kids - shut up!

I hope you all have your back to school shoes sorted because this, for
want of a better word, "summer" was brought to a close at electric
picnic this weekend and we said goodbye to it in style. Sadly I missed
all the circus tent madness on Friday night but I made it down on
Saturday and hit the ground running. maybe a bit too hard seeing as I
only made it to kills. they were fantastic tho. loved alison mosshart's
garb. another female who showed us all how to do it was our very own
niamh sandwich. she looked fantastic and the show was very impressive. I
had also brought a bunny suit to wear for the weekend but when I heard
podge was gonna break that out I decided against it. we all know how
embarrassing it is when you turn up at a party with the same outfit as
someone else. eep. foals were a delight as usual - both visually and
musically. where can I pick me up one of those?

So we kept up the madness on wednesday night at antics. maura and ollie
were tearing s*hit up in the lobby bar. I particularly loved the fact
that she played "when it started" - one of my favourite Strokes songs.
she's very good. her little face positively beamed over the decks. gotta
love those foreigners (kells counts as a foreign country, right?!)

Lots of great stuff coming up in the next couple of months. [Sarah what
is that photography exhibition in the Shaw called? - better big up
Andrama ha ha] is happening in the Bernard Shaw on the 8th for those of
you with an art eye or those who like old cameras or those who just like
the Shaw. The Rapture are djing in Crawdaddy on the 19th. I've got that
pencilled in as a suitable night to lose my mind - and this time I don't
want to find it again. And for those of you who like to plan ahead,
October and November are gonna be big with Jenny Lewis, The Black Kids,
MGMT, Ida Maria, Cold War Kids, Death Cab, Foals and Wolf Parade! I'm
gonna be the brokest/drunkest/most hungover I've ever been during those
weeks. If you wanna do some free there is going to be a Frida and Diego
exhibition in the IMMA at the end of november. I'm so excited about that
I'm going to san francisco to see it there before it comes here! get
them dates in your moleskins kids.

anyway I'm off to the land of the soon to be free (I heart barack
obama!). enjoy the weekend and remember there is nothing sexier than
being sensible. you heard it here first.

jules

love life and triumph (arcs of triumph @ antics blog)

i know what you're saying, its been a while. let me explain the arcs of triumphs absence on the antics blog. 1. we've been mad busy with tetric. 2. we've been mad busy with tetric. 3. we've been involved making knock off designer wear and disney merchandise.

yeah

on the subject of tetric, we've completed the line up for the rest of the year and it looks a little something like this....

august 20th: hystereo, arcs of triumph, Ry
september 3rd: dj joda, arcs of triumph, jamie clarke
september 10th: mr jones party @ tetric
september 17th: !k7 records night with swayzak & joakim
september 24th: the arcs of triumph, al keegan, donal mooney
october 1st: don rimini, the arcs of triumph, ry
october 8th: back to college party!
october 15th: a1 bassline & guests
october 29th: halloween special
november 5th: potty mouth records night featuring, james amato, santiago & bushido, hijack
november 26th: felix cartal plus special guests
december 31st: tetric nye special(ill save this one cause its gonna be huge!)


this week we have hystereo down with us at tetric. possibly the most successful and influential electronic artists to come out of this country. check them out on their myspace and their own website. (click links there and have a ball)

on a final note, who's hitting up the picnic this weekend coming? i highly recommend tiga, modeselektor, count & sinden, booka shade, super extra bonus party and pretty much everything else down there. its a really good line up this year and ill be seeing you all there!

thats it from myself for now, ill try keep this weekly now but i have knock off disney merch to flog so i can keep food on the table, booze in my body and cigarette smoke in my lungs....

peace

barry la rocque

canvass the town and brush the backdrop

hello.

tonight at button factory is the first installment of *crafty beggars and the arty farty party*

"what the fuck is this?", i hear you groan.

in their words: "AN EVENING OF ART, ILLUSTRATION, PHOTOGRAPHY AND CRAFT. SWEET TREATS FOR YOUR EYES, FINISHED WITH A BIG PARTY FOR YOUR EARS AND FEET. WE GOT EVERYTHING COVERED!"

yes.

*i* think you should go because:

- art is a good thing, right?

-the people exhibiting are rides.

-failte towers is never that great on a tuesday.

-it definitely won't rain tonight.

-the prick bartender at button factory has a night off.

tomorrow frantics presents the funeral suits.

don't mind if i do.

antics loves u!

=sarah=

noah and the whale interview, may 26th

noah and the whale are: charlie, urby, tom & doug

interviewed may 26th, crawdaddy smoking area

i'd last seen charlie and urby december 8th outside the sugar club after they'd supported and played with laura marling. i was there to interview laura, but decided to chance my arm after seeing the lads play, unprepared as usual.

i bumped into charlie early on in the night when the first support crayon smith were playing. he looked better rested that the last time i'd seen him, which he told he found surprising when i was talking to him outside a little while after. he felt wrecked. maybe he and the other lads had just become accustomed to the schedule of touring musicians.

the interview was conducted outside. charlie could only spare a few minutes as he had to go back to the hotel due to a 6am Ferry, and we were soon to be kicked out of the smoking area and onto the street.

gareth: what have you been up to since december? you've been touring quite alot.

charlie: yeah we've done this... this is our second headline tour this year. ehm... we, recorded an album.

tom: two albums.

g: yeah, i heard about that. actually two albums.

c: yeah yeah we recorded like, i guess the noah and the whale album and then, a punk album as well.

g: i noticed a bit of a tinge of that... tonight.

c: the punky-ness.

g: yeah.

c: that's good.

g: it was a bit obvious. you were a bit heavier than what i remember, from the sugar club.

c: we were kind of subdued tonight.

g: yeah but. it's kinda nice to see. it's always good to see ehm... musicians branching out from what they usually do.

c: i think it's more a case of just like, feeling free ya know. feeling free to make a punk album. 'cause if you put pressure on yourself as a band, put pressure on yourself to recreate that, i think for us maybe it's more a case of finding something people like and then, trying to do something completely different. or maybe trying to find something completely new for them to like maybe.

g: lollapalooza, that's weird. you mentioned it earlier. i still find that really odd. do you know who you're playing alongside?

c: radiohead, bloc party.

t: kings of leon are there as well. janes addiction.

c: i guess with janes addiction who knows.

g: they're back again?

c: i don't, maybe.

g: what's the punk stuff like. out of curiosity, what are the lyrics like? are they less, uhm... ya know, talking about something beautiful and saying then how it got torn apart, and then...

c: it's kinda like. it's completely... it's a lot less, i don't wanna say self-conscious but. at the end, it basically, the thing about the punk album is we made it in two nights. we did it in 8 hours -- the whole thing took to record. and it was just, it was pure energy, pure fun, pure enjoyment. and everything was pretty much first or second take. ehm, and the a lot of the lyrics, just sorta improvised a little bit. so it's a lot i guess... yeah, maybe... the lyrics for noah can often be a bit painful to write even, or you really feel like you get in a cage for them, but for the punk album i just kinda of...

g: you didn't feel restricted to kind of ehm... to fit into some sort of folk box.

c: deffinately not. that's part of the fun of it. it wasn't.

g: so it would of been a great buzz to see the mae shi play tonight.

c: yeah, it thought they were awesome tonight. really good... i've never seen them live before. best shows have the energy you know.

g: yeah. i was teary eyed. these guys were just, lovely. that's a really weird way to put it.

c: lovely?

g: it was really heavy -- they were lovely.

c: they were lovely guys.

g: an albums out what, august 4th?

c: oh, wow, look at that, bang on.

g: uhm, that's pretty kick ass. i'm looking forward to it. are you going to release the punk album soon or after -- or?

c: i think the plan is they're gonna be sort of released together. kind of like a supplement for the other album. not really sure. i mean the thing is, we want it be treated as a proper album.

urby: it really works as well -- as an album.

c: yeah.

u: we have completely shocked ourselves, as continuity, and there's quiet ones and it works at a pace you know, where you get halfway through and... we kinda nailed it. the running order i think first time round. i'm really chuffed.

g: so the flow from one track to the other is quite nice.

c: yeah.

u: music still applies to it but it's a punk album.

c: with the other album it's such a big emotional project for us, you know, the whole process of it, the whole process of writing it. putting it together in the studio. making it all. making it coherent. where as with the punk album, you know it just fitted immediately. it was just easy.

my mate jill and myself accompanied by tom and urby spent the morning wandering from bar to bar. some were closing, and the others wouldn't let us in due to not having id. urby's nearly 25, as well as myself, and jill had id. i could blame tom, but i don't know him well enough to do that so i won't. a wonderful night, and lovely lads. the above remark about tom was a joke which i hope he'll remember.

noah and the whale's debut album is released august 11th, and is available to listen to for free on their myspace page. the singles "five years time" and shape of my heart" are available at all god record stores.

www.myspace.com/noahandthewhale

www.mercuryrecords.com

gareth

won't you come down and play?

it’s about time we gave some air time to the bernard shaw car boot sale. i think i can safely say it has become a much-anticipated event in our calendars these days. it seems as tho the gods smile upon it too as no matter how much of a shitty day it starts off as, the sun always comes out for part or most of the afternoon. kudos to the man upstairs.

i showed up a little late on saturday but knew i made the right choice on how to spent my afternoon when i was greeted by annie lennox’s “walking on broken glass”. only chewy could get away with banging that out. another highlight was chewy’s mystery bag which i hope will be making a comeback at the next boot sale. for a mere 50 cents shane “won” a knitted wristband, lisa got a pair of trackie bottoms and aodhgan got an old sock which he triumphantly sported in the back pocket of his jeans for the rest of the day. hmmm.

there’s an atmosphere at the car boot sales that i haven’t witnessed at any other event in dublin. there is an almost exciting vibe happening. the crowd is quite diverse and for some reason people are so relaxed, you can almost see a glow coming from outside. although it has much of the same crowd that you would see at various nights out in dublin, there is something about the day-time that seems to particularly suit these people. i think the clique element of other events fades a little and it has an element of shiny happy people. apart from that, you can get some good finds there as long as you’re willing to run some of the clothes through the washing machine first (apparently this hasn’t occurred to anyone who is actually selling the stuff yet) and where else are you going to get double dips, refresher drumsticks and swizzel lipsticks? that takes me back.

word to the wise though, if you wanna consume, get there early. if you roll in at 3 o’clock you’re bound to miss the best buys. even if you’re not so interested in buying, it’s worth going just to have abitova a swoon at the various types wandering around. they had quite a bit of difficulty trying to get us to leave at 7pm but eventually we were herded inside. a fair amount of the boot sale people ran home for a costume change and returned later on, ourselves included, although i don’t think we managed to make it into wardrobe. there had been week-long rumours circulating about a lock-in which never materialised. what joker started that one?!

in other news, david sedaris will be doing readings from his new collection of essays, when you are engulfed in flames, and signing copies at 8pm on thursday, 11th of september in the westin hotel. tickets are being sold for €8 at waterstones – money well spent if you ask me. in case ju don’t even know, david is the older brother of comedian, amy sedaris (is that how you spell comedian? i don't know grammar), what i do know is this – his writing is funny and quirky without coming off as contrived.

the ifi is showing the bridge over the river kwai on thursday which I was forced to watch as a child and has haunted me ever since. might go to it just to see how disturbing it is 20 years on. also killer of the sheep looks worth the tenner.

in any event, see yall at antics closely followed by lethal bizzle at club nme.

oh and if you haven’t got onto albert hammond jr’s new album, you should. for serious.

be safe. be scene.

jules

pitchfork 2008: day one

pitchfork 2008: day one

it rained. fuck it rained. see below.

i made my way on the cta belmont to cumberland bus, getting off at ashland/lincoln. this is a crossroad i became accustomed to while in chicago, 'cause everywhere i had to go by buss passed this intersection, and i usually went onto damen. the wonders of a grid system.

after a little trouble getting in i wandered around. best to say now that i spent the first and second day on my own. though i tend to prefer going to gigs solo and have spent festival or two the same, being in a different country company would of been welcome. my friends had to work, or i didn't want to impose on close-knit groups.

at pitchfork there are the usual concession stands -- or vendors. but being the first day with only three actsm not all of the vendors were set up. flagstock, which is pitchforks annual gig poster fair wasn't to be set up till tomorrow. chirp (chicago independent radio project) record fair, which took up two large tented area's to the right of "a" stage, is where you'd find the label vendors (sub pop, k nine, polyvinyl, jagjaguar...), as well as vinyl stands, second hand cds, and a collection of handmade jewellery, figurines, clothes...  you had to queue at a supermarket-like check-out to buy even one small thing. there's a huge sigh when you notice something you like after you've just queued and bought some trinket.

the three acts for tonight were: mission of burma, sebadoh, and public enemy. all performing the albums that had made them known. i'll passively mention my disappointment  in the sound for mission of burma and sebadoh. it was horrible. the bass washed over the park with it making it hard to differentiate the instruments and vocals. only half-way through sebadohs set could you everything clearly. the bass turned down, and now a lo-fi sound. it preferred it. i hadn't listened to either bands music before. mission of burma's "vs." ('82) was a varied album of metal and punk sounds. it could of been an era spanning record, but the lads gave a helluva show.

sebadoh. i've known hte name for a long time, and though their gig was good i couldn't feel myself drawn to it -- performing their '93 album "bubble and scrape".

public enemy though, once their announcer/big-upper/whoeverthehellitwas was on stage i got very excited. i'd been standing since bomb squad did their lil set to get the crowd going.

to use up space below, here's public enemy's "bring the noise" as their first song -- off their album "it takes a nation of millions to hold us back" (flavor flav doesn't show up till the next song) for pitchfork 2008. it's taken on my digital camera from a fair distance. you get the idea.

below is "terminator x"

people left the grounds surprisingly quick. not something that could be said for the rest of the weekend.

Gareth

forbidden cocktails all round

while dancing my socks off last night and making up words to all the songs I didn’t know, I thought how much fun it would be to live my life in a strobe light.

well, not so much if I had epilepsy…

but there’s something about the jerky flashing of the light that gives me a drunken giddy feeling that makes me smile. and when everything starts to move in real time again, i’m slightly disappointed.

kinda like the feeling i get when listening to culture prophet’s remix of cof cof’s dirty tricks or we have band’s oh!

strobe lighting is probably the best thing about country nightclubs: a nifty trick used by the crappy djs that can’t seem to get the hang of making a smooth transition between their equally crappy songs.

when they start to lose the crowd, they just flick a switch and everyone goes mad again.

but back to cof cof.

this spanish duo, with their synthy dance pop, are just so much FUN.

their debut “who said party?” is available for free download on their myspace (www. myspace. com/cuadralogica), just one in a long list of reasons to love them.

another being the fact that they list “beer before making music” as their influence, something that's clear from their lyrics.

forbidden cocktail is a typical night for... oooh, just about everyone I know.

And doesn't caribbean boy's "i think i drunk too much but this thing must be love" sound oddly familiar?


lyndsay