theskysawfulblue

Count me in, that sounds amazing!

...that said, it was still a pretty great night actually: I can't thing of any other gig I've been to where there's been such a positive vibe from band and audience alike. That said, if they come back though, I'm taking a spare converter with me!

Send Away The Tigers was a pretty good return-to-form, and I do trust them to not have made this decision lightly...still, I'm not going to let myself get too excited for this until I've heard some of it. An album of Heavenly-era style tracks would be incredible, but it could quite easily sound middle-aged and uninterested (kind of a MSP Nocturama). Hmmm indeed.

Taking it as given that he's flown over to Newcastle for the day, we go for a cheap-as-cheap-chips, slap-up brekky at Culture Cafe (Turkish pop music + cheap coffee = enormous win), spend the afternoon taking in the record shops, galleries and other interesting bits of the town, before getting ripped to the tits and heading down to The Gate for a refined evening of "dodge the angry drunks!". Oh yeah, and he also plays a version of Happy Birthday that lasts about half an hour, including a bit in the middle where it just stays on one chord for about ten minutes, just because he CAN.

Right, poster then?

But the constant Talk Talk references have got me interested...you'd better not be kidding!

Problem is, that genuinely is the exception that proves the rule - that kind of loud, distorted production works wonders with The Stooges, but (unsurprisingly) sounds horrific when applied to everything else. I do honestly think that Death Magentic is the loudest album I've ever bought, it's just insane what they've done to it (especially given that, once again, the bass is way too low in the mix). It's still a good album, but it's absurd that the stuff they recorded before having vast amounts of money to throw around sounds so, so much better production wise.

...not the one I voted for(more of a Wild Beasts man myself), but it's a good album regardless, so congrats I suppose. Bit surprised about MIA and Mystery Jets doing so well, especially the later in fact - apart from the chorus in Half In Love with Elizabeth, it's one of the most forgettable things I've ever heard. But hey ho.

It's much cleaner than the early singles, sure, but I think it buffs up their sound quite nicely without removing too much of the fuzz: one of the things I'm really liking at the moment is the distortion that links the whole of the first half together (just wish they'd done it for the whole thing really). A 7's probably about right - it's mostly pretty great, but Ice Cream Van is a bit anticlimactic, and the Moonlight Sonata-nicking Stabbed is franly terrible (fuck knows why they didn't just record the actually pretty-decent I'm Gonna Get Stabbed from the demoes). Rest of the album's great though, and as long as they don't let the hype go to their heads they could go on to some pretty great things.

But their drummer's the second loudest thing I've ever heard (the first being the noise coming out of Shield's amps during You Made Me Realise...), which when you're seeing them in a cramped basement and you're at the front does leave you feeling slightly dazed afterwards. Even HEALTH'S drummer didn't have to keep re-assembling his kit after every song...

One of my faves of the year - would probably give it a 9 myself. Hopefully there might even be a new Acoustic Ladyland sometime next year as well...

Shocker that.

Still, the general thrust (hur hur) of the thread seems pretty fair: nice legs, shame about the band.

Absolutely brilliant stuff. His gloriously dead-eyed, psychotic expression in the logo just makes the gems in his response all the better. Gawd bless ya, Aidan!

Right, do I get my tickets now?

Seriously, don't make me choose between Wild Beasts and These New Puritans. Hell, the only album I don't actually like there is Mystery Jets (only heard two tracks from The Bug, but that does sound pretty good as well). No love for the obvious album-of-the-year Imperial Wax Solvent though? For shame, DiS, for shame...

But I think BSP or Burial ought to get it - both amazing albums, and it's not like Radiohead exactly need more publicity. Also, it'll be fun to see how Burial accepts the prize if he (?) wins...

Like everyone else, I'm a bit stunned that they found room for Neon Neon and Last Shadow Puppets but not for Portishead (quite surprised at the lack of Foals as well actually).

I doubt very much that they'll have changed the actual (i.e. not just some different titles) tracklisting since the leak. I've only listened to it so far, and it's still very good and well worth the money when it comes out for rea, but at the moment I still prefer Cryptograms and the Atlas Sound album - the middle section of Microcastle seems a little subpar to be honest. Nothing Ever Happened is an absolute beast of a tune though, one of the best I've heard this year.

Quite a surprising amount of issues for a single that's 18 and a half minutes long. I'm holding out for the next limited edition one that comes with a "Year of the Pig" tea cosy personally.

The sixth or seventh single of the sodding album? I mean, bloody hell...

The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

Foals, MGMT, Crystal Castles, Sun Kil Moon, Bon Iver, Frightened Rabbit and Atlas Sound have all been pretty good, and the leaks of the Wolf Parade, Deerhunter and Venetian Snares albums sound good as well. Still wouldn't mind if someone could explain what's so exciting about the Cut Copy and No Age albums though - they're alright, but they're no masterpieces by any measure...

But it had too much new-age, off with the faries gibbierish on there without any doubt. If the new album's a return to form, then I'll probably have to go to the Newcastle date.

But given the vitriol displayed throughout, I'm rather surprised that it managed to get 3...a 1 or a 2, surely?

With The Mighty Boosh there, surely?

A) The Past Is A Grotesque Animal.

It's on the same street as most of the 'Pink Triangle' bars, but a bit further down, if that makes any sense at all. Trying to remember the circumstances of a HEALTH gig is not the easiest of things...

Bit pissed I won't be able to make any of these dates, but hopefully I might be getting a spare Latitude ticket soon at least.