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Music, music, curry and tats
Have spent a cheerful afternoon going through my music directory telling Musicmatch Jukebox to prepend the filenames with the track number. Have also discovered how to tell it to do this automatically on rip - obviously it's in Settings / Recorder / TRACKS DIRECTORY. "Track Number" under "Name Track File Using" is now checked. This will enable me to listen to albums in the order the artist intended, even when burned to MP3 (my car stereo sorts alphanetically duh). Similarly, I have sorted the tracks from the album ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ghostbritain gave me into folders, so I can find tracks more easily when I have a mind to (and, again, numbered them by track).
So.
I was going to do a more detailed breakdown of the weekend's musical experiences, but I have decided that others are vastly more capable than I. So here are a few concise notes. Go here to see the full listing and find web pages for the bands, I can't be bothered...
BRITISH SEA POWER: Quite good, IIRC.
AUF DU MAUR: Um, yeah, whatever. The lead singer (whose life storymrssshhh insisted on telling me - not, in fact, either ghostbritain or gowhonker) dressed as a bondage chick then went on about how the songs were all about love and music and sweetness and pixies and light, which I suppose would appeal to a certain demographic. I said something else about them at the time - possibly "A bit bass-heavy" - but I can't recall exactly.
VON BONDIES: Pleasently entertaining until they reached their popular hit single ("C'mon, c'mon"), at which point I enjoyed them a lot. I think I like music more if I've heard it before, especially if I know it well enough to hear it in my head.
GREEN DAY: As I mentioned, they sound exactly the same live as they do in my car, so no great beans.
THE KILLS: Enormously bass-heavy, being just a bass guitar and vocals. And a drum machine. (Jack White, take note.) The two-part vocal harmonies were excellent, but they were rather samey after a while. I honestly couldn't tell which song was the "fantastic" one (Fuck The People).
GOLDIE LOOKIN CHAIN were fantastic. I remain doubtful that they could ever make it in the states, with all the references to Grange Hill and Jim'll Fix It, but we love them. I saw some debate in a magazine somewhere about whether they are genuine chavvers or not; either way, the comedy in the lyrics is clearly intentional, so I don't see that it matters.
TAKING BACK SUNDAY were obviously playing the wrong day. Also a bit derivative.
REEL BIG FISH: I enjoyed, despite everybody telling me I would enjoy them. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to listen to them again, but I certainly wouldn't switch the radio off if they came on.
HUNDRED REASONS passed almost without note. Bit generic, again. Or possibly just unmemorable.
How did I miss JURASSIC 5? I certainly wasn't listening to anybody else at the time, but I managed to avoid hearing a single track. Maybe I was getting food, or sleeping, or something.
Anyway, back to the main stage in time for THE DISTILLERS, who again I remember nothing about.
THE HIVES: A bit harsh and discordant for my taste. I do not enjoy screeching people or things.
ASH were cool.
OFFSPRING are getting on a bit, but were still entertaining.
THE DARKNESS were a highlight. They played lots of songs from their (only) album as well as plenty of new material, a cover of a song by The Radioheads ("Street Spirit (Fade Out)"), and a generally amiable air of RAWK. Finished with a 10-minute finale that meandered organically through a Queen song and climaxed with a massively over-the-top firework display. Rockets exploding into hearts and stars. Fantastic. Spoiled only by some cunts behind us throwing beer around.
YOUNG HEART ATTACK and THURSDAY have blended into one in my mind. They both ROARED things, which does not impress me.
RAZORLIGHT were easier on the ear.ghostbritain pointed out that the lead singer ("Jonny", apparently) was quite sexy and I should want him. I had been thinking that he had nice hair, but was a bit emaciated, and commented as such. This was met with some disappointment. Jonny then removed his shirt, and I conceded that he was fairly hot, though still a little on the undernourished side, which brightened ghostbritain's mood a little. He continues his claims to 100% heterosexuality. Ho-ho. (On a related note, I had mentioned earlier in the weekend that a naked torso nets a man automatic "shirtless" points, but these points can be either positive or negative depending on the torso in question. This excited ghostbritain and he kept pointing to torsos to see if I thought they were positive or negative. I say again, 100%.)
NEW YORK DOLLS and THE ROOTS are again curiously absent from my mind. I may have had a little sleep at this point.
FRANZ FERDINAND kicked ass. Again, they may have been improved by my already having listened to (most of) their album. There was some blatant homoerotic moves going on during "Michael", but they may just have been playing to the crowd. Lead singer would have been prettier if he didn't have black sunken eyes (or possibly heavy eyeshadow).
THEOVALLIVERTINES: Dead sexy. Except for the guitarist with the pale face (possibly makeup), big mop of black hair and stripey red sleeves, which made him look like a scary clown. Or perhaps the Sandman. Either way, not right. Oh, yeah, and they played some music as well, some of which I knew.
MORRISSEY: Giant name at back of stage. He is old and mad. We all laughed so hard. I am not sure if we were laughing with him or at him. He may be either a comedy genius or a tuna sandwich.
THE WHITE STRIPES: Only caught 10 minutes of them, because they started late and I needed time to push through the crowd to slip away to the Concrete Jungle Stage. I enjoy one or two songs by the Stripes, but most of them are just noise to me. Luckily I managed to catch Hotel Zorba as I snuck out. Meg continues to annoy me with her inability to carry a beat. She has one job. Maybe traditional timekeeping is an opressive tool of the patriarchy, or something.
Over on the Concrete Jungle stage, meanwhile, I listened to A. They were cool, and made the weekend for me. It occurred to me while I waited for them that, for some reason, I was in a side stage whileghostbritain was whoring himself at the main event. (It lated emerged that I was robbed of this distinction by samharber's old man tendencies, since he left the Stripes almost immediately after I did and took ghostbritain with him, being his ride home. But the point is that Nook wanted to be there.) A are a band who had one hit single about three years ago and have been largely unheard of (at least in my mainstream musical experience) since. As it happened, a few weeks ago I found their album on a work colleague's shared music drive, and listened to it. I loved it. They're a smooth mix of razor-sharp riffs intercut with sing-along harmonies and the occasional burst of melodic electronica. Variety is a thing I like in a song; while I am a fan of thumping bass and staccato drumbeats it doesn't mean a thing to me if it just loops for 32 bars. It's got to soar and weave, which is something A do a lot of, so when I noticed they were playing I had to turn up. I had thought that there was a lot of studio post-production going on, but it turns out they're just as good live - the electronica is produced on-stage by a guy with a keyboard. They played some familiar tracks from the album, and some new stuff from their "new record - which will come out as soon as our record company remembers its a record company and starts producing records again". Every song has a hook, and the whole tent was bouncing along - even to the stuff that was (allegedly) getting its first play that night. Even I was bobbing, clapping, hollering and swaying, despite my noted preference for music I've heard and know. Quite aside from anything else the band seemed to have a genuine affection for the fans; the lead singer kept thanking everybody for enjoying it or just for being there, and generally loving us. After the set he came back out to give a heartfelt apology that they weren't being allowed to do an encore - apparently it would cost £20000 for one more track, for some reason. (Cost who? He didn't say. Do the artists have to pay for the privilege of performing? Or would it have cost the organizers - something to do with power consumption on the lights and sound or whatever? Insurance, maybe? I don't know.) Anyway, I'm glad I went, it was great.
Note that these reviews are entirely subjective and I am using some of these words without a license, so they may be directed wrongly. That's not my problem.
So, today I was expecting a call frommyki about going out for a curry - at 5 o'clock I realised my phone had entirely run out of batteries, hence this not arriving. On charging, I found a text message saying the curry was at 2. Oh well, after a quick call to Mike I found that the curry place was closed anyway and they'd been to the pub instead - I still would have liked to have gone but it's less of a loss. Apparently they're going to see Chronicles of Riddick later, which I passed over on the basis that I've seen it - it was tempting to get at least some use out of my UGC unlimited cinema pass, but I really don't want to expend the petrol for that movie.
Currently have a "tattoo"; it was free from the Nintendo GBA stand. I assumed it was a game tie-in, but apparently it's just a GBA special edition. Bizarre. Still, I have the design on that case on my left forearm in black ink. It looks cool. Every so often (like now) I consider getting a tattoo. Then I remind myself that it will still be there when I am sixty. This puts me off, as old men with tattoos are sad.
ghostbritain gave me into folders, so I can find tracks more easily when I have a mind to (and, again, numbered them by track).So.
I was going to do a more detailed breakdown of the weekend's musical experiences, but I have decided that others are vastly more capable than I. So here are a few concise notes. Go here to see the full listing and find web pages for the bands, I can't be bothered...
Friday
LOSTPROPHETS: I wandered by just as they were playing their one good song. I consider this a blessing from Serendipity.BRITISH SEA POWER: Quite good, IIRC.
AUF DU MAUR: Um, yeah, whatever. The lead singer (whose life story
mrssshhh insisted on telling me - not, in fact, either ghostbritain or gowhonker) dressed as a bondage chick then went on about how the songs were all about love and music and sweetness and pixies and light, which I suppose would appeal to a certain demographic. I said something else about them at the time - possibly "A bit bass-heavy" - but I can't recall exactly.VON BONDIES: Pleasently entertaining until they reached their popular hit single ("C'mon, c'mon"), at which point I enjoyed them a lot. I think I like music more if I've heard it before, especially if I know it well enough to hear it in my head.
GREEN DAY: As I mentioned, they sound exactly the same live as they do in my car, so no great beans.
THE KILLS: Enormously bass-heavy, being just a bass guitar and vocals. And a drum machine. (Jack White, take note.) The two-part vocal harmonies were excellent, but they were rather samey after a while. I honestly couldn't tell which song was the "fantastic" one (Fuck The People).
Saturday
Today I stayed on the main stage almost right through the day.GOLDIE LOOKIN CHAIN were fantastic. I remain doubtful that they could ever make it in the states, with all the references to Grange Hill and Jim'll Fix It, but we love them. I saw some debate in a magazine somewhere about whether they are genuine chavvers or not; either way, the comedy in the lyrics is clearly intentional, so I don't see that it matters.
TAKING BACK SUNDAY were obviously playing the wrong day. Also a bit derivative.
REEL BIG FISH: I enjoyed, despite everybody telling me I would enjoy them. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to listen to them again, but I certainly wouldn't switch the radio off if they came on.
HUNDRED REASONS passed almost without note. Bit generic, again. Or possibly just unmemorable.
How did I miss JURASSIC 5? I certainly wasn't listening to anybody else at the time, but I managed to avoid hearing a single track. Maybe I was getting food, or sleeping, or something.
Anyway, back to the main stage in time for THE DISTILLERS, who again I remember nothing about.
THE HIVES: A bit harsh and discordant for my taste. I do not enjoy screeching people or things.
ASH were cool.
OFFSPRING are getting on a bit, but were still entertaining.
THE DARKNESS were a highlight. They played lots of songs from their (only) album as well as plenty of new material, a cover of a song by The Radioheads ("Street Spirit (Fade Out)"), and a generally amiable air of RAWK. Finished with a 10-minute finale that meandered organically through a Queen song and climaxed with a massively over-the-top firework display. Rockets exploding into hearts and stars. Fantastic. Spoiled only by some cunts behind us throwing beer around.
Sunday
Again was spent largely on the main stage. We missed the 5678s due to the enormous walk to the car (as we packed our tents up to leave that evening in order to avoid the traffic on Monday), which was a bit sad, because I want to hear some of their other material that is not WOO-HOO, but I suppose that is what the intarwebs are for.YOUNG HEART ATTACK and THURSDAY have blended into one in my mind. They both ROARED things, which does not impress me.
RAZORLIGHT were easier on the ear.
ghostbritain pointed out that the lead singer ("Jonny", apparently) was quite sexy and I should want him. I had been thinking that he had nice hair, but was a bit emaciated, and commented as such. This was met with some disappointment. Jonny then removed his shirt, and I conceded that he was fairly hot, though still a little on the undernourished side, which brightened ghostbritain's mood a little. He continues his claims to 100% heterosexuality. Ho-ho. (On a related note, I had mentioned earlier in the weekend that a naked torso nets a man automatic "shirtless" points, but these points can be either positive or negative depending on the torso in question. This excited ghostbritain and he kept pointing to torsos to see if I thought they were positive or negative. I say again, 100%.)NEW YORK DOLLS and THE ROOTS are again curiously absent from my mind. I may have had a little sleep at this point.
FRANZ FERDINAND kicked ass. Again, they may have been improved by my already having listened to (most of) their album. There was some blatant homoerotic moves going on during "Michael", but they may just have been playing to the crowd. Lead singer would have been prettier if he didn't have black sunken eyes (or possibly heavy eyeshadow).
THE
MORRISSEY: Giant name at back of stage. He is old and mad. We all laughed so hard. I am not sure if we were laughing with him or at him. He may be either a comedy genius or a tuna sandwich.
THE WHITE STRIPES: Only caught 10 minutes of them, because they started late and I needed time to push through the crowd to slip away to the Concrete Jungle Stage. I enjoy one or two songs by the Stripes, but most of them are just noise to me. Luckily I managed to catch Hotel Zorba as I snuck out. Meg continues to annoy me with her inability to carry a beat. She has one job. Maybe traditional timekeeping is an opressive tool of the patriarchy, or something.
Over on the Concrete Jungle stage, meanwhile, I listened to A. They were cool, and made the weekend for me. It occurred to me while I waited for them that, for some reason, I was in a side stage while
ghostbritain was whoring himself at the main event. (It lated emerged that I was robbed of this distinction by samharber's old man tendencies, since he left the Stripes almost immediately after I did and took ghostbritain with him, being his ride home. But the point is that Nook wanted to be there.) A are a band who had one hit single about three years ago and have been largely unheard of (at least in my mainstream musical experience) since. As it happened, a few weeks ago I found their album on a work colleague's shared music drive, and listened to it. I loved it. They're a smooth mix of razor-sharp riffs intercut with sing-along harmonies and the occasional burst of melodic electronica. Variety is a thing I like in a song; while I am a fan of thumping bass and staccato drumbeats it doesn't mean a thing to me if it just loops for 32 bars. It's got to soar and weave, which is something A do a lot of, so when I noticed they were playing I had to turn up. I had thought that there was a lot of studio post-production going on, but it turns out they're just as good live - the electronica is produced on-stage by a guy with a keyboard. They played some familiar tracks from the album, and some new stuff from their "new record - which will come out as soon as our record company remembers its a record company and starts producing records again". Every song has a hook, and the whole tent was bouncing along - even to the stuff that was (allegedly) getting its first play that night. Even I was bobbing, clapping, hollering and swaying, despite my noted preference for music I've heard and know. Quite aside from anything else the band seemed to have a genuine affection for the fans; the lead singer kept thanking everybody for enjoying it or just for being there, and generally loving us. After the set he came back out to give a heartfelt apology that they weren't being allowed to do an encore - apparently it would cost £20000 for one more track, for some reason. (Cost who? He didn't say. Do the artists have to pay for the privilege of performing? Or would it have cost the organizers - something to do with power consumption on the lights and sound or whatever? Insurance, maybe? I don't know.) Anyway, I'm glad I went, it was great.Note that these reviews are entirely subjective and I am using some of these words without a license, so they may be directed wrongly. That's not my problem.
So, today I was expecting a call from
myki about going out for a curry - at 5 o'clock I realised my phone had entirely run out of batteries, hence this not arriving. On charging, I found a text message saying the curry was at 2. Oh well, after a quick call to Mike I found that the curry place was closed anyway and they'd been to the pub instead - I still would have liked to have gone but it's less of a loss. Apparently they're going to see Chronicles of Riddick later, which I passed over on the basis that I've seen it - it was tempting to get at least some use out of my UGC unlimited cinema pass, but I really don't want to expend the petrol for that movie.Currently have a "tattoo"; it was free from the Nintendo GBA stand. I assumed it was a game tie-in, but apparently it's just a GBA special edition. Bizarre. Still, I have the design on that case on my left forearm in black ink. It looks cool. Every so often (like now) I consider getting a tattoo. Then I remind myself that it will still be there when I am sixty. This puts me off, as old men with tattoos are sad.
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The Kills don't have a bass player. Or a bass. It's just a chick and a guy with a guitar. And sometimes a drummer and another guitarist. Or a drum machine.
You might have noticed that i was arguing with Neil's rating of chicks, but not your rating of fella's. This is because i am not informed on the point of male attractiveness, and genuinely feel that most men are ugly, and those that arn't are more objects of art than lust.
Morrissey is a tuna sandwich. An entertaining fishy figure of tragedy.
What annoyed me about The White Stripes and our departure was i sat (stood) through Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines & Morrissey (none of whom i was particularly eager to see) so i could see The White Stripes, and Sam then demands we leave as they start their second song.
Bah!
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On the The Kills: Sadly I do not know one guitar from another. It seemed very low to me, so that's what I went with. Bass harmonics rather than bass guitar...
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1) It was me with the life story.
2) I was right about all the girls, and the rest of you were wrong.
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I didn't think so - they interacted with the audience a fair bit, extended several songs out while chatting, got some of the audience up on stage to play their instruments (they always do) and generally pissed about. They weren't the best and most entertaining band of the festival, by any means, but I definitely wouldn't say they sound just the same live as on CD. You did only see them for about 10 minutes, which may explain our differing views ;-)
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Also, I got mine in a place I can't actually see without a mirror so I take comfort in knowing that if I tire of it, I can pretend it's not there.