Radio Ladio


Someone once said "I love doing radio" and I can see their point. Back home for christmas means getting to do 'The Alternative Show' on my local community radio Stroud Fm again! It's a 2 hour show we do on Tuesday mornings but I've edited and split it into 2 for your listening pleasure.


It was presented by me and my good friend Ben Roberts, with the other regular presenter Gareth (fellow next goal winner) at work.

An attempt at rounding up 2008, it features music from our favourite acts from the last year. Including Frightened Rabbit, Johnny Flynn, Sigur Ros, MGMT, Neon Neon, Foals, The Hold Steady, White Denim and British Sea Power!

Christian.

Stroud Alternative Show - 2008 Round Up Part 1

Stroud Alternative Show - 2008 Round Up Part 2


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Theres only one number 10!


"And at the Sunrise Stage I found myself, along with every female in the vicinity, falling slightly in love with Johnny Flynn. The man looks about 12, but his lyrics struck me with such inspiring intelligince, wit, and maturity, that whilst I looked on falling more in love with him by the second, I couldn't help but feel extremely jealous and annoyed that I hadn't been lucky enough to be given such talent."

I had never read this section of the blog before now and it made me chuckle away about what a good summer it was in 08.

Bring on summer 09 for more fun and frolics!

Over and out!

Nath

Johnny Flynn - Wayne Rooney


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I think I’ll start this by congratulating my fellow bloggers on their severely lacking standards of grammar. But I’m sure that kind of thing is all hapnin’ with the kids these days anyway. I mean, that’s probably why any play production company that has ever come to your school to do a drink-drive awareness gig, usually feels compelled to throw in the ever cringe-worthy “innit” or “am I bovered”, right? I should maybe stop my grammar-snobbery before it begins, as Chris, Gaz and “N.D”, as he is calling himself these days, are all older and slightly bigger than me. Perhaps the only way I could anger one of them even more after being invited so kindly by them to write for such an illustrious blog, is to say JEFF BUCKLEY FOR NUMBER ONE BABY YEH (see Gaz’s last post), or perhaps by stating that BBC Switch is infact a Tour De Force of mind-blowing creativity, and refreshing, high-quality talent.

I think that statement brings me to my next topic nicely, Christmas songs. An obvious choice no doubt, but a choice that by the 21st of December has yet to be covered by Next Goal Wins! Each year we’re baffled by Christmas advertising left, right and centre, which somehow manages to suck the life and soul out of a vast majority of our most loved Old Christmas Classics before we’ve even managed to open our advent calendars. And the constant non-stop cyclical process, within pretty much every shop you’ll go into, that is the playing of the same Christmas songs over and over and over again, usually leaves me feeling sick and tired of the Christmas Spirit. (BE CHRISTMASSY, GO ON, BE CHRISTMASSY! PLEASE BE CHRISTMASSY! YOU MUST BE FUCKING CHRISTMASSY!)

However, there are those songs which have fought off such Scrooge-like thoughts and made me feel as Christmassy as ever. Those songs which have made my December. Those songs that warm my heart in such cold winter months – did I just say that? You know what, I think I just did – and those songs that make it feel like, in the immortal words of Noddy Holder, “IT’S CHRISTMAS!” Here are some of those songs:

Christmas In Prison - Emmy The Great and Lightspeed Champion

(Buy)

Emmy The Great's Myspace


Get Behind Me Santa! - Sufjan Stevens

(Buy)

Sufjan Stevens' Myspace


Christmas TV - Slow Club

(Buy)

Slow Club's Myspace


I'm So Confused By Christmas - Luke Leighfield

(Buy)

Luke Leighfield's Myspace


12 Days of Christmas - Relient K

(Buy)

Relient K's Myspace


Merry Christmas, Graeme.



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The best of 2008


I would put some mp3's up with this post but they keep getting taken down.shucks.

1)White Lies-Fully establishing themselves as the next big thing for 2009.Dark,brooding and epic live.

2)Friendly Fires-Go back 16 months or so and I would of predicted them to of just been another metronomy cast of but they have changed their sound to something more concrete and established.Its obvious to see they have grown up musically.Still brilliant to get down to on the floor.

3)Golden Silvers-My Favourite find of 2008.I dont know what it is about them but they still get me exicted everytime I listen to them.Brilliant at Latitude in the summer and even better at Birmingham Bar Academy in September. As for Gwillym Gold-style icon of the year.

4)Laura Marling-Praised by nearly everybody in 2008 and no compliants there.The album is heartbreakingly good and is the one person I was gutted to of missed live this year.

5)Bon Iver-A late late late find for this year,before I had come to university I had never heard of them/him but it is in the top 3 of my albums of the year.The best album to of been recorded in a remote cabin to date.Fact.

6)Johnny Flynn-Another highlight of Latitude this year as well as producing the most under prasied album of the year.When he played in Leeds Holy Trinity Church you could not of found a better venue or artist.Not only was it my favourite/special gig of the year it was one of my favourites of all time.A talented,talented artist who deserves more press coverage.

7)The Black Keys-This band make me wish I was born in the 70's.Sounding as raw and as funky as Hendrix they have open my eyes to a genre I thought I would never take an interest in.

8)Metronomy-Unique.Brilliant and just downright catchy.Nights out has the best the best dance record released this year.Joseph Mount has done Britain Proud.

9)Eugene Mcguiness-Another underated singer song writer this year.He sounds like nothing I have ever heard before but his voice feels like I have been listening to him for years on end.Brilliant

10)Interpol-Although not releasing an album in 2008 it was the year in which I had first seen them live and it was absolutley intense.On a sunday night in the rain it was the perfect setting for them and it made me go and get every single song I could get my hands on thereafter.

11)Lightspeed Champion-Way back in January Dev released Falling of the Lavender Bridge and it blew me away.To come from the brilliance of Test-Icicles to something so delicate and thoughtful as this album was a nice suprise and seeing him live with the Semi Finalists in Newcastle was heartwarming.

12)Wild Beasts-If you can show me a band that sound anything like this then I will place £5 into your hand.After seeing them support Maximo Park in Gloucester in the summer of 2007 they caught my attention so when Limbo Panto was released I was excited to get hold of it.It didnt dissapoint.Right from the opening of Vigil For A Fuddy Duddy you know you are in for something special.3 times missed live in 2008 thanks to seeing White Lies instead twice and then not realising they were playing my University Libary! they will be a dead cert on my to see list of 2009.

N.D

Wild Beasts - Devil's Crayon


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Feed Me A BOX of words

After reading NME I've always wondered what kind of creative environment these people work in, now we know for sure.....

A world where a band is labelled as "not caring for the environment" if they RECYCLE a box (paying a much heftier postage cost in the process no doubt) to brighten the days of these writers with their C.D. Let's hope NME ended up recycling this box themselves, I wouldnt bank on it. If the NME cared so much for the environment maybe they should cut down on the amount of pages (be them recycled trees or not) they waste on their scene-inventing, bandwagon jumping, unconstructive commenting articles. They've even been sent a bin for it all......

Genius idea this. Although, I don't see them complaining about how oversized this box is. I mean, how big are these people's poos? Impressive.



All things considered I don't hate NME like everyone else. They get people into good music from time to time and we all have to start somewhere right? I mean if you look at you're own music collection you havent always been the cool kid you are today. Or maybe it's just me whose first CD was Will Smith.



NME is pretty useful for bands too, but irt can also be the ruining of them. Sadly a bad review of a band is going to have a larger result then that band writing a song slating the NME.



Also If it wasn't for NME we would take good music publications for granted right?

Dananananaykroyd - Pink Sabbath (ex NME single of the week)

(Buy)

Dananananaykroyd's Myspace

Christian!



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Here comes the remix........





















Alreet just a quick post today as I have work in half an hour....anyone in Newcastle who needs to be fixed up with the latest H&M kit I'm your man.



Two things today..I need to firstly thank Elf for giving me some kind a christmas spirit, if you have scrooge like tendencies give it a go.


Secondly here's a couple of remixes doing the rounds on hype machine that I'm really rather enjoying :)

Digitalism - Taken Away (Lapse Remix)

Digitalism's Myspace


Cut Copy - Far Away (Bag Raiders Remix)

(Buy)

Cut Copy's Myspace



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Hallelujah?



It really is a wonder that we at Next Goal Wins haven't actually commented on the X Factor at all, in any form whatsoever on this here blog, seeing as both myself and Chris are both completely fascinated by it and spend our Saturday evenings texting one another with a healthy dose of irreverence but with an underlying sense of respect for the sociological phenomenon that Simon Cowell's creation has become.

So whilst Saturday night's losers (the slightly outdated JLS (did you just say "boyband"?) and the physical incarnation of High School Musical himself - Eggnog Quigg) were left to protest later to Holly Willoughby on Xtra Factor with regards to the fact that this wasn't the end, it was the beginning for them, the victor - Alexandra Burke - somewhat touchingly cried her way through her winner's song, her bid for Christmas number 1; a rendition of Leonard Cohen's
Hallelujah.

Despite the musical heresy that is the tone-up key-change occurring within Burke's version, it has to be said that it is in fact a fairly harmless version of the classic, in the respect that its not hideously bad. I wouldn't choose to listen to it, but if it came on the radio, I probably wouldn't change stations. And you can say what you want about the concept of the X Factor, but you can't deny the fact that actually Alexandra Burke has a stunning voice.

Which is just one of the reasons why it infuriates me slightly that I've been invited six times on facebook, today alone, to the group "Jeff Buckley for Xmas no 1!"

Now, whilst Jeff Buckley is of course an important figure in the history of 90's popular(ish) music, and whilst the thought of anything toppling the monopoly that the X Factor have had on the Christmas number one spot since Shayne Ward's 2005 effort "That's My Goal" is a pleasant one, its safe to say that nothing can stop the Cowell-juggernaut this Christmas...Alexandra has already shifted 80,000 digital units, and its not even Tuesday yet.

So the facebook group does beg the question, why bother? You're not going to beat Alexandra, and let's face it nothing incredibly important, or good, has been bore of a movement started on a facebook group. Just a host of stupid people getting tattoos of crap, or ruining their children's lives by naming them after fictional characters purely because there are X amount of strangers who have the technological ability to click on a small blue box that says "Confirm" on it. People who start facebook groups of this nature are either utter idiots, or worse still, understand the idiotic nature of such a venture but still think it will be funny.

You will not change the world with a facebook group. So stop trying, and go outside.

But this isn't my biggest issue with the campaign to get Buckley to number one, no that illustrious honour is given to the sheer fact that this crusade is bore mainly of musical snobbery. And worse still, it's bore of seemingly ill-informed musical snobbery.

It just seems downright mean-spirited to look down upon the perceived musical peasantry, those who like or appreciate pop music (which ostensibly is some sort of crime), or who were simply thankful for the chance to sit down in front of the T.V and relax with their family on a Saturday night, and as such will listen to Alexandra's version; this mean-spirit is all the more accentuated when we realise that actually at the very heart of the "Jeff Factor" drive, is the simple fact that some music snobs can't handle the fact that Alexandra has covered a classic song in a differing style to the original. Well, get over yourselves because Jeff Buckley did the exact same thing to the song as Alexandra has done; he covered it.

So where the hell is the "Get Leonard Cohen to Christmas number 1!" facebook group? And what about the "Let's get any one of the estimated 170 other cover versions of Hallelujah, including versions by little known artists such as Bob Dylan, KD Lang, Rufus Wainwright and John Cale to Christmas number one baby yeah!"

Nowhere, because Jeff Buckley wrote the song, right? Idiots.

So please in future, before starting facebook-centric campaigns to get certain songs to number one in the charts, read up on your popular music history and realise how silly you sound to everybody else.

And then stop creating the facebook group.
And.
Go.
Outside.


Gareth!


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Good Shoes

Say what you want about George Bush but he's got a quick reaction on him. Now Bush must be coming to the realisation in his 'lame duck' period, that nobody is really that interested in him anymore. No assassination attempts, just a journalist who was bored of his clogs. Apparently the sole of a shoe is the ultimate insult in Arab Culture. I'm sure it's one of the biggest common insults but is it really worse then hmmm 'insert the most elaborate insult imaginable'.

Christian!



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BBC switch..off


Now dont get me wrong, I love the BBC. The website is my homepage, it's radio stations often soundtrack my day and I have spent many a night in watching some of it's best and worst TV programmes. Nicholas Lyndhurst has had a hand in both these categories. But I'm not completely sold on BBC Switch, with risk of sounding like a Grumpy chap just out of his teenage years It isnt what the bbc does best. I'm stealing this topic off Gareth who originally brought this to my attention but the BBC does alot of things really well. News, Documentaries, Comedy, Sport even the odd Soap (although regrettably this has been greatly weaked since the loss of neighbours). BBC Switch is aimed a teenagers and young adults, it includes the odd radio and tv programme and aload of hip-trendy internet stuff, because thats what kids do right, surf the web?

It's difficult viewing/listening with Kelly Osbourne and Nick Grimshaw who make even the return of Noel Edmunds to kids/teen TV inviting. On top of this the adverts are awful. This is a prime example. Everyone's favourite comedian Tom Deacon, pulls a funny face with a clothes peg moustache well thats hilarious, you've roped me in I have to read this story. What? He presents a show called the 5:19 show, well thats at a really unconventional time! You're right, that IS totally random. And that's just as well because us teens are so unconventional. Next up apparently it's a slice of oddness and amazingness...phew, that's ticked both those boxes, I think we're on to a winner here. Plus 'amazingness', where do these guys get there phrases from, a underachieving english SATS student? Probably just my sisters myspace page. To cap it all off there's a little delay there with the time 'err....5.19pm' because those teenagers forget tiny details. So all in all, it sounds like a hoot.


It wasnt.
Christian.


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I'm In A Band You Know...

Being in a band is ace. This we know to be true.
Being in a band that people have vaguely heard of is even ace-er. Again, we know this to be true.

I love being in a band for so many reasons, perhaps most obviously because I'm lucky enough to get up on a stage with my best friend, sing songs that I loved writing, make stupid banter inbetween, look cool occasionally, and sometimes I get paid for that, which is ludicrous. Sometimes we get PAID for having fun. ACE.

But in recent weeks, I've come to realise that perhaps one of my favourite things about being in a band is the fact that we get to share the stage with so many other wonderful, enthralling, simply brilliant bands that I may well never have heard of otherwise.

Yes, we've supported a whole host of rubbish (we supported a German band that had two bassists, no guitarists, the weirdest looking drummer ever and sang songs about porn at our second gig), but that's often outweighed by the collective lights in the darkness that are the aforementioned brilliant bands we have played with.

So, the point I'm trying to make in a terribly roundabout, 15-year-old-me-late-night-rambling-blog-post-esque way is that the following bands are quite simply fantastic, and I feel honoured and humbled to have shared a stage with them, so you should definetely check them out...

A Genuine Freakshow - Holding Hearts

Safe!
Gaz
x


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White Denim at The Cluny

The majority of reviews you’ll read about this band will no doubt mention their performance at SXSW this year. But the mark of a band is to build on hype, as hundreds of failed ‘next big things’ will testify. On a cold Sunday evening, Newcastle is a far cry from White Denim’s home of Austin, Texas. Support act, Six Nation State warm the arriving crowd with a mix of punk and coral-like balladry but make little lasting impression. In contrast, White Denim waste little time with a nonstop frantic performance of 3 tracks from their debut album ‘Workout Holiday’. The songs, which blend together seamlessly, show the band to be more then what a garage band pigeonhole would have you believe. Amid their powerful sound it’s easy to forget there are only 3 of them. The energy, rhythm and experimentation highlight that White Denim are at their best live. For forty minutes tonight the crowd were rid of their winter blues as the Texan trio delivered a fiery set to remember.

Christian Allen


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White Denim Double Bill


So I got to go interview my current favourite band in the world yesterday, which was nice. None other than White Denim. So I'm going to ruin this blog somewhat by giving you the transcribed interview and review!


White Denim Interview 16/11/2008


I caught up with White Denim at the start of the British leg of their European Tour, at The Cluny!


Christian: So how did you guys first get together?


White Denim: Our old bands, Parque Touch (Josh, James and Lucas) and Peach Train (Steve) played together back in 2005 and Lucas got Steve in on bass. Then Lucas moved to Russia and we changed our name to White Denim.


Christian: Who would you cite as your main influences?


White Denim: We’re all really into Captain Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix Experience, XTC, Stevie Wonder and all that kinda stuff.


Christian: If you could learn a new instrument for the next album what would it be?


White Denim: (James) I’ve always wanted to play tenor sax or maybe a sitar


Christian: When I caught you in Bristol you were so energetic, any secrets on this?


White Denim: Coffee’s a big thing for the band. I think maybe a lack of energy we have throughout the day in our tour contributes though. It’s only really those 40mins while we’re on stage that we really move. So it all kind of builds up throughout the day.


Christian: Any tips or advice for the students of Newcastle and Northumbria University?


White Denim: Just try to finish, because it gets tough. I don’t know I think going to class always helps, 3 years into university I figured that out.


Christian: Any wild stories you want to tell of previous experiences in the U.K?


White Denim: Chicken fights where Steve (bassist) lost his wallet, that was a big one. In Nottingham there was some nonchalant throwing up. In Glasgow actually one of us threw up in a box, only to find it had been taken a few hours later.


Christian: Next time you’re in the U.K are there any bands you aspire to tour with?


White Denim: There are a lot of great bands, a well established band like Stereolab would be good. Or Rob Wyatt would be cool to play with, if he’ll have us.


Christian: Which bands should be checking out at the moment then?


White Denim: Dirty Projectors are a great band. Harlem are another band, they’re from Austin and haven’t had too much exposure yet.


Christian: Complete the sentence, you should be in a band because….


White Denim:

James: You learn a lot about yourself when trying to write music

Josh: It makes you better at Maths

Steve: There’s not enough good bands right now, we need more.


Christian: Thanks alot White Denim, good luck tonight.


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Well this week has been anything but boring. At the end of the last week I must apologise as I was supposed to do a post on the Neon Neon gig I went to at Newcastle Sage. The first gig I've ever been too where I had to sit down and (other than the numb bum half way through) one of the best for that matter. Anyway on to this week, tuesday I managed to win something for the first thing in my life. In fact it was the second but this was on par with the south-west under 13s basketball league! Me and my team only managed to win our university's NME quiz, finally a quiz that only requires knowledge of alternative music. We managed to win ourselves a Blackberry each (the phone as apposed to bramble bush fruit. On top on this we got some free music download cards, or at least what was left after the 2nd placers attempted to swipe them, and only £100 worth of free gig tickets...so thats a good slice of next summer's chosen festival price sorted then!


As if this wasnt enough my pal got free tickets to watch WWE wrestling at the local arena on wednesday, fufilling a childhood wish there!Then come Thursday our band got a glowing review from our local BBC radio station, lovely stuff. Come friday I knew something had to give and it was the realisation that this luck wouldnt go on forever that made me make sure I had a mediocre day!


But then today I got give the day off work, watched some football and got back into Two Gallants last album so here you go.....
Christian!





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Sellotape My Life Down.



Lazy journalism annoys me. Lazy music journalism annoys me even more.
You know the sort of thing; describing every new two-piece ever as "The White Stripes if they'd listened to more *insert arbitrary avant-garde band from the 70s*."
Using the term "post-rock" to refer to ALL instrumental bands, regardless of whether they're actually aiming to facilitate timbre and texture with their guitars,
or quite simply none of them could sing so it was just easier.

So imagine my full on annoyance every time I read another "journalist's" description of Little My as "Cardiff's answer to Broken Social Scene".
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Once you get over the fact that both bands are comprised of varying members of other bands, then the comparisons pretty much cease right there;
Little My have amongst their 15 or so part-time members, musicians from the creme de la indie creme of Cardiff and Bristol, who are "forced to play 1 - 2 minute songs whilst wearing animal ears in public."

Counting members of Los Campesinos!, Gindrinker, Sweet Baboo, The School, The Hornby Pylons and Silence At Sea amongst their number, Little My use a combination of luscious boy/girl vocals and relentlessly catchy riffs (played on any of their superb collection of instrumentation; most of which you could probably find in any half-decent primary school music lesson), to craft a sound which is delightfully twee.

Stand out track on "Little My's Fifth", "Sellotape My Hands" even features a stylophone introduction AND a brief recorder solo, and "All But The Beeps Meep" from latest offering "Little My's Sixth" builds up from a simple glockenspiel part, before emerging into a slide-guitar drenched verse, via blissfully layered stylophone and violin.

To witness Little My, is to witness twee perfection of the highest order.
So please don't compare them to anyone else.


Little My - Sellotape My Hands




Gareth!


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Yuill Like This Guy...


James Yuill


It seems it isn’t enough just to playing a guitar in today’s busy world of music. Something James Yuill proves only too well. His music defies genres, his remixes threaten to upstage their A-sides and he’s now getting into the business of giving much needed talks to music moguls on how to succeed in this digital age. Yuill is part of a new generation of singer-songwriters, using more than their knowledge of garage band, to combine acoustic guitars with computer technology to great effect. This movement is still waiting for a certain weekly music magazine to christen it with a name, but this hasn’t stopped Yuill from producing some of the most beautiful acoustic/synth tracks imaginable. His ‘laptop folk’ provides the perfect soundtrack to a night under the stars, however for now you may have to settle for seeing him in a club or gig venue in a town near you. Something you won’t regret.



James Yuill - No Pins Allowed


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A Blog Is For Life...Not Just for Summer


I'm afraid our blog entries have been rather staggered, or infact...non-existant as of late! This is because of Uni no doubt, the busy termtime lives we lead! There isn't a pie without a finger in it when it comes to uni activities! I've actually started a zine' as a way of spreading my thoughts to the world although this seems like what people did before blogs came around I think my first attempt has gone down pretty well. On top of this, having the internet at University usually means extra distractions. Spending to much time on youtube and myspace playing flatmates the latest amusing videos and catchy little songs is all to tempting!

Then there's our internet provider's attractive homepage. Last year MSN’s homepage became the thorn in the side of my uni work. If it wasn’t the top 10 celebrity transformations it was the interactive voting for the best album cover of all time. This year it’s more of the same with Virgin Media offering me the chance to ‘drool over the hottest guys and girls on the box’. Whether these celebrities know about this planned event is another matter. How press shots of various members of TV soaps have such prominence on the website anyway is beyond me but it isn’t half distracting.

So yes here's a couple of songs to keep you happy through the forthcoming week!

Christian :)

Late of the Pier - The Bears Are Coming


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A couple of years ago I remember getting exciting at the chance to see touring Indie bands Roland Shanks and The Paddingtons playing Gloucester Guildhall. Up until that point the only way of catching bands we were really into was getting trains down to Bristol or Cardiff. An excursion which would often end in having to leave the gig early and sprint back to the train station in time for the last train. We'd always make it as the train was pulling in, but to my knowledge never missed one. As we got older people learnt to drive and soon we'd be travelling down in packed cars to these same venues but at the same time our own city was starting to get more gigs for itself.

Although by no means a regular venue for touring Indie bands Gloucester Guildhall now has more going for it. You can still expect to see the same tribute and ageing punk bands but paired with these are more up and coming bands. I suppose Gloucester has alot to thank Fly Magazine who for the last couple of years have put on bands such as The Cribs, Maximo Park, The Subways, Cajun Dance Party and Wild Beasts for Glastonbury warm up shows. Now promoters are seeing the potential in Gloucester and this is set to continue for the rest of 2008 with Rolo Tomassi (now been moved to Frog and Fiddle) The Rifles and The View all set to play.


Christian!


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2012.

Worst. Musical. Line-up. To. Celebrate. The. Olympic. Handover. Ever.

Gareth
x


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Oh well done Gareth, you've gone and taken so long to write your stupid Field Day review, that loads of stuff has happened since, including the WHOLE of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
So rather than leaving this post in blogging limbo (A.K.A. the "drafts" folder), I'll finally get on with posting it. So, ladies and gentlemen, I finally present to you in all of it's entirety:

GARETH HARPER'S FIELD DAY 2008 REVIEW.

I've got to be completely honest:
I thought Field Day was distinctly average.
There, I said it. Not content with either falling in to the "Boohoo, queuing for toilets at festivals sucks, as such Field Day sucks, waaaah" group, nor the minority group that is the "YEAAAAAAH FIELD DAY WAS AWESOME" clan, I simply left Field Day with a great feeling of indifference.

Whilst it was definetely worth £28.50 to see The Mae-Shi, Les Savy Fav and Foals alone, that was exactly the problem; I would have gladly paid £28.50 to see The Mae-Shi, Les Savy Fav and Foals alone, and then gone home.

To be fair, Field Day was evidently designed to be a day festival where the sun was the main event, but seeing as the sun had to cancel...and let's be honest it is the Amy Winehouse/Pete Doherty of the meteorological world, in that even if you think it's going to turn up, it will probably pull out at the last moment...it does beg the question "Why, oh why, would you design a festival in
England based on the concept that the sun is actually going to turn up?"

So whilst this whole "village fete" theme seemed to completely pass me by, I harmlessly ambled on through the rain accompanied by friends and girlfriend, to see the following bands:

  • Magistrates - I don't want to like you, but you're just sooooooooo catchy. Stop it. Stop it now, otherwise I'll have to change my views.
  • Filthy Dukes - Stick to the DJing (stands for "Day Job"ing). You were just a bit cack, regardless of the fact that you know a rapper.
  • Laura Marling - Your keyboard player may have been stuck on the M25, and you may have been stuck on the most inappropriately sized stage for your overwhelmingly beautiful, charmingly delicate vocals to float across, but you still managed to make me feel incredibly glad that I stood between some ridiculously tall girls with umbrellas and some ridiculously angry men who hate ridiculously tall girls with umbrellas to watch you.
  • Lightspeed Champion - Dev, what the hell is wrong with you? I love you, but today you sounded like a bad tribute act of your own songs. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, because when I saw you in Exeter, it was mindblowingly ace, but today you were just a tad rubbish.
  • The Mae Shi - Most Valuable Players.
  • Wild Beasts - Most Improved Players.
  • Les Savy Fav - All I ever imagined them to be, and more, but I would love to see them in the dry. Minus umbrellas getting in my way.
  • Foals - A tad self indulgent, but they're allowed to be self indulgent; they're Foals. Brilliant though. Absolutely ace. Mathletics for an encore was the really amazingly tasty cherry on top of the distinctly average cake.

    I probably saw some other bands as well, but I've forgotten about them now, because it all happened SO LONG AGO.


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    2012


    The Olympics are now over but don't shed a tear here's a party to celebrate it coming to London in 2012!! If only there was a party to celebrate every end/start of various parts of your lives. I mean course there's birthday and wedding parties but why not have a 'You may of just split up with your girlfriend but here's to the start of your life as a bachelor' party or a 'goodbye clean shaven, hello mysterious beard look' party. I guess the split up party currently manifests itself as going out, getting drunk and finding a 'rebound' but not all of us find this entirely useful. Even better a party which takes in all the history and heritage of you and your previous relationships, with the evening climaxing in all your previous and potential future partners circling the venue holding their own personal flags, ok maybe that needs more thought.

    So Anyway yes it was great to see us British being so proud to be hosting the next games. We pulled out all the stops, Scouting for Girls murdered The Clash's 'London Calling' joining The Feeling as favourites for 'band entertainment' at televised British celebrations. We relied heavily on the usual chant-along classics (Queen, Take That) whilst various presenters interviewed a member of every age and ethnic category in Britain, every one of them with an amusing anecdote to tell. At one point Matt Baker interviewed someone based on them having, as he put it, 'A birthday in 2012' this does sound like a rarity. 2012, seems to have lost all meaning to me as a year. It's just solely the Olympics Games. Before it will be 2011 and after, 2013...it will only exclusively be 2012 for 2 weeks in August, and I'm already looking forward to it me.

    The Clash - London Calling



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    Christian's Field Day Review

    The third and last festival of my festival season has come to a close so I thought I'd attempt a review, but in the safety of my own blog rather then the cruel world of forums. So after a night out in Coventry (we had an extremely late gig there yesterday) and the resulting 3 hours sleep the opportunity to hop on a bus to London at 8 in the morning wasn't particularly tempting. However the pack lunch I'd prepared and the 3 different types of yogurt I vowed to consume on the journey made this opportunity a reality.

    After 40 winks on the coach we arrived in London, greeted with the usual excitement that comes with travelling to the capital. This excitement only grew upon seeing shops on the way to the tube that we also have in Gloucester. It's hard to mask your delight at seeing that one of the world's biggest cities does indeed have something in common with one of the smallest. After getting the tube to Mile End, it was a pretty easy task to find the event, follow the people dressed similarly to you and the calls of struggling ticket touts.

    Just before arriving I heard what I thought to be a preaching weatherman, warning of the incoming clouds. As it turned out he was just selling waterproof poncho's, but I wasn't taking any chances. We were then bombarded with enough free juice drinks to hydrate the workforce of Ribena, which kept us thirst-free for the whole day. First band we caught were Magistrates, saw them at Latitude and more of the same NME-hyped high pitched pop orientated Indie. They were followed by Filthy Dukes, who didn't look anything like what I'd imagine dirty members of the nobility to look like.

    After a long wait, White Lies provided something to cheer about, their sound as tight as ever, although the demands of touring were apparent as their lead singer's voice seemed weaker then usual. The Mae Shi were one of the picks of the day, their set of songs lasting no more then 2 minutes, had the crowd at it's most animated. Then I had my first glimpse of the queues for the toilets which hadnt been addressed from last year. I was afraid if I drank anymore and needed the toilet I would explode at some stage in the queue so I thought it best not to drink.

    Laura Marling and Lightspeed Champion's sets were ok but the poor sound on the main stage did little to help them. Les Savy Fav (the soul reason I got the tickets) sounded better on the main stage, but I was only left to imagine what they would of been like had it not been hammering down and the crowd been more into it. The volume of umbrella's (something that comes with a day festival in England) made it close to impossible for me to see much of their set. Finally Foals some what saved the day with their 50 minute set, they were much sharper then their fatigued selves at Latitude and to top it off they played Mathletics for the Encore. This and the chant we'd manage to start prior to Foals coming on stage we're 2 highlights!

    So all in all it was ok festival, shame Mystery Jets cancelled but in the rain and with the poor sound quality I doubt it would have lifted the spirits of the discontented crowd all that much. Would of liked to have caught Jeffrey Lewis, Wild Beasts and Noah and the Whale but The Mae Shi, Les Savy Fav, Foals and my friends made the early trip down to a damp field in the Capital more then worth while!




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    This summer is going far too fast for my liking. Although, looking at it now we've packed a fair bit in this last month. What with our radio show on local radio, albeit community radio...
    Stroud Fm

    We've tried our hand at putting on gigs.
    Next Goal Wins Promotions

    And have been lucky enough to get a gig here and there with the band!

    So yes apologises for the lack of posts recently.

    One final thought, how did turning over in the figure four leglock reverse the pain, and how come it was so easy...

    The Clash - Four Horsemen
    (Buy)


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    Inspired by Latitude


    I wrote a blog earlier on our bands myspace with relation to latitude but i thought i'd reiterate away on here. Latitude was a great experience, perfect company and the weather seem to hold out pretty well. To add to this I feel pretty inspired with many of the acts I caught. If it was the lyrics of various impressive songwriters or any poetry we managed to catch it was the varied intruments and techy synth equipment some of the bands used that inspired me. I only wish I could click my fingers and I'd be clued up on all this because I dont have the first clue, I've only just got my head around an instrument I've played for over 4 years. There were varied food stalls (always tasty, if sometimes expensive) comedy and literary tents (where I caught some of my favourite comedians and found an intriguing book or 2) and d.j sets after hours, all making quite a festival. Being interviewed for local tv because of our fancy dress helped too I guess, brief celebrity status!

    James Yuill - No Surprise

    Cheerio, Christian.


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    Jag Attack

    Well, this post is a bit of a self-indulgent self-publicity on my part, but seeing as myspace simply won't let me upload any of the heavily Post-Rock influenced tracks from a recent university project of mine, because they are just too darn big, I thought I would post them here...if that's ok with you?

    Enjoy :)

    Track 1 - Little Girl, I Say To You Get Up!

    Track 2 - ...but there might be more of them.

    Myspace

    Gareth
    x


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    9th of August, Field Day!












    So I’ve got my Field Day ticket, and managed to book the day off work. Only when put on the spot to whether I’d be available for the other days of the week, I answered yes. Clever of me to make myself available for the day after Field Day, so the chances are I’ll be getting an early train back from the event in time for work on Sunday morning, lucky me.

    However until then I’ll enjoy all the music this day has to offer, fingers crossed there won’t be stupidly excessive queues for toilets and beverages (much to the delight of any teetotallers present) like there was last year and that I manage to get within hearing distance of every act I want to check out, or indeed every act as the case may be.

    Field Day Website

    Here are a handful of songs from artists playing this year’s Field Day.


    White Lies: Death
    (Buy)


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    Euro 2008 Distractions (Part Two)

    Well, following on from Chris' impressively weak link the other day, regarding Euro 2008 and a couple of his favourite artists at the moment, I've decided to sort of do the same; simply because I've been meaning to write a post on how completely ace Thee Oh Sees are, for pretty much the last four days, but everytime I sit down with my laptop and make any kind of start on the aforementioned, thus far fictional post, I get almost immediately disturbed by either Unkle's rearrangement of Mozart's Symphony No.41, as fittingly chosen by the BBC for their coverage of Euro 2008, which is hosted in old Wolfgang's homeland, or errrr...Mozart's Queen Of The Night, as somewhat copy-cat-ingly chosen by ITV. If I'm not distracted by these, then I'm definetely distracted by either the dulcit tones of Gary "Not A Single Yellow Card In The Whole Of My Footballing Career, But You Still Wouldn't Want To Mess With Me" Lineker, or the comparitively has-been tones of Steve "Please Don't Let The F1 Go Back To The BBC, Please Bernie, I've Got Nothing Else To Live For" Rider.

    So yes, hence my poor blog posting record so far, so I thought I'd post up a couple of tracks by bands that I am somewhat into at the moment, whose nations are luckily being represented in Austria and Switzerland.

    Sweden:
    Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Funeral Face




    Gareth
    x


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    Euro 2008 Distractions

    On a beautiful day in the West Country like today, what better way to spend it by writing another blog post! I suppose a safe bet for an early blog entry would be on music I am currently listening, or my top albums of the first half of 2008! However due to Euro 2008 my music listening has been greatly affected. I can recommend Johnny Foreigner’s and Santogold’s albums which I’ve picked up recently both have provided a distraction away from the constant football. However other then the title music for ITV and BBC’s live coverage and the odd chance to sneak a couple of tracks in the time it takes for Andy Townsend to attempt to explain a tricky offside decision there hasn’t been many opportunities to listen away. I was going to attempt to create a muxtape of classic football songs but I don’t want this blog to lose any credibility it may have started with so here instead are a couple of songs from two of my favourite up and coming female artists from countries involved in the tournament, that’s the particularly weak link...impressive.


    France: Soko - Love No (Teenagers Cover)

    Soko's Myspace

    Sweden: Lykke Li - Let It Fall

    Lykke Li's Myspace



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    Latitude new artists announced..

    Latitude festival is shaping up nicely. A couple of days back another handful of artists (depending on the size of your hands) were announced. I think this was an attempt by Latitude to soften the blow of M.I.A cancelling, however this is pretty painful news. So added to the line-up we have Norwegian up and comer Ida Maria, Glasgow 50's throwbacks Glasvegas, Dirty Blue Jean wearing Boat loving Jeremy Warmsley and fresh from the farce that was Eurovision song contest Sebastien Tellier. So for any Latitude goers here are a couple of tunes to whet your appetite.


    Jeremy Warmsley - 5 Verses


    It's my birthday!
    Christian.


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    Finishing At The Start.

    So, first post. The beginnings of Next Goal Wins; the very start.
    In theory myself, Christian and whoever else we know to have an ace taste in music/whoever else we are organised enough to ask will be constantly updating this blog with our semi-journalistic/semi-academic/semi-brown-nosing posts on our favourite music and the general ongoings of our personal perceptions of the musical world.
    (By the way: yes, I know that's three halves, but top heavy fractions can be a positive thing...always nice to have more, rather than less, especially where descriptions are concerned)

    Coincidentally a quick flick through the headlines on
    Drowned In Sound today shows us that both Reuben and I Was A Cub Scout have split up within the last few days.
    This saddens me greatly, and although neither was exactly my favourite band ever, IWACS still put on a spiffing show when I saw them at the Exeter Cavern a few months back, and I was certainly looking forward to seeing Reuben at 2000 Trees, especially when I realised that there was major potential for
    Frank Turner to join Reuben for their classic Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin. Seeing good old Franky T belting the "YOUR DRESSED..." part, would almost make up for the abomination against music that is Beans On Toast headlining the main stage.

    So yes, this brings me nicely on to the topic for my muxtape today:
    A muxtape of songs by bands who went and split up just before they took over the world; those that left us before their time (more or less).
    (Okay, so technically Reuben and Godspeed are actually on indefinite hiatuses', and you could even argue that Godspeed made it to a certain extent...front cover of the NME anyone? But lets not be fenickity about this. (Is that even how you spell fenickity?))

    Capdown - Ska Wars
    Million Dead - I Am The Party
    Reuben - Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin
    Keiko - Surrounded! By Nazis!
    Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 09-15-00 (Part Two)
    I Was A Cub Scout - Save Your Wishes
    Pretty Girls Make Graves - Pyrite Pedestal
    Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Pastimes & Lifestyles
    Help She Can't Swim! - Cut The Biography
    Test Icicles - Circle Square Triangle
    Life Without Buildings - The Leanover
    The Format - On Your Porch

    Much love.
    Gareth
    x



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