The Chapman Family

The Chapman Family. Astoundingly intelligent, judging, you-appear-to-have-no-knowledge-of-this-issue-so-please-kindly-fuck-off, cynical, forboding, yet really fucking enjoyable and endorphine producing rock. If you haven't had your latest news update then don't bother. Get these songs in your ears. Pretend that the knock at your front door isn't the apocalypse coming to take you. It probably is. Hide.

Kids is seriously going to make you assume that either you or society have failed. In actuality, it is both. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But somehow out of this massive let-down a band can create such a song as to create a nervous feeling as to make you await Jon Snow at 7pm just to affirm it all. But like Jon, The Chapman Family are telling you like it is in a way that indicates that a snazzy tie and socks combo and grilling a politician, or in the case of The Chapman Family an unsettlingly accurate account of the state of things packaged as a hook-line-and-sinker of a rollicking great song, might, might, MIGHT somehow change it all.

As a band that have come from my hometown, I am not so much biased, as we have produced a fair few indie bands over the years, but completely reassured and inspired.

So seeing The Chapman Family at Empire in Middlesbrough, the venue I see as my second living room -- it really is that familiar -- was a joy. A scary amount of feedback and the general problem with that venue of late, of the destruction of everyone's ability to enjoy a future free of tinnitus, hampered what would have been a truly proud moment for everyone from Teesside. Yet it did not deter the audience or the band from really enjoying a another, obviously frantic performance that The Chapman Family have become reliable for.

A old little taster..

The Chapman Family - You Think Your Funny [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Go to their MySpace page to hear an interview with the ever engaging Kingsley. Honestly, get into a conversation with this man, it is enriching as well as entertaining.

Then feeling his plight go buy the single!

If The Chapman Family are not a cult then they fucking should be!

The Maccabees

Never a consideration previously. But this song is under my skin like a spell-binding love.



The Maccabees have certainly pricked up my ears.

And that is what it is all about. Always a massively refreshing feeling. Like a lemon top from Redcar.

Camera Obscura @ O2 Academy, Newcastle

The return of a much loved band in our apartment-hold. Brimming with nostalgia; personal, musical, cultural and historical. Camera Obscura are so endearing, smile-enducing and humble. A band that have never shook that ever so slightly awkward feeling. You can see they love what they do musically but still worry as to how it will be received. It is not something that you see often -- if ever -- in this cock-sure industry.

So to see the Scottish band return to the live circuit again is delightful. It was a joy to see them play their new material last week, Tuesday 21st April, at the Academy. A venue I feel is perfect for the band. Dark, warm; enclosed in the palm of great big firm, yet reassuring hands. An audience that waiting verging on impatiently, but only due to the great sense of anticipation at sharing the air with a well-loved band of such likable people. My posse and I were actually impatient. We usually are. (But especially after the support act, not amusing.)

And not without reason. With teasers of new material surfacing it certainly gave the feeling that the wait would be worth it all. Their new album is certain to accompany the summer with no difficulty whatsoever. A genuine perfect match. Jangly, glorious and divinely orchestrated. To hear the a Camera Obscura track is to almost embark on an adventure that will surely deliver nothing but twee perfection.

With a couple of fluffs for good measure there is no way not to fall in love with Camera Obscura a little bit more for each one.



A cathartic appearance from a song that I did not expect to hear, and was quite choked to having to stand through publicly.

Extremely close to the bone. I'm not even sure why I'm sharing.

Camera Obscura - Razzle Dazzle Rose [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Friendly Fires with help from Air France make it seem better..

..just when I'm a little more than utterly despondant. A Monday you'd rather leave behind. Wishing your life away looking forward to time spent with a loved one. Dreams and aspirations that must be kept secret. Trying to make the best of something that just won't do.

This beautiful remix I've had floating around for a while has just reminded me of the hope of a life that I'm working so hard for and keeping ambition in mind it could all still fall into place.

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Air France remix) [via zShare]

Love Friendly Fires.

Adore Air France.

A localised post and suggestion..

The suggestion is that if you don't go, or you don't know about this band, then I judge you, harshly.


I love The Chapman Family.

Catching Up!

"lol" hey "gals" and Guys" well "everyone" im back! lol from no where lol! well yh im just like "renewing" my blog! so yh well i've got nuthing to say well one thing im in Adelaide for a holiday and im going back "TODAY" well i already spent 2 weeks lol almost to weeks haha... yh anywayz im going to perth tonight and yh..... im half excited half not excited well 50/50 lol!

so yh im just telling u guys wats happening oops and gals lol! yh i just happened to be on blog spot lol so yh i came on and just thought i should tell u all dat i am writting lol!

Well Happy Easter Holidays! =D

Bombay Bicycle Club

Always Like This


"Good and nice."

I think it is absolutely beautiful. Shed a tear at the end of a warm summer's day at the knowledge that now you've experienced it and it was so sweet, you'll never get it back.

Bombay Bicycle Club and their MySpace.

Wiley

Personal idol.

Once introduced and given a little bit of an education on it, you cannot deny the power of grime.

I've never wanted to share yesikan luyaln with anyone before. To be honest, I don't like sharing, full stop. But my other, infinitely better, half is fairly knowledgeable on the grime scene and I've been trying to cajole him into doing an occasional feature post.

But, try this for starters...

Wiley - Wot Do U Call It [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

The Young Knives

Pleasantly bowled over. I'd not seen The Young Knives for a long while. Possibly three years. I'm not sure. But I've forgotten how much I enjoy them. Witty, roaring, slick and yelping. I have not been to a gig in a long time that made me grin with surprise and delight.

On the rounds of promoting their third album The Young Knives seemed fairly confused to have ended up in Darlington. And as the third band I have seen in this venue this year, they were not alone in this reaction. But Darlington should be really proud to boast this venue. Inside Out is wicked and the organisers of this night Amplified! are making great impressions. Hopefully The Young Knives benefited from the experience.

The geek chic rockers seemed to revel in the opportunity to showcase their new material which appeared to widely, warmly received. It is always a little bit nervey, enough to induce a jippy tummy. But The Young Knives lived up to the challenge and used the opportunity to indulge the audience further in their new abundant pride. If you get chance, go support your Young Knives, reclaim that great feeling that they automatically induce.

There is something wonderful about that happy sense of excitable familiarity.

A retro little piece of personal joy.

The Young Knives - The Decision [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Funeral Party update..

Oooo. Get me!

Living up to a promise. Who'd have thought it?

Believe me, it is not going to happen often. Don't get excited.

Funeral Party - Carwars [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Badminton Asia AVP

Funeral Party

Sorry about the shitness of the video and please do not succumb to their advertisments. I won't be able to sleep if you do. And if I don't sleep then I'll die in 11 days or something. Thus, no more yesikan luyaln.

Liking Funeral Party though!

I'll try and find something a little more concrete that the internet has not sucked the fun out of yet to promo this wicked band better.

To blog or not to blog

Going to Europe. Back in May. Peace out!

The Butcher of Sears Mall

For part of my pre Europe planning, I decided I needed to go get a haircut. Generally, I think Europe prefers people to not like hobos, so I went with it. Anyways, so as per usual when I'm up against a time crunch and wanting to get a haircut, I make a panic decision and go to this chain salon in the Sears Mall in Anchorage. Pretty much always guaranteed to be a complete and utter failure, this one took it to a new level.

The problem wasn't even that it was a bad haircut (it was), it was the myriad of other bizarre reasons that presented themselves regularly:

• It was a dude cutting my hair
• A dude who disappeared for 10 minutes after staring at the mirror for 5 seconds and then announcing "I need to go to the bathroom"
• A dude who I was rather convinced was high
• A dude, who when discussing Europe with me, announced that he loves Amsterdam and had been there "3 times"
• A dude who shared with me that his friend had paid for a blow job in Amsterdam, much to the chagrin of his 2 coworkers and the 2 ladies who were getting their haircut
• A dude whose best haircutting techniques were the "tilt my head through violent thrusting of his razor" and "the ear cut"
• A dude who made my typically 15 minute haircut last 50 seemingly unending minutes
• A dude who, when completed, took hair paste to make my hair look exactly the same as his, using approximately somewhere between 45 and 21 pounds of said paste

Needless to say, I did not like that haircut. No I didn't, not one bit.

Strangely enough, I received no less than five compliments about my new haircut. Apparently weirdo drug addled stylists who may or may not be trying to murder their clients but are mighty fine at cutting hair.

Parade Talk

Photographs of Jason and I's parade

Last night was pretty freaking epic, with Colver and I playing an awesome round of frisbee golf, going to the pub quiz at Humpy's with the Crewnit, and ending the night with fun at McGinley's with Amy, Jason and Hannah. The strangest part of the night was unknowingly walking into a victory party for mayoral candidate Dan Sullivan at McGinley's, although in retrospect, given that he owns that bar and that it was election night, we probably should have seen that coming.

This did lead to some awesome, awesome fun for us though, as Jason and I saw an opportunity and joined their parade of celebrators as they stormed the Denai'na Center amidst other candidates and their supporters. We of course had no idea what was going on, but we had fun with the fact that we were essentially infiltrating this grand moment and that people were looking at us with such esteem ("look at those young men! so patriotic!"). Pretty much the entire time that we paraded around the Denai'na with our sign being held by the two of us, we were laughing hysterically.

We ended up getting to the ballroom at the top of the Denai'na and it was like the gang gathering in the Warriors, except you replaced the gang bangers with political enthusiasts and Cyrus with Kiddie Fox.

In short, it was amazing.

Of course, we quickly bailed, drawing the ire of Sheila Selkregg supports and the admiration of a fine young lass (Sullivan supporter) as we went down the escalators. We stepped outside, and a team of Lara Croft supporters (wait? it's Eric Croft? Seriously?) were parading the grounds in much smaller numbers (it was somewhat akin to the disparity in actual votes it turns out), with one of the supporters being an outspoken lady friend of mine who I may or may not have went to two proms with. She scolded me quickly for my Dan Sullivan sign, to which I responded with first apathy and then this nugget:

"I really like parades."

You got beef with that lady? Take it up with whoever made parades so awesome.

My iPhone Videos

Just For Fun Videos (out of boredom lolx!)

My Exploring Singapore Videos

My Christian Videos

My TV Commercials Video (Offline and Online edits)

Play ball!

Junior back in a Mariners uniform

Opening day of the Major League Baseball regular season has always been one of the best days of the year for me. I've been a baseball fanatic since I was about five, or about when Ken Griffey Jr. came into the league (this is going to sound weird, but I've always thought of time relative to Griffey coming into the league, as that is the first really, really significant thing I clearly remember), and this opening day was a special one was it marked Junior's return to the Mariners. Sure enough, he hit a home run and the Mariners won, just the way it should be.

Anyways, the point is, having baseball back just feels right. I love walking outside during breakup in Alaska, right when the dry ground starts coming out and mixing with the melting snow. It signifies that spring is coming, but also, it signifies something else: baseball. Every year, I walk out and smell that, and I have a tendency to say "it smells like baseball" to my perplexed friends or family members. I guess in a way, baseball represents everything that's right to me.

No less, welcome back Major League Baseball, Mariners, and Ken Griffey Jr. May all of you have a great season, and let's try to keep the steroids talk to a minimum, okay?

The Weekend Edition (Pre-Europe Edition)

4 more days. I'm going from really excited mode into ridiculously excited mixed with a hint of "oh my god, why am I going to Europe by myself?" but that is okay. No less, this past weekend featured, as Jason or Hannah would likely say, "everything." It was pretty fantastic. What went down?

• Taking over McGinley's with a lot of people
• Rocking Rum Runners and the Avenue with Jason, Joanne, and friends
• Gumbo House deliciousness with Dad
• Clothing shopping at 5th Ave. Mall
• First rounds of Frisbee Golf of the year!!
• Making cookies with Joanne (delish)
• Potluck at Cate and Darren's
• Slumdog Millionaire and the Sound of Music (to prepare for Europe of course!)
• Breakfast at Middle Way Cafe with Joanne
• Booking roughly 10,000 hostels/hotels for Europe trip
• Rock of Love Bussing with Amy, Hannah, and Jason

It was a great weekend, and one full of fantastic happenings. I'd say my favorite thing was the opening of the frisbee golf season. Joanne, Jason, Hannah and I went out to Westchester Lagoon because it was so nice, and it felt so good to be playing again. Alaska just doesn't feel right unless frisbee golf is an option, and having it back was just a blast. Not only that, but I was bombing it right off the bat, starting the year out right.

Plus, we totally created a new FG addict in Joanne, who got discs the next day and is ready for a full season of Anchorage FG courses (possibly with some away games at Peter's Creek even). It's like the Crewnit just brought their missing member back in, gone for the winter but back again like he'd never left. Frisbee golf...we missed you.

My Wedding Videography Demos

Cliff and Rosalind Nuptials




Alvin and Lala's Wedding



Gan-Lim Wedding


Meljun and Pia's Flashback MTV

Dan Black remix plea..

I had been complaining that no-one had really picked up on the terrific single, Alone by Dan Black, as a potentially cataclysmically awesome song to remix for quite a while. I suppose somewhere in the ether my upsets resonated.

The boyfriend named dropped, again, but I don't mind this remix. Maybe it is a grower. But right now I have a feeling in my waters that more could extrapolated from this song.

It could be fantastic.

Dan Black - Alone (Clouded Vision remix) [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Clouded Vision on MySpace. Them and their nice things.

Don't get me wrong. It is nice, n'all. But I just think this song has so much to offer in terms of remix value. If you think you could do better have a go and let me know! Please. I urge you.

Patrick Watson

Patrick Watson @ Soirée de poche - Slip into your skin from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

What can you say? I'm dumb-founded.

Favorite April Fools Joke of 2009

My favorite part of April Fools definitely isn't the the variety of mediocre attempts at faking out friends and family members (see: yesterday). It's the ridiculously awesome ones that the internet comes up with every year, most of all the fantastic Google ones.

However, this year Thinkgeek brought their A game, from the wireless extension cord they were selling, to the wiimote that comes attached to a helmet (the Wiimet), to the "Squeez Bacon," a condiment that was ketchup but made out of bacon instead of tomatoes. Delicious.

My favorite by far was the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag, a great gift for kids who want to simuluate the scene where Han cuts open the Tauntaun and puts Luke in a tauntaun to keep him warm. Except, you know, when you're camping, or sleeping in your living room in a fort. All the time. It's especially great because the insides of the sleeping bag look like the insides of a tauntaun.

Yay realism!

Led Zeppelin coming to Alaska!

Every year, I always get really anxious for the shows that will be at Moose's Tooth Summer Concert Series, and most of the time it's pretty exciting. Cake, Wilco, Matisyahu - those are some fun artists. This year? Way, way more awesome.

July - the reunited Led Zeppelin - fresh off of massive shows that were seemingly randomly selected and ridiculously huge worldwide - are coming to Alaska.

Oh. My. God. That is what I'm talking about.