Complicating, Circulating, Operating, Generating.

Every now and then a band that I love but have been neglecting for a while comes back round into focus and takes me by surprise. Sometimes it's like discovering them all over again, and on other occasions, like this, it's a bit more subtle and my appreciation of their back catalogue slowly shifts.

Yesterday I picked up the new Flaming Lips DVD, UFOs at the Zoo, which comes with all sorts of multimedia goodness which I have yet to fully explore (the MP3 audio files were a nice touch though), and immediately fell back in love with the Lips. Anyone who's seen them live will probably agree that it's impossible NOT to love their live show and whilst watching it on a TV in my bedroom isn't quite the same, I still found myself witha big grin on my face.

Now, it is my opinion that the two finest lips albums are Transmissions From the Satellite Heart, and Clouds Taste Metallic and that the band started to go downhill once they ditched the guitars for a more keyboard led sound on subsequent albums. Sadly, the only track represented from these albums on the DVD is She Don't use Jelly (the most famous but by no means the best). However overall in a live setting, the guitars on the later stuff really shine through and some of the urgency they seem to lack on record post-Clouds is restored, and some of the polish falls off, making an all the more enjoyable and rough & ready experience.

The Flaming Lips- Free Radicals (Live at Oklahoma Zoo Ampitheatre)

I'm probably off to Brighton tomorrow so don't expect any posts over the weekend. Hopefully a large batch of records should arrive at work tomorrow providing amazon delivery estimates are to be believed so there should be more for you to listen to next week.

My Love

Going for some kind of record (3 posts in 4 days!) I've added my loved tracks radio to the sidebar. You should listen to it, it mostly comprises my favourite songs ever and a few recent additions.

Down To Business

Mary Lou Lord- His Indie World

I guess my plan when i originally started this blog was to someday get around to putting up mp3s that i loved and say something profound about them. I always wanted to start with a bang and a great piece of writing that i felt proud of. I've kind of given up on ever doing that though and have just decided to post a song i downloaded about an hour ago, but has instantly won a place in my heart. I wouldn't like to suggest that it's because i'm shallow enough to enjoy a person listing off obscure indie bands, so I'm assuming it's more to do with Mary's double tracked vocals and the single acoustic guitar which I'm always a sucker for. After all, it was another of her songs that had nothing at all to do with indie bands that turned me onto her enough that i'd want to investigate further. More of that later though i imagine.

I'm off camping later today. Here's a special bonus.

Evan Dando- The Outdoor Type (Live at the Brattle Theatre)

It's Been A While...

I've been neglecting this blog for a while, but I have the best intentions to revive it. I have a free(ish) weekend coming up so I might try and put some interesting stuff up here. I do of course use 'interesting' in its loosest sense.

In the meantime here's (roughly) what i played at milkshake last night. We had Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip playing, and quite frankly it was an excellent night all round. i think I ended up playing from about 10.15 to 11.45.

Fern Kinney- Baby Let Me Kiss You
MIA- Paper Planes
Hot Chip- Shake Your Fist
Diplo- Must Be A Devil
Bondo Do Role- Office Boy
CSS- Alala
The Go! Team- Doing it Right
1990s- You’re Supposed To Be My Friend
The Wombats- Let’s Dance To Joy Division
The Rakes- Strasbourg
Bloc Party- Little Thought
The Futureheads- Decent Days & Nights
Young Knives- She’s Attracted To
The Hives- Tick Tick Boom
White Stripes- Fell In Love With A Girl
Strokes- Juicebox
Art Brut- My Little Brother
Test Icicles- Circle, Square, Triangle
Jamie T- Sheila
Reverend & the Makers- Heavyweight Champion of the World
Kings of Leon- My Party (Chad & Kenna Edit)
Justice vs Simian- We Are Your Friends
Kanye West- Stronger (A-Trak Remix)
CSS- Let’s Make Love (Streetlight Remix)
Calvin Harris- Acceptable in the 80s
Eurythmics- Sweet Dreams Are Made of This
Chemical Bros- Do It Again
Van She/ Dangerous Dan- Around The World (Again)
Hot Chip- Over & Over
The Kingsmen- Louie Louie
Peter, Bjorn & John- Young Folks

It started kind of slowly, but it always does these days, however it didn't matter so much as at least it wasn't completely dead. The DJ booth was set up on the stage which made it a lot more fun than usual and I found myself taking it a lot more seriously than i normally would too. I guess that's because there were a lot of obviously new faces who'd come to see the band.

The band were good, but hampered a little by route's shoddy soundsystem and setup. The crowd didn't seem to mind though and it was the best audience I think we've ever had for a band.