Considering what a disaster it could have been, Matt 'Darkplace/Mighty Boosh' Berry's gig at the Spitz tonight was rather a lot of fun. Of course we got the incomparable 'One Track Lover,' and the AD/BC: A Rock Opera medleys were much appreciated, but everything else was new to me- and was surprisingly enjoyable! Don't get me wrong, the songs were ( Read more... )

This is a work of art. Of a sort.

Damn. I swore I'd never buy NME again, but...


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Fact of the day: Scottish banknotes are not legal tender in England or Wales. Or in fact, Scotland.

Do you know what I did this afternoon? I worked out how to play the violin part out of "Crown of Love." And "Intervention" and "Tunnels". And Gogol Bordello's "Sally". And the main theme from LOTR and Harry Potter for good measure. This tells you almost everything you need to know about my life ( Read more... )

I’ve not had much of time to listen to music recently, having suddenly developed something approaching a life. Thus, this quiet Saturday afternoon was spent partaking in a number of albums I’ve wanted to listen to for a while- and because I’m the sort of utter bastard who feels the need to write his opinions on stuff down on the internet, here are ( Read more... )

Well, it had to happen sometime. I saw the Guillemots and they were...rather disappointing, actually. The size of the venue and their obvious boredom with the material led to a rather lacklustre, workaday performance bereft of their normal exuberance or Fyfe's trademark showmanship. The set was bizarrely weighted towards B-sides and new songs (I ( Read more... )

Following the success of brilliant British ‘zom-rom-com’ "Shaun of the Dead," Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg had a lot to live up to with their follow-up, action thriller spoof "Hot Fuzz." Pegg stars as super-efficient police sergeant Nicholas Angel, sent to a sleepy West Country village where a spate of gruesome ‘accidents’ turn out to be more than ( Read more... )

So, Sunday heralded the day that I returned to Yorkshire for the first time since I graduated last July. Edward was to be my host for my brief visit; we started reliving my wasted youth with a fine Indian at the Bay of Bengal. We followed this with by a drink at the York Arms with Ed’s friend Jon (essentially the ‘Brilliant’ guy from the Fast Show ( Read more... )

On Thursday, I went over to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire for an evening of sea-shanties, soldiers, murderous butchers and women of ill-repute…brought courtesy of Oregon-based indie sweethearts The Decemberists. I wasn't sure how well they would come across live, but lead singer Colin Meloy’s occasionally grating voice actually sounded better than on ( Read more... )