Green Rooms and Flood Waters

July has been a pretty crazy month. As you may know, I changed jobs a couple of months ago and now I am knee deep in the music industry, getting my feet wet (literally) at some of the coolest (and not so cool, but interesting) music festivals that the U.K. has to offer. It has been an incredible experience thus far, but as saturday afternoon at Lovebox proved, it can be quite dangerous as well. One of the perks of my new job is going to see a whole ton of live music events all summer long, and the added bonus is that its usually VIP or All Area access (I met the Hold Steady last weekend), and the booze is usually free. The trouble is, I tend to make a mockery of open bar services, and usually end up (as told two younger colleagues of mine) shitfaced by 3 O'clock. I barely remember anything, which is always a bit troubling, but apparently I had a really fun time rocking out to Junior Boys, The Presets, Blondie and Sly and the Family Stone. I also remember catching the end of Blondie's set from a Ferris Wheel. Awesome.

The moral of this story, is pace yourself. I was so angry that I missed a ton of good music on Saturday, (probably, this all speculation) thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of my clients and my friends, and probably did a lot of silly dancing. I know there are a few pictures that prove all of these points.

Sunday however was one of the best festival days I've seen so far, with Hot Chip, Bonde Do Role, The B-52's, the Rapture and Diplo making me a very happy camper. I highly recommend Lovebox, as well as this little fella - http://www.metroweekender.com/ . See you in August!

This weekend, I'm off to Global Gathering, a menagerie of all things techno, both good and bad. It's your standard "lets get fucked out of our heads and rave in a field" scenario with all of the typical "a-list" DJ's coming to make you dance like a complete asshole (Oakenfold, Van Dyk, Morillo, blah blah blah). The best part though, is that there are tons of smaller tents where some of the best "up-and-coming" acts are going to play (Uffie and Feadz, Vicarious Bliss, Blackstrobe, Hot Chip Dj Set, Klaxons Dj Set, the Presets, 2 Many Dj's, Erol Alkan, Digitalism and Boyz Noise). Weather permitting (floods are destroying that part of the world right now) it will be a blast.

Holy shit, it's actually summer.

Hey Gang,

So summer is finally here, yesterday I spent the whole day barbecueing and getting shitfaced with a bunch of crazy Chileans, and then today was StokeFest, a free outdoor music festival in wonderful (and very cool) Stoke Newington. Much like other festivals, there is always teh ups and downs, the Ups being: it was free, there were some cool local bands playing and the Downs: dudes with hairy backs EVERYWHERE, drunkards as far as the I can see (which isnt necessarily a bad thing, it just becomes a hassle when they get all up in your face asking you if you have seen "the cabbage sistersssssss" or some shit) and then the occasional random, joyous event that is so bizarre it is great, like the 14 year-old kids running around (drunk) with Sharpies "tattooing" people, these tattoos included gang signs, tags, and the best moustaches I've ever laid eyes upon.

So after I got my live music fix (thank you very much Mr. Giles Peterson) I decided to push the Nerd buttons and get right down to a) updating my blog (nerd!) and b) spreading the gospel of good music coming up in this fair city. Away we go:

Wednesday, 14th June - Cargo - Electroclash masterminds, BlackStrobe, straight from Paris with a full live band. £10

Saturday, 16th June - Hyde Park - if you dont have tickets to this, well, you're kind of an idiot. Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, CSS, Klaxons, Digitalism, Simian Mobile Disco, New Young Pony Club, Datarock. £40, but it's worth it.

Friday, 22nd June - Fabric Live- Get ready for tuntablism greats clashing in one room all on the same night: Dj Q-Bert, Dj Craze, the Scratch Perverts, Drum and Bass hero Goldie, and many more. £12

Wednesday, 27th June - Bush Hall - fuck yes. Chromeo. new album, go get it. £10.

Friday 28th June - Shepherds Bush Empire - DMC UK Championship - Should be interesting.

More to come soon, if you hear of anything happening in the Music world please shoot me an email, benji.wood@hotmail.co.uk .

Over and out.

May is going to be a good month

Hollerrrrrrrr.

May is going to be a good one folks, there are some excellent things to during the month of May that don't always need to involve getting drunk in the park on a nice warm day, although that usually helps.

First up on the 18th at the Pool, is Heatwave's monthly party. I equate Heatwave to the Boston based Beat Research parties at the Enormous Room, which were usually pretty much full of awesome and not to be missed, and Heatwave is no different especially on a Friday night in May when Montreal "Bounce Le Gros" fiesta-maker Ghislain Poirier graces the Mighty Blighty with his glitchy, hyped-up musical mayhem. If you haven't heard Breakupdown yet, you should go get it from your local, friendly, neighborhood record store. Check out some of Ghislain's stuff on his myspace page as well.

On the 28th I will be accompanied by a number of other Rock and Roll soldiers and flooding through the city of Newcastle like a toonami (only the Brits will get it) to go to the Freevolution festival that I have mentioned with quite a bit of enthusiasm in an earlier post.

Other things that you should buy tickets for if you haven't already

Wilco - Shepherds Bush Empire, May 20/21
Editors - Camden Roundhouse, May 25
and all of the gigs at Fabric

Gigigigiigigiit it gurlllllll........

peacekiweaceki.

PS - FREE BONDE DO ROLE INSTORE ON MONDAY the 23rd!!
MondayInstorePuregroove679 Holloway RoadArchwayLondon N19 5SEShowtime: 6pm

Case of the Mondays...

Yo Doods and Doodettes,

I'm back in your grillpiece after a phenomenal weekend of doing absolutely nothing. The U.S. needs to get hip to this whole Bank Holiday thing, because 4 days of walking around London without a care in the world is exactly what I needed. And I got a free bike! On the uglier side of things, I'm back at work while the sun is shining outside and life is rapidly passing me by. Although relaxing, the weekend was a bit confusing as I had about a billion things on my mind, I can't really mention them here but I will let you know about (because I know you're dying to find out) it if/when good news comes around. On another sad note, my iPod is fucked.


I'm saving up to buy some music gear. So prepare yourself World, for the return of Morgasm/Steve Cock/Benny Treize or any other silly stage name I can come up with.


Here's some news for your broke-ass....


Spank Rock's FabricLive set is coming out on the 16th in the U.K. and on the 24th in the old U.S. of A. If you have heard any of their previous mixtape masterpieces (I'll go to any length to use those two words together in a sentence) like Voila! or Couche-Tard, this one will surely not dissapoint.





Diplo, Radio Clit, Low B, and DJ Mehdi are rocking the LON on Friday the 4th of May.

LCD Soundsystem, Justice, and Busy P are all doing sets at Fabric on the 18th of May, I suggest that you all do your best to make it out.

Other things to look forward to:
The Blow - April 30th
Erase Errata- May 15th
Battles - May 16th
Blonde Redhead- May 30th
Andrew Bird - June 7th
Beirut - June 26th

That's it from me. Get your dancing shoes on and get busy in the parks these days.

Over and Out.

Greatest day ever

Turbonegro just added a London date to their summer tour!

JULY 7th - ISLINGTON ACADEMY!

ROCK AGAINST ASS.

What it is cats and kittens?

This is the first episode of what will and forever be the greatest, most informative, biggest waste of time at work. Granted, some of you folks out there love your job, and there is nothing you fathom more than dudes like me distracting you with witty anecdotes, current shows/fetival line-ups, splashes of comedic genius, record reviews and other tidbits of bullshit that you normally eradicate from your life. Thankfully, I don't know a whole lot of you.

The U.K. has been treating me well, though adimittedly, it is a constant cock tease living here. Due to financial constraints mainly, there are just to many shows/festivals to go to in the next couple of months. So here in the U.K. they have a lot of week long festivals a la SXSW that just tend to become an absolute shit show, ie: the Camden Crawl (www.thecamdencrawl.com), or Brighton's Great Escape (www.escapegreat.com). However, one festival in particular stands out of the crowd, primarily because it's free, but also because the line-up is just out of control. Located in not-all-that-sunny Newcastle, the Freevolution shows will be outrageous. Here's just a taste of the line-up so far: Radio Soulwax, Simian Mobile Disco, Chromeo, Bonde de Role, Echo and the Bunnymen, and DataRock. Check it out here www.evolutionfestival.co.uk .

This week's record: The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible.
I know you've heard this a million times before but this album is absolutely stunning. I have been listening to it on repeat for almost a week straight and it just gets better and better. Church organs, a string section, horns, banjos, weird noises, and Win Butlers' scathing, bone-crushing lyrics culminate into what has become the Arcade Fire's best album to date. I find myself singing along without a care in the world as I walk down the street, whilst having typical London suits and boots stare at me wildly as I dance my way past them. Although the majority of the lyrics are more outward than inward, there are a few that definitely provide some insight to the bands' personal lives. Another highlight is the B-52's/Joy Division Esque "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" that sticks to your ribs like mama's cookin'. Please do yourself a favor and pick up this album.