the fyrehaus

I tried going back through my Twitter posts to see what I’ve been listening to, but I haven’t been as faithful as I’d hoped in reporting what I’m listening to. I might be balancing too many Twitter identities.

Either way - Sarah and I decided to do a quick rundown of what we’ve both listened to in the last week or so.

Sarah: this song is awesome, “Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley” by Chap
Megan: ooh. ok, quick. we’re doing a five minute rundown of cool things we’ve been listening to
Sarah: new Chiefs
Megan: new kings of leon, repeating ‘use somebody’ a lot; dr dog’s fate (THANKS SPENCER), new killers, raising sand (what, like, a year later?), alternate abbey road covers - ‘golden slumbers / carry that weight’ in specific. japanese motors
Megan: have you heard them? the single ’single fins and safety pins’ is awesome. but i like regrets a paradise better
Sarah: I have!
Megan: i listened to the new bloc party a few times
Sarah: Oh, um, the hot video at Oxford is “Who Let the Yankees in the Chip Shop” by the Matches. All those Suarez remixes
Megan: yeah, he has good remixes
Sarah: The TMBG “Cast Your Pod to the Wind” collection
Megan: i really liked the remix pete posted in his blog for, like, three horus
Sarah: i think hey monday is kinda boring, but i love cassadee drops
Megan: i really haven’t given them enough of a shot
Megan: i have razia’s shadow all queued up, just haven’t tried it yet
Megan: and, of course, folie a deux.

And that’s where I stopped, because that’s all I’m listening to right now. Sarah’s going to give it the Fyrehaus First Listen tonight. Look for her coherent cogitation on it.

The short of it: Probably the best Chiefs show I have ever seen.

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There’s a peculiar sort of stress when you push play on a favorite band’s new album for the very first time. What if it sucks? Then where are you? Can you still get as passionate about them when going to see them in concert means hearing the horrible new songs? It’s especially tricky for me on this one because I fell in love with their debut, Employment halfway through the second track and never looked back. The sophomore attempt, Yours Truly, Angry Mob was harder to get into and never quite achieved the same amazing status in my head (you know what they say: you get your whole life to write your first album and six months to write your second). I kinda need them to reverse the direction here.

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Highlights from the NME blog:

During ‘I Predict A Riot’, Wilson tried to dive into the crowd, but security guards thwarted him and sent him back to the stage.

Anthony Rossomando, Dirty Pretty Things: “We’ll be out here for a while caning it on the cigarettes. I’m sure they’re gonna be Nazis about it inside!

Kate Nash on the Cribs: “The singer’s quite fit I guess,” she laughed. “And the drummer and the bassist too, I guess! They’re the best.”

Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand: “We just got a lift with Anton Corbijn in a golf cart which was quite weird. They abandoned us at the side of the road because they thought there was a fire and then we got picked up by the golf cart. I’m excited to see Gallows tonight. I was out with The Cribs last night, it was a beer, wine and whiskey night. I’m feeling it a bit today.”

Apparently the Cribs are every musician’s favorite band. Ricky Wilson even asked the audience why they didn’t vote for them. (I left out the less witty comments.)  Also, I think there’s a party at Anthony Rossamando’s place.

Anyway. Awards. Blah blah blah Arctic Monkeys for pretty much everything, yay Muse for best live act, Glasvegas for Phillip Hall Radar award which is the official tipping award, I guess. And no Cribs. Pfft. Full list, including who lost, here.

• Full T in the Park lineup. Includes: The Verve, Rage Against the Machine, REM, Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs, The Fratellis, Interpol, and Panic at the Disco (Really?) (NME)
• Radio 1 Big Weekend will be May 10-11, Scouting for Girls is first act announced. (DS)
• Massive Attack will curate this year’s Meltdown Festival June 14-22. (DS)
• The Melt! Festival (Jul 18, 2008 - Jul 20, 2008 - Gräfenhainichen, Germany) includes: Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, Editors and The Teenagers.

• Kylie to ditch the famous gold hotpants for her next tour. Apparently we are seeing her “grow old gracefully.” (DS)
• Lily Allen claims she broke it off with Ed Simons because he wouldn’t commit. She also thinks you should watch her show; she’s working really hard at it. (DS)
• T in the Park will include Kaiser Chiefs, Ian Brown, The Prodigy, The Pigeon Detectives, and The Raconteurs. (DS)
• California DJ/Producer AmpLive has released ‘Radiohead Rainydayz Remixes’ as a free download. “It’s not up to you, it’s free.” (via NME)
• Aretha Franklin is pissed at Beyonce for introducing Tina Turner as “The Queen” at the Grammys. I think we should stop endowing royal titles on our celebrities, it just leads to confusion and pain. (NME)
• New reality shows starring washed up hip-hop stars. I would totally watch Coolio’s cooking show. At least once, for sure. (Idolator)

Pink and PETA protest against the treatment of Manhattan carriage horses

Gerard Way says My Chemical Romance misses being a regular rock band:

“I think [the next album] will definitely be stripped down. I think the band misses being a rock band,” Way told NME.

“That doesn’t mean we won’t explore really crazy ideas on the next albums, or do something even crazier.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll start to take steps backwards creatively. But it felt in a live sense, this is what we do great live.

“And we’re better musicians for having written and played ‘The Black Parade’, so you’re dealing with [the fact that] everybody’s better as musicians and singers”

Ricky Wilson says he doesn’t mind if they lose to Girls Aloud:

Wilson told the Daily Star: “I am surprised to be in the same category as Take That and Girls Aloud but it’s exciting.

“You think of them being massive bands, and I think it’s healthy to think of people as bigger than you.

“You can’t really compete with Girls Aloud. But if Editors or Arctic Monkeys win, then I’d be a bit ‘grrr’.”

Remember that episode of Friends where Ross makes a list of celebrities he’s allowed to sleep with and Rachel can’t get mad? He cuts Isabella Rossellini because she’s “international” and it’s less likely he’ll run into her. And then he does and she totally shoots him down.

Well, apparently Ricky Wilson is allowed to sleep with Kylie Minogue, and is now getting nervous because Ricky and Kylie have started to get chummy. The Guardian urges Ricky to remain monogamous, as “a woman confident enough to go by the name Storm is a special woman indeed.”