Cheers 2011

Ok, so it’s been a super busy year and I’ve hardly had time to catch my breath let alone visit all the exhibitions, read all those books and get a new job like I planned in January… But it has been an awesome year with many amazing moments like my first ever Electrelane gig in their hometown of Brighton- woo! So good that I saw them another three times that month! Primavera, End of the Road (Cecile’s already covered that so I won’t bore you with details) and a stop over in Berlin was also ace. So here goes…

1. Kate Bush releases two albums in one year!
I have to confess that I still haven’t listened to all of the The Dreaming, argued by many as one her best albums (of course Hounds of Love is my favourite album of all time), because when I was younger I was convinced that Kate wouldn’t release anything after The Red Shoes so I wanted to stretch out the pleasure of listening to her albums for the first time by holding out for a specific time period (sometimes years) before I would allow myself to listen to another album. So when she released Aerial in 2005 I was pretty much beside myself with excitement of the prospect of hearing new material. The mature richness and depth of Kate’s voice and her generous use of progressive sound and space, most notable on A Sky of Honey had created something that almost rivals Hounds of Love. Understandably 2011 was an awesome year for me as Kate released not one, but two albums – cheeky!

Director’s Cut is an intermediary album, a re-working of old songs recorded in analogue, which creates a notably warm and brighter sound. The lyrics of Deeper Understanding are more disturbingly pertinent than ever while the bleeping computer complete with Auto-Tune voice fits the track perfectly. Lily is the highlight for me with Kate letting loose over driving bass and rhythms.

50 Words for Snow in sound and spirit is the winter equivalent of A Sky of Honey, an organic and honest work. It deserves to be listened in full but each track holds it own with individual wintry narratives that cover suitably bizarre topics including a romantic night with a snowman that tragically melts come the morning.

If it’s going to be this good I don’t mind waiting six years for the next one.

2. I’ve missed most of the exhibitions that I wanted to go to, probably due to too many lie-ins at the weekend, but I did manage to see a fantastic exhibition in a recent trip to Paris. La Maison Rouge held an exhibition, Memories of the Future, the Olbricht Collection, which was an overwhelming display of art and historical objects spanning a period of 500 years from the 16th to the 201st Century. It was a brilliantly diverse mix of media and felt like a macabre cabinet of curiosities. Highlights were some Druer engravings, Cindy Sherman prints, a giant stuffed crocodile suspended from the ceiling and a suitably disturbing claymation short from Nathalie Djurberg which portrays with dark humour the sacrifice of a young woman when dealing with the affects of ageing and illness.

You can also catch a fantastic installation by Djurberg at the Camden Arts Centre until the 8th January - all info here.

3. Tip top albums of 2011
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Austra – Feel It Break
Francois & The Atlas Mountains – E Volo Love
Veronica Falls – Veronica Falls
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Nicola Roberts – Cinderella’s Eyes
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
Britney Spears – Femme Fatale

4. Phil Solomon – In Memoriam (2005-2009)
Phil Solomon is an experimental filmmaker and artist whose previous work include short films created by chemically altering film. In 2005 Phil Solomon and fellow filmmaker Mark La Pore (1952-2005) made a film that used Grand Theft Auto as its source material. After La Pore’s death in 2005 Solomon made a series of further films entitled In Memoriam. The series was screened for the first time in the UK in October and my friend James took me along; I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pretty blown away by the experience and then went straight to watch Melancholia so it ended up being an intense evening!

The films were poignant, mesmerizing, and melancholic; I was struck by the surprising stillness and breadth of detail made using such a populated, action-packed videogame. One of the more haunting moments from Last Days In A Lonely Place, a film noir inspired by Rebel without a Cause, was a shot in front of an old cinema that displayed no films. It was lit by the headlights of a car, out of shot, and Solomon explained after the screening that he got rid of the people by ‘spawning’ tanks which he then used to block of the roads. You can catch clips here: http://www.philsolomon.com/

5. Josie Long – The Future is Another Place
I LOVE JOSIE LONG! GO SEE HER LIVE. Warm, witty and with charming enthusiasm you’ll be laughing with delight, but if you can’t catch her live then she also does an ace podcast with Robin Ince, until last week she also did a BBC 6 Music show with Andrew Collins which, fingers crossed, will return in the new year. And you can also find her Radio 4 series, All of the Planet's Wonders, in which Josie attempts to better herself through learning from reference books, here.

Merry Christmas!

Merci 2011

Back in January, I took this serious resolution: this year, I'm going to slow down on gigs and get more nights at home to watch all these films that I should have seen. Well, to put it simply, it was a big FAIL. Now that I have to look back on my favourite things of this year, I realise how busy I've been and how small the number of nights at home is. As a perfect illustration of this, I am writing this top 5 on my lunch break because I have been unable to find the time to do it in the past 2 weeks. Don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT year, I saw so many amazing bands, places and artists but I also had a lot of these scary blanks after the 'what have you been up to recently?' question. So, anyway, let's get to it:

1) Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains finally getting the recognition they deserve.
I've known Frànçois for about 6 years now, we met in Brighton when he played guitar for Ray Rumours at the Ladyfest. After the show, being the only Frenchies around, we had a nice chat and he gave me a copy of his first album Les anciennes falaises. I fell in love with his music after just one listen, tracks like Revu or Katrina were absolutely striking. Over the years, we became friends and I've always tried to support him as much as I could, mainly by taking all my friends to his shows, playing his music to everyone I knew etc. I've always thought that Frànçois should get more success that he was getting and finally this year by signing on Domino and releasing E Volo Love in France (on Jan 23rd in the UK), he's had a tremendous success. What I've always loved about Frànçois' music is that it's getting better with time and every time I see him, he does something different. His creating process is constant, which makes everything so much more exciting. He's coming to the UK for a tour in January, don't miss him, this is the last chance to see him in small venues before he gets the success he deserves so much here too.



2) Electrelane reforming
It's always hard to do a end of the year top 5 but when it's a year in which your favourite band ever has reformed, then it's easy! This summer, we saw the return of Electrelane after a 4 year hiatus and it was amazing to see them stronger as ever. All the songs sounded fantastic, they were enjoying themselves and how good was that cover of Smalltown Boy?!



3) Very good albums
This year was a great year for albums, here is my top 10:
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains – E Volo Love
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Austra – Feel It Break
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Stranded Horse – Humbling Tides
Still Corners – Creatures of an Hour
Yuck – Yuck
I Break Horses – Hearts
Britney Spears – Femme Fatale

4) Amazing festivals
This year was very very good on the festival side. I went to End of the Road for the first time and OH MY DAYS, these 'best small festival' awards were well deserved! Everything is so special there: the line-up is a complete killer (and it's looking already very good for next year), the site is gorgeous, the food is deliciiiious and the whole atmosphere makes it totally amazing!
I also went to Primavera for the first time and you know all your friends who have been and always say 'olalala it's the best festival ever, I can't believe you've never been, you HAVE TO COME next year', they're annoying, aren't they? Well, now I'm one of them. Same as End of the Road: killer line-up + amazing food (try the chocolate cake of the pro area) + crazy site + Barcelona = winner!
And finally, I went to this totally cool new festival called 'Concerts Sauvages'. The concept is this: it takes place in a skiing resort and they've put stages on the slopes and you have to ski to the gigs. It's very coolos. Line-up wasn't mind-blowing but the idea is good enough to make it a great experience.

5) Going to the Brits
I've always loved awards ceremonies and this year, I got to go to the NRJ Music Awards which was fun (mainly for Usher and seeing French legend Mylène Farmer) but a bit long and had too much Shakira. But the best thing was that Ben and I went to the Brit Awards at the O2 and THAT WAS SOMETHING! Take That opening the whole thing was very impressive and then we witnessed an O2 going complete silent for the astonishing performance of Someone Like You by Adele. But let's be honest here, Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons etc, whatever, the key performance was RIHANNA. Ben and I completely lost our minds and screamed like teenage girls, IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!



Have a lovely Christmas and see you next year xx

Thank you 2011

Over the next few weeks, once a week, each of us from Yeah Club! will be adding their own memories and standout moments, things, tracks, whatever from 2011. Thanks for checking out the site over the past year, and have a wonderful Xmas and New Year. Oh, and we're starting with me...

******

Rather than the usual scenario of wondering where the year went, I find myself looking back and wondering how we managed to pack so much in during one calendar year. Aside from getting the call to move to Berlin, there was also the small matter of moving house (thanks Dan for the 17 hour drive company), starting a new(ish) job, getting married (eeee!) and all the other fun weekends that scattered the year with fist-pumping righteousness. Anyway, enough about me, here are some highlights from 2011, it's been a pleasure.

1) A quick shimmy across my top 10 albums of 2011 in order, wickedest at the top:

Pure X - Pleasure

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Chad Van Gaalen - Diaper Island

Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

Let's Wrestle - Nursing Home

Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo

Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love

Primary 1 - Other People

Emika - Emika

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffatt - Everything's Getting Older

2) Big Star have played a Big Part in 2011, kind of picking a constant thread between all the changes that have been going on. They were on my radar previously, but I really got into all three albums in a big way this year, and started getting a little bit obsessive in terms of reading biographies.

The best read was from the wonderful 33 1/3rd series, and I can thoroughly recommend it. Rob Sheffield brings up Big Star a fair bit in his unbearably sad book 'Love is a Mixtape', and I feel in some ways they've also accompanied me through one of the most intense periods of my life. One of those bands that sticks around. For the better.

3) One of the particularly rad things about getting married is you can kind of turn the reception into your PARTY OF DREAMS. So with this in mind I got a bunch of close friends who I'd played music with over the years, but who hadn't necessarily played together, to come and do some rehearsals.

One, Pierre, came all the way from Paris for the 3 practices. The band prepped a series of diverse family / friends-friendly tunes, and delivered a monster set on the day. But above all, hanging out with them all at the practices and seeing them play such a blinder as the sun went down over Barcelona remain cherished memories.

4) Let's Wrestle are one of those bands that I probably should shut up about, but their gig in Hamburg in October was just so fucking good that I have to mention it. They're bursting with an undeniable mix of devastating tunes, wordsmithery and they look funny too. WINNING COMBINATION. I also feel a bit like a stalker when I watch them play live. Which is fine.

So over and out, I leave you with my hottest album of a tip-top year. Yours, Ben.

Pure X: Pleasure by alteredzones

Desert Island Discs, I Salute You

In a week where Blackberry seem to have done the career-move equivalent of British Airways making more luggage space in the cabin by putting all the passenger seats on the wings of the plane, I find myself pondering upon my (over) use of the dreaded iPhone...

Forget emailing and phone calls which I barely ever get it out for, for me it's all about the podcasts (you can get them straight to your phone via iTunes which is ace for commutes), the games, and the nifty festival apps that are becoming more and more frequent (MaMA in Paris and Transmusicales in Rennes ones are both looking handy).

The wealth of podcasts is embarrassingly rich. Favourite include Football Weekly (sorry, I am completely addicted to this and there's nothing anyone can do about it), A History of the World in 100 Objects (all objects can be found in the British Museum which is pretty rad unless you're from one of the countries the UK nabbed the items from), and yes, Desert Island Discs.

DiD opened up their archives to the iTunes podcast thingy in March, and since then I've been doing my best to trawl through them. The DiD intro music, Kirsty Young's dulcet tones, (and Sailing By, another radio 4 classic) are all deeply engrained in my psyche...

Here are the episodes that stand out, and deserve a good old listen:

1) Jan Pienowski - 18.Oct.2009

Ahh, Meg and Mog, Haunted House pop-up book. THE STUFF OF LEGENDS. I tried to make a pop-up book when I was 5 but with A4 it turned out to be a bit flimsy. There was a giraffe involved. Beyond the creativity and the books, here Jan talks about his Polish heritage, living with his bipolarity (preferring not to take prescription drugs as they dulled his mind), his extensive collection of charity shop clothes and his 40-year relationship with his partner. Quite an exceptional man who has slipped onto my 'maxi-dinner party of all time' list.

2) Tony Adams - 27.Jun.2010

Being anti-Arsenal to the point of distraction, I wasn't looking forward to this one, but Adams' candid and unnervingly honest account of his alcoholism, crippling insecurities and lack of education are startling. His recovery, work with other professionals with addiction issues and his new management role as coach of the Azerbaijan team is worth checking out.

3) Anna del Conte - 19.Nov.10

One of the great things about the archive is you stumble across people you haven't heard of, or who you may have heard of but can't remember what it is they get up to. Signora del Conte is the Italian food writer who came to the UK in the late 40, and has been one of the main instigators in making Italian food as popular in the UK as it is today. Her tales of making horse-meat ragu without telling customers (they loved it and came back for more) is particularly good, especially when recounted in her inimitable voice and accent.

4) Lang Lang - 31.Oct.10

Lang Lang's Dad used to kick his arse into gear if he didn't do enough piano practice. I know exactly what this is all about, so this rather endearerd me to old Lang Lang. He takes his Dad to task a bit as well as far as I remember, go Lang Lang! He also got kicked out of the conservatoire in China for not having enough talent. Ha, fools!

5) Barry Manilow - 27.Sep.09

I have a memory, deeply etched in my brain of Manilow performing Copacabana when I was around 8. To me, he looked like the epitome of uncool or whatever that is. But I knew he looked like a bit of a div. So this episode kind of change my mind, as he came out of it looking like a bit of a dude. His obvious, deep-seated passion for music doesn't always come out with other musicians, but he is frighteningly knowledgeable and humble with it. Copacabana rocks as well I now realise.

Teeth by DZDEATHRAYS


Cheveu - Charlie Sheen by Wrong End Of The Seesaw

Reasons Why You (ok, I) Love Let’s Wrestle

It's quite simple really. Just follow these 4 easy steps, and you'll remember why they are totally stalk-worthy:

1) Jape-skills - I don't remember Matt Cardle getting the X-Factor tourbus-driver to divert to the nearest model village and end up with a (unsubstantiated)story in the local press a la this...

2) They are particularly reliable bunch of guys, and have their own Scorsese, Ben Ransley making their videos...

3) The drummer has a great relationship with the cymbals...

4) They had a whole Ninja Film made for them by the aforementioned Ben Ransley. He's like their George Martin figure.

Their second album was out recently on Fulltime Hobby and is called Nursing Home.


Let's Wrestle - For My Mother by MergeRecords


Let's Wrestle - I'm In Love With Destruction by cafe_magro span>

It's not over...

Three brisk reads here, all tried and tested on the beach and lounging around cafes and pools in actual sunny circumstances this summer - all sublime in their own ways. It was pointed out to me that I'm a sucker for all things biographical, and I suppose it's true. Delving into the lives and experiences of others is something I'll never tire of, and that doesn't only relate to books - Desert Island Discs remains a firm favourite, perhaps that being my ideal radio format: autobiography coupled with a strict amount of music choices. Although that's another post altogether, surely...


Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Copper Top (radio edit) by rocketpr


Winter 1 by Pete And The Pirates

I've been your fan since yesterday

Picture: Vickeh

People, like us, who are really into music all have a favourite band. Not The Beatles or U2. An indie band. A band known only by about 2% of the population but means the world to us. It's the band that we cherish more than any other one. Whenever we go to a record shop, we go to the letter of this band first, even though we already have all their recordings (including that obscure remix on a Japanese 7'', yes, you've got it too and also paid ridiculous shipping costs for it). I know quite a few people who go for the W of Ween, or the B for Kate Bush (at this point I will not reveal which letter Ben goes for as it's too embarrassing). Our favourite band has to be a bit obscure and known only by a few people who instantly become our friends when they name it, or our enemies for life if they dare to say something bad about our band (even ‘I don't really like the artwork but the album is great' → the 'but' came too late love + the artwork is amazing, you just don't get it).

Why does an indie band become our favourite band? Because of the music of course but not only. A band becomes our favourite band because it came into our life at a special time, maybe when we were thinking 'what the hell am I doing with my life?', or at a vulnerable time, basically often before our 20s, and suddenly that band and its music brought the answers to so many questions, the comfort to so many feelings and emotions that we thought we were the only ones to have. This band arrived and told us ‘it's fine, you're not alone', and that's probably why we can become obsessed and listen about a million times to the same songs and albums. Our favourite indie band is about the music, the artwork, the people in the bands but also so much more and a lot of that 'so much more' can hardly be described. And that's why, even in 20 years, we'll still be listening to them.

Personally, I always go for the letter 'E' in record shops. E for Electrelane. I first saw Electrelane when I was 18 (8 years ago ha!), it was at the Spitz in London and I was immediately blown away (even-though I spent a good part of the gig wondering if Verity, the singer, was going to kill someone in the audience → I can make jokes about my favourite band. You can't. = basic rule). The epic songs, the energy, the atmosphere of the show, everything was amazing. I went back to France, bought the album and listened to it for about a billion times and started going to a LOT of their shows. I have so many great memories of driving for hours to go to a show, taking friends to see them for the first time, quite a few very drunken nights too... Like any favourite band, I think Electrelane, as the best band in the world, deserved to be bigger. However, exhausted by the touring and the hard life of many indie artists, they decided to go on a hiatus 4 years ago. Any basic fan would have then thought 'fucking hell, if I had been their manager/label manager, things would have been different' but we all would have probably been rubbish.

No shows during 4 years meant not having that little exciting feeling when new dates are announced, not seeing regular faces at gigs etc, but maybe we also needed that time to grow up.
When I first heard of the summer tour, I didn't want to get too excited in case something went wrong but last night at the Komedia in Brighton, nothing went wrong, the band was there, stronger than ever. This reunion tour has been approached by the band as a celebration of their work and their fans: they only played the hits, had a funny (but fantastic) cover and don't have the pressure to sell a new album: they're doing the tour for fun and you can definitely see it on stage. The 1h10 set went very quickly, and was just great song after great song. It was so exciting to rediscover all the personalities and habits of each of them on stage: the impeccable drumming of Emma Gaze, the chilled bassist Ros Murray, the possessed guitarist Mia Clarke and the epic singer Verity Susman. What I've always loved about Electrelane's shows is how they build up and become more and more intense, and there is always these few seconds when you ‘lose yourself in the songs': that feeling that I get with no other band, when the music takes up your entire body and nothing else matters. It's a very rare feeling and only your favourite band can give it to you (or drugs probably).

Electrelane have always wanted to have minimum lights on stage because they've always put the music first and again last night, it was all about the music. The instrumental tracks from Rock it to the Moon and Axes are complete killers but with songs from the Power Out and a few covers, Electrelane reminded everybody last night that they can also write fucking great pop songs and make you dance like not many bands can.

The band is doing only a few shows over the summer, don't miss them, you'll be my enemy for life if you do.

16th July, ISTANBUL, Rock'n'Coke festival
22nd July, PARIS, La Plage
24th July, Oporto Milhoes de Festa
30th July, STOCKHOLM, Strand
2nd August, BERLIN, Festsaal
5th August: Big Chill Festival
6th August: LONDON, Field Day Festival
12th August, ST MALO, Route du Rock Festival
14th August, VEXEY, Nox Orae
16th August: LONDON, XOYO (with support from Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains - be there early!)

Also, check out the Electrelane week on Drowned in Sound.

Fox of the week.

01 - Electrelane, 'Gone Under Sea' by ThreeThousand

Guide to (not) Running

Photo (c) Matthew Wilson

If, like me, you see yourself as a 4-5 times a year kind of runner, then use this handy guide to help make sure you stick to these low numbers, and avoid tiring yourself out unnecessarily. This guide should make sure you don't do any more exercise than you really need. If the merest hint of the idea of going running should pass through your mind, then check that you've done the 10 following essentials - you'll never forgive yourself if you don't:

1) Get going on a really long, complicated recipe that takes many hours and involves many ingredients - it will be tasty!
2) Have a look online for a new flat in various parts of a massive city you don't know too well
3) Plan something that will take forever to organise, like a wedding
4) Why not write post an update on your blog?
5) Catch up with your family on the phone - it's been way too long since you called them and you should see how they are!
6) Have a look online for a new pet - what do you fancy? A dog? A cat? BOTH?
7) Get back up to speed on that book you were reading on Postwar Europe. Hmm.
8) Do some washing - your clothes are stinky!
9) Unwrap and get going on that Roseanne boxset, try and sit through all 211 episodes before running

Finally, and when you really can't thing of anything else to do...

10) Make a running playlist - you can use it when you go, er, running. Try this one

Once you've done all of these, and really you have to have done all of these, only then can you contemplate putting on your running shoes.

Chad VanGaalen - Peace on the Rise by subpop


The History Of Apple Pie - You're So Cool by Roundtable Records

Kate Beaton - 'LOIS ARE YOU IN TROUBLE'

(c)Kate Beaton
I'll be brief - Kate Beaton is a Canadian comic artist who has done some rad stuff on her blog - she has had some bits published by a really great little Canadian publishing house that focuses on a rich seam of comic artists called Drawn and Quarterly - you should definitely have a look.

I like the way Kate takes established characters, be they real or ficititious, and she skews them in a way that renders them more fun than the original most of the time. And the fact she digs the 90s Lois / Superman show makes her an outright winner in my book.

In other news I went to multilayerladen last night for an evening of folky stuff put on by the marvelous Four Track. I missed the headliner, but caught Donna Stolz. She had a nifty banjo player and melodica / glock player who were just right to accompany. She also had a brand new guitar and was pretty excited about this fact. Stand out songs were You Go and Laura Ingalls which was about the lady who wrote the Little House on the Prarie series.

Go Kate, go Donna, and go Laura!

Find more artists like Donna Stolz at Myspace Music

Review: Liverpool Sound City

Let’s get it straight : Liverpool Sound City has the reputation to be shit. It’s my first time in Liverpool : the city and the festival.

It seems to run okay at first, I grab my pass and go to Zeligs for the first bands of the night, Anoraak and Team Ghost. They’re playing in a restaurant and the festival organisers haven’t even bothered to get rid of the tables, which makes the setting slightly weird. But the two French bands don’t seem to mind and play two great sets. Anoraak’s disco-pop tunes are super catchy and hours after the gig, I still have all the little keyboard melodies in my mind = good stuff. Team Ghost like to play loud, VERY LOUD. My ears suffered from that at Offset last year, so I’ve come prepared with ear plugs. The band have more members now and the sound is heavy but they’re absolutely brilliant. They were my favourite band at The Great Escape last year and tonight I remember why. Of course, you think of M83 a few times but Nicolas Fromageau’s charisma is fascinating and you can easily lose yourself (in a good way) in the sonic cold-wave songs. Best band of the day.

After that, I wander around the streets where most of the venues are located. Narrow dark streets with brick buildings, a big fat cliché but hey, that’s what it looks like! The thing that really strikes me there is that you can hear all the bands playing in the venues from outside. That’s very unusual. With all the noise restrictions now, you only hear the gig when you are actually in the basement. But in Liverpool, you walk in the street and it’s very easy to find the venue as you can hear the music hundreds of yards away. It creates an unusual feeling of excitement, like something really punk and interesting is happening in this city. If it’s like this the rest of the year, you can see why so many bands have been formed in Liverpool. Wandering in these streets as a teenagers hearing all this music must be so exciting. And I do feel like a teenager going from one venue to another hoping to find the next big thing.

I catch the end of Veronica Falls’ set. I had never seen them before (and yet I pretend to write on an indie blog) and I’m happily surprised. I’ve listened to their stuff and liked it but was always annoyed by all this reverb on the songs, you can barely hear the voice on them. But live, none of that crap is there, the voices are clear and sexy and you realise what great pop songs these guys have hidden behind all the reverb. They make me think a bit of the early days of Sons and Daughters but with less drama. This is the great surprise of the festival.

Then off to the famous Shipping Forecast, a very nice little venue for the Canadian Blast Party. I see the end of Said The Whale but the singer is wearing an Olly Murs hat = very bad and they flirt a bit too much with the emo border for me. Ben would probably have loved them. Winter Gloves take the stage with all their keyboards and skinny jeans. They sound alright but I’m a bit disappointed, I was looking forward to see them as their tracks on myspace are pretty nice but it doesn’t work for me tonight.

Last stop at the Screnadelica Gallery to check out some really amazing gig posters, check out these illustrators : Luke Drozd, Adam Pobiak and Stephen Chan.

So, Liverpool Sound City is trying hard to make this festival nice but it’s too early after Great Escape, we’ve seen the bands we really wanted to see there in packed venues. Here you get around 50-70 people per show, so even if the venues are great and the city pretty cool, there isn’t the excitement you find in Brighton. Maybe the organisers should think about doing this event at another time of the year rather than between the Great Escape and Primavera which are both so much more attractive.

Beachy Head by Veronica Falls

Climbing the Walls

Well I really like this track wot I heard on the radio today called Climbing the Walls by a band called Strange Talk. It has big nods to Phoenix and Passion Pit but it’s really nice and summery and sunny which is the sort of music I really want to be listening to at the moment as I emerge like a beautiful bluebell to greet the spring and summer.

Those opening guitar ch-chang-chang-changs are enough to get you springing off the sofa, scooping the tortoise out of its hibernation box and dashing outside to prance topless in a field.

Climbing Walls by Strange Talk

Thai? Dai!

Crate-digging. It's brought us the twitchy, unnerving, unreal creations of the likes of DJ Shadow in his seminal Entroducing (15 years old this year), as well as Johnny Greenwood finding Paul Lansky's 40-minute Mild und Liese and subsequently locating the four chord progession that became Idiotheque...

Some of the finest compilations of recent years have come from enthusiasts going the extra mile to get into the nitty gritty of a genre or region of the world during a certain period. One of my favourites was the 2005 Soul Jazz release, Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound, that covers the, er, Tropicalia period from around the late 60s: a mashup of rock, bossa nova, soul, and underground rhythms including the likes of Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze and Gal Costa. It's all joyful stuff to the ear that gets repeat listenings throughout any year. This badboy comes with a well researched insert book as well that helps you bluff your way through the period. Essential.

Tom Ze - Jimmy, Renda-se by CulturalCannibals

Soundway Records have led the way in recent years with their exceptionally researched (founder Miles Cleret likes nothing more than flying several times to Ghana for example to rummage through radio shacks old 12"s to find what he likes, then hunt down the owners of the masters by word of mouth...) compilations covering various countries and time frames, favourites being Tumbélé: Biguine, Afro and Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-1974, Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Ghanaian Blue 1968-1981 and Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla & Afro

Abelardo Carbono - Palenque by Soundway

Note also the berrrilliant artwork afforded to this series by the rather wonderful Lewis Heriz.

This, in a typically long-winded way, leads me to how FLIPPING MUCH I'm enjoying the latest Finders Keepers record - Thai? Dai! - a selection of Thai psyche and punk funk outings that have pretty much never been released in Thailand let alone in da West. I was playing this in the office the other day, and my colleague (who speaks Thai despite ressembling Wayne Rooney a little - no offence Wayne), got all excited yelping 'but this is sung in Thai, and it's good!'. Yes. Thai music can be really shit. Thai pop for example is pretty bad. My uncle lives in Bangkok and he lets me choose between Thai pop or Engelbert Humperdink (I kid you not) in the car. I choose Engelbert every time because he is actually a proper badman.

Anyway. These awesome Thai tracks have something of the modal about them, which means you end up getting washed over in the oriental melodic lines despite their inherent punk-funkiness. There are also some entertaining spoken word parts midway through. All in all it's a delight of a record. Looking back, the Tropicalia record did seem to influence a good bunch of musicians over the following years. How will Thai? Dai! fare in comparison?

Soreng Santi - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng by The Drift Record Shop

Ps - I'm looking for a kitten like this. Please get in touch if you have one.

Swap you one Monster Munch for eight Skips...

Well you would, wouldn't you? Skips are the most ephemeral, nonsense crisp of all time. If you really need the prawn cocktail hit, go and buy some Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps right?

I was having a delicious packet of Hula Hoops with my flatmate last night, and we agreed, in between munching on mouthfuls of those cylindrical beauties, that they are the best alternative crisp around (i.e. not a traditional crisp shape). The crisps that stood the test of time.

I like to think of the Hula Hoop as a benchmark. So if you are planning on swapping a Hula Hoop for a Monster Munch, which is also a fine alternative crips, you may want to exchange it on a 1:1 basis. Fair deal.

If however you were accosted by someone bearing a bag of Skips, which just melt away in the mouth (and are therefore pointless), it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for at least eight of their stash. So that should be 1:8.

Here I am going to show some more examples, using some crisps I have long been fond of.

1) Hedgehog Crisps


Hedgehog Crisps aren't flavoured with hedgehogs. They're flavoured with pork fat. Or at least they were, as I haven't seen them around for years. No word of a lie - the company that made them were taken to court by the Office of Fair Trading on a charge of false advertising. Don't worry, they won in the end. I could only find these at my sister's school for some reason, and they were delish.

Swap rating: 1:1.5

2) Football Crazy Crisps


These football-shaped badboys brought two of my great loves together - football and bacon. The gourmet's choice. Roy Keane wouldn't have minded you scoffing these in the terraces. If you saved up a morbidly obese / bank-breaking amount of packets, you could send them off and get your team's shirt in return.

Swap rating: 1:1

3) Burton's Fish and Chip Crisps

These came, shock of shocks, shaped as fish and chips. They didn't taste of much. But the brown dust that was liberally sprinkled over them did. Think I liked the idea more than the reality. I don't remind them being easy to find, but that was probably for the best.

Swap rating: 1:4

4) Monster Munch


A true classic. There's only one flavour for the true connoiseur - pickled onion. These gurn-tastic monster paws of joy are a beautiful thing to behold. I would love to see how these are made. Or maybe I wouldn't. Maybe it would be gross.

Swap rating: 1:1

And the Oscar for ‘Best Face’ goes to…

This post is slightly delayed for Oscar season (my timing has never been my strong point), but I thought I’d share one of the rather bizarre effects of sleep on the human mind. Bare with me, this is vaguely related to the Oscars…

People discussing their dreams is, in general, a pretty dull experience for whomever is too polite to stop listening. I have ridiculously in-depth, insane and prolonged dreams every night, but, luckily for Cécile, find it difficult to explain exactly what happened as my memories quickly evaporate upon opening my eyes. I’m just relieved that I don’t talk in my sleep, apparently I just laugh occasionally. Unfortunately my colleague, C, has for the past few weeks had to put up with a constant flow of chatter emitting from her husband. Surprisingly, she has found that they can actually hold a conversation whilst he is sound asleep. This has resulted in some terrifying, some hilarious and some just very odd interactions. After hearing second-hand several of these fantastic conversations I asked her to provide a highlight:

‘It sounds so weird now I’ve written it down. J certainly has an interesting internal life. He had, what I can only glean from the raucous celebrations, an astounding Grand Prix victory last night. But it was certainly less terrifying than the re-enactment of the denouement of the Wicker Man (Edward Woodward version obviously). But here is the Oscar one. I can only ask myself, why would Moore threaten something like that? I’ve always previously admired her work. I loved her in the Big Lebowski.'

J: WOMAN, WOMAN!
Me: What’s happening?
J: I need you to go into the garden and bury my Oscar.
Me: Your Oscar? I didn’t know you had an Academy Award. What’s it for?
J: Best Face. (I really had no idea this was a category).
Me: Oh really? Why do you need me to bury it?
J (annoyed): Because Julianna Moore wants to paint it green.
Me: Are you positive? I’m sure she wouldn’t do that.
J (plaintively): WHY WON’T YOU HELP ME?

France Gall - Poupée de cire poupée de son by perpotator

Gros Chat Coquinou

Picture taken from Ernie: A Photographer's Memoir by Tony Mendoza (one of the best books ever)

Last night, Lucy and I went to see some jazz cause we’re cool cats like that. But not any kind of jazz: Ethiopian jazz. Like a lot of indie kids, 5 years ago, I started becoming quite obsessed with the Ethiopiques compilations. But I didn’t start a band under the name Foals or Vampire Weekend, I just kept buying the compilations, probably the best for the sake of your ears.

One of the most famous and best musicians on these compilations is Mulatu Astatke. You’ve probably heard some of his tracks on Jim Jarmush’s Broken Flowers. Mulatu was playing last night at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and what a great night! Mulatu looks like one of these really big cats: you know the ones that keep their winter fur all year long, sleep like this on your sofa, enjoy rubbing against the legs of all your hot lady friends and look like that they’re always about to tell you a joke. He plays the vibraphone in a total chilled way, which might make you forgot the complexity of his absolutely brilliant compositions. It was frustrating to be sitting down during some of the tracks. That big cat is a genius.

Mulatu Astatké - Yèkatit by ACS

Fox of the week.

That Metronomy Song is Really Good

So about 2 weeks ago, Metronomy put the video for their new song ‘She Wants’ on the internet. I didn’t post about it on the day because this blog isn’t about posting the latest song that this band or that one has just uploaded. This blog is about taking the time to actually really listen to the track and give you a stupid review about it. Isn’t that why you’re here?

So, yeah that Metronomy song. The first time, I was like “hum I don’t really like the intro but that chorus could be a grower”. By the second time I heard it, I was obsessed. But still, I thought “hum maybe it’s one of these songs I’ll get really obsessed with for a week and then forget about it”.
I have listened to ‘She Wants’ every day since and that’s because it’s a really good song! It’s one of these delicious songs that I categorize as “pop douce” which vaguely translates as “sweet pop” – one of these songs that are so nice to listen that you feel like a circle of mini-polar bears are around your head and hugging you.

Fox of the week.

John Gorham - ‘I hate the idea of being old-fashioned, or new-fashioned’

We were recently pointed in the direction of John Gorham (by Joseph Mount of Metronomy via graphic design agency Johnson Banks) on the announcement of the artwork for the new Metronomy album, The English Riviera.

Gorham was at any one time a designer, typographer and illustrator with a particularly strong and identifiable output in the 70s and 80s, dying in an untimely fashion in 2001. It seems he was held in very high regard by his peers, but that he was one of those who decides to shun the seemingly obvious route - in his case not going into partnerships or big company work. He mentioned at one point that ‘I hate the idea of being old-fashioned, or new-fashioned’, which resonates when you look at what he left behind, with the theme of re-invention standing out in his work.

Two other stand-out projects Gorham worked on are the Lion Bar wrapper, which when it came out in 1970 apparently made the chocolate bar look exceptionally luxurious, something that's a little hard to comprehend these days, although it is indeed a delicious hunk of sugary goodness.

Another project that stands out is a series of pub signs he designed for commercial signage company Wood and Wood in the late 70s and early 80s. This series isn't a million miles away from the stamps Gorham also designed including for Second World War commemorations, Christmas 1990 and the Queen Mother's 90th Birthday. These pub signs look quite a lot like very fun stamps, with attention to detail, image spacing, typography and colour that are exquisite.





from under spinning lights by Downliners Sekt

La Boulangerie, Paris

This should have a sub-heading - it's not a boulangerie.

The bistrot La Boulangerie is found in a slightly odd part of Paris, Menilmontant, that as far as I can tell has on one side Pere la Chaise cemetery, and on the other the hill that goes up towards Belleville. In between there's the usual hubub of local markets on the main stretch, some ropey looking eateries and a pretty rad cafe / bar I hung out in where the guys were caning the pastis nice and early, lunch-time style.

This place looks the business - intricate mosaic tiling, attention to detail from the quality of the bread to their ace knives. Yeah, the knives. The owner looks like he eats at the restaurant, in a good way, and essentially would fill the role of, say, a Parisian bistrot owner perfectly in a Hollywood film.

Anyway, the lunchtime menu @ 14 euros for two courses, @ 17 euros for three:

Entrees
Rillettes maison de canard des Landes
Carpaccio de maigre*

Plats
Palette de porc 'noir de Bigorre' braisee*
Pave de saumon d'Ecosse a l'estragon

Desserts
Pithiviers
Blanc manger coco

* - what I rolled up for...

I went for the maigre (white fish) which was a really clean, light, yum starter. Then the main course, the sexy palette which is basically like a souped-up pork chop served with dauphinoise and a densely flavourful dark sauce. This was the ultimate winner, and although it was manged fully two weeks ago now, is still very fresh in the memory.

I'm not going to bore you with loads of detail - all I'll say is if you're in Paris, looking for some French food at a reasonable price (lunchtime is best for the menus), you could do a lot worse than to head over here for a great experience.

La Boulangerie
15 rue des Panoyaux 75020 Paris
01 43 58 45 45
Open every day except Saturday lunch and Sunday.

Bonobo Feat. DELS & Andreya Triana 'Eyesdown' (REVOX) by DELS

Plug in to Plug

Photo: Life

The first time I saw Plug was 2 years ago in a basement in Stoke Newington (or maybe it was Dalston, anyway somewhere in Hackney, you get the point) in one of those gigs where you think “wow this is great but I could also die very easily here”. In fact, being 5”1 (like Lady Gaga, thanks Smash Hits Special), I was the only person able to stand in that basement as the ceiling was so low.
I had never heard of Plug and I immediately fell in love with them. Their minimal sound, with repetitive melodies and this sharp voice were absolutely brilliant.
Of course, they signed with Upset The Rhythm, and their first album, despite being the worst artwork of the year, is equally brilliant. If you’re in your January period of “listening to the bands I’ve missed in 2010”, Plug should be your new priority.

Plug - Body Story by be-bop-kids

Rounding that badboy up...

The final instalment of our 2010 top 5s, I'm (Ben) personally going to bore you. ARE YOU READY?

2010 was pretty cool, things I remember off the top of my head are: I got kicked out of my house by my landlord, my girlfriend moved to Berlin, I saw some great gigs and got to know loads of ace new music thanks to work, friends and an appetite for sifting through shit music.

1) Deutschewurstweltmeisterschaft - God knows I must have spelt that wrong, but who cares: you present me with 25 butchers fighting it out in Berlin to become the WORLD SAUSAGE CHAMP + lovely April weather + loads of delicious beer... Need I say more? Well I probably do - my favourite was the Chili Con Carne wurst, I think the Wasabiwurst won...
2) James Nash - illustrator extraodinaire, a bit of a hero.
3) The Wappio - a drink concoted by my flatmate Rob, which has accompanied us to a world of pain on too many an occasion to mention. Let me summarise the ingredients: close your eyes, pick three bottles, pour into a glass. Et voila. Yuuuummmm.
4) Offset Festival, specifically Not Cool, Team Ghost, Kap Bambino and Art Brut, for old times sake.
5) iPhone 4 - I feel like a massive loser for saying that, but hell, what a piece of kit.

Retired to Stud by Not Cool

Come in Cecile - Cecile come in!

Over 4 days we're subjecting you to our top 5's of 2010. Badman. Here's Cecile's entry...

2010 was a pretty sweet year: lots of very good gigs and festivals and nice holidays, which is always a bonus. It was also my "officially becoming an adult year" I think because I spent £500 on a sofa, but that was okay too. Whatever, I still enjoy listening to Nirvana, Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins like the angry teenager that I was. My #1 is going back to New York because I got to see my friends there, go to lovely museums, find records in Soundfix, hang out in Brooklyn but mainly eating LOTS of amazing brunches and go back to Benny's Burritos, which is my favourite restaurant ever.

1/ Going back to NYC on holidays
2/ The opening of Chipotle in London
3/ Seeing Lady Gaga at the O2
4/ My first Glastonbury
5/ Watching the foxes running in the snow in the Victoria Park at night

Territorial Pissings by Nirvana

It's Lucy's turn...

For four days we're going over our top 5s for 2010 - today, number two in the series Lucy takes the helm:

2010 was a pretty awesome 365 days, especially for gigs and festivals. I wasn't into so many albums this year, unlike last year which had some real corkers, but there have been loads of top tracks (I heart Rihanna 'Only Girl') and other non-music excitement to keep me going. Here are my tops:

Glastonbury! A super hot weekend seemed to put everyone in a good mood, the resulting merry atmosphere was the perfect backdrop for some top acts. My fave Pyramid stage performance was Shakira who entertained us with hits such as She Wolf and an unexpected XX cover - awoo! The XX at night was incredibly atmospheric and kept us mesmerised throughout. On Saturday night Sexy Sushi were equally captivating but for totally opposite reasons with their racuous electro performance on the Hub stage in Shangri-la: Rebekka Warrior whipped us up with her playful, provocative performance. Catch them if you can!

Photography exhibition in Arles - Les Rencontres d'Arles. Highlights included Christian Marclay's 'Crossfire', Taryn Simon's 'The Innocents' and 'I am a cliché' - echoes of the punk aesthetic

Visiting New York for the first time - best moment was a Todd P gig featuring The Babies in an abandoned flat in an old Williamsburg warehouse

Reading Roberto Bolano's 'The Savage Detectives'

Live episode of Eastenders

Shakira - Islands by Shakira / The XX

So we're a bit slow...

... but you need a bit of time to reflect on a whole year right? Over the next 4 days, our individual top 5, er, things of 2010 will be put up on the blog. We're enabling the comments so you can totally spam / flame the shit out of us on this.

Here's Dan to kick things off:

Oh god 2010 – that was aaaages ago right? Lets think *strains, tries to get brain in to action and not get instantly distracted by obsessive twitter / facebook / email cycle* Ummmmm, how about....

1) John and Jehn at the Great Escape. The Great Escape was absolutely wickey-wild-west-willsmith-wah-wicked. Having never gone before I loved being in a city as amazing as Brighton surrounded for three days by brilliant live music from the moment you half-drunkenly force yourself out of bed in the morning to really jolly late indeeeeeed. Highlights included Coming Soon, The Cheek, The Bewitched Hands, Team Ghost, Beardyman (I was veryverydrunk) but most best John and Jehn pulling out a super sweaty corker at a bar, upstairs, somewhere in Brighton…

2) Berlin. I went twice in 2010. It was brilliant (history, würst, nightlife, würst, cultcha, würst, the all night U-Bahn, würst etc.) but also it was chest-crushingly cold. New years resolution No.523 = go to Berlin in the summer.

3) Cycling. Really did quite a lot of this for the first time this year, probably unconsciously egged on by Boris and his bwilliant bikes. I went to France and I went to Holland and I went to Beligium and I went to Greenwich (once or twice). It is much better than the shtinky tube etc. but really does bring an oily tear of frustration to the eye when my bike breaks. Which it tends to do quite often.

4) Sunny festivals. Hooooray no muddy misery tent slog-fests this year! Woooop! I got toasted at Eurockéenes watching Foals play a beach and Omar Souleyman N-Trance the laydeez in a glade. I got cidered-up and over excited in the sun at Lovebox watching Empire of the Sun and a totally unexpected display of toplessness all round at Hot Chip. And finally I got bitter and twisted watching Glasto on t’telly looking like the best, sunniest thing evah. Grrrrrrrr.

5) Niki and the Dove at the Lexington. They sound amazing. Niki is sultry, Kate Bushey, shekshy with ribbons pritt-sticked to her face and the Doves are reeeeeaaalllly coooool musos.

'And we Run - Live' by 'John and Jehn'

FIN.