back in town.

Right as part of my new year's resolution, I wrote down twelve things in a little black book of mine. I have already broken one of them, so now am down to eleven. I think that is pretty good start don't you think? It is irretrievable and I am now coming to the conclusion that it was a probably a silly idea and would have led to more wasting of my time. Anyway another resolution was to stop being such a lazy, good-for-nothing scoundrel. So beneath the Dutts shall see more love, time and care coming its way for 2008.

Tunng are an experimental folktronica band from London town and have been around for a couple of years and perhaps the best way to describe them is the way they do it themselves however I'll put a warning preceding this, take with a pinch of salt. Bands are forever talking in the third person about how great they are, written with a thesaurus resting by the keyboard but this is quite good without being too egotistical: "tunng play a mesmerising mix of folky acoustics and busy electronica, overlaying electronic crackles, gorgeous harmonies, bewitching mantras and synthetic beats that are reminiscent of early Beta Band, 'The Wicker Man' soundtrack and Four Tet. The concluding sentence about Four Tet is certainly true and probably a large influence and a good pigeonhole label for this band.

They do a lovely cover of "The Pioneers" by Bloc Party, making it their own sound, which is what covers are meant to do, it's funny how so many people fail on this respect. However my favourite song by them, and likely their most famous and well-listened track is "Bullets". A brilliant, laid-back, coming-home-and-too-mashed-to-go-to-bed-song. Despite a slightly annoying and dodgy beginning, that has a sound akin to some sort of bogey monster from your childhood's nightmare's having a laughing fit in a tongue you can't understand. After the monster's finished chuckling the song takes flight majestically into the horizon, only slightly blemished by the monster's return in the middle eight. That aside, you'll love "Bullets", even if you don't frequent mangy drinking dens that flout the smoking ban with more than just the usual plain old cigarettes. Tunng are touring all over the place from Australia to Paris, so I'll have to wait a while before i get to see them live.

Bullets - Tunng

Menomena are a U.S. outfit who, and before you turn your nose up at their nationality, are glorious, BUT, a little bit spasmodic. They are great in flashes, and when they are great they are truly great some of their stuff possesses a ghostly quality and other times I listen and all I can do is cry like a child and ask how and why they produced something so poor. But I'll just talk about their amazing stuff like "Wet and Rusting". This one of the songs that reeled me around the fountain, then away from the fountain and landed me back in current times, in spite of my struggles to try and remain firmly rooted in Manchester in the 1980's, and the decade in general. The song builds and builds up and the warbling sounds of their Korg, conjure up an image of water and for me, a damn beginning to break, rust even. Music always produces images in my mind, it can be a really joyous feeling or a real soul-breaking experience. Anyway, another song of theirs I recommend would be "Air Aid", but steer well clear "Evil Bee", but then again each to their own. There is also a really nice acoustic version of "Wet and Rusting", but I am sucker for having four million different versions of the same song.

Wet And Rusting - Menomena

Speaking of Menomena, I was doing one of my favourite pastimes, internet and specifically myspace whoring. This does not mean spamming people with pictures of my nearly naked self, but rather trawling and finding out information about all the the persons that people all the friendship circles and such and this can apply to bands too. Though people are more fun, it's almost like having your very own soap that you can watch unfold, though some times things happen out of the blue and you can't understand them but there's nothing you can do. Anyway at the risk of sounding like a demented voyeur, with no life, the latter might be true but i reject the former, I better stop. So, my point is this band Animals Talking, were likened by someone to Menomena and this what brought them in to my mind, no other reason at all. Animals Talking are yet another four yoots from North London hoping to follow in the footsteps of their dimly illustrious forefathers Les Incompetents. Though the comparisons stop at some members both going to the same school. Animals Talking display a purpose about them and from their home demos, though everyone telling them they are not-the-best recorded, their seems to be a rusty diamond coming through, only time will tell. Anyway give them a listen see what ya think, and come down to their gigs next month and say hello to me, you never know I might even be on stage with them. The nice fellows have all their demos available to download on their myspace so go there to put them on your iPod. Oh and they're a secretive sort so I couldn't get their mugshots on here, sorry.

I hope that this will fill a little space in your procrastination time on the internet and bring a slight up-turn at the corner of your mouth, lord knows I need it.


enjoy.
x

been a whiiiillleee....

okkkkaaaayyyyy....Bombay Bicycle Club have released a new EP "How We Are", a slightly less ghetto version of 'How We Do' ha yeah. So it's good. Fucking good. In fact myself and two others spent too much time at a house party hurting our fists by smacking them against the table to the beat. When I effuse about it, it must be noted that it is not as good as their first EP. But on the plus side they're branching out and trying to be a different band than the one who were doing the gcse's not so long ago. "Pedestal" should be a single, the lines are typical comments that can be interpreted in so many different ways, perhaps too much so. Actually I would prefer if I could relate more to them like in 'The Hill' - "I want to go to back in times". But it is finely crafted. So it's up on their myspace and having done their first ever tour. "How Are You" is as good as ever, the only let down being "Ghosts" which never really manages to gather momentum. Their churning and chugging take on My Bloody Valentine infused with the spirit of Bloc Party should take this young band onwards and upwards.

Pedestal - Bombay Bicycle Club

In more news, Bloc Party are releasing a 'demo', called "Flux". Funny name that. Apparently they did it for Kylie or something strange like that, or that's just a rumour that was made up for a joke, though I'd like to hear the full story. Anyway it.is.not. "I Still Remember" that's for sure. In fact if you had only ever listened to "A Weekend In the City" you would be forgiven for thinking that this was a different band. But Bloc Party have always had this secret urge to be a dance band I think. There was a b-side album floating about on the internet and in fact one song "Secret" reflects this. Anyway the video reminds me of being six and watching red, blue, yellow, green and the super-cool gold power rangers on morning TV.

Secret - Bloc Party
Flux - Bloc Party

READING---READING---READING

Oh Lord.

FANTASTIC.

Except all my goodwill to everything in general evaporated when I woke up this morning: my tent had been "depegged", tagged quite viciously, I hadn't said goodbye to the guy-ropes, yet they were gone and was in an overall tattered state with the roof sinking slowly. Nonetheless this made for an interesting sight for my festival-weary eyes.

But APART from that it was fucking excellent.

Having woken up so early I was still awake, we ventured to Reading, despite several countryside detours and scenic sights we managed to get a good camp spot for the weekend.

First band of the Friday were the really quite regal Bombay Bicycle Club, who raced through their set, playing all the crowd favourites such as "Sixteen" and "The Hill", despite some minor slips - mainly due to the crowd clapping a completely different beat to the drummer and thus affecting the band's timing, it was a very good start to the day.

A sufficient time later, I reappeared in the Carling tent for Cajun Dance Party. Having seen them for the first time live back in June 2006, they haven't really changed much from that day - Danny Blumberg continues to parade around the stage with more energy than an erratic butterfly and they all look like they are generally enjoying themselves. The crowd are very much on the side, and at any given flourish of the keys, the crush of people increases to bruise level.


While I nursed myself in the Carling tent, [I can't believe how bony some people are] Jack Penate, or as I discussed in detail with a fellow camper, should be called "Jackattack" - so much better. His voice was straining and the set was cut short slightly, but he gave his best to the adoring faithful. "Torn on the Platform" was song by the crowd, in order to give him a rest, and the word-perfect, throaty gruff from the depths of the audience was very special and it shows how far he has come when I came across him in the pages of Transparent Magazine. He is only set to get bigger, with XL Recordings behind him, so try catch him if you already haven't before he hits bigger stages in the next year.

And then. and then, and then it was himself, Patrick Wolf, he came on stage wearing the most fantastically contorted get-up at Reading, not even the guy I saw in just a Union Jack thong beat him.


At this stage I was feeling grumpy at people's general etiquette in the crowd, so to have people unsure of Patrick's next move, I think even his double bassist and violinist were as well, meant I, selfish me, could enjoy his performance fully. His songs filled the tent with an air unlike any other, as if something was rising, like a story that in years to come, people would ask little cliches like "Did you see Patrick Wolf at Reading '07?" His performance was unbeaten throughout the rest of the festival, though Late of the Pier came pretty close to ousting him from my number 1 slot. I still don't understand why he is quitting live music, he really looked like he was enjoying himself and he endeared himself well to the crowd.

And that rounds up a Fantastic Friday, I know I have blogged about these bands before, here here and here but all this entertainment was just making sure Reading Festival was living up to my high hopes of it. And I also renewed acquaintances with some really lovely people.


Cancel On Me - Bombay Bicycle Club
Amylase Demo - Cajun Dance Party
Torn On The Platform - Jack Penate
Get Lost - Patrick Wolf

After my mostly North London themed Friday I was roused from my sleep from the pain in my shoulder, from sleeping too long on my side, and I headed to the Dance tent for two bands that I have been looking forward to seeing for a long time. The Teenagers opened up the tent and were, I think, a little overawed by the occasion; they failed to really start the crowd up and this could be down to the earliness of the set, yet Bombay Bicycle Club faced the same task. However when they played "Homecoming", everyone did their best to spit venom on every dirty syllable, though they should have played it last rather than halfway through, as the rest of the set became a bathos. That and "Fuck Nicole" were the highlights.

After this, came on Crystal Castles and got the tent to live up to its name, playing new single "Crimewave vs HEALTH", which is a fantastic remix [again], but was slightly ruined by the dodgy microphones that plagued many sets throughout the weekend. They come with a huge energy and vocalist Alice throws herself about stage looking like a hyper-active skeleton, with multi-instrumentalist Ethan and the drummer adding a nastier edge: in a get-up more suited to bank-robbers of old, albeit, carrying a slightly more jaunty attitude to stocking head wear. The "8-bit terror duo" really impressed me with their "weird-electro" [oh another pigeon-hole] and should go on to gain a later slot in next year's festivals.

Switching to a different tact, completely I went to see Good Shoes pack out the NME/Radio 1 tent: I could only force my way towards the front of the DJ platform [ on the opposite side of the tent to the stage],to get any way of a glimpse of them and as my friend remarked later "that was weird, last time I saw them there was only like 80 people watching", yes indeed. They rattled through their 3-minute-12th-fret delights and the crowd echoed every 130bpm word from Rhys Jones, and even as far back as I was, there was plenty of people swaying and nodding in full appreciation.

And then came a band from distant lands, i.e. Canada, where one of my friends spent his whole holiday there, why? I asked myself - well if he spent the whole time watching these guys I'll let him off. Tokyo Police Club are just one large ball of energy on stage: the keyboardist clearly has no respect for his instrument - slamming his fingers on the keys accompanied with hollers to fund the bassist/vocalist Dave Monks. I had liked them a lot before seeing them live, but my estimation rose even further - as they had me jerking in a broken-clockwork sort of a way to songs I hadn't even heard by them. And then they played "Your English" which is now my new favourite song

"YOUR ENGLISH IS GOOD".

yes it very well is. They finished with "Nature of the Experiment", need I say any more, the hype is justified - go listen.

After this we dossed around at our tent and made trips to the nearest shops, having wasted sufficient time, we went to Arcade Fire [yes I skipped Bloc Party, as I have already seen them and didn't fancy standing for two whole sets at the main stage, lazy that I am.] Even from my position of two gazillion miles back I could still feel them reach out to the crowd and draw them into their web of extremely fine song craft. A real pleasure to watch and I'm sure I won't be seeing them for a long time, unless I'm quicker than the touts. Which is hard to be.




I do remember popping off to Digitalism for a short period of time, and making a mental note that they were much better this time around than that piss-poor set I saw at Wireless back in June. At Wireless it was just like watching a DJ set, this was an improvement, but then I left for better things.


And that finished a Super Saturday [oh I am good this alliteration lark], time was going so fast I wasn't cognizant of it, and now I only have Sunday left to talk about.

Sunset Beach - The Teenagers
Crimewave - Crystal Castles vs HEALTH
Never Meant To Hurt You - Good Shoes
Smith EP - Tokyo Police Club [Box, Cut Cut Paste, A Lesson in Crime, Your English Is Good]
Maps [Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cover] - Arcade Fire

Right and so Sunday leapt on me as it does have a tendency to do most weeks, and I dragged my ever-more battered body to Late of the Pier; I am so pleased I did. They were given the opening slot on the NME/Radio 1 tent and brought a crowd to fill most of the space in the substantial tent. They grasped this opportunity with both hands and squeezed very tightly, their set was, as I mentioned earlier, one of the best I saw at Reading. They have progressed massively since seeing them at Hammersmith Working Men's club last year, their songs are now much "bigger" [sorry to use such an atrocious adjective but it's true]. Before seeing them on Sunday, I believed that Space and the Woods was by far their best tune. Now, it's not even in the top 3. They have risen the bar and set some standards, they are of the few acts that can even claim to be original, no-one else is like them. I would definitely have them down as one of my bright hopes for 2008, especially if NME get their grimy paws firmly on their arms. Hopefully they'll shrug them off.

The next band I laid eyes on were, in fact seen on the same night as LOTP, and again, haven't been seen since. They too have improved, The Maccabees, packed the tent out and played all the favourites with "About Your Dress" and "First Love" majestic in their vulnerability and ability to make everyone quiver with every word pouring from Orlando Weeks lips. I spent a lot of the time pestering men in large banana suits to throw me in the air, and this sort of shenanigans shows the general "good-feel vibe" [excuse the cliche] that is now becoming a trademark of The Maccabees phenomenon.


Later on in the day I went to watch Mr. T, I mean Jamie T [ooh I've always wanted to do that]. And for the first time at Reading, I was disappointed. Back in February 2005 when I first came across that amazing savefile site with every thing he'd ever touched to date, I heard a Laura Marling but this boy played a bass guitar. He wrote lyrics of teenage troubles and the shadier side to life. Now when I clapped eyes on Jamie T, he has a much, much heavier sound, going down a more Plan B route rather than continuing to play to the WayOutWest following and cement a place in their hearts. Out go the "indie-kids" with their elitist taste and in their place stand thirty-something, smelly, balding, overweight, grubby, squalid, sordid, sleazy I'm-running-out-of-adjectives, ugly people. Whom ignored the space that I did occupy. I am not happy about that development.

I went off in a hump, but my mood restored itself pretty quickly and I returned to watch, or rather hear as I was so far away, CSS. I don't really remember much of it but someone said it was a good set.

And that finishes a Sexy Sunday [SCORE!] and also Reading for another year, the experience was amazing, not just the music: the camping, the bonding, the making new friends, the restoring of old and the laughs. I think a 40-minute battle with fellow campers, armed with water balloons and a catapult bested most of it. We whipped you, Badger Village, by the way.

I'm pretty sure I am going back next year so see you down the front!

Bathroom Gurgle - Late of the Pier
Precious Time - The Maccabees

P.S. Ow my fingers, all that typing.