Tuesday, September 02, 2008 10:06:27 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Still knackered after this weekend, so I'll keep this one brief (which means I'll probably end up rambling and it will end up long, but we'll see).

Friday

On Friday, Jo and Ed turned up at my house with Alan (a guy I know from the British Sea Power crowd) who had kindly offered to give us all a lift up to Tan Hill for British Sea Power's idea of what a festival ought to be.

Friday was absolutely sublime in every way. We got to Tan Hill early evening, set up our tent, and went to watch The Witch and the Robot. Their set came complete with the expected shaving foam madness, but with the addition of a lovely video of snakes and a background video of wonderful TWATr style rambling on about witches and nothing in particular. Our favourite paper maché headed man came around with a vacuum cleaner while balloons with lovely phrases were handed out to the crowd along with badges and free albums. A bunch of guys with white suits came out and we took turns to draw on them with marker pens. The music was fairly damned good too (as expected of them by now!!!).

These were followed by Silvery who created fine fine circus inspired music, followed by possibly the best British Sea Power set I have ever witnessed. B-sides and rarely played tracks all over. Incredibly chilled out stuff. Grabbed a set list to take home too. It was especially pleasurable to hear North Hanging Rock played at last, just epic.

We didn't stay up too late past this and hit bed early. A fine fine evening though.

Saturday

Saturday was a day of potato rolling, tug of war, falconry (I GOT TO HAVE A FALCON LAND ON MY WRIST!!!), and I totally won the Welly Wanging competition (at the cost of a pulled muscle in my back). Beer was drank with a spoon, and crackers were scoffed mercilessly by our adopted team mate Andy the Gonzo Journalist. (Class act). Ed made a fine attempt at eating doughnuts without his hands, but sadly this was not to be.

I missed a bit of the music because I was just too tired for it, I did however watch a bit of I Like Trains and caught Matt Eaton and the Modern Ovens before going for a walk with Jo across the hills in the setting sun. It was a fairly amazing afternoon once we had gotten away from the hustle and bustle of the bar :)



The ensuing British Sea Power gig was just sublime, although I think the tracks could have been ordered better. It was delightful to hear some of the Decline Of tracks and OMG WOOOO WOOOOO, they played Hearing Aid!!! Well, it made me happy anyway, they made it sound just as it should too, and they ended it brilliantly.

After this epic set, we went outside to watch some fireworks which people had brought with them (I had donated towards a big pack organised by the members of the BSP forum) and sat next to a bonfire with Jo and had a chat with Scott and his wife Dawn. It was quite beautiful really. This was followed by more music from BSP and anybody else wanting to join in. According to the press the Arctic Monkeys and the Klaxons were involved, but to be honest I think they were too drunk back in the bar (yes, they were there too).

A late night on Saturday night, but a happy one nonetheless.

Sunday

Sunday we spent the entire morning chilling in the tent, only surfacing at around 1-30pm for some lunch before the afternoon activities. We ate lunch and played granny racing with somebody whose name I cannot remember and then went for a walk across the hills and sang songs. We returned cold and wet to watch the film Man of Aran, with a backing sound track played live by British Sea Power. That was sublime, so beautiful and settled a discussion Jo and I had been having about the meaning of the word "Bleak".

Being freezing cold, I headed back to the tent to warm up and was soon joined by Jo, who turned up just as the sun was setting, so I took some photos of that. I then read her an excerpt from my new book "Beautiful Code". I don't think she found it all that entertaining however so she was probably relieved when Ed turned up and turned our attention to chips. At about 11pm, Jo and I left the tent (and Ed, as he had fallen asleep) and went to get some mix cds from the lucky dip cd exchange, and a hot chocolate from the bar. It was probably the warmest part of the weekend sat there and I felt quite content at how everything had gone down.



Monday

An early night for us all and then a drive back the next day. 'Nuff said.

Thanks for everybody who was there for making the weekend what it was. Thanks for Ed persuading Jo that it was good idea to come on the weekend. Thanks to Jo for agreeing with Ed and giving up GenCon for a weekend of the raw northern outdoors (a big change from the poncy south). A MASSIVE thanks for Alan giving us a lift there and back. Thanks to British Sea Power for hosting such an event. It went down very well and I'd definitely go to another one of these if it ever happened!

An apology to the BSP regulars, who I managed to pretty much avoid all weekend despite saying I'd make an effort for a change. I don't know what happened there!!

Full flickr set can be found here: http://flickr.com/photos/robashton/sets/72157607055798896/

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 4:34:02 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

This weekend I headed up to Kendal and had myself actually quite a good time, despite the gallons of mud caused by a downpour on Friday night. There are many complaints to be had about the organisation and the price considering the actual acts being put on, but I don't care about any of those things cos there was plenty of entertainment to be had nearly all hours of the day if you just loosened up and enjoyed the chilled atmosphere.

Friday

We arrived on Friday evening, and immediately set up the tent because it had stopped raining. No sooner had we finished doing this and got ourselves and stuff inside the tent then the heavens opened up and started soaking people outside still trying to put their tents up. The Friday night lineup was appalling so we just sat in the tent drinking and listening to the ambient sounds coming from the main tent which we'd parked our tent just behind.



Saturday

The previous night's downpour left us with a field full of mud, so after failing to find wellies that fit me, I just went bare foot and enjoyed it.





I ended up stripped down to a pair of shorts and was soon frolicking in the mud for pleasure. Later on while watching the guys photographed below (no idea who they are) I realised I was pissing blood from my foot after cutting it on something, but the mud and crap soon acted as a clotting agent and put a stop to that...



Photos end here as I was getting a bit drunk and I wasn't going to risk falling over in the thick mud and getting the camera dirty. A good evening though, slightly ruined by the Super Furry Animals being a crap band, but only slightly as the local Kendal talent during the day made up for that.

Sunday

Sunday the mud was getting a lot firmer and after grabbing breakfast I settled down in my favourite tent to watch some folk covers of some awesome songs by Johnny Cash and Steve Earle by the Wild Wood Band (known also as the Wyrd Strings when doing their silly stuff). Talented guys. That tent was lovely too, lots of straw to lie down in and a really chilled atmosphere to boot.



The sun was coming out and straw was being provided for people to relax in, and people started making mud sculptures out of the now rather substantial mud.





It was nice to see people enjoying themselves so I spent a couple of hours just wandering about, flitting between the various stages and getting the occasional cup of tea from my other favourite tent (a cafe serving five bean chilli and doing their own little DJ set).





Next up I met up with some of the delightful people from the bsp crowd and partook in smuggled cider and... another other questionable liquid. It was nice to see some familiar faces and I sat outside my favourite tent with them until it was time to go see The Witch and the Robot (one of my favourite bands at the moment). They were, as expected delightfully odd and a pleasure to watch once more.





Eamon Hamilton was on straight after and was another of the very pleasant acts on this day.

After this, we packed up our tent and after getting a photo of the festival flag in action, I put the camera in the car for the rest of the evening.



On arriving back into the festival site, I headed down to the dance tent where it was probably about time for EMF to be performing. For the novelty value they had to be seen and I was lucky enough to turn up just as they started playing "Unbelievable" and left straight after. Timing or what?!

British Sea Power were as always a delight to watch, and I met up with some fellow flag makers who I spent the rest of the evening with along with some other people who I had met during the day. Having people to help wave mine and Jo's massive flag was a real bonus, and by the end of it my arms were absolutely dead.

I had to spend an hour posing with people and the flag whilst they held on to me for support in the thick mud and I sank deeper and deeper... but I'm hoping at least I'll find a good photo to use in the competition.

A good weekend all in all, although slightly marred by the day after where my grandparents made me go to A&E for the aforementioned cut in my foot. They scooped out all the crap, x-rayed it to make sure nothing else was in there, bandaged me up, and put me on antibiotics while getting a telling off from the cutest nurse I have seen in a long time - I was not complaining. (Hey, if you're reading this get in touch yeah? ).

Trains on the way back were cancelled and I ended up getting a taxi from Birmingham to Reading courtesy of the rail services. Say what you like about our public transport but at least they look after you when things go wrong! 

Saturday, June 28, 2008 11:57:57 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I'll get the code stuff out the way first, by saying that I've been setting up the community sites for Scrobbles, and I've written most of the .NET SDK around the web services. That's cool.

Last night on Friday saw a few of us heading out to Koko to see that band I liked a couple of weeks ago (Die Die Die), and I had quite a good time dancing and rolling over the floor with people in some crazy chaotic action. The people with me didn't enjoy it all that much sadly, as the crowd just wasn't their thing (and Angela is sober for a month, ouch!).

Ah well, we decided to salvage the evening by walking from Camden to Paddington at 1:30am. That was a lot of fun, we walked around the park, over the canal, found a mattress to bounce on, and then on reaching Edgware road, on what should have been a simple walk to Paddington, got distracted by some guy who shouted at us and we thought was going to attack us. Happily this did not happen, but because of the distraction we took the wrong road and ended up buying ice cream from a service station. We got home at 5am and decided that the walk was probably the best part of the entire night. It was much fun.

Tonight, oh man. Tonight.

I went to see My Bloody Valentine at Manchester Apollo. I am currently lying in a Travelodge bed and feeling slightly overwhelmed.

It was a pleasure to see MBV live, it was a pleasure to hear all that stuff that I listened to when I first started getting into music. It was so awesome hearing some decent shoegaze music live, although it made me wish that perhaps Neil Halstead would get the gang together and reform Slowdive (oh pleaaase, modern day Shoegaze revival!!).

I am so glad I bought earplugs last week. So so glad. At first the music was just music, it was loud, but no louder than anything else I've ever been to. I wore the earplugs anyway, because that is what I have started doing at all live music, as I've noticed it making the music even better to listen to. Anyway, the set ended with a gorgeous fifteen minute long feedback loop. It felt and sounded like being in a jet engine, I have never experienced anything like it. People were backing away from the stage rapidly with their hands over their ears and bouncers were seen running around handing out earplugs to those who didn't have the foresight to pick them up on the way in.

Oh it was absolutely amazing.

It was worth the trip up to Manchester, and my only lament is that I'm not going to be seeing them again anytime soon. If you ever a get a chance, do it for the love of all that is holy.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:01:40 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Well well well.

Radiohead totally deserve all the praise they get. What a performance.

I turned up early, before the gates opened, and headed right down the front before lying down in the grass and keeping my spot whilst listening to music and not drinking too much liquid so I could stay there all night. (Hey, if you're competing with 50,000 people in a crowd, may as well do it properly).

Bat for Lashes were... interesting. Absolutely appalling and uninspired lyrics, but a lovely ghostly sound. with some interesting moments in it. Her voice really doesn't quite make the grade on some of the songs she tries to sing, but I guess not everybody can be Bjork.
The performance was slightly marred by the power cutting off three quarters through the set. I shouted out that they should dance for us while they waited for the power to come back on and they obliged whilst playing some tribal drum beats. Cool stuff. I'll check their album out.

Radiohead... Thom is so entertaining, he's like a hyperactive monkey or something. They played some lovely tracks from all over their discography, (excluding Pablo Honey of course). I was pleased to hear tracks from Amnesiac and Kid A getting a decent airing.

Highlights for me were hearing Dollars and Cents, The Gloaming (oh Wow, what a track when played live), There There, Bangers and Mash and Idioteque. Everything else was fairly amazing too. I sometimes forget that Radiohead seem to have managed to make all of these classics and are therefore able to put together a two hour set out of nothing but amazing material, and still have lots of spares.

Special mention must be made of Thom coming on and doing a solo rendition of Cymbal Rush from his album The Eraser. It sent shivers down my spine and brought tears to my eyes a little.

I don't want to do big gigs like this very often, at the start of the set I was contemplating NEVER doing it again, I was contemplating NOT going again tomorrow (I have a ticket). People are idiots, pushing and shoving each other out of the way, being rude and generally quite selfish.
I like the small gigs that I go to, where if that happens, it happens on a much smaller scale and as a group people can do something about it. I like being able to hear the actual performers sing, instead of having a 50,000 strong choir. (Although some songs were made awesome with that effect).

However, Radiohead won out and by the end of the set I was just amazed at how brilliant everything sounded. The crowd had settled down and I was quite happy stood at the front and zoning out to the rather excellent music. Not bad considering I wasn't really that excited about it for some reason.

Tomorrow, I'll probably not head into the fray, and I'll probably not go there as early. I'll be quite happy lying in the field on the outskirts of the crowd, and just soaking up the summer evening clouds, and the atmosphere of it all. Beautiful.

PS: I recommend these, I was so glad to have them with me tonight and I'm never going to go to a loud gig down the front without them ever again. You can still hear everything perfectly - better even, as your ears aren't being pounded with an overload of information. No further hearing damage for me thanks.

-----------------------

'15 Step'
'Bodysnatchers'
'All I Need'
'The National Anthem'
'Pyramid Song'
'Nude'
'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'
'The Gloaming'
'Dollars And Cents'
'Faust Arp'
'There There'
'Just'
'Climbing Up The Walls'
'Reckoner'
'Everything In Its Right Place'
'How To Disappear Completely'
'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'
'Videotape'
'Airbag'
'Bangers + Mash'
'Planet Telex'
'The Tourist'
'Cymbal Rush'
'You And Whose Army'
'Idioteque'

Apparently.

There have been some complaints that Thom didn't "interact with the audience very much". Fuck that shit, they only had a couple of hours and they were determined to knock out as much music as possible. Damn straight.

Sunday, January 13, 2008 4:32:10 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Ok, so I actually live here, but it's quite rare I stick around for the weekend and don't pop into London/somewhere else to go for a gig or something.

Went out last night with a bunch of people down to BoBs, and had ourselves some drinking and geek-talk. Found out that some of them are more interesting than would initially seem (Jo), some drink more than I thought they did (Emily, Rob - er.. one of the Robs) and yeah - good times.

After they all left around 10pm, I sat around with Andy and we just generally caught up, and found that he has a substantially better taste in music than I typically give him credit for. That was nice.

After some more drinking we headed for Reflex because some cheesy dancing was definitely in order. We met up with Phil there and I mainly just bounced around like a lunatic for a couple of hours, it just seemed appropriate somehow :)

So hurrah, I have friends that I actually like, and I'm looking forward to doing even more stuff with them on the very rare occasions I'm not out doing stuff just by myself.

Speaking of doing stuff with friends, Rob (not the Rob above, but the other Rob) mentioned he was doing to a record fair in Reading to purchase many fine records. I don't own a record player but I figured it would be a good chance to get my hands on some cheap CDs that I haven't got around to buying yet and maybe get some vinyls anyway as I should think I'll be getting a record player next month seeming as my collection of vinyls keeps increasing just because I keep getting them along with the CDs I've been buying. (It's a conspiracy I tell you).

I also figured it would be a cheap way to buy a load of singles that are missing from my collection, and it would be a good way to buy a load of singles from bands I haven't listened to yet without having to buy/download their entire albums. I'm not paying for MP3s on iTunes dammit - MP3s are for stealing, Records are for owning.

My word, what a collection of stuff you can find at a record fair. I'll be going next time (March) with a lot more money. A LOT more money.

I went with £40 and somehow ended up with the following:

Menomena - Under an Hour (Album CD)
Parts + Labor & Tyondai Braxton - Rise, Rise, Rise (Album CD)
Galaxie 500 - This is Our Music (12" Album)

British Sea Power - It Ended On An Oily Stage (Single CD)
British Sea Power - Remember Me (7" Single)
The National - Cherry Tree (Single CD)
Beirut - Elephant Gun (Single CD)
Brakes - Ring A Ding Ding (7" Single)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice (7" Single)
Brakes - Hold Me In the River (7" Single)
Broken Social Scene - 714 (Shoreline) (7" Single)
The Fiery Furnaces - Crystal Clear (7" Single)

So, really not a bad haul for the money spent and it was just quite a lot of fun browsing everything and realising how much music I actually really want to own. I now own nearly every single BSP single/album ever done, I'm only missing a couple of singles - so my inner-completist is sighing with happiness.

I'm incredibly proud of the Rise, Rise Rise album - I never knew that even existed and the moment I saw "Parts & Labor" AND Tyondai Braxton on the same physical media I got a bit excited and made the guy put it on so I could give it a listen before I handed over my money.

I saw Parts & Labor live a few months ago when they were supporting Battles and I was incredibly impressed (with their beards as well as their music) and I've never heard any of Tyondai's solo stuff before so I figured what the hell.

I've almost finished listening to that one and my ears have just been blown off. Awesome stuff.

Next up I'll be doing Under an Hour by Menomena, I'll be interested to see what their instrumental stuff is like having only previously hearing their two studio albums.

What a pleasant weekend.

Friday, October 12, 2007 10:08:35 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)