Variations of a Bob

So, approximately eight weeks have gone by and I eventually return. I will now attempt to remember anything noteworthy which has happened over these past few weeks:

The Great Escape

I went to Brighton, I got very drunk and had lots of fun.  I saw: The Temper Trap; ME with lots of drummers; Perfume Genius in a church; Crowns in a launderette; We Are Scientists from behind a pillar; And possibly some others which I can no longer remember, partly due to time passing, partly due to too much Red Stripe.

Watch The Throne

Jay-Z and Kanye West descended upon the O2 last month, and christ on a bike  it was fantastic. In terms of hip-hop shows this probably counts as my second after Snoop Dogg at Lovebox last year (this may or may not be a correct calculation), but regardless of whether or not hip-hop is your ‘thing’, it was amazing. Two stages, two blokes (and when I say ‘blokes’ I mean two of the biggest men in the rap world today), some projections and a lot of pyro. I can’t quite explain how much I enjoyed it, all you need to know is that I did, a lot. And I danced like a white chick, a lot. And then I went again. And have now decided that I want to be a rapper. And am definitely not over saying ‘that shit cray’. That shit cray.

Bushstock

Always space for Communion related gallivanting in my world so I went to see the old crew at Bushstock a few weeks back. The second festival of the season, it was another nice attempt at ‘easing into the season’… And by that it was basically an excuse to drink all day and watch some music. Although we managed to fail rather badly on the latter. As much as I love Fionn Regan, by the time he took the church, I had drank a lot. Which meant an inevitable case of inappropriate giggles… So we had to leave. And go see Mystery Jets. Where I proceeded to dance on some seats and drink some more cider. This was then followed by SoRo Party DJing a SPECTACULAR nineties set after a few too many tequilas. Probably my highlight of the whole thing.

Download

My first work festival was Download. It was also my first time there, ever. Not for lack of wanting to go in my teenage years might I add… Anyway. I arrived on Friday to a rather muddy site and watched Prodigy in the rain. It was fun, once the wind stopped blowing the sound in the opposite direction that was. As well as that, the rest of the weekend involved Lower Than Atlantis; Steel Panther, who are now my new favourite band; Tenacious D; Biffy Clyro; attempting to avoid Metallica but failing, partly due to James Hetfield joining us on the viewing platform during Biffy, personally, crap celebrities excite me a lot more; running away from Metallica’s set at the earliest opportunity to watch You Me At Six instead and Soundgarden. It was lots of fun. I definitely like Download.

Lovebox

For my second consecutive weekend drinking cider and watching bands in a field I went to Lovebox, slightly closer to home and slightly less muddy than the previous excursion. I once again slipped into the trap of drinking and having too much fun doing so rather than actually watching as many bands as I should have done, but in no particular order the following were witnessed: Hot Chip; Kelis; Friendly Fires; Crystal Fighters; Patrick Wolf; Chaka Khan; Grace Jones. I did however fail to see The Rapture, who, next to Patrick Wolf were my main priority, I blame TFL. But yet again, more FUN.

(*This is by no means an all inclusive list of what I have done, but, as I mentioned, just what I can remember, however vaguely)

I am now currently not in a field, drinking pints and watching bands, and am instead watching Hackney Weekend footage from the ‘comfort’ of my bed. I would much rather be doing the former. This ‘quiet’ lifestyle doesn’t suit me… BUT it will hopefully not last much longer as festival season is now in what I would consider full swing. Up next: Wireless, Hard Rock Calling and more than likely all sorts of other things I can’t currently think of…

I’ll try to be more coherent next time I grace this corner of the internet. Please remember it is my first sober weekend in a long time… Probably since the last time I decided to write anything here… Here’s to the next sober weekend. Or not.

Vidal Sassoon passed away today, which is very sad news to me. And given that this blog is named after my favourite and probably never-again-changing haircut for which he was responsible for, I felt it only appropriate to share my appreciation of him, probably not in the most articulate of ways, but the sentiment’s still the same.

In fact, I’m going to give up before I start with attempting to share my appreciation and simply advise you to read his autobiography which does as good a job as you’d hope detailing his life and why he was so great. And not just because of the hairdressing. Instead, I’m going to leave this with just a picture:

RIP

I am quite clearly what some may call ‘a bit rubbish’ at keeping this blogging malarkey a regular thing. However, due to immense boredom on a Sunday afternoon HERE I AM! (Please imagine in the campest way imaginable, jazz hands included).

The main things I can currently remember which have occurred since the last post include the last week’s activity:

1) I went to see McFly

Yes, you read correctly. I went to see McFly last week. I have never heard such a sound as that of thousands of girls contained in one room screaming at the top of their lungs. I have also not had that much fun for quite a while. I must make it clear however that I did forfeit screaming for drinking cider though. This clearly set the tone for the rest of the weekend which involved listening to an awful lot of pop music with the bad influence that is SoRoParty. It must also be noted that we make bloody amazing pop DJs (specialising in the hits of the 90s/early 00s. Obviously.).

2) I had a Jack White-tastic week

In contrast to the weekend, Monday saw Jack White release Blunderbuss, which as I’m sure by now everyone’s aware, I was quite excited about. To celebrate this, he played at The Forum. To celebrate this with him, I went to The Forum to see him play. It was very good. Very VERY good in fact. Blunderbuss is also, obviously, very VERY good too. He also gave us all a poster on the way out of the venue, which is stuck very proudly to my bedroom wall. Even if it is slightly creepy…

I also think this allowed me to regain some sort of ‘credibility’ following the previous weekend… Maybe…

3) Communion celebrated their second birthday

My old work crew Communion celebrated their second birthday on Thursday. This firstly means it’s been two years since I worked there, secondly that it’s been two years since they released their first compilation, and finally gives everyone an excuse for a piss up. Which I think everyone willingly took part, and more importantly succeeded, in. They’ve also gone and released this too:

So yes, these things happened. What is next on my list of activities? I do not know, but you will surely find out on the next boring Sunday I have… Do wait in suspense should you feel the need.

This time last week, I was at the NME Awards. I imagine at this time I was still relatively cohesive given that it had only been going on for an hour, however this did not last long. When faced with a table full of booze I was obviously going to rise to the challenge. This ultimately resulted in a little incident involving vomit and a taxi. Out of the window might I just point out. So there it is, it’s official, the NME makes you vomit. In the best way possible obviously.

I’m still upset that don’t remember Noel Gallagher singing Don’t Look Back in Anger because I know I loved every second of it, and howled along to every word. I do however remember Pulp, Kasabian (given that they opened the entire thing this is a very good thing), The Maccabees (vaguely), genuinely finding Jack Whitehall quite funny and um… Maybe some more bits, maybe not. Here are some pictures I took, the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that these were all taken within approximately the first 10 minutes.

If you’d like to see the Awards, or, as in my case, have to watch them in an attempt to refresh your memory, the NME have kindly put them online here.

And one week on from that ridiculous initiation into the world of award ceremonies, NME turned 60 today. I know people like to moan about the dirty rag, but it was something of a bible to me for a rather long period of my teenage years, so I think it deserves a very HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY from me.

And in complete contrast to sitting in Brixton Academy with a bottle of Jager in front of me last week, this week, I’m watching Masterchef.

Just over a year ago, after their official split, I wrote An Ode To The White Stripes. Because that’s how I roll, apparently. Now, one year on, Jack’s back, this time without Alison Mosshart, Brendon Benson or Wanda Jackson, with a solo album on its way. Unsurprisingly, this pleases me greatly.

This is Love Interruption, happy Valentines Day.

Which up until now I have forgotten to share my appreciation for.

Firstly, The Shins are back. This makes me very happy. And, as I ran to Soundcloud a little while ago to find the link to Simple Song, I notice there’s another one – the B Side to Simple Song – ‘September’. What a nice surprise. Here’s the video, and the aforementioned Simple Song, which I’ve now written three times:

Simple Song by The Shins

And Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow are on Spotify these days now too. Which is also nice.

Someone else I’ve neglected to mention is Frankie Rose. and I have also just discovered that her whole album can now be streamed here. Yet another nice surprise. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I’m sure it is good. If not, I apologise.

Purely coincidentally, both The Shins new album ‘Port Of Morrow’ and Frankie Rose ‘Interstellar’ are released on my birthday. *Hint hint*. The Shins are also playing at The Forum in London three days after my birthday. Should anyone care to take me on a birthday adventure to Kentish Town… *HINT HINT*

Another ENORMOUS *HINT HINT* can be directed towards this. If you click on that link, it will take to you the ATP site. Specifically the page which tells you The National are curating ATP in December. Wye Oak will be playing. Need I say more?

(NB – In defense of the delay of this post, I feel I should mention some contributing factors, namely:

I have started a new job, and
I’ve been house-hunting

Only two reasons yes, but I think they’re substantial enough to earn some understanding. I will also try to make sure my next post is less scatty, with fewer repeated words, less *s and less hints… I can’t promise anything though…)

I like Friends. Rather a lot. I think you should too.

Friends – Sampler by LuckyNumberMusic

In fact, Lucky Number Music are doing a pretty nifty job on the good band front, with Caged Animals going into that pile too. Eat Their Own is what I’d class as a good album, and the video below, for All The Beautiful Things In The World features lots of bums, boobs, and even a hairy armpit. If you’re into that sort of thing. NSFW indeed.

Here’s 45 minutes worth of The Flaming Lip talking about The Soft Bulletin.I’d like one of these for every FLips album please.

It makes me sad to think that LCD Soundsystem are gone forever, but also quite excited that this is still to come… Oh, and I love James Murphy’s dog.