A little bit of showing off..

Oh the style!



And they're mine!

A message from Elbow..

"dear chaps
in the last two years:

2500 hours spent writing and recording.
2500 sandwiches eaten
500 bottles of milk
8000 brews
20,000 cigarettes smoked
2.3 metres of fingernails grown
21 feet of hair
21000 miles commuted 3000 of them on foot
90000 stairs climbed
to make 55 minutes of music.
as of 22:17 tonight 24th sept 07
album 4 is complete but untitled

release date 2008
thank you for your patience and see you very soon.

love elbow x"

I wonder what type of sandwiches?

Anyway. Exciting news.

Punks Jump Up

The sheer amount of lyrics in this song that sound just like the essay that I am currently spending every living minute of the day writing has in common is just unsettling.

Punks Jump Up "Dance to Our Disco"
Uploaded by MaisonKitsune

LCD Soundsystem a gulity pleasure?!

Who'd have thought it, eh? Obviously one of the strongest albums to be released this year. Highly anticipated live shows. And that hair.

I don't mean guilty pleasure in the way that phrase is over-used at the moment. But after the devastating news my life recently received I was more than a little guilt-ridden and hysterical at the recent LCD Soundsystem gig in Newcastle at Digital. Wildly jeering threats of violence (more than usual that is), 'celebrity' spotting Paul Smith again, necking vodka and being hugely over-excited by James Murphy. I was a little bit, well, I'm not sure, just a bit of a mess. I did actually cry to Someone Great, but I think that is fairly understandable.

But I had to post about it. Yes, it was a while ago. But, hey, who cares? I'm not going to blog from the actual gig! Although I reckon some over-zealous, geeky, lack-lustre blogger would. I was drinking. The reason I had to post? Because it was a bloody amazing gig. And I ended up having an over-whelming feeling of incredible luck. It was humbling. How can a gig do that?!

And I witnessed the hottest thing I have ever seen on-stage.

James Murphy hitting that cowbell.

If you get the opportunity go and see LCD Soundsystem. In a small venue if you can. I enjoyed them a million times more for it. Although James Murphy had problems with the volume and had his fingers in his ears a lot. Cute as.

17 Sep 2007 Red Rocks Morrison, Colorado
20 Sep 2007 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, California
30 Sep 2007 Roy Wilkins Auditorium St. Paul, Minnesota
3 Oct 2007 Waterfront Park Louisville, Kentucky
5 Oct 2007 LC Pavilion Columbus, Ohio
20 Oct 2007 Tripod Dublin
21 Oct 2007 Apollo Manchester
22 Oct 2007 Barrowlands Glasgow
23 Oct 2007 Brixton Academy London

Lovely jubbly.

P.S. Oh and I see that there are various remixes floating around the internet ether. Find them.

M.I.A.

It's probably well late to be commenting. You know months down the line. But I absolutely bloody adore the most recent M.I.A. album. Indulging in this has been something quite brilliant to be honest. Many tracks I had stumbled across before hearing the album. And due to those La Grève Générale boys that I am so affectionate of I was already singing Bird Flu rather frequently.

But turning my ears to Kala, M.I.A.'s 2007 musical gem, has been horizon expanding even for myself. Always partial to, well, a bit of everything, this album certainly satisfies a part of me that had been feeling decidedly underwhelmed of late. Pushing the boundries of everything that sits nicely within a genre, M.I.A. might as well be spitting in the face of musicians all over the world. Giving face and much deserved respect to the so many types of music that she journey's through it truly is something that needs to be.. experienced. Even the shy-retiring-folk-lovers need to sit and be open-minded and think about the comfort zones that M.I.A. is getting rid of from the mainstream with this.

She is to be respected.



Here is a little treat.

M.I.A. - XR2 [via zShare]

When you inevitably do enjoy this please go and buy it. Click click.

Digitalism

Sigh.

Since having access to a car again and nervously fumbling around getting used to it Idealism by Digitalism has become a great album to blast out at high volumes to accompany travelling at high speeds.

So here is a bit in video form. My lovely fella loves this.

Shock, mourning and fresh starts..

Shock and horror.

Let's hope the Mercury Music Prize can make a fresh start now and continue forward in the way that actually used to gain any sort of credibility.

Not the best Birthday ever given recentness and limited access to the internet is upsetting.

But I must admit sitting around a dinner table slagging off bands and getting very drunk and slagging off people in clubs is just as fun as I imagined it being.