#MusicMonday :: 'Everlasting Light'

If this is something I plan on keeping up for at least little bit then it wouldn't be quite right to talk about music on here without mentioning the band that I've seen over 10 times in the last three years, especially when they have an album coming out at the end of the month.

Dry the River have well and truly cemented themselves as one of my favourites, they can virtually do no wrong. Despite the fact these last two singles from their forthcoming album haven't been the stand-out 'Hidden Hand' that I've heard when going to see them, they still hold a lot of merit and make me so excited for what they're going to do next.

'Everlasting Light' is a little more edgy than anything I've heard from Dry the River before and reminds me a little of Taking Back Sunday. The video is neat and the lyrics of the song are as well-executed as ever so nothing but love over here.

After reading Pete's little piece about it just after the video was released, I was happy to see a bit of Newbury-love. Did I mention that we share a local and I played a pub quiz against him over one of the May Bank Holidays this year? No? That might be because it's not like I talked to him or anything...

'Everlasting Light', along with 'Gethsemane' and the prospect of seeing them in October has me on tenterhooks for 'Alarms in the Heart', it feels like it's been such a long wait.

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And to follow here are a couple of short music-related lists... I just feel like it's nice to write a bit again and maybe I haven't been recently, you know? When you write things all day for work, it's another one of those situations but this is actually quite a nice bit of respite. I didn't even realise I was missing it.

Favourite 2014 Albums so far ::

• Sheezus :: Lily Allen
  I know so many people don't like her, and I don't really care why. I like everything about her and her unapologetic attitude, I even own a couple of the dresses she did for New Look. I'm a fan and I'm a fan of the comeback. I can listen to this album from start to finish, each song giving me something different. I'm not sure what I can say that's not already been said but her social commentary is on-point and I like that.
• The Take of and Landing of Everything :: Elbow
  If I said this was the perfect Sunday morning album, would you know what I meant... because I mean that. It's got nice gentle Guy Garvey singing bits and nice rifty bits plus there's a lot of love in it, which is what I liked the most about Build a Rocket Boys.
• Jungle :: Jungle
  I think I already talked about this last week but you can have 'Sunday morning' albums and you can have albums that are perfect for dancing by yourself to in the car... or in the lounge... with the cat.

Most Anticipated 2014 Albums ::

• Alarms in the Heart :: Dry the River
  As written above - after finally hearing a few new songs live in May last year, I've been waiting for this for what feels like an age. It will be good to finally get a proper recording of them too, they managed to transfer their great live songs so well on their last album. Even though they're still a million miles better live, I feel like they're going to pull this off, plus more material when I do see them live, which is always good.
• Carry on the Grudge :: Jamie T
  After his mysterious hiatus just when he was riding high on the back of two super successful albums, Jamie T is back! Moon and I have often pondered what happened to him because we really liked him and just didn't get it. We missed out on his upcoming, annoyingly sold through the terrible Seetickets, mini-tour but there's hope he'll be doing a bigger one soon - unless he still fancies the life of a recluse. The first single from the album, 'Don't You Find' is definitely a grower but as it has indeed grown, I'm looking forward to hearing what he's going to bring out next.
• This Is All Yours :: alt-J
  The two songs I've heard so far aren't as 'alt-J' as I thought they would be but I really like them in their own right all the same. If 'This Is All Yours' is on the same wavelength as 'An Awesome Wave' then I think we're going to get along just fine. alt-J just seem to really know how to make interesting music.

I feel like this might be a little TL;DR but hey, writing practise so...
What's your favourite new music at the moment?

Number 9.

Am I a Dry the River superfan yet?


I'm actually not sure I want to be, I can't think of anything worse than being known to people in a band for just always being there. Going to a gig is a really weird concept, if you think about it, you're essentially going out to stand in a dark room to watch people perform, something about that has never really sat right - that being said, it's still something I enjoy doing, and I'm super proud to proclaim to anyone who'll listen that I've seen Dry the River nine times in the last two years.

South Street Arts was a great venue to see them in and brought me back to seeing them at The Cricketers all those months ago - a little bigger though, as the band didn't have to carry their equipment back out through the crowd once they'd finished. It was great to see them in a small space again is I guess what I'm trying to say, with no barriers so (say, if I was creepy) I could have touched them.

They sounded as amazing as they always do, I've said it before and I'll say it again, they always sound better live. I mean, their album is one of my favourites but it's incomparable to their live shows, they're heavier and it just feels like they're putting out a little more. They played a couple more new songs than the last time we saw them, and I like them all, I just want physical copies so I can get to know them as well as I know the ones on Shallow Bed.

I was very impressed with their support too, a guy called Matt who plays under the name Big Fin. He gave me major 'first time I saw Dry the River' feels, I was just blown away by his voice, it's beautiful. Without meaning to sound judgemental it was a little unexpected from an awkward beardy man who I'm pretty sure I had questioned over Steve Zissou-channelling at Dot-to-Dot. He's usually just Dry the River's guitar-tech but they finally let him support him and I hope they let him do it again because I'd really love to hear more. His E.P is only four tracks long and for just £4, I'm not complaining, but this guy needs an album.

Sometimes when I take my camera places I do feel a little disjointed, not a good trait to have if you're a 'qualified photographer', this was an example of such a time. It's all about getting over myself a bit I think though, and I think I managed to get a few good ones (even if they're basically the same as last time, I really need to see some other bands).


So close, we could sit on the stage(!)


MORE BIBZ!


Big Fin.

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Totally had a similar picture re-tweeted by the DtR Twitter, until someone chickened out and deleted it.
Not my problem you're not ready to face your alcoholism...


Feet of Dry the River.






The vest is back, along with some sweet moves!




Always appreciative of a bit of mime.



For their encore they played a new song called 'Husk', Matt whipped out a pair of scissors for it and it made some nice sounds.



Maybe nine times is a little excessive but we've got to make it a nice round 10 when we see them at Glastonbury in just over a week's time (eep!). If they weren't always playing and didn't sound so good then we wouldn't always see them - more bands definitely need to be as accessible as these guys, I mean going away for just five months to work on a new album, they don't waste any time.

Music Monday #3.

It's hard to keep up with myself, how has another Music Monday come around already? The weekend was a pretty big one for music, I think it's a pretty good effort to manage to see five bands in a day, I've been feeling a little more like listening to guitars and soft vocals recently and a mixture of the familiar and the new, which I suppose is fairly standard for me really.


1. Volume 3 - She & Him
I've been listening to She & Him a lot recently, which I guess is why they're here. I totally didn't 'get' Zooey's voice when I first gave them a listen after falling in love with 'New Girl', but now I do and I love her more than ever. Their songs have a lovely, old-fashioned tone that I can't get enough of and this album is even better than the previous two, I just think the production is much more in point. I'm excited to see if they make the trip over to the United Kingdom to perhaps do a few live shows here, it would be good if they weren't at The O2 too (or were generally away from London).

2. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
I watched 'Place Beyond the Pines' last weekend and after hearing 'The Wolves' during the end credits, I decided they needed a little more credit and attention than I'd given them previously. I mean sure, 'Skinny Love' is a great song, but it's far from their best and 'For Emma, Forever Ago' as an album is just so easy to get immersed in.

3. Pedestrian Verse - Frightened Rabbit
I get the feeling I've been feeling a little deeper than I feel like I actually have, in a musical sense anyway. 'Pedestrian Verse' seemed to be unavailable on Spotify for ages and although I've listened to it properly in Moon's car a few times, it's only recently that I've been able to properly take it in, and I'd definitely say it lives up to everyone's hype.

4. Shallow Bed - Dry the River
This is kind of a given, I'm not excited to hear more new things now as the songs on Shallow Bed were old to me even before the album came out (can't believe I just said that), and their new stuff is exciting. The same, but some how different with a little more Americana influence, I sure hope they play more of their new songs when we see them again in a couple of weeks!

5. Third Generation Hymnal - Venna
These guys were a total accidental find, and you can definitely skip 'Oh No', a creepy, annoying track, but they have a beautiful version of Sara Siskind's 'Lovin's For Fools', a song I can't get enough of and am in love with since (sorry, not sorry for mentioning them again) hearing Dry the River's version. It's just so full of desperation, it's beautiful.

What have you been listening to recently? Be sure to follow me on Last.fm ♥.

#D2DFest2013

What a fun Bank Holiday it's been so far, and there's still a whole day to go!
There's a bit to follow, but I figured I'd do it in order. So, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Saturday saw us head over to Bristol (firmly made it's way into my top 5 cities in England) for Dot-to-Dot Festival. We perhaps didn't take advantage of the festival itself in the same way that our friends Kirstin and Dan did, and staying inside the O2 Academy when it was such a nice sunny day was a little disorientating, but seeing 5 bands for £20 is pretty great value all the same.



They had a fun food festival on in the park, sadly, we missed out on their tapas (twice).



Late lunch was the best burrito I've ever had courtesy of My Burrito, perhaps a little controversial given good ol' Mission's following.

We managed to get through Beans on Toast, London Grammar, Tom Odell, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Dry the River, and we only weren't happy with one of them. Only having Gathering to go on as a comparison to other one-day festivals, Dot-to-Dot does seem to be organised a little better. Although there were a couple of full to capacity venues, the 'headlining' venue seemed to have a good turnaround - meaning Bristol is either full of hipsters who love music nobody's ever heard of, or they sold the right amount of tickets for the space available.

I found the sets a little short, with London Grammar and Tom Odell only just getting started before they were finished, but I guess it's better to be left wanting more than to be stood there feeling bored. My favourites were, of course, Dry the River, they played three (fantasic-sounding) new songs and I'm now even more excited to see them again in a couple of weeks; sorry I'm not sorry for the soon-to-be DtR overload, everyone needs to know about them, hear them and appreciate them. The sound was a lot better than at the O2 Oxford, where we saw them last, and they were so on-point, despite a new, unfamiliar beard and the lack of familiar vest.




Beans on Toast


London Grammar



Tom Odell (and his wonderful hair).


Note to Benjamin Francis Leftwich: Pretty sad day when your sound-check guy has more charisma and stage presence than you do...


Benjamin Francis Leftwich – I'm sorry, man, I really wanted to like you but you swore far too much and it sounded like you were just singing one long 45 minute song...




I think this is my favourite photo of the festival.




Dry the River


This stagehand was channelling far too much Steve Zissou to resist taking a snap.



Food Fashion Bristol on the walk home.

I am really pleased with some of these snaps, now I'm a little more familiar with my J1, I feel like I have a better handle on how to get what I want from it. I'm a little sad that it needs sent off for fixing, especially since I haven't had it all that long but it did a really good job yesterday all the same.

Today was about being in the sun, having rolls for breakfast and lunch and really embracing Berkshire country living – this is the best bank holiday!