if it's too loud you're too old

Hi Team Droolycat! I have planned a busy weekend for myself - I'm having a proper Glasgow weekend full of gigs. I've mentioned the list on Droolycat before - last night was their 25th Anniversary party at The Arches, which is this underground performance space. It promised to be the best of Scottish indie culture; since I don't know any good UK things, it was worth my while.

Here are some of the bands I saw:

Come On Gang! (postpunkish)


King Creosole (if neutral milk hotel was scottish and less intrigued by Anne Frank, OR, what I want Okkervil River to sound like.)


Errors (Have you ever wondered what would happen if Giraffes? Giraffes! and Animal Collective were in the same band? WORRY NOT, I have solved your problems.)


RM Hubbard


Tonight I am seeing KT Tunstall, because I like to imagine Life at 40 preemptively, and on Sunday night, a guy from my program is headlining a metal show for charity. I hope I still have eardrums on Monday morning.

SHIRELLES

So, I have been listening to the Shirelles nonstop for a day now. Sometimes I find myself doing this with certain bands, albums, or songs (anyone who knew me in high school can vouch for my consistent obsession with The Strokes, haha). Before yesterday, for example, I had pretty much been listening to Vetiver's To Find Me Gone for a week straight. I have to "thumbs down" the song "Red Lantern Girls", though, just because of the booming madness in the middle of the song...the whole album is so chill and nice, then suddenly it's like he decided to wake us up midway with blaring guitar sirens. It isn't a good wake up, the feeling is reminiscent of having an ambulance crash into your house while you are sleeping at 4 in the morning. The rest of the album is pretty good though, good fall weather driving music.

Anyway, I am a big Motown fan, I've been listening to "the oldies" my whole life. When I was a kid, my Gam would drive my brother and I around all the time with the oldies playing when we'd visit every summer in Pennsylvania. The Shirelles aren't technically Motown, I don't think, but they've got that sound if you know what I mean. I love the video of them performing live, what a fun group. I want to go back in time and be a Shirelle...

But how do you go from Vetiver and Devendra to the Shirelles? Well, I'll admit, I did rock some Beatles in between. The Beatles can pretty much take you from Artist A to Artist X and Artist Z at any point in time. It's true. So I threw some Beatles covering the Marvelettes and Shirelles on the Shirelles mix too...

Headphones Mix!!

Here's what I did with my Christmas break last year. Wear your headphones for this one, kids!

in which I am pretentious / high art, local news

Glasgow might be a hotbed of hipster indie rockers, but there's all this culture to experience. I don't think I've mentioned this here, but I live across the street from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Droolycat is probably a little bit more oriented towards "not classical" music, but I still think this is pretty cool, you know?

This weekend is Minimal Weekend with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
I wasn't able to find a picture of the advertisements around town, but this flyer is basically what they looked like. (Also, I am all dressed up for a Night At The Orchestra!)
It's across the street from me, and with a lineup like that I couldn't bring myself to miss it! Unfortunately, I don't have the money to attend everything (though I wish i did), so I decided I was going to see two performances. It's hard to explain what minimalist music is like and make it still sound appealing, so I figured I would just go by myself and enjoy it. Instead of going out to a pub or a club or something, I figured I could get cultured. When's the next time this is going to be on my doorstep anyway?

I just got back from Brian Eno's Apollo (This Is For All Mankind), as performed in its entirety by the BBC Scottish Orchestra, a band called Icebreaker and BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar. Holy shit you guys, it was awesome. If you don't already own it, download Apollo here.

I ended up running into my professor and his wife tonight; we sat together and we're meeting again tomorrow for Philip Glass' Music With Changing Parts. If it's anything like tonight's performance, I am already excited.

musings on october

I have finally stopped listening to Belle & Sebastian (I totally haven't, their new album just came out, the first song is brilliant), but I should probably talk about something else today.


Fall is settling in here - it's far more gray than a New England autumn, that's for sure! Broken Bells' song October is quite appropriate for fall, no matter where you are.


Last weekend I saw a gig which happened to a farewell show/album release party for a band called Be A Familiar, with two supporting bands, each better than the last. (One of them was called Endor, check them out too.) Apparently this country only produces music I love. I bought Be A Familiar's album, because, well, why not? I'll never get a chance to see them again. It's amazing. Here's the opening track: Had Your Fill (right-click "save file as").

we're not jokin, just jokin, we are jokin, just jokin, we're not jokin

Call me Dwight Schrute, the way that I eat beats.

The track is: Das Racist - "hahahaha jk?"

I've been a big fan of these guys ever since the first time I heard "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell". End of Story.

http://dasracist.net/

I wish that you were here with me to pass the dull weekend

I've been asking the other graduate students what Glaswegians do on the weekends, because I really have no idea what to do with myself in a city by myself. They all said the same thing:

Go to gigs!

Okay, great, but where do i start? Glasgow is kind of like Brooklyn, where everyone I meet is either in a band (or two or three...) or knows the people in the bands. Every pub plays live music at least once a week and there are about eighty thousand pubs in Glasgow. Luckily there are some publications to help me (the list and the skinny), both of which are fairly comprehensive. But what's good and worth my time and what's bad? Remember that this place gave us both Belle & Sebastian (I've been told that if I keep my eyes open I'll run into them around town) and Franz Ferdinand (who, i've been told, are "wankers".)

So, Team Droolycat, I need your help. What are some shows I should definitely check out?