Jumpstart Trainershoe - new music musings

oops

Hmm, it appears to have been an age since I last posted... I suppose that's because work isn't THAT busy (for me) for once so my brain and motivation are going into decline and music-wise I've only been listening to the QOTSA and Interpol albums on repeat (this is 'nearly' true, honest). Check out the QOTSA version of 'White Wedding' (you can hear it here), it's absolutely brilliant. Not sure if I can get away with using it as a 'walk up the aisle' tune when the time comes though, no matter how much I would like to. Curses.

Peej (i.e. PJ Harvey to normal people) has a new album coming out soon. She's not happy, poor love. Rather sadisticly though, I have to say I love her best when she's a bit pissed off. Whilst 'Stories From The City' earned her a Mercury prize and legions of fans for what are amazingly crafted pieces of work, I couldn't help feeling disappointed that her raw edges had somehow been filed down and smoothed. Hear some of new track 'When Under Ether' here.... Rather confusingly, the photo on this site shows her during her sexy but feisty days but new artwork is showing a worrying trend towards 'anti makeup' which makes her look really 'unusual' and not her usual sexy self (pic here). That said, give it a bit of time and I'm sure I'll fall in love with this look because it's Peej and she's a GODDESS and that's that.

Toodle pip for now, will report back when I've listened to some new music and actually have something worth saying.

Star Pupil

Bums, just realised that I didn't tell you about Star Pupil - sod it, just read the tour blog here. It was ace fun, I loved (almost) every minute of it. You can also check out the photos which are a combination of mine and Huey's - but all the good ones are Huey's ;) During the trip I seem to have developed an unhealthy obsession with McFly, particularly Danny :o.

On the road

So I'm off tomorrow for my first really big OB with Radio 1 with Star Pupil. It should be really interesting actually, I don't think I've been in a school since I was a pupil and it's sure to evoke some crazy memories. Being on the road with people from work should be really cool too (well, there will be a bad side too I'm sure but there's no point accentuating the negative is there?) so all in all, I'm really looking forward to it... I'm taking the ipod but I'm not sure whether I'll get chance to listen to it much with all the work that's required but fingers crossed...

Have been listening to !!! album which is just baffling me with it's variety - but in a good way, Midlake too is simply enchanting and Joanna Newsom's Ys album needs me to devote some SERIOUS time to it as it's really got my attention - I knew the reviews of it were amazing but had heard various people (with opinions I respect) state that it wasn't quite the album it was made out to be in the Uncuts/Q/Mojos of this world - but I must admit that what I've heard snatched on the tube and the office has been worth delving further into when i get time. not sure when that will be, but hey...

Anyway, better go - I'm going to be one of the team writing a tour blog on the road so check it out!

Rubbish

yes, i am rubbish but we moved house and then we had no internet and then it was christmas so no posts for a while. plus, after a weekend at ATP with the music of Thurston Moore's choice, I ended up in a 'non music' coma whereby I'd forgotten what music with a real tune sounded like and couldn't raise the energy to search it out. Anyway, I'm kind of back now and will be posting as soon as I can get my act together...which ain't likely to be soon given present work situation but I don't think anyone is killing themselves for info from me.

Just as a quick music post, I listened to The Good The Bad The Queen album for the first time today and it holds GREAT promise... Other than that, it's been a great couple of weeks as Zane Lowe's show has been presented by a load of different artists while he is away and therefore we've heard some mad stuff between 7-9pm on Radio 1 - it's been a great way to revisit some classics... Listen to the shows that are still online here...

First Post

Hello, it's about time I got on with it and started using this blog instead of prevaricating simply because I don't quite know what I should do with it. I'm sure it'll find it's own groove at some point...

The main reason I wanted to set this up was because I had a few music fanatic friends who asked me to let them know about new bands that were coming up. Let's face it, there simply aren't enough hours in the day to listen to all the new music that is available, even more so now that Myspace and the web in general means that anyone with an internet connection potentially has access to more music than they could ever listen to in their lifetime, even if they knew what they wanted to hear.

So I was more than happy to help them along and I even put together a couple of CDs that I called Jumpstart Trainershoe (Numbers 1 and 2, destined to be collector's items when this site really takes off *cough*). The name came from our friend Filkin who was taking the piss out of me one night when he called to see if I was around for a drink and yet again I was going off to see a band that he hadn't heard of - 'Which band is it this time? Jumpstart Trainershoe?!!' I'm not sure if it's a good name for a band but for some reason it's a good name for the 'collection' of bands that I see over a period of time...it's a bit of a pisstake really but in a good way...

So, as well as keeping my Mog account up to date, I'm going to start putting names of bands on here and links to their tunes - and perhaps describe them in ways that people like me and my mates understand. It'll hopefully help me keep a track of things too. My Amazon wishlist is spiralling somewhat out of control and no-one ever buys me anything from it anyway.

I should also mention that as well as new stuff, I'm really into older stuff too so please don't be surprised to hear me waxing lyrical about bands that you've known about for donkey's years - it's just that it's only in the wake of internet downloads that I've been in a situation where I can HEAR all this stuff. It's great, isn't it?

OK, that'll do for now - my next post might actually contain some music, perish the thought!

NB: WARNING!! Some of the bands I mention on this site will probably have been familiar to some people for ages. With this blog, I'm not saying that I know everything about music but I am saying that I enjoy sharing it with people who I think otherwise might not discover it. Just wanted to make that clear ;)