lynshroom

and Dave Gahan still looks alright in my book ;)

it's a separate piece based on the short story of the same name. Also don't think Stephen O'Malley is involved in the sound for this one, though O'Malley and Peter Rehberg/Pita play live as KTL in "Kindertotenlieder", a production that still tours but unfortunately hasn't come to London yet.

http://www.southlondongallery.org/docs/live/event.jsp?id=64&sid=40&view=current

anyway, get well soon, Mr Gahan, sounds nasty...

"Shocker in Gloomtown"???

Killing joke went down well, thanks for the review! their warm up show at Heaven was superb as well!

Killing joke went down well, thanks for the review! their warm up show at Heaven was superb as well!

i can see him being one of the original shoegazers!! his time in the Banshees, just before "The Top" came out, is a bit overlooked, the Siouxsie live album "Nocturne" that features RS on guitars is one of my favourite Banshees albums...

though to me it's still Alien Lanes>B1000... but everyone who hasn't got this record should order it straight from amazon now ;)

handprinted, with the Vampire on Titus cover artwork. Bought at my first proper GBV show at the Garage in '99. I wear indie t-shirts at work almost every day but this one is a bit special, it's a bit tattered around the edges, and i don't wear it so often anymore... only special occasions ;-)

1. of Montreal: SKELETAL LAMPING
2. TV on the Radio: DEAR SCIENCE
3. The Notwist: THE DEVIL, YOU AND ME
4. Late of the Pier: FANTASY BLACK CHANNEL
5. The Mountain Goats: HERETIC PRIDE
6. Brett Anderson: WILDERNESS
7. Robert Pollard: IS OFF TO BUSINESS
8. Deerhoof: OFFEND MAGGIE

mostly current records by bands/acts I've liked for a long time, so not a very interesting list this year...

who's idea was it to have just one person dealing with guestlist AND ticket collection AND (presumably) ticket sales??! (and everyone turning up at once!) 40 minutes queuing in the rain (and missing half of TNVs set despite being there really early) wasn't so hot but the night was pretty good overall, No Age particularly were ace I thought. Don't think I need to see Los Campesinos again though...

any colour will do - as long as it's not light blue as this board :-P

ocean - is that still open? i reckon it's just a bit too far up the road for C & G

larger venue, there are enough smaller ones...I think it would work, especially in the context of these Camden Crawl style events that keep popping up in the area. Maybe they could build a brand new Astoria/Electic Ballroom sized venue/club on the Bishopsgate Goods Yard site instead of the planned huge 50+ storey office/yuppie flats towers that noone really wants...

Deerhof were going to do a Dont Look Back gig.... Milk Man or Apple O would be awesome... but it will be good to see them again anyway!

when they were setting up the tent was so rammed due to rain outside and the DJs played this cheesy 90s disco, so i was a bit worried but they won over the crowd, especially with the Neon Golden songs, i think some of the songs were quite radically reworked, espcially the intros to some songs but it sounded magnificent, for some reason the Notwist always seem to go down well at festivals, the two times at ATP were great too..

also loved tunng, Alasdair Roberts and Of Montreal, etc. and the Amersham Arms tent and the Otter ale ;-)

Wilderness now, huh? But yeah, he definitely still has an audience, Suede had scores of obsessive diehard fans and quite a few are still out there, especially in Europe/Asia etc..

I picked up his last album only recently and really got into it, it's very sad and not so immediate but it keeps the mood thoughout and is more coherent than the albums before. So I still think he's capable of making good music...

on Tuesday was fantastic! It was maybe a bit short as a gig but I was impressed that they had either a video or some sort of choreography for *each* song (given that they were presenting 200 + songs over the course of a month, were they doing this for every album???!). The atmosphere was really cult-y too, seemed like every Sparks fan in the world was in attendance...

i'm attending Friday too but i'm actually kinda glad they're doing some warmup shows beforehand. Still no idea what to expect...it was such a long way to go when we booked them and now it's...almost there!

why no London show? Pls come back! It's been a while...

Last time I saw them was at ATP a couple of years ago, actually got chatting with Clint in the merch room, he was very friendly, asked me to help spread the word a bit in the UK, I wasn't sure whether that's necessary, but I guess it's not *that* easy over here for them. They played a pretty fierce set that indeed didn't have too many of the oldies, it was just before The Obliterati came out.

Those reissues are indeed very nice, picked up "Signals..." the other day, Matador are always doing such a brill job with these deluxe editions/box sets, always a labout of love...

looking forward to this...

the George and Dragon might be confusing and it's definitely a fun place to get a bit claustrophobic in on a Sunday night from time to time (and apparently they don't want to be listed as a gay pub even though it's fair to say the clientele is at the very least very mixed) but it's definitely not a live music venue...

"jobbing musician", "snapshot of a hobby" WTF???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Hitchcock

another GBV inspired band - they don't always work for me but i need to check this out! :-)

before it actually happened. Most ATPs look a bit weird on paper. For me, hardly any absolutely must-sees but loads of yeah-probably-gonna-see-that-ones. But still no Bob Pollard??? <sniff>

tho' they still aren't headline material... their Reading 2003 set still ranks among my favourite festival memories. At one point a giant flock of birds flew over the stage forming a perfect =W= in the sky. :-))

"the record company and Weezer’s manager were very careful to put Alone out at a time when it wouldn’t hurt Weezer in any way"

While i see how a band as big as Weezer need a manager and a record company, i think it's safe to say that their continuing influence has been "hurting" the band as well. They just see Weezer as this big commercial entity that needs to be milked for what it's worth and that needs to be reshaped and remodeled, etc. "Beverly Hills" was the record company's choice, as far as i know...

I'm really excited about this album, hopefully it'll show a different side to the complex creative processes behind the scenes..

;-)

a solo project... "Elephant eyelash" was such a fantastic record, can't wait for the new one

RIP

yeah, i'm not sure about how effective a ban like this can be either, and whether it's the right response. but you can definitely ban certain types of *events* ...i mean that's what happened with the Buju Banton gig at the Concorde. You'll find it happens a lot already, a lot of venues, Student unions for instance, have fairly clear policies on offensive language i.e. homophobia, mysogyny, racism, etc. and will not allow such performers onto their stage.

they came over for Reading and just this one club show. they didn't have a record label over here at the time. there were people from all over Britain and Europe in the club. it was MENTAL from start to finish... good times! the Garage was GBV's club of choice in london actually...

can you give some commonplace examples of metal songs openly condoning violence against women / murder of women? (i'm not that familiar with a lot of metal...a lot of the lyrics seem to be buried in a wall of noise... but maybe that's just my attitude towards it...)

that if you would write such a song and perform it to an audience, yes, you could encourage some people, you're some sort of role model up there, right? and it would be enough even if you would just sing something like that, cos it would be offensive. so i hope you didn't really mean it :-)

it's not someone who sings about "not liking someone", Mr Banton had a hit song that incited to actually *kill* gays ("Batty Boy" is Jamaican slang for a gay man as far as i know) and basically condoned violence and queerbashing. There was a very good programme on channel 4 the other day called "Batty Boy" made by a black gay comedian who travelled to jamaica and also around the black communities in Britain looking at some of the homophobic messages in a lot of dancehall and the way they translated into real time homophobia and violence, it was disturbing to say the least. . .

well, i thought it was one of the sleeper "hits" on the album...took a while to sink in but then i loved it. was disappointed when they didn't play it at the forum earlier in the year...

"If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany"

you know that's just bullsh!t, and whatever he means with "absolutely Germany" has worrying historical connotations to my ears. Germany today is a multicultural society and there are many places with a very visible presence of immigrants - and yes, there is racism too...

http://www.grizzly-bear.net/blog/

yeah, great band. Hopefully they can get the rest/downtime they crave since it's true - they've been on the road like forever - and they do seem like quite delicate souls ;-)

I don't quite get the somewhat harsh words for "Horn of Plenty", I think it's a very lovely low key album...

the Wembley date was completely sold out already :-((

People were FLIPPING OUT even before the band played their first note. And they didn't disppoint, it was a supercharged atmosphere throughout. The setlist was ace too, starting with "I Against I", lotsa oldies from the ROIR cassette days, but also "Soulcraft" from the "Quickness" album, "Re-Ignition", and "I and I Survive", a long dubby interlude that was totally beguiling and lovely too. Towards the end, I guess the highlight was probably "At The Movies". For me seeing them again was a total one off. I just never thought I'd see them again and that it would be that good.

As for HR I felt he *was* engaging with the crowd, just don't expect a punk kid thrashing around 25 years later. He smiled constantly, thanked us for being "a bit lively" tonight, and said it was nice to see us all again. And while he maybe didn't sing the songs quite the same way his voice is still remarkable and a very distinctive ingredient in the unique BB sound...

at least!

I saw them once in the 80s and it was a similar energy coming from the stage. What some might find as going through the motions translated more as concentration and to some extent introspection to me.

<head explodes>

been waiting to see them again for several eons

didn't see that - i stand corrected :-)

while i find most people's complaints and comments valid and all that, pls count me in for those who still enjoyed it - i thought the bands that i managed to see were all great. as for the sound, i find a lot of gigs too loud anyway and tend to wear special earplugs. and i didn't need to wear those :-))

as far as i know, the tents should have been smoke free, they weren't and there were no notices outside or anywhere...

"Exit flagger" ;)

including quite a few mates' gigs in small venues (that i usually avoided before, as they used to be some of the worst), also a lot of free/cheap small shows that looked interesting. previously i had really cut down on going out as i can't stand the smoke, only went to stuff i really wanted to see and also preferred smoke free venues (yes there were a few, RFH, Bush Hall...)

so yes, very positive change for me (and most people, including many performers!) i think with gigs it was particularly bad, especially the sold out crammed ones that you often get in London. it's all very well to say "just don't go there if you don't like it" but if you want to see a band and they only play in places where people were allowed to smoke you had to put up with the toxic haze just to see the gig. so glad that's no longer the case!

turning into a giant All Bar One. Half of it is almost there... I walked through there the other day and noticed how only the little bit where the Spitz is still has some semblance to what it used to be like around there. Sad :-((