NME Radar Tour - Coventry, Warwick Uni.

The venue was The Copper Rooms a student Union Bar at Warwick University. It's a small dark venue will a low ceiling and you got the impression when crowded it would be very hot in there. We arrived a little after 9pm and saw the end of the Local Natives set, unfortunately Marina & The Diamonds didn't show up but the Golden Silver's set adequately made up for that small disappointment featuring True Romance, Please Venus and Arrows of Eros. It wasn't particularly crowded when the bands were playing and we easily got a good view near the stage, but, as we left we noticed a long queue of students all clambering to get in. It looked like a monstrous student party was about to kick off. So we left the rampant freshers and we headed home for some *Horlicks!

FLY 53 download album | The Copper Rooms


*Horlicks here is being used for the more general term red wine.

Yes Giantess and Little Boots at The Bowery Ballroom

NME's Radar Tour hits Coventry this Friday

The NME's Radar Tour reaches local shores this Friday when headliner's Golden Silvers and supporting acts Marina and The Diamonds, Local Natives and Yes Giantess play at The Warwick Uni. LGO will be there!

tickets|Golen Silvers (Last fm)

Interesting listening week

I've come across a few new CDs this week.

Okkervil River - The Stand In's the bands latest album which I'm just beginning to get into and also  Of Montreals - Satanic Twins which is remixes of their Satanic Panic in the Attic album, it includes a beautiful version of Disconnect the Dots (Mixel Pixel) and my personal favourite a techno dance floor filler remix Climb the Ladder (Rory Phillips Trash UK remix). Other recent acquisitions include The Young Knives - Superabundance, which I highly recommend and We Started Nothing by the Ting Ting's.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

David Byrne and Brian Eno Release New Single for FREE

A free dowload of 'Strange Overtones' from the new David Byrne and Brian Eno record 'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today' is available by following the link below.

Link: David Byrne and Brian Eno Release New Single for FREE!

Cov Stock 08

After a considerable gap LGO is back. I'll try and keep it a bit more frequent from now on, I promise!!

I'm also delighted that Art Brut will be playing The Godiva Festival in July. Result.

The Music (Myspace)

The Enemy @ The Jaguar Exhibition Hall, Ricoh Arena, Coventry

Sat 5 Apr – The Enemy, Boy Kill Boy, Lowline

One thing we hadn’t expected was the massive size of the the Jaguar Exhibition Hall at The Ricoh arena it is truly huge with an 8000 capacity, we hadn’t really thought about how many people that was. There is no restriction on which area your ticket allows you into and there was no seating. You were free to roam right to the front, if you dared, or right to the back and you’d still hear the sound system perfectly from there. Kids and parents', angst teens, twenty, thirty and forty something's all partied together in what was a festival atmosphere.

We arrived in the hall for The Enemy's home town concert about half way through Lowline's warm-up act performance and found a spot about half way up the hall. Boy Kill Boy followed half an hour or so later on. A dodgy DJ played between acts but he was redeemed by the selection of music. The house lights finally went down for The Enemy about 21:20ish they played for what I think was about an hour. Proceedings started with ‘It’s not OK’, included all the anthems you expected to hear added a new song 'Sing When You're In Love/ Sing When You're Out Of Love' then finished with a cover of the Sex Pistols 'God save the Queen' and finally ‘You’re not alone’.

The wait between the three acts was acceptable, although there was plenty of time for people to buy lager from the bars and throw it at each other. At no point where we were stood did it get ridiculously crowded. The pre-booked car park, although a £10 ticket, was worth the money and the queue to get out wasn’t too excruciating.

Set list:
It's Not OK
40 Days And 40 Nights
Pressure
Had Enough
Aggro
We'll Live And Die In These Towns
Song About You
Away From Here
Sing When You're In Love/ Sing When You're Out Of Love
Happy Birthday Jane
God Save The Queen
You're Not Alone

A Grotesque romp

I have enjoyed listening to Of Montreal a fair bit lately recently. One track that has really  caught my attention is the epic rolling romp The Past Is A Grotesque Animal, it appears on the  2007 album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?  

oooooOOOOooooo....

MP3: The Past is a Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal

Polyvinyl Records | iTunes | Napster

That Beep Beep song

If you like the music that accompanies the Audi R8 TV advert as much as my baby son - you know the one about 'synchronized feet'- your probably going to enjoy the track below.
When that advert comes on the TV my son stops in his tracks with his mouth hanging open and then claps when it finishes - and then goes about his destructive way. 

Well the song in question is called The Beep Beep Song  from the album I am the man (2007) and is by Hawaiian born Simone White. So there you go.

MP3: The Beep Beep Song - Simone White

You! Me! Dancing! - Los Campensinos

The Future is unwritten Joe Strummer (a film by Julian Temple).

As a childhood Clash fan I was eager to watch this film when a friend lent it to me. It's a documentary style film covering Joe Strummer's life and career including: his childhood; his first successful band The 101ers; his days living as a hippie in London squats; the rise and fall of The Clash; his life post Clash including his continued musical career with The Mescaleros. It is not just a rockumentary and tribute to Joe Strummer but also a fascinating insight into the times in which he lived, his personality, and relationships with band members and people he met and worked with. There are many interviews with people who knew Joe, these are filmed in the ambiance of a cosy campfire. Campfire 'get togethers' at music festivals where occaisions for which Joe was renown. The interviews, (Conversations with Joe), are also available on the DVD as an extra feature to watch separately, this also includes interviews that didn't appear in the film itself.
I enjoyed the film and found it informative with great footage and music. This DVD was two hours well spent. Clash and Strummer fans will love it.

For a more eloquent and informed review and loads of MP3 music downloads from the film visit:
Minniapolisfuckingrocks(MFR)

Xmas#2

My second, and personal favourite, christmas tune is by a country and western singer from Nashville, Tennessee called Brian Beathard. Damn it I'm Vixen was a single taken from his Debut CD. both are available to buy on his website.

Damn It, I'm Vixen! was written for those people who feel like its always someone other than them in the lime light and that somebody else always seems to get the credit for the things they do. It is important to remember that Rudolph wasn't the only reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh.
ref: link

MP3: Damn it I'm Vixen (full HQ) - Brian Beathard

Barry & The Remains

Its gets dark early now

MP3: In my mind (rare acoustic) - Radiohead & The Pixes

Boom!

An appropriate track for today from one of my favourite local bands called Death by Miss Adventure. This is the title track from their Fireworks EP. Enjoy.

Discover more

MP3: Fireworks

New material from the Verve

The Thaw Session is being given away by the NME. This quarter of an hour studio jam from  newly reformed The Verve is a taster of the haunting melancholy melodies, rolling drums and etheral vocals that we can expect to come.

MP3: The Thaw Session (32MB!)

Ukuelele Orchestra of Great Britain

I was introduced to this band of ukulele brandishing cover version fiends a couple of years ago when a friend played to me their album Secret of Life. At first I thought it was a novelty act but on listening closer I realised they where actually very talented. My favourite song from that album is Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle.
So I was pleased the other day when emitting from iTunes I suddenly heard a familiar twang of Ukulele’s covering Smells like Teen Spirit and I thought ‘hey’ that’s new and I was right it was. Well at least it was to me, and that is how I discovered their 2007 album Precious Little. It contains another classic Ukulele Orchestra track, which is the cover of Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer. Brilliant.

The eagerly awaited album of 2007.
Ukuleles are small and endearing. For the player, it's sometimes difficult to find the right ukulele.
Hence the title: Precious Little. It's precious and it's little.
Tracks include: Smells like teen spirit, Theme from Shaft, Bang Bang (you shot me down), Psycho Killer, and The Girl from Devizes, a possible Bebop classic. Jazz, rock, grunge, country and the unclassifiable. All played on ukuleles and nothing but.

Website: www.ukuleleorchestra.com

MP3: Psycho Killer

Malamarismo

Favourite recent listening, for me, amongst others has included Malamarismo, the third album from Spanish hip-hop artist Mala Rodriguez. She is kind of the latino answer to Lady Sovereign. Sadly, I can’t understand a word she’s singing but I didn’t have to, to know it’s good. I believe this song has something to do with domestic violence.

MP3: Nanai

Hard-Fi at the Colly -7 Sep 2007

Big band little venue is a good recipe. The Colosseum, Coventry, was pretty much packed and inside it was hot and sweaty, and your beer came in a plastic cup, just like a gig should be. Hard-Fi got Suburban Knight’s out of the way about third track in and the crowd really to rose it. The highlights of the show included the clash-esque Television and We Need Love which was my personal favourite. Most of the new CD was covered plus Cash Machine and a really loud version of Tied Up Too Tight, (cue crowd participation and leaping around) I can’t remember the exact set-list as I had been drinking and generally enjoying myself but I can remember a good spirited crowd who were really up for blowing off a bit of steam on a Friday night. There was an encore but my wife and I headed for the doors because we were knackered and it was also easier to get a pint in the other downstairs bar, in which I discovered there was a DJ performing. The Colly is still the good old tatty venue it has been for an age but now features a very strange fellow in the gents with aftershave and other cleansing potions and a smokers area which runs down the side of the venue.

Verdict: Good laugh

'I spy' - Highlight of Reading 2007

A lad I know who did the weekend at Reading remains unshaven and still has the armband tightly clamped round his wrist. I'm not sure if he realises that it's all over yet. He can occasionally be heard mumbling something about how lucky they were with the weather, but he's definately still dancin' inside. Below is my highlight of what I heard on the TV coverage, Get cape, Wear cape, Fly performing a classic festival audience sing-a-long moment, the sort that makes you impatient for summer when you listen to it in January. Local lads The Enemy also played another electric show.

MP3: I spy - Get cape, Wear cape, fly (live Reading 2007)