Monday, October 23, 2006

Lying on my back. I heard music. Felt unsure & catastrophic. Had to tell myself it's only music. It blows my mind, but it's like that.

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I never really imagined i'd be sitting on a tourbus watching [in awe] a Prince dvd (Revolution tour) drinking gallons of whiskey and taking "arty" photos under the weak glow of crappy bus lights. Peaches is dancing appreciately to Prince, Planningtorock is chatting with her mates who came down to see the show, Snax and Jamie Lidell are singing along, JD Samson pokes her head around the door and asks if anyone wants pizza.

And if i'd ever known that i would be discussing crisps with Olaf from the Knife i would probably have tried to think of something better to talk about than crisps. Though Olaf from the Knife is quite animated when talking about crisps; is an animated sort of person in general really.

Photos: Peaches + Planningtorock tour September/October 2006

i dont know why i took photos of toilets instead of..other stuff that wasn't toilets..

i saw milan, brussels, paris, london, amsterdam, copenhagen and everywhere in between from the window of a car, which is quite amazing really. i will never, ever forget driving through Mont Blanc (see glacier, above). Most of the time i was like a kid in the backseat with my nose pressed up against the window or eating crisps and drinking coke or asleep. Justin Timeberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" was the soundtrack for most of the 2 weeks we were on the road for the Knife tour, aswell as Blonde Redhead's "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons", Nick Drake and Elliot Smith. That's how we roll. Needless to say the shows were all amazing. the Knife sold out the two shows in Copenhagen in 5 and 7 minutes.

be Justin Timberlake's friend.

sorry this post is a little disjointed. the past 2 nights i didnt get no sleep. a MOSQUITO was buzzin around my room all night. im covered in bites.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

10 Days of Perfect Tunes

It's been a strange week. A mosquito bit me on the eye. My drink got spiked.

But never mind that. I'm going on tour with Planningtorock and the Knife!

on Friday PTR will play with Die Goldenen Zitronen in the Postbahnhof. Then it's Hamburg for the last night of that tour.
Then Brussels for the last date of Planningtorock playing on the Peaches tour. I'm so happy i get to work at the another Peaches show, she is an amazing lady and I had such an amazing time during that week I was on the road last month.

Woo hoo!

The dates for the Planningtorock + the Knife shows on their European tour ARE:

Oct 10 MAGAZZINI GENERALI MILAN
Oct 13 E-WERK COLOGNE
Oct 14 THE FORUM London
Oct 15 PARADISO AMSTERDAM
Oct 16 VEGA COPENHAGEN
Oct 17 VEGA COPENHAGEN

PTR is also opening for them on the dates they are playing in the US. (unfortunately i won't be going that far)

Nov 1 WEBSTER HALL (tbc) NEW YORK
Nov 3 MEZZANINE (tbc) San Francisco
Nov 4 EL RAY THEATER (tbc) LA

To celebrate, here is one of the songs from Planningtorock's new release, "Have it All Stringed Up". it's an absolutely beautiful EP of a selection of string versions of songs from the album. Viola, cello and contra bass. The vocals are different too.

"Think That Thought" from Have it All Stringed Up EP - Planningtorock

Any recommendations for fun things to do in Copenhagen? It will be nice to actually have some free time there. I CANT WAIT!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

A Place I've Found Could Be All Ours But I've Seen Where You Would Rather Be

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Friday
I missed the Final Fantasy, El Perro del Mar + Vetiver show at festsaal. I'm getting used to missing Final Fantasy, every time he comes to town it just doesn't work out for me to be there. I can't wait to hear how it went.

The Presets were in town again though the same night, playing Magnet. While I had a feeling that their show is a little out of place in this venue (but it was absolutely bloody perfect in Rio last Friday) i really didn't want to miss them. They are twice-in-one-week-goodness. I knew their tour schedule had them here last week, then on to Vancouver and back to Berlin. I imagined they'd be knackered after that, and you could tell by the way Julian rubbed his eyes and leaned against his Roland that this crazy touring is taking it's toll. But a couple of songs into the show they played "Are You the One", everyone went crazy and the two boys became energised.

The Daft Punk moment happens and Kim stands up from the drums, waving his arms in the air, urging the crowd to go hard. Then he sits back down and gets back into the beat. Their eyes were glued to the everyone dancing, feeding off the energy.

This pair always have a mischievious glint in their eyes, and are always shimmying around the stage. Kim + maracas = the best thing ever. Hooray! (Yes, his t-shirt says, "the kids want techno".) I can't wait to get my hands on Beams. Please go here and download the Cut Copy mix of The Presets "Girl and the Sea". It is very good.

Modular People must be a happy home. They've signed MSTRKRFT and the first MP release coming out in October is gonna be "Work on You" including the remix by Para One which you can hear, here.

Saturday

Spent the day getting dj equipment sorted for the gallery opening. Tis a hectic affair doing that, and i couldnt have done it without the help of Oliver from Dr Pong. The place i rented the mixer and players from didnt give me enough cables..which was really lame. Of them, and me for not doublechecking. Plus as the gallery is brand new, there were no back up extension cords or anything which i really needed as i was set up outside in the courtyard. It finally worked out in the end, even though one of my speakers was kaput, i wasnt supposed to be playing too loud anyway...Which was sad as Oliver had provided a kick ass fancy sub-woofer..Oh well. The party was cut short unfortunately as the gallery crowd were exhausted i guess. I'm glad i've had the experience of organising and setting up (with help) equipment stuff. After packing up (why? why? there were lots of people and they were enjoying the music!) we went for drinx at a friends house before hitting a former swimming pool for the after party of this.

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What a cool venue.
You walk in and the vast space presented by a cavernous, empty swimming pool just swallows you up. There are armchairs dotted around the floor bottom, people slow-dancing and even a game of skipping going on down there.

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The contrast of the ornate cornicing and really decrepidly peeling walls inside the building was an urban decay dream. The djs in the main pool area were playing eerie music that totally matched the strange echoey acoustics. Unfortunately I had to go home after a couple of hours as it had been two very long days and i badly needed some kip. It was around 3am and as I departed there was a mighty crowd battling to get in.

i am going to start saving up my pocket money so i can go see Beyonce's show here next year!

Hot Date: 13 May 2007, Max Schemling Halle....BEYONCE! 59.75 € or 68.35 € (ouch).