12:00:49 PM: Blur at Hyde Park – Live http://tinyurl.com/leep9b
1:48:06 PM: Starting the journey to London. Weather is mercifully cooler.
2:41:22 PM: Gates are open…but I need sushi first.
4:31:20 PM: Deerhoof just finished. Ok. Polite crowd. Florence is next.
5:28:02 PM: Florence was better than I expected. Lot of kids leaving the front…
5:30:26 PM: In general the mood is a good one. Even the stewards are happy!
6:00:56 PM: Amadou & Mariam get the best crowd response as we hit the evening.
6:15:34 PM: Yeah – I think this has gone down a lot better with the crowd than Florence.
7:28:10 PM: Vampire Weekend good if a bit subdeud.
7:33:35 PM: Beer bottle throwing fight ensues. Ouch.
8:51:47 PM: Blur have just done Beetlebum. So far, so good.
9:20:52 PM: Country House: Blur hate it. We love it.
10:16:10 PM: The Universal. Nuff said.
11:11:35 PM: Check back on Monday for full report. Good gig? Understatement.
Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by Max
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So last week on The Musical Chairs, I asked you readers to help me solve a dilemma. Ever since Faith No More were announced to headline the Radio 1/NME Stage for Reading I have been in limbo as to whether to ditch Kings Of Leon for Mike Patton and his merry men or to stick with my guns, despite all the acclaim that their reunion tour has been getting thus far. With this in mind, I decided to use them as the subject of this newest instalment of Recommend Me and invite you to give me some listening suggestions so that I could make an informed decision beforehand. Many thanks to J-Dog who commented on the original post recommending me to listen to Angel Dust. On Saturday I went into a record store and bought the album, since it was on offer and listened to it a couple of days after.
I think that this is a record that I can see growing on me. On the first listen Angel Dust has a lot of variation in its sound and it isn’t a dull listen in any way. I think as a record it kind of gave me a good idea of what the band is all about and I imagine that in a live setting these songs would be incredibly solid and theatrical sounding. If you compare this to the style of Kings Of Leon, which is no frills in every sense of the word (even the NME summed it up best this week when they said the most showmanship shown is when Caleb Followill wipes his brow with a hanky), the choice as to who to watch becomes far more obvious. Not to diss Kings Of Leon in anyway – I’ve seen them live once in an arena and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was – but upon listening to Angel Dust, I can imagine a Faith No More show to be more fun and entertaining.
So, as you might have guessed, this was a successful edition of Recommend Me.
Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Recommend Me | 2 Comments »
Last weekend at the Glastonbury festival, Eddie Argos of Art Brut took time out of his set to criticise lyrics by The Killers and Kings Of Leon, questioning the meaning the lyrics like “This sex is on fire” and “Are we human? Or are we dancer?” He’s entitled to do so, because they are pretty average at best, but some people didn’t share his opinion and sent him some angry e-mails, including his own father. He told Spinner:
My dad likes the Killers. He sent me an email telling me, “It’s a good album. You should listen to it.” Those bands’ songs to me sound like they were written by robots. They don’t sound like they were made by people. They’re so produced, and sort of aimed at a demographic. They’re not about anything.
A lot of people have been emailing me: “You don’t read enough. You’re an idiot. ['Are we human? Or are we dancer?'] is a quote from Hunter S. Thompson.” But you put that quote in the context of the rest of the song and it doesn’t mean anything. Personally, I like songs to be about something.
With Sex on Fire, an angry Kings of Leon fan sent me an email saying, “It’s not meant to be taken literally.” Yeah, I know the sex isn’t actually on fire. I’m not an idiot. But I can’t imagine anybody having any sort of emotional response to ‘Your sex is on fire,’ unless of course they have set their genitals on fire, accidentally, at some point — then I’d understand.
People who read this, please don’t start hating me and emailing me and shouting at me. It’s just my personal preference. I’m sorry.
I think he states a really valid opinion but at the same time I can easily see why people disagree with him and it boils down to an argument that will probably never end.
Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by Max
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Wanting to go to a festival near Bradford for as cheap as possible? You might well be in luck then as Bingley Music Live is happening for the third year running between the 4th-6th September and a weekend ticket will cost you only £25 plus booking fees. You might that the price doesn’t equal quality but you might be pleasantly surprised, as the festival mixes the typically odd bookings and local bands with pretty well respected headliners. The headliners in question are The Undertones, Doves (who might be on the Mercury Prize momentum train at that time), and Editors. Other bands scheduled to appear include The Futureheads and Howling Bells.
Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by Max
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Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age is a pretty rockin’ guitarist, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is a pretty rockin’ bassist, and Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters is a pretty rockin’ drummer. The thought of those three people in the same band is enough to make your mind explode, so on the basis of the news that this supergroup might actually happen I may have to put a protective shield around my head. The supergroup, which has been rumoured since 2005, are currently in LA at Homme’s studio and, according to Antiquiet, they are not leaving until a full-length LP is made. That is all the information available at the moment and, without wanting to state the obvious, wouldn’t this be pretty awesome?
Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Albums, News | No Comments »
