quarterly best-of releases, 2010, Q2

I'm writing this in advance, because come 30 June, I will be steadying myself for day 1 on the grounds of Roskilde!

best albums released

• the Futureheads- 'the Chaos' - I wasn't completely sold on this until I saw them live at the Black Cat. WOW.
  
• Two Door Cinema Club - 'Tourist History' - pop tour de force. I'm seeing them at least once this spring, if not twice. 'nuff said.
• Broken Bells - 'Broken Bells' - Dangermouse (Brian Burton) and James Mercer of the Shins have put together a psychedelic, trippy pop record that I absolutely adore.
• Villagers - 'Becoming a Jackal' - Conor J. O'Brien's folk project
  

worst / most disappointing albums released

• Keane - 'Nighttrain EP' - I had such high hopes when their collaboration with K'Naan, 'Stop for a Minute', arrived on the scene. what a disappoint to hear a bunch of mismatched tracks through haphazardly together.
  
• Hot Chip - 'One Life Stand' - the album is good in parts but what the heck is going on in the middle, guys?!?!?

best singles released

• 'Heartbeat Song' - Futureheads - wonderful, just wonderful. pop love song of the summer.
• 'Dreaming of Another World' - Mystery Jets - technically this isn't released until July. but it's already on radio and it's breathtaking.
  

worst / most disappointing single released

• 'Flashover' - Klaxons - I'm sorry, but WTH is this?!? not impressed. (for more on this, read Roundtable 20/05 entry)
  

best gig

• Futureheads at Black Cat, 4 June. wow, what a powerhouse live. Jaff Craig deserves mad props for giving the poor blogger (me) a setlist IN THE MIDDLE of a set. and Barry Hyde DMed me with 'we're gonna knock your socks off. B x' indeed, they did. probably the most fun I've had at a gig since Nottingham 24 May seeing Patrick Wolf, Ladyhawke, and Friendly Fires.
  

worst / most disappointing gig

• Hot Chip at the 9:30 Club - I just wasn't feeling it. I also did not appreciate getting bumped on purpose by this tall Indian dude next to me b/c I was there covering it and having to take notes, and he didn't like it. was I bothering him? NO. I thought I had written about it on here but basically there came a point where I was near tears - I was, as usual, by myself - and I thought I might get crushed and die in the body melee that was 'Over and Over'. I got out of the club, gasping for air. that was the first time I ever have been to a gig and actually feared for my life. I never want to be in a situation like that ever again.

other recommendations

• if you like Fleet Foxes, try Goldheart Assembly.
• if you like MGMT, try Broken Bells.
• if you like Editors, try the National. (I don't really dig either.)
  

reflections on 2009

we're getting ever closer to the end of 2009 and 2010 is coming up fast, so I thought I better write my "how was my year" post. I've already had to think about what my best albums and gigs were of the year and that was hard enough, but to think about what emotions I've had and crazy medical stuff I've been through this year is another ball of wax completely.

it's probably not the best idea to write this post now considering I'm in a weird mood:

1. I'm shattered from two v. late nights of gigging (excellent gigging I might add - Friday night at a sold out Iota for Fanfarlo and then Saturday night at a not-as-full Rock 'n' Roll Hotel for Phenomenal Handclap Band, who was missing Sean Marquand, who waves to me from the stage every time he sees me - so boo),

2. it's raining here today, which means my whole body is aching (my body is like a barometer, every time the pressure changes, my joints feel it),

3. got into a terrible row with my insomniac mother this morning for reasons unclear to me (so I have nothing to be sorry for), and

4. last night was my last gig of 2009 and for over a month (until the Cribs on 19 January), and I'm a bit sad about that.

...but I'd like to do this before I forget.

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so what happened in 2009? top 10 events, in chronologic order:

1. I started this blog here. I hope it's been an interesting read for someone out there.

2. my love of music turned into "professional" blog writing. and I joined up with Popwreckoning as one of their writers. I've been working so hard for them, I have over 100 posts in less than 9 months. not bad eh?

3. I fell in love with Friendly Fires. This is not to say I haven't fallen in love with other bands or singers this year but if we're talking major "head over heels" falling in love, this band is it. That's the only way I can explain that I've seen them 5 times, 4 of those times in a town that is not my own. or theirs for that matter. at this point, I joke that they should give me an honorary bunk on their tour bus.

4. I met my first "rock stars" - Noah and the Whale - through blogging and because they knew me, I hung out with them after their D.C. show. still sad that Doug Fink has left the band and has become...a doctor (?!?!?)

5. I went to my first music festival - Dot to Dot - in Nottingham, England. Why? Because Friendly Fires was headlining and I was given an offer to interview Edd Gibson and Ed Macfarlane there. It was my first major interview, and since then, I've had the opportunity to sit down and chat with a lot of people, and I like to think that the FFires interview has helped spread the word around about me as a knowledgeable interviewer and a good-at-what-she-does type of journo.

It also helped that my friend Matt's Skint and Demoralised were playing, as well as Patrick Wolf and Ladyhawke. I also saw the Pains of Being Pure at Heart as well - Kip Berman laughing about this later, saying I must get around as much as they do :)

6. thanks to my condition, I hurt my arm on the way back from England and lost the use my left arm for over 2 months. I wrote to Stuart Maconie in Manchester when I was in so much pain that I was crying as I typed up all 7 of the Dot to Dot articles with my right hand. he wrote me back (I couldn't believe it) and he wished me well on everything I was doing with music.

I had to undergo a ton of physical therapy, and lots of treatment were required to get me back into shape. somehow I was a-ok when time came for Friendly Fires to play two shows in New York in August. so I went and had a great time.

7. I was asked to become USA editor for There Goes the Fear and agreed. Have been working really hard for that on top of everything I do for PW. It's been tough sometimes, especially with my health.

8. I reached a birthday milestone last month that, if I'm being honest, that I had predicted when I was 12 I didn't think I was going to make. every day for me is a struggle. I'm pretty private when it comes to this stuff so the people I work with on the blogs or because of the blogs (the bands) aren't aware of what I'm going through.

sometimes I wish I could tell them...because I dearly wish them to know, if only to be aware what kinds of things I have to give up, the chances I have to take with my health in order to go to them and see them play. music is really the one thing in my life that I can always count on, because I've learned that you can't - and shouldn't - always count on others. apologies if I sound cynical but that's just been my experience.

9. Fate stepped in and prevented me from making a fool out of myself in the name of love (this is conjecture but somehow I think it's likely).

10. ...

I'm leaving this blank for now b/c there's another 2+ weeks to go in December 2009 and maybe something nice will happen to me before 2010.

this week's Roundtable (19/11)

Thursday sees another fun packed Roundtable with Sean Adams from Drowned in Sound joining Polly Scattergood and Jake from My Life Story

1. the Temper Trap - "Fader" - did they change singers? this sounds completely different than "Sweet Disposition". and not entirely in a good way :/

side notes: they are one of six bands named for SXSW 2010 and are currently being featured as a "Discover and Download" (for "Sweet Disposition") on MTV. oddly, the version of the video for D&D is different than the one I saw previous (you know, the one with the roller derby girls in gold kit).

2. Vampire Weekend - "Cousins" - the more I hear this, the more I laugh. (the video is a hoot! tuxedos, martini, and bells being hit in a way not unlike another band famed for their agogos...ha!) in the beginning on the song, it sounds like Ezra Koenig is in pain. but it's just a fun record. I really like it now despite panning it initially when I heard it on Zane Lowe's Radio1 programme earlier this week.

and...can someone tell me what his fascination with the ocean floor is? remember, "A-Punk"'s protagonist left a stolen ring "at the bottom of the sea"...

3. Frankie and the Heartstrings - "Hunger" - Lammo eally likes this, and I do too...it's like Tim Curry as Dr. Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror if he sang more upbeat songs. HA! Sunderland forever!

4. the Seabees (sp?) - "Misdemeanor" - there appeared to be arguments among the panel about whether this was being done by a single person or a group, and how not knowing made it difficult to rate. faintly boppy.

5. New Young Pony Club - "Lost a Girl" - funny how Sean is comparing this to Ladyhawke. I don't see the connection...?

6. Badly Drawn Boy - "Is There Nothing We Can Do?" - is BDB always this depressing? I'm trying to compare it to their hit "About a Boy"...snooze. funny how it's being compared to the Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by the panel.

7. Them Crooked Vultures's debut eponymous album including "Gunman" - it's ok. funny how some people are afraid to pan them b/c of who they are. so what? if they suck, it's better to tell them now than to build them up, pretending they're any good.

uh, they never announced the winner - whoops 6music!

(I better not be) still ill (by Friday). I mean it!

please send those pozzie vibes my way. because I'm sick. :P

I always seem to fall ill at the worst times. in May, I was sick as a dog with a cold and felt like death warmed over days before I was scheduled to board my flight to England for the Dot to Dot Festival in Nottingham. at the time I was freaking out b/c 1) I was not about to miss Patrick Wolf, Ladyhawke, Skint and Demoralised, or Friendly Fires performing at Dot to Dot and 2) I was not going to wimp out on interviews with either Skint and Demoralised or Friendly Fires already previously painstakingly scheduled through the appropriate channels.

as you know, I did make it, and rather mysteriously, my cold was only a memory as soon as I reached blighty's shores. I still maintain to this day that hugs from English musician types have some kind of magical power :)

last night I had a cup of water on the nightstand b/c I had an itchy throat and coughed all night. I woke this morning completely froggy and tried two v. hot cups of Earl Grey tea with heaping spoons of honey to try and loosen the ickiness down the hatch. I am currently sucking on a disgusting Robitussin cough drop but the menthol action seems to be helping.

tonight is the start of a 3 gigs in 4 nights series:

16 Sept - Appomattox with Low Red Land - Red and Black Bar
18 Sept - Jack Penate and Miike Snow - Rock n Roll Hotel
19 Sept - the Horrors with Crocodile and Casper Bangs - Black Cat - I think...

I also need an voice b/c I'm interviewing Appomattox tonight and Jack Penate on Friday. oh illness gods, please be kind!

for the love of England - series of trip highlights and snapshots from Nottingham

highlights from this past trip to blighty - specifically Nottingham, where I covered the Dot to Dot Festival for Popwreckoning this year

23 May
- 3 hours after getting off the plane, having a full English (sans bread b/c I'm allergic to wheat) and a cuppa with a view of all the activity at Victoria Station



- arriving in Nottingham after a comfy 4-hour coach ride. I say, this is the way to travel. bus drivers that call you "love" and "darling," and certainly none of that running around train platforms!

24 May
- the calm before the storm: after getting my press wristband fitted, walked around Old Market Square, bought way too many books and CDs, and then did some window shopping in the city centre



- completely, accidentally running into Patrick Wolf in the hotel lobby (sorry, no photo, I couldn't trouble him for a picture, he was too antsy to get to his room and get dressed for his performance). we exchanged pleasantries, basically him saying "hello" to me after taking off his sunglasses, and me saying, "hi Patrick, I'm so excited to see you perform later today!" (haha)

- seeing Matt Abbott and S&D perform and getting to chat with the lovely boy himself afterwards

* Skint & Demoralised at Glo Bar, Nottingham-Trent Uni



- ....followed by the tail end of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the Notts-Trent main room (no pics b/c I was high up above them). Q's calling them one of the 10 great new bands tho, just sayin'...from what I heard, I thought they were fab.

- interviewing 2/3 of Friendly Fires (Edd Gibson and Ed Macfarlane) on their comfy tour bus. as their name suggests, they are indeed v. friendly boys indeed. had an intellectual convo with Edd and a green tea-drinking roadie about the merits of Chris Barrie in "Red Dwarf," "Brittas Empire," and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and D.C. area gig venues.

* Friendly Fires interview: [part 1] [part 2] [part 3]

- rushing off to Rock City to stake my place for Patrick Wolf, Ladyhawke, and Friendly Fires

* Friendly Fires gig review



* Patrick Wolf and Ladyhawke gig review





25 May
- puttering around Notts to see the castle, and then of course to find the famous Robin Hood statue (which incidentally was hilariously swathed by a marquee tent, as a youth orchestra was warming up for a performance)



- saying goodbye to the fair city of Nottingham with final poppadums, mango lassi (yes, those are crushed pistachios on top of there!), and curry on the last night there



highlights and snaps from the London leg of my trip up soon I hope!

too sooner late than better - first bit of tales from second May bank holiday blighty trip

so this is my first feeble attempt to atone for not having posted since I left for the glorious land of Friendly Fires, Ladyhawke, Patrick Wolf, and Skint & Demoralised. and have since returned. ::groan::


(click to enlarge image of the blighty brolly. I want one, badly!)

blighty, as usual, was magnificent. except for 27 May (when it was raining quite heavily so much that I took refuge in Westminster Abbey for most of the AM), the sun shone like we were living in utopia. as a close friend told me before I left for England, "maybe England will be the best medicine." it was - and is. my friends over there are so nice, and the music fans and security, on the whole, are much nicer and more accommodating than those here in America. so they make every trip I make over there wonderful.

plus, I truly believe that there must be something in an Englishman's DNA that makes each and every single one of them so charming. only in blighty is a blizzard of handshakes, kisses, and hugs of the male persuasion so v. welcome. a girl never tires of being called sweetheart, love, or darling. from musical friends old and new, from all the National Express coach drivers to the bloke who drove me to Broad Marsh station in Notts - they're all so lovely.

I will say this now - five of them in particular at Dot to Dot in Nottingham were so v. nice that I glow just thinking about them. it was an unforgettable trip. more soon I hope.

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I have been v. busy in posting over at PopWreckoning. have a read (reverse chronologic order). and please comment!

Doves with White Light @ 9:30 Club, 06 June 2009 - D.C. gig
interview with Friendly Fires in Nottingham, part 1 - Nottingham, Dot to Dot Festival, really proud of this one :)
interview with Friendly Fires in Nottingham, part 2 - Nottingham, Dot to Dot Festival, and this too :)
interview with Matt Abbott (Skint & Demoralised)
Friendly Fires @ Rock City, 24 May 2009 - Nottingham, Dot to Dot Festival
Patrick Wolf and Ladyhawke @ Rock City, 24 May 2009 - Nottingham, Dot to Dot Festival

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my apologies that I have not been able to provide my ever so incisive (har!) reviews of Lammo's Roundtable in the last 2 weeks. but if you had use of only one hand, you prolly wouldn't have been able to do it either.

OH MAN. Gary Crowley's in for Steve Lamacq this week? oh bother. I don't mind Gary, he's just no Lammo.

connect the dots - and get to Dot to Dot (edited)

edited on 27.04.09

after some deep thought and an unsuccessful attempt to guilt some friends of mine into getting tickets to the deal of the century (aka the Dot to Dot Festival in Bristol and Nottingham on 23-24 May), I will be going to the Nottingham date on 24 May!

the lineup is great, I am so chuffed...Alessi's Ark and Dan Black have also been confirmed since they published this poster. it'll be a total danceathon with Friendly Fires and Ladyhawke. woot!



if you fancy booking a ticket, we could meet up...let me know!

xxoo