Get yer rocks off
Last weekend seems a long time ago now, but I guess i'd better update y'all.
First up Blondie on Saturday night. Now I don't actually own a Blondie album, so my knowledge of their tunes could be summed up in two words. 'Greatest Hits'. But when you've got hits as good as these what more do you need? To be honest the first half / two thirds of the show was a little lacklustre... but when they got round to 'Rapture' they took things to another level. Pure disco magic. I wasn't entirely sure about the extended guitar / drum solos in the middle of the song - it went on so long that the whole band had to have a sit down and a breather midway through - but then suddenly the disco came back out of nowhere and the place went bananas. I was thinking that it wasn't very punk rock to have extended guitar solos... but who cares. I didn't. After that it was a rocket full of hits till chucking out time. 'One Way or Another', 'Union City Blues', 'Atomic' and 'Heart of Glass'. Could any other band finish with such a magnificent sequence of songs?
'Atomic' was amusing.. in that the crowd were screaming 'oh, your hair is beautiful' at the start of every single line whether it was the right time or not. I think Debbie gave in after a while & just changed the words to fit. It was great though. Oh yeah.
Then Monday night was Hard-Fi. And jeezus if I thought the Astoria had gone ape-shit for the Arctic Monkeys i'd not seen anything. I had a quick go at getting in downstairs, but it was more packed than an EasyJet flight. And from my vantage point on the balcony it looked like absolute carnage down there!
It took me a little while to get fully into their performance, mainly because with the large venue it suffered in comparison to the gig at Carnival this summer.... but by half-way through the band seemed to hit their stride, the sound got better, and the delerious screams and singalongs from below were sending shivers down my spine. At the end two cannons pumped out a seemingly endless shower of confetti, completely filling the venue with floating ticker tape. It was something like Argentina '78!
I thought the band were awesome, but I was a bit off-put by Richard's banter between songs. It was a bit humourless, and they really didn't need to try and flog a ring-tone / download midway through. Despite this you couldn't help but get carried away with the quality of the songs and the energy in the auditorium. Quite excellent.
So a quick beer or two for refuelling purposes then off to Trash round the corner. For some reason i'd never been before. Well.. the reason is that it's on a Monday night. But if anywhere is worth pulling a sicky for it's here. I'd felt well spoilt having seen those cracking gigs beforehand, but Trash was better than both!
Unfortunately I didn't get there quite early enough to catch all of Hot Chip... however the half-hour or so I saw was everything i'd hoped for. They were quite brilliant. They finished with a truly amazing 'Over and Over', that had me leaping about & punching the air in a way not seen since Wycombe last won at C*lchester United.
The day before i'd managed to pick up a promo of the new 'Over & Over' remixes when out shopping... from which this cracking Naum Gabo (AKA one half of Optimo) version comes. If you enjoyed the original, this is even better. It's not massively different, but improved in all the right places.
HOT CHIP - OVER & OVER (NAUM GABO REMIX)
Hot Chip was only the half of it though.
After a bit of recuperation I headed into the main room, where Erol Alkan was rocking the Trash dancefloor as only he can. If I tell you what he played it'll sound like a bog standard indie disco, but his track selection is amazing; the sound at The End has to be heard to be believed; and some of his dj-tricks - like tweaking the filters ad extremis on DFA 1979 - rewired my brain, knotted my ears, and sent my legs into spasms.
What I can remember he played: Pulp - Babies; The Rogers Sisters - Why Won't You (really fucken amazing. I can't find an mp3 unfortunately, but do listen to it on their myspace page); Interpol - Slow Hands; Arctic Monkeys - From The Ritz to the Rubble; Black Sabbath - Paranoid; Battant - Jump Up; The Strokes; Arcade Fire; The Smiths; The Pixies.... you get the picture. Foot-stomping rock'n'roll played at deafening volume. Fantastic.
I can see one or two sick Tuesdays coming up next year!
If anyone's actually managed to read through all that i'd better reward you with another mp3.
PHARRELL'S ACID DROP
The follow up to 'Snoop's Acid Drop'.
Pharrell Williams + Acid = Ace
It looks like this is something to do with Boris Dlugosch and Tommie Sunshine. But don't let that put you off.
First up Blondie on Saturday night. Now I don't actually own a Blondie album, so my knowledge of their tunes could be summed up in two words. 'Greatest Hits'. But when you've got hits as good as these what more do you need? To be honest the first half / two thirds of the show was a little lacklustre... but when they got round to 'Rapture' they took things to another level. Pure disco magic. I wasn't entirely sure about the extended guitar / drum solos in the middle of the song - it went on so long that the whole band had to have a sit down and a breather midway through - but then suddenly the disco came back out of nowhere and the place went bananas. I was thinking that it wasn't very punk rock to have extended guitar solos... but who cares. I didn't. After that it was a rocket full of hits till chucking out time. 'One Way or Another', 'Union City Blues', 'Atomic' and 'Heart of Glass'. Could any other band finish with such a magnificent sequence of songs?
'Atomic' was amusing.. in that the crowd were screaming 'oh, your hair is beautiful' at the start of every single line whether it was the right time or not. I think Debbie gave in after a while & just changed the words to fit. It was great though. Oh yeah.
Then Monday night was Hard-Fi. And jeezus if I thought the Astoria had gone ape-shit for the Arctic Monkeys i'd not seen anything. I had a quick go at getting in downstairs, but it was more packed than an EasyJet flight. And from my vantage point on the balcony it looked like absolute carnage down there!
It took me a little while to get fully into their performance, mainly because with the large venue it suffered in comparison to the gig at Carnival this summer.... but by half-way through the band seemed to hit their stride, the sound got better, and the delerious screams and singalongs from below were sending shivers down my spine. At the end two cannons pumped out a seemingly endless shower of confetti, completely filling the venue with floating ticker tape. It was something like Argentina '78!
I thought the band were awesome, but I was a bit off-put by Richard's banter between songs. It was a bit humourless, and they really didn't need to try and flog a ring-tone / download midway through. Despite this you couldn't help but get carried away with the quality of the songs and the energy in the auditorium. Quite excellent.
So a quick beer or two for refuelling purposes then off to Trash round the corner. For some reason i'd never been before. Well.. the reason is that it's on a Monday night. But if anywhere is worth pulling a sicky for it's here. I'd felt well spoilt having seen those cracking gigs beforehand, but Trash was better than both!
Unfortunately I didn't get there quite early enough to catch all of Hot Chip... however the half-hour or so I saw was everything i'd hoped for. They were quite brilliant. They finished with a truly amazing 'Over and Over', that had me leaping about & punching the air in a way not seen since Wycombe last won at C*lchester United.
The day before i'd managed to pick up a promo of the new 'Over & Over' remixes when out shopping... from which this cracking Naum Gabo (AKA one half of Optimo) version comes. If you enjoyed the original, this is even better. It's not massively different, but improved in all the right places.
HOT CHIP - OVER & OVER (NAUM GABO REMIX)
Hot Chip was only the half of it though.
After a bit of recuperation I headed into the main room, where Erol Alkan was rocking the Trash dancefloor as only he can. If I tell you what he played it'll sound like a bog standard indie disco, but his track selection is amazing; the sound at The End has to be heard to be believed; and some of his dj-tricks - like tweaking the filters ad extremis on DFA 1979 - rewired my brain, knotted my ears, and sent my legs into spasms.
What I can remember he played: Pulp - Babies; The Rogers Sisters - Why Won't You (really fucken amazing. I can't find an mp3 unfortunately, but do listen to it on their myspace page); Interpol - Slow Hands; Arctic Monkeys - From The Ritz to the Rubble; Black Sabbath - Paranoid; Battant - Jump Up; The Strokes; Arcade Fire; The Smiths; The Pixies.... you get the picture. Foot-stomping rock'n'roll played at deafening volume. Fantastic.
I can see one or two sick Tuesdays coming up next year!
If anyone's actually managed to read through all that i'd better reward you with another mp3.
PHARRELL'S ACID DROP
The follow up to 'Snoop's Acid Drop'.
Pharrell Williams + Acid = Ace
It looks like this is something to do with Boris Dlugosch and Tommie Sunshine. But don't let that put you off.
posted by headphonesex @ 9:55 PM
