Regal rock: turn it up!

Another busy week, back to full time hockey and even a trip to the seaside (work not play). Today was certainly one of those #TGIF Fridays. However, I was struck by a rather sudden urge on my drive home; for the first time in a long while I felt like I wanted to be in a mosh pit. Let me explain...

This urge may or may not be familiar to you but I'm sure it manifests itself in various guises across everyday life. That impulse that makes you feel like you've got about twice the adrenaline you should do, a need to share that within a modicum of violence with your fellow man. And who do I have to thank for this? The answer is Royal Blood (http://royalbloodband.com).

I stumbled across the album really. I've signed up to Deezer and through recommendations it suggested that I should give it a listen - and I'm so glad I did. It's packed with punchy riffs, and the album reminds me of why I really like the garage and blues rock genre. 

The album reminds of of a halfway house of BRMC and The Raconteurs - 2 hugely underrated bands. Complex but not complicated, if that makes any sense. There is a structure to the album which suggests they didn't really want continuity, each song says something different. Also, like some mythological attribute, for every track that ends another impulse to rock out is thrust upon you.

It was that good on second listen I wanted to turn it "up to 11" like Nigel Tufnel (Spinal Tap reference for those who aren't aware). Like any good two piece, they make lots of noise and don't try to do too much. 

Favourite track on the album is probably Ten Tonne Skeleton but as that hasn't been released, here is a link to the video of the duo's most recent single release, Figure It Out:

http://youtu.be/jhgVu2lsi_k

Short but sweet post but honestly this album packs a real punch, or at least a wayward elbow in my mind mosh pit x

Musing on Music

I should've written this post sooner, but I've been busy (and not by myself, which allows me to reflect on what exactly I want to blog about).

There have been two events recently which made me contemplate the power and influence of music. So in no particular order...

It only seems like yesterday that I awoke in Gloucester services at circa 5am on a Monday morning, half covered by a sleeping bag, wearing clothes from the night before and smelling like the local tramp. I'd be there again in a heartbeat: Glastonbury Festival was amazing.

I'm not going to lie to you, getting in and out of the festival is pretty much hell on earth. However the five days you have there, between those two events, you can make as heavenly as you like. There is no sweeter taste than the first beer sat looking over Worthy Farm from the top of The Park.

Everything about the place is magical. From the mysticism of the Healing Fields and Stone Circle to the hedonism and perversions of Shangri-La. It is a very happy place, isolated from the rest of the world. Plus the 30+ stages/arenas have you dancing for as long as you can stand up. There were too many great acts to mention, everything about it just seemed like a grand spectacle: a tribute to live performance across all the arts.

The BBC did a wonderful job in providing vast coverage of the festival. I even managed to see the acts I missed in person, but it lacked the magic/hangover that I had felt being there. I thoroughly recommend doing Glastonbury to anyone considering it. I will happily admit that I was not the perfect attendee, I made mistakes. Here are 7 helpful tips, based on my own errors, to help you enjoy any future Glastonbury attendance.

1. Warm white wine is not a sensible first drink of the day.

2. There is no such thing as a 2-man tent.

3. If you do bring a 2-man tent, ensure you bring all parts including a roof...

4. Wear insoles in wellies to avoid blisters.

5. Photograph everything you do (including checking if people in your party are conscious).

6. Take a flag, it gives you an identity as a group.

7. Never underestimate the power of Dolly Parton.

I got everything else just about right, thanks mainly to the recommendations of previous attendees - and ultimately the relaxed atmosphere of the festival seems to make the mistakes you make much easier to deal with. 

If you aren't convinced, you'll just have to experience it for yourself. I dare you.

The second event wasn't perhaps as well covered by the BBC. It was a barbecue at my friend Mark's house. However, let that not skew the relevance or importance of this. 

I was asked to bring some music to put in a playlist. My laptop is pretty poor so I made a couple of playlists on music applications like SoundCloud and Deezer. However, in order to put the music through Mark's mixing software and ultimately out through his speaker system we had to get the digital copy onto his local laptop (via legitimate means, of course). This allowed me the opportunity to play the set and try my hand at mixing the tracks myself. Not one for shyness, I agreed to give it a whirl.

Unlike Glastonbury, I was the other side of the fence. I was responsible for making people dance... And I loved it. It was lots of fun and I think software makes it really intuitive. I now have desires to become a part-time DJ, but I have to ask myself:

1. I don't even have time to blog, how will I find the time to become even a part-time DJ?

2. The kit is an expensive investment to just muck about with. Would it be worth it?

3. Does it always rely on you owning the music? I can imagine trying to recreate my virtual/application library being expensive.

Then...

4. Who cares? It's fun to pretend you can replicate the DJs who make you dance like a tit.

It's the music which makes me happiest, and being a bedroom DJ is probably as close as I'll get to performing live in any case. But is it an expensive hobby or a waste of time?

I'm still "umming and arring" as to whether I will pursue the adventure and expenditure. But I know that attending Glastonbury is worth every penny and for good measure, if I could be a DJ anywhere, I can think of few better places than a headline spot at Glastonbury x

P.S. Despite his own protests, Mark is a very good DJ and if he sends me the link, I'll point you in the way of his TATV mixes. 

Pre-GLASTO

There are things in life that people put in lists, like shopping.

For me, Glastonbury festival has been on my "to do" list for a good long while. I'm eternally grateful to Ben Jackson who managed to hit the ticketing site at the right time and get my ticket. One of the nicest gingers I know.

There are many things about the festival which appealed to me, most notably the community type bubble the festival creates, its passion for diversity and, of course, the music. The legacy of performances on those stages is unrivalled, par Woodstock.

It is currently "Glastonbury Eve", I'm beer in hand and sat in front of the TV watching what can only be described as an international football match (as it stands) between Ivory Coast and Greece - which I'm only watching because the World Cup is on. All jokes aside, massive respect to the Toure brothers, and their team mates, who are sporting black armbands in memory of their brother, Ibrahim who sadly passed away earlier in the week. 

I've got SoundCloud blasting away upbeat tunes getting me in the mood for the next few days. And it's starting to make me think about what acts I want to see whilst simultaneously worrying that the sheer wealth of talent at the festival means that I could spend half my time running from pillar to post and miss out on lots of the things that only Glastonbury can offer. I only recently learned you can take classes there to learn new stuff, like the ukulele.

I think I've told just about everyone I know that I am going to Glastonbury this year, which has either been greeted with "it'll rain", "that's nice" or "I'm so jealous". With any variant of those responses there is always a word of advice.

One of the pieces of advice that I was given was to pick the artist who has the most entertaining name and go and see them. Current favourite on that front is "Just A Couple of Mums" - which for obvious reasons sounds like a right hoot! 

I've got a few picks from the lineup, like Arcade Fire, who I haven't seen before. But I'm torn on whether I should I only focus on people I haven't seen before or trust the music I like. I love the Manic Street Preachers but will seeing them at Glastonbury vastly change that? I think it's a balancing act - because as I said before it's not all about the music at this festival.

However, a blog can't be all fluff and no opinion. I'm not a Metallica fan, but people who are saying the headliners this year are not on par with previous years are quite clearly annoyed that they didn't get a ticket, or not realise how much influence their music has had on the wider music scene. You only had to hear Ellie Goulding (covering Zane Lowe's radio show) to understand just how long they have been making influential music. Haters gonna hate.

With guests arriving for the evening shortly to break up the journey down to Worthy Farm I best wrap this up. See you on the other side and if you do get chance please pray for sunshine, I quite like the clothes I'm taking xx

It's Bombastic

I have a very old iPod. Its contents haven't changed since about 2007. This allows me to listen to things like Ash's Intergalactic Sonic 7s, The Shins' Wincing The Night Away and Bloc Party's Silent Alarm on my way to and from work. The great thing about this is that I often listen to music that reminds me of certain things and places. I will, for instance never be able to decouple Boy Kill Boy's Civilian from my school leaving holiday to Tuscany or Razorlight's Up All Night from drinking Carling with Luke Dalton...

All this nostalgia is lovely - however, back to the matter at hand: as many of my previous post readers will be aware, I often go and get a load of new music in one go the old fashioned way - buying a physical CD.

The one that won the mini blog post is Bombay Bicycle Club's So Long See You Tomorrow.

There are few opening tracks that really set out the stall of recent albums I have listened to, other than maybe CHVRCHES (whose album The Bones Of What You Believe [which came second in the blog shortlist] opens with The Mother We Share). Overdone makes you think of the lights gradually coming up at a gig, sun meeting sky with the swagger of North London. On my first listen to the album, as Overdone's bass line kicks in, it somehow managed to make me feel like when I heard Arctic Monkeys' Brianstorm for the first time: I wanted to be at the front of a gig crowd, 18 and a bit pissed. 

The ethereal tones of Jack Steadman's lead vocals and a continuation of the sampling experimentation within the latest album provides ample purity that many other bands seem to suffer from, post "the difficult third album" (this being BBC's fourth). The album features guest vocals and produces similar haunting harmonies that became so well recognised on A Different Kind Of Fix.

My current favourite track is Home By Now, but Luna isn't far off that. The fact I can't really decide across most of the album is testament to the album's construction. 

I'm not going to give you the blow-by-blow of the album. The orchestration and world music influences really do make this album a worthwhile listen - it's Bombastic x