this week's Roundtable (24/02)

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.

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.)
  

this week's Roundtable (27/05)

Kev Baird from Two Door Cinema Club, Edith Bowman and Keith Murray (We Are Scientists) join Roundtable

1. Tom Jones - 'Burning Hell' - I'm not sure what to make of this. this is the same guy can gave us 'Delilah' and 'What's New Pussycat?' um...wha? the thought of Tom Jones dancing to this onstage just gave me the giggles.

still, it's more believable than Pat Boone's 'Mister Nice Guy'.

'I like a curveball now and then. thanks Tom Jones.' - Keith Murray

2. Pull in Emergency - 'Everything is the Same' - s'alright.

3. Klaxons - 'Flashover' - the winner - someone tell me please, is this how Klaxons always sounded like? Matt Everitt of the Music Week on 6 commented at the time of the Mercury Prize last year, Friendly Fires never would have moved so many units of their debut album if Klaxons were around. I'm confused tho, this version of Klaxons sounds more Biffy than anything approaching dance music...huh?

4. Kula Shaker - 'Peter Pan RIP' - I guess the violins remind me of Patrick Wolf. weirdly, this has a '60s vibe to it, yet is a bit folky...dunno, I like it for it being unusual.

5. Arcade Fire - 'the Suburbs' - I've never been a huge fan of them - it's like the Decemberists, Dresden Dolls, and the Fall - I have friends who are massive fanatics of these acts but I never got on the bandwagon. it's fine but it's not mind-blowing. why exactly do people go crazy over this band? discuss.

6. Shaun Keaveny and Matt Everitt of 6music - football song - funny, had they not told me, I had no idea it was two 6music presenters! as Lammo said, 'we made a mistake not having a single English person on the panel' - LOLZ

7. the Divine Comedy's new album 'Bang Goes the Knighthood' including 'The Complete Banker' - I have an unusual but special relationship with Neil Hannon. my ex-bf was a big fan of him and DC, so of course I was inundated with mix CDs of their work. in particular, the song 'Everybody Knows (Except You)' really hit my heart hard. Hannon is an great, funny songwriter full of wit. and he's still going. and still valid. I mean, who still writes songs like 'Have You Ever Been in Love?' without it sounding trite?

one day I should like to sit down with the man, if only to buy him a cup of coffee or a pint as a thank you. boyfriends come and go but the music is always constant. you will always remember how a song made your feel at that moment in time.

losing my religion

note: volcano tantrum post on the way later this week.

I'm embarrassed to say I'm behind on the times regarding Patrick Wolf's videos. I probably forgot to look up his new ones (now old) after seeing a big feathered outfit he'd lined up for one of the songs off 'the Bachelor' and thought, meh.

I feel terrible that I've missed the one for 'Damaris' especially b/c OMG, this is quite the story:

Although Wolf handled all the arrangements on previous albums, this time he called upon Fiona Brice to orchestrate tracks like "Theseus" and "Damaris." The latter song was inspired by a visit to a graveyard in Brede, a southern English town where most of Wolf's ancestors are buried: "There are about 80 graves there from my family, and in the corner, under the shade of a tree, there was this small wooden cross with 'Damaris' on it."

Inquiring at the church, Wolf was given a leaflet recounting its history, including the centuries-old story of Damaris' ill-fated love affair with a vicar's son. When the holy man forbade his son to marry a Gypsy girl, Damaris took her own life and assumed her quiet place in local history.

"It could have been really easy to write a song where I was telling that story in some kind of mad Bob Dylan narrative — well, not easy, but that would have been the most obvious choice," says Wolf. "But it struck such a chord in me, for anyone who has ended a relationship and lost contact with something they really cherished, so I wrote it from that point of view emotionally. And that whole battle of the church versus a true love that sees past religion and race and creed."

Damaris might well have been pleased: The song is unabashedly passionate, especially on the chorus in which her bereaved lover intones, "God damned Damaris."

"A lot of people who heard it in the States are like, 'Why is it God damn Damaris?', which I guess is quite a rude thing to say in America," notes a bemused Wolf. "But it's 'God damned Damaris. It's quite hard to sing, actually, God damned."

you can read more at the Colorado Springs Independent. I've loved this song since the first time I heard it, but even more so now that I know the story behind it. wow. I didn't think it was possible to love Patrick any more...but there you go. and it's a beautiful video, showing off Patrick Wolf as the Beautiful Creature he is. I consider myself quite lucky having seen him live 3 times.

listen up 2010! my personal band wishes

bands I'm desperate to see live for the first time
Two Door Cinema Club - just between you and me, I've got a terrible crush on the ginger Alex Trimble (teehee)
Dan Black - but I'm missing him at SXSW, arghhhh!
Delphic - in love with 'Acolyte', particularly 'Doubt'; would be particularly awesome if they played Ultra Music Festival this year in Miami
Hot Chip

bands I'm desperate to see again
Camera Obscura - but they are not coming anywhere near D.C. this spring, dayum!
Elbow - not likely to tour this year, boo!
Patrick Wolf - b/c 3x a lifetime is not enough. seriously.
Matt Skint (formerly Skint and Demoralised) - mah m8. it's been far too long.
Keane - the Forest Tour sounds soooo cool. the opening acts are awesome too.

bands I'm so flippin' excited to see this year (meaning I've already got these scheduled)
We Are Scientists (again) - and a new album on its way too!
La Roux - finally!!!
We Were Promised Jetpacks (again)
Editors
Muse - so I can wave my "I ♥ Dom" sign and fangirl over Mr. Howard, woot!
the xx (again)
Vampire Weekend - seeing them finally, after over 17 months of being completely shut out - twice - for their 9:30 Club shows in 2008

oh, and I really want to have drinks with Steve Lamacq and Stuart Maconie. ::grin::

--

not sure about this b/c it pains me terribly to say it but: I'm probably not going to England this year. mama needs a laptop and they don't come cheap - one laptop is about the price of a ticket from here to England, if you were wondering.

I don't like laptops at all: the screens are too small and the keyboards and touchpads are annoying as heck. but yeah, I need to enter the 21st century so I can write from the road if I'm travelling for gigs and festivals.

England, I ♥ you. why do you have to be so far away and so expensive? :(

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.

(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!

my first featured article! - Patrick Wolf and other June gigs (Cam Ob, 'heads)

so you simply must visit Popwreckoning for the NYLON tour write-up I did last week.

http://popwreckoning.com/

you shouldn't miss the banner at the top - just click on it and be whisked away to 24 June at the Rock 'n' Roll Hotel with Jaguar Love, Plastiscines, Living Things, and Patrick Wolf.

but if you are having trouble, you can always find this via Local Scene/Washington D.C. at the top menu.

as always, comments are love!

--

edit
June 2009 gig review summary

Camera Obscura and Anni Rossi - 21 June, 9:30 Club, D.C.
NYLON Summer Tour Roundup - 24 June, Rock 'n' Roll Hotel, D.C.
the Lemonheads with Appomattox and Title Tracks - 27 June, Black Cat, D.C.

yep, 3 gigs in 7 days.

too bad I don't have a spate of gigs like this until maybe the second week of August.

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.

--

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

--

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

t'anks for the memories (recent ticket stubs)

while I was cleaning my room today, trying to find some things for my trip to New Orleans for work next week, I found and photographed a couple of my recent ticket stubs. (for some reason, I cannot find my stub from the Morrissey gig in March, the David Byrne concert in November, or We Are Scientists's set from last summer...)


October is a good month for gigs in D.C. Patrick Wolf came with his good friend Bishi (who was awesome, especially in her duet with him on "Magpie"). Lykke Li came with Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (instead of the seriously-missed Friendly Fires, who were with her for the rest of that tour of hers).


the Airborne Toxic Event, 12 March 09 (with the Henry Clay People and Alberta Cross)


White Lies and Friendly Fires, 24 March 09 (with the Soft Pack)