Give Me Just A Little More Time

Aah, what a tune, eh?

Anyway, my point is: I can't believe I haven't blogged anything since January. Time has indeed flown by and I am indeed lacking in my posting skills. However...I resolve to sort that out immediately. Yeah. I'm gonna go with "little and often" as a rule.

To recap, since January I have:

Turned 29, completed a year in this job, walked ten miles for charity, played bowls, started yoga, been to the NME Awards; Beer Festival; May Ball; Blenheim Palace; Glastonbury; Secret Garden Party; Hop Farm; Standon Calling; Get Loaded. I've seen: Friendly Fires, Dave Gorman, Richard Herring, Editors, Morrissey, Art Brut, Mark Steel, Broken Family Band, Kasabian, Chris Addison, The Bluetones, The Cribs, Au Revoir Simone, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Graham Coxon, Patrick Wolf, De La Soul, Massive Attack, The Joy Formidable, Doves.

I've also recently joined a club. So I can change. I want to change. Before I'm 30. Got a bit of a mountain to climb, but I'll get there. Incentives and all that.

Oh, and I'm growing my hair. It's a right bloody mess.

In The Still Of The Night

Is it too late to wish you a Happy New Year? Probably.

I would love to be able to do some kind of educated and informed musical critique of 2008, but I don't think I've got it in me. Instead, I'll just list the gigs I went to and the albums I liked. Howzat? On the plus side, it won't have many long words in it...

The gigs went a bit like this:


January
12th - Subliminal Girls at The Fly, London
23rd - The Indelicates at Punk, London
28th - Art Brut at Barfly, Cambridge
29th - The Courteeners at Barfly, Cambridge
31st - The Broken Family Band at Barfly, Cambridge

February
5th - Art Brut at ULU, London
10th - Travis at The Junction, Cambridge
13th - Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly at The Junction, Cambridge
15th - NME Awards Tour (The Cribs, The Ting Tings, Does It Offend You Yeah, Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong) at Corn Exchange, Cambridge
20th - We Are Scientists at Soho Revue Bar, London
28th - We Are Scientists at Soho Revue Bar, London

March
6th - We Are Scientists at Fopp, Cambridge
13th - Supergrass at The Junction, Cambridge

April
7th - The Indelicates at The Portland Arms, Cambridge
8th - Sugababes at Corn Exchange, Cambridge
22nd - The Courteeners at The Junction, Cambridge
25th - We Are Scientists at Shepherds Bush Empire, London

May
3rd - DJ Yoda at The Junction, Cambridge
19th - The Whip at The Junction, Cambridge
24th - Public Enemy at The Junction, Cambridge

June
8th - The Subways at The Junction, Cambridge
19th - We Are Scientists and The Charlatans at Indigo2, London
24th - Primal Scream and MC5 at Royal Festival Hall, London
30th - Jason Mraz at The Junction, Cambridge

July
18th & 19th - Summercase Festival, Barcelona:

We Are Scientists, Ian Brown, Blondie, Interpol, The Verve, Primal Scream, The Breeders, Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs, CSS, Foals, Biffy Clyro, The Raveonettes, Neon Neon.

August
7th - The Maccabees at The Junction, Cambridge
20th - We Are Scientists at Carling Academy, Oxford
24th - Get Loaded In The Park Festival, London:

The Hives, Gogol Bordello, Iggy and The Stooges, Reverend and The Makers, The Presets.
28th - Michael Caine's The Ethosphere (a.k.a. We Are Scientists) at The Old Blue Last, London

September
Hibernation

October
2nd - Iglu & Hartly at The Junction, Cambridge
5th - British Sea Power at The Junction, Cambridge
6th - Elbow at Corn Exchange, Cambridge
21st - The Rifles at The Junction, Cambridge
27th - The Jesus and Mary Chain at The Forum, London
28th - Black Kids at The Junction, Cambridge
30th - Hot Chip at Corn Exchange, Cambridge

November
10th - Noah & The Whale at The Junction, Cambridge
19th - The Whip at Scala, London
22nd - Carter USM at Brixton Academy, London
30th - Glasvegas at The Junction, Cambridge

December
1st - We Are Scientists at The Hard Rock Cafe, London
3rd - The Zutons at Corn Exchange, Cambridge
5th - Primal Scream at Corn Exchange, Cambridge
11th - The Indelicates and Miles Hunt at The Portland Arms, Cambridge

43 plus two Festies eh? My only concern is that it's now the 24th January and I haven't been to a single gig this year yet. And I've only got two booked so far. Plus two festivals. Meh. I'm sure it'll all come together somehow.

My top six albums of 2008:

1. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
2. We Are Scientists - Brain Thrust Mastery
3. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires
4. The Indelicates - American Demo
5. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
   
6. Neon Neon - Stainless Style

Because five wasn't enough and I didn't think four more would be worthy enough. But that's just me.

Bring on 2009! I'm already adoring so much new music and finding new things to obsess over every week! Right here, right now it's Franz Ferdinand - Tonight. The album is great and I've already listened to it like 8 times today...

Apart from that, new artists I like the sound of (at the moment, for I am quite fickle y'know) are:

Little Boots
La Roux
The Voluntary Butler Scheme
Fight Like Apes
Florence and The Machine

Check 'em out.

Love to your mothers x

Downtime

Hello, hello!

So, it's been a little while. I'd like to say I've been busy but I haven't. But...I could also use that as my excuse. That it's been so quiet there hasn't been anything to say. That's probably more like it. And the fact I keep forgetting I have a blog. And that it should be updated now and again.

Since my last post, I've been to some gigs. Not as many as I would have liked!

There was:

Iglu & Hartly (photos / video), lots of fun, despite the small crowd, they got us moving and we enjoyed it.

British Sea Power (photos), I didn't know their stuff at all, just one song I think - so this was a "try it and see" gig for me. They're very good at what they do, but I just don't get it. In the words of the Kaisers "it did not move me, it's not the kind of thing that I like - na na na na naa!" Seriously though, the best bit for me was the end - when the big ol' bear came onstage!

Elbow (video), bloody amazing. That is only the second time that I have heard the sound in the Cambridge Corn Exchange as near as dammit perfect. Editors was the only other time. It was the first night of the tour and there were a couple of hiccups, but no-one cared. The whole room loved them. I love them. It must have been a great gig...'cos I cried. That's always the mark of quality! And I think I've got a little girlie-crush on Guy Garvey...his voice is stunning. Forgot to mention...BIG RESPECT to them for winning the Mercury Music Prize for "The Seldom Seen Kid". Well deserved. Definitely one of my favourite albums of the year. More on that later...

Russell Howard. Oh, where to begin? Well, first of all, it was a comedy gig, hence no photos or video. Russell is so funny. It's observational, silly comedy at it's best. And he's quite cute to boot... ;) Check him out if you ever get the chance. I used to listen to him on BBC 6 music, but he's no longer on there. Very daft, but not over the top. This has got to be one of my favourites from him:



The Rifles (photo), they were okay. Good when they got going, which nearly didn't happen at all. The band took to the stage, tinkering with their instruments. Joel, the lead singer, put his guitar on and stepped up to the mic. He uttered the immortal words "Hello Cambridge!" and promptly got lamped squarely on the top of the head with a half-full pint pot. He took off his guitar and walked off stage. What a load of idiots...I don't get it. I never have. Why do people throw things (mostly unpleasant things) at a band they have paid to see and are supposedly fans of?? Anyhoo, about five uncomfortable minutes went by...I thought the gig might be off. I think it was their Tour Manager who came onstage and announced the band will be back on providing everyone behaves themselves. Everyone cheered and the show went on. They were a good band.

The Jesus and Mary Chain (photos), were absolutely brilliant. I'm so glad I got to see them. I hadn't planned to go, but a ticket became available and I took a chance. Wow, glad I did. Their sound is just immense. I can't really describe it. Maybe like a "wall of sound" and very, very loud. Brilliant!! I had heard of them, but their era was a bit before I got into music. I'd expected the music to be dour and miserable for some reason and I was pleasantly surprised. It was at The Forum, Kentish Town where I hadn't been before, so that was another reason to go. I like trying out new venues! I had a week to listen to their material before the show and I made the effort and downloaded (legally) about ten tracks to give me an idea. I like. Quite a lot. I can understand why they were influential to many other bands including the Pixies, Stone Roses and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Glad I took a chance on them. The downside was they were supported by none other than British Sea Power (yaaaawwn!!).

Black Kids (photos), YAY!! Black Kids are so much fun. They were superb live. Ladyhawke as support was a bit special too. I'm really loving her stuff at the moment. It was packed out in there. Can't wait to see them again. Alot of fun and sounding great! Woop woop!

Hot Chip (video / photos), amazing. Didn't expect to be jumping about from the off. But we were. We ALL were!!! Dance-tastic. Turned into quite a messy night. Note to self: Don't drink on a school night. Just say no to cider... :)

Phew! That's all for now... xx