Tis I, einsam

She Looks Pretty Valuable From Here

So I finally did it. Well, finally did a couple of things. One, returned to Bodega (not that finally, but I've been in love with that place for years, despite going there for the first time about a month ago). And two, saw The Dissentors, and got my hands on their EP.

So my mate and I rock up to Bodega and I start on the Amstel (ahhh latest beer of choice - had half a dozen last night), and he on his vodka on the rocks. After a bit, the band walks in, and followed by ALo, who chats with them for a bit before heading to the bar for some drinks. About half an hour later, soundcheck starts.

Their set was good. Energetic, fun, all that kinda stuff. I felt let down a little bit, I wasn't expecting Johnny Deaf to be such a screamer live, but that didn't bother me too much. The tunes I recognised from their MySpace were good, but the standout was definately Red Dice. Red Dice went off in my opinion, and had I been in a better frame of body (ie not in as much pain), I would've been up there with ALo and the others bouncing around. Red Dice has been my favourite track on my phone this week, and tonight just made it favourite for another week I believe.

A little disappointed to not stay around for Odessa. But then, I have no idea what they are like, so, I guess I don't know what I'm missing! That gives me time to search them out for next time.

Now, I get home, and both neighbours are partying it up. Currently one house is "Living On A Prayer" and the other is "Toxic". I knew I didn't like those particular neighbours, and I'll say hi to the others more often. Come on, what Wellingtonian in their mid to late 20s plays Britney? I wish that lot would turn down their music and just leech off the others. I dont much like the "Living On A Toxic Prayer" remix I'm getting.

Anyway, I've decided on a drunken fry up, minus the drunken. Then back to watching my movie. I have a goal of watching about 18 movies this month. Fun fun fun!

Ahh, The Box of einsam Past.

Part of the reason of staying the night at my sisters after their party, was so that she could drop me home with a bunch of my stuff that they've had in storage for me since I shifted to Wellington. This included my guitar and amp, and my box of CD singles.

On the way to my place, we called into MusicWorks to look into the middle nephew getting a bass guitar and lessons. Whilst there, they got replacement strings for my guitar which broke whilst in their care, and because the box I'd used for transport was pretty trashed, I splashed out and got a $37 guitar bag. Hehe. Pity it wasn't pink like the one that went with the butterfly guitar. So when I got home, I promptly replaced the strings (my first time, and I believe I did pretty good!) and then set about tuning it. Then reaquainted myself with a few chords.

Anyway, Mike mentioned that he may be interested in some of my CD singles. So I thought, I'd detail them here so you can all laugh at my taste in music when I wasn't a Wellingtonian.

Plutons

One of those music game things that go around last.fm Check it out for something interesting. Plutons

This is a Must Listen Album, This is Handy!

I'm so loving those Handee towel ads.

But anyway, to the point. About six weeks ago, Ambitious from KotB and I were discussing music tastes, and he recommended to me The Klaxons.

Naughtily, I downloaded the album, and listened to it maybe twice, then didn't listen to much music for a bit, apart from the few live gigs I went to over the weeks, or the horrendously old stuff on my phone's media player. Think 2003 top 100 (yes you may laugh), the odd 90s rock anthem and a tonne of Ben Folds/Five. Until... good old Mike told me that they'd got some copies in. So, last week, among other things, I updated my phone, stuffed it full of The Sproutts, Vorn, Grayson Gilmour (links in the sidebar, or soon to be), Flying Nun compilations and the Klaxons. And oh man, they are top on my "wake up with songs in my head" since then.

When buying Audio Agriculture last week, I committed myself to getting Myths of the Near Future in, er, the near future. Depends what time I finish work on Friday, maybe then on my way out to my sisters Dick warming party. Whoops, I mean deck (bleeming Australians mishearing her accent!), we're warming her deck. But moral of the story is, I'll be buying the album soon.

One review of the album I've read over at The Observer, states "What's endearing about the Klaxons is their lack of cool (pure rave, that) and their confusion. You get the sense they don't know exactly what they're aiming for, and the resulting mish-mash of crude energy and unfocused ambition leaves the listener gloriously befuddled." The intro to the track "Atlantis to Interzone" reminds me of EMF, "As Above, So Below" has elements that I believe are shared with Grayson, and so on throughout the album. Yet, it remains distinctly different.

I maintain that the Klaxons are cool, purely because I like them and then there's that gloriously befuddled feeling you get. I recommend them to anyone, just head over to their myspace and listen to the tracks there, get a taste! My favourites are Isle of Man (lyrics earlier), Totem on the Timeline, and well, all of the others. Give them a go!

We'll go together, float on a feather...

Things I've Seen, and stuff.

Taken from post at last.fm

Well, I've updated all the gigs I've attended (apart from sad ones from when I was young - but strangely, I left in the sad ones from when I was not so young :/)
>
> Most noteable have been the recent ones, The Sproutts and Vorn.
>
> Now, I'd like to tell a little story about how I got to attending, and loving such inexplicable talent.
>
> I got my hands on Vorn's 2006 gem, Vorn - Thunk, at his gig at Happy on the Weekend. As my chaperone friend had been told, great location, BLOODY PILLAR! Was a cool little laid back event, complete with collaborative efforts with Phil Collins, forgotten chords, and laughs all round.
>
> I headed off to the Vorn show, after seeing him playing as part of The Sproutts when I caught them at Mighty Mighty the week before. I was wowed by the musicality flowing through him, and how he was clearly having fun picking up different instrument after different instrument. That could've been clouded by my already hyped state having recieved the copy of The Sproutts' latest album, The Sproutts - Plutons from Thomas (violinst extraordinaire) himself! That was definately an awesome night, full of old songs and new, and Chris even got flashed a few times by an enthusiatic red-shirted lass - no, not I, I was the one who got her elbow in my eye every time she did it. It was wierd seeing them without Charlotte though. But they still rocked!
>
> Now there's a funny story as to how I discovered my enjoyment of The Sproutts. I was exploring Old Friends one Sunday afternoon, seeing who was new since last time, and checking out where they all were and what they were doing now. I found out the new guy at work had got himself on here, and on his profile he had a little bit of self-advertising there, about his band The Sproutts, and a link to their site. On there they had a few tracks which I downloaded and played. The next day we were having a work breakfast, and Thomas's musical talents were discussed, and upon getting back to the office, he sent out that link again (king of shameless self-promotion that fulla!) and I promptly asked him for a copy of their previous album, The Sproutts - Flying Out of the Washing Machine. And that began my musical coming-of-age.
>
> Can't wait for the next local act to catch my desires, and join the ranks with these lovelys :)

Things I've Seen, and stuff.