Last weekend we went to visit Chloe & Jamie and see our other friends in London. On the Friday we went to see a 12 piece band who play DJ Shadow's Endtroducing through from start to finish and do all the samples live. I was really excited about that and thought it was going to be super cool, it turned out to be super lame. Lewis likened it to when his teachers formed a "rock band" at school. At times it was toe-curlingly uncool. Shame. However, we did get to go to Koko, which looks like this:
Lovely!
Over the weekend we also ate lovely food, caught up with Lewis and Emma, did a bit of shopping at a vintage market and went to see a great exhibition at Somerset House.
The exhibition was of work created for Dior by the illustrator Rene Gruau. His work is so beautiful and luxurious I just wanted to live in that world. You can imagine it feels like silk and smells amazing! He created pieces such as these:
His illustrations are incredibly stylish, yet minimal, confident and sophisticated. I could've looked at them all day. There were some 80's influenced ones which didn't really work for me so much (airbrushed style faces and angular cheekbones etc), but the 50s-70s ones were so good that didn't matter. Even his signature is beautiful. Look:
Anyway, enough wallowing in the glory of bygone days.
Stuff coming up:
2nd Dec - Studio sale at I Dress Myself to say goodbye to Han & Pete. I still can't believe they're leaving Nottingham, and so soon! They'll be missed.
10th Dec - We Show Up On RadaR @ Spanky Van Dykes. This looks set to be a great show and only the 3rd time they've played with their full live band in Nottingham. Look for the event on facebook for full details.
16th Dec - Jumpers For Goalposts @ Tether - For the first time we're leaving our Alley Cafe home and venturing out into the big wide world for a special Christmas edition of Jumpers to help Tether celebrate their final night of the studios. This is going to be FUN.
I reckon there's probably loads of other good stuff coming up too, but I can't remember everything!
At the weekend we went to see Hot Chip & LCD Soundsystem play a massive gig at the Magna centre in Sheffield. It was awesome! We saw Hot Chip here in Notts at Rock City recently and that was an incredible experience. On an ordinary Monday evening it felt like we had been to the carnival and church at the same time. Hot Chip came onstage to squeals like Beatlemania and every person there was dancing and singing.
This time things were different. By the time Hot Chip came on the area near the stage was a swamp of people crowding and pushing, so we retreated towards the back of this huge cavernous room. Inevitably the distance affected our involvement with the gig, so we didn't enjoy them quite as much this time. To be honest, we would've been hard pushed to equal last time anyway, so that was fine. Plus there were still some amazing tracks and their live sound is great. My favourite part is when the Chip that talks (beard & gingerish? Not a singer?) has to run between all his different instruments - guitar, drums, kettle drum - in one song. He really covered some ground.
The real revelation for me was LCD Soundsystem. Anders loves them, and has done for aaaages, which is why we got the tickets for this gig. I've never really listened to them if I'm honest. I've heard Daft Punk, Drunk Girls and a couple of others and they've never really grabbed me. The only LCD song I've really connected with is I Can Change, so I was standing just really waiting for that one song. We were right down the front, near the stage. Shit Robot was DJing and people were really getting in the party mood. Then, the lights went down and we stood in near total darkness and a familiar song started up. It felt both foolish and electric to be standing in the dark listening to I'm Not In Love by 10CC, with strangers all around singing along. After that, lights came up and LCD came out onto the stage and started up with Dance Yrself Clean from the new album:
(This video is really long, but I think it gives a feel of what the atmosphere created is like if you watch just the first few seconds)
It was like a lesson in how to open a gig. I didn't know the song at all, but everyone around us did and were singing along and really dancing. The song is perfectly constructed for this scenario - starting relatively small with James Murphy's vocals and minimal backing, adding in a few more instruments and members of the band as it builds and then halfway through just exploding into a huge sound. It was perfect to build tension and excitement at the band coming on and then gave the perfect release for everyone to sing and dance and (in the case of a man stood behind me who used me as a steadying post...) headbang. It was perfect.
(We had somehow ended up slap bang in the middle of fan boy central with people who knew every word and some people who had clearly taken their drugs too early and were even bouncing to 10CC. )
After both bands had finished they came on together and did a special collaborative cover of a song called "Seabird" by the Alessi Brothers (no, me either). It was really magical. It was like a moment from The Last Waltz for me, almost romantic... It was like a celebration of a tour romance between the two bands and was just lovely.
(as a post-script, I've just listened to the original and it's lovely, but the brothers appear to maybe have a little lisp... distracting and yet very sweet!)
Anyhow, I loved it and I'm really glad we got to see LCD, particularly as it keeps being suggested that this is their last album. And they played I Can Change. Yeah!
Other fun stuff we've been up to (quickly):
- Saw "A Town Called Panic" at Broadway just before it finished. Animated film, you might recognise it from the Cravendale milk ads. it's all created in stop-motion using little vintage toys (cowboy, indian etc) as the main characters. It's really fast and fun and inventive and I'd recommend seeing it on DVD if you can.
- Saw Micah P Hinson at the Rescue Rooms - This was the day after Hello Gore II (pics here from that by the way) and I was in no fit state to be going to a gig. I can't do things two days in a row. It didn't help that he had a harp lady playing before he came on and the rolling sounds were affecting my queasiness. I have nothing useful to add about the gig.
- My dad turned 60 and we celebrated with him. One of the things we did was go for a meal to a restaurant in Sheffield called Kitchen. We had the most down to earth, Sheffield born & bred, waiter you can imagine. Turned out he was a partner in the restaurant, which made sense, I'm not sure he'd have made it as a waiter. We asked what a dish described as Paris Brest with lots of french words was. His response? "Well, it's a choux bun. The chef came up with the name. I think he's probably made all that other stuff up." in a broad Yorkshire accent. Lovely! I ate a dish called 3 Little Pigs which was pork in 3 ways, including the revelation that belly pork is actually delicious.
- Went to Lustre at Lakeside Arts - this is one of my favourite events of the year - a big craft market with beautifully hand made objects from all over the country. Every year I suggest we go to look at Christmas presents. Every year we go and come back with "us" presents instead. This year I got a brooch with a zebra on. I love it.
SO, just to finish off I can confirm that it is Jumpers for Goalposts this week at the Alley Cafe on Thursday. We've got Burly Nagasaki playing, which will be a real treat. Plus we've got a great creative competition. Come down! It's free!
I'm delighted to say that my work has been chosen to be featured on the fantastic Cultural Expose blog as part of their travel photography feature InterNational!
HG2 Teaser from Dan Toporowski on Vimeo.
What a great line up! Without a doubt this is going to be the Halloween party of 2010.
Have you got your costume sorted yet? The theme is B-movies, but given that I haven't seen any we will be interpreting that very loosely. This is one of those occasions on which I wish i'd been better organised. Three days to go. Haven't decided on an idea. Oh dear. We're in trouble!
Full line-up for Gore II:
FISTS
HOT HORIZONS
YUNIOSHI
BLACK POWDER
HHYMN
RED SHOE DIARIES
BONSAI PROJECTS
JOEY CHICKENSKIN
& Hello Thor DJs
Plus! Nottingham Contemporary will be decorated up by the Left Luggage theatre people AND you can have your picture taken in the Garments of Gore photobooth!
All bands will be performing a spooky cover and a track of their own. It's going to be amazing!
Here's the poster by Rob Garner: (I love this poster, it's so cool)
Just wanted to post up some details about 3 gigs we've got coming up over the next couple of weeks. You can get more info on the Hello Thor website or read below.
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Jumpers for Goalposts @ Alley Cafe - Thurs 21st Oct.
We're back at the Jam Cafe again this year, because we had such fun there last year. We've got a cracking line up too. Over The Wall, Moscow Youth Cult, Escapologists, Mexican Kids At Home, Matthew Stephen Cooper, Japanese Sleepers & Make A Halo.
It's all raising money for charity - there are other great bands playing all over Hockley and Hello Thor are really pleased to be a part of it.
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Hello Gore II: The Return @ Nottingham Contemporary- Sat 31st Oct
Hello Gore is being allowed out for a second time. It's a massive FREE party at the Cafe.Bar.Contemporary with 8 amazing bands playing live. Dress to distress and have your photo taken in the Hello Gore Photobooth. Here's the poster:
Sorry posting has been a bit sporadic of late. Been busy!
Anyway, thought I would pop up a little post about exciting things that have happened/ are coming up.
Wales
Firstly, me and Anders went to Wales! It was lovely. We just went for a weekend up to Abersoch, and had a really wonderful time. We paddled in the sea, wandered on the beach, pottered round little villages, went out for really good thai food, watched TV all snuggled up on the sofa and visited Portmeirion. Anders has wanted to visit there for years since watching the Prisoner, so it was dream come true time! It's a really fascinating place - like a small European village (a bit like Prague in some places, italian in others - a real mix) but scaled down by about 20%. All the doorways and arches just skim the top of your head and houses look really big til you get up close and realise it's just a bungalow behind a grand facade. It's in a really beautiful location and uses a really fabulous colour scheme.
So, we had a great time and there was a real magic in being away from home and work, just the two of us. Here's a few pics from our trip:
Gig
Last week we saw Fists supporting Sparrow & The Workshop at the Bodega Social in Notts. It was an early show, which I was disappointed about initially, but actually made for a really good event. The crowd were clearly sober and as a result were super quiet during the bands' sets. It made for an unusual atmosphere, and gave a really good chance to appreciate the bands' music, and not just the performance. Often with unsigned/unfamous bands people are a bit chatty throughout - it's hard to keep your attention wholeheartedly on a band when you don't know any of the songs and I guess you're not invested in the music and performance the same way as you are when it's a band you really love and know well.
I really really enjoyed the Fists set. There were some different tunes in there, including "Roll back my eyes", which, in the hushed atmosphere, came across incredibly well. The band seemed relaxed and at ease up on the stage and there was a real warmth to both their & Sparrow and the Workshop's performances, which seemed borne out of a great bond they had forged during their week touring. I love to watch Fists, and often I'm really proud to see a group of my friends doing something great together like that. Every so often when watching I kind of forget that they're my friends and just enjoy watching a band I love. That's my favourite and that was what Friday's show was all about.
I really enjoyed Sparrow & The Workshop too, although I don't know their songs so I was a little bit less committed as a viewer. Their chemistry was really nice to see and I really liked that the drums played a strong part in their sound and the visual. For me I might've liked it to be a little more rough around the edges, but I guess with a beautiful clear perfect voice like the lead singer had that is tough to muster. Their harmonies were lovely and the songs never outstayed their welcome.
Sewing & Potatoes
Now for sewing and potatoes... two topics close to my heart this evening as I am off to my sewing class in Sherwood tonight and I'm thinking about which fabrics I want to take with me to make a cushion cover. I'm really enjoying my class so far and can't wait to get my own sewing machine. It's a bit like when I first learned to bake - a strange alchemy where some basic ingredients get turned into something wonderful to eat/wear/use. I know I'm doing it, but there's always a moment where the things I've combined come together through the oven or sewing machine and a little bit of magic happens and I'm surprised to see a perfect finished product like you'd find in a shop. (well, perfect to me)
The reason potatoes are close to my heart? Me and Anders harvested a little tub full of potatoes which we grew in our own garden and we're going to eat them tonight! I'm really quite overly proud of our small, randomly sized potato harvest:
So is Anders...
GIGS Coming Up
There are 3 Hello Thor gigs/parties coming up:
21st Oct - Jumpers for Goalposts -Magical music & craft night with Cecille Grey playing live and a monstrous craft competition - FREE
24th Oct - Hockley Hustle - Visit the Jam Cafe for a great Hello Thor line-up of cool bands at this nice charity festival!
30th Oct - Hello Gore II: The Return - This is our paean to Halloween and all things spooky. 8 bands playing live - a gory cover & a song or two of their own. Dress to Distress - FREE.
Hello and welcome to our blog.
It's about the things which are important in our lives: music, art, performance, parties, photos, food and friends. Plus we occasionally see fit to post up some fun things we've found on the net, or general meanderings about our day-to-day lives.
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