Dasal would not be pleased...

Last night I saw the wonderful David Byrne (ex-) lead singer of Talking Heads at Oxford's New Theatre.

Despite missing the first 3 or 4 songs due to rubbish train systems it is still by far the best gig that I have been to in 2009. Backed by an incredible band (sure they're not Talking Heads but they would certainly give them a run for their money!) he ripped through several songs from his fantastic 2008 collaboration album with Brian Eno Everything That Happens Will Happen Today as well as a truck load of Talking Heads classics.

The backing singers were pitch perfect and full credit goes to the sound engineer who made the utilisation of two percussionists totally worthwhile.

The band were also accompanied onstage for the majority of songs by a few dancers who performed some of the most bizarrely choreographed dances that I have ever seen, but they suited the mood quite well and were always enjoyable to watch, especially when Byrne himself joined in.

Another highlight of the night was when a bouncer told a dancing member of the audience to sit down, which David Byrne happened to spot. He stopped mid-song to reprimand the bouncer and told everyone that it was ok to have a good time, causing the whole audience to stand up and dance for the rest of the show! Legendary.

Finally came the part that Dasal would not have liked. In total disregard of Dasal's second rule of encores he and his band proceeded to leave the stage not once, not twice, not even three times but FOUR TIMES, pausing to bow on each occasion. They totally deserved it though and it was nice to hear a crowd actually working for the encores for once. Maybe it was because it was mostly full of middle-aged people, but it certainly was a breath of fresh air and created a wonderful atmosphere.

The highlights for me were 'Houses in Motion', 'Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)', 'Air', 'Life During Wartime'... I could go on until I named everything he played. Having missed the first few songs I am very tempted to go and see him again in London this coming week.

Rob

4am Inspiration

If the greater part of The Beatles discography isn't proof enough that doing drugs and making music can incur incredible results here's more:



And for any Conor fans who haven't seen the cover of his new album check it out here.

Rob

Tin Trains Twitter is Launched

Pointless I know, but fun nonetheless.

http://twitter.com/tintrains

Follow us and we promise to follow you!

In Transit Show 22nd March 2009

Guest host Tom Allen

Playlist:

Format: Artist - Song (Album)

1. Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass (Silent Alarm)
2. The Apples - Killing (Buzzin' About)
3. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Chunk of Change)
4. Camera Obscura - Honey in the Sun (My Maudlin Career)
5. Desmond Dekker & the Aces - Mount Zion (Black & Decker/Compass Point)
6. The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (The Stone Roses)
7. Doves - Kingdom of Rust (Kingdom of Rust)
8. Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope) (Run Come Save Me)
9. Tiny Masters of Today - Hologram World [feat. Karen O and Nick Zinner] (Bang Bang Boom Cake)
10. Franz Ferdinand - What She Came For (Tonight: Franz Ferdinand)
11. Babyboom - Sister (Babyboom EP)
12. Brendan Benson - I'm Easy (Lapalco)
13. Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Music For A Found Harmonium (Broadcasting From Home)
14. Radiohead - There There (Hail to the Thief)
15. [Secret Track: Tom Allen - In Transit Freestyle Rap]
    

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Podcast Recomendations

I've only fairly recently discovered the brilliance of a good podcast, but I thought I'd share with you a few of my favourites, and hopefully you can tell me some of yours!

Sound Opinions

Presented by Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis; two music journalists from Chicago who are true music lovers. Each week they present an hour-long show that features music news, reviews, features, in-depth analyses, live sessions and some great music debates. Since I have started listening they have featured, amongst others, Radiohead, The Hold Steady and Frightened Rabbit on the show. These guys know their music from rock to pop to hip hop, classic and modern.

This is what I envisioned In Transit sounding like before Olly came along and gave it a bit of a different odd-ball direction.

Click here for more about the Sound Opinions podcast.

Guardian Music Weekly

Like Sound Opinions; but the British version (and not as good). Presented by Paul MacInnes and Rosie Swash each week they have news, interviews and "singles club" in which they review (and often slate) the newest singles being released that week.

Often there is more emphasis on British music which is a good thing.

Click here for more about Guardian Music Weekly podcast.

RadioLab

Now for something a bit different. This was originally recommended to me by Robin Pecknold believe it or not (if you don't know that's this guy). This a pop-science podcast that comes out in seasons of 5 episodes at a time.

They take a theme such as genetics and present interesting experiments done in the field in an easy to understand and enjoyable manner. They range from 10 minutes long to an hour.

If you want a clearer idea check out one of the most recent ones called 'Mischel's Marshmallows' which was only 15 minutes long but definitely one of the best yet.

Click here for more about the RadioLab podcast.

Most People Are DJ's

Now for something a little more homegrown. This is another show on Rare FM, also on sundays from 9-10pm, presented by our friend Edwin.

The fact that it is named after a song by The Hold Steady only gives you a small insight into Edwin's music tastes. Each week he presents a barrage of great and diverse acts that range from the mainstream to the extremely obscure. In fact listening to Edwin's show often leaves me with a sense of despair at the fact that I will never have the time to fully explore all of the great artists that he has just unveiled to me in as much depth as I would like.

Click here for the Most People Are DJ's blog. (It's not technically a podcast but a weekly download in the same vein as the In Transit one).

------------------------------

Hope you enjoy these, I have some more up my sleeve if you are interested. Please feel free to recommend some to me.

Rob

Staff Benda Bilili

Last night as you probably know was Comic Relief. The quasi-annual appeal to the British public to donate whatever they can afford to the charity which helps out millions of people; most primarily in Africa.

These appeals are interspersed with short videos of various famous people performing something or other, mostly comedy sketches.

I think what they're doing is amazing and I am over the moon that last night they reached their highest ever total. Despite the credit crunch people know that they're in a far better conditions than a lot of people around the world and showed this by donating last night.

The one thing that I would like to increase on Comic Relief is the exposure of the good things to come out of Africa, not just the bad. Africa has an extremely rich culture and music is one of the facets of it that has been exposed a lot recently with projects such as Africa Express. The level of enthusiasm and interest shown so far in African music is amazing but something on national television going out to tens of millions of viewers could raise it to another level entirely.

And so I think I have found the perfect candidates to play at the next Comic Relief; a band that have come to my attention very recently called Staff Benda Bilili.

Staff Benda Bilili are a group of disabled men from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They have been disabled since they contracted Polio in their youth and they now move around on custom made tricycles. Their music is often backed by a group of street orphans and the star of the show is one young boy who shreds on his "satonge": a home made lute that is essentially just a wire and a tin can. It is not just their unique background that makes them stand out; they make fantastic songs too.

Check it out:


I think this is great, but the stuff on their myspace is even better.

There are a few videos on youtube and they also have a myspace. If you like what you hear you should buy their recently released album called 'Très Très Fort' which is available on iTunes now.

Hopefully we'll hear more from them soon; maybe they'll play at Latitude festival?

Rob

Who watches the Watchmen?

[Warning: some mild spoilers]


Well for tonight, the answer to that question was me and thousands of others around the globe. Some people have been waiting 20 years for a movie, some less time, some haven't been waiting at all. I personally have been waiting six months, and a long six months it has been since I finished reading Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons seminal graphic novel.

Reviews have been coming in from left, right and centre; there are those who loved it, there are those who liked it but saw a lot of flaws and there are those who hated it, as well as many other good ones.

Now it's my turn. If you bothered to read any or all of those reviews that I've linked above then you're probably already worn out from all the reading/listening so my review is going to be a simple like/dislike lists format. So here we go:

What I liked:

• Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) - the perfect unlikely, disgusting but overall loveable hero
  
• Visually incredible from start to finish
• Awesome opening credits
• Hey that shot's exactly as it was framed in the graphic novel!
  
• "Rorschach's journal..."
• All Rorschach monologues
  
• Patrick Wilson's great performance as Dan Dreiberg
• Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt definitely made me eat my words over my initial concerns about his ability to pull it off
• The Comedian is unbelievably badass
  
• Action scenes brilliantly choreographed and not way over the top
• Nice bone breaking
• Nice amounts of gore
  
• Very true to the source material
  
• New ending works just as well as the original ending
• Some nice bits of cinematography
• Grime and grit is not lost
  
• Great sets
• Dr. Strangelove war room
• The length - I like long movies
• Story is well paced
• Ambiguous journal ending intact
  
• Looking at Malin Akerman
  
• Malin Akerman's breasts
  
  
  
  

What I disliked:

• Too much slow motion in the opening scene
  
• Malin Akerman's acting in some (not all) scenes
• Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan
  
• Rorshach's voice is too similar to Christian Bale's Batman (although it does suit Rorschach too)
• (Practically) No Comedian in the second half
  
• The scene on Mars - engrossing on the page; but boring on the screen (maybe because it revolved around the two worst actors?)
• Music: Great songs (Simon & Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan et al.) but did not at all suit the scenes
• Sex scene - too much of a joke (but I wouldn't cut it as it featured the aforementioned breasts)
  
• President Nixon's way too comical gigantic nose
• Dr. Manhattan growing and shrinking looked like a piece of clip-art being dragged larger or smaller
• No explanation of Rorschach's mask
• No in-depth Rorschach psych analysis (though this probably wouldn't have worked in the film)
  
• Linking it all to Veidt took less than two minutes and was hard to follow even for someone who has read the graphic novel

OK so there are quite a few things I disliked about the film, but there are a lot more things that I loved, and they are the more important things too.

I'm really excited to hear what people who haven't read the graphic novel have to say about the ending; I don't think many more divisive (or genius) endings to stories have ever been written.

Overall I don't think we could have wished for a better adaptation; by no means is it perfect, but it's engrossing, fun, thought provoking and overall thoroughly enjoyable. An admirable accomplishment for the "visionary" Zack Snyder.

Rob.

And for those of you who know nothing about Watchmen here is the trailer to (hopefully) spark your interest:

In Transit Show: 1st March 2009

This is Olly's last show. If you're interested in guesting in the upcoming weeks get in touch with either me or Dasal.

Playlist:

Format: Artist - Song (Album)

1. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Contender (The Pains of Being Pure At Heart)
2. Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin (Actually)
3. The Proclaimers - (I'm Gonna) Burn Your Playhouse Down (This is the Story)
4. Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision (Here We Go Magic)
5. Grizzly Bear - Little Brother (Yellow House)
6. Bob Dylan - Girl From The North Country [feat. Johnny Cash] (Nashville Skyline)
7. N.A.S.A. - Spacious Thoughts [feat. Kool Keith & Tom Waits] (The Spirit of Apollo)
8. Anvil - Metal on Metal (Metal on Metal)
9. Dr. John - Right Place Wrong Time (In the Right Place)
10. M. Ward - Stars of Leo (Hold Time)
11. Jaydiohead - Dust Off Your Android (Jay-Z x Radiohead)
12. Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight (Starland Vocal Band)
13. Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood (Fleet Foxes)

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The Pancake Mix

A compilation of mine and my flatmate Nick's best (and worst) pancake tosses from pancake day this year.

It gets better as it goes along.



Rob

In Transit Show: 22nd February 2009

This week we had the wonderful Nick Taylor filling in for Olly, and he did a great job! Check it out!

Playlist:

Format: Artist - Song (Album)

1. Joy Division - Disorder (Unknown Pleasures)
2. Sondre Lerche - The Tape (Phantom Punch)
3. Nirvana - Lithium (Nevermind)
4. The Walkmen - I Lost You (You & Me)
5. The White Stripes - There's No Home For You Here (Elephant)
6. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno (Searching for the Young Soul Rebels)
7. The Whip - Divebomb (X Marks Destination)
8. The/Sections - Take Me Back in Time (http://www.myspace.com/thesections)
9. Michael Jackson - Stranger in Moscow (HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I)
10. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise (Siamese Dream)
11. Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz (I Should Coco)
12. Foo Fighters - Baker Street (The Colour and the Shape [Bonus Track])
13. Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch - Lua (Dark Was the Night)

• Download
  

In Transit Show: 15th February 2009

1. Jeff Buckley - Mojo Pin (Grace)
2. Jonathan Richman - Abdul and Cleopatra (Back In Your Life)
3. Brooke Benton and Dinah Washington - Baby (You've Got What It Takes) (Endlessly: The Best of Brook Benton)
4. Fanfarlo - The Walls Are Coming Down (Reservoir)
5. The Beta Band - Wonderful (Heroes to Zeros)
6. Paul Simon - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Still Crazy After All These Years)
7. The Dears - Money Babies (Missilies)
8. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (The Magic Position)
9. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (United)
10. Grizzly Bear - He Hit Me (Friend EP)
11. Tilly and the Wall - Love Song (Bottoms of Barrels) [N.B. We played the version from their Daytrotter session]
    
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Fever to Tell)

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In Transit Show: 8th February 2009

Format: Artist - Song (Album)

1. Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet (The Moon & Antarctica)
2. Seasick Steve - Dog House Boogie (Dog House Music)
3. Blink-182 - Adam's Song (Enema of the State)
4. Green Day - Welcome to Paradise (Dookie)
5. Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People (Stand!)
6. M.I.A. - Boyz (Kala)
7. Radiohead - Climbing Up the Walls (OK Computer)
8. Beach Boys - Surfer Girl (Surfer Girl)
9. The Flaming Lips - Brainville (Clouds Taste Metallic)
10. GDSP Music - Not Right Now (http://www.myspace.com/gdspmusic)
11. Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer (Aretha Now)
12. Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica (Person Pitch)
13. RevoLucian - Bale Out
14. Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters (Ghostbusters Soundtrack)
15. Doves - There Goes The Fear (The Last Broadcast)

• Click to Download
  

Retro = Awesome

I want this, it's awesome: click

Rob

I hate these kids

Now anybody that knows me will know that I've never fully understood Animal Collective's appeal but I'm starting to come around to it. I'm saying this because I don't want you to think that I hate the kids because they're saying bad things about a band I like; the reason I hate them is their reasoning for hating Animal Collective: they've become "too popular".

In Dasal's earlier post obscure and pretentious we had two guys making fun of and being ironic about dudes who try to act cool because they listen to way obscure music. That video is funny. The fact that there are people out there like it makes me mad, especially with the demeanor that the kids in this video have as if they have some God-given right to tell everyone what's right and what's wrong.

What also makes me mad is that they don't even give a good reasoning for turning against Animal Collective apart from the fact that now more people have heard of them, surely a good thing right? My personal favourite band Radiohead have garnered quite a lot of press attention surrounding the release of their last album, shit, they're even playing at the Grammy Award Ceremony but you don't see me flying off the chain about it.

They try to act cool by turning each song title into a pun that makes fun of Animal Collective. This bit's actually quite funny but only to laugh at how pathetic they are.

The bit where my blood really boiled is right towards the end when they say "it was cool to be a fan", thus admitting that they only listen to Animal Collective because they're trying to look cool and are now jumping ship because they don't want to be grouped with everyone else. They need to stay "indie".

Idiots. Even the cat looks unimpressed, he probably has more brains than any of them.

Rob

Franz Ferdinand review

Just thought I'd let you know that my review of Franz Ferdinand's new album 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand' is up at onethirtybpm.com

Click here to read it.


Cheers, Rob

Ateaseweb.com - A Community. A Way of Life. A Religion. (My reply to Dasal)

I feel in Dasal's previous post he has been a bit harsh on atease, which to me is the greatest community on the internet.

Yes, most people there are attracted to the Main Forum where the only thing discussed is Radiohead, Radiohead and more Radiohead. I spent my first two or three years on atease only in this forum in threads where we made up and posted fake IM conversations with band members or discussed why Phil always wears a purple shirt or ranked their songs for the THIRTY MILLIONTH TIME.

But one day I ventured outside the Main Forum and discovered that atease offers SO MUCH MORE.

If I were to list for you all the bands that I have discovered through the atease Music Forum it would... well it would be a damn long list!! If you want to be cool and talk about bands that nobody's heard of, go to gigs that aren't sold out, criticise Pitchfork yet still comply to what it dictates as 'Best New Music' or develop an addiction to obscure music that means you have to download at least 5 albums a week then this is the place for you!

Atease has also led me to discover plenty of other great things such as what.cd, Arrested Development, last.fm, Twin Peaks, the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING Mark Gormley... I could go on, whereas Dasal has introduced me to, amongst other monstrosities, Ken Park and Girls and Corpses.

On atease there is always somebody there to listen. Who else out there is going to debate with me over whether Locke is actually dead or not? Where else can I state my opinion and have a 50% chance that someone will listen (and a 10% chance that they will give a crap)? Where else can I complain about my musically ignorant friends and know that they'll never find out?

So if any of this sounds of any interest to you, please come and join us at Atease, the coolest place on the internet for uncool people.

Rob

p.s. Avoid Main Forum and only go into General Chat if you aren't easily offended.
p.p.s. If you decide to join us, I'm Temporaryism, say hey!

New Issue of Under City Lights!

The newest edition of UCL's amazing music fanzine has just been released!

It features contributions from myself, our good friend (and editor) Edwin and lots of other knowledgeable people from around UCL!

Features include:

• Interviews with: High Places, Crystal Stilts, Male Bonding and Graffiti Island
• Reviews: Franz Ferdinand and Deerhunter albums, Okkervil River Live
• Our Mixtape: An eclectic mix of songs chosen by all of the different contributors and it's FREE to download!
• and more!

So check it out now at: http://undercitylightszine.blogspot.com
or if you're on the UCL campus pick up a physical copy from the Union or the CSC.

Cheers, Rob

So Long Astoria

The closing of the Astoria Theatre on Tottenham Court Road has been on the cards for a while now, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't come as a shock. Walking past it as I do generally at least once a week and seeing it in it's current decrepit state with no advertising posters or any sort of excitement emanating from it, I can't help but feel a pang of remorse at the loss of one of London's best mid-sized venues.

I went to some great gigs there including shows on my 18th and 19th birthdays. The highlights included my discovery of Metronomy and my first time seeing Los Campesinos! live and I had hoped to see many more there in the future.

The reason behind the demolition of the Astoria is because that area is to become part of a new cross-London rail service. Previous Mayor of London Ken Livingston put the final nail in the coffin last March, but at the same time promised a new venue nearby. I'm not entirely sure of his sincerity in that matter at the time and the fact that he has now been replaced in office by Boris Johnson probably means that those plans are even less likely if not forgotten completely.

Another point of contention for me is the fact that the new venue that Livingston promised is supposed to be bigger - we don't want bigger! At the moment it seems that there are not enough 2-3000 capacity venues in London. Even if they were to build a new one it would not have the history that the Astoria had, a great example of this is Radiohead's Live at the Astoria DVD of their performance there in 1994. For decades now it has been a cornerstone in many band's careers to play at the Astoria on their path to fame; I mean, even Nirvana played there!!

Perhaps most enraging is the fact that the Astoria had to cancel it's final send-off party because Transport for London gave them 28 days notice to get out, which did not give them enough time to organise it. I mean honestly, I know this is not the death of a person, but where is the respect!?

Oh well, goodbye Astoria, you shall be missed.

Rob

In Transit says Sorry!

This is our collective apology for promising you a show on the 11th of January and then not being able to provide you with one. We hope you forgive us.

All Things Weird and Wonderful

Every time I return to the USA it seems like they've come up with something bigger, stranger and funnier than the last time I was here. Here are a few photos of why I love America, mostly in the food area:

Disclaimer: If you are from the USA you might find it strange that I find these things strange.


If you're ever feeling homesick just pick up this heart of England FIVE CHEESES IN ONE cheese and you'll feel five times less homesick! But maybe five times more sick to your stomach...
My brother actually did manage to eat a whole one of these...
Why don't we have a great cake selecgtion like this in supermarkets in the UK?
Just love the name of this one.
OMGZZZ NOW I CAN HAVE THAT SUPER HOT ZAC EFRON LOOK AT ME WHILE I EAT MY CEREALZZZZZ!!!!!!! HE IS SUPER HOT!!lk"£k:

A nice bucket o' ice cream for you (nicely modelled by my brother to give you an idea of size). Afterwards you can take it to the beach and make sand castles!!Live Music Society needs to score some of these...

This is the classy way to drink green tea... by the gallon.Edible Lego!! Build something... AND THEN EAT IT!!

Basically the same idea as the lego but in the shape of animals, made by your favorute tractor company!!!
Why go to Starbucks when you can go to BAD ASS COFFEE!!?

All this for ten bucks? Damn that's the cheapest guaranteed ring sting ever.The new graffiti; tag the sky.