This from here: http://www.londonears.com/Blog/2012/january.html

Shutting the fuck up at shows is a subject close to my heart. I put together and run the now annual Shhh event in London, so you’d expect that perhaps, but I’m not some kind of perfect self important gig-goer, respectfully silent in reverence at the efforts of the artist before me. I’ve been told to shut up plenty of times. Not quite as much as I have been the one doing the telling, but still. It happens to all of us I would like to think, although I’m sure there are loads of folks who have NEVER been told to STFU…

The thing is, the shows where I HAVE shut the eff up, have been those ones from which I have returned home complete, with that wanting-to-discuss-it-till-the-cows-come-home feeling of really having seen something important. I mean, how can you tell if you really liked it, if you didn’t really listen?
It doesn’t have to be a quiet show either. I definitely told a couple to have their conversation elsewhere at Glastonbury one time (and got a ripple of applause) and that was during The Arcade Fire. The couple in question were pretty loud and high and unaware of anyone else and hey I was nice about it ok? Another time, and this being an amazing example, was at an ATP, for THE MELVINS. Hardly a band tinkering about in some hushed plink plonk experimentalism. They ROCK. And it was amazing to stand in awe at what I could see and hear. (OK, so I was unable to speak as I was really high, having been FORCED to get into that state by a now unnameable record company big wig, and their unnameable record company big wig friend.)
In any case, whatever the state you’re in while watching a band it’s usually better if you listen. If they suck, then there will be a place you can go to calm down (or the opposite?!) and have a chat with your pals… There certainly is at the Shhh event on Sat 4 Feb at The Gallery Café in Bethnal Green. There are more than 3 performance spaces, including a Cinema and a little gallery of artworks inspired by the idea of shutting the fuck up… and there’s an outside space too.

- Howard Monk

I’ve had this reputation for a while among certain of my friends for being a straight talker. This is a bit wrong. I am a bit of a show off sure, and will say something to get a laugh, or a rise off someone, but I’m not intentionally mean and it hurts me a lot when folks are intentionally mean to me.

I have recently been reminded of something. A while ago a (well known) journalist told me that not liking or getting The National that much prevented them from writing anything at all about them as they didn’t want to say negative things about a band. The thing that reminded me was another (well known) music industry type not wanting to inform someone that the band they look after isn’t really for them.

Surely there is a way we can tell our truth without worrying about hurting people, and surely in turn there is a way that we can see someone’s truth as not intentionally mean and just move onto the next thing… It’s important to tell the truth no? Without being a dick right?

you're not going to get heard if you're just sat sitting Under a Rock

Today I have been grumpy with two excellent artists who both got in touch to get shows and yet it was such a trial to actually hear their music. Just send a link to where it can be heard online. Just send a LINK!

So much average stuff is made available instantly and probably gets noticed  because it was so easy for the person to hear it.

I could expand upon this theory and suggest that decent bands/artists are in some way to blame for the actual EXISTENCE of the mediocre ones due to some idiotic Wayne’s World “If we build it, they will come” attitude.

Make it possible for people to hear your music please. (Especially if it’s good)

This is fantastic record deserving of all kinds of exposure. Shades of Pullman, Penguin Cafe, Yann Tiersen, it never dives too far into the new folk areas. It has a kind of indecipherable provenance. Is it English, French, American? Is it Post Rock, Folk, Chamber, Ambient?

It’s beautiful is what it is, and it has just perfectly soundtracked the first half of my train journey, sun belting through fluffy clouds, made three dimensional by the fast train.

I didn’t do part two and three of the US trip. I flaked out. Actually it was worse than that. I came back from the US utterly dejected, worn out, mojo non-existent, and wondering why on earth I actually DO any of this stuff. (I have yet to find the answer but the fact I have started to look is a good thing).

Austin and LA were dead good on some levels, but various factors meant I had to spend far more money than I had, than my company had, and I came back feeling sick. Lost. Hopeless.

Then after some time and some fancy footwork and you start to believe some kind of miracle will happen again, and that it might be alright. Still not sure, but it might be. Anyhow, the pictures are cool, enjoy them.

Oh Really at Pete's

Saturday 12 March saw my own flight out, and growing some extra grey hairs worrying about whether Alex Highton or Oh Ruin would actually get in, given we’d made the decision to come without work visas. Quite why you should have to get them is beyond me, for a trip like sxsw, but still, the rules is the rules. And we started the whole frikking trip with the real possibility that one of them wouldn’t make it. It reminded me of going to Amsterdam for my brother’s stag do as Paul Clark, as I had lost my own passport. Terrifying. But ALL OF IT WORKED. NOT A QUESTION ASKED. All that worry. So we got to play our first show at Pete’s Candy Store, who seemed most unaware of us, which was weird. But then the show was great indeed. We were turning people away. OK, so it’s a very small venue, but you can only play the team in front of you right?

We are The Road Crew

Alex Highton (sorry no image) played a pretty subdued set then explained why by falling asleep on his chair during Oh Ruin, who were great actually, and then DTB playing his first show for a good while, made not the best use of a crappy system and it was very quiet up front, yet his faithful were ever so… erm… faithful. Some three die hards bussed in from Philly each time we played, which was amazing.

DTB at Pete's

It was really special to get to spend some time with my cousin and uncle while in New York, that Saturday afternoon, and also with She Keeps Bees that evening, and staying at the Bees place, only destroying one or two precious things.

I was invited to this show and it was excellent. I am not “your regular theatre goer” but I do get to a few shows a year due to friends being in the plays, or other nights out organised by friends. It’s usually excellent. I have been chastised for making the “subjective” point that the production of 11 and 12 at the Barbican last year, roundly praised in the press, was boring as all heck. I did make the point at the time that given I’m not “your regular theatre goer”, it was perhaps a bit high for me, and that there are bands I would pay to see play one note every five or so minutes for a couple of hours, and be riveted.

The Woody Sez thing is pertinent in a few ways right now, given the continued popularity of Folk in its many forms, and the frequent mentioning (often plagiarising) of Woody Guthrie by many of today’s artists. I had only a layman’s  knowledge of the story of the man and his work, and this was a very entertaining way of getting an insight, and a chance to listen to a bunch of his work beyond This Land is Your Land, The Car etc…

I made a few observations, which I will share with all four of you reading this.

As this was a press night it was full of them all jibber jabbering away so when the play starts unannounced giving no-one the opportunity to shut up and listen, it feels like a proper London gig, and I wonder if the few still chatting away standing with their backs to the crowd will ever sit down and watch. Thankfully they do. Authentic if nothing else. Authentic again when feeble attempts at a clap-along fizzle out seconds after they’ve started. It IS London after all. (And granted it’s in a very warm seated theatre too)

I was concerned that the musicianship might not be as good as it could be given perhaps that these are actors and not musicians and I felt snobby thinking this, but they were excellent, all four of them, and they’d got the bluesy attitude of carry-on-at-all-costs-when-making-a-bum-note down pat. I wonder if some of the holier than thou types in the folk world might pick holes in this aspect and I hope not, as it would surely be to miss the point.

What follows is a life story of Woody Guthrie told through his songs. His early life, move to California, the Great Depression and him finding his voice. His was a troubled life as you might expect, and yet he maintains this positivity, and humour through it all. There’s a great quote towards the end where he says: If we lose the the songs we have (love songs, political songs, dance songs etc) then we are apt to lose the world with it. He was very keen on learning about culture through songs, and a country’s history.

I wonder what he would make of the way things are today, with every musician on earth seemingly clamouring to align their art with whatever film or product, and the homogeneity of the output that this leads to.

Anyhow, it’s excellent, you should go.

That said, the room is full and people are listening intently to Graham Massey, John Robb, Fiona and Ruth Daniel, and Peter Parker.

I can’t help thinking that people’s experiences are and, that they’re all individual. Pretty interesting though, I have to say. Glad they’ve started to discuss how the heritage can suffocate the current scene, which is vast, and amazing.

Lucy Jamieson’s top shows:
1) Nedry and Devilman at the Lexington in April – Devilman were an orgy of bass and noise, Nedry were gorgeous. Venue was packed
2) Giant Sand and Kristin Hersh at the Barbican in July – cos I done this
3) Sam Amidon at Cafe Oto in December – I don’t think it’s because it’s fresh in my mind, it was just really very special
4) Flying Lotus at the ICA in Sept (I think) – Cosmic jazz at it’s finest
5) Mathias Aguayo live and Dominic Eulberg DJing at Berghain in Berlin in July. I really did go clubbing in Berlin, and this night was incredible
6) The National at le Nuits de Fourviere in Lyon in August. This was amazing – they played in an amphitheatre on top of a hill. Wow

And LJ’s top albums:
1) Sam Amidon, I See the Sign – I can’t stop listening to it
2) The Books, The Way Out – freaky
3) James Blake, his various eps and singles – brilliant
4) Fourtet, There is Love in You – just an exciting album
5) Walls, Walls – like MBV a bit, but still sounds new too
6) Ripperton, Niwa – I went a bit dancey this year and this album’s excellent

My top shows (no particular order)
1) Shhh! Jan 2010 at Cecil Sharp House. A mixture of loads of the good stuff many of whom have blossomed this year (Sam Amidon/Dry The River/Oh Ruin/Coming Soon) and some kickass headlines from DTB/Jon Hopkins – can’t wait for the next one in Jan
2) The Local tent at End of the Road – Wolf People in particular – amazing plain ol’ psyche rock band plus The London Snorkelling Team. Jazz presented by an Irish man in a white coat at a small town hall community centre, with overhead projections
3) David Thomas Broughton: At Scala with Shearwater who themselves were amazing and appeared as the DTB Memorial Choir! Also at Union Chapel opening for The Unthanks and bewlidering/upsetting a good chunk of their audience
4) The Very Best at SXSW completely smashed it in this back yard. Inviting everybody onto the stage I kept looking up and seeing folks I knew dancing like MADFOLKS
5) She Keeps Bees at The Lexington with Oh Ruin in support. This was smart. SKB on top form at the end of a month of shows and all kinds of problems, and Oh Ruin smashing it
6) Malicorne at Francofolies de La Rochelle – the whole festival was amazing but this set was spine tingling – Emilie Simon, Arnaud Fleur Didier, Dominique A, Phoenix, loads more… Great to be at a Festival where its not just the usual suspects.

Also: Monolithic, Bushmans Revenge, Puma at Cafe Oto, Hannah Peel at Oto and XoYo, Alex Highton and Oh Ruin and Dark Sky Singers in Blackburn, The Rochdale Festival including Travelling Band, Kirsty Almeida and Lightning Seeds (a top day), Leif Vollebekk, Tasseomancy and She Keeps Bees at Pop Montreal, Jenn Lane, Yes Nice, Aidan Knight at Breakout West Kelowna, Carmen Townsend and Tom Fun Orchestra at ECMA, Kyrie Kristmanson at Oto

Bloody hell I could go on… at times like this it’s a nice reminder that I do love my job in spite of the difficult bits (and there were many in 2010 I am a very privileged boy indeed).

And my albums:
1) Justin Rutledge – The Early Widows – I get some stick for liking this as “I don’t like his voice” or “it’s very mainstream”. I think both comments are bollocks. It’s a really well made (by Hawksley Workman), beautiful modern indie country album. I have definitely listened to this more than any other record in 2010. It’s soothing and soft, even in the heavy parts
2) Oh Ruin Silver Lining – EP – We released this softly on iTunes and it’ll get a full release in the Spring. It has 6 songs all very excellent dark moody and bluesy brilliance
3) Dark Sky Singers – Like no English – new from Static Caravan – North East big band with some excellent well written folky/acoustic songs
4) Vuk – The Plains – this given to me by a new colleague I met at Francofolies but it’s by a Fin. And it’s brilliant. Great songs reminiscent of all the bonkers and brilliant females you’ve ever liked
5) Elephant9 – Walk the Nile – like psyche jazz rock madness from Norway, naturally
6) Quack Quack – Slow as an Eyeball – brilliant alt prog math kraut trio my dead on fave band of last five years featuring our Lord Neil Turpin the best drummer you’ll ever see, and in Moz quite possibly the next best – definitely crazy, and Stu on the heavy heavy bass. Three more brilliant and talented yet humble people you’d be hard pressed to meet

There are also two albums I am privy to which no-one else has heard yet, and they rule:

David Thomas Broughton – Outbreeding out in May
Alex Highton – The Woddditton Wives Club out in the Sping

Any more examples of pretentiousness in ads please post below.

The other thing is here I sit at the Eurostar Terminal at St Pancras, not in a business lounge, but being online for free. Three cheers for Eurostar in this respect. I feel a bit of a fraud saying I am an international business dude, but I do travel a lot with work, and I HATE IT when airports hotels ir cafes (usually here in the UK) charge for using the internet. HATE IT.

It seems so old fashioned, and we all know it’s not something they are paying for so it’s just extra money they’re squeezing out of US.

Anyhow. Oh Ruin at Cafe Walvis in Brussels tonight. It’s Autumn Falls first ever edition! Excited!