Illustrations not Included

I've had a couple of interesting nights. It's times like these that i wish i had a digital camera as photos would really enliven these stories. i might buy one on saturday in preparation for my sister's halloween party.

Monday night was the Young Knives playing in the Underground at the Uni. Only it's not called the underground anymore. It's called Sub Zero and they've made it look all flash (Hypothetical photo here). There was a bit of grumbling about the new look from some of my friends but I quite like it. Whilst the old venue had a grubby vaguely punk rock feel the events there and clientelle never really matched it, and whilst it seemed a bit odd to be watching a band in such a pristine venue it was a much more friendly atmosphere and the brief bit of dancing happening at the end really highlighted it's potential. Nice sound too!

Oh yeah, the band.

This is the 5th time I've seen the Young Knives. Certainly not the best I've seen them, but they still put on a fine show. Despite my favourite song from the album, Loughborough Suicides not working so well live the finale of She's Attracted To was particularly special and a lot of non-album tracks were played too which was good. I even had a bit of a jump around in the encore for the first time in years. Only lasted about 30 seconds though. I'm too old for that kind of stuff. Admittedly, I could probably still handle it but there comes a time where you just feel a bit out of place pushing teenagers around a pit.

I was at the uni again last night too after V bar informed me they would be closed for a refurb. I went to check out The Lost Disco which is the new indiesoc night, and it was pretty great. I never actually go to indie clubs these days unless I'm DJing at them and it was surprisingly fun to dance to the old classics again. I think the night took a turn for a worse when the sambuca came out (Thanks for that Ed) and I ended leaving very early in preperation for work today. Not that it did any good. It's been a mission to get through the day.

Home Sweet Home

In the middle of last week I moved back to my parents’ house, in a vague effort to prompt a ‘on step back, two steps forward’ action in my life. So far it’s been pretty nice. All the home comforts which I’ve been missing whilst living by myself are making up for the minor inconveniences I’ve had to suffer (the most notable being my mum panicking when I didn’t come home on Thursday night. I’d stayed round my friend’s house as the long walk home/ taxi wait was that little bit too much.)

The main advantage so far has been the internet access. Although by the end of weekend I think I’d exhausted all the good websites to look at and that vague feeling of boredom that comes with living with ones parents was beginning to set in.

The internet access is proving particularly useful when it comes to last.fm previously I was just scrobbling tracks from my ipod, which had it’s (very notable) limitations. I’m still doing this (with increased frequency and hence more accuracy) and I’m doing it from itunes as well, which means the charts I produce are more accurate than they were and the minor obsession I was developing can be relaxed a little.

So, in what may become a regular feature of this blog, here is my ‘top 10’ tracks of the week:


1 Brakes – Cease And Desist 5
2 The Gothic Archies – Walking My Gargoyle 4
2 The Gothic Archies – we are the gothic archies 4
2 Brakes – Mobile Communication 4
2 Brakes – Isabel 4
6 Big Star – The Ballad of El Goodo 3
6 Big Star – Feel 3
6 Oblivians – Trouble 3
6 Oblivians – Christina 3
6 The Gothic Archies – Crows 3
6 Brakes – If I Should Die Tonight 3
6 Brakes – Porcupine Or Pineapple 3
6 The Gothic Archies – How Do You Slow This Thing Down? 3
6 The Gothic Archies – Things Are Not What They Appear 3
6 The Gothic Archies – A Million Mushrooms 3
6 The Gothic Archies – Smile! No One Cares How You Feel 3
6 Brakes – Hold Me In The River 3
6 The Gothic Archies – freakshow 3
6 The Gothic Archies – shipwrecked 3
6 Klaxons – Magick 3
6 Ludacris – He Man 3
6 Brakes – On Your Side 3
6 Brakes – No Return 3
6 Brakes – Spring Chicken 3
6 Brakes – Margarita 3
6 Brakes – Beatific Vision 3

As you can see I bought the Gothic Archies' new album this week and downloaded the Breaks album. I’ve been enjoying both quite a lot. The Gothic Archies album is almost great, but seems a little flippant and quirky in comparison to the Magnetic Fields so is perhaps a little disappointing. Thats all relative though, as the Magnetic Fields certainly set the standards high. The Brakes album is virtually the opposite and some of the quirky charm from their debut seems to have been lost. Initially I thought this was a bad thing, but I’m quickly warming to it.

The other entries in the chart include Big Star who I’m finally growing to appreciate. I’ve always had a fondness for their best known tracks but felt the albums were lacking a little. I’m kind of seeing them in a new light at the moment. Particlarly ‘Watch the Sunrise’ which for some reason isn’t in this chart. Maybe it’s not as accurate as I’d hoped.

The Oblivians are in there too after I downloaded their album following an indiesoc recommendation. The new klaxons single has had a couple of listens although is yet to lodge itself in my brain, and the He-Man sampling Ludacris song got a few run throughs, but the novelty has already worn off.

What everybody wants to hear.

Quite an eventful evening DJing down at the uni last night. I won’t go into too much detail about how hugely unorganised it all was as it all worked out pretty well in the end. The CD decks I was using were verging on the comically bad though and the vinyl I optimistically brought with me remained unplayed in my bag due to the lack of anything to play it on. It was also a freshers week night so I had to endure lots of young and enthusiastic students talking to me asking questions like “what are your top 3 bands ever” and the being informed that “the arctic monkeys are the best band in the world”. Obviously I’m far too jaded for that kind of thing these days.

Me and Nome were supporting DJ Lucio and I have to be honest, I’m not sure who he is, but he was a nice chap which was actually a bit of a shame as we were hoping for a diva tantrum over the state of the equipment. It was slightly annoying because with the gear we were using it really was just a case of play/stop on the CD players and Lucio was obviously getting paid a lot more than we were for doing exactly the same job.

As I said though, it all worked out as a pretty great night. Nothing much to shout about in the way of tunes played, but it’s nice to DJ somewhere less familiar and get a rammed dancefloor. Especially as it was a non-specific music event which meant the crowd were in no way a specialist indie audience. Some days it’s pretty fun just to appeal to the masses.