I shouldn’t really announce this, as I’m not even really a casual photographer. But I’ve added a link to the stayfun Flickr page over on the menu. Don’t expect great things to happen though, as I added images last year when I opened the account, and I added images again today. It’s possible I won’t go back for another six months, but I guess by writing this, I’m trying to inspire some productive activity.

In relation to this No Flyglobespan post, where I previously expressed my annoyance at being mucked around by the airline Globespan (”voted airline of the year” - possibly by themselves) following my second flight cancellation, I just wanted to moan some more.

It seems airlines are entitled to cancel flights at their will, and new EU laws only really offer loose protection for cancellations and delays within a 14 day period of the flight. So what if an airline cancels a flight 15 days before it’s due to leave and you’ve booked hotels or connections etc? I could see Globespan doing so, seeing as it looks like they only book a suitable runway spot once they know they’ve sold enough seats.

Anyway, my latest annoyance is that although I was entitled to a refund for my cancelled flight within 7 days of it happening, from the point of me asking to actually receiving my money took 22 days. So despite money going from my account instantly when I buy something, the system doesn’t work so well in reverse.

Secondly I’ve lost almost £5 due to the currency conversion. Five pounds doesn’t sound like enough to get properly annoyed about, but this comes down to the principle. Not only did Globespan get to keep my money for 42 days and earn interest on it, they also get to profit from exchange rates, all for supplying nothing but hassle and stress.

And finally, as some more evidence that I’m not the only person being mucked around, they also recently moved my parents’ upcoming flights from a 9am departure to 6am, backing up my theory that they really don’t book a runway slot until they find the cheapest deal. It’s not that my parents care a great deal. They’re just happy to be going on holiday, but it’s not going to be great fun getting my 78-year-old grandmother to the airport for 4am to check in.

Sorry Globespan, but I have absolutely no faith left in you.

And as an apology for all my airline talk, visit http://www.climatecare.org and ease any guilt for flying too much.

A week ago I was off to see The Decemberists in Paradiso following the postponement of The Gathering’s concert in Rotterdam - which I didn’t actually have tickets for, but was feeling loyal anyway. Actually, I’ve been listening to Picaresque quite a lot in recent times, whereas I’ve barely touched the new Gathering album, so it should have been an easier decision, but loyalty is still important to me.

The support band was the Radar Bros, who I had reasonable hopes for actually. I’m not sure why, because I saw them play the QMU in Glasgow a few years back, possibly supporting Breeders, and they were fairly boring then, if harmless. This time, I confess I was pretty sloshed and barely remember them being onstage, and had my eyes closed most of the time as I was ready for sleep. But it really wasn’t just the alcohol. Their songs blended together in such a hazy, mellow way that nothing was memorable. I’m sure they’re nice guys and have some pretty moments on record, but when you’re supporting you really need to do something to stand out.

As for The Decemberists, well they were really good fun. Despite one of my closest friends proclaiming them awful and declaring them the music equivalent of the Fraggles, this description only boosted my concert experience rather than dragged it down. I can see why Colin Meloy’s voice can annoy, although I don’t particularly notice it myself now. Mainly I lose myself in the instrumentation, even sparing some thoughts for the lyrics, which is rare enough by my standards.

Overall they were very entertaining and talkative despite being a bit zonked with jet lag. More bands should make use of getting an audience to sit down now that James are mostly forgotten by the younger generation. And more bands should invite strangers to share their instruments - Megadeth and Corrosion of Conformity did so to better effect at my first metal concert, but with Megadeth in the old days, they’d have given up their instruments to anyone so long as they could play less and have more drugs, I imagine. Of course, Neil Finn did the ultimate by inviting entire Bands of Strangers for entire concerts (as well as it being an old habit at normal gigs), making for one of the most memorable gigs I’ve ever been to, but yes, more bands need to break down the boundary between band and audience. And finally, there was the Colin Meloy casually sprawled out on the floor of Paradiso incident. This worked out much better than the last time a drunken Chan Marshall ended up down there singing ‘Fuck the pain away!’ over and over.

A rather random recollection I know, but if you’re looking for accuracy check here. If you’re looking for photos try here. And on the off-chance that you haven’t heard The Decemberists, try this…

mp3: The Engine Driver

A couple of weeks back I was bold enough to go see Andrew Bird twice in Amsterdam - in Paradiso’s grote zaal on the Friday, then the following day in the sold out kleine zaal. Both gigs were really good, but the first night was more special for me, despite being there alone.

The set-up was weird firstly. It was advertised as a seated gig, but I guess it sold better than was expected and the plans were semi-changed so that only a scattering of tables and chairs were set out at the front of the stage, leaving the rest of the room standing as usual. It actually turned out better this way, as it meant standing further back from the stage, receiving superior sound quality, but still having no-one in my line of sight as i was directly behind the tables.

Support act Dosh came out perfectly on time, which is always a pleasant surprise at Paradiso, and proceeded to play an enthusiastic set of instrumental looped indie-rock, playing some drums, sampling himself, playing some fender rhodes, sampling himself, playing some more drums, sampling himself, bouncing steel chimes off the floor, sampling himself, playing some organ, sampling himself, fading in some excerpts from a school play he was in once, mucking around with a metal chain, sampling himself, and so on. So a lot of sampling, but he was joking in between songs and really enjoying himself, so the crowd responded pretty well to his instrumentals.

He announces his last song and that Andrew Bird had written lyrics for it recently, but he doesn’t know if he’ll sing them tonight. Well AB comes out a minute or so into the song with his violin and joins in, but he doesn’t sing - just adds violin parts. And before you know it, they’re into the full AB set without a pause, which was another excellent surprise.

Rather different to the previous solo sets I’d experienced, AB seemed to be in the mood to really rock out and played much more guitar than I’ve ever seen. There was still plenty of violin looping as it plays a prominent part of his songs, but it made for less whistling and glockenspiel moments and much more jamming on guitar, which was great because much of the set was very high energy.

Many of the songs from Production of Eggs were unleashed, but with nothing (or maybe just one) from Weather Systems. Then there was the mandatory version of ‘Why?’ which is different every night, but seeing as it’s warped so much since it appeared on The Swimming Hour, it’s hardly comparable to the original.

There were some lovely mess-ups, which always help to relax an audience. In particular, ‘Fake Palindromes’ took around five goes to get after AB forgot the lyrics, and slipped into a Willie Nelson vocal mode, resulting in confusion, laughter and struggles for Dosh and himself to get back into the song. But what was probably most special was the burst of new numbers - something like six in total - with both musicians seemingly extremely proud of the record they had just finished and wanting to share them. Some were rather instant (’Plastic Cities’, ‘Sycophants’ or sick of elephants) while others will need some growing, but with both the main set and encore ending with new songs (’Dark Matter’ and ‘Fiery Demise’? ‘Fiery Death’? Well ‘Fiery something’, respectively) it was rather special.

The next night was good too, but other factors played into it. One being the amount of walking that took place beforehand, and also the lack of food. Another being the uncomfortable heat and lack of air in the smaller room. The set was very different too.

Dosh was back on, pretty much on time, but he seemed a bit more out-of-it on the Saturday. Maybe even like he was sick, as he was blowing his nose a lot later on. All his sampling tricks were still there, but there was almost no talking between songs, and also less flourishes with his little bits and pieces of percussive metal. His set only lasted 20 minutes instead of 30, resulting in a 10 or 15 minute break before AB.

The main set in general felt mellower. It was hard to tell if it was just me, as I had snuck on earplugs this time, but the balance of songs seemed to fall more towards quieter and slower. Weather Systems in particular was back in vogue for this one, which was nice because it’s great to hear a different set, but it meant a major drop in new material. Of which, I think only one or two completely new pieces were played, plus the collaboration with Dosh, which tonight did include the AB singing parts.

Still, no complaints from me. Two nights with one of my favourite artists is always going to be rather exciting, and better to have two very different concerts than relive everything again.

So in tribute to those two performances and the not knowing when either artist will head back this way, here are some bits of media (not from Amsterdam) showing off some new songs to make you feel more involved.

Video: Andrew Bird & Martin Dosh - ‘Sycophants’ (sick of elephants sounds more fun)
Video: Andrew Bird & Martin Dosh - ‘Armchairs of the Apocalypse’
Video: Andrew Bird & Martin Dosh - ‘Plastic Cities’ (see he’s turning into a guitar musician)
mp3: Dark Matter

And so Dosh doesn’t feel left out, here are some tracks from his website.

mp3: Ankle Deep and Rising
mp3: South Finale
mp3: Nothing New

A couple of photos from Paradiso on the Saturday can be found here and here.

Okay, my other recent Carla Bozulich post is still in clear site here, as I’ve been so busy lately. But I’ve important information to add…tour dates!

From Southern.net, hence the bad formatting. All in June.

03 GER : DUDINGEN - BAD BONN KILBI (www.badbonn.ch)
04 SWZ : THUN - MOKKA (www.mokka.ch)
06 UK: LONDON- KOKO (www.koko.uk.com) with Silver Mt. Zion, Blackheart Procession
08 UK : LONDON - 12 BAR (www.12barclub.com) with Jesus Licks, Hungry Dog
09 UK : MANCHESTER- ISLINGTON MILL with Miasma & Carousel of Headless Horses
13 GER : KOELN - KULTURBUNKER (www.kulturbunker-muelheim.de)
14 GER : HAMBURG - HAFENKLANG (www.hafenklang.de)
15 GER : BERLIN - West Germany Club with Girl from Oman
16 GER : WEIKERSHEIM- CLUB W71 (www.clubw71.de)
17 AUS: WELS - SCHL8HOF (schl8hof.wels.at)
18 AUS : WIEN- RHIZ (www.rhiz.org)

But more importantly for me, two Dutch dates are part of the tour, so go support Carla Bozulich on

June 10: Huishoudschool, Den Haag
June 12: Bitterzoet, Amsterdam

Admittedly, I’ve no idea where the Huishoudschool actually is, but I do know they had real problems booking Dutch dates, and all they really care about it is getting out, playing to interested people and sharing their music, so please make an effort to support them, and spread the word around to anyone who may care.

mp3: Broken Ship
mp3: Phone No.

website: http://www.immaculatemachine.com

Only came across this band because they’re hitting Paradiso on May 31 (also in Rotterdam at Rotown on May 27), however, I really enjoyed their mp3s so here they are. Indie rock from Canada, with lovely boy-girl vocals that remind me of a poppier Sleater-Kinney in some brief moments. Well, mainly when the girl sings anyway.

The woman in question is Kathryn Calder, who added some great vocals to The New Pornographers’ Twin Cinema, and also stars in the live band, so if you’re into the wonderful pop melodies of the NPs, give Immaculate Machine a try too.

Some names for Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam on July 2 are slowly leaking out. A couple of the appealing ones are Why? and The Gossip.

Separately, it seems The Thermals are heading back to NL. Playing Patronaat in Haarlem (July 23) and Effenaar in Eindhoven (July 24), the question on my mind is, will they still be fast and fun or will they do a 90 minute set of garage ballads?

mp3: I Need All the Friends I Can Get

website: http://www.camera-obscura.net

So just how do I get away with liking Camera Obscura and yet hating Belle and Sebastian so much? I probably don’t, but in Planet Stayfun I get to make up the rules. I shall defend myself just the same.

Maybe it’s because Camera Obscura have finally proven themselves to be better than the Belle and Sebastian copycat tags that were always thrown at them, and their new album proves this further. Out in June, Let’s Get Out of This Country is a rather lush pop record, and I may have been more critical in my “rock youth”, but now that I’m old I find them to sound rather sweet.

Then there’s the fact that I was poking around their website last week and found them to be rather down-to-earth Glasgwegians with humorous anecdotes. As well as each band member being given a specialist topic to cover, I found this post (A Fool and His Money - April 6) on the band blog to be particularly amusing, and not just because I’m from the west end of Glasgow.

Okay, that’s only two things. The point is: they aren’t just B&S fakers and they made me laugh. Download a new track and decide for yourself.

Fancy something dark?

You can never predict what Carla Bozulich will sound like next. Sometimes she rocks incredibly heavily (Geraldine Fibbers), other times she takes the quiet route, as heard on her remake of Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger. Her new album Evangelista sounds like neither.

Recorded with members of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, A Silver Mount Zion, Black Ox Orkestar and other guests, the results live in the creepy shadows, feeding on drones, tape loops and sinister violins. The voice of Bozulich still sounds as distinctive as ever, however.

Samples can be heard on her official site (in Flash format), and I’m particularly fascinated by it. It’s in no way predictable or even easy to listen to, but I get the feeling the ingredients will be really rewarding in the long term.

It seems like only a few months since the last edition, what with last summer’s festival being cancelled and then reborn in winter, but Music in My Head is returning to its traditional time (June 9 + 10) and sticking with het Paard in Den Haag.

The line-up is interesting, with two commercial–albeit bands i actually like–headliners in the form of Maximo Park and The Editors. Of course, what is most exciting for me is the inclusion of Glasgow band My Latest Novel, who I’m still desperate to see live. Other acts include New Zealand dub reggae crew Fat Freddy’s Drop, Ron Sexsmith and John Cale. Click the link above for the full line-ups and other details.