Larsen B

Back to the festival then, here's my two cents Rockness 2010: the DiS review / Music News // Drowned In Sound

It is growing on me with every listen, but at the moment I would still rank this behind Alligator and The Boxer.

I second this, I really can't see it bettering them personally. My favourite tracks are Anyone's Ghost, Conversation 16 and England.

This by Lake Heartbeat.

So damned breezy and care-free and refreshing and Swedish.

Jean Hilltop-McKnight.

That's a male name btw like Jean Claude Van Damme. Really doesn't work, what with the bloody foreigners first name(!!!) and the stupid street name.

I think solid is about right. The problem is that the hype machine has gone into overdrive, but I reckon this is really just another National album. Not to say it won't be excellent, but they aren't ones for revelatiry music, all their albums are growers so it could seem a bit of a letdown to some on early listens. That said 2 and half streams for me and it's already growing on me immensely. Especially 'Afraid of Everyone'.

Yes! I full endorse this statement

I do still buy NME maybe once every second week or so. It boils my fucking blood sometimes, but I enjoy having a music magazine that's weekly as opposed to a months worth of music news/reviews crammed into one 4 magazine. Even though 2 thirds of the writers at NME are ballsacks, there are a handful who I really enjoy reading.

I picked up an Uncut the other day, mainly because it had two long and very good features on Joanna Newsom and Orange Juice (the latter was a brilliant read) but I thought 4.50 was pretty steep.

I read the odd music website i.e Pitchfork, DrownedInSound etc but the problem with internet stuff is that the internet is for nerds. And its run by nerds. And its rubbish. (removes tongue from cheek).

Having read NME a few times recently I'd say it has improved a bit. Some of the longer reviews are well written and there's greater breadth in their coverage now, although it feels a little like they're just playing catch-up with Pitchfork, DiS et al. It's certainly improved since Conor McNicholas left anyway, although you seriously wonder how anybody could write an article hailing Mumford and Sons as revolutionary and also think the fact that one member plays banjo is worthy of a "(!)".

I think I bought Kerrang! once for a CD that was on it, I never bothered actually reading the words or looking at the pictures.

Thus my magazine buying story begins and also ends.

Used to go to drownedinsound.com a lot but that faded out for no particular reason a couple of years ago. Maybe I'll go back there some time.

I think you should go back to DiS, because they have great writers, like me, arf!

The Quietus and Line of Best Fit are good British websites also.

Give the man a biscuit!

I have to say, after seeing the workings of a 6Music radio show first hand, it goes a long way to really appreciating how good a job these people do. From the BBC sound engineer, the show management team, Marc Riley himself, and even the interns, they were all very professional, communicative and, frankly, extremely good at their jobs. It'd be a fucking killer if these guys lost their jobs.

Marc played Flaming Lips and then Liars consecutively - how many other national radio stations would allow that?

And he just had Stephin Merritt on!!!!

A very worthy cause. The evening shift of Marc Riley and Gideon Coe is some of the highest quality radio I've ever heard.

Wasn't someone from this forum playing live on 6Music just this evening?

I think it was Mr Idol Wild as part of Meursault. I filled out the consultation form and sent an email last week.

When playing Fifa 10/ Footy Manager I always make up relationships with all my players and give them back stories in my head. I might suddenly decide to get rid of a star player because he missed training for a week and such like, even though its all in my head. This often effects my team selection in Fifa as I will give a lot of the squad players a game even though my best players could easily play the game. There's no other way for me.

My friend and I use to do this for the fake master league players on the old Pro Evs. Valery/Valeny was a convicted rapist and the one Scotsman, Eddington/Eddingson, was a convicted kiddy fiddler. The back stories mainly consisted of sexual crimes to be honest.

My least controllable habit is probably moving my jaw when i'm playing a sport, although I seem to do it less these days. Back when I played school and boys club football I looked like I was trying to catch flies whenever I was running. I sometimes even do it when playing computer games, although it's more a of a slow grind in those cases.

My other stupid habit is running up staircases gradually lowering my posture so that I crawl for the last third of the staircase. I generally can control this now in public, but a couple of times almost did it in shopping centres and the like. I think it's just a childhood habit dying hard.

Tunng - And Then We Saw Land

Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks

Efterklang - Magic Chairs

The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project - We Are Only Riders

Last Harbour - Volo

Various - Rough Trade Counter Culture 2009

Shearwater - Golden Archipelego

Get Well Soon - Vexations

I found the new Efterklang a bit dull and precious. New Tunng ain't bad, Last Harbour is ok but for similarities to Nick Cave. Haven't really gotten into the new FR yet.

Nice choices, watching Sea of Teeth I saw another of my favourites in the sidebar:

Sad indeed. RIP. Favourite Sparklehorse song:

YouTube - Sparklehorse feat. Nina Persson - Gold Day

They must just know some one in the biz. That's how it works right... ? I absolutely refuse to believe its be cause people like them. They really need a bassist and some tunes that make sense within the context of music.

I believe the lead singer is the brother of the infinitely superior

Graviscalar - Yell Going Through the Door

1. Celmira

2. Frederick Gowland Hopkins

3. Boumdeid

4. Bcancour

5. Jim Finks

6. Samuel Conway

7. The End of Celluloid

8. AMD K5

9. Wolverhampton Council election, 1987

10. D?u?ec, W?gorzewo County

A skewed blend of eastern european folk strings, afro-pop rhythms percussion and fractured beats...and Midlands grass roots politics.

I was wanting to read any reviews you'd done there because I do the same for Drowned In Sound and also I remembered your end of year doo-dah for Is This Music and thought it was well written, and the same goes for your Los Campesinos review. Not that I'm judging it in any music writerly way or anything, it just reads well to me. I've now realised I've seen you commenting on a mutual aquaintance's page on facebook n all.

The Play.com sale that is on at present is a feast of goodies, all the following obtained at 4.99 or less -

Liars ~ Liars

Okkervil River ~ The Stand Ins/The Stage Names

Fever Ray ~ Fever Ray

Eagles of Death Metal ~ Heart On

Noah and the Whale ~ First Days of Spring

Ian Brown ~ My Way

Duke Spirit ~ Neptune

Dot Allison ~ Room 7.5

The Black Keys ~ Attack and Release (CD + DVD)

Swervedriver ~ Juggernaut Rides (2CD)

Two brilliant albums!

Owen Pallett - Heartland \

Mm - Finally We Are No One

I never listened to Final Fantasy much but love Heartland.

I hate Tony Mowbray, if your players aren't gelling into a team the way to solve that problem isn't to sell the players who have experience of winning titles and buying in more obscure mediocre foreigners to replace them. The title race is completely over and I'm just shitting it about ending up third!

Camera Obscura are a notable absence.

Beach House- Teen Dream

Magnetic Fields - Realism

Never liked any of his music, but it's a shame, in the way than anyone's death (especially at a relatively young age) is.

Big Star are great. I like #1 Record. Radio City not so much.

I had the two of them for a while now, but have never managed to get into them. I still really want to hear Third/Sister Lovers though.

Fair play. I heard Twin Cinema first and got really into it to the point where I think it's about all I listened to for the month I heard it.

Not one of my favourite albums by a long shot, but it's perhaps the most melodically accomplished album I own.

this

is v good

the hooks are a bit more subtle and the whole record is a bit overlong being a double-album but it never lost my interest

i saw beach house once and thought they were the most boring band i've ever seen but what i've heard of their new record is pretty amazing

liars have something out this year as well, i think. that'll probably be worth hearing

Beach House are fairly somnambulistic, but I liked their first two albums and like Norway off the new one.

Others album coming out soon I'm looking forward to are Yeasayer, These New Puritans, Magnetic Fields. I've heard the new Spoon album and it is pretty decent. Later in the year The National, LCD Soundsystem and Jens Lekman amongst others.