ENGLAND YOU'VE LET ME DOWN!

Right now, it's looking like the Tories are going to win.

Riots have already broken out in Hackney, people have not being allowed to cast their vote for various reasons, votes by post have been lost...

Hopefully this is all just a bad dream and Labour and LibDem will have decleared a shared victory by the time I wake up tomorrow.

*Morning update*
This is all so unreal. I don't know anyone who was gonna vote Tory. Everywhere around me there's a sense of utter disappointment and disbelieve. This was supposed to be an election bringing change, LibDem was going to 'win'. Not the elections, but for the first time a third party would have a profound influence on the results. As it turns out, they've lost seats. The fact that it looks as if there is going to be a Tory government makes me feel almost personally defeated (and I may have already made my first reference to the Tatcher years...)

Revising my paper

I did actually write some bits of it myself...

More Twitter stuff

With no HIGNFY happening this week to make room for the Prime Ministerial Debate, Ian and Paul make the most of their day off

I love how Matt Berninger can sing the most ridiculous nonsense and still make it sound like the most profound truth

Daleks get everywhere

Some random websites:
Humour, according to Microsoft
How to make any website look like it was made by a 13-year old in 1998
When cyclists have too much time on their hands
Or surgeons
Or birdspotters

And the Beeb's answer to one of the GREAT questions in science: what is out there?

Well, rather a lot.

Capsule reviews - Eyjafjallajokull week

exlovers/Jonquil @ The Bull 'n Gate This was promising to be a very busy week for me, with no less than 6 gigs in 7 days, starting with exlovers. That is, if it hadn't sold out before I managed to get a ticket. Who'd have thought this would actually sell out? Not me at least.

Crystal Castles/Male Bonding @ Heaven Well, at least this was something to look forward to as their first album Crystal Castles really managed to impress me, and I'm very much looking forward to their new album Crystal Castles, though I'm not sure whether I'll prefer Crystal Castles or Crystal Castles as Crystal Castles seemed to have moved on from Crystal Castles. But before Crystal Castles can debute Crystal Castles, they first have to cross an ocean to get here. Which was made quite impossible this week (Damn you Eyjafjallajokull!). So now they have rescheduled their show to my rescheduled Have I Got News For You date. It's probably Nick Cleggs fault.

Fuck Buttons/Factory Floor @ Koko But hey, there's a bright side to this mess! Fuck Buttons are English and in England and are not being thwarted by volcanoes or sold-out gigs! Too bad the decision to go see them was so last-minute that I forgot to take my earplugs with me. And I believe Fuck Buttons were the reason I purchased them in the first place.

Once again, Koko proves its utter lack in qualities that make a venue more than just a venue. Upon entering, a security guy is directing ticket holders towards him in the most blunt way I've ever witnessed. You really feel welcome here. After informing whether earplugs are available somewhere in the building, and being directed from security people, to the reception and bar personnel, physics appear to be the only viable way to prevent from going deaf (as in, according to 4Πr², which represents the spherical shape in which sound spreads from a single point, but also taking into account the acoustics of the room and of course the multiple points of origin, sound levels significantly drop with every metre you remove yourself from the stage - but I might have listening to Prof Brian Cox just a bit too much lately to believe everyone thinks physics are easy peesy, which for the record: they are).

Factory Floor do the honours of supporting  Fuck Buttons on this home game. They sound like a blend between the aforementioned and Holy Fuck, something which I have for some time now wondered what that would sound like. And at times, it's really, really good. Unfortunately, I haven't actually seen Factory Floor as I was building a human shield of tall people as a form of ear plug-replacement, but I strongly suspect them of harbouring a female band member who sings. Ha! How's that for deduction?.

Fuck Buttons are of course a band you don't really need to see, they don't make for a particularly interesting stage performance (even though they've now got an enormous disco ball), so yay human sound protection-shield! They were a bit ineffective though, as I still ended up with quite a buzz in my ears, but it was certainly worth it. I don't think I need to write an awful lot about this band: if you've seen them before you know they are absolutely amazing live; if you haven't, then you probably wouldn't want to see them anyway. This performance at Koko was no exception to their continued live-awesomeness, which is quite surprising given the track record of Koko in sound quality. The solution to this thus seems to be play you're music REALLY LOUDLY. As in, YOU HAVE TO SHOUT AT THE TOP OF YOUR VOICE IN SOMEONE'S EAR AND THAN THEY STILL CAN'T HEAR A WORD OF WHAT YOU'RE SAYING-loud. Earplugs, FTW.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti @ Cargo  Nope, not happening. Surprisingly not due to volcanoes, but due to other non-disclosed reasons (Nick Clegg?). But hey, there's still that weird seated HEALTH/Chrome Hoof gig at South Bank Centre! And HEALTH are already in Europe and sold out...

Soap & Skin @ The Union Chapel Ah, finally, an artist from Germany! That's gonna be okay, trains are still going, cars are working, boats are a viable option! But no, miss Soap & Skin was planning on flying into London, and as she was taking an entire orchestra with her, there's no way to transport this bunch of musicians to London in time. Again: damn you Eyjafjallajokull!

Holy Fuck! @ The Coronet Theatre Do I really to digress on this?

LCD Soundsystem/YACHT @ Brixton Academy Is this happening? The gig of the week? As James Murphy has now apparently aptly titled his third album under the moniker of LCD Soundsystem: Yes, This is happening. Starting with the utterly amazing band that is YACHT. So there last album See Mystery Lights wasn't all that, live they more than compensate for the few dull and repetitive moments on record. Jona Bechtold, or David Bowie as someone next to me thinks to be a more befitting name for him, should definitely shoot an indie-work-out video. Seriously, he jumps and dances around the stage in a way that would be impressive to even most hyper-active kids. And he still manages to sing. You'd think that this would distract some attention from Claire Evans (or Annie Lennox, according to my neighbour), but she makes sure it absolutely doesn't. Dressed in a leotard, she's a perfect match for Jona. And in the chaos of what is their performance, there is still room for some synchronous dance moves, just adding to the absolutely dazzling effect of what is YACHT. Who wouldn't want to see a Bowie-Lennox collaboration live on stage? I know I would. Yup.

But oh boy, oh boy! It's about to get even better! LCD SOUNDSYSTEM! I'm absolutely in love with their new album. There is even a slight possibility that I might even love it more than Doctor Who. No, scrap that, that would be blasphemy (and has anyone seen last night's episode? It had Doctor Elizabeth Corday and the Weeping Angels in it! Who had thought that of all aliens in Doctor Who, statues could be the most frightening?).

Apparently, one of the reasons James Murphy & co have sold out Brixton Academy twice are their multiple appearances on the 'best of the decade' lists by Pitchfork. Something that doesn't appear to lead to people actually listening to their music in advance though. If they had, this minority had been warned about the absolute impossibility to remain immobile during songs like say, 'Tribulations', 'All My Friends', 'Daft Punk Are Playing At My House' or 'Us vs Them'. But I don't need to inform you of the greatness of almost each and every track LCD has EVER produced. Oh, that moment where Nancy Whang starts the synthesizers on 'Tribulations' might just be the best moment in contemporary music. Who said disco was dead?

All the music mayhem of the week is immediately forgotten when you get to see a band of the likes of this. Everything just works, the new songs fit perfectly with the better known old stuff - though James Murphy grudgingly remarks that we probably know the new stuff as well - well yes sir, AS YOU ALSO POSTED IT ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE THIS VERY WEEK!. Sorry, I was a bit frustrated at that rather bitter and accusingly statement of the man. Other than that short moment, he is his slightly geeky and cuddly self, which is what everyone wants to see (well that and Nancy Whang, but you can't just ask her to go stand on a box, can you?). But it's not all dancing, 'Someone Great' gets the sudden calm it deserves and 'New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down' serves as the perfect cooling down.

If there is such a thing as a low in this two hour long disco-bliss, than it might be 'Pow Pow', which I still just don't get, whereas 'Drunk Girls' is really starting to grown on me, even in the absence of violent pandas. And maybe the absence of 'North American Scum', just because that's exactly what I wanted to shout at the religious Pitchfork followers who didn't move a single muscle. But 'Yeah' was still there (the Crass version, I believe, as opposed to the Pretentious one), as were 'Losing My Edge' and 'I Can Change' and 'Yr City's A Sucker'. Oh, couldn't this just have gone for ever and ever?


LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
Uploaded by matbole. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

A week in tweets

Photos courtesy of http://picturesfromthedailymail.com/ http://fuckyeahnickclegg.tumblr.com/ and Princes Diana (the Twitter version that is)

Best Save 6 Campaign yet!

It's Nick Cleggs Fault!

With the general election drawing ever closer (just over two weeks now!), the fight is really on, and what a fight it is so far. As the general election in the UK is usually a fight between Labour and the Conservatives, everyone was quite taken aback last week when Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats, who was only allowed to partake in the TV debates out of courtesy, won by several miles. Suddenly there was this third party that could really influence the elections, they were even in the lead in most of the polls! (though in percentage of votes, in parliament they would end up with significantly less seats than both the Tories and Labour).

For the UK, this situation is really unique: elections have traditionally been between two major parties, with other parties battling in the sidelines. People are used to choosing between the party forming the government at that moment, and one party arguing against that government. Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems offer a valid alternative to both, which hasn't happened in recent years. This also leads to the situation where newspapers have to suddenly deal with a whole new party. This might sound weird, but you have to realise that in the UK, newspapers tend to ally with one party, either the Tories or Labour. Take the Daily Mail for instance, they're fond Tory supporters and will slack of Labour at every opportunity, ignoring all other parties (except of course the Tories, whom are more wonderful than Wayne Rooney (or his cricket equivalent) in their eyes). Because of this attitude, they have always completely ignored the Lib Dems. After Nick Clegg's (who is half Dutch by the way) success in last week's debate, and the 10 per cent rise in the polls and corresponding dip of the Tories, the Daily Mail decided to take action.

The results of this, and of some other 'news' papers are on the right. All of their claims where proven to be completely bonkers within a few hours, leading to a new Nick Clegg hype: the #nickcleggsfault tag on Twitter. Just click on the link to get an idea of the brilliance of this tag. In just one week, all the backlash Nick Clegg has been getting from the other two parties since the first leaders debate has made him the most popular man in politic since Winston Churchill.

Today, at the second leaders debate, he got a chance to prove himself, and he did so marvellously. Gordon Brown and David Cameron, who were practically blown away last time, were better prepared this time, and it was a close finish, but the early polls are indicating Clegg won again. At times, it was quite pathetic to see Gordon Brown struggling. He had a few lines prepared, which sounded really good and he certainly scored some points there, but he just kept repeating the same things over and over and over again. David Cameron also upped his game since last time, but as he's a Tory I just can't agree with him. The way they addressed each other also stood out for me, as it was always 'David Cameron says this' and 'Gordon Brown thinks this' but Nick Clegg was consistently referred to as Nick. I don't think his last name was mentioned once throughout the night, which again works in his advantage as it makes him more of a 'normal' guy who might as well be your next-door neighbour as opposed to the Lib Dem PM candidate. Best part of the debate though was Gordon Brown's suddenly strong Scottish accent every time he got a bit upset. Next week it's the final debate, and I for one can say I'm already looking forward to that!

I made the news today

Seriously! You can read it here. Okay, so it's not actually about me, and it's published on blog of which I'm a regular contributor, but I still made it into a news item. (And if I did in anyway contribute to LC! coming to Nijmegen I will buy Gareth an NEC shirt)

Stalking pt. 3: Vieze Griek

Name: Yannis Philippakis
Occupation: Singer/Guitarist Foals
Stalking location: Outside Koko

So I'm thinking about giving up my career in academia to pursue a life of stalking semi-celebrities. Today's victim can be seen on the picture on the right (I for one couldn't help snigger at the underwear-model-like-stare-in-the-camera). 

The offences this time took place without a predetermined plan: he just so happened to be talking to some random people right in front of Ilse and me when we were trying to stalk Fuck Buttons-Jap outside of Koko (and discussing the political correctness of calling Fuck Buttons-Jap Fuck Buttons-Jap). After some subtle directions, Ilse also spotted him - though we might have been caught in the act at this point as Ilse seemed to have some problems locating him right behind a tall guy right in front of her (but in all honesty, Yannis is only 5' tall). Whilst discussing whether we ought to tell him he sucked in Kingston two weeks ago, he decided we were staring a bit too much in his direction and walked away. Fortunately, it only took me ten minutes or so to realise that I had to go in the same direction as Yannis, as that is where I happen to live (okay, so I had to take a short detour, but as you'll read, it was worth it). When we finally continued on our mischievous path, we found Yannis (also known as "Die Vieze Griek, since he lost his beard) talking to Fuck Buttons-Jap at the backstage entry. Oh joy! Or stalking efforts rewarded!

Of course we only walked passed them, probably giggling like schoolgirls, but still, I'm expanding my stalking activities outside the realms of Los Campesinos! which can only be good thing.

Speaking of which: De Affaire, the free music festival that happens to coincide with the 4Daagse every year, has an hapsolutely lovaly line-up this year (Sorry, I've been spending too much time on Twitter lately). Only a few acts have been announced so far (Toro Y Moi, Gold Panda, Shearwater, Errors, Holly Miranda, Post War Years), but best of all: Los Campesinos! So now all you peoplez back home can also see them, in Nijmegen, fo free! And if you don't wanna come along for the music, you can come and judge my taste in men, who apparently are balding, slightly overweight and have bad teeth and skin problems, or are, in other words: English.

(And yes, I do seem to have and endless supply of G Campesinos! pictures)

Record Store Day 2010

So this weekend my sister was supposed to come over to experience some bits of what London has to offer. As you might guess at this point, that didn't happen due to 'The Cloud'. She's now supposed to come over in two weeks, so that'll give The Cloud some time to move somewhere else, like Asia, or Greenland. Or for airlines to realise that it's probably perfectly fine to fly just a bit lower, beneath The Cloud. But as she booked the flight with Ryanair, they haven't been the most hospitable airline you can imagine. They did offer her to change her flight once it was cancelled, but as her return flight wasn't cancelled at the time, and she couldn't book a flight to London after her return flight, that wasn't really helpful. Also, if you want to point this fact out to them, you'll have to call them at €0.45/minute, and with literally thousands of persons with the same problem, I think Ryanair are making more money being grounded than when flying.

The weekend was still pretty good though. On Saturday, it was Record Store Day, which I imagine isn't a very well phenomenon in the Netherlands. Basically, it's a day that celebrates the mere existence of independent record stores (as in, decent record stores that are not HMV - and I'm not implying there that HMV is in any way decent) with lots of limited edition releases that are only available at said records stores. Moreover, there are lots of free performances at the participating record stores as well. Best thing this year was probably the release of a new single by Blur, that was UK only, and limited to a 1,000 copies. I actually dreamt that I got my hands on one of these, only to wake up and find out it was 9.30 and Rough Trade had already opened half an hour before. So no Blur, but I did get these:

I'm loving the blue Beach House 12". If only I had a record player here to actually listen to any of these (or the other LPs I bought).
I caught some live performances as well, after standing in a ginormous, but surprisingly fast-moving queue for about fifteen minutes (who said independent record stores and vinyl were dead?). First were Pulled Apart By Horses, who didn't manage to impress me much in Kingston, but this time round they were actually pretty good. Maybe it was the presence of their own drummer, or the absence of shirts, but they really delivered. Second act were Caribou, whom I've seen at the Affaire in Nijmegen last year, but again, wasn't really impressed with. They just released a new album, and I love the track 'Odessa', which is even more of a favourite after hearing it live.

Afterwards, I went to the Queensday celebration at Trafalgar Square. Yes, a Dutch festival in London, and not even on the proper date! But anyway, as suspected the music was horrible (Di-rect was the only name I recognised on the bill, fortunately missed them), but they had poffertjes. And sunshine! I was suprised nobody was drunk enough to dive into on of the fountains. I spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in Regent's Park, which is what all Londoners do, so it isn't actually that relaxing. But still: sunshine! (and sunburn afterwards)

Today, I went to Cambridge to have a BBQ with some of the people I work with. Again: sunshine! (and more sunburn! yay!). I really like Cambridge: the city centre (as it is a city, as opposed to a town as I've learned today) is a combination of colleges of Cambridge University that look medieval in a good way and little boutiques. As more than half of the city is owned by the colleges, they can determine what kind of shops are allowed entry into their regions, which has mainly led to a complete absence of fish and chip shops. Maybe that's why I felt it was a bit posh, but posh in the nicest possible way. And can I say that I am baffled at how tiresome sitting in the sun whilst sipping wine for an entire afternoon can be?