Taking my inspiration from the end of Before Sunset, I have mostly been listening to Nina Simone - Misunderstood.

Also, the 'ten hour takeover' that Radio One have done on two Bank holiday mondays this year (including yesterday) have been immense. Take a look at the playlist to see why.
Highlights:
Jump by Van Halen and 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton back to back.
Spoonful of Sugar from Mary Poppins followed by Marylin Manson's version of Tainted Love followed by The One And Only by Chesney Hawkes.
Genius.

Current favourites:

The Streets and Keane. Both excellent for very different reasons.

Also have been getting into the Soul/Funk thing a bit more as an alternative to all this Indie/Rock. Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Aretha Franklin... dig it baby.

Might be going to see Starsailor in December if anyone's interested.

Currently waiting for release:



Welcome To The North - The Music

The first was a slice of squirly excellence and I expect the same, but better, again. Freedom Fighters is excellent.

Out now for your delectation.

Sam: Do Me Bad Things are on X-Posure on Xfm tonight apparently.

Talking of XFM, anyone who has access to it and hasn't sampled the pant-wettingly hilarious delight that is Adam and Joe between the hours of 1 and 3pm on a Saturday should do so IMMEDIATELY.

It is that rare thing, a genius heavenly infusion of top notch pop culture comedy and fantastic music.

I missed half of it today through crying. With laughter that is.

On a completely random note and of interest only to those of you that remember C vs I by The Cuban Boys, I happened to flick onto BBC 2 the other day while they were showing Journey to the Centre of the Earth starring Jaaaames Mason.

The scene I happened to catch had a man and a woman cooking in a forrest of huge mushrooms, the guy said something along the lines of, "Wow, I'm so relieved to be having mushroom instead of beef jerky."
The woman replied, "Don't be too happy; after a month of this you'll be smacking your lips at the thought of beef jerky."

Well I thought it was exceedingly cool anyway.

selectah

Starsailor: Live at the Hammersmith Appollo
Dec 21st 2004

First up were Countermine, imagine something in the direction of Counting Crows/Matchbox 20/Pearl Jam type arena. Not bad but then not particularly memorable either.
People most likely to enjoy: Ween Pie/Govistar?

Next up Thirteen Senses: Take a large slice of Mercury Rev, sprinkle liberally with essence du Coldplay/Keane, and then add a splash of tune-making straight out of the Radiohead 'The Bends' cookery book - back when they knew what the fudge was going on. Very good. Very excellent in fact. The album is called The Invitation, and I suggest if you enjoy anthemic, piano/guitar crunching epics - or in fact if you value music in any way at all, you should go and check them out. Brilliant.
People most likely to enjoy: ME!

Starsailor themselves produced a pretty solid set, yes I know they are a bit non-descript and have the cherubic frontman a-gogo, but they have got one or two top tunes. Four to the Floor live is a belter. As are all the old favourites: Alcoholic, Good Souls etc They finished off with Silence is Easy cranking everything up to 11.
New album out before September says James Walsh 'If its the last thing I do'
It just might well be mate.

Countermine: 5
Thirteen Senses: 9
Starsailor: 7

Who is up for some of this action?

Doves
at Carling Academy Brixton
www.brixton-academy.co.uk
Wednesday, March 30 (or Thursday, March 31) at 7:00 PM
£17.50

I want to get the tickets this week so sort it.

Absolutely me old mucker, I'm game as, I believe, is my brother. I'll get back to you on that in a mo. (That's two ticks and a jiffy right?)

That's a large ten-four, wilco and out...(a ticket each if you're doing it matey).

Bonzer

J'ai achete trois billets guv'nor

Ooh mummy, ooh daddy; let's all play khabadi.

On an unrelated note, and a statement I may regret in the future, Terry O'Phonic appears to have made another good song. The new one sounds most differetn to the boring pap they've churned out since Word Gets Around, obviously their drummer was dragging them down.

MY Soccer FM choices:

First record bought (on CD that is):


Last record bought:


Favourite record:


Just so you know.

Mmm...nice.

I can't be arsed to find the pictures so you'll have to cope with words.

First record bought (again on cd): Dangerous - Michael Jackson.

Last record bought: War Requiem - Benjamin Britten.

Favourite record (changes daily): Symphony No. 2 - Sergei Rachmaninov
or maybe Grace - Jeff Buckley, or The Ultimate Curtis Mayfield - Curtis Mayfield.
I don't really have a favourite do I?

Brits:

Made £40 betting on them. Joss stone making the most for me.
Good girl, give pimp daddy his mo' ...

First Record bought: Micheal Jackson - BAD

Last Record bought: Thirteen Senses - The Invitation

Favourite Record: Radiohead - The Bends

Kinda goes without saying but the new Doves album is fecjing immense.

Mikeyboy: don't forget - 30th March - in the flesh - Brixton - nice.

Ween Pie: I'm up to Elbow on my iPod. (haven't got far have I!)

Absojamutely my good friend, can't wait.

First Record Bought (CD): TLC - CrazySexyCool (nice!)

Last Record Bought: Aphex Twin - Druqs
That was about 3 years ago and the fucker scratched in about 2 months, no fault of my own of course. Last record I ever buy...

Last Record Obtained: Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
Not bad, but Oh My God! just makes the rest of the album pale in comparison.

Favourite Record: Morcheeba - Big Calm
I think I have listened to this more than any one other album other a longer period of time.

First record bought: Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow

Last record that dropped into my lap on a fine Winter's morning: Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

Favourite record: Beck - Odelay

Favourite record when we're driving in Warren's car and Drew happens to be there: Annie Christian - Twilight

i like it.
has anyone got a recent number for drew?

oh,
First record bought: Slash's snake pit - its five o'clock somewhere

last album obtained - team america OST (fuck yeah)

Favourite Album: Pearl Jam - Ten

album in cd player currently: Led Zeppelin III

Anyone fancy some of this:

WEEZER
Brixton Academy
June 14th or 15th
Pricey £26.50!!! (!)

Not sure who of you is a fan - they fecjing rock if you like that sort of thing

Also, for those keeping tabs on me, I am up to Turin Brakes on my i-Pod. Not long to go now!

So, Doves then at the Brixton Academy:

First up The Magic Numbers: A four-piece consisting of the average number of each sex The Magic Numbers ambled onto stage to rapturous applause from their three fans and wandered off having added a few interested parties to the crowd. Their sound is indie-folky varying between soulful and melodic (ie you can hear the chatter) to toe-tapping and twangy (no chatter here), apparently you can hear such sacred cows as Gram Parsons, Crosby, Stills And Nash, Leonard Cohen and The Lovin Spoonful all sitting comfortably within The Magic Numbers sound (I believe it but I've not listened to the cows so...).
The best thing about this band is however how much fun they seemed to be having just playing their songs and being on stage: Their lead singer/guitarist kept up some excellent banjo-esque guitar while crooning, despite looking like Silent Bob, and was ably supported by a female vocalist who was obviously in the percussion section at school. (I mean who plays the glockenspiel anyway?)
They did struggle to keep the Doves' fans' attentions during the slow stuff, however, there bing no real interaction onstage; everyone stayed in their places really and although this separation really worked for the highlight of 'I See You, I See Me' it left much for the other tunes to do.
So worth watching, hopefully they'll get big enough for Angela (apparently) not to have to stuff her sticks under her arms in time for the handclaps...


Doves then...there's almost no point in saying anything, you all know they were great right?
Unfortunately the only tickets were for the balcony, fortunately in when Doves play you may as well be floating in space. Starting off with a bang, they launched into Pounding, Words and Black & White Town and didn't really let up on the pounding drums and rolling guitar as they occasionally appeared out of a sea of lights. As it turns out we were almost the closest people to the band as they had been set up about a mile back from the front of the stage. This didn't appear to affect the performance any, but it certainly seemed to worry Jimi as he comented on it a number of times. In fact he wasn't really happy until the crowd started chanting the guitar lick from There goes the Fear like a football chant, once satisfied there was a crowd (though as the lights were more on us than them you would have thought he'd be alright) he perked up and enjoyed himself a bit.
The new songs such as Snowden and Sky Sarts Falling slotted into the set almost seemlessly, combingin well with a cracking Caught By the River and better Cedar Room. For an encore they did the old trick of swapping the drummer and lead singer so Jimi could show off some technical drumming (the hardest stuff of the night incidentally) and Andy could show why he's a drummer, not a singer. What this did do is emphasise just how good a voice Jimi has; it comes across just like on record and is as distinctive in its way as the Hawkins Wail.
Ending as usual with everyone on percussion for the end of There Goes the Fear Doves left everyone baying for more...I'm thinking about nipping down there tonight.

Check it out:

Lemon Jelly - Good but different; if you listen expecting Old Lemon Jelly you'll be disappointed, go in with fresh ears however and there's plently of slightly dark strangeness to entertain.

Daft Punk - Human After all: Repetitive rubbish every track simply repeats the sam 10-20 seconds until you want to kill. DO NOT BUY.

Razorlight - Up all night: Very good; more than just the singles, check 'em out.

New albums to check out... cliched I know but hey

COLDPLAY

WHITE STRIPES

TURIN BRAKES

get in there.

On Daft Punk:

I haven't heard the album, but I heard one of the tunes and quite liked it. I seem to have more of a tolerance for repetitive electro-pop at the mo. I'm actually vaguely enjoying Mylo's Destroy Rock And Roll.
I know... weird.

Mylo I can take, I actually like Destroy Rock and Roll (the song) as I reckon it's good electro-pop. One Daft Punk song I can take, I actually like Human After All (the song), unfortunately the rest of the album is really really repetitive. I'll give you the album if you want...I was thinking of taking it to the beach and using it as a frisbee but if you want it...

I recently bought a number of albums; my thoughts are as follows.

Bloc Party- Bloc Party: Pretty good; it all holds together nicely, a good buy if you like the singles.

Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV: Excellent lo-fi indie, I wasn’t sure they’d be able to match their singles with a whole album but they really can. It’s an accomplished first album with the perfect garnish of the title song. Don’t be put off by the drooling praise from the music press, they really are quite good.

Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous: Not much more than the singles such as Portions for Foxes, the rest is too nice. Think KT Tunstall, Aimee Mann, that sort of thing. I thought they might be a bit more off-beat but the album went the other way. One for Mum.

Six by Seven – Artists…: More good stuff from 6 by 7, though it does get a bit angry and discordant at the end. No point unless you’re a fan. Like me.

A – Teen Dance Ordinance: Good stuff, but nothing really stand-out. Suffers from the huge delay; last album was in 2000. So not their best album (in fact probably their worst album) but then the other three have been fantastic and this is merely good.

Have recently been shuffling some fave tunes of the moment around on my iPod, list currently stands as follows:

My Doorbell: White Stripes (its official: Meg cannot drum. Listen to this song and spot how many times it changes pace. Not on purpose.)

Golden Touch: Razorlight (Mmmm Golden Wonder)

Forget Myself: Elbow (the new one from the Elbow boys from the forthcoming album. Pretty damn sweet... check it out)

I Predict a Riot: Kaiser Chiefs (first time I heard this I thought he was saying 'I put in Tourette's'... which obviously makes perfect sense.)

Picture Book: The Kinks (You know, that one off the advert)

Have also just bought the JEM album, Finally Woken. We are liking that oh yes master. Kind of like raunchy Dido with beats.

Who would like to go with me to see ELBOW at the Brixton Academy on 25th November? About £15 a pop.

Standing up downstairs. Honest.

I'm not really a great fan of the Spanish Archer (El-Bow...geddit?) but I might go, I'll let you know if I do.

I continue to extol the virtues of the Mark Radcliffe Show on Radio 2 Mon - Thurs 10:30pm - Midnight. Its perfect for that "Dont want to go to bed yet but really should go to bed as I've got work tomorrow" time of day.

He plays some good stuff and there's the 'Crucial 3', three songs which have a link.

For example last night

'Run, run, run' by Jo Jo Gunne
'Now I wanna sniff some glue' by The Ramones
'Only Women Bleed' by Alice Cooper

The link.. come on you must have worked it out. It's things that noses do. Run, Sniff and Bleed. Clever, eh? They vary in difficulty.

Also the new Cardigans album he's been playing sounds very good indeed. They were in to do a couple of live tunes last night. Tomorrow he's got Ian McMillan the poet on, which if last time he was on is anything to go by, should be fecjing hilarious.

Yes...good.

I have been mostly listening to Love Angel Music Baby (I think that's right) by Gwen Stefani.

Now, I have already received a severe mocking from Ween for this choice but it was like water off a duck's back so if any of you other fools fancy having a go...bring it on.

I bought the album on the strength of 'Cool', the latest single, which I think is ace. I also have respect for the complete bonkersness of 'Hollaback Girl'.

The album is far more pop-y and far less RnB-y than I thought it would be. Stand out tracks are 'Cool' (best pop tune by anyone in ages and ages), 'Bubble Pop Electric' (bonkers) and 'Serious' (Kylie and Madonna-esque), but it's all good.
The elevator mix of 'What You Waiting For?' is particularly comical (it's a muzak version which sounds like it was recorded in the mid eighties on a Casio).

Roll on the criticism.

Things that I haven't bought but have been listening to include:

Thicke - A Beautiful World (Best track is 'When I Get You Alone')
Natalie Imbruglia - Counting Down The Days (Not bad at all)

Jonnyboy, you er... suck for er... listening to gwen stefani. you suck mcbain! its silly and crap music. er... stop it you nonce.

Was that ok?

By the way I got a mention on Mark Radcliffe's show last night! I guessed the crucial 3 link before the end of the show and he read my name out! There was only about three of us as well. Made my evening. Stay tuned for more examples of me being incredible.

And Ian McMillan was hilarious as predicted.

Noice one centurian.

Yes Jonnyboy: You like to dance with girls and skip in your free time, you hang around the Japanese and like lemonade with lime.

Ha! Take that! Take that; you'll see.

That what you get for listening to Gwen Stefani.

Hmm don't know where that came from.

My top tip: The Arcade Fire, check 'em out.

The new Darkness single has been heard; One way ticket (to Hell…and back) sounds like Queen, Def Leopard and Van Halen joined a super group.

It does sound rather like “Two tickets to paradise” by Eddie Money but surely that’s a good thing?

Went to see 'A' (again) on Monday night at the Exeter Lemon Grove. It was very small and very loud. Just how we like it.

Re: elbow tickets


Have I done the right thing then in NOT buying you a ticket? My sister and I are going so anyone else who wants some will have to sort themselves out.

Bosh on your napper.

Yeah you're fine there, let us know if they hit the spot.


I crack myself up I really do.

Er... have been absorbed lately in some iTune downloadage of random crap that I havent owned before on the wonder that is the iPod.

Bit of Bowie, The Who, The Police, er... Echo and the Bunnymen... its all good. Killing Moon from the start of Donnie Darko is a Bunnymen tune. Bonzer.

There are so many individual songs out there that I kinda want. I reckon it could get bloomin' expensive...

Anyone else impressed that the Arctic Monkeys made it to No 1 with their first real single? Even 'big' bands like FF struggle to beat McFly and yet this indie band came from nowhere(ish) with a (perfectly acceptable) pretty rough, punky tune and whupped 'em.

If you are scouting around for new tunes The Intention Craft by Pure Reason Revolution is cracking. I'm gonna be watching the band closely.

So who's gonna accompany me to see The Darkness on tour? Mon 6th and Tues 7th of Feb in London? Great dates eh?

me... blatantly... em may want to go too... so i'll get back to you.

Eeeexcellent Smithers

Rock Swings - Paul Anka. Swing covers of classic rock tunes. Think Richard Cheese but of a far higher standard. The band are immense and this is not a novelty record, just pure class from beginning to end.

Highlight tracks are:

Black Hole Sun, just for the sheer inappropriateness when the big band lets go in the middle.

It's A Sin. Works so so well.