Top-10 gigs of 2011

Here goes...the ten best/most memorable gigs I've been to this year.

10. Let's Wrestle (26th February 2011, The Victory)
This one was a hard one to decide on. I've been to so many great shows this year...but there can only be ten in a top-10. Maybe it's unfair to pick a gig that I can't really remember much of...all I know is that I had a lot of fun. It was dirty, smelly and hideously cramped but I was too drunk to care. I'm pretty sure it was awesome!

9. The Death Set (13th April 2011, Old Blue Last)
The show that almost didn't happen. The Death Set were meant to play the night before, but had to cancel because of some transport issues. I can't remember happened exactly, but they didn't get to the venue in time for curfew anyway. Luckily, the venue managed to find a slot for them the following night. It was my first time seeing them live and it was just as great as I'd imagined.

8. Withered Hand, Standard Fare and Tigercats (9th February 2011, Catch)
The only show I promoted this year, but it sure was a good one. It didn't matter that it was unbelievably packed, uncomfortable and almost impossible to see anything. All three bands were incredible that night.

7. Allo Darlin' (Greg's garden)
I've seen Allo Darlin' play all sorts of venues this year, but this was probably the one I enjoyed the most. Playing in the garden at a friend's birthday party, the band came alive in a different way than normal. I love how these kind of small shows makes bands relax and just have fun.

6. Half Japanese (31st May 2011, The Scala)
I had seen Half Japanese play an amazing show in Barcelona just a couple of days earlier, but this was even better. Everything was spot on. They played all the the songs I wanted to hear and Jad made full use of his amazing bendy guitar.

And with support from Let's Wrestle and The Lovely Eggs of course this was an awesome evening!

5. Times New Viking, Veronica Falls (3rd May 2011, XOYO)
This was a great night. I hadn't seen Veronica Falls for a long time and was really excited about hearing some new stuff. They certainly didn't disappoint and I rememeber being blown away by how great they were live. Times New Viking are always awesome and this show was no different. To finish off a great set they tried to play Fuck Her Tears (one of my favorite tracks on the new record) twice, before giving up. The guitar strings just couldn't handle it and snapped during the intro both times. Great end to an awesome show.

4. Humousexual (25th February 2011, Andrew's living room in Notting Hill)
Now this is what I'm talking about! It doesn't get much better than a proper bedroom show. Humousexual in a small bedroom, playing to just a handful of people. This was very special indeed.

3. Japanther (14th February 2011, Tufnell Park Dome)

I've seen Japanther five or six times and it's never been less than amazing. This show in North London was one of the best. The atmosphere was just unbelievable. Not many bands can get a London crowd going like these guys can.

2. Math The Band x 3 (Guildford/Harlow/Tunbridge Wells, October 2011)

I'd been wanting to see Math The Band for a looooong time and I never expected to have to thank Wheatus for finally making it happen. Kevin and Justine were invited to join the more-than-just-a-little-older-than-teenage dirtbags on an insane UK tour that lasted something ridiculous like five weeks.

I skipped the London show and instead decided to visit some nearby towns and venues I'd never been to. It was weird and great on so many different levels. Great to see one of my favorite bands play to a packed venue...weird that it was happening in Harlow, Guildford and Tunbridge Wells....and even weirder that they were supporting Wheatus, a band that played my University graduation ball ten years ago!

Anyway, every single show was great and the only thing I regret now is not going to more of them.

Finally...

1. Weezer (6th July 2011, Brixton Academy)
I know Weezer doesn't really need the publicity and in general I tend to prefer smaller gigs, so this might come as a surprise. But, the thing is...Weezer at Brixton Academy was just unbelievably AMAZING!

Just look at the setlist! (from http://lullabyforwayne.blogspot.com)

Reading that makes me want to go to that show again and again and again and again...you get the point. And Male Bonding were supporting! Best gig of 2011. FACT!

That's it. My ten gigs of 2011. Many awesome shows have been left out. Other incredible gigs that spring to mind are Proper Ornaments at Power Lunches, Pulp in Hyde Park, Enfant Bastard in Edinburgh, Cloud Nothings at CAMP Basement, Omi Palone at Duke Of Uke, Best Friends Forever and The Middle Ones at the Old Blue Last, Anguish Sandwich at Indietracks, Spaghetti Tree weekend in Peckham (with Japanther, Please, John Maus etc) and the awesomeness that was Primavera Sound in Barcelona.

Bring on 2012! I noticed on Songkick that my teenage heroes Guttermouth are playing in London in March. I might have to go, just for old times' sake. One of the first big concerts I ever went to was to see them support The Offspring in Gothenburg in 1994. Shit, I feel old.

Video of the day (Weezer - El Scorcho)

This evening I'm going to see Weezer!


Weezer! That is all for now.

Video of the day (nordloef - Buddy Holly (Weezer cover)

I first came across Swedish chiptune artist nordloef a year and a half ago on the 'Weezer - The 8-bit album' compilation. It features 14 classic Weezer tracks, covered by 8-bit/chiptune artists, including Anamanaguchi and I Fight Dragons. The whole compilation is great, but Nordloef's version of Buddy Holly definitely stands out as one of the best tracks.



Weezer - The 8-bit album can be downloaded legally for free here.

nordloef on myspace

Video of the day (Weezer - Memories)

So, there's a new Weezer album out. Despite the humongous disappointment that was Raditude, I was excited. Surely, Rivers and Co got their college-jock-rock-party anthems out of their system with that one? And then there was the lead single Memories. That gave me some hope. Sure, it's big and slick, but it's also a great, catchy, bouncy sing-a-long-ey Weezer song. And the chorus going "all the memories makes me want to go back there". Now there was some real hope. Maybe they'd even had a listen to the Blue album, Pinkerton, the Green album, hell even Maladroit, just as a reminder of what they used to sound like. So, I was excited to get my hands on Hurley, despite its awful cover., which in a way was kind of funny. Finally, they had also changed label to Epitaph, a record label I worshipped as a teenager and home to most of my then-favourites – Bad Religion, NOFX, Pennywise, Guttermouth etc. So, I was excited, almost expecting an accompanying press release stating that Raditude was a year-long April Fools joke and that I Can't Stop Partying contained the musical equivalent of Uma Thurman's five point palm exploding heart technique from Kill Bill. Sing along to the chorus five times and you die. Now that would be awesome. But, nope. It looks like Raditude was a real album...and the horrible party song was not an inventive way to destroy the jocks of America.

Hmmm...losing my train of thought here. Hurley...well, it's a mixed bag to say the least. There's Memories, Hang On and Run Away, which are all really good, but then there's also Where's My Sex? - a song every bit as awful as I Can't Stop Partying and so bad it prevents me from thinking about the album objectively. Although a couple come close there's nothing else quite as bad on there, and if you can manage to ignore these cringey songs, you'll be glad to hear that there are also bunch of really good songs. I guess that's one beauty of itunes - you can just delete the songs you don't like, create your own "complete discography" and just live in ignorance of the actual truth.

So, yes. Thanks Weezer. My 6-song version of Hurley is mostly excellent-ish. Well done!

Oh and the video for Memories is pretty fun….in a stupid Jackass way.

February mix

I feel like sharing. Here's a bunch of songs that for one reason or another all have been played a lot this year. Some of the artists are mega famous, some are virtually unknown. Some I only discovered this year, some have been personal favorites for years. The only thing they really have in common is that they've all left a deep mark on me. 

I don't Weezer needs an introduction. This song is a B-side and was first brought to my attention in the Kevin Smith film Mallrats. 

I wrote about Trouble Books in one of the very first posts on this blog. I can listen to this song on repeat. I can't really explain why, but it just gets to me. It's only a minute long. Unfortunately the file is twice that size, but my computer skills are not great enough to sort that out manually.

The Replacements have been close to my heart for about seven or eight years and picking one song to share with the world was always gonna be a nightmare. This, like most of Paul Westerberg's songs, is just great.

I do love The Moldy Peaches. Silly, rude, simple, but oh so much fun. The live version of Rainbows is probably better than this "properly recorded" one, but just the idea of recording this song in a studio makes me smile. Perhaps the funniest first verse ever.

First time I saw Viking Moses was at the End Of The Road Festival in 2007 and he just blew me away. His voice is extremely powerful and just...well...insane. This song is relatively straight forward, but astonishing nonetheless. Genius. Check out the video on youtube.

Me and Bill Moustache once bumped into the boys in Let's Wrestle outside the Macbeth in Shoreditch. They almost begged us to go in to watch them and even put us on the cheap list. We went in and were pretty disappointed. A year later they are huge (well, you know...in my world) and I decide to give their album a go. Wow! It's fast, funny, sweet, angry and just brilliant. The most exciting young rock band around? Probably.

The Robot Ate Me is one of my favorite bands and I brought singer Ryland Bouchard to London in January to do a show at The Wilmington Arms. Not many people showed up to what was an absolutely breathtaking performance. 

As I said in my previous post, Roky Erickson has been on my mind a lot recently. This song is a personal favorite.

Weezer - Susanne

Trouble Books - Personal Tornados

The Replacements - Favorite Thing

The Moldy Peaches - Rainbows

Viking Moses - Werewolves In The City

Let's Wrestle - Song For An ABBA Tribute Record

Ryland Bouchard - Another Day No. 2

Roky Erickson - For You (I'd Do Anything)

As usual, please support these artists in any way you can, by going to gigs or buying their stuff.