I'm tangled up in you

Advantages of starting this blog again:

+ Maybe I can become interested in music again. I've lost interest in it lately but then again I've lost interest in everything lately. Perhaps it will give me a new insight into my life? Maybe it will make me interested in life again? Maybe it will save me?
+ I could get better at writing. Practice makes perfect right? What better way to practice writing than to do just that in a shitty little blog.
+ What else? It can save the world. Well perhaps my relationships with the ones I love.

Damn, what shall be my first topic of conversation?

All I want is what you got

Here I am. Over a year later. 20 years old. Out of a job. Back in college. Considering re-starting this blog.

Things I should do:

1. Stop the self pitying bull shit. Noone wants to read it!
2. Write about more interesting stuff. Who the fuck wants to read about what I've done in a month?
3. Learn to spell. More importantly, learn about grammar.
4. Stop getting drunk.


I'm yet to think about the rest.

Feel your heart, it breaks within your chest.

I haven't updated this since FFAF in the middle of October. It's almost the end of 2008. I still have my job and family, however, every other part of me has been shattered. Women. It's all I'm going to say. I've lost all of my motivation and interest in the things I once loved to do - keeping this blog up to date for example.


Since Funeral For A Friend, I've saw the following artists live:

Houston Calls - they were okay but nothing special.

Leonard Cohen - He was good but unfortunately I was exhausted that night so didn't enjoy it as much as I could have.

Okkervil River - BRILLIANT!!!! Broken Records as the support was enough to make me burst with excitement and for the entire gig, I was front and centre. Amazing stuff. Me and my mate also danced about like noone was watching. Loved it.

Ryan Adams - I expected so much from this but left disappointed. At least he played 'Come Pick Me Up' and 'Meadowlake Street'.

Army Of Freshmen - Nothing memorable.

Go:Audio - Okay but nothing special.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Spectacular. Definitely one of the best gigs of the year.

Frightened Rabbit - Okay. Not as good as the September show but still decent. The support act (The Airborne Toxic Event) were excellent though.

Ben Kweller - I enjoyed this. I was a bit on the drunk side but it was good singing my heart ache out.

The All New Adventures Of Us - This is why I hate King Tuts with a bloody passion. The doors opened at 8:30pm, there were 3 support acts, the main act didn't get on stage until 5 past 11 and I had to leave at quarter past to run for my last train. Although, the 2 songs I got to see were splendid and they played my favourite song by them: 'The Art Of The High Five', second so I wouldn't miss it.


Jesse Malin - No words can describe how much fun I had at this. I sung my heart out to every song, danced about like a complete arsehole and could not stop smiling the entire time. I was front and centre and it was awesome to get to see him again without Julie being there and moaning at me.



Top 10 gigs of 2008:

10) The Hold Steady (Glasgow Garage)
9) Frightened Rabbit (The Arches)
8) Lucero (Nice N Sleazy's)
7) Joseph Arthur (King Tuts)
6) Okkervil River (Oran Mor - even though the Cab. Vol. show was great!)
5) Jesse Malin (ABC 2)
4) Josh Ritter (Liquid Rooms)
3) Leonard Cohen (Edinburgh Castle)
2) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Edinburgh Corn Exchange)
1) Tom Waits (Edinburgh Playhouse)


Although The Drive-By Truckers @ Liquid Rooms and Calexico @ The Queens Hall, were both amazing gigs and they just narrowly missed out on a place in my top 10.

Funeral For A Friend - Glasgow, ABC, 18th October 2008

'We're all suckers for tragedy'



7pm doors open. 10 pm curfew. 3 support acts. And Funeral For A Friend. Attack Attack were playing when we entered the ABC and never heard enough of them to have an opinion but the few songs I did hear, sounded horrendous. In Case Of Fire are the next support act. They are a 3 piece band from Ireland who play progressive rock and I must say, for most of it, they were suprisingly good but not good enough that I would want to see them again. The final support came in the form of Canada’s Cancer Bats. Out of all three supports, they got the audience going the most but I feel they were slightly heavy to be the main support for a band such as Funeral For A Friend. Me and my sister were up at front bit near the bar so we had an excellent view and were a safe distance away from all of the idiots. It was fun watching drinks flying over innocent people and plastic cups being chucked in the air. The mosh pits were amusing aswell. I don’t like being part of the those sort of things but it’s great to watch!

The curtains are drawn, the stage is set, the curtains open, the lights go down, ‘we are the champions’ is played in the background and out come the main act. The only complaint I have about Funeral’s set is that they only for an hour but I don’t think that was through any choice of their own. The ABC turns into a night-club around the 10:30pm mark plus it is Saturday, which is when any night-club gets the majority of it’s custom. It was deeply unfortunate, however, Funeral For A Friend still put on a great set. Matt had the audience in the palm of his hand; when he said sing, the audience sung, when he said for all of the people in the middle of the room to create a massive circle pit, the audience done as they were told, when he told the audience to repeat what he was saying, they obeyed. It was all outstanding. Song wise, they played a few from their new album, some from the one or two from the disastrous ‘Tales Don’t Tell Themselves’ but mostly they stuck to songs from ‘Hours’ and ‘Casually Dressed’. This made the evening so much more special for me. Moments where I was jumping up and down with excitement and screaming like a school girl and begun to sing my heart out included; ‘Juneau’, ‘She Drove Me To Daytime Television’, ‘Novella’, ‘Streetcar’, ‘History’, ‘Roses For The Dead’ and the introduction to ‘Into Oblivion’. Despite how heart-stoppingly magical the previous songs were, they did not capture the sheer happiness and glory I felt when I finally got to see my favourite Funeral For A Friend song performed live, the song that I was longing to hear all night, the song that got me into them, the song that they played last, the magnificent ‘Escape Artists Never Die’. I have never been so excited to hear the opening to a song in a very long time. When I heard it I turned to my sister and unintentionally screamed ‘Yay’ with a big fucking cheesy smile on my face. Then me and the entire audience sung our hearts out with Matt and his band. What a perfect song to bring the evening to a close. It’s moments like that, that I live for and hopefully there will be many more to come.

Funeral For A Friend - Kicking & Screaming
(The video I took so obviously it is shite!)



Funeral For A Friend - Escape Artists Never Die
(The song that had me melting)

Frightened Rabbit - The Arches, 30th September 2008

"I'm working on erasing you, I just don't have the proper tools"




We Were Promised Jetpacks are the support tonight. They are a 4 piece alternative rock act from Glasgow. They are fronted by Adam Thompson who sings in a strong Scottish accent - just like Frightened Rabbit’s frontman, Scott does. Musically WWPJ are very similar to Frightened Rabbit but that is no bad thing. The band has 3 electric guitarists and a drummer. As much as I enjoyed what was going on in the front of the stage, I could barely take my eyes of the dude on drums. His drumming was amazing. Every beat hit with so much effort and precision. Anyway, these guys were decent enough.


Frightened Rabbit are a trio from Selkirk. They gained a lot of fans and more publicity when they released ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ earlier this year. That’s the album that got me into the band and that is why I am here tonight. The Arches is a big venue (by my standards anyway). It was also jam packed - there was barely room to move. This illustrates just how big Frightened Rabbit are becoming. I was lucky enough to be down the very front. They played little over an hour and in that time, got through the majority of The Midnight Organ Fight. They played one or two old songs. Long time, devoted fans may have been a little disappointed by this but because I’ve only ever heard their latest album, I was more than happy. Now time for the (long) highlights part ... the entire audience going mental during ‘The Modern Leper’. I took a really good video to this song but accidentally deleted it :(. ‘My Backwards Walk’ - until I heard this song live, I thought it was nothing special but through the entire 4 minutes, I stood in awe at Scott and the heart wrenching lyrics. He then got the audience to assist him singing ‘You're the shit and I’m knee deep in it’. Best moment of the night for me. I felt myself getting goosebumps. I might have been the tiredness but I had tears rolling down my cheeks during this. Thank God for the dark blue lighting! The first song of the encore when it was only Scott and his acoustic guitar. Yep, no microphone. He stood on the stairs and sang his heart out and the audience sang their hearts out too. I also loved that they finished on ‘Keep Yourself Warm’ as this song was zooming around and around my head all day. Damn, tonight was good. Best gig I've been to since Tom Waits and I ain't exaggerating.

The Spinto Band - Oran Mor, 29th September 2008

There was a Glaswegian band on first by the name of yellow something or other. They were decent enough but aside from one or two mellower tracks, all their stuff was the same keyboard/trumpet heavy upbeat sunshine stuff. They almost sounded like a ska band!

The All New Adventures Of Us are the main support tonight. They are from Northampton and consist of seven members. They play a bunch of infectious pop songs and it is virtually impossible to dislike them. TANAOFU contain of 3 electric guitars, 1 acoustic guitar, drums, 2 keyboards and the occasional tambourine. Combine all these elements together and you have a (suprisingly) fantastic sound. Whilst listening to them with my complete attention, I got a sense of my life and started to relate to the lyrics. That hasn’t happened in some time for me at a gig. Maybe it was the tiredness playing games with my mind. These guys (and girl) outdone the main act tonight in my opinion. The saxophone in the last song was nothing short of amazing. Can’t wait for them to come back to Glasgow.

The Spinto Band are a 6 piece from Wilmington, Delaware who are here to promote their latest album ‘Moonwink’. Admittedly, I haven’t listened to that much Spinto Band in the past but thought I should check them out. This means that I’m not entirely clued up on song titles and such but anyway. They came to the stage in a kind of jokerish way - the second main singer looked like a jester and the music for TSB walking on stage was something along those lines. Now for the music, technically they were very good. They played for only an hour and in that time played a mix of old and new tracks. However, when I came away from tonight, I didn’t feel anything. The Spinto Band haven’t made that much of an impression on me and left me feeling empty. I’m slightly concerned that the extreme tiredness I’m feeling is stopping me from enjoying one of the few things in life I’m passionate about. Anyway, I’m away to work now ... :(

She's like the wind

September 2008: In Review.

Album Reviews


I’ve decided to post this a few days earlier than I usually do as I have succeeded in finding a job this month and am very tired. I also have a gig tomorrow and the day after so I’m going to be even more knackered!! Joseph Arthur, Jacks Mannequinn and Bayside’s new releases all come out tomorrow so if I can find those albums and have time to listen to them, I’ll try review them next weekend.


Okkervil River - The Stand Ins



Hats Off To My Distant Hope...

‘The Stand Ins’ is the follow up to last years insanely catchy ‘The Stage Names’. It isn’t let lose in the UK until October 13th but I was so desperate for a copy of this, I got it on import. This years release is part two of ‘The Stage Names’ and begs the question, can Okkervil River beat the album that launched their career into the mainstream? Well, the answer to this question is quite simply a million yes’s. For me ‘The Stand Ins’ has just beaten Sun Kil Moon in claiming the “album of the year” award and I’m about to try and explain why.

The album has three ‘The Stand Ins’ parts. All instrumental tracks that last for up to 54 seconds. These sections are okay but add nothing to the album. Nonetheless, the 8 songs that Will Sheff sings in are plainly the best pieces of music I’ve heard all year. These songs start with ‘Lost Coastlines’ which begins with an acoustic guitar but soon dives into a sonic whirlwind. ‘Singer Songwriter’ is next. It is about artistic claim and is effective alt-country at it’s best. ‘Starry Stairs’ is very similar to ‘Savannah Smiles’ from ‘The Stage Names’. It is probably my least favourite on ‘The Stand Ins’, however, it is a grower and still extremely catchy. Next up we have not only my favourite song on the album but the best song of 2008 and it comes in the form of ‘Blue Tulip’. This is a pensive track and Will’s vocals are so intense I’m reduced to tears. It begins with ‘They're waiting to hate you so give them an excuse’. The piano gives me goosebumps. The whirling guitars with Wills emotion packed vocal building up at the end of this song is the best part. I’ve been addicted to this track since buying the album. Beautiful. ‘Pop Lie’ is by far the most up beat song on the album and reminds me of ‘Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe’ from last year’s ‘The Stage Names’. The synth at the beginning of this song makes me instantly like it. I would have never have thought Okkervil River could do Power Pop but I’ve been proven wrong! The part at the end of it where the music goes down a little quieter and will speaks ‘This is respectfully dedicated to the woman who concentrated all of her love to find that she had wasted it on the liar who lied in this song’ is pretty special and is one of the albums many highlights. ‘On Tour With Zykos’ comes in a close second for my best track award on the album. I love it when Will strains his voice singing ‘What a girl who got tired’. I froze the first time I heard it. The whole album is emotion packed and this is another clear example. I find it strange that Okkervil have toured with a band by the name of Zykos recently - unless that the band they toured with is what this song is actually about. ‘Calling and Not Calling My Ex’ is staggering. ‘She was so sweet on Christmas Eve, with the snow set deep, when we went walking through the pines. I had just been fired and her first offer had arrived, and the New Year would see her flying far away from me, though I didn’t know it at the time’ gets me every time. Will has such amazing attention to detail. It is deeply melodramatic and the part where Sheff painfully sings ‘So go turn their heads, go knock then dead, go break their hearts’, crushes my heart and soul to pieces. Yet another highlight on this perfect album. ‘The Stand Ins’ closes on ‘Bruce Wayne Campbell’ and this song makes me go WOW every time. It is acutely similar to the closing song of the last album. It starts off quiet then half way through it bursts into stident, driving heart-wrenching melody and you just can’t help but sing along. The lyrics are also breath-taking; ‘Old times, hello. Hey I’ve missed you. Old life, hey now let me in’.

I’ve become so passionate about ‘The Stand Ins’ in the short amount of time I’ve owned it. It has made such a massive impact on me and I can only see it taking more of an effect on me as time wears on. It is indisputably better than ‘The Stage Names’ and I am tempted to say that it is Okkervil’s best album since 2003’s ‘Down The River Of Golden Dreams’. I do feel that this will be the album of the year, although I wish Okkervil River would go back to the slower approach that they took on albums such as the aforementioned and ‘Black Sheep Boy’. Although, I do love the upbeat approach and respect the fact that it has gained them thousands of new fans. Nevertheless, this album is brilliant from start to finish and I cannot wait to see these guys again in November.

Highlights: The whole album but specifically ‘Blue Tulip’, On Tour With Zykos’ and ‘Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979’


Calexico - Carried To Dust




The tears won’t wash away what her eyes can’t erase...

‘Carried To Dust’ is an exciting and emotional trip of scenery that depicts the present-day and portrays the disintegrated memories of previous times. It is Calexico’s 6th studio album and follow up to 2006’s disappointing ‘Garden Ruin’.

‘Carried To Dust’ feels like an accomplice to 2003’s ‘Feast Of Wire’ in that it has a heavy Latino feel yet is still decidedly alt-country. It opens with ‘Victor Jara’s Hands’, a song about the Chilean political activist who was murdered back in the early 70’s. ‘Two Silver Trees’ is a magnificent dark fusion of Latin and Asian rudiments. ‘Man Made Lake’ was my immediate favourite song of this album. It begins with the pedal steel, drums and Joey’s haunting vocals; ‘I’m gonna walk these streets of cold concrete like I’m a ghost searching for its grave’. Then the vibraphone, glockenspiel and electric guitar all come tumbling in and it turns into this magical song. ‘Inspiracion’ is next up. Amparo Sanchez takes the lead and sings in Spanish. I may not be able to understand the lyrics to this but it is one of the albums many highlights. The instrumentation in this is spectacular the leslie electric guitar, nylon guitar, synthesiser and trumpet really compliment Amparo’s voice. It makes the listener want to get up and start Spanish dancing. Fantastic. It isn’t until a few tracks later in the album when ‘Slowness’ comes on that I realise how excellent that ‘Carried To Dust’ really is. Out of the 15 songs on ‘Carried To Dust’, this has the most country feel to it. Lyrically it is about a long/slow car journey through the country. I never thought this song was all that great upon first listen. Then I heard Joey and his band sing it live and it made quite an impact on me. For the whole 3 and a half minutes in which it goes on, I stood in awe at how gorgeous this song is. ‘El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited)’ is a 3 minute instrumental consisting of exquisite elements such as the baritone guitar, whistle, trumpet, accordion and vibraphone. It sounds like something of the Kill Bill soundtrack! When listening to this it gets under your skin and becomes infectious. Breath-taking.

‘Carried To Dust’ is fast taking over ‘Feast Of Wire’ to become my favourite Calexico album. I wasn’t expecting much from Calexico with this release but I have been pleasantly suprised. One thing that I’m 100% certain though, is that Calexico are back on form.

Highligts: Two Silver Trees, Man Made Lake, Slowness



Songs I’ve heard this month that made me think OMFG I love music

Okkervil River - Blue Tulip



Unfortunately, this was the only half decent version of this song I good find on youtube.

Things to look forward to in October

Seeing the following artists perform live:

Andy Yorke (7th)- Cancelled due to the fucking rail strike :(
Funeral For A Friend (18th)
Houston calls (22nd)


The following albums being released:

Margot and The Nuclear So & Sos - Animal (6th) - I have no idea how I’m meant to purchase this in the UK but I’ll find a way as I love these guys!

Lucinda Williams - Little Honey (13th)

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology (27th)



Maybe;

Lamchop - OH (Ohio) (6th)

Sun Kill Moon - Stereo, 15th September 2008

John B Mckena is the support tonight - only having received a phone call an hour before he was scheduled to play. On his myspace it says he’s from ‘The Shire’, where ever that is! All I know is that he is Scottish and sounds Glaswegian. Just himself and an acoustic guitar, he takes to the stage himself to play 30 minutes of acoustic indie rock. The majority of his songs pleasantly suprised me. He’s joined the list of the very few support acts I’ve enjoyed.

After releasing what has been for me, the album of 2008 so far, Mark Kozelek and his band take to the stage. For a whole 2 hours, Sun Kil Moon played a mixture of their own stuff and older Red House Painters songs. Kozelek is obviously a very shy bloke who doesn’t like being on stage. He keeps his eyes shut for the whole performance and stays to the right hand side. There was also a strict no photography policy in place this evening, but it was still very good. Kozelek occasionally spoke to the audience and made us all laugh with his sarcasm about ‘you're all in for a fun night, filled with short songs and major keys!’ It was a mellow atmosphere, really warm and incredibly quiet. I can’t quite remember the songs that were played but every track managed to maintain my attention. Mark is a lyrical genius, but he has also got great skill on a guitar - his finger picking was impressive. I’ve been looking forward to this gig for quite some time now and I did not leave disappointed. I did wonder though about a gig that was playing about a mile away at the Captains Rest that I really wanted to see. How were Shearwater getting on? I guess I'll never know.

Calexico - Queens Hall, Edinburgh - 11th September 2008

I’ve never been to the Queens Hall before; it’s a decent sized venue with an upstairs seating area and seats around the outskirts of downstairs. The sound quality was fantastic and it was well air-conditioned. Support came from a Canadian band by the name of ‘Wood Pigeon’. I didn’t have time to listen to Wood Pigeon before hand but after tonight, I will definitely be looking more into them. There were 8 members; drums, several guitars, vocals, violin and several other instruments and their sound was incredible. My head was all messed up then when they came on suddenly I could feel my mind clearing.

Around 9 o’clock, the lead vocalist and pedal steel player from Calexico came on and played a mellow opening tune. I’m not the biggest fan of the band so don’t know the names of songs. For the next song, 5 more people walked onto stage and things started to really kick off. For the next hour and 3 quarters, the audience were treated to a staggering set full of Spanish Americana. Talking of the Spanish, there were a considerable number of Spanish people in the audience. The projections on the back wall were intriguing yet haunting and made the whole thing much more entertaining. They played an electric mix of old tracks and new songs. For me, the whole night was a highlight but I particularly enjoyed all tracks played from the new album, mainly the ‘Slowness’ - it’s such a beautiful heart wrenching song, ‘Alone Again Or’ which had me dancing and clapping like a mad woman purely because it is my favourite song by Calexico and ‘Quattro (World Drifts In)’. Before tonight, I only liked Calexico, after tonight, I love them.

Think the thing you said was true ... I’m going to die alone and sad

August 2008

I would have posted this blog earlier but I have been sitting here crying my heart out for the past hour. Happy times...


Not a very musical month unfortunately as I was too busy getting my mind messed with and my heart broken. Attended three gigs but that was it (Drive-By Truckers, Ali Whitton and Alkaline Trio - the first and third of which were two of the best gigs I’ve ever been too). However, next month looks set to be great ... if I don’t spend all my money on booze and cigarettes.






Great songs from the month of August

Sweaterlife - Keep Quiet



Alkaline Trio - I Found Away




Things to look forward to in September

Albums:
Calexico - Carried To Dust
Joseph Arthur - Temporary People
Bayside - Shudder
Jacks Mannequin - The Glass Passenger
Estimated To Spend: £50


Gigs:

11th Sep - Calexico
15th Sep - Sun Kil Moon
23rd Sep - Kill Hannah
29th Sep - The Spinto Band
30th Sep - Frightened Rabbit
Estimated To Spend: £75
Approx. Total: £125 ... oh poo

I’m also going to see John Edward (the ‘psychic’ guy) on the 21st with my mother!


‘She can’t hurt me, I can’t hurt you, it’s like we’re already dead’