Procrastination January 24, 2010

So, I’m back in Liverpool now after a christmas break for a few weeks and I’m already planning to get away from here again, hmmm, does that say something? I don’t know, so yes, I am back writing again, sorry for the break. I have exams at the moment which are a big pain in the arse as I cannot be bothered with them but since when does anyone want to do exams? Anyway, I have several musical outings to look forward to this term, the first definite trip is to see First Aid Kit in Manchester at the end of February, then later that same week Johnny Flynn here in Liverpool, then I am going to Frank Turner in Birmingham at the end of March, and in the middle of March I am going to Canterbury to see a friend so pretty busy term, and on top of that I’m going to have all my work to do. I can’t help but think that may be hampered somewhat.

The first half of the first bandstand busking I went to, that is Peggy Sue, is now up on tinterweb, here it is.

Then today I was a little stupid and went and bought two CD’s, Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards – Saltwater and Absentee – Victory Shorts. Both have the wonderfully deep and lovely voice of Dan Michaelson singing but the two bands have different styles, the former being Dan’s side project which is more folksy than Absentee. I’ll give reviews when I get them. Another CD I’ve got recently is that Alessi’s Ark one that I’ve talked about several times here already, I thought as I love it so much I’d actually get it and the real thing is far superior than just digital music on Spotify. The CD comes in what can only be described as a knitted CD case which is in two shades of blue and on that is pinned a badge and the CD itself has a ribbon tied around it with what is my favourite of her lyrics on, ‘If your body is the sky, then your freckles are the constellations,’ brilliant, when I saw that on it a giant smile appeared on my face. So I implore you to go out and buy it from her website and enjoy it every bit as much as I am doing now.

This drawing is from a blog that I look on every-so-often, its a really nice one. It is by a man called Andre Jordan and you can find it here.
Recently because of revision I’ve been listening to more albums rather than single songs that I like, and these have mainly been things that don’t have lyrics as its easier to concentrate, like Mogwai or Belle Orchestre but I have also been listening rather avidly to the wonderful album from Bill Callahan that was released last year ‘Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle’, it is just a brilliant album. A particular favourite on it is ‘Eid Ma Clack Shaw’, the jaunty piano and sort of haunting, very honest vocals, I’m struggling to describe his sound, but its just really good. Here’s a video of some of his songs so you can hear it for yourself.

So thats something I love, another album one that was only released a week ago, is Fyfe Dangerfield’s debut solo album ‘Fly Yellow Moon’. There is something about his happy poppy sound that gets me and makes me happy. The album is a sort of mix between more stripped down acoustic songs, such as the cheesy ‘Livewire’ which although it has some rather bad lyrics, is one of my favourite songs off the album, and the lovely delicate lullaby that is ‘Firebird’, and then ‘Barricades’. You can get a free download of the opening track ‘When You Walk In the Room’ here. And then there are other songs on the album that are more akin to Fyfe’s band Guillemots, such as that previous song, his single ‘She Needs Me’, and my other favourite song on here ‘Faster than the Setting Sun’, a brilliant crescendo of Fyfe’s singing. There is a good review as opposed to mine from Drowned In Sound. Here is a session he did for absolute radio .

I don’t have anymore to say to you this evening, so I shall now bid you farewell and we shall speak again soon xx

Merry Musictide December 17, 2009

Good Day. I have found more to say and some new music and stuff. The first thing is this, a Fyfe Dangerfield song, She Needs Me, it’s really good and I’ve been looking for a good quality video for here.

The next thing is that I recently aquired the Ragz EP ‘Little Stings’. A brilliant group of songs from the very very talented Norwegian. Ragz Nordset, oft compared with Joni Mitchell, shows off here her wonderfully wide vocal range and musical talent. As I have mentioned when I saw her supporting Charlotte Hatherley it was spine tinglingly good and I mean that and that doesn’t normally happen to me. The EP then, far too short for my liking, but thats only because I want to hear more of her, I find myself listening to it over and over again and enjoying it more and more. Where It’s Gone opens the album, and its a good opener, singer/songwriter stuff from the heart. This is followed by More, a classical melodic track with piano and showing off her voice at its best. You at the Back is another of the more acousticy feeling tracks, really good understated song. Run feels very eastern european, with a jaunty beat, ooh I don’t like the use of that word but it fits, the beat makes it almost a waltz in weird sort of way. I really like this song, probably my favourite of the lot. The song has an epic feel to it. Mosquito Man, well this is beautiful, another word I don’t use that often as I feel it is overused too often in the wrong way. The light sound and dreamy piano make it feel longer than the two minutes it is. Feel Something follows this, it starts out slow and then builds up to a massive chorus, you can really feel what she is trying to say in this song, wanting a guy to empathise with her (my interpretation, I don’t actually know what she is trying to say). The final song on the EP is a live one, Breathe, it is rather good, mellow loveliness. So there you have it, one wonderful album, and probably when I saw her live it contests with the Noah and the Whale gig I went to at The Fly and seeing Jarvis Cocker and Shlomo play Purple Rain. Ahhhh.

The next thing is there is a new song from the uber talented Canadian post rock band Thee Silver Mount Zion. They have put up a new song, and have said when their new album will be out, the 8th of February, I for one cannot wait for the follow up to 13 Blues for Thirteen Mooons. You can read about the album here and hear a song off it here as the embedding thing isn’t working. Constellation records the label that Silver Mount Zion are on is a brilliant independent label from Canada, based in Montreal. Other bands on this label are Black Ox Orkestar, Fly Pan Am and Do Make Say Think. I went to a gig in Colchester Arts Centre to see the latter band it was probably one of the best ever gigs that I’ve ever seen, ever! And I’ve just found out that they released a new album a month or so ago and I am now going to try to get my hands on a copy. In fact I might go as far to say that their last album You, You’re a History in Rust, is one of the best albums I’ve ever listened to.

Right then, after that it got me thinking which albums am I most looking forward to coming out next year. They would probably consist of the new Laura Marling album, out in March, First Aid Kit’s debut album out on January 25th, Peggy Sue’s first album, due in April. Apparently there is a new Arcade Fire record due next year so, as it says in Drowned in Sound. I’m sure there are many more albums that I will be loving coming out next year but I cannot think of any more now.

Hmmmm, I’m sure there was more that I was going to say in this … you can never get enough of Octopus’ Garden, nope thats not it, oh I dunno. Anyway it’s now quite late and I’m going home tomorrow, home! I haven’t been home for months. So then hope there is enough music there to be getting on with. Night night xx

End of term cheer and stuff December 14, 2009

Hallo there, sorry there hasn’t been an update for ages but I’ve been really rather busy with uni work and stuff so here will be a nice long piece for you. Anyway then, busy busy busy thats what I’ve been like over the last three weeks, I’ve had 5 bits of work due in in that period and its nearly driven me insane, oh well, I’ve written nearly 10000 words for this work. But this time has been intersperced with lovely periods away from work, namely London town last weekend. That was really good but we’ll get to that later.

Well its come to that time of year when all the magazines and record shop websites give their top ten albums of the year, so, I think I’ll do the same. They are in no particular order and I’ve probably already talked about them in this before. So here they are :-

1. The First Days of Spring – Noah and the Whale, as I have said many times before this album is really good,it reminds me an awful lot of good times and summer, which is a really nice attatchment to have to it. The album works as a whole, each song blending into each other and creating a fantastic sound. The review in The Guardian when the album came out had the headline Charlie Fink needs a new Girlfriend, or something along those lines. And I can’t help but agree, he does seem to be moping a lot in this album, but the heartbreak has created great music so … I also think that in his break up with Laura Marling it was a good thing? I don’t know. The songs off this album I pick out are the title track, The First Days of Spring, I Have Nothing and Stranger, the best of a fantastic bunch.

2. Poetry of the Deed – Frank Turner, well in my eyes I am afraid to say he cannot go wrong at all, and this album continuing along with his alt/folk/punk style is no different. He is one of the great singer songwriters of our time I believe. But saying that I haven’t listened to any for a while as I feel I don’t want to wear him out, which can happen even with the best albums (recently I have been listening again to Guillemots, this is after a year or so of rarely listening to them at all, all because I overplayed the record and couldn’t listen to it, now I have re-fallen in love with it) anyway back to Frank, the pick of the songs are probably Dan’s Song and Isabel. The latter I have found out is about someone he’s seeing, which kind of makes sense listening to the lyrics. And Dan’s Song, it’s basically all about stuff I do.

3. Notes From The Treehouse – Alessi’s Ark, here is a new found favourite, the debut album from Alessi’s Ark, it is a lovely airy fairy dreamy album filled with lyrics such as ‘we feed ducks in the local park and eat ice-cream, get all jittery’ from Over the Hill, ‘If your body is the sky then your freckles are the constellations’ from Constellations, and ‘The ring around the moon last night was caused by the refraction of moon-light from the crystals of silver, crunchy ice’ from Woman. Though I found it difficult to pick out any one line, all of Alessi’s lyrics are brilliant. It is too difficult to choose any of the songs as the best ones so just listen to the whole album, it can’t harm you can it!

4. Sigh No More – Mumford and Sons, another wonderful album. Current English folk music at its best I reckon. I’ve read varying reviews on this album since it came out in October, and though I agree with them on some accounts, sometimes the songs are a bit heavy on the banjo, I think this is a really good album. The folky harmonies warm your socks even in the depths of winter. Tracks that are good on this album are The Cave, Winter Winds, Little Lion Man, Timshel and After the Storm.

5. Meeting Your Heroes – Gavin Osborn, I don’t know if I need to say anymore here, you can now get his first album on Spotify which is really good and has introductions to some of the songs. Anyway you can read about this album in an earlier blog.

6. Two Suns – Bat for Lashes, this is another grand album from Natasha Kahn and co. Typical lovely dreamlike floaty stuff from the songstress. Maybe more so than on Fur and Gold. The ones to listen to are Daniel, Siren Song and Pearls Dream I think.

7. First Love – Emmy the Great, I love this singer songwriter, she is amazing and this her first album is one I have listened to over and over and over again. Songs on it are about all sorts of stuff, from a cheery song about what to hum at a car crash in Mia to a song about a love of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in First Love.

Unfortunately I can only come up with seven to write about but there are others to be mentioned so I’ll just list them :-
The Sleeper – The Leisure Society
‘Em Are I – Jeffery Lewis and the Junkyard
Kingdom of Rust – Doves
The Duckworth Lewis Method – The Duckworth Lewis Method (Cricket pop at its best)
Wilco – Wilco
Far – Regina Spektor
Noble Beast – Andrew Bird
Resevoir – Fanfarlo

and many others, to numerous to mention, god this has been a good year for music. Feel free to comment and add your own to my list.

So London town, that there was a good weekend indeedy. So just over a week ago I went down to my favourite London town to visit friends and do stuff together. I had a lovely weekend then. I did my customary visit to the British Museum, I think I now see it as an old friend, I’ve probably said this before but I could live there easy peasy. I went to the Moctezuma exhibition about the last King of the Mexica people of Mexico, in the sixteenth century. A very interesting show, makes you think how bad the European colonists really were, the Spanish basically annihilated these natives, this happened with all the colonial powers. Then you think should we appologise for what our ancestors have done, like the Australians to the Aboriginals there or the British appologising for slavery, is it not just an empty gesture really as there is no one alive today that directly suffered at their hands. Hmmm. So I went around the British museum proper, and saw all the stuff relevant to my course, lots of lovely Minoan and then Early Greek artefacts. Though I got visably annoyed when I noticed a picture that had come up in coursework a week before and I hadn’t known what it was and it was there, grrr, anyway, the British Museum makes me happy!

On the Saturday we went on the big climate change march, The Wave, the last protest before Copenhagen. Around 40,000 people turned up to shout about the climate and stuff. We heard some good speakers including Caroline Lucas M.E.P. It was organised by Franny Armstrong I think, but I could be wrong. Anyway she directed a rather good film about climate change called Age of Stupid with Pete Postlethwait. Also she organised the 10:10 campaign to get carbon emissions down 10% by 2010. She is currently at the Copenhagen meeting thing, hosting the Stupid Show, letting us know whats going on and stuff. Here is the website to go watch it. So we were marching from about 1 till 4 or 5 or something and were quite tired by the end so a visit to the pub was due. In the evening I went to a party at my brothers, a nice little shindig all wine and conversations which was good after a tiring day.

On the Sunday I went to see some bandstand busking again. This time I missed the first band and caught the end of the second act, that was Tristram. He was rather good. But it was the final person on that I wanted to see the most and that was Fyfe Dangerfield, singer from Guillemots, doing solo stuff. His album is out next year at somepoint. Ah it was wonderful and worth standing out in a very cold, windy afternoon to watch. He has such an amazing voice. Then me and my friend went back to another friends house which was close by. On the way there we found a pile of books being given away, yes thats right – free books! So we stopped and looked and I picked out a couple, one a really old book over a hundred years, a biography of a victorian couple, and an Italian cook book. Then for the rest of the afternoon/evening until I had to go get my train we cooked and then ate a really delicious meal.

That was my weekend in London, the next week was just worky work and then now I’ve got no more for the rest of the term and no exams till the end of January. I will leave you with this bit of Christmas cheer!

Insomnia November 28, 2009

Why is it that when I want to go to sleep, my brain doesn’t want to so I end up wide awake? This has been happening all too often recently and the last couple of days I’ve managed to sleep through my alarm, which is a radio alarm, and an hours worth of the today programme. I have managed to get up in time, but only because I realise that its later than I think when I check my watch and then have to sit up, put my glasses on find my phone and re-check the time because I can’t believe that I would sleep through an hours worth of John Humphries inquisitions. So I end up staying awake till 2 or 3, which then leaves me tired the next day. Argh, I’m going round in circles. I think today it may have been caused by that accidental nap I had whilst trying to read an article for early greek archaeology.

Alessi's Ark

Anyway, I’ve realised that two of my favourite female singers at the moment are my age I do believe. These are Laura Marling, a singer I have admired for a long time, I think since her first single turned up at my sixth form radio station. And the Alessi Laurent-Marke of Alessi’s Ark, who I’ve loved since hearing in the summer. This then makes me wish I was that good at music, I then get very jealous but then think, at least I can appretiate their lovely music. Anyway, Laura Marling has a fantastic new song out soon, well, three weeks time, 14th December, called Goodbye England (Covered in Snow), a christmas single none the less. It was Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record a couple of days ago, so you can hear it here. So this song, it is really lovely, I suppose that is the best way to describe it, it is very sentimental. The song drifts along with her light guitar and floaty backing strings and piano. And unless I am much mistaken, Marcus Mumford (of Mumford and Sons) does some backing vocals. The song gradually builds up, more layers are added for a sort of middle eight bit and then it drops down back to just Laura, It will be on her album, which she is releasing sometime next year, I’ve heard March, but that may change

Beans on Toast at Latitude 2007

Right then, I’ve found that a favourite artist of mine Beans on Toast, is releasing an album on Monday (30th November) He has a great wit in his lyrics, the first time I saw him was at Latitude a couple of years ago, he was standing on a chair, which actually is his album title, and said that everyone of his songs only had three chords in. He writes really good songs, comparable with Billy Bragg, he writes about contemporary issues and life experiences. His smoking induced gruff voice gives the songs some sort of integrity and worldlyness. You can buy his album here or listen to it here. The record has some great backing singers from the likes of the fantastic Frank Turner to Emmy the Great, he was supporting Frank on his recent tour around the UK.

Laura Marling

The other day I was talking about Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale and which one is better, if it is even possible to get an answer. The thing is Laura broke Charlie Fink from Noah and the Whale’s heart, which ultimately produced the wonderful record The First Days of Spring, but in all honesty, and you know my feelings about this album – I absolutely adore it, it is still a bit cliched and Charlie needs to cheer up. Laura hasn’t actually released anything yet, except for the single that I’ve already talked about. And as you know I love Laura Marling, she has a beautiful voice to match her beautiful looks. I have been listening to her album Alas I Cannot Swim all week because I don’t have a music player so I’m just putting a couple of albums on my phone and listening to music through that, so I have been listening to her again, all of her songs are brilliant, some are better than others, Failure, Ghosts, Cross Your Fingers, and The Captain and The Hourglass are the best songs on the album I believe. So which is best? I’ve come to the conclusion that that is a really difficult question but I think probably Laura Marling, and that shows how much I like her, as I absolutely adore Noah and the Whale, I think Laura is wonderful. Also there is a rather amusing song on the Beans on Toast album called ‘I Fancy Laura Marling’, he has also written a song about Emmy the Great, ‘How Great Was Emmy?’ so he has good taste in music!
Anyway I’ve written more words here than in my essay which is a bad thing, oh well. I hope this little injection of music will brighten your day. Cheerio xx

Musical Musings November 17, 2009

Hallo. Well then, that was a good few days, filled with great music and great people. I’ve had a rather busy few days and yet managed to do very little work indeed. Not good. Anyway. Thursday. Twas a busy day, but very good. Went to an extra lecture (how cool am I?) It was on underwater archaeology and the site of Pavlopetri off the coast of Laconia, Greece. A bronze age town that was discovered in 1968 and is currently being excavated by a team from Nottingham university partnered with some Greeks. The lecture was interesting, telling us what new discoveries have been found over last summer, how they found more of the site and can date occupation from the late Neolithic to the Hellenistic, although the latter pot sherds could have just fallen from a boat onto the site. It was most probably submerged in before Roman occupation, but I don’t actually know. Anyway here is a link to an article from the bbc telling more about the site.

Frightened Rabbit

So then I was a bit more scholarly and went to the library, but this really was only to kill time between the lecture and gig I was going to at the O2 Academy. The gig then, that was rather good, better in fact than I was expecting. I got there fairly early and was on my own so I sat around for about half an hour before the support came on. This came in the form of Galchen, a Glasgow electronica/indie/rock instrumental band, that seems to have drawn influence from bands like mogwai. The overall sound is rather epic, the guitar riffs moving smoothly into one another, going from one sprawling mass to another. They had the power to make you stand still and watch in awe. A good band then! Onto the main show, Frightened Rabbit, I may have talked about them before, but I don’t think so. Anyway, they are another Scottish band, from Glasgow again, who play sort of folky indie stuff and sound vaguely reminiscent to mumford and sons, but only in the vocal harmonies. They played a strong set with old and new songs, unfortunately I can’t remember any of the names of the new stuff but due to the useful myspace I have found out, Swim Until You Can’t See Land, is their new single, out 16th November. Of the old, I think my favourite performance was of Poke, a delicate acoustic number with just guitar and synths, it has a floaty feel which when played at the gig made everyone look and listen intently, at least thats what I felt. Then the final song played was my favourite of theirs, Keep Yourself Warm, with the lyric ‘It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm’ it seems to be a song about and maybe against sleeping with strangers, or people you barely know. For me that song was a perfect end to a great gig.

Then Friday came bumbling along, well then, I have got a cold now, which sprung upon me on Friday so that was a bit of a lazy day. In the evening however I did go to a house party, and had a good time, and even though I didn’t mean to drink much, I ended up going to Asda and buying a cheap bottle of Merlot and proceeded in drinking half of it, more than enough to get me on my way, especially in my drugged up (cold medicine!) state. This was a strange party at which I had a lot of fun, procured the nickname ‘Wineboy’, no prizes for why! I stayed up into the early hours chatting about random stuff that I cannot remember what it was, and then walked home at after two cups of tea, unsure as to where they came from, and got home at about quater past 5, then because of the caffein I stayed up for at least another hour. Well this was fun but I was worn out on Saturday. I didn’t get up until about half one and then it turned out that when I went out to go to watch football, I know, it doesn’t sound like me does it! but at least it got me out of the house, I was the first person to leave the house all day (the door was still locked), and this was about quarter to five. So Saturday didn’t really kick off till about 5 and then I went to another gig in the evening. This was not till about 9 so that gave lots of time to wake up properly. This gig was my friend Callum and his band. I got to the gig and caught the end of the last support before him, The Genuine Articles, quite good indie rock stuff. I have seen Callum play before and he seems to just get better with every performance, this time it seemed that not only was there good indie pop guitar stuff going on the keyboard was really good too, complementing each other really well. Callum doesn’t half put in a lot of energy to his gigs and rather funnily he seems really scouse on stage! This shouldn’t really be surprising, seeing as he is from here. So there we have it another good gig.

Now I find myself somewhat tired and very coldy but still going on. Anyway, so what I was saying the last blog, all that about being shy and stuff. I’ve re-thought it a bit. I am shy but only when I’m on my own, or with a friend who’s with their friends and I don’t know them. Oh I don’t really know what I’m talking about. I suppose that I am just trying to justify something in my head but I don’t know what.

The final of the three gigs over the last five days took place today and boy was it a good one. I went to see Charlotte Hatherley at the Masque. She just knows she’s is cool and can get away with it, she stands on stage with a guitar and just looks cool, and is like yeah I can play guitar oh yeah. So the first band on was Ragz a band originally from Norway but now based in Liverpool. There were so few people at the gig it was slightly unbelievable, it was so intimate. Ragz were amazing, the singer Ragz Nordset has such a powerful voice, and when she sang her final song, a chilling Nordic hymn, it sort of made the hair stick up on the back of neck. She has a Joni Mitchell sort of voice, with bits of Feist and Bat For Lashes in there. Really really good stuff. Then came the second support, The Northwestern a fairly normal indie rock band. A bit like everything else really. They didn’t make much of an impression on me, although the singer did seem to be in good spirits with good banter to 20 people in the crowd. Then after some technical deficulties, on came Charlotte Hatherley, which was quite exciting to say the least. We were on the barrier at the front so it all seemed a tad crazy. She played a really good set including White, Behave and my favourite song Kim Wilde. The latter being quite surprising as it is a rather old song. Anyway it was amazing even if the vocals could have been louder and she had to cut her set short. Still it was another great gig and probably my favourite of the three.

So there you have it. Three gig reviews, all good some better than others, but thats the gamble with support bands. Anyway, I shall leave you with another video, a fantastic cover version of New Slang by The Shins. Cheerio xx

Waffle November 12, 2009

Hallo again, sorry there’s been such a gap between updates. Been a bit busy with stuff. I’ve been thinking, which is always a very dangerous thing, on the whole my thoughts are about normal things, music, girls, work etc. but I was thinking this time about why English people, particularly southerners, sorry, but we are a bit useless really, I mean, this is taking it out of me more than most. We seem to get flustered, apologise for everything and just can’t quite relax ever. I don’t know if I should lump that on all of us, but maybe it’s just me. Anyway, this has really been annoying me recently, but I’ve been trying to remedy it, emphasis on the trying! It’s not really happening, I think I’m far too self concious, over the last week  I went out a couple of times and was rather shy even with the influence of alcohol.

Right then, music … I’ve been listening to a lot of rather good stuff that I hadn’t listened to much but should have. For example, the wonderous talent that is Sufjan Stevens, his album Illinois is a work of genius. It is brilliant. It really just speaks for itself.

And he’s got a new album out The B.Q.E. People should, even though I’m giving you spotify links go out and buy music. If you can afford it that is, I can’t and so rely on lovely spotify and youtube and free downloads from artists off their websites and stuff.
Right next one, Louden Wainwright III, I heard a Frank Turner cover of one of his songs and it was really good, so then I went on spotify and listened to a load of his stuff. Its really good old folky bluesy music.

Then there is Andrew Bird, a great songsmith, his new album is superb. I particularly like Effigy, and Anonanimal and Oh No!. They are great songs and here he plays them and chats to the bloke at RockFeedback.

So there’s a few bands for you to be going on with, I am busy now, going to see Frightened Rabbit tonight, then my friend on Saturday and then on next tuesday I’m going to see Charlotte Hatherley, coh I’m rather excited about that, I can’t really afford to be going to these gigs though, but ah well, I am so yeay! And I’ve also got loads of work to do and I’m going to London in a few weeks. Right then, cheerio xx

Mumblings October 28, 2009

I don’t know what I’d say if I met anyone I adore musically or in any respect, I would probably just bumble about not making any sense. I would become embarrassed and shy. But then as you do you want to meet your heroes and find out whether they are nice and friendly or obnoxious twats.
Anyway, I have found something new that I really rather like,

The first song is by The Sound of the Ladies, a brilliant singer songwriter, this song is rather amusing too. You can also find him on spotify

'Meeting Your Heroes' Gavin Osborn

Then the second song is Gavin Osborn, who i’ve mentioned before, but now I think I’ll review his latest album, ‘Meeting Your Heroes’. My favourite tracks on the album are ‘Charlie’s 18th Birthday’, I feel i can completely empathise with him, especially his feeling on fancy dress. Another one is the second track ‘Burger King Burglar’, it’s short and sweet but tells a lovely little story that sort keeps your faith in humanity. Then ‘Carbon’ makes you think about life again, can you be better than you are? ‘Sweet Bedford’ is an ode to his home town, and to his old friends. ‘There’s an Awful Lot Wrong With A Little Bump n Grind’ tells of how awful those clubs that have crappy poppy dance in, but then a line in it “And you said ‘You see, you say you like music, but you never enjoy it’. ‘You don’t get up, you don’t dance, you just use it to push people away’” makes me think about my views on music, am I like that? I think I’m probably a tad too preachy which I realise may get annoying, tell me if I do get too preachy. ‘FM2030′ a song about a cryogenically frozen ex-basketball player, is really lovely and very delicately sung. Gavin has a really good sound, he is not quite like your normal singer-songwriter, he adds a comic twist to his songs, he does observational songwriting, it works really well. ‘Hello, My Name is Charlie’ is the song on the video I put up, it is his single released as a double a-side with Dave House. It is a tragic song about losing his girlfriend to another man, it is very heartfelt and openly honest, as all his songs are. So these are the pick of the album, if I had to choose one song off the album to get it would be ‘There’s an Awful Lot Wrong With A Little Bump n Grind’, I feel closest to this song for some reason. Also if you follow the link on Gavin’s name it’ll take you to his myspace, where you can here more songs, one about his obsession with championship manager, another about the detrimental effects of scrabble and so on, lots more lovely songs.

I find now more than ever I am burying myself in music, not sure why, but it’s alright. It is a way to waste time, and good one at that, whilst my housemates are playing on the playstation or watching telly, I am sitting in my room listening to music, failing to do any work really. It does sometimes get a bit boring and lonely but then I find myself distracted by music which is good. I really want to go and see people from back home, which hopefully will happen if the bloody train fares haven’t gone up too much. I need to do more, not that I’m doing nothing but even after just one quiet weekend I’ve become restless, tis silly really but then ah well.

Another couple of bands I found are Flea Market Poets, Motorcycle Display Team, The Title Sequence and Superman Revenge Squad

So there you have it, another blog, maybe not so happy-go-lucky as before. Cheerio xx

Mediocre People do Exceptional Things all the Time October 23, 2009

Hello there, the last couple of weeks have been good, but I’ve gone and been thinking too much about stuff that it would be much better if I didn’t think about, because there is nothing really that I can do about anything at the moment. Anyway, I continue to think over the whole thing but yeah, right. Wallis Bird, lovely little lefthanded (!) irish pixie who makes wonderful wonderful music.

That website by the way is a rather good source of music, updates everyday and in four different countries. Tis good stuff. Oh and today (Sat 24th) there was another Wallis Bird update on the website, lovely! Right then, I heard the entire Sons of Noel and Adrian self titled album today, it is very good indeed. Full of brilliant folky loveliness. The tracks I would recommend are ‘The Wreck Is Not A Boat’ which I have talked about in a previous blog, and by far the longest track on the album ‘Damien. Lessons From What’s Poor’, a gentle introduction of light trumpet, violin and guitar moving into haunting vocals which complements the instruments very well. I particularly like the singers trembly voice, it makes the album sound all the more folky and lovely.

Bat For Lashes at the O2 Academy, Liverpool

A couple of weeks ago I had a rather good weekend filled with castles and muskets and Bat for Lashes and tea and stew and lots of things lovely like that. I went on a little trip to Conwy Castle, North Wales to do some re-enactment, I know! Aren’t I just rocking. But it was really fun, we had free run over the castle so I was sort of in a mini heaven, I mean its a castle, and everything about them are just great. So I am a musketeer in this re-enactment malarky and this means I get to fire a matchlock musket. Which the first time you do it is really rather shit your pants scary but after a couple of goes you get used to it. And the society wants me to get a shotgun liscence by the end of the year in order to do this firing on a battle field, no live ammunition though. Thats going to be good indeed. And the stew that we had for lunch was really hearty and just what you would want in a lunch on a fairly cold day in Wales. So I did that during the day, got back to my house by about half six and quickly made a ready meal, I think it was supposed to be a pasta bake, nice and simple, then rushed out to cycle to a Bat for Lashes gig. I met a couple friends outside it and then went in. The cost of a pint there shocked me, £3.60, but then it would be expected. So I got there and had a lovely time watching two of the hottest women in music, Natasha Khan and Charlotte Hatherley, play wonderful songs. The highlight for me  being Tahiti, because it’s my favourite song and just sounds sooo good live. The thing that annoyed me about the gig was that so many people in the crowd were talking through the songs, it’s just disrespectful I think, if you are at live music you should listen to it, maybe sing along but definately not have  a fully blown conversation through the whole thing. Grrrr. Overall though it was a very good show and I was thoroughly pleased with the day, which I topped off with some cheesey chips I purchased on my way home.

And so on the sunday I just had lovely day reflecting on the lovely day previously then went to the pub in the evening and played pool. I’ve also heard recently two new songs by First Aid Kit, their bandstand busking session is now online. The new songs are more of the same really good if slightly wierdly mature songs with their brilliant harmonising and singing.

During the weeks I don’t do much as I try to save money for when I’m going out, this usually works, or if I do go out its only for a couple of pints or something, nothing extravagant. Well last weekend was just as busy as the previous, on the Friday I went over a friends to watch films and drink and have fun. We watched three films, the Star Wars Family Guy episode, thats very funny indeed, then Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Which I’d never seen, it was really good, surprisingly, I’m not normally into that sort of gangster violence film. And then ended the night with Phantom of the Opera, which again, I hadn’t seen the film, only the stage version. This was really good to, though we came to the conclusion that the Phantom was Batman, complete with cape and mask and a Bat cave. Then on the Saturday, another drunken night. I went to rather good party with a free bar and free food, so I drank and ate a lot, not really very good, at one stage the waitress was bringing me both a pint and a whiskey and coke. After the party we moved on into town and drank more and partied on, but I got too drunk and started waffling. I think I get a tad mopey when I’m drunk at the moment, not a great idea. Anyway twas a good night and got a taxi home. Then on Sunday I didn’t do much and went to the pub again and had a pint before going back to my friends and watching spiderman (it was on telly). Then again this week I didn’t do much, went to the pub on thursday for a friends birthday.

I have now named my bicycle Isabel, partly because it has a bell on it, and partly after a song off Frank Turner’s new album called Isabel. Unfortunately she broke down on Thursday and I couldn’t get her fixed till today, I tried to mend her yesterday but proceeded to miss my lecture. So now she works fine and I can ride her about again (for anyone who has a dirty mind!)

I don’t know what this week has in store for me, only that next weekend I am going to my Grandparents for my Grandma’s 80th birthday. So another busy weekend for me in store. And the work is now picking up, more reading to do. So I shall go now and have some sleep, cheerio xx

Random Shit is Happening October 7, 2009

Hello, I come to you again, listening to what may be one of my all time favourite Frank Turner songs, ‘Love Ire and Song’. This is too difficult to say as there are many wonderful Frank songs. Anyway, what a weekend I have just had, so busy, leaving me feel oh so poor, mainly due to my completely drunken stupidity, we’ll get to that in a bit.

Something that has been exciting me somewhat is the brand new Mumford & Sons album, Sigh No More I love it, it has just the right feel to it for what I feel like right now. It’s that sort of happy, but slightly melancholic, brilliant folk sound, I just can’t get enough of it really. The pick of the songs are the title track ‘Sigh No More’, it has brilliant harmonies, which set a precedent for the rest of the album, pulling you into this warm folk loveliness. The next song ‘The Cave’ is more of the same, but speeds up a bit, it has a heavier beat, more lively, and still better with the introduction of a trumpet right at the end. Then ‘Winter Winds’, ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ and ‘White Blank Page’ are all really good too, actually I’m not sure whether I can criticise this album really, it’s that good, probably the best album I’ve heard in a good while, well, since I last listened to ‘First Days of Spring’ so not long but you know what I mean, it is really good, and I haven’t even got to my favourite song on the album yet. This is ‘Little Lion Man’, I can’t remember when I first heard it, I think its been banging about in my head for most of the summer. I cannot get over how good it is, what with the very fast pace, the crazy banjo, the brilliant lyrics and just the amount of pure energy put into this song. I particularly like the lyric ‘Weep little lion man, you’re not as brave as you were at the start’ it just draws you into the song and then the chorus shows you the real meaning behind the song, it is one on how he has buggered up something and wants to maintain dignity. I love it! ‘It was not your fault but mine, but it was your heart on the line, I really fucked it up this time, didn’t I my dear’ He knows that he has done something wrong. You can totally see why this song is their first single, a proper corker indeed. Then of the last five songs, the two I like the most are ‘Thistle and Weeds’ and ‘Awake my Soul’ they are both cracking. There is a really good interview and performance of some songs on rockfeedback.

Anyway, this last week has been rather busy, last weekend involved a lot of socialising, drinking and going out. On the  Friday I went  out with a couple of friends, went to a house party of somebody I didn’t know, but talked to lots of random people anyway, I think thats what drink does to me, makes very talkative, even more than I am when I’m sober. After a few drinks I’ll be moidering on about some strange subject that I don’t really know about at all, but its all fine because the other people are all to drunk to give a damn. Following the party we went out into town, now some strange and somewhat surreal events took place here, my friend and I went to one of his friends flat and a girl was hyperventilating and so an ambulance was called, that was strange. Then we carried on to the club we were going to and continued to drink, this club was a good indie place and so didn’t play the crap thats normally in horrid clubs, all that poppy poop. Here we started drinking spirits, and had two vodka shots and the last thing I remember drinking was a double whiskey. I then remember sitting outside in the smoking area just watching people, I’d somehow sobered up! Not sure how that happened. Then on the Saturday I went to another house party. This one was more surreal and strange and reallly really good fun, I did do something stupidly silly and nearly got stabbed by the scouse mafia, but I’m not going to elabourate only to say that it involved drugs, but it was fine in the end thanks to my friends. Aaaanywoo, the party itself was really good fun, I got rather drunk and was by about 1am drinking rum and tea, a brilliant combo that I’d never tried before. I think I remember a conversation I had about architecture, an example of me talking about something I don’t really know about at all. I have a fantastic conversation about music with someone who likes music as much as me I think, not sure, but it was good thats all that matters. Suffice to say the Sunday was a bit of a no day, I didn’t do anything particularly, paid a friend back, and then met up with some friends in the evening. That was fun but it was during that that the last nights drink and drugs caught up on me. And then I had a 7up, which I am sure is made of pure energy, and that completely rejuvenated me. So that was a lovely jam packed weekend.

This week I’ve barely done anything in an attempt to conserve money, although today I bought a ticket to go and see Bat for Lashes and a ticket to go to Conwy Castle, both on Saturday. If you like the music I talk about there is a wonderful website that has reviews of albums, new and recomendations and stuff all to do with the new folk scene, called For Folks Sake. I know it’s a cheap pun but it is a good site. And finally here is another video of Mumford & Sons, from BalconyTV, a website that gets bands to play on balconies. It’s really good

Alrighty then, I’ve got to continue with my work now, I am currently reading Seutonius’ Reign of Augustus at the moment, a really interesting read, one of the better classical historians, considering the film Caligula was based on it and that was basically porn, you can see what it’s like, but it is a really useful source because he names where he gets information from. Anyway, reading is needing to be done and then sleep methinks. Cheerio xx

Back to Universityland and Liverpool October 2, 2009

Hello, sorry I’ve been away for so long, I don’t have the interweb and so currently am using it at one of my friends house, where I’ve been practically living all week. My new house in Liverpool is alright but not really where I want to be spending all of my time. It is much nicer to be around people who participate in conversation and give me food, though tonight (25/09)  I have provided the dessert, Chocolate Brownies and Custard Tart, both rather lovely. When I moved into my house I had a lot to do, the house was not at all clean and all the surfaces needed to scrubbed and wiped clean, as did the cupboards and the toilet and sinks and the bath. And to cap things off, my landlord said I would have a double bed when the bed I got was single, although I have since been told that it will double in size in a couple of weeks, hopefully. Oh and the last little bitch about my house is that there was a fucking builder in on monday and tuesday at 9 in the morning, far too far too early. Grrrrrrrr. And they were doing the floor and have put down horrible horrible laminate fake wood floor when there was a perfectly good if not a little messy, some would call it rustic, wooden floor. I don’t like the floor, but then the landlord probably thinks that new is good, hmmmm, right. So apart from those minor things, its all fine and I’m being a little harsh here, its not bad at all in my house now, I am all settled in and happy at the moment. And now writing this on my laptop as the interweb has arrived!

Anyway enough ranty ranty from me. I have been listening to the soundtrack from O Brother Where Art Thou, lots of really interesting American folky stuff, including people like Alison Kraus, Emilou Harris, and Soggy Bottom Boys. I like the folky, bluegrass feel to the album. I first heard a song of the album on the Guy Garvey radio show on 6 Music, before that I hadn’t heard the music since I saw the film. Oh dear I’m waffling.

Also I have been to the cinema twice in the last few weeks, last Wednesday to see Dorian Gray, and this one to see (500) Days of Summer. Both were really good films. For the first I have never read the Oscar Wilde book, A Picture of Dorian Gray, so I had no idea what it would be like and was really pleasantly surprised, it was a jolly good film and a very gripping story. Basically Dorian Gray couldn’t grow old as long as his picture was still ‘alive’ and it tells the story of the promiscuous Dorian, who always maintains his boyish good looks until the end of the film. I really really liked (500) Days of Summer, not just because it’s got Zooey Deschanel in it, though that helps, but that it was just a really good film, I’m not sure whether I would call it happy, because to an extent it was not, but it did have that lovely sepia toned indie rom com typey feel to it that made it even though it was not all happy happy happy feel like it could have been, and then by about half way through you think you know whats going to happen and then it surprises you, I shant say what happens as that’ll ruin it but it is good and makes th film better, and less predictable. I also really liked the soundtrack, it was awsome, any film that has ‘There Goes the Fear’ in the soundtrack is a good film in my opinion. It also includes two Smiths songs and two Regina Spektor songs, brilliant.

This is a thing done by the director of (500) Days of Summer, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Zooey’s band with M. Ward, american country-folk fellow, She & Him, this is a brilliant song, it’s just so feel good, it could probably cheer up even the most miserable person. Their album ‘Volume One’ is full of this sort of thing, and the sweetest version of ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ that I have heard in a long long time.

Righty then, I apologise again for the whole not writing for like a month but I’ve been busy. It being freshers week last week and first week of term this week, I have gone out a couple of times to the pub and on into town, both times getting back in the early morning of the next day, 5.30am and 4.30am respectively. Both nights i’ve been dressed up fairly smartly, but I think this last wednesday was the best night out I’ve had since I’ve been back up north. I did something that I really like doing, and that is going to the pub and meeting new people. It was just a really good enjoyable time that I had, I did get really drunk, which helps when I’m meeting new people, it makes me more talkative, even though I’ve said I like meeting people I am really rather shy when I don’t know them, and so a little duch courage goes a long way. Well by the end of the eve I was suitably too far gone and did the suicidal drunken cycle ride home, fun fun fun, I vaguely remember going to asda on my way home and buying lots of chocolate hobnobs, yep, thats the sort of crazy thing I do when I’m drunk! Haha, oh dear. Whilst in one of the bars, Bumper to be exact, something really nice happened, i got a little lost and was just standing on a stair scanning the room for the people I was with and a random girl came over and hugged and gave me a peck on the cheek and said I looked rather cute, that last bit might be a figment of my imagination but I liked it anyway. So that was a good night, yesterday on the other hand was a different kettle of fish all together, I had one of the worst hangovers I’d had in ages, it was just yucky, and I over slept missing a lecture I meant to go to, but I haven’t registered for it so its all good and didn’t matter, I was somewhat unable to do anything at all.

Right then not a lot more to say or that I remember, I shall bid you farewell for now, cheerio then xx