Editors gig..

The first picture from last Thursday night's (18/10/07) Editors' gig at the Carling Academy in Newcastle.

Editors have always had a certain appeal to me. Even seeing them when Ten Feet Tall hosted them at Empire, waaaaaay back when. All said though, it was a pretty rubbish gig then, about 20 people in the crowd, Editors were late coming on stage, obviously not happy, played a short 20 minute set and left. As disappointing as it had been I enjoyed the time they were on stage. So having seemed to miss every tour or festival appearence they had made for about the past two and a half years I was looking forward to last Thursday.

The Back Room for me deserved all the praise it received in 2005. It fitted perfectly with my temperment to become the soundtrack to my mental breakdown of the time. As apprehensive as I was about An End Has A Start this year, and with my initial reaction to it being "Tom's vocals sound like Danny McNamara!!", I grew to love what is obviously a very different album from their debut, with feelings that the progression fans would have liked to hear from them not happening and a slightly more mainstream sound being adopted.

Having not been to the Carling Academy since Doves in 2005 I was pleasantly suprised by the venues capacity to home a lot of people comfortably. We walked in to see the end of the Ra Ra Riot, who didn't really find their flow til their last song, bit too late.

Queue Editors:



Shockingly energetic. Pounding through their recognisable tracks from the latest album. Crowd never missing a word. Yet, something not quite right. Slight dischord here, accidental changes in tempo there, mismatching of sync of band members.

"Maybe they are drunk" suggests Paul.
"I don't think so, you know when you are watching a drunk band. The Aliens?" I reply.
"Yea. You're right."

Thrashing out some of the highlights of The Back Room and utterly enthrawling the crowd, if somewhat haphazardly in places. Let's get this straight though. In the main, they were great, fantastic, a lot better than I had ever anticipated. But the musicianship and communication of the band members let them down somewhat.

This makes it especially hard to pass comment on all the new material they featured. One in particular had an incredibly atonal first chorus, and not in a cool-Cut-Copy-atonal kind of way, just atonal and wrong. But if I'm honest I really did like the sound of the new stuff. Sorry I can't name titles of songs, but, meh, I was at a gig.

The only other disappointment of the night? Missing The Kissaway Trail. Definately worth a look.

I'm a robot man..

Yes, The Aliens were absolutely fantastic. Having taken an enormous amount of time to sound check it was worth it for the set they played. And to make up for the time they lost soundchecking they overplayed their set, much to the upset and fidgetting dismay of the organisers. A guy stood at the side looking decidedly uneasy.

"Fuck Damon Gough! He can wait! The Aliens are on!"

I think I may have been heard to say. But had you have seen their set you'd have applauded such a comment. I was tickled to see Gordon Anderson demand his fellow band members back on stage to play a bit more. Ha! Brilliant.

Rebellious antics aside, their set really was great. They have a sound that must be very hard to translate into a live set. Key changes and soaring harmonies. Its not particularly suprising that they spent a while preparing. But it was definately worth it. I chanted alongside anthemically. As I have been doing ever since.

"I'm a robot maaaaaan, I'm a robot maaaaaan, I'm a robot maaaaaan, I'm a robot maaaaaan!"

Ha.

Stockton Riverside Festival

This weekend sees my hometown of Stockton-on-Tees being taken over by the yearly festival. I must admit that I always used to miss them as a kid as I spent my summers with my Dad, museum hopping in Yorkskire.

But this Saturday I am looking forward to it. If I get myself there. With the headliner being Badly Drawn Boy (okay, okay, I know I have no affection for him further than Hour Of The Bewilderbeast but whatever, its free!) it doesn't look too bad, headliners for the other days include Echo And The Bunnymen and The Ordinary Boys. All three days, Friday (today), Saturday and Sunday showcase some of the best local acts and little-known acts from further afield.

But I must say that among the other obvious acts to really get excited about, the wonderous The Chapman Family and the very brilliant Dirty Weekend, the main one I must say I've come round to actually be really excited about seeing (again) is The Aliens.

After not really being impressed by them live at Fibbers in York, which was mainly to do with the fact that a) I wasn't familiar with The Aliens b) I was more excited about being in the same room as ex-The Beta Band members and c) they were fucking wrecked! So fingers crossed that they can stave off the temptation of alcohol long enough to perform well tomorrow night.

Yet, having worked in Stockton for far too many days recently I am slightly worried that a band as truly brilliant as The Aliens are going to simply be overlooked. One of the most socio-economically deprived areas of Britain might not quite understand the enormity of the greatness and musical genius that is The Aliens.

Here is a taste of them:

The Aliens - Rox

Wow. Thats quite a talking up there, isn't it? They better be good.

Updating my MP3 player..

For my various train and bus rides home.

I've got Feist's new album, The Reminder that I have been meaning to listen to and just not got round to. And after the Boys Noize remix of My Moon My Man that seems to be making a second time appearance round the blogs, and hearing it last week at the Crystal Castle's gig, I have decided I'm very much liking that song. For the Boys Noize remix check out Missing Toof.

Oh, I should actually mention that having eventually listened to the new LCD Soundsystem album I am totally in love with its main peaks. I think All My Friends made every hair on my body stand on end if not the first, definately the second time and then everytime thereafter. Check out the Franz Ferdinand cover, cool as sin, not sure its half as good though.

The Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs is a lot better than I expected. Especially not being impressed when I saw them live recently, but I definately think there was a distinct correlation between how much alcohol they had consumed and their bad performance. Check out the track Rox I can't help but be reminded of Late Of The Pier's most ground-breaking and overly remixed Space and the Woods, there are some great remixes of it to be fair.

I've still not got Help She Can't Swim's new album. Much to my dismay. I want to purchase it but then I'd probably not be able to eat for a while. It's definately going to have to come under close consideration. Food or HSCS?

And, well, after genuinely enjoying, the most cheesy way, Our Velocity, the fun first single from the new Maximo Park album. I really should make an effort for the guys who come from where I live. I may, in fact, even wear my Maximo Park t-shirt today. Oh yes! You know it says 'Mint' on the chest in gold-foiled letters!

I'm probably going to put lots of other stuff on too but I have to read about Weber's idea on religion and various spheres of culture and then get a few notes typed up on the unequal distribution of wealth.

~sigh~