Alison Mosshart

Just as I had finished sorting out Kammo 2, Popstarz asked me to do a 4 hour slot on Friday! I had to extend and re-plan my material to be able to be used for a 4 hour set. I worked all day coming up with 15 new bangers to add to my repertoire.

After that, I went to see The Kills supported by XX Teens. Secretly, I went to see XX Teens as I like them over The Kills. But my indie peers would disapprove of such an opinion. I like the art rock edge of XX Teens that doesn't take itself too seriously, an ironic in your face interaction - almost shock-rock at times. There is this one moment when they "pause a song" freezing completely and everyone thinks the song is finished and clap, then when nothing happens a sort of unrest stirs in the crowd and questioning murmuring breaks out. It's a great moment to watch the crowd feeling uncertain and confused. Breaking out of the mould, but not too violently. The Kills were sexy bluesy, rock n roll shouting, likable, but too clichéd for me - the lady (who I could look up the name of to look clever but can't be bothered to insult either of our intelligence for) was very sexy, she had this great look, with long silky hair flying everywhere, understated clothes and an unadulterated classic face full of defiance.

I've decided to put together a mixtape of my new tunes in no particular order, to both alert me to the nuances of the songs in detail and get me back into making recordings. I have to keep in mind that it's better to have something that's imperfect than nothing at all!

Vampire Week ends?

Ok, this is day four of DJ set creation. The last four days I've had off work I've done nothing but look for tracks for what's now being called "Kammo 2: return to disco". First day I looked up trendy indie club playlists and sourced the tracks I dug that I felt reflected what I'd like to bring to Kambar, and that I'd heard on dancefloors of London. NB: "sourced" means stole from internet, however tracking down tracks entails a lengthy process and four different utilities - an electronic heist more like! Day two was a Last.FM day, looking up artists like other artists. I also looked up who had new tracks coming out and "sourced" them. All the while I used my utilities to find other people who had folders of useful tracks - remix albums, folders of current playlists, mashups, compilations. Day three was a little wasted, as I spent the day looking for tracks which reflected the more classic side - but I realise that it wouldn't fit with the other tracks of my set so went in another direction on the fourth day: Indie remixes; indie remixes retain the classic while dragging it into the present. In doing this I discovered a few top producers of such work - such as Go Home Productions who make quality mashups and remixes you can actually use - also he's been active for a long time and so has over 11 bootlegs "available".

I look pasty, I've eaten too many peanut m & m's (the Neon Jeepster snack of choice) and I've not seen the sun in a week. My computer has given me the icy hue of an Internet vampire.

Would you believe that there's no money in this gig? It occurred to me when I was talking about how much "work" I had done that this was unpaid. Ah, but, once I gather these tunes it will be my launching pad for sets on the trendy indie dancefloors. I'll be fully up to speed on indie and can branch out.

Tracks of note and new found glory are: Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning (Peaches remix), Cribs - Men's Needs (CSS Remix)
Check those badboys out.

Kammo 2 - return to the disco

Spent obsessively focussed hours finding tunes for my upcoming filler slot at Kambar (Saturday November 22nd). Last time was not much fun due to the complete lack of respect people had, but this time I'm prepared. I've basically spent my "morning" on Soulseek downloading other people hard-earned finds and carefully ripped whitelabel vinyl; Props to all those people's dilligence and lack of social life. I have both the complete Kissy Sell Out remixes and complete SebastiAn remixes downloading right now. This pleases me, but also I hang my head in shame for not having done this a year ago. Anyway, my set for Kambar is going to include lots of the electro indie remixes that are pounding around London at the moment and Cambridge won't know what hit them, bit nervous about the whole thing cos I know students just want to hear The Killers and drink Sambuca shots. To be honest, and I'm not apologising, but I will be playing a basic framework of solid hits and classics, but peppered with stuff that is actually cool.

ATP presents... @ London Forum Oct 30th.

Started with Lightning Bolt who I wasn't that impressed by. I like that kind of music but they sounded like everything else in that genre to detract from the originality of what they were maybe trying to achieve. It was a strange feeling to listen to static and noise and think "oh, it's been done". Even the fact that they played on the floor surrounded by people had been done. Shame, cos they were good.
Next up were Pissed Jeans who I thought bridged the gap between Joy Division and The Pixies. Didn't really connect with any of the songs, nothing blew me away, but they were good. The best part was when they played a cover of "Vampire Blues" by Neil Young and my friend who is a clean-cut nice boy and a huge Neil young fan stood up and screamed "Fuck!" at the top of his lungs when he realised.
Then came Wooden Shjips, who were some great stoner prog instrumental band. I liked them, except the last song took the piss lengthwise for what it was. Nice gold metal turban - wish I had a picture to put here!
Les Savy Fav followed and blew the audience away. The showmanship completely distracted from the music, so much so I have no idea what they sound like. The lead man, Tim Harrington, a fat, beardy, bald man who shook his hairy belly round every corner of the huge venue humping Halloween dolls on stage and fisting rubber babies in a truly shock-rock not seen since 70's (Marilyn Manson can eat his heart out - this was the real thing). I met him after and he gave me a Fisherman's Friend - it was yukky, but I accepted it graciously and thanked him for an excellent show.
Shellac were the obvious best band IMHO. Drummer Todd Trainer absolutely captivated me with his incredible genius, not to say the other parts weren't genius but knowing about rhythm and percussion I could appreciate it easier. I loved the bass lines, they were *just* how I like bass; simple, clean and slow - no fancy finger work just exactly the right notes in exactly the right place. The played The End of Radio and everyone went nuts. So good!
By the time Om played, I was a bit drunk and ready to go home after Shellac blasted my ears.