12-31T06:04:00.000-08:00

So heres my top 10 gigs i saw in 2008. I had some terrible luck with festivals this summer, so unfortunately theres no epic glasto headline sets or anything like that, but i still saw some fuckin brilliant bands:

10 - Sigh and Explode @ Great Escape - This gig gets in simply because i was working all Great Escape weekend and was annoyed i was missing a load of good gigs, but then this band came on who id never heard of and were actually really sick. S'all about the norwegian melodic hardcore boys and girls...

9 - Bonobo @ Beachdown - A perfect mid-afternoon festival set at the slightly disappointing Beachdown Festival. Just what i needed after caining it the night before, this was one of the musical highlights of the weekend.

8 - Maccabees @ Concorde2 - This was the first time id actually managed to see a Maccabees gig and they didnt disappoint. However, this gig only really gets a mention because i went off to see MSTRKRFT afterwards, so they get points for adding to a fuckin sick night.

7 - Lykke Li @ Concorde2 - Sound was a bit quiet and the audience were all wankers, but the gig itself was quality. Mad props.

6 - Caribou @ Loop Festival - Wasnt really a fan on record before i saw this gig and to be honest, i still dont like them that much. This gig was fucking amazing though. "After Hours" was just brilliant. If you get a chance to see this band live, take it.

5 - MGMT @ Digital - Had seen parts of them live before when i worked at their Pressure Point gig a few months earlier, so kind of knew what to expect, but this gig was pretty dope. All the "classics" were spot on.

4 - Neon Neon @ Digital - This gig was a brilliant live version of one of my favourite albums of 2008. The sound and look of the gig was perfect, with projected films about each song. Cameo's from HarMar Superstar never fail to be interesting either...

3 - Holy Fuck @ Audio - An all day drinking sesh probably helped this gig be as enjoyable as it was, but it actually was fucking amazing. I cant wait to see them again.

2 - De La Soul @ Beachdown - Easily the highlight of Beachdown. For some reason they'd been put on the smaller Second Stage so it was well packed, but this just added a real festival experience to a pretty shoddy festival where all crowds were sparse as fuck. Had never bothered to go see this lot when they'd played in Brighton before, but if they ever do again, might have to get myself a ticket.

1 - Nick Cave @ Brighton Centre - Well, what can i say? This gig was just amazing. Of course with the number of brilliant songs he has, there were a few songs i wanted him to play that he didnt, but this is literally the only "complaint" i have. The blokes a fuckin gangster.

Photo by some fag called Sam Hiscox..

All Time Low

2008-12-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

check out these fuckin spastics:

jeeeeeesus christ.

Nick Cave

2008-11-21T09:30:00.001-08:00

So yeh basically, im really fucking excited about seeing Nick Cave and The Badseeds this weekend. Even if it is at the bloody Brighton Centre...urgh. Apparently the tour is in celebration of his entire back catalogue being rereleased digitally remastered, which hopefully means it'll be a bit of a greatest hits tour. At least thats what im hoping...So i thought id take this opportunity to post some of my favourite Nick Cave videos so you can all GET TO KNOW 'cos this blokes a fookin legend alright?

I Had a Dream, Joe

Do You Love Me?

Your Funeral, My Trial (live)

Brother My Cup Is Empty (Live)

Stagger Lee

Violens

2008-11-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

Violens are a New York band who formed only about a year ago, but who are getting some real hype going, supporting MGMT amongst others. The name is a cross between "Violence" and "Violins" which sounds really gay, but it does kinda sum up their sound. They have an almost psychedelic feel with lots of harmonies and reverb, but then with some quite sharp sounding synths and stuff thrown over the top. Ive only heard the songs on their Myspace so cant give any kind of album review (they dont even have an EP out yet i dont think) but they've got a kind of Zombies-mixed-with-an-english-80's-indie-band feel to them. I dont think they're amazing, but certainly a band to watch. Their single "Already Over" is fuckin gorgeous but for some reason i cant find a video for it to post up on here, just check it on the Myspace.

Heres the video for Trance Like Turn:

http://www.myspace.com/violensmusic

Women and Children First @ Penthouse

2008-11-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

So Women and Children First continued its monthly night at the Penthouse the other week, and heres some "flix". I think we ended up pissing off the staff in there by constantly turning the music up and playing porn in between songs, but fuck it..

Women and Children First - First tuesday of the month @ The Penthouse (Above the Freebutt)

Photos by Jack Deeks

Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minister?

2008-11-06T11:05:00.001-08:00

i fucking hope not..

Mystery Jets - Half in Love with Elizabeth (Foamo Remix)

2008-11-03T05:35:00.000-08:00

Heard this remix during a Queens of Noize mix the other day and deemed it good enough to blog. HEAVY.

download it here:

Mystery Jets - Half in Love With Elizabeth (Foamo Remix)

No Age - Nouns (2008)

2008-10-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

No Age are two skaters from San Francisco who are signed to Sub Pop and make slightly wanky distorted music. This album came out in May but i hadnt heard it until i went to see them play with Times New Viking and Los Campesinos a few weeks back. They were a pretty good live band, if slightly samey, but this album has some really fucking good songs on it. Its all feedback, distortion, vocals low in the mix, instrumental songs and other things i generally fuckin hate but these guys can actually write some good tunes. This album is, however, pretty hit and miss. "Songs" such as 'Keechie' sound like Fuck Buttons b-sides and they sometimes appear to be trying too hard to be a bit edgy, but then songs like "Cappo", "Ripped Knees" and "Teen Creeps" sound like the lovechild of unreleased Sonic Youth demos and Minor Threat. Which is definitely a good thing. Basically what im trying to say is they should've cut out all the pretentious wank and just made this an EP. It would be much more spunk-worthy.

Heres some video someone made for Ripped Knees:

2008-10-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

So during the last couple of weeks ive gone on a bit of a gig rampage so instead of writing in detail about each one and boring the shit out of you, i thought i'd write a brief overview of each show:

Lykke Li @ Concorde 2 - Well the electro pop ice queen bought her quirky scandinavian set up down to brighton and needless to say, it was a great gig. All the "classics" sounded great, and she mixed it up with a few covers. She even had a breakdown in one of her songs which went into KRS-ONE's "Sound of da Police" while she stood there drinking a mug of tea. Which is pretty cool in my book.

Sam Sparro @ Corn Exchange - Cant really work out whether i enjoyed this gig or not. Im not a fan of him on record and hes obviously a fuckin knob'ead, but i was still there, drunk and dancing about so who knows really. And 4 costume changes in an hours set, thats pretty impressive..

Hot Club De Paris @ Audio - Supported by Lyrebirds and Heels Catch Fire, this was definitely a case of the support bands being better than the headliners. Never been a fan of HCDP really, and this just confirmed it more. "Shipwreck" is an ok song but thats about it. They just seemed to spend half the time mumbling in scouse. Meh.

Friendly Fires @ Audio - Not the biggest fan of their Bloc Party/LCD Soundsystem ting on record, apart from a few exceptions, but actually quite enjoyed this show. Its just harmless indie grabbing onto the coat tails of the New Rave CRAZE, and in my opinion, thats not as horrible as it sounds. It did get a bit wanky when a pathetic glitter shower went off during "Paris" and the guitarist started using a Dust Buster to play guitar (!?) but it certainly knocked away some post-weekend cobwebs on a rainy monday evening.

Blood Red Shoes @ Freebutt - Having been knocking around Brighton for ages now, and apparently touring for the last 73 years, its quite odd that i'd never actually seen BRS live before. This gig was a warm up for a big tour that includes venues such as The Astoria, so it was quite good to see them in a tiny venue before they BLOW UP. Apart from the fact that the freebutt has no air conditioning and it was actually stupidly fucking hot, it was a pretty good gig. Nothing special if im being honest, but certainly worth a fiver.

Holy Fuck @ Audio - Having not remembered the majority of their Loop Festival set, i was really looking forward to seeing this lot again. They didnt disappoint either. Restlesslist supported who i have seen too many times to mention, but i actually thought their set was one of the best ive seen them do, so props for that. Holy Fuck's slightly improv electronic MADNESS was just fucking brilliant. One of my best gigs of 2008 so far.

Simian Mobile Disco @ Digital - This doesnt really count as it was only a DJ set, but honourable mention because it KICKED OFF BLAAAAD.

Cajun Dance Party @ Concorde - So yesterday i went to see those public school indie pop upstarts, Cajun Dance Party. Its quite sickening how young they are. Anyway, enough about my bitterness towards them, they were just crap. To be fair they do a couple of catchy tunes, such as "The Next Untouchable" and "The Races" and if they can fit 450 15 year old indie kids into the concorde on a monday night, then they must be doing something right. It just all sounded so pathetic. But hey, what do i know? They get laid a lot more than i do.

Little Boots

2008-09-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

Ah Little Boots, my little electro sex kitten. AKA Victoria Hesketh, she's the former singer of Dead Disco and shes decided to go solo which is turning out to be a pretty good idea, as shes receiving mad love on the interweb. The amazing tune "Stuck on Repeat", produced by Joe Goddard of Hot Chip, was released on white label earlier this year, but her first proper single "Meddle" came out about a month ago. Shes definitely "one to watch" and shes also apparently a pretty capable Dj as well, as shown on the mixtape linked below. I cant wait to marry her.

shes all over this world wide web nonsense, check her myspace here:
www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

or go to her Blog here:
http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/blog/ - this is where you'll find her "Magical Tropical Mixtape", you just have to sign up to her mailing list, which i guess is fair enough..

Metronomy - Nights Out

2008-09-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

So yeah, basically everyone is jumping on Joseph Mount's dick at the moment, so i thought id check out this new Metronomy album in the hope that id hate it. Only cos i like being different. Turns out though, its actually pretty sick. Ive never really been a huge fan of their "quirky" electronica and have always been pretty bored when seeing them live, but this album has changed my mind. There are some great songs on here which prove hes not just a good remixer, but a good songwriter as well. Songs like "My Heart Rate Rapid" with its Klaxons-esque vocal and synth HEAVINESS to new single "Heartbreaker" which is just a bloody good pop tune, its pretty consistent. So yeah Joseph, consider your dick well and truly jumped on.

Heartbreaker:

MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Remix)

2008-09-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

Uh oh, they've done it again. Looks like we've found the anthem for a new breed of Freshers to do ketamine for the first time to. WAHEY. i actually expected more from this remix, but hey ho, I'll like it until its on the Skins advert and then i'll pretend i always hated it. You know how we rolllllll...

Shout Out Louds

2008-09-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Shout Out Louds are from Stockholm and basically sound exactly like The Cure. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery but i think at times they get a bit close to just actually ripping them off completely. See "Tonight i have to Leave it" for proof of this. However, they do have some really good tunes of their own like "Impossible" which i cant stop listening to. Anyway yeah ive only got an old album which isnt too exciting but these new songs sound a lot better so just thought id share them with you lovely people.

Tonight I Have To Leave It:

Impossible:

Noel Gallagher

2008-09-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

As much as i find the Gallagher brothers' unshakable arrogance pretty funny, whoever the man is that did this deserves a fucking medal.

i love Liams "lets get involved" stagger at the end. "Ya Fookin' Coont!"

Beachdown Festival 2008

2008-08-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

Beachdown is brand spanking new 4 day festival up on the Sussex Downs. The line up consisted of a lot of brighton bands, lots of obscure bands no-one had ever heard of, some shitty "Big Names" and De La Soul. I arrived on friday evening due to having worked at a One Night Only gig the night before (lets not even go there..). Spent the first night drinking red wine in the dance tent watching in no particular order, Utah Saints, Krafty Kuts, and A-Skillz. It was enjoyable enough. Woke up on saturday and pissed around for a few hours until The Kleptones came on and did their mash-up ting, which had a nice festival viiiibe. Caught the last half of RestlessList which was nothing new then headed over to see The Maccabees. They were dope as usual, and the new songs sound better every time i hear them which is good news! Had to miss Kissy Sell Out after this because De La Soul were coming on. For some spastic reason, they'd been put on the second stage even though they blatantly pulled the biggest crowd of the weekend, so it was a bit squashed. They fuckin killed it though, well good show. EVEN THOUGH they didnt play "3 Is the Magic Number". wankers. Walked past the Magic Numbers and shouted general abuse, then headed to the dance tent to see Pat Mahoney from LCD Soundsystem. Id been looking forward to this for a while, but was so fuckin disappointed it was untrue. It was just the most monotomous house music ive ever heard in my life and some wanker with dreadlocks (not newton faulkner unfortunately) was bloody BREAKDANCING in front of me. If i hadnt been gurning out, i wouldve slapped the cunt.
Sunday consisted of a horrible feeling in my head for most of the day. Saw the last half of Heels Catch Fire who i think are one of brightons best live bands. Pissed around for quite a few hours until Bonobo, which i really enjoyed. Was perfect "lets roll an afghan zoot" music. So after that chill sesh, went to go and drink tequila slush-puppies (yes really) and wait for The Beat to come on. The Beat were also pretty disappointing. Well i say pretty disappointing, i thought they were shit, so we fucked off and saw some of Maths Class who ive seen far too many times to really comment on, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. After this we went to see Fun Lovin' Criminals who are basically just a fuckin easy listening band with swearing and references to cocaine and weed. So after they'd played Scooby Snacks, we fucked off. Caught a bit of Mr Scruff but i wasnt really in the mood so only stayed for about half an hour.
Monday i got up and felt so shit i had to go see some music to try and cure my hangover. Saw Left Hand Red on the brighton stage who despite their terrible name, were actually alright. After that it was Horace Andy which was good without being great. Fuckin legend though that bloke. Fucked off seeing Jose Gonzalez 'cos im not a fanny, and waited for Nouvelle Vague who were really fuckin fit and a lot better than i thought they'd be, cos i really dont like them on record that much. Gogol Bordello finished the festival but my days intake of ketamine started to creep up on me, and all i remember is i kept forgetting i was watching a band. Music finished at 9 on monday so after that, got the 15 minute bus ride home (what a fuckin luxury that is) and passed the fuck out.
In conclusion ladies and jellyspoons, Beachdown has the potential to be a good inclusion into Brightons summer line up, but as of yet isnt really there. The line up was pretty shoddy and the location has plenty of room for a much bigger capacity, but seeing as it was the first year, i hope this will all be sorted out in time for next year. BRAP.

Picture by Kenny Street

Loop Festival 2008

2008-08-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

Loop is a one day festival in the middle on Brighton that apparently "celebrates digital culture" and it does this by having a varied mix of (mostly electronic) bands, lots of animation and keraZy visuals.
I started off the day in the sallis benney theatre, watching some animation that started lecturing me about climate change too much for my liking. Then we saw some jazz drummer bloke which i just thought was wanky bollocks. After this we went into the real arena for an over priced beer and a sit down. The first proper band we saw were The Bays, who were some half-improv live synth fest - they were alright but nothing too special. After that Caribou came on who were brilliant. Im not the biggest fan on record but it really was a great gig. The lead vocalist had his own drum kit that he would switch between playing and singing, and the use of two drum kits really gave them what i feel is missing from the records. Next up we saw Fourtet i think? I found him really boring actually, which was a big disappointment. Then we rolled around the floor for a while until Holy Fuck came on. Having missed both brighton gigs they've played recently, i was really looking forward to them. Unfortunately i can only remember about 5 minutes of the gig, but remember it being proper sick. After that we walked around in a K'd state for a while, then left. I did go to the Komedia for Loop Late which Bonobo amongst others were playing, but i was too drunk and couldnt handle it so left pretty sharpish. All in all a bloody good day. Roll on 2009..

Caribou - After Hours (Live)

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen (Live)

Newton Falkner

2008-08-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

I think the thing i want to happen most in the world is for me to see this bloke in the street, and for me to start strangling him to death with his stupid fucking ginger dreadlocks while i forced him to sing this cover version, slowly going faint until the falsetto part proves to be too much and he ends up dying in my arms with a look of "why?" in his eyes.

The Raveonettes - Whip it On (2002)

2008-08-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

The Raveonettes are a danish duo who were a real "Hype band" when this album came out in 2002. I remember dismissing them as some Kills cover band and havent really bothered listening to them since. HOWEVER, i decided to the other day, and its actually really good. Its simple, distorted smacked out rock and every song on the album is under 3 minutes long and in the key of B flat minor. fascinating stuff. Basically every song sounds pretty much exactly the same and has the exact same structure, but this doesnt seem to matter. The lyrics are pretty dark (when you can make them out) and the simplicity of it all makes the easiest riff sound amazing. If that makes sense? The best tune is either Beat City or Cops on our Tail, but its not the kind of album where you can just listen to one track, you need to listen to the whole album to get a real feel for it. I havent checked out any of the more recent stuff, anyone know if its any good? i dont really care enough to fill up my harddrive with it..

Pendulum

2008-08-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

Now i know that they probably think they're really pushing DNB boundaries and bringing it to a new audience, but do they really have to make it sound like two songs that dont go together being played at the same time while you have your throat slit? It truly is fucking awful. All its gunna achieve is little pussy indie kids goin to drum and bass nights and getting fuckin battered. hmm actually, maybe Pendulum are cleverer than i thought...

VampirateFangs08 (1 day ago) Show Hide
Marked as spam
Reply
My cousin plays this at full volume in his car. Its kewlness =]

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork

2008-07-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

bitch has been stealin my moves!

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Under 15 Feet of Pure White Snow

2008-07-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

Cocaine isnt usually my favourite song topic, but when its written by Nick Cave and you have Jarvis and Jason Donovan in the video, its pretty much genius..

Lounge on the Farm 2008

2008-07-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

Went up to this small festival in Kent for the day on sunday 'cos what else is there to do on a sunday? It ended up being a pretty messy sunday but i wont go into that. Unfortunately, they'd left the worst day of music until the last day, so i spent a lot of time drinking Pimms and listening to minimal house (urgh). First up we saw THE MALE LILY ALLEN aka Natty, who was alright in a radio 1 reggae-lite summery kind of way. Next on were Shortwave Set who i thought were pretty good, even though they played their 3 best tunes first. Harmonia was brilliant live, as was No Social. After then, the minimal house took over for a while until Terry Hall's Dj set which was as can be expected really, half an hour of classic reggae and dub tunes, then half an hour of "classics" like Talking Heads, Blondie and Human League. I wish my job was just to play records...We watched some weird psychedelic bands for a while then went to see Underground Heroes who i really enjoyed, but that might've had something to do with the chemicals in my bloodstream as they're not actually very good at all. They sound like a slightly ska-tinged Libertines/The View and to be fair, put a lot of energy into the gig and i wouldnt bet against them doing alright for themselves. Their cover of "Message in a Bottle" was pretty dope as well. After that i wasted hours of my life in the "cinema tent" talking shit to people who didnt care. SUH-WEET. i fuckin love summer...

Underground Heroes - Skinny Twins

Shortwave Set - No Social

Lykke Li

2008-06-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yet another scandinavian artist! Lykke Li (pronounced Licky Lee) is a woman from stockholm who plays soulful electro pop and while its not fascinating, its nice enough. Although this is mostly because of her great voice. Her album "Youth Novels" has just been released and is produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn and John fame. Shes playing quite a few festivals this summer and am hopefully gunna catch her at either Lovebox or Bestival. I saw her do a brilliant acoustic version of "im good, im gone" on the bbc glastonbury coverage but cant find it on youtube yet. So heres the video for "Little Bit" featuring the quality lyric "And for you I keep my legs apart, And forget it by my tainted heart"

www.myspace.com/lykkeli

Dj Mehdi - Signatune

2008-06-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

tunes BIGGGGGGG

For a minute then, I lost myself..

2008-06-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

For all you CUNTS goin to see Radiohead on tuesday, it made me think of my one and (regrettably) only radiohead show ive seen, at Glastonbury 2003. It was easily the best gig ever. If you say you dont like radiohead you're either lying or a twat. Heres a few videos of that gig. I literally couldve picked any tunes but for "goosebump moments" chose Karma Police and Fake Plastic Trees.

You can download the set pretty easily and seriously, most of it is better than the recorded stuff, which is pretty fuckin rare..

Fuck Buttons

2008-06-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

I downloaded the lp "street horrrsing" in some lame stoned attempt at being scene. This is possibly the worst album ive ever heard. Their Wikipedia says "they turn drone into melody" and for some reason, that still didnt put me off. people who listen to music like this are fucking wankers. Avoid 'dis!

Gabriella Cilmi

2008-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

im in love.

Kid Rock - All Summer Long

2008-06-15T17:26:00.001-07:00

oh bloody hell, what the FUCK is this..

RestlessList

2008-06-09T05:45:00.000-07:00

Restlesslist are a brighton band who specialise in instruMENTAL electronica and they seem to rapidly been gaining an important fanbase. Nemone gave their single "Butlin Breaks" tune of the week on her BBC6Music show, and their album "Rise and fall of the curtain club" was given album of the week on Huw Stevens Radio1 show as well as playing a live session for Marc Riley. They have an ex member of Electric Soft Parade as a main founder and have already played with bands such as Battles and Mystery Jets. While not sounding too similar, they have a bit of a Lemon Jelly vibe going on and the album should be a great summer record. It was out last monday and you can buy it here (as if anyone does that anymore..) :

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/3513430/-/Product.html?searchstring=restlesslist&searchsource=0

heres their extremely professional video for "Dirty Pint"

Those Dancing Days @ Audio

2008-06-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

I dont know what it is with me and scandinavian bands at the moment, but i cant get enough! Those Dancing Days are 5 swedish teenagers, and although they arent as wet dream as that sounds, i did fall in love with the keyboard player. They play cutesy pop music with a northern soul edge to it and to be honest, its a load of fun. The gig itself was enjoyable enough, the crowd and the band all seemed to be having a good time but the thing is, these girls are only 18 and it showed sometimes. They werent very tight (hurhur) and there was a lot of filler songs. However, there definitely seems to be potential and i hotly tip them for big stuff. Heres the video for pop gem "Hitten" :

www.myspace.com/thosedancingdays

Nice one Boris..

2008-06-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Girls That Scream

2008-06-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

jesus christ, fucking kill me now. i think this is maybe the worst thing ive ever heard in my entire life. and LOOK AT THEM!

this country...

www.myspace.com/girlsthatscream

Put the Boot In!

2008-05-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Cockney Rejects are made up of 4 hardcore West Ham fans who literally just wrote songs about football, violence, and football violence. Their gigs often turned into fights between rival supporters (often started by the band themselves) and although its mindless Oi! punk, i think they're a really interesting band who sum up the frustration of that late 70's/early 80's era that we always hear about in shit documentaries on bbc4. Anyway i digress, i just wanted to post the lyrics to Fighting in the Street 'cos it makes me wanna kick someones head in. And who cares if thats a good thing or not..

You're walking along quietly
There's the sound of running feet
You turn around the corner
There's fighting on the street
See all the kids they wanna good time
They all wanna get stuck in
Don't know, don't care
if they're fighting for a cause
AS long as they get one in

Go

We're fighting in the streets

You all look for solutions
But you can rack your brains
No matter what the gov't do
Its never ever gonna change
Wankers hand hand out leaflets
They'll never ever let it be
I don't care what they do
But they better not come near me

Go

We're fighting in the streets

You're walking along quietly
There's the sound of running feet
You turn around the corner
There's fighting on the street
See all the kids they wanna good time
They all wanna get stuck in
Don't know, dont care
if they're fighting for a cause
AS long as they get one in

put the boot in!

We're always fighting in the streets
We're always fighting in the streets
We're always fighting in the streets
We're always fighting in the streets

Jesus Camp - The Movie

2008-05-28T03:53:00.001-07:00

Saw this documentary on More4 last night and couldnt believe what i was seeing. This is the most blatent documentary ive seen of the fundamentalist christian right in america literally brainwashing children. This film shows a summer "Bible Camp" where children are preached to every day, sometimes for hours at a time, and become "one with god". The kids literally start breaking down and crying for jesus. It also touches on the importance of the evangelical church on US politics. Its some pretty fucked up shit trust me.

stream it here:

http://www.videogateway.tv/index.php?link=p,view_free;stream_id,2188;bw,2

Sigh and Explode

2008-05-19T04:51:00.001-07:00

Sigh and Explode hail from that hotbed of musical talent, Oslo. They're a relatively new band and only have one EP recorded, but have already got a name for themselves in the norwegian hardcore scene and have supported bands like Blood Brothers and the Misfits. They play melodic hardcore with a slight technical edge and sound like AT THE DRIVE-IN HAVING A FIGHT WITH MILLION DEAD. in norway. I recently worked with them at the Great Escape and they sat in the dressing room all day getting hammered on red stripe, then played their gig, smashed a window and fucked off. i quite like them.

www.myspace.com/sighexplode

Arab Strap - The First Big Weekend

2008-05-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

So that was the first big weekend of the summer...
Starts Thursday as usual with the canteen quiz and
again no-one wins the big cash prize. Later I do
my sound Bloke routine by approaching Gina's new
boyfriend to say that he shouldn't feel that
there's any animosity between us and then I even
go and make peace with her Shouldn't have
bothered.

Then on Friday night we went through to the
Arches...

There was only one car going so some of us had to
get the train. We got through quite late. Then we
went to a pub to take the gear. There was no
problems getting in - we saw some others waiting
down the front of the queue so we skipped in. It
was a good night - everyone was nutted and I ended
up dancing with some blonde girl. I thought she
had been quite pretty until last night when
Matthew informed me that she had, in fact, been a
pig.

When the club finished we wandered the streets for
a while until we got to this 24-hour cafe. I
didn't like the look of it so we left and got a
taxi back to Morag's flat. I couldn't sleep so I
sat about drinking someone else's strawberry tonic
wine and tried to keep everyone else up.

Then at ten o'clock in the morning we went
downstairs to buy some drink. We had intended to
watch the football in the afternoon but we'd
passed out by then and slept right through it,
awaking to find that England had won two-nil. Then
we went to get the train home and had a few in the
Station bar. We had some stuff left from the
previous night's supplies so when we got home we
decided to go down to John's indie disco. Same
story as Friday - lots of hugging, lots of dancing
etc. etc. I couldn't sleep again so went to the
park to look at the toon, taking a detour through
the playpark. To get in we had to climb over a ten
foot steel fence, which resulted in severe
bruising of our hands, legs and groins, but we had
a good laugh on the stuff, especially the
tube-slide, which probably doubles up as a urinal
for drunk teens. Then we walked through the woods
to have a look at the toon. Big disappointment,
but the mist on the lake was cool.

Sunday afternoon we go up to John's with a lot of
beer in time to watch the Simpsons - it was a
really good episode about love always ending in
tragedy except, of course, for Marge and Homer. It
was quite moving at the end and to tell you the
truth my eyes were a bit damp.

Then we watched these young girls in swimsuits
have a water fight in the street. We went up to
the pub about ten. It was busy for a Sunday night,
lots of people we know, including my first ever
girlfriend who I still find very attractive, quite
frankly, but I didn't really speak to her She's
probably still a bitch, anyway. Her friend Gillian
was there, I had a chat with her, she was still
quite pleasant. At the same time I watched Malcolm
make some terrible attempt to try and chat up a
girl we know called Jo. He made some remark about
her skirt that was barely there the previous night
or something. I couldn't sleep again that night,
thanks to some seriously disturbing
nightmares...Matthew says I should cut down on the
cheese.

"Went out for the weekend, it lasted for
ever, high with our friends it's officially
summer."

I got some sleep eventually on Monday afternoon.
It was a beautiful day, and later that evening
Malcolm introduced me to the power of Merrydown -
£1.79 a litre, 8.2% - mmmm..... Judith and Laura
came round later and we sat in my back garden and
drank. Then Matthew came round and we went up the
town.
Its officially summer.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=219204161

iLikeTrains @ Barfly

2008-04-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

iLikeTrains have the worst name in music and are from Leeds. They are 5 blokes who sound like they've listened to too much Nick Cave but never had the balls to do heroin and become interesting. They play atmospheric, miserable indie that is reverbed up to the eyeballs and slur pretentious lyrics over the top. I actually quite enjoyed it. Songs like "Victress", "Rook House for Bobby" and whatever the last song was had their "goosebump moments" so credit where credits due i guess. Theres something about them that i really want to hate and even though they're pretencious as fuck, have a terrible name and sound like listening to Editors whilst in a k-hole, i cant help but admit it was a great gig. wankers.

Alphabeat @ Audio

2008-04-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Id just like to say that my love for pop music is not ironic or tongue in cheek. I firmly believe theres space for pop music in everyones record collection, be it Stevie Wonder or Take That. So with that out the way, id just like to say that Alphabeat were amazing. You've most likely heard their disgustingly catchy single "Fascination" and that was all id heard before going to see them. So while there were some fillers, i was pleasantly surprised to hear numerous other great pop songs, such as "Boyfriend" and "10,000 nights of thunder". Its kitsch as fuck danish pop fronted by some bloke who danced/sweated like Bez and some little wine drinking scandinavian minx. While i'll probably get really pissed off by them in a few months and will look back on this post and cringe, right now i think they're brilliant. Hindsight is a dangerous thing sometimes.

Mariah Carey - Touch My Body

2008-04-11T07:43:00.001-07:00

Touch my body
Put me on the floor
Wrestle me around
Play with me some more
Touch my body
Throw me on the bed
I just wanna make you feel
Like you never did.
Touch my body
Let me wrap my thighs
All around your waist
Just a little taste
Touch my body
Know you love my curves
Come on and give me what I deserve
And touch my body.

The Chameleons

2008-04-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

The Chameleons are one of those "seminal 80's indie groups" that loads of bands name check in an attempt to appear underground and interesting. So i thought id do the same. thankfully, they're actually quite good. Formed in Manchester in the early 80's, they have haunting vocals a la Joy Division but with an instrumentation that is really ahead of its time. Apparently its to do with using dual guitar melodies instead of a lead and a rhythm or something, but thats not very interesting. They influenced groups like U2 and The Smiths, and then bands such as Interpol and Editors pretty much completely ripped them off. check these cunts out, you'll receive 250 scene points.

www.myspace.com/thechameleons

The Shortwave Set

2008-04-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

The shortwave set have been knockin about for a few years now. I remember seeing them support Goldfrapp at the astoria a while back, but have no recollection of what they were like. They're just about to release their second album, "Replica Sun Machine" which is out on Wall of Sound on the 28th April. Its been produced by that king of hype at the moment, Dangermouse, so expect a certain amount of excitement when this album comes out. They keep their slightly psychedelic sound from the first record but its been toned down into more of a commercial album, with that 60's sound thats pretty big in pop music at the moment. If new single, No Social and the other songs on the myspace are anything to go by, it should be a pretty nang album i reckon.

www.myspace.com/theshortwaveset
www.shortwaveset.com

Neon Neon

2008-03-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

Neon Neon are a collaberation between Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals fame and LA producer Boom Bip. its an odd collab i'll give you that. The album "Stainless Style" has got rave reviews everywhere and NME said they are "they best side project since gorillaz" but thats bollocks 'cos Gorillaz are shit. Stainless Style features cameo's from the likes of Fat Lip, Spank Rock and Yo Majesty, as well as young welsh singer Cate Le Bon. The album is a mix of electro pop and spank rock style electro-hop and i have no doubt that the Guardian Music Monthly will be spunking over this album very soon as the sound is "just SO now!". That said, it does have some good tunes and is a pretty consistent album. Boom Bips production is pretty flawless and songs like new single "I Lust U" and "Belfast" are pop gems that deserve the hype. The album is apparently a concept album about John Delorean, some bloke who was an engineer and worked in the car industry or something. which sounds pretty gay to me.

www.myspace.com/neonx2

Gary Numan @ The Dome

2008-03-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

ah gary numan..that 80's electro "eccentric". Hes on the comeback trail and lets be honest, who can blame him. He managed to sell out The Dome which has a capacity of 1,700 people, so i guess some people must still like him. Anyway, this gig was quite odd. I was really kained and felt really young, but managed to grab a seat and just sat there spinning out..laughing at cybergoths in the process. fuckin cybergoths..
South Central were the support band, who are generally brilliant, but playing in such a big hall, they lost a lot of bass and i thought they sounded weak. Still enjoyable enough though. "The Numanator" came on and started to play his 2 hour set or whatever the fuck it was..parts of it were quite good to be honest. any song that had either been a hit, was instrumental or involved a synth heavily was ok, but a lot of his new stuff sounded like an industrial post-Coming Up Suede but without the pretention. or thats what i thought at the time. did i mention i was really kained..?
anyway, Gazza is playing a few festivals this year but i think i can say i'll probably be finding someone else to watch. PEACE.

I Was a Cub Scout @ Freebutt

2008-02-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

Their terrible name aside, this band were really shit. Kerrang described them as "a mix between Jimmy Eat World and Converge" but it was more a mix between jimmy eat world, some emo wanker, and the postal servive without any tunes. Every song sounded the same and was generally very boring. If i was looking for one, new single "Pink Squares" was the highlight but im not adding their album to my Soulseek wishlist anytime soon..

Raindance @ SE1

2008-02-18T11:15:00.001-08:00

So on Saturday i took a trip up to London Bridge (im well Fergie) and went to old-skool rave LEGENDS Raindance's "valentines ball". it was well romantic...
It was my first time at SE1 and bloody hell, what a weird place. You walk down this long tunnel until you get to this door and the club just goes on and on. I think raindance had like 6 or 7 rooms? All different styles of dance music were represented, the only one i didnt venture into being the happy hardcore room..
so yeah, danced around with gurning old blokes and sniffed up LARNDARRN rudebois to Billy Banter, Nicky Blackmarket, Kenny Ken and other such thugs. here are some pictures for you're enjoyment:

Crystal Castles @ Digital

2008-02-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

Last time i saw Crystal Castles was a rainy midweek show at the Barfly. It wasnt very busy and the singer had a bad throat so couldnt sing. So in the end it was just watching some guy on stage pressing play on his laptop while the vocalist danced around looking quite un-interested. Needless to say, it wasnt a particularly good show. Digital was a lot more busy however and the show was a lot better. I missed the support band who were apparently really good (fuck knows who they were) 'cos i was gettin pissed so got down there just in time for Crystal Castles. This time around the vocalist was in full screeching voice and they had added a live drum kit which certainly added some "Oomph". Songs such as Alice Practice, Airwar and Crimewave sounded amazing through the Digital Funktion 1 soundsystem. it was FUCKIN loud, My ears were still ringing the next day. The only light show they had was one huge strobe light which was flashing for the whole gig. It got really fuckin disorientating after a while. I missed the last two songs due to having a fag (fuckin smoking ban) but still left fulfilled of gameboy electro noise for one evening.

album is out on the 18th March

www.myspace.com/crystalcastles
www.myspace.com/crystalcastlesremix - check the Atlantis to Interzone remix, its dope blad.

One Night Only

2008-02-04T14:20:00.001-08:00

christ..do we REALLY need another band like this? this band are so bland its incredible. Expect to see these guys on T4 and playing over the top of the opening credits to hollyoaks in around a months time.

www.myspace.com/onenightonlyonline - dont even go NEAR the "Just for Tonight Remix". oh how down with the "nu-rave craze". faggots.

Scred Connexion

2008-02-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

It can sometimes be quite difficult to enjoy foreign hip-hop because of the language thing, but ive loved French group Scred Connexion for ages now. They are a group of 4 (previously 5) rappers of north african descent hailing from the Paris suburb of Barbes formed in the late 90's. Their songs are (apparently) about growing up in the suburbs and the well publicised problems with police that they have over there. They use really jazzy beats and the french language just flows so well over them. The album "Du mal a s'confier" is my personal favourite with tunes such as "Trop Soule", "Justice pour tous" and "Monnaie Monnaie"

British Sea Power @ Komedia 29/01/08

2008-01-31T02:09:00.000-08:00

I have never really given Brighton's British Sea Power a proper listen so wasnt really sure what kind of set to expect. Id heard parts of the new album and it seemed a bit more MOR than older stuff but it seems to have worked for them and both recent single and album have flown into the charts. Turned up a bit late so missed the first few tunes (i also missed the encore) but got to see a good 45minutes of their set. It was epic, melodic indie which sometimes sounded fantastic, and other times sounded really boring. I remember thinking at the time that it sounded like Arcade Fire fronted by the singer of Editors or something. The occasional instrumental bits were great and one specific 10 minute interlude was dope. New single, "Waving Flags" was really good as well. Some of the slower songs dragged on a bit but all in all ive seen worse bands fo' sho'.

www.myspace.com/britishseapower - check the single "waving flags", i really like it.

David Shrigley

2008-01-24T08:49:00.001-08:00

I have never been one to pretend i know anything at all about illustration, but david shrigley is someone I've been a fan of for ages. Ive been reading his books for years and it seems he's gaining gradually more clout as an artist. His bizarre doodle-like drawings coupled with hilarious scripted conversations are fucking brilliant. Its quite hard to explain so I'll just put a few examples:

check out his website for more drawings, animations, sculptures and shit:

www.davidshrigley.com

Gigs of 2007..

2008-01-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

I was meant to write this a while ago but bloody January got in the way..

This is the top ten gigs i saw in the year that was 2007. I was fortunate enough to see loads of fuckin good bands this year, but that also means some may have slipped my shoddy short-term memory but fuck it..

10 - Primal Scream @ Bestival - wasnt expecting much as am not a fan, but really surprised me. 3 litres of red wine probably helped..

9 - Gallows @ Great Escape - This gig was just when things were "kicking off" for them and the front of the stage was packed with cameramen. Had only seen them in a small venue before so wasnt sure how it would work, but they pulled it off.

8 - Kid Harpoon @ The Hope - Was a fan before i saw him, but seeing him with a live band was well good. "Riverside" and "First we take Manhatten" were quality.

7 - Les Breastfeeders @ Great Escape - Was workin at the great escape and was told to help a band load out and stumbled upon this band. Was manic french pop-punk (in the real sense of the word) with a midget hitting a tambourine over his head. They're not great on record but was a well good gig

6 - Easy Star All-Stars @ Bestival - Nothing better to get rid of your hangover than lying on the grass on a boiling hot day having a zoot with this band on the main stage.

5 - Foals @ Bestival - 200 gurning tossers squeezed into a tiny tent at 3am. dont remember much to be honest but remember it being good..

4 - Goose @ Cargo, LDN - This was a fuckin gurnfest but so, so good. South Central DJ set afterwards was sick as well.

3 - Electrelane @ Pavillion Theatre - Electrelane's final ever gig and they played 3 encores. Was lesbian post-rock at its best. Found a gram of sniff on the floor as well which was a bonus.

2 - Ian Brown @ Digital - Played all his solo "classics" as well as "i wanna be adored" and "I am the resurrection" thrown in for good measure. Was dope. Got to meet him as well.

1 - Toots and the Maytals @ Lovebox Weekender, LDN - Coming up on gurners while the sun sets after a hard day drinking over priced gin and tonics, dancing to "Pressure Drop" is one of my best moments of 2007. perfect gig.

Honourable Mentions: ra ra riot, the rapture, south central, erol alkan, 80's matchbox

2008-01-18T05:07:00.001-08:00

My favourite parks are car parks
Grass is something you smoke
Birds are something you shag
Take your "Year in Provence"
And shove it up your arse.

Scene-CUNT - Re-arranged

2008-01-17T08:25:00.001-08:00

Black Kids

2008-01-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

Theres load of hype comin out of indie tossers mouths about this band from Jacksonville, Florida at the moment, and UK tour dates with Kate Nash and Sons and Daughters will certainly fuel this further. But does first EP "Wizard of Ahhh's" live up to this hype? First impressions werent great (i dont think the recordings do it much justice) but after a few listens found myself really getting into it. Its cutesy-synthy-indie-pop (everyones fave..) but i think the songs have more going for them than most of that "genre". Songs such as "Hit the Heartbrakes" and "Hurricane Jane" are particular high points and are actually really well written pop tunes. Whether this EP is the best they can come up with or whether they go from strength to stength remains to be seen but im certainly looking forward to a full length LP.
Believe the hype? possibly...

www.myspace.com/blackkidsrock

download the EP for free at www.blackkidsmusic.com

Anni Rossi

2008-01-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

I saw Anni Rossi support Electrelane at their last ever gig at the Pavillion Theatre in Brighton and she was fuckin brilliant (So were electrelane if you're interested..). she came on stage with only a viola for company but somehow managed to fill the whole venue with noise. she uses the viola in so many ways to really give depth and progression to her songs, which was good 'cos im usually bored shitless watching live acoustic type acts. Her songs have a typical americana slant with some really nice lyrics and great vocal range. The recorded songs ive heard have, to be honest, been a bit hit and miss but songs such as "Wheelpusher", "Ecology" and to a lesser extent, "Ponds 'n' lakes" are all brilliant and i cant stop listening to them. Check her out yo!

www.myspace.com/annirossi

Whitemare

2008-01-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

Whitemare are new kids on the block of the brighton Hardcore scene, and with band members from Centurion and an ex-Architect im guessing it wont be long before they get some real notoriety nationally. They sound like Suicide File fuckin The Bronx with a broken bottle and write songs about partying and other such profound topics. They got given the title of "Best Unsigned Band of the week" on the Radio1 rock show without having even played a show yet and if they keep writing songs like the ones on their myspace, they could be...dare i say it.....THE NEW GALLOWS!?

www.myspace.com/whitemareuk

Litres and Grams..

2008-01-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Alright cunts, this "blog" is mostly going to be music related, with reviews and links to downloads etc but is also a place for me to write down my inner-most feelings and emotions. nah is it fuck, i might put some funny pictures or something on it but mostly it'll be me rambling on about bands and dj's that no-one cares about. SAFE X