Sunday Swoon. 11th August 2013

1. I know Animal Collective were brilliant at Field Day despite being so drunk I don’t remember much of it, just more of a positive and definite feeling in my bones. This week they released their official video for ‘Monkey Riches’.

2. Summer Camp have returned with ‘Fresh’. I’ve seen them a fair few times now and they’re always an utter joy live, Elizabeth Sankey has a voice that any music lover should experience live. Huge excitement for a new album.

3. MGMT perhaps overdoing the obvious symbolism slightly in their video for new single ‘Your Life Is A Lie’. Awful live in my experience but always a good running soundtrack so hoping the album helps me escape from lethargy.

4. Hugely looking forward to the Manchester Warehouse Project in November. One of the nights we’ll be going to is Field Day presents… Curated by Four Tet and Caribou. Looking forward to hearing ‘Kool FM’ live.

5. And finally even though this a very old track I have spent the past four days in my own all girl version of this video, driving around the locations in Metronomy’s video for ‘Heartbreaker’ on a break to Devon with two ace friends (not on a weird Metronomy pilgrimage, just by chance). Just to say a huge thank you to both of them for such a brilliant time.

Sunday Swoon. July 21st 2013.

1. The much talked about Shake Shack may possibly topple my favourite burger joints in London (Patty & Bun and Dirty Burger). Don’t be put off by the queues, they are brilliantly quick at whizzing through orders. I was talked in to trying the Shake Stack (a cheeseburger with a lightly fried Portobello mushroom that is stuffed with their cheese sauce) along with crispy crinkle cut fries and one of their Concretes (frozen custard ice cream with “mixins”). If you leave your London cynic at home you’ll enjoy the enthusiastic and friendly (very American) service.

2. On Sunday evening I spent an evening utterly frightened and puzzled at a secret location in London courtesy of Punchdrunk theatre company. The Drowned Man was my first experience of promenade theatre, and though I suspect I missed huge chunks of the storyline due to lack of guidance the attention to detail and vastness of sets was impressive. I love that we all came away with a completely different experience. It is pricey but if you feel flush and want to immerse yourself in something completely different then do go. Tickets are limited but still available.

3. Public Service Broadcasting were a Glastonbury highlight for me. I thankfully remember their gig at the Lexington this week far more clearly and it will go down as a highlight for 2013. I’ve had a slight obsession with them since hearing London Can Take It on 6 Music a year ago. And for all the nerd girls out there you’ll find a heart-throb in bow tie wearing banjo playing J. Willgoose, Esq. A true fiek (fit geek). A band you have to experience live.

4. Adore this new track from Friends. Dev Hynes seems to be cropping up on so many amazing tracks right now. He’s made Samantha Urbani sound as if Kate Bush was born in the Bronx on The Way.

My Old Dutch

When I was a child I somehow managed to persuade the kind-hearted souls surrounding me to ferry my ass around. Back home in Devon it was our neighbour Kate Loram who would offer to take me on the back of her bike when we all headed out (not my own sisters I hasten to add). I also convinced my cousin, another Kate, to tie an old pram seat to the back of her bike with a ton of old roof rack straps and pedal me around as if I was Cleopatra propelled by mans invention of the wheel. It was named the Crazy Contraption and it lasted well into our late teens. I enjoyed the view while others done the hard work. As this got me to the sweet shop and back I never learnt how to ride a bike.

I can count the amount of attempts on one hand. On two of those occasions I have been extremely tipsy and therefore had that misplaced confidence that goes hand in hand with alcohol. On another I was concerned my sister had got lost on a family holiday to Ireland and as the sun set I decided this was the quickest way to find her (I managed about 10 metres before falling off). On the last of these occasions the friendly constabulary of Kentish Town told me perhaps I shouldn’t be trying to cycle drunk and sing songs from the Jungle Book at four in the morning. That was six years ago.

I quite frequently think it’s something I should learn, that I am secretly an amazing cyclist and will probably progress to the Keirin within a week. So when someone told me that I could have a free bike providing I collect it from Brixton this week I jumped on the Victoria Line without giving much thought as to how I’d get it back to Willesden Green. Despite a bit of rust and flat tyres I instantly adore this bike. The cousin who done so much pedalling for me in our childhood said it’s exactly how you’d want a bike to look. I now understand the excitement children felt at their first bicycle and understand why my friend Steve was able to send me photos of every bike he’s ever had, each with a life history.

To say my journey felt epic yesterday is an understatement. Pushing it from Brixton to Clapham Junction, so I could take it on the overground train, took over an hour. I was genuinely perplexed that Emeli Sande wasn’t following behind me soundtracking it. When I realised Clapham’s Long Road is a literal naming, a steely and naive determination kicked in and I cycled/wobbled my way across Clapham Common flat tyres and all. I arrived just after the curfew for bikes started but I’d come that far and wasn’t about to be turned away at the gates of Mordor (even if discovering Clapham had a retro Wimpy made me want to spend more time there). Knowing I had yet another walk at the other end and the fact it was getting dark made me rather defiant. By the time I got home I needed a nap and nurofen.

Now of course I have the job of cleaning it up and making it road worthy but what are YouTube videos and friends for. Then there’s the small matter of riding the damn thing competently. Watch this space (or watch your ankles if you live near Gladstone park). ♥

My Old Dutch Bike.

July 18th Mixtape – Marc’s 25 for 2012

Last week I blogged a mixtape made up of twenty-five tracks that have rocked my socks at the halfway point of 2012. This is born out of Twitter discussions with Marc and he’s agreed to let me put his list up so here are his. I expect he’s sleeping off Latitude somewhere so this will potentially pass him by. There’s a smattering of similarities to mine but it feels like a very different mixtape given the tracks he picked in comparison. I can’t stop playing the Purity Ring track.

You can play Marc’s mixtape on Spotify or *YouTube. Enjoy ♥

1. Friends – Friend Crush
2. Best Coast – The Only Place
3. Passion Pit – I’ll Be Alright
4. La Sera – Please Be My Third Eye
5. The Maccabees – Pelican
6. Solar Bears – Alpha People (feat. Keep Shelley in Athens)
7. Lower Dens – Brains
8. THEESatisfaction – Ecnhantruss
9. Pond – Elegant Design
10. Purity Ring – Fineshrine
11. Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid
12. Nicolas Jaar – With Just One Glance
13. Charli XCX – You’re The One
14. Death Grips – Get Got
15. Alt-J – Breezeblocks
16. Kindness – House
17. Beach House – Wild
18. Polica – Dark Star
19. Hot Chip – Motion Sickness
20. Sharon Van Etten – Serpents
21. Django Django – Waveforms
22. Burial & Four Tet – Nova
23. Perfume Genius – Hood
24. Grimes – Oblivion
25. Oneohtrix Point Never – I Only Have Eyes For You

*Not all the tracks were available on Spotify as he’s clearly too out there with some of the choices so for the full list YouTube is the best option.

Sunday Swoon. June 10th

Technically not events that happened within the past seven days but all that real life/bad hangovers got very much in the way of Sunday’s recently. Macaroni Cheese, Baseball and some seriously skill, brill & ace music….

1. Feels like I’ve been waiting an eternity to hear the album from Friends. Such perfect indie pop. Think Karen O fused with Debbie Harry. Makes me want to wear those 80’s neon headphones and pretend I’m in a music video (which I am sure people do frequently in Dalston irrespective of soundtrack so perhaps I should move there). Manifest! is making me smile. A ton.

2. Finally my stomach got to try Pitt Cue this week. Guess what’s inside those panko breadcrumbs? Go on guess. Macaroni Cheese! Sounds bizarrely suspicious but oh my does it work. Topped with pickles and pulled pork in a brioche bun, with a side of shiitake mushrooms. I’m not sure if this is their invention but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen such a culinary combination. Pitt Cue, if you are responsible for this invention let me know so I can leave you something amazing in my will as a thankyou?

I went to the trailer instead of the restaurant which is on the Southbank, lovely to sit by the river with a book and some decent grub. Follow their Twitter updates here.

3. I’ve been playing Crybaby for a couple of weeks now, unable to blog about it on its release date due to weddings and hangovers (which often go hand in hand). If I could buy everyone that reads this blog a copy I would. Think early Richard Hawley, scrap that, think better than early Richard Hawley. It’s heartbreaking and truly beautiful music from Danny Coughlan. It will give you goose bumps and tingles.

4. It takes a talented teller of tales to make me invest so heavily in an American college baseball team (Geena Davis and Madge never managed to peak my interest in the game after all). Chad Harbach has created such flawed, painfully human, broken but brilliant characters in The Art of Fielding. Amazing debut novel.

5.  Technically not this week unless you include the hour I got home after Field Day but they deserve to be mentioned as my ultimate highlight over the bank holiday weekend. Of course I didn’t get to see all the bands I wanted, I am never quite militant enough when it comes to festivals but those I saw (Pond, Summer Camp, Kindness, Sleigh Bells, Theme Park, Franz Ferdinand) gave me that muddy knees wild abandon experience I cherish so much at festivals. It’s impossible to pick an absolute favourite but Kindness excelled all expectations. At all costs I would dash to see him and his band again, anyone that covers Womack & Womacks Teardrops is the boom and the lick. ♥

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