I saw The Go! Team at Oxford Brookes last night, and by the time I got out my face ached from the perpetual grinning. Seriously, both the Go! Team and the two support acts (Smoosh and The Grates) were the type of music that you cannot help but smile at. I am stunned to discover that the two girls in Smoosh are literally that, girls - one had their ( Read more... )

I saw Beth Orton at Shepherds Bush Empire last night, and I am now absolutely shattered - I didn't get home until about 1:30, then I couldn't sleep, and then I had to get up at 7:40 to come to work. I am a bit of a zombie at the moment, to be honest, but so far I have resisted the urge to tank up on caffeine. It didn't help that I got in to work to ( Read more... )

I'm listening to random MP3's picked out by iTunes, and a short while ago Michael Stipe's cover of "In The Sun" (by Joseph Arthur) came up. Now, I'm a big fan of R.E.M. and usually like everything that Michael Stipe comes in contact with, but I just don't seem able to summon up any enthusiasm for this track. I think it might be partly down to the ( Read more... )

I managed 51 gigs and 2 two-day festivals this year. Not bad at all. Highlights in no particular order were probably the Raveonettes (twice), Queen Adreena (twice), Joanna Newsom, Tori Amos, R.E.M., Fell City Girl (four times), Ladytron, Eels, Laura Veirs, Scout Niblett, Explosions In The Sky, Regina Spektor and Adem.

I already have a bunch of ( Read more... )

On Wednesday I tootled off up to Birmingham, for the dual purposes of seeing davegotsu and to see a couple of gigs. While I was there, I didn't check email or go online or anything. It was strangely liberating, not being shackled to a computer.

On Wednesday night I went to see Regina Spektor at the Glee Club. I'm not hugely familiar with many of her songs ( Read more... )

I've just got back from Rapture (the CD shop in Witney) after having seen Gemma Hayes, who played there for the launch of her new album which was out this week. She did a five-song solo set:

• Something In My Way (from the new album)
• Easy On The Eye (from the new album)
• Another For The Darkness (from the new album)
• Evening Sun (going back a bit ( Read more... )

Audioscope was amazing. Saturday's highlights were Fell City Girl (despite the fact that they were on first, playing to a not-even-half-full room, and seemed a little bit subdued), Ill Ease (who I started out not being keen on, but it grew on me so much by the end of the set... it was a kind of "PJ Harvey crossed with Scout Niblett" deal), Data ( Read more... )

The line-up for this year's Audioscope has been (partially) announced. Two more acts to be confirmed, but so far:

• Saturday:
  • Four Tet
  • Explosions in the Sky
  • Shooting at Unarmed Men
  • Ill Ease

Last night I went to see Charlotte Hatherley at the Zodiac. Things did not go smoothly ( Read more... )

I'm awake and highly caffeinated, so I decided to think of something to post about.

Why do people talk during gigs? I don't mean turning to a mate and going "hey, they're really good, aren't they?" or "I love this song!", I mean having full-blown conversations ( Read more... )