Well, I could have spent tonight uploading new stuff but Geocities are doing "scheduled system maintenance" so I can't even amend the A-Z !!! Anyway, I'll update the links tonight and try to get this blogger archive into decent shape as well.

I've had a funny week actually.
In the course of my work I spoke to Bono (!) on Wednesday and I was on Thai TV on Friday. Oxbow at the Verge on Wednesday night was actually quite an unnerving experience (Jason from Wolf Colonel said afterwards that he was "scared pretty much all the way through it"!), and most bizarre of all I found a broken folk fiddle on the tube on the way home! If anyone genuinely wants it back please email me.

Gigs to go to in London over the next few days-
tonight: Wolf Colonel + Econoline + Stanton + Oxbow, the Verge, Kentish Town £5
tomorrow: X-FM XPOSURE LIVE: Ten Benson plus 80's Matchbox B-Line Disaster / Desert Hearts £5.
Wolf Colonel are great, with a kind of Guided By Voices/ early Lemonheads influence, and I think the Desert Hearts show is their London debut, so get there early!

Meanwhile Lambchop play the Empire in Belfast, maybe that's an excuse to dig out both of our Kurt Wagner interviews, one of which was actually never published come to think of it.

Hmmm, too zonked to add new stuff as I'm inbetween nightshifts and I'll be en route to Belfast for the weekend very shortly. I'll be at the Sun Ra Arkestra show on Saturday night, which is also the finale of the most successful Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival to date. Gillian was at the sold out David Kitt show last night, apparently it was brilliant so she may even write a review of it for this very site.

A new live review of the Feline Dream has been added. If you go to their own Gigarama pages you can see some of the stunningly repetitive photos I took that night with their disposable camera.
I had a strange coincidence the other night as I decided to go and see Cornelius in the Royal Festival Hall (capacity 2,600) and my ticket number meant that I was sitting beside Nick from the Feline Dream, although neither of us knew the other was going! Cornelius was fantastic, gig of the year so far and all that, although the Gentle People (main support) wore the crowd's patience very thin with their Rod Jane and Freddy shenanagins. Oh boy.
More reviews tomorrow hopefully, I really should have added Jon Spencer and Joie tonight but I'm using the PC in work and they're on the Mac at home - doh!
And finally, it looks like I will be living back in Belfast from mid-July onwards.

I'm a bit behind as usual, not least because I've been going to a lot of gigs. Friday saw a great show from Clinic, which somehow turned into a bit of an all-nighter with Jarvis Cocker DJing at Electrowerkz. I realise that this sounds highly glamorous but it meant that I spent most of Saturday in bed!

Recieved safely but drifting aimlessly amongst the backlog is the first demo from Belfast band the Embers (ex-Nation's Spies) which I promise I will do a review of very soon. Meanwhile this glowing review can be found on Fastfude.

Finally, I've been very distracted from the site as I am planning to move back to Belfast quite soon. Expect proper details later in the week, as I'm just awaiting for dates to be confirmed. Whoooo-hoooo!

Web hosting news - GeoCities will be performing scheduled maintenance starting Friday, May 17th, 2002 at 3:00 pm BST (GMT+1). Service will be restored the morning of Sunday, May 19th, 2002. What this means for us is that most of the reviews and interviews will be inaccessible for that time, therefore it would make sense to come back on Sunday night with the reviews completely up to date. The blogger pages, discussion board and link page will be unaffected.

Another thing is that, if you visit the message board without being logged in to ezboard you won't see the most recent announcement at the top. Strange.

Wow, that was a good one, ESG were totally great last night. On the downside, the Mantronix DJ set was a disappointment - it started OK but descended into a hellish mid-80s electro nightmare. I have over-indulged a bit much so I won't be able to go to Bootylicious (a night of the best bootleg mixes) in 93 Feet East between 7pm and 10.30. I may be bored and in a very fragile hungover state today, but hey, i'm Kermit!!

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

I got my tickets for ESG and Mantronix (Bagley's, Sat night) but whilst searching for more info on ESG I found two bands of the same name - the other are a bunch of scary gangsta rappers not to be confused with the infamous Bronx electro-soul-funk-punk pioneers. This promises to be a really good night.

I spent the entire afternoon in Curzon Soho cramming in movies. I saw Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mama Too) and 24 Hour Party People. The first one is currently the second highest grossing movie in London, and is rare in that it's actually a thought provoking sex comedy about coming-of-age. With this and last year's Amores Perros, Mexico is fast becoming a film industry to be taken seriously.
I really enjoyed 24 Hour Party People, probably helped by the fact that I saw it in a cinema with a great sound system. I thought Steve Coogan was great as Tony Wilson, playing him as an idealist gone askew, or a 'prat' if you prefer. Some great music and great cameos too (Mark E Smith!).

Full marks for BBC2's Snooker coverage (which I caught by accident of course!), who opened the show with Jimmy the Exploder from the first White Stripes album! Apparently Mr Jimmy White had a bit of an outburst yesterday or something....

Feeling a bit flu-like today - I've obviously been out too much in the sunshine. I compensated for this by staying in, sleeping a bit, sorting out my mess of mini-discs (that explains why there's so much old stuff in the 'current tunes' list opposite!) and writing some new content. New reviews of Danish band Diefenbach and Godspeed You Black Emperor! are online now.

Amongst the obvious search words, recent site statistics tell me that some people found this site by typing "index of drunk girls" and "arab courtship rituals". I hope they were satisfied with the results.
Surprisingly I have quite a lot of time off this week, so I have no excuse for not getting the site updated. I may even stay in the odd night, although I have engagements with Teenage Fanclub, Jad Fair and Arab Strap tonight, and Do Make Say Think and the Rock of Travolta on Tuesday.
Apart from going to three gigs on Saturday I have spent most of the weekend getting my MP3s back in shape after a long period of neglect. I followed the advice of Wisdom Goof on our discussion page and I've been downloading like mad (well, as mad as a 56k modem will allow).

(and coming soon to the review pages - Godspeed You Black Emperor, Riviera, Diefenbach, the Feline Dream, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ballboy, Joie/ Dead Blonde Girlfriend, Yo La Tengo, Solex - so much material in fact, that the eagerly awaited (cough) record review section may be on hold for a while)

Nope, I'm not at All Tomorrow's Parties - I'm back to normal after a fine few days in Belfast. I have also become an uncle since the last time I posted here!

My gig-point-average may be greatly increased after tomorrow when I am attempting to attend three gigs in a day -
Joie and Dead Blonde Girlfriend are doing their anti-folk thing for free at Notting Hill Arts Club between 4pm and 7.30pm, then it's Yo La Tengo improvising soundtracks to underwater nature movies at the Barbican at 8pm (£10- £17.50), then Solex (it's not a secret anymore) at the free aftershow at the Barbican from 10.30pm. Phew!

(and I really will get the site updated over the next week..)

Happy birthday Gillian (mrs slowthrills)
This week's excuses for not posting....
Out a lot, I managed to see shows by the Feline Dream (a successful London debut!), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Ballboy and I've been madly busy in work - I've been technically directing a radio play believe it or not!
Internet highlights - this Onion piece has had everyone in hysterics this week, and I got to watch the video for Olympic Lifts 'International Hex'. They're on tour in England at this very moment.
Anyway, I'm off to Belfast for five days, so expect tons and tons of new stuff when I get back (cough...)

Hmmmm, my plug for the Feline Dream show should have gone up last night (note the time it was written!) but somehow didn't. Oh well, you all know now anyway. I shall be there as my dental drama went without a hitch.

I've been in such a good mood since yesterday, maybe it's due to the weather, maybe it's because I bought the Desaparecidos CD (listened to it 3 times in a row!!) AND Arthur Mathews's 'Well Remembered Days' which had me grinning away like a lunatic on the tube home last night. I'm always a bit put off when people say that books are "hilarious", but this really is a funny satire.

In case you don't know, this Saturday sees the London debut of the Feline Dream. They're playing the Fan Club at the Verge, 134 Kentish Town Road, Camden Town, NW1. More details from Feline1 himself on our discussion board. They are actually headlining I believe, though Marcel and resident band Riviera are also on the bill. Follow the links above for more info.
I hope to be there, but it depends on what happens at the dentist on Friday morning!

What looked on paper like a potential gig-of-the-year - namely Cannibal Ox and Four Tet at 93 Feet East on April 9 - has been cancelled. Does anyone know why? Please don't tell me it has anything to do with the Queen Mum's funeral!

Whilst I was at the aforementioned Diefenbach gig on Saturday, Marina from Organ sold me a copy of their latest issue. Amazingly they're up to number 73 !! I've been reading it on the tube the last couple of days and it really is brilliant to find that they're so enthusiastic after all these years. It puts me to shame for only producing 13 issues of Weedbus and it actually made me a bit nostalgic for print fanzines in general - there's nothing to stop me putting out Slow Thrills issue 1 very soon though (nothing except laziness that is!).
Anyway, Organ is fab as ever, lots of positive reviews of unknown bands (Stoopi, HHH, Percy, the Dukes of Nothing etc, etc) as well as established stuff like Bad Religion and the Cardiacs (well they have to sell copies you know!), so grab a copy if yoou can. no doubt there'll be another one along next month.
www.organart.com in case you missed the link above.

Hopefully April will see more action on these pages. Coming soon, reviews of Godspeed You Black Emperor and Diefenbach, and in the course of the next month, some new interviews - I promise! I'm still thinking about the print edition too. I may have more time towards the end of the month to put it together. more later....

A curious coincidence happened yesterday. I listened to 'Deja Vu' by Crosby Stills Nash and Young for the first time in YEARS in the morning, then went to a gig in Notting Hill Arts Club where te first band on played a decent cover of 'Almost Cut my hair' off that very album. Spoooooky. I didn't catch their name though - anyone know??

A couple of new reviews added before I take myself to Belfast for a www-free weekend. The Church of Simian and Fridge are online now.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!
I saw this lot for the first time since Nov 2000 last night at Hackney Ocean, and once again I was amazed by them. It is only the start of the tour so I won't give too much away, but if you're going to see them you may witness...
1. a 2hr 30 min set
2. a superb 30min+ new piece which starts with what sounds like guitar strings being wound in a spring, and goes into ambience and relatively straightforward rock riffs
3. some new visuals (mixed, cut and looped live as usual) - this time it's proper colour film as well
4. an experimental cut-up of a George W Bush speech
On a good night (and believe me this was yet another good night!) they are one of the best live bands in the world. Don't miss them.

I'm off to see the mighty Godspeed You Black Emperor tonight in Hackney. Although I'm a bit puzzled at them touring without any new material on release I really don't need any excuse to go and see them. Hopefully a review of that (as well as overdue reviews of Simian, Fridge and Riviera) will be up before the weekend. Some record reviews too if I really get on a roll!

I haven't posted here since I went to see Mulholland Drive last Wednesday. I know that most people who are at all interested in it have seen it by now, so I won't go at length about it even though it has haunted me all week. The guy who sold me my ticket has never heard of the movie so he asked me what it was about. Two and a half hours later I couldn't have given him a concise answer. Without wanting to spoil the plot, I would say that It's a mix of dream and nightmare which deals with the themes of loss, regret and ambition, and it also manages to be a homage to the Hollywood of old. I can see why some people think it's a mess, but I loved it and look forward it to seeing it again. Will it make more sense next time? Will it still haunt me as much as this first encounter? I don't know.

Installed a new search gizmo up at the top of the page - it seems to work! Basically I was finding that a lot of people were Googling their way here and couldn't really pick stuff out of the blogger archives that easily. The entire site has been indexed by it (300+ pages) so finding stuff is no longer a problem (let me know if it screws up though).