All The Electric Stars Are Shining

Last.fm

Top 30 artists of the last 3 months:

Blink and you miss it.

Is 3 months a long time?   I don’t know.   But somehow, time keeps slipping by and I keep wondering where it goes.  I stare at the blinking cursor, pondering the time slip between now and when I last posted.   Also, unsure as to what I want to say on All The Electric Stars Are Shining that I can’t say elsewhere.   I know.  I’ll make a list of things that happened these past few months:

• Lostmusic released a new 7″ single and 3 CDr releases.  They’re all fab and what’s more, they’re selling really well.
• LMR001.  The first 7″ single we released has sold out.   We have no more copies of the ‘Keep It Coming’ EP by The Manhattan love Suicides left.
• I killed the Dead Billy Club.   3 Strikes and out.  I was finding that I didn’t have the time to do it justice.  So instead of letting it linger.  I killed it.
• Indie-mp3 came to an end.
• Char went away to India for 3 weeks.  They were 3 hard weeks.  She had a great time, though.
• I started to use Twitter.  TrevLostmusic, if you were wondering.
• The Manhattan Love Suicides are just about the most perfect band.  I saw them support Crystal Stilts.  They were brilliant.
• London Popfest 2009 was ace.
• Titus Andronicus were good.  But not as good as I’d hoped they be.  Same can be said of Wavves.
• Indiepopnews.com was born.  I’ve been slack. Loads to do over there.
• lostmusic.co.uk/blog.  In place of indie-MP3.  A new version of the Lostmusic blog returned.  I’ve been slack here too.
• The bedroom is still a mess
• The hunt for one demo, continues.
• I still don’t ‘Get’ Comet Gain.  What is the attraction?
• weePOP! is probably my favourite little indiepop label at the moment.
• Lux Interior died.  I loved The Cramps.

That’s what sticks in the memory at the moment - pretty sure I missed something.  I usually do.

oh, and these are my top played bands of the past 3 months according to last.fm

1		Knight School		250
2		The Wendy Darlings		206
3		The Jesus and Mary Chain		143
4		The Cramps		140
5		Dog Years		125
6		The Manhattan Love Suicides		110
7		My Teenage Stride		97
8		Crystal Stilts		86
9		Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers		80
10		HMS Ginafore & King Creosote		74
11		Television Personalities		72
12		the second hand marching band		61
13		Wavves		52
14		The Ronettes		50
15		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart		44
16		The Darling Buds		43
16		Downdime		43
16		How to cure dyslexia		43
19		Stump		39
19		Butcher Boy		39
21		Tompaulin		36
22		Surf City		35
23		The Smiths		33
24		Hands And Knees		32
25		The Muslims		30
25		Eux Autres		30
27		Boy Genius		29
27		Sportsday Megaphone		29
27		The Puddle		29
30		Baby Shakes		28

My top 30 Artists of 2008 according to last.fm

And here are the most played bands/singers of 2008.   Again, a shame that my vinyl plays haven’t really been counted.

1		Cars Can Be Blue		344
2		The Jesus and Mary Chain		274
3		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart		272
4		The Manhattan Love Suicides		270
5		Keith John Adams		229
6		sarandon		223
7		Crystal Stilts		196
8		Pete Green		172
9		The Magnetic Fields		170
10		Slow Down Tallahassee		152
11		Minutemen		151
12		The Argonauts		134
13		The Muslims		132
14		Half Man Half Biscuit		129
15		The Beach Boys		113
16		The Velvet Underground		102
17		Status Quo		100
18		Titus Andronicus		97
19		The Smiths		93
20		caUSE co-MOTION!		92
21		Baby Shakes		90
22		Woog Riots		88
23		Maupa		86
24		Television Personalities		83
25		The Bats		82
26		The Housemartins		80
27		The Siddeleys		78
28		Secret Shine		77
29		The Nightjars		76
30		The Prids		75

2008 according to Last.fm

Here are the most played songs on my last.fm account from the past year.  A shame they don’t include 7″ single plays.

1		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart		51
2		Cars Can Be Blue – Do You Remember?		40
3		Pete Green – Let it go by		39
4		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – A Teenager In Love		37
5		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Orchard of My Eye		34
6		Pete Green – Best British band supported by Shockwaves		33
6		Pete Green – I’m gonna stay with her		33
8		Pete Green – Happy being me		30
9		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Come Saturday		29
10		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Doing All the Things That Wouldn’t Make Your Parents Proud		28
11		Titus Andronicus – Titus Andronicus		27
12		Crystal Stilts – Crystal Stilts		26
13		sarandon – Kill Twee Pop!		24
14		The Flys – Love and a molotov cocktail		21
14		Crystal Stilts – Shattered Shine		21
14		The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – This Love is Fucking Right!		21
17		sarandon – The Discotheque Is My Love		20
17		The Nightjars – You Set Me Reeling		20
19		Crystal Stilts – Spiral Transit		18
20		Slow Down Tallahassee – So Much For Love		17
20		Radio Luxembourg – Mostyn A Diego		17
20		The Darlings – You Shook Me All Night Long		17
20		caUSE co-MOTION! – You Don’t Say		17
20		The Manhattan Love Suicides – Dazzle The Blind		17
20		The Manhattan Love Suicides – Sycamore Peripheral		17
20		sarandon – Joe’s Record		17
27		The State of Samuel – Slow Day for the UFOs		16
27		Prolapse – Deanshanger		16
29		The Manhattan Love Suicides – Head Over Heels		15
29		Slow Down Tallahassee – Kiss me again		15

New Years Eve

Got to spend New Years Eve DJing in Bristol at the Big Pink Cake indiepop night.   I have to say it was a cracking night and I enjoyed it immensely.

The songs I played across my 3 mini sets were as follows (not 100% in the order they were played though - I was drinking a few beers, it being New Years Eve and all that).

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction
The Fall - Victoria
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains
Manhattan Love Suicides - Clusterfuck
Television Personalities - Part Time Punks
The Smiths - Sheila Take A Bow
Cause Co-Motion - Which Way Is Up
The Primitives - Really Stupid
The Soup Dragons - Hang Ten
Morrissey - Suedehead
The Shirelles - Putty In Your Hands
The Ramones - Baby I Love You
The Housemartins - Happy Hour
Moe Tucker - Da Doo Ron Ron
Shirley Ellis - The Name Game
Tracey Ullman - Breakaway
The Cure - Boys Don’t Cry
The Clouds - Get Out Of My Dream
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The Buzzcocks - What Do I Get
Motorcycle Boy - Big Rock Candy Mountain
The Darling Buds - Shame On You
Hefner - Hello Kitten
The Smiths - Panic
The Cure - Why Can’t I Be You
Blondie - Denise
Magnetic Fields - Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
The Housemartins - Sheep
Hefner - The Hymn For Cigarettes
Altered Images - I Could Be Happy
The Shangri-Las - Give Him A Great Big Kiss

Hang the DJ

Got to do a spot of DJing last night at the Fortuna Pop/Spiral Scratch gig at the Lexington (playing:  The Pains of Being Pure At heart, The Manhattan Love Suicides, My Sad Captains and Horowitz) - Can’t remember the exact order of songs but I am fairly sure this is the list of songs that I spun:

Baby Shakes - Hello Hello
Marlovers - Cooking Bedroom
St Etienne - You’re in a bad way
The Flatmates - I could be in Heaven
Sarandon - Searching for the now
The Bats - North by North
Boyracer - So Fucking Swedish
Ride - Drive Blind
The Tren-Teens - Your Ya-Ya is Gone
Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
Baby Shakes - Ooh La Love
Nirvana - Sliver
The Jesus and Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up
The Darling Buds - Uptight
The Soup Dragons - Hang Ten
The Charlottes - Are You Happy Now
Jesse Garon & The Desperados - Union City Blue
The Soup Dragons - Whole Wide World
Summer Cats - Discotheque
The Pastels - Truck Train Tractor
Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus
The Muslims - Future Rock
Shirley Ellis - The Name Game
Violent Femmes - American Music

Blues From A Gun

Best Mary Chain performance in some time at the Forum this Monday just gone.  ‘Blues from A Gun’ was particularly stunning.

Ear Ear

Only when something you take for granted disappears do you value it.  It’s an old addage.  It’s also true.  For the past week I have been suffering with my right ear.  It’s blocked.  It’s therefore like I am permanently under water on one side.  It started off being an irritation - only to become even more annoying as it has become clear that it’s not improving with time.  Watching television, listening to music (especially on headphones) has all become a slightly lopsided experience.

I’ve tried all the drops that the doctor suggested to no avail.   The docs (for I have seen two different ones) insist it will clear.  So next Friday I have an appointment with the nurse to syringe the fucker.  Let’s hope that restores some normality.

Nat Johnson - Dirty Rotten Soul

Nat Johnson was one time front woman of Monkey Swallows The Universe.  That band had gained a reputation as something a bit special - making a sound that crossed the borders between folk and indiepop.  That band are on an indefinite hiatus at the moment, but thankfully Nat is not.   ‘Dirty Rotten Soul’ is her debut solo single and it continues in a similar vain as to her previous band - if anything these gentle and stripped back acoustic songs are better as you feel closer to them.

On lead song ‘Dirty Rotten Soul’ it’s all galloping drums and jaunty guitar - with Nat singing beautifully over the top.   Elsewhere I had fallen in love with ‘Heart of Clay’ from seeing Nat play live a few times this year and even in ‘demo’ form as it appears here - it’s simply a lovely song with an oddly 1950s rock’n'roll feel - albeit as an acoustic strum - maybe it’s Nat’s bluesy vocal delivery that gives it that feel.  Either way, I love it.

It has just been released on Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation (on CD)

The song has a rather fine video as well:

Aimless

There is a chill in the air.   I noticed the first condensation on the window panes this morning.  It seems the summer months are gone.  Not that it felt like we had a summer this year.  The sun didn’t shine for long.   The only real weekend of beautiful weather I remember happened way back in July and happily coincided with the indietracks festival.  That seems a long time ago now.

I’m rambling.   But that’s ok - sometimes it’s good to ramble.  To think out loud.  The past few weeks have been consumed with getting the latest Lostmusic single ready (I’m home printing the sleeves), so much so, that a lot of other things have fallen by the way side.  I have mountains of new releases and purchases demanding my attention.   I aim to take the time for times, this weekend.  We’ll see how that pans out.

I also spent a week out in Norfolk in September.  The weather was remarkably sunny.  Although I wouldn’t claim it was warm.  Sadly we didn’t get to do as much as we intended as I had a rather sore back for most of the week - which limited opportunities for walking.  But we still managed to have a good time.   And I became addicted to a new game called Chromino.  Which is a simple (yet addictive) tile game, a little like dominoes but based around colours instead of numbers.

Lostmusic lost one it’s co-founders recently (me, being the other).  Savo no longer found he had the time or the money to dedicate to running our pop shows and record label.   At the moment we continue as a twosome (although plans are afoot for a new person to be involved with the popshow arm of Lostmusic).  Although this is sad I feel invigorated by the changes and excited by the things we’re hoping to do in 2009. It really is a buzz putting together pop shows and finding great music we want to release.  I think all this is staying true to the original vision Savo and I had when we first started Lostmusic back in April 2007.

So, yeah.  I’m still rambling.  I’m not sure where I am taking this post.  I am not sure it needs to be taken anywhere but I always find it hard to end a post that is a just a jumble of thoughts.  It feels a little aimless.  But I guess not everything has to have a point.