Nat Johnson live review

Early december i used my last annual leave to have a long weekend in london. I always enjoy spending time in london, there's always plenty to see and do. This time i was keen to check out the new exhibition in the turbine hall. Shibboelth is a huge crack that has been created in the actual fabric of the hall floor. It's an incredible and novel idea, the name of the piece taken from a passage in Judges where the gileadites use the word to distinguish their enemy, fellow israelites, but from the tribe of Ephraim. The inability of the Ephramites to pronounce the word correctly resulted in their execution. A brutal biblical story that leaves 45k dead. A term that since has been come to use a means of differentiating between types of people, here the crack represents the cracks and divisions that arise in society. Cracks that are set up as stumbling blocks to make life harder for those who are different. It's a powerful message, and a popular piece of work. Plenty of other interesting things to see in and around the tate modern. Sunday afternoon I had to run to catch my coach home, just arriving at the platform on time. The journey was delayed and i arrived back in sheffield later than anticipated, but just in time to get to the red house in sheffield to see nat johnson's debut gig. The lead singer of monkey swallows the universe is currently pursuing some solo work during the indefinate hiatus. Despite the songs being very new, it is clear that with a bit of nurture they will grow into songs of beauty. She has a rare talent in making music that contains that je ne sais quois which sets it way above the rest. Teletext deemed my review worthy of publishing, a rarity for a debut gig review to be published i'm sure.

my photos of london dec 07
photos of Nat's gig

MIA live review

Just before christmas i got my M.I.A. review published on teletext. It's pleasing to see this on the screen as it was my favourite gig of the year. M.I.A. has a sound that is so fresh and original, the music is almost alive. Click the image to see full size to read the full review.

Stars live at Leeds Brudenell

Last tuesday i went to leeds to see Stars and they were fantastic. I'd gone straight from work in the leeds office, but the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry and so it did that day too. My change of clothes so that i could change into indie kid for the evening gig was left in my house and i was seconded onto a two day future strategy meeting whilst at the office meaning that the next morning i would have to be up at 0530 to go to stratford and miss emma pollock.
Like eddie izzard i wonder what plans that mice make?

Anyway, the brudenell at leeds is fast becoming one of my favourite venues and after the passable support we were treated to a wonderful set by the stars. Canadian bands are ruling the roost at the moment and stars are right up there. Songs from their 3rd, breakthrough, album proved popular with the audience and the new material was sounding promising. As the set finished i rushed to purchase their new release and then wondered if there would be an encore, the guy at the mixing desk certainly looked like he was expecting more, but it had been some time since the band left the stage. Some people began making their way to the exit, but I hung back for a while and eventually the guy vocalist appeared back on stage and explained he'd taken off his shirt cos it was so sweaty and he didn't have anything else to wear and so he was late re-appearing whilst they searched for something for him!

Anyway, i've had time to listen to the new album a few times and it carries on where the last album left off and is very good indeed. I want to see them again now and appreciate the new songs live. As always I dropped a review to teletext, but this week i was disappointed to see that the editor had been to see them in london and published his review so I thought that mine would be lost. But today my review was there - hooray, it's been ages since my last teletext review.

Feist teletext review

Yeah - it's another teletext review. I still manage to get excited by seeing them published.

Strange Death of Liberal England Review

Last minute decision to go to the Leadmill on Monday, mainly to meet up with ag of mstu to discuss upcoming festival marketing ploy ‘operation peggy’. After a couple of local bands, the oddly titled ‘strange death of liberal england’ took to the stage. They did remarkably well to grab the attention of an audience mainly there to support friends in the local bands. Having a unique sound and strange presence certainly helps. Here’s my review that appeared on teletext today which added to the excitement of going to Latitude. More later on my return from the festival. Click the image to see full size.

Reviews that never appeared

Here's my reviews I sent to teletext for the gigs at the Spitz. They never appeared on screen, i blame the amount of pages devoted to the current spate of festivals. Best not let the words go to waste:

Shady Bard at Spitz London 9th June

Shady Bard make music about the environment that is a far cry from the
fey folky guff Swampy and his friends may conduct whilst living in
holes. Using orchestration to enhance piano and guitar melodies, Shady
Bard conjure visions of fruiting woods and rolling seas, ignited with
sonic soundscapes. Frontman, Lawrence, sings passionately about issues
that are clearly close to the heart, challenging the listener as he
rasps 'It's all our fault'. This is Eco-rock for people who wash.

8/10


monkey swallows the universe live at the spitz 9th june

Once again Monkey Swallows The Universe manage to woo the crowd.
Already a wealth of material allows for a varied set of acoustic folk,
downbeat melancholy and upbeat twindie-pop. Guitars gently create
melodies that are embellished with strings and melodicas. Songs of
love triumphing over adversity are sung passionately with a subtle
tone that is reminiscent of Emma Pollock at her best. How bands can
conjure a feeling of warmth and freshness is a mystery, but one that
MSTU seem to have solved.

9/10

Fanfarlo on teletext

My review did finally turn up on teletext. Hooray, click on image below to read it in old school teletext style.

Emma Pollock live

It's a while since i've been blogging, and it's not through a lack of things to say. Maybe it's a lack of time, or i just can't be bothered anymore. Perhaps it has run it's course. Maybe I'll offer the odd review, but perhpas my time can be better spent. If i get loads of people saying - chris we love reading your blog, i may change my mind. I doubt that is a likely outcome.

So it was a little over a week ago i went to see emma pollock performing live at leeds Brudenell Social Club. I'd been looking forward to this gig for ages. Emma used to be a member of the delgados, one of my all time favourite bands, and i was also a little apprehensive that i'd just will it to be good, even if it wasn't. Thankfully there was no need for any rose tinted glasses, the performance was fine and some of the songs were extremely good too. Her husband, paul savage, played the drums, though on future tours another drummer will be employed. I sent a review off to planet sound, but the editor went to see her live in London, so his review was aired and thus far mine has not been screened.

I'd gone straight from work as I'd planned to work from our leeds office. Not familiar with this venue, or indeed with leeds, i set off in the car, spying a maccy D i decided to pull in and get something to eat. Thinking ahead i'd remembered to bring a book with me and i 'enjoyed' a delicious meal whilst reading. It must've been my lucky day as i won a mcfluffy or whatever it is they call an ice cream there. Headed on down towards the venue, i was still a bit early so read some more before trying to seek it out. Found the place, some kind of working mens club, and the doors didn't open till 8pm, i'd guessed a 7:30 opening. The club bar was open, so i ventured inside, drinking a j20 cos i was driving. Got a funny look when i asked if i could have a glass for my drink when presented with a bottle. Scanned the room and amongst the smoking men there was an indie looking kid. Got to be going to the gig I thought, so siddled over and started chatting with him. No gig goer, but a nice guy, in fact he was writing a book and we talked quite a bit about writing and things. That was great and inspired me to get on with my prose. Went into the next door room about 8:20, the doors finally open. Saw Emma by the bar and had a chat with her, she's really very pleasant and seemed guenuinely pleased that an old delgado fan had come along. I'll maybe post my teletext review here, but i'll give it a couple more days to see if it gets a screening.
Below are a couple of youtube links of the performance and John Earl's review.

Eurovision clips

I hardly ever get any traffic to my blog, but there was a small spike of activity these last few days. One of the most searched for items to reach this blog, bar my name, is eurovision clips. I posted some clips of the wonderful lordi last year and people still drop by - have they not heard of youtube!
This post has nothing to do with eurovision, cos I didn't see it, instead here is my review of the 65 days of static gig i went to the other day. It's been edited to read more scathing than my original text.
Click the image to see it enlarged if you want to read it.

new tv

Yay! I've just bought a second hand tv off a guy at work. It's got digital tv, widescreen, will plug into our computer recorder thingamijig with s-video to SCART connection. But the best thing is I can get chunky old analogue teletext so i can read my reviews in all their glory. Plus i can catch up with all the rest of the planet sound reviews - they really are good. Hooray for teletext.

Just been shopping and nearly created a toilet roll landslide. A huge pile of multi packs stacked enticingly at the end of the row screaming look at me - 33% extra free. I wandered over, began to lift one of the top packs and noticed that a pack behind had been inexpertly stacked. It began to slip, causing the pile atop it to begin to gently slide towards me. Luckily i managed to stem the flow and rectify the situation without having to endure the embarassement of being engulfed in an avalanche of bog roll.

the fields

My review of the fields gig, and i feel i should add the tag 'as read by nat of monkey swallows the universe'. Cos it is, after the gig on sat she mentioned that she had seen it. To be honest this review pretty much sums the gig up. If you click on the image you can see it larger, if you want to read it at all! I think i may get their album if it's cheap in fopp. Thanks to ad for scouting teletext this week for my review.

Hush the Many

I've a few gigs to report on, but I'll start with this one, cos it was on teletext (thanks to ad for the photo). On wednesday I heard a track by the fields on 6music that I enjoyed. Discovering that they were playing at the leadmill I bought an impulse ticket and persuaded ad to come along too. That same eve I went for a meal with my family to celebrate my sister's b'day before heading down to the leadmill where a band were just setting up on the steel stage. We were stood near the stage and the bass player came over and we had a chat, discovering that they were the support act called hush the many. Once on stage it was apparent from their opening track that they were excellent. I really enjoyed the mix of guitar and cello, with intricate guitar noodling noises from the guy on lead. Add in a mix of driving bass and drums and it formed a beautiful soundscape. Moving effortlessly from quiet through to loud in a mogwai-esque style. We enjoyed it a lot, so i was pleased to get my review on teletext. My first for an unsigned band (though they do have a single deal with fierce panda). check them out at their myspace page too.
Click my review to see it full size.

Update: I've put a little clip on youtube. This is them perfoming the end of a track called Revolve. If you like, you can hear the rest of the track on their myspace page

Another Review

I was a bit late, but I finally got round to submitting a review of the malcolm middleton gig to teletext this wednesday and it was published on friday. I really enjoy seeing these published, though I'm not sure how many people actually read them.


You can click on the image to see it larger

Arcade fire live review

My review of the arcade fire gig made it onto teletext. Thanks to my dad for the photo, as i don't seem to be able to tune my tv into the analogue channels.

It's a winner

I've sent in a couple of reviews to teletext recently, I missed my Jarvis review, but my Regina Spektor review was a winner! Though I don't think this edited version flowed as well as my text, butthey have to adapt it to fit the screen restraints.

CSS review

Hooray, another review on teletext. This time for the excellent Cansei De Ser Sexy gig from the other day, though I'm pretty sure I rated it at 9/10 - oh well. It's taken a while to be published and after contacting the editor I'm informed it is due to the fact that he has to limit pages to a maximum of 7 articals due to directives from his bosses. Booo I say, as it means much less space for the excellent reviews that appear on planet sound, and therefore less opportunity for live reviews from people like me. As always, click on the image to see it enlarged if you want to read it!

Monkey Swallows the Universe and other tales

It was the company golf day and I was granted half a day leave to avoid it which I used to travel to london. Went on the coach and it was a very grey journey, rain and spray and i began to wonder to myself how uncool I would look traipsing the streets of this chic city in my pac-a-mac. However it was a wasted worry as the sun sprang into action as we arrived in london. made my way to the hall of residence which I had booked for a night's accomodation in angel. This was chosen due to it's location, being just about 1 mile away from the Buffalo Bar which was my selected destination for the evening. After some fish and chips I made the bar for about 8:45 in time to see the majority of a set by the mary epworth band who I quite enjoyed. A kind of country tinged music, but with some really fine strong vocals. After the set I met john earls, who edits planet sound the teletext page that occasionally prints my gig reviews.

We'd arranged to meet after I'd recommended mstu to him and he said that he'd probably go as there was another band he wanted to check out. He'd come to see the pocketbooks who were on next. I wasn't convinced, fairly average to me, girl vocals were either endearing or a bit rubbish, i tended towards the latter. You could tell it was an early gig due to confusion between songs and indifferent xylophone playing. The next band, however, were very good indeed. fanfarlo, based around a swedish singer songwriter who recently moved to london. A kind of avant garde rock style in the vein of arcade fire and clap your hands say yeah! I liked this a lot. Finally upstepped monkey swallows the universe and they did not disappoint. Their tunes won the hearts of the audience and even an encore was called for. John seemed to like it too, so hopefully there may be a review on a teletext screen near you!

Saturday was another gloriously sunny day and I spent a couple of hours wandering around the national gallery, thinking to myslef that it's great that some of my tax money goes towards making this fine museum free to all. I enjoyed browsing the paintings from the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th. As it had just opened there was plenty of time to admire works like 'sunflowers' by van gogh that are usually crowded out. Spent some time looking at the works of Degas, who is an artist I like a lot. Not sure exactly why, but I find his portrayals of women, especially the washing hair type scenes, really quite fascinating. I discovered a book about the artist in the museum shop and it was a mere £5 so I decided to invest in it. Met up with CEM for lunch and caught up with what we'd both been up to the last few months. Then we spent some time wandering around the galleries of the Tate Modern. Unfortunately they were in th emiddle of installing a new feature in the turbine hall. But there's still plenty to see, and it was busy too. Great that art like this is popular. It garners so many different reactioins tho, over hearing two blokes exclaim "effin' hell" when confronted by a canvas coloured grey all over amused me. I then inadvertantly wandered into an art piece, with these modern affairs you are never quite sure of the interaction allowed, but the piece of mirrored cubes I was wandering between to admire the reflections was strictly out of bounds, and if I'd approached from another direction I would've seen the 'do not cross this line' warning! It annoys me a little that you aren't allowed to take photos of some of these works, they just cry out to be photographed, and I'm sure it would promote some of these works. I tried to take a few sneeky pics, but always come out shaky, with not using the flash and all....

pictures of the mstu gig
pictures in and around london

Teletext and visit

Got another one of my reviews published on teletext yesterday, this is for the broken social scene gig I went to on Friday. I also went to manchester to see john in christie's. Haven't seen him since his wedding, and he is very much weaker as he undergoes his chemotherapy. He was quite tired and kept dozing off, but my presence allowed his wife to go and get something to eat, giving her a break. She really as been superb in supporting him through the illness.

Emma Pollock teletext review

Just before we left to go to greenbelt on friday I had a chance to see my teletext review for the emma pollock gig at the leadmill. Emma sent me an email saying that she had seen the review too! I always find it exciting to see one of my reviews on the tv. In fact when i got back from greenbelt I had a letter from teletext as I had won another £10 gift voucher for 'review of the week' don't know for which review though. maybe it was this one, but the letter was dated 11th august, and my previous review to this was probably my adem one.
Just for your info, any further greenbelt posts will be dated retrospectively, so that those who aren't too interested in the minutiae of the details can skip them. My photos from the weekend are now uploaded onto flickr in my greenbelt 2006 set.

Teletext reviews, and other stories

Originally uploaded by me.

How exciting, today I got two of my gig reviews on teletext on the same day. I wonder if that is some kind of record? They are my reviews for the Adem gig and Radiohead gig. They have been uploaded to flickr, and you can read them more clearly by clicking on them.
So what else have I been doing, well I have ordered a couple of road maps in preparation for driving through france and germany on my world cup expedition. I turned to amazon to find some cheap ones, but I obviously did not pay much attention to what I was buying, being lead in fact by the picture and price. So on monday I received the worlds smallest raod atlas for france, that could probably fit in my pocket. Although it does show all the major roads, when they congregate upon a city they become hidden amongst some yellow blob donating the city, so hard to see how one circumnavigates said city and continues in the desired direction. The next day I get home and my housemate presents me with a huge box that thankfully arrived when he was in to sign for it. What's this I thought, well the most comprehensive german road map available in the world.....ever!

Originally uploaded by me.

It's so large I reckon it almost logs each blade of grass. So I now have a couple of contrasting maps for my road trip. I also went to donate some blood. I was a little disappointed that the guy next to me filled his bag in considerably less time then me, and that i was a few minutes slower than my previous donations. No records beaten there. Due in part, said the nurse, that although my veins are very prominant, they are also very thin (like me - I thought) and as such were hard to get the needle in, and if the angle was not at the optimum it would slow the delivery. Still it was good to go, and in the waiting time I had chance to browse thru the independent that Bono had edited to highlight HIV in Africa.