The Early Learnings Centre

One name getting a lot of mention in recent blogs is that of young Eugene McGuinness. After hearing many good things, I decided it was high time I investigated for myself. I was not disappointed. Although some have grouped the 21 year old singer song-writer with the likes of Jamie T and Jack Penate, I would like to think he is rather, well, better than them. For a start, although born in London, McGuinness was raised in Ireland. So thankfully he doesn't have that terrible 'fake' Cockney thing going on that so irritates poor Stu's ears. And mine. In Bird on a Wire there are hints of Turin Brakes' Gale Paridjanian, Frank Turner (if someone stood on his foot), or even Mr Modest Mouse himself, Isaac Brock. The chorus of A Child Lost in Tesco (we've all been there mate, in my case it was British Home Stores in Bournemouth and I'm sure that, 22 years on, my mother has still not forgiven me) sounds almost Adam & The Ants-esque. And in case you were wondering, yes I do consider that a good thing.

Eugene is playing at this rather lovely looking Drowned In Sound bash. The mini album The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness is released in a fortnight (6th August) and you can order the single Monsters Under The Bed here.

Tracklisting:

High Score

Monsters Under The Bed

Vampire Casino

Bold Street

A Child Lost In Tesco ::mp3::

Vela

Madeleine

A Girl Whom My Eyes Shine For But My Shoes Run From

As a little extra incentive here's another MP3:

Bird On A Wire ::mp3::

And also the excellent Jamie and the Magic Torche style video to Monsters Under The Bed:

Playlist # 5 : Mucky Truck Festival

Ho hum when will the summer start? Despite all the excitement leading up to Truck Ten disappointment poured down on us (and all over Steventon) and the festival was postponed. Oh well the show must go on... so we got our wellies and tent out and danced all night to the new Truck Festival playlist.

Danger Of The Water - The Futureheads
Why Does It Always Rain On Me? - Travis
Cloudbusting - Kate Bush
Help! - The Beatles
Wave Upon Wave Upon Wave - Biffy Clyro
Train Under Water - Bright Eyes
Let's Get Out Of This Country - Camera Obscura ::mp3::
Some Loud Thunder - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Dorothy Dreams Of Tornadoes - Cursive
Sit And Listen To The Rain - Ryan Adams
The Storm You Never Knew About Blew Half The Island Into The Sea - Stapleton
And It Rained All Night - Thom Yorke
Let It Rain - Tilly And The Wall
Float On - Modest Mouse
Fix The Sky A Little - 65 Days Of Static
Raindrops Keep Falling On my Head - B.J Thomas
Weather Reports - Bright Eyes ::mp3::
Stress On The Sky - Biffy Clyro
Singin' In The Rain - Gene Kelly
Loud Storms - Dragonflies Draw Flame
Let The River In - Radical Face
This Weather - Patrick Wolf
Under The Weather - Feeder

Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

Truck Festival is off! Biblical style downpours have caused massive flooding on site. Boo and hiss! But fear not, 'tis being rescheduled for 22nd September. Everyone start praying now that the rain stays off then! Here's the official line:

TRUCK FESTIVAL CANCELLED :(
It is with great regret that Steventon Festivals and Truck Foundation are
forced to announce the postponement of this year's Truck festival. Much of the
site is under several feet of water and the Ginge Brook has completely
overflowed its banks, leaving all the camping, parking and audience areas
underwater and dangerous. We already have numerous acts on site as well as
tshirts, programmes, CDs and the rest and we are only doing this as an absolute
last resort.

WE ARE RESCHEDULING :) the event at the same location on the weekend of
the 22nd September with all tickets remaining valid, and we would like to
encourage ticket holders to come to that event rather than seek refunds, as it
will make it more likely that we can stay afloat financially.
Those who
bought physical tickets who wish for a refund should post their tickets and
return address details by registered post to: TRUCK, The Old Stables East,
Church Lane, Steventon, OX136SW clearly marked 'ticket refund'. This offer is
only valid if tickets are received by us by Saturday 28th July 2007.
Those
who bought online tickets from Wegottickets.com should contact them to arrange a
refund according to their terms.
We would like to emphasise again that we'd
like all of you to come to the rescheduled event if at all possible and we can
pretend this biblical flood never happened!

Live Review : Bright Eyes @ Shepherd's Bush Empire 03/07/07

I won't profess to being an expert at writing reviews but I figured this one is kind of overdue. The gig was over a week ago now, and Mr Journalism is always too tired when he gets home from work. So here goes.

The first of two nights at Shepherd's Bush Empire for Mr Oberst and friends. Back in April when I ordered these tickets I still actually liked Cassadaga a bit. Now I've seriously gone off it and the weather last Tuesday seemed to realise this. After getting caught in the most ridiculous summer storm en route we arrived, rather soggy and disheveled just before Bright Eyes took to the stage. Maybe this added nothing to my enjoyment of the evening, but the lack of atmosphere in the place certainly didn't help either. Maybe I'm just so used to the craziness of, say, Biffy Clyro fans that I expected more anticipation from the crowd, but I definitely thought there would be more noise. A great cheer greets the band as they come on stage, and the usual cheers and applause after each perfectly executed song, but there was something lacking, both on stage and in the audience. The crowd seemed to be so in awe of the Nebraskan boy wonder that they just stared stupified at him in between each song, waiting breathless to see what would come next. And what inevitably would come next was yet another song from Cassadaga. OK so you would expect this, most bands do rely heavily on their newest material when playing live shows, but the Bright Eyes back catalgue is so extensive I had hoped for a bit more of the good old stuff. Old favourites like First Day Of My Life and The Calendar Hung Itself were buried so deeply among Cassadaga bobbins that some older fans (not just me) felt Conor was maybe just going through the motions. Minimal chat between songs and then straight into another new one. The highlight of the set was definitely the encore of Gold Mine Gutted, Southern State and At The Bottom Of Everything. But even that final track, so simply written, lacked that special live flourish that makes Bright Eyes so special. In fact, most of the set was so polished you could almost believe it wasn't live at all. Which is one of the reasons why I'm so anti-Cassadaga. Bring back wobbly voiced, acoustic Conor! All in all, quite a disappointing evening.

Set List:
Clairaudients
Hot Knives
Middleman
First Day Of My Life
Four Winds
Make A Plan To Love Me
No One Would Riot For Less
The Calendar Hung Itself
Soul Singer In A Session Band
I Won't Ever Be Happy Again
Lime Tree
I Believe In Symmetry
Gold Mine Gutted
Southern State
At The Bottom Of Everything

Monster Mash Up

Although myself and Stu were a little disconcerted with the whole idea of a Mash Up special on Eamonn's Corner this Monday just gone, some of them suprisingly work! Check out the Bloc Party, Police, Eminem one. You can find the show's playlist and also follow the link to listen to Monday's show on the newly set up blog here.

Truck-a-doodle-do!

Truck 10 is now only 18 days away and they only announced the line up last Friday. I don't know any other festival that has ever been able to keep their line up secret for that long. But Truck is just the kind of festival that previous punters will want to go to regardless of who's playing. Taking place 21st and 22nd July on a farm in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, Truck is such a welcome relief from the mainstream dirge of Reading & Leeds, or even Glastonbury. Although the last 2 years have seen headlining sets from The Magic Numbers and The Futureheads, probably the most famous act on this year's bill is Glenn Tilbrook, followed closely by Idlewild. Tickets sold out in a matter of hours when they went on sale in April, and this was without anyone having a single clue as to who would be appearing. So what exactly is it about Truck that makes it so appealing? Many things actually, for instance the lovely setting, the real ale and cider, ice cream made by a local vicar, the most amazing pasta salads you will ever eat (can you tell I'm writing this at lunchtime?), and of course the focus on lesser known, or local bands. I think the best thing about Truck, though, is the atmosphere. At bigger festivals you always get some idiot trying to push over the portaloos, or angry metallers causing havoc when you're trying to enjoy Elbow. The last time I went to Reading was 3 years ago, and having been 4 years in a row I thought I was used to it. I was wrong. It was hell! I spent most of the weekend in a complete panic because the other punters all seemed so big and aggressive! Truck is a small festival and it looks after it's small people (like me) very well.

So onto that elusive line up. At first glance, not quite so excitement inducing as last year's but then that's the beauty of Truck. It's a great place to find new bands.

Saturday 21st
Idlewild
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Goldrush
Buck 65
Six Nation State
iLiketrains
The Research
Frank Turner
Jonquil
I Was A Cub Scout

Sunday 22nd
Electric Soft Parade
Glenn Tilbrook
Winnebago Deal
Oppenheimer
Pull Tiger Tail
Euros Childs
Andy Yorke (Thom's brother)
Luke Smith
Youthmovies
WinterKids
Blood Red Shoes


Click on a band name to visit their myspace page and listen to some tracks.

For the full line up visit the Truck website here.