comedian Ed Byrne, singer/songwriter Patrick Wolf and Dave Lorre join Lammo this week
1. Foo Fighters - 'Rope' - I really like this. sure beats the hell out of that snorefest that was 'Wheels' last year. was that last year? I don't even remember. hell, even Pat Smear is back with the Foos. good sign!
2. the Dodos - 'Black Night' - when I heard this the first time, I thought it was Princeton. imagine my disappointment. I keep missing them on tour, I guess I should just hunker down and see them already.
3. the Jim Jones Revue - 'Dishonest John' - not as good as 'Shoot First...' more like a scream fest?
4. the Low Anthem - 'Boeing 737' - uhhhh... these are the same guys that put out 'Ohio' and 'Charlie Darwin', right?
5. the Primitives - 'Rattle My Cage' - too twee for me. there's no direction, as there is for, say, Camera Obscura.
6. Cashier No. 9 - 'Goldstar' - interesting. they're Northern Irish but this sounds very...'60s British Invasion? but the synths remind me of Pains of Being at Heart...
7. Radiohead album 'King of Limbs' - not gonna touch this one. sorry!
oh bugger, I missed who won again. for cryin' out loud. oops.
Showing posts with label pains of being.... Show all posts
Showing posts with label pains of being.... Show all posts
24 February 2011
21 December 2010
I laugh in the face of top 10 lists!
so of my top ten albums of 2010, only three of them made it on the This is Fake DIY writers' top 50 - the Futureheads 'The Chaos' at #47, Two Door Cinema Club's 'Tourist History' at #42, and Mystery Jets 'Serotonin' at #29. pretty disappointing not to see Delphic, Hundred in the Hands, Broken Bells, or Villagers in there somewhere. I don't like Kanye, I don't like the National, and I defo don't like Sleigh Bells! bah.
what HAS been rather interesting is reading independent (personal) blogs choosing Delphic on top 10 or 20 lists. there's too many to list here but I really liked this one from Denmark (I think) called the Idioteque. here is a blurb from their #5 placing of 'Acolyte' (I've left off most of the Pitchfork slagging):
(read more here)
v. nicely said. the more I listened to 'Acolyte', the more I was convinced this was more of an intellectual record. like Jenny and Johnny's 'I'm Having Fun Now' that can be enjoyed superficially/simply as a surf pop record, 'Acolyte' can be enjoyed as a dance album. rave to it. if that's all you want from it.
but it's when you sit down with it long enough that you realise the brilliance. listen to the lyrics. they're spare but they do what they're supposed to - make you think and tug at your emotions. then consider what they do with the synths (the effects in 'Counterpoint' that sound like birds, for example) and you realise this isn't any record. the guitar riffs are awesome. they're not overbearing. they've been placed in just the right spots. just brilliant.
I have my own thoughts of what 'Acolyte' the song is supposed to represent. but I won't post it here b/c I will blush and embarrass myself, so sorry, you will have to come up with your own ideas on this one. I will say, start first by looking how the song is constructed. I got better acquainted with it, working out the bass line and figuring where the bass came in with respect to the many synths.
I often think about how the Pains of Being Pure at Heart sound is a great wave, awash of sound that you want to get swept up in, and 'Acolyte' runs similar to this, but with no lyrics. no lyrics except ethereal, heavenly sighing, as if from another world. if the music in heaven is anything like this...
what HAS been rather interesting is reading independent (personal) blogs choosing Delphic on top 10 or 20 lists. there's too many to list here but I really liked this one from Denmark (I think) called the Idioteque. here is a blurb from their #5 placing of 'Acolyte' (I've left off most of the Pitchfork slagging):
So, Delphic hasn't exactly been the critics' choice. Rock with synthesizers just isn't as hot as guys with beards playing acoustic guitars, and perhaps it never really has been the shizzle this century, at least outside of Denmark, where bands like VETO, Spleen United and Turboweekend have been among the most prominent of the country's sudden surge in independent music.
But how can you resist? When 'Clarion Call' kicks off in a massive crescendo at 1:26, how can you not be drumming your fists into thin air? How can you help nodding along to 'This Momentary''s insistent, four-on-the-floor beats and chanting, haunting vocals? How can you ignore the brilliance of the pivotal track, 'Acolyte' itself, which surges like a tsunami again and again, and clusterbombs you with swooning, rapturous synthesizers? Or when the album fades away with 'Remain', a post-crescendoic blissful nirvana?
Wearing its Haç-heritage pretty visibly on its sleeves seems to often override the fact that Acolyte really isn't exactly the floor filler it's often proclaimed to be. I see it more as a listening record, and while being sometimes slightly characterless; it cleverly manages the oft-attempted fusion of rock and electro, avoiding most of the pitfalls. So Pitchfork gave it a 5.0 grade? I bloody hell couldn't care less - this is one of the most menacingly intense and engrossing albums of 2010!
Why not swim against the tide, as the opening stanza states, we live in unconditional change anyway?
(read more here)
v. nicely said. the more I listened to 'Acolyte', the more I was convinced this was more of an intellectual record. like Jenny and Johnny's 'I'm Having Fun Now' that can be enjoyed superficially/simply as a surf pop record, 'Acolyte' can be enjoyed as a dance album. rave to it. if that's all you want from it.
but it's when you sit down with it long enough that you realise the brilliance. listen to the lyrics. they're spare but they do what they're supposed to - make you think and tug at your emotions. then consider what they do with the synths (the effects in 'Counterpoint' that sound like birds, for example) and you realise this isn't any record. the guitar riffs are awesome. they're not overbearing. they've been placed in just the right spots. just brilliant.
I have my own thoughts of what 'Acolyte' the song is supposed to represent. but I won't post it here b/c I will blush and embarrass myself, so sorry, you will have to come up with your own ideas on this one. I will say, start first by looking how the song is constructed. I got better acquainted with it, working out the bass line and figuring where the bass came in with respect to the many synths.
I often think about how the Pains of Being Pure at Heart sound is a great wave, awash of sound that you want to get swept up in, and 'Acolyte' runs similar to this, but with no lyrics. no lyrics except ethereal, heavenly sighing, as if from another world. if the music in heaven is anything like this...
13 December 2009
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.
--
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.
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.
--
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.
20 November 2009
TWO WEEKS!
no, calm down, not the Grizzly Bear song...
I only have 2 more weeks to go before I see Friendly Fires and the xx again. at the Paradise in Boston. today I was on the verge of freaking out b/c the process of getting to BWI via mass transit is kind of complicated and so is trying to get from Logan into downtown Boston. it's going to be a crazy dance of subways, trains, and buses, not to mention two trips in those big metal boxes in the sky.
doesn't matter. I'm going to see Friendly Fires and the xx! I'm going to see Friendly Fires and the xx! I'm going to see Friendly Fires and the xx!
to say I was excited would be an understatement. there's been so much crap going on in my life - work's been busy and at times rough, rowing with my mum who is never satisfied with the choices of her grown daughter, and getting not-so-good news at the doctor's :/ and just I found out today that another one of my aunts has been diagnosed with breast cancer. :/
here's a random tidbit of squee-age - Mathew Horne (aka Gavin of "Gavin and Stacey") Tweeted me a kiss on Monday. I'd told him he had an excellent taste in music. yeah, I'm still more happy about that than should be allowed. hey, the boy likes We Were Promised Jetpacks *and* the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. my friend C and I were talking today about how there might be fists flying over this in a certain venue in the near future - ahahaha...so watch this space!
oh yeah, and I think I'm developing a major crush on Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. I remember the first time I heard "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" on Radcliffe/Maconie and thinking, who are these people? I hate how this version of the video from Beggars Group is so dang blurry :P but the video is amusing, you should watch it at least once. and remember, this was filmed BEFORE "Twilight!"
better quality is the new video for 'Cousins', which I wrote about at TGTF today. TEEHEE. thank you XL Recordings, I wuv you!
I only have 2 more weeks to go before I see Friendly Fires and the xx again. at the Paradise in Boston. today I was on the verge of freaking out b/c the process of getting to BWI via mass transit is kind of complicated and so is trying to get from Logan into downtown Boston. it's going to be a crazy dance of subways, trains, and buses, not to mention two trips in those big metal boxes in the sky.
doesn't matter. I'm going to see Friendly Fires and the xx! I'm going to see Friendly Fires and the xx! I'm going to see Friendly Fires and the xx!
to say I was excited would be an understatement. there's been so much crap going on in my life - work's been busy and at times rough, rowing with my mum who is never satisfied with the choices of her grown daughter, and getting not-so-good news at the doctor's :/ and just I found out today that another one of my aunts has been diagnosed with breast cancer. :/
here's a random tidbit of squee-age - Mathew Horne (aka Gavin of "Gavin and Stacey") Tweeted me a kiss on Monday. I'd told him he had an excellent taste in music. yeah, I'm still more happy about that than should be allowed. hey, the boy likes We Were Promised Jetpacks *and* the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. my friend C and I were talking today about how there might be fists flying over this in a certain venue in the near future - ahahaha...so watch this space!
oh yeah, and I think I'm developing a major crush on Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. I remember the first time I heard "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" on Radcliffe/Maconie and thinking, who are these people? I hate how this version of the video from Beggars Group is so dang blurry :P but the video is amusing, you should watch it at least once. and remember, this was filmed BEFORE "Twilight!"
better quality is the new video for 'Cousins', which I wrote about at TGTF today. TEEHEE. thank you XL Recordings, I wuv you!
02 October 2009
Sept rehash and Oct look forward
1. no Roundtable assessment for 01/10 (yesterday), sorry. as usual, I have an excuse...
I went to 5 gigs this month. it's actually not that big of a feat, given that 4 of them were in a span of 8 days and I just had the fifth Wednesday night. I haven't a lot of time, so I'll link to these two areas of PW and TGTF and you can have a look:
http://popwreckoning.com/category/local-scene/washington-dc-local-scene/ - I've written most of these articles. the most recent gig reviews:
I went to 5 gigs this month. it's actually not that big of a feat, given that 4 of them were in a span of 8 days and I just had the fifth Wednesday night. I haven't a lot of time, so I'll link to these two areas of PW and TGTF and you can have a look:
http://popwreckoning.com/category/local-scene/washington-dc-local-scene/ - I've written most of these articles. the most recent gig reviews:
- Perez Hilton Presents Tour (Ladyhawke, Ida Maria, Frankmusik, Semi Precious Weapons) - 12 Sept - 9:30 Club
- Jack Penate / Miike Snow - 18 Sept - Rock n Roll Hotel
- School of Seven Bells / Phantogram / Dub Pixel - 27 Sept - Rock n Roll Hotel
- Perez Hilton Presents Tour (Ladyhawke, Ida Maria, Frankmusik, Semi Precious Weapons) - 12 Sept - 9:30 Club
- Appomattox - 16 Sept - Red and Black Bar
- inteview with Appomattox - 16 Sept
- Jack Penate / Miike Snow - 18 Sept - Rock n Roll Hotel
- interview with Jack Penate - 18 Sept
- the Horrors / Crocodiles / Casper Bangs - 19 Sept - Black Cat
1.5. Appomattox and Jack Penate were a complete joy to interview. Jack says I should move to London. he says so, so I should, right? haha. he also wanted me to say hello to the Horrors the next night, but I couldn't stomach hanging around any longer after their show than necessary. I'll give any music a try but they're just not my thing.
2. The review for 30 Sept's Pains of Being Pure at Heart / the Depreciation Guild / Cymbals Eat Guitars gig at the Black Cat has been submitted but not posted, so keep an eye on PopWreckoning should you be interested. I was told that the "feature" option is currently broken on the PW site, which sucks b/c I really wanted to post it as a feature. why? I do believe the Pains... are my new favourite live band. you'll read more when the gig review comes out, but yeah, I had a taster of what they were like live in Nottingham but could not see them clearly, nor could I witness a full set of theirs.
I appreciate sincerity in rock stars b/c once they attain a certain level of fame and status, they all seem to become wankers and idiots and don't remember the little people. Kip Berman remembers everyone, shaking hands with and engaging in convos with so many people at the show Wed night that I thought he must have known everyone there. at one point he talked to this young girl (who had shouted "Kip!" to get his attention when he was tuning his Jaguar) and we were laughing at something he'd said about uni days and then looked at me, saying "what? it's true!" and then flashed a smile. I almost died. sorry, but I'm vulnerable to any singer/songwriter who's actually nice. then after the show, I went to buy a copy of their new EP, "Higher Than the Stars", and talked a bit to Peggy Wang, their keyboardist. so sweet, we hugged, she thanked me for dancing during their set. WHY other people weren't, dunno. the pure sweetness of the lyrics with the washy shoegaze guitars - GORGEOUS. thanks to the great wonder that is KEXP in Seattle, you can watch "Higher Than the Stars" live at the now-famous Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon.
GET THE NEW EP. it's fab. for more info on them and the EP, read this article from the D.C. area Express Night Out that funnily enough mentions Mike Joyce.
3. I am interviewing Brakes (Eamon et al.) next week. The Brighton band, not the Philly one. I'm really nervous about this one. I've never met them before obviously, but more so, I was asked specifically for this interview. I'm not sure if my reputation precedes me or what, so this should be interesting nevertheless. I will be armed with some new knowledge bestowed to me by my best Dutch friend...
4. for my belated birthday present to myself, I've bought my ticket to the last date of the Winter NYLON Music Tour in Boston on 4 December. the ticket should winging its way towards my mailbox any day now, as I got a notice earlier this week that it was shipped. going to see if I can interview Friendly Fires for TGTF, because it'd be brill to have a "what a year it was for you guys!" kind of piece on them. have to sort my plane tickets and a hotel room but this is pretty much a go...and it's going to be one wild week b/c...
5. the day I fly home from Boston, I will be seeing the Big Pink at the Black Cat, on 5 December. if the FF interview does not pan out, I'll see about interviewing the boys of the BP instead.
have a fab October!
21 June 2009
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!
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!
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