Review of Fight Like Apes - live

Fight Like Apes - live

An amazing gig by Fight Like Apes has left me slightly hard of hearing and in awe at their musicianship, good humour, and brilliant entertainment value.

They played most of the tracks from their debut album Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion, plus a couple of extras from the EPs. Opening with Do You Karate?, other memorable tunes include a stomping version of Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues, remembered also 'cos of the kick on the shin I got from a dreadlocked, headbanging midget (definitely under 5 ft anyway), Jake Summers, Canhead, and I'm Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 To Me (described as a waltz by MayKay) with the crowd endlessly roaring 'you're so fired'.

They rounded off the night by crowd-surfing from the stage to the back of the room. Super cool.

PS The support act was 'giveamanakick', initially I was 'what the f***?', the two guys came on wearing high-altitude fighter pilot-type masks, but thankfully didn't keep them on for the entire show. Not that their removal made the vocals any easier to make out. I won't be getting their CDs anytime soon, but the main man had buckets of humour and charisma.

Rated 5/5 on Oct 13 2008
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Review Tags: music, gigs, concerts

Molecular gastronomy for kids

I know, from my sister, how parents can be at their wits end trying to get kids to eat veg, is this the answer? Eat Your Spherified Vegetables!

Review of The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow

The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow

Had heard of, but not listened to, Elbow before Electric Picnic '08, and it was really by chance that I went to their show, wonderful, a revelation. Which of course led to this latest album. It's certainly doesn't easily fit into what I've been listening to this year which has tended towards indie, off-kilter, loud. The album is subtle, lyrical, romantic, definitely romantic.

The opener Starlings is a love song, the object of his affection '[is] the only thing in any room you're ever in', while he deprecates his own attractions '...back a horse that's good for glue...'. The Bones Of You changes pace, as he reminisces about five years ago, he's smashed the momentos but 'I love the bones of you, that I will never escape'. The Fix has a Jacques Brel feel, in its sound and seedy theme. One Day Like This, the single, is as you'd expect, a swooning, joyous celebration of love. Throughout Guy Garvey's voice is warm, husky, and earthy, holding it all together.

To tackle The B Word. Some have called them boring, and you know, if you only briefly listened to a couple of tracks you might leave with that impression. But it's about time and patience, and (to nick a great word used elsewhere) the music gradually unfurls to reveal its emotional and lyrical depths. Beautiful.

Rated 4/5 on Oct 08 2008
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Review Tags: music

Random links

Joan Walsh's Salon editorial about the Biden/Palin debate is quite possibly wishful thinking, what with most of the media crediting neither with a knock-out blow. Looking forward to the Tina Fey take on SNL.

This film could be too cutsey, but might chance it. See the Slate review: Shyness Is Nice - Michael Cera in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist"

Another one of those excellent Plain English videos, this time about Twitter.

Aubergine surprise

I like the look of aubergines, but never quite know what to do with them. Nigel Slater recently had an interesting sounding recipe in The Observer Magazine: ‘Pasta Aubergine and Pine Kernels’. And, you know, it looked simple. Unfortunately, unless you get the basics right it can be downhill from there, as twas!
The split and scored aubergine had to be baked for 25 mins or until soft. Oops, should have kept it in the oven for a while longer. Because the next instruction was: “beating constantly, pour in the olive oil until you have a smooth paste, just thick enough to coat the pasta”. Jays, I would have had to use an industrial food processor to get a smooth paste. So I settled for small, and medium, lumps :¬)

It didn’t taste tooo bad, the lemon, basil, and lemon juice combined nicely.
Here’s a pic – shockin’ lookin’ eh? At least it wasn't inflicted on anyone. I'm so out of cooking practice.

Bruni, anyone?

Haven’t been able to appreciate what all the fuss is about (ok model, singer etc etc, blah blah). Her looks kind of remind me of Odo in Deep Space Nine (a less extreme version), all the bumps smoothed out, except maybe for the cheekbones. Am I totally off the mark here?

Retail therapy

For the first time went shopping for footwear when it's coming into the shops, usually I'm too late. Haven't bought Docs for years, too many memories of blistered heels while breaking them in. But... couldn't resist these:

The photo doesn't really pick up their dark green colour, and there's a zip, so you don't have to lace up each time, easy peasy.